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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2305-0.txt b/2305-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47d5cc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/2305-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10487 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 40%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Set of Six + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #2305] +Last Updated: September 10, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF SIX *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + A SET OF SIX + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Joseph Conrad + </h2> +<div class="middle"> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <i>Les petites marionnettes<br /> Font, font, font, <br /> Trois + petits tours <br /> Et puis s’en vont</i>.<br /> —NURSERY RHYME <br /> + <br /> + </p> +</div> + <h3> + TO MISS M. H. M. CAPES + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> AUTHOR’S NOTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> GASPAR RUIZ </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE INFORMER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE BRUTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> AN ANARCHIST </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE DUEL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> IL CONDE </a> + </p> + <a name="link2H_TOC" id="link2H_TOC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHOR’S NOTE + </h2> + <p> + The six stories in this volume are the result of some three or four years + of occasional work. The dates of their writing are far apart, their + origins are various. None of them are connected directly with personal + experiences. In all of them the facts are inherently true, by which I mean + that they are not only possible but that they have actually happened. For + instance, the last story in the volume, the one I call Pathetic, whose + first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an almost verbatim + transcript of the tale told me by a very charming old gentleman whom I met + in Italy. I don’t mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is + something more than a verbatim report, but where he left off and where I + began must be left to the acute discrimination of the reader who may be + interested in the problem. I don’t mean to say that the problem is worth + the trouble. What I am certain of, however, is that it is not to be + solved, for I am not at all clear about it myself by this time. All I can + say is that the personality of the narrator was extremely suggestive quite + apart from the story he was telling me. I heard a few years ago that he + had died far away from his beloved Naples where that “abominable + adventure” did really happen to him. + </p> + <p> + Thus the genealogy of Il Conde is simple. It is not the case with the + other stories. Various strains contributed to their composition, and the + nature of many of those I have forgotten, not having the habit of making + notes either before or after the fact. I mean the fact of writing a story. + What I remember best about Gaspar Ruiz is that it was written, or at any + rate begun, within a month of finishing Nostromo; but apart from the + locality, and that a pretty wide one (all the South American Continent), + the novel and the story have nothing in common, neither mood, nor + intention and, certainly, not the style. The manner for the most part is + that of General Santierra, and that old warrior, I note with satisfaction, + is very true to himself all through. Looking now dispassionately at the + various ways in which this story could have been presented I can’t + honestly think the General superfluous. It is he, an old man talking of + the days of his youth, who characterizes the whole narrative and gives it + an air of actuality which I doubt whether I could have achieved without + his help. In the mere writing his existence of course was of no help at + all, because the whole thing had to be carefully kept within the frame of + his simple mind. But all this is but a laborious searching of memories. My + present feeling is that the story could not have been told otherwise. The + hint for Gaspar Ruiz the man I found in a book by Captain Basil Hall, + R.N., who was for some time, between the years 1824 and 1828, senior + officer of a small British Squadron on the West Coast of South America. + His book published in the thirties obtained a certain celebrity and I + suppose is to be found still in some libraries. The curious who may be + mistrusting my imagination are referred to that printed document, Vol. II, + I forget the page, but it is somewhere not far from the end. Another + document connected with this story is a letter of a biting and ironic kind + from a friend then in Burma, passing certain strictures upon “the + gentleman with the gun on his back” which I do not intend to make + accessible to the public. Yet the gun episode did really happen, or at + least I am bound to believe it because I remember it, described in an + extremely matter-of-fact tone, in some book I read in my boyhood; and I am + not going to discard the beliefs of my boyhood for anybody on earth. + </p> + <p> + The Brute, which is the only sea-story in the volume, is, like Il Conde, + associated with a direct narrative and based on a suggestion gathered on + warm human lips. I will not disclose the real name of the criminal ship + but the first I heard of her homicidal habits was from the late Captain + Blake, commanding a London ship in which I served in 1884 as Second + Officer. Captain Blake was, of all my commanders, the one I remember with + the greatest affection. I have sketched in his personality, without + however mentioning his name, in the first paper of The Mirror of the Sea. + In his young days he had had a personal experience of the brute and it is + perhaps for that reason that I have put the story into the mouth of a + young man and made of it what the reader will see. The existence of the + brute was a fact. The end of the brute as related in the story is also a + fact, well-known at the time though it really happened to another ship, of + great beauty of form and of blameless character, which certainly deserved + a better fate. I have unscrupulously adapted it to the needs of my story + thinking that I had there something in the nature of poetical justice. I + hope that little villainy will not cast a shadow upon the general honesty + of my proceedings as a writer of tales. + </p> + <p> + Of The Informer and An Anarchist I will say next to nothing. The pedigree + of these tales is hopelessly complicated and not worth disentangling at + this distance of time. I found them and here they are. The discriminating + reader will guess that I have found them within my mind; but how they or + their elements came in there I have forgotten for the most part; and for + the rest I really don’t see why I should give myself away more than I have + done already. + </p> + <p> + It remains for me only now to mention The Duel, the longest story in the + book. That story attained the dignity of publication all by itself in a + small illustrated volume, under the title, “The Point of Honour.” That was + many years ago. It has been since reinstated in its proper place, which is + the place it occupies in this volume, in all the subsequent editions of my + work. Its pedigree is extremely simple. It springs from a ten-line + paragraph in a small provincial paper published in the South of France. + That paragraph, occasioned by a duel with a fatal ending between two + well-known Parisian personalities, referred for some reason or other to + the “well-known fact” of two officers in Napoleon’s Grand Army having + fought a series of duels in the midst of great wars and on some futile + pretext. The pretext was never disclosed. I had therefore to invent it; + and I think that, given the character of the two officers which I had to + invent, too, I have made it sufficiently convincing by the mere force of + its absurdity. The truth is that in my mind the story is nothing but a + serious and even earnest attempt at a bit of historical fiction. I had + heard in my boyhood a good deal of the great Napoleonic legend. I had a + genuine feeling that I would find myself at home in it, and The Duel is + the result of that feeling, or, if the reader prefers, of that + presumption. Personally I have no qualms of conscience about this piece of + work. The story might have been better told of course. All one’s work + might have been better done; but this is the sort of reflection a worker + must put aside courageously if he doesn’t mean every one of his + conceptions to remain for ever a private vision, an evanescent reverie. + How many of those visions have I seen vanish in my time! This one, + however, has remained, a testimony, if you like, to my courage or a proof + of my rashness. What I care to remember best is the testimony of some + French readers who volunteered the opinion that in those hundred pages or + so I had managed to render “wonderfully” the spirit of the whole epoch. + Exaggeration of kindness no doubt; but even so I hug it still to my + breast, because in truth that is exactly what I was trying to capture in + my small net: the Spirit of the Epoch—never purely militarist in the + long clash of arms, youthful, almost childlike in its exaltation of + sentiment—naively heroic in its faith. + </p> + <p> + 1920. J. C. <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + A SET OF SIX + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + GASPAR RUIZ + </h2> + <p> + I + </p> + <p> + A revolutionary war raises many strange characters out of the obscurity + which is the common lot of humble lives in an undisturbed state of + society. + </p> + <p> + Certain individualities grow into fame through their vices and their + virtues, or simply by their actions, which may have a temporary + importance; and then they become forgotten. The names of a few leaders + alone survive the end of armed strife and are further preserved in + history; so that, vanishing from men’s active memories, they still exist + in books. + </p> + <p> + The name of General Santierra attained that cold paper-and-ink + immortality. He was a South American of good family, and the books + published in his lifetime numbered him amongst the liberators of that + continent from the oppressive rule of Spain. + </p> + <p> + That long contest, waged for independence on one side and for dominion on + the other, developed in the course of years and the vicissitudes of + changing fortune the fierceness and inhumanity of a struggle for life. All + feelings of pity and compassion disappeared in the growth of political + hatred. And, as is usual in war, the mass of the people, who had the least + to gain by the issue, suffered most in their obscure persons and their + humble fortunes. + </p> + <p> + General Santierra began his service as lieutenant in the patriot army + raised and commanded by the famous San Martin, afterwards conqueror of + Lima and liberator of Peru. A great battle had just been fought on the + banks of the river Bio-Bio. Amongst the prisoners made upon the routed + Royalist troops there was a soldier called Gaspar Ruiz. His powerful build + and his big head rendered him remarkable amongst his fellow-captives. The + personality of the man was unmistakable. Some months before he had been + missed from the ranks of Republican troops after one of the many + skirmishes which preceded the great battle. And now, having been captured + arms in hand amongst Royalists, he could expect no other fate but to be + shot as a deserter. + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz, however, was not a deserter; his mind was hardly active + enough to take a discriminating view of the advantages or perils of + treachery. Why should he change sides? He had really been made a prisoner, + had suffered ill-usage and many privations. Neither side showed tenderness + to its adversaries. There came a day when he was ordered, together with + some other captured rebels, to march in the front rank of the Royal + troops. A musket had been thrust into his hands. He had taken it. He had + marched. He did not want to be killed with circumstances of peculiar + atrocity for refusing to march. He did not understand heroism but it was + his intention to throw his musket away at the first opportunity. Meantime + he had gone on loading and firing, from fear of having his brains blown + out at the first sign of unwillingness, by some non-commissioned officer + of the King of Spain. He tried to set forth these elementary + considerations before the sergeant of the guard set over him and some + twenty other such deserters, who had been condemned summarily to be shot. + </p> + <p> + It was in the quadrangle of the fort at the back of the batteries which + command the roadstead of Valparaiso. The officer who had identified him + had gone on without listening to his protestations. His doom was sealed; + his hands were tied very tightly together behind his back; his body was + sore all over from the many blows with sticks and butts of muskets which + had hurried him along on the painful road from the place of his capture to + the gate of the fort. This was the only kind of systematic attention the + prisoners had received from their escort during a four days’ journey + across a scantily watered tract of country. At the crossings of rare + streams they were permitted to quench their thirst by lapping hurriedly + like dogs. In the evening a few scraps of meat were thrown amongst them as + they dropped down dead-beat upon the stony ground of the halting-place. + </p> + <p> + As he stood in the courtyard of the castle in the early morning, after + having been driven hard all night, Gaspar Ruiz’s throat was parched, and + his tongue felt very large and dry in his mouth. + </p> + <p> + And Gaspar Ruiz, besides being very thirsty, was stirred by a feeling of + sluggish anger, which he could not very well express, as though the vigour + of his spirit were by no means equal to the strength of his body. + </p> + <p> + The other prisoners in the batch of the condemned hung their heads, + looking obstinately on the ground. But Gaspar Ruiz kept on repeating: + “What should I desert for to the Royalists? Why should I desert? Tell me, + Estaban!” + </p> + <p> + He addressed himself to the sergeant, who happened to belong to the same + part of the country as himself. But the sergeant, after shrugging his + meagre shoulders once, paid no further attention to the deep murmuring + voice at his back. It was indeed strange that Gaspar Ruiz should desert. + His people were in too humble a station to feel much the disadvantages of + any form of government. There was no reason why Gaspar Ruiz should wish to + uphold in his own person the rule of the King of Spain. Neither had he + been anxious to exert himself for its subversion. He had joined the side + of Independence in an extremely reasonable and natural manner. A band of + patriots appeared one morning early, surrounding his father’s ranche, + spearing the watch-dogs and ham-stringing a fat cow all in the twinkling + of an eye, to the cries of “Viva la Libertad!” Their officer discoursed of + Liberty with enthusiasm and eloquence after a long and refreshing sleep. + When they left in the evening, taking with them some of Ruiz, the + father’s, best horses to replace their own lamed animals, Gaspar Ruiz went + away with them, having been invited pressingly to do so by the eloquent + officer. + </p> + <p> + Shortly afterwards a detachment of Royalist troops coming to pacify the + district, burnt the ranche, carried off the remaining horses and cattle, + and having thus deprived the old people of all their worldly possessions, + left them sitting under a bush in the enjoyment of the inestimable boon of + life. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz, condemned to death as a deserter, was not thinking either of + his native place or of his parents, to whom he had been a good son on + account of the mildness of his character and the great strength of his + limbs. The practical advantage of this last was made still more valuable + to his father by his obedient disposition. Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent + soul. + </p> + <p> + But it was stirred now to a sort of dim revolt by his dislike to die the + death of a traitor. He was not a traitor. He said again to the sergeant: + “You know I did not desert, Estaban. You know I remained behind amongst + the trees with three others to keep the enemy back while the detachment + was running away!” + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the time, and unused as + yet to the sanguinary imbecilities of a state of war, had lingered near + by, as if fascinated by the sight of these men who were to be shot + presently—“for an example”—as the Commandante had said. + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, without deigning to look at the prisoner, addressed himself + to the young officer with a superior smile. + </p> + <p> + “Ten men would not have been enough to make him a prisoner, mi teniente. + Moreover, the other three rejoined the detachment after dark. Why should + he, unwounded and the strongest of them all, have failed to do so?” + </p> + <p> + “My strength is as nothing against a mounted man with a lasso,” Gaspar + Ruiz protested, eagerly. “He dragged me behind his horse for half a mile.” + </p> + <p> + At this excellent reason the sergeant only laughed contemptuously. The + young officer hurried away after the Commandante. + </p> + <p> + Presently the adjutant of the castle came by. He was a truculent, + raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. His spluttering voice issued out of a + flat yellow face. The sergeant learned from him that the condemned men + would not be shot till sunset. He begged then to know what he was to do + with them meantime. + </p> + <p> + The adjutant looked savagely round the courtyard and, pointing to the door + of a small dungeon-like guardroom, receiving light and air through one + heavily barred window, said: “Drive the scoundrels in there.” + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, tightening his grip upon the stick he carried in virtue of + his rank, executed this order with alacrity and zeal. He hit Gaspar Ruiz, + whose movements were slow, over his head and shoulders. Gaspar Ruiz stood + still for a moment under the shower of blows, biting his lip thoughtfully + as if absorbed by a perplexing mental process—then followed the + others without haste. The door was locked, and the adjutant carried off + the key. + </p> + <p> + By noon the heat of that vaulted place crammed to suffocation had become + unbearable. The prisoners crowded towards the window, begging their guards + for a drop of water; but the soldiers remained lying in indolent attitudes + wherever there was a little shade under a wall, while the sentry sat with + his back against the door smoking a cigarette, and raising his eyebrows + philosophically from time to time. Gaspar Ruiz had pushed his way to the + window with irresistible force. His capacious chest needed more air than + the others; his big face, resting with its chin on the ledge, pressed + close to the bars, seemed to support the other faces crowding up for + breath. From moaned entreaties they had passed to desperate cries, and the + tumultuous howling of those thirsty men obliged a young officer who was + just then crossing the courtyard to shout in order to make himself heard. + </p> + <p> + “Why don’t you give some water to these prisoners?” + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, with an air of surprised innocence, excused himself by the + remark that all those men were condemned to die in a very few hours. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra stamped his foot. “They are condemned to death, not + to torture,” he shouted. “Give them some water at once.” + </p> + <p> + Impressed by this appearance of anger, the soldiers bestirred themselves, + and the sentry, snatching up his musket, stood to attention. + </p> + <p> + But when a couple of buckets were found and filled from the well, it was + discovered that they could not be passed through the bars, which were set + too close. At the prospect of quenching their thirst, the shrieks of those + trampled down in the struggle to get near the opening became very + heartrending. But when the soldiers who had lifted the buckets towards the + window put them to the ground again helplessly, the yell of disappointment + was still more terrible. + </p> + <p> + The soldiers of the army of Independence were not equipped with canteens. + A small tin cup was found, but its approach to the opening caused such a + commotion, such yells of rage and pain in the vague mass of limbs behind + the straining faces at the window, that Lieutenant Santierra cried out + hurriedly, “No, no—you must open the door, sergeant.” + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, shrugging his shoulders, explained that he had no right to + open the door even if he had had the key. But he had not the key. The + adjutant of the garrison kept the key. Those men were giving much + unnecessary trouble, since they had to die at sunset in any case. Why they + had not been shot at once early in the morning he could not understand. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra kept his back studiously to the window. It was at his + earnest solicitations that the Commandante had delayed the execution. This + favour had been granted to him in consideration of his distinguished + family and of his father’s high position amongst the chiefs of the + Republican party. Lieutenant Santierra believed that the General + commanding would visit the fort some time in the afternoon, and he + ingenuously hoped that his naive intercession would induce that severe man + to pardon some, at least, of those criminals. In the revulsion of his + feeling his interference stood revealed now as guilty and futile meddling. + It appeared to him obvious that the general would never even consent to + listen to his petition. He could never save those men, and he had only + made himself responsible for the sufferings added to the cruelty of their + fate. + </p> + <p> + “Then go at once and get the key from the adjutant,” said Lieutenant + Santierra. + </p> + <p> + The sergeant shook his head with a sort of bashful smile, while his eyes + glanced sideways at Gaspar Ruiz’s face, motionless and silent, staring + through the bars at the bottom of a heap of other haggard, distorted, + yelling faces. + </p> + <p> + His worship the adjutant de Plaza, the sergeant murmured, was having his + siesta; and supposing that he, the sergeant, would be allowed access to + him, the only result he expected would be to have his soul flogged out of + his body for presuming to disturb his worship’s repose. He made a + deprecatory movement with his hands, and stood stock-still, looking down + modestly upon his brown toes. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra glared with indignation, but hesitated. His handsome + oval face, as smooth as a girl’s, flushed with the shame of his + perplexity. Its nature humiliated his spirit. His hairless upper lip + trembled; he seemed on the point of either bursting into a fit of rage or + into tears of dismay. + </p> + <p> + Fifty years later, General Santierra, the venerable relic of revolutionary + times, was well able to remember the feelings of the young lieutenant. + Since he had given up riding altogether, and found it difficult to walk + beyond the limits of his garden, the general’s greatest delight was to + entertain in his house the officers of the foreign men-of-war visiting the + harbour. For Englishmen he had a preference, as for old companions in + arms. English naval men of all ranks accepted his hospitality with + curiosity, because he had known Lord Cochrane and had taken part, on board + the patriot squadron commanded by that marvellous seaman, in the cutting + out and blockading operations before Callao—an episode of unalloyed + glory in the wars of Independence and of endless honour in the fighting + tradition of Englishmen. He was a fair linguist, this ancient survivor of + the Liberating armies. A trick of smoothing his long white beard whenever + he was short of a word in French or English imparted an air of leisurely + dignity to the tone of his reminiscences. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my friends,” he used to say to his guests, “what would you have? A + youth of seventeen summers, without worldly experience, and owing my rank + only to the glorious patriotism of my father, may God rest his soul. I + suffered immense humiliation, not so much from the disobedience of that + subordinate, who, after all, was responsible for those prisoners; but I + suffered because, like the boy I was, I myself dreaded going to the + adjutant for the key. I had felt, before, his rough and cutting tongue. + Being quite a common fellow, with no merit except his savage valour, he + made me feel his contempt and dislike from the first day I joined my + battalion in garrison at the fort. It was only a fortnight before! I would + have confronted him sword in hand, but I shrank from the mocking brutality + of his sneers. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t remember having been so miserable in my life before or since. The + torment of my sensibility was so great that I wished the sergeant to fall + dead at my feet, and the stupid soldiers who stared at me to turn into + corpses; and even those wretches for whom my entreaties had procured a + reprieve I wished dead also, because I could not face them without shame. + A mephitic heat like a whiff of air from hell came out of that dark place + in which they were confined. Those at the window who had heard what was + going on jeered at me in very desperation: one of these fellows, gone mad + no doubt, kept on urging me volubly to order the soldiers to fire through + the window. His insane loquacity made my heart turn faint. And my feet + were like lead. There was no higher officer to whom I could appeal. I had + not even the firmness of spirit to simply go away. + </p> + <p> + “Benumbed by my remorse, I stood with my back to the window. You must not + suppose that all this lasted a long time. How long could it have been? A + minute? If you measured by mental suffering it was like a hundred years; a + longer time than all my life has been since. No, certainly, it was not so + much as a minute. The hoarse screaming of those miserable wretches died + out in their dry throats, and then suddenly a voice spoke, a deep voice + muttering calmly. It called upon me to turn round. + </p> + <p> + “That voice, senores, proceeded from the head of Gaspar Ruiz. Of his body + I could see nothing. Some of his fellow-captives had clambered upon his + back. He was holding them up. His eyes blinked without looking at me. That + and the moving of his lips was all he seemed able to manage in his + overloaded state. And when I turned round, this head, that seemed more + than human size resting on its chin under a multitude of other heads, + asked me whether I really desired to quench the thirst of the captives. + </p> + <p> + “I said, ‘Yes, yes!’ eagerly, and came up quite close to the window. I was + like a child, and did not know what would happen. I was anxious to be + comforted in my helplessness and remorse. + </p> + <p> + “‘Have you the authority, Senor teniente, to release my wrists from their + bonds?’ Gaspar Ruiz’s head asked me. + </p> + <p> + “His features expressed no anxiety, no hope; his heavy eyelids blinked + upon his eyes that looked past me straight into the courtyard. + </p> + <p> + “As if in an ugly dream, I spoke, stammering: ‘What do you mean? And how + can I reach the bonds on your wrists?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I will try what I can do,’ he said; and then that large staring head + moved at last, and all the wild faces piled up in that window disappeared, + tumbling down. He had shaken his load off with one movement, so strong he + was. + </p> + <p> + “And he had not only shaken it off, but he got free of the crush and + vanished from my sight. For a moment there was no one at all to be seen at + the window. He had swung about, butting and shouldering, clearing a space + for himself in the only way he could do it with his hands tied behind his + back. + </p> + <p> + “Finally, backing to the opening, he pushed out to me between the bars his + wrists, lashed with many turns of rope. His hands, very swollen, with + knotted veins, looked enormous and unwieldy. I saw his bent back. It was + very broad. His voice was like the muttering of a bull. + </p> + <p> + “‘Cut, Senor teniente. Cut!’ + </p> + <p> + “I drew my sword, my new unblunted sword that had seen no service as yet, + and severed the many turns of the hide rope. I did this without knowing + the why and the wherefore of my action, but as it were compelled by my + faith in that man. The sergeant made as if to cry out, but astonishment + deprived him of his voice, and he remained standing with his mouth open as + if overtaken by sudden imbecility. + </p> + <p> + “I sheathed my sword and faced the soldiers. An air of awestruck + expectation had replaced their usual listless apathy. I heard the voice of + Gaspar Ruiz shouting inside, but the words I could not make out plainly. I + suppose that to see him with his arms free augmented the influence of his + strength: I mean by this, the spiritual influence that with ignorant + people attaches to an exceptional degree of bodily vigour. In fact, he was + no more to be feared than before, on account of the numbness of his arms + and hands, which lasted for some time. + </p> + <p> + “The sergeant had recovered his power of speech. ‘By all the saints!’ he + cried, ‘we shall have to get a cavalry man with a lasso to secure him + again, if he is to be led to the place of execution. Nothing less than a + good enlazador on a good horse can subdue him. Your worship was pleased to + perform a very mad thing.’ + </p> + <p> + “I had nothing to say. I was surprised myself, and I felt a childish + curiosity to see what would happen next. But the sergeant was thinking of + the difficulty of controlling Gaspar Ruiz when the time for making an + example would come. + </p> + <p> + “‘Or perhaps,’ the sergeant pursued, vexedly, ‘we shall be obliged to + shoot him down as he dashes out when the door is opened.’ He was going to + give further vent to his anxieties as to the proper carrying out of the + sentence; but he interrupted himself with a sudden exclamation, snatched a + musket from a soldier, and stood watchful with his eyes fixed on the + window.” + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz had clambered up on the sill, and sat down there with his + feet against the thickness of the wall and his knees slightly bent. The + window was not quite broad enough for the length of his legs. It appeared + to my crestfallen perception that he meant to keep the window all to + himself. He seemed to be taking up a comfortable position. Nobody inside + dared to approach him now he could strike with his hands. + </p> + <p> + “‘Por Dios!’ I heard the sergeant muttering at my elbow, ‘I shall shoot + him through the head now, and get rid of that trouble. He is a condemned + man.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that I looked at him angrily. ‘The general has not confirmed the + sentence,’ I said—though I knew well in my heart that these were but + vain words. The sentence required no confirmation. ‘You have no right to + shoot him unless he tries to escape,’ I added, firmly. + </p> + <p> + “‘But sangre de Dios!’ the sergeant yelled out, bringing his musket up to + the shoulder, ‘he is escaping now. Look!’ + </p> + <p> + “But I, as if that Gaspar Ruiz had cast a spell upon me, struck the musket + upward, and the bullet flew over the roofs somewhere. The sergeant dashed + his arm to the ground and stared. He might have commanded the soldiers to + fire, but he did not. And if he had he would not have been obeyed, I + think, just then. + </p> + <p> + “With his feet against the thickness of the wall and his hairy hands + grasping the iron bar, Gaspar sat still. It was an attitude. Nothing + happened for a time. And suddenly it dawned upon us that he was + straightening his bowed back and contracting his arms. His lips were + twisted into a snarl. Next thing we perceived was that the bar of forged + iron was being bent slowly by the mightiness of his pull. The sun was + beating full upon his cramped, unquivering figure. A shower of sweat-drops + burst out of his forehead. Watching the bar grow crooked, I saw a little + blood ooze from under his finger-nails. Then he let go. For a moment he + remained all huddled up, with a hanging head, looking drowsily into the + upturned palms of his mighty hands. Indeed he seemed to have dozed off. + Suddenly he flung himself backwards on the sill, and setting the soles of + his bare feet against the other middle bar, he bent that one, too, but in + the opposite direction from the first. + </p> + <p> + “Such was his strength, which in this case relieved my painful feelings. + And the man seemed to have done nothing. Except for the change of position + in order to use his feet, which made us all start by its swiftness, my + recollection is that of immobility. But he had bent the bars wide apart. + And now he could get out if he liked; but he dropped his legs inwards, and + looking over his shoulder beckoned to the soldiers. ‘Hand up the water,’ + he said. ‘I will give them all a drink.’ + </p> + <p> + “He was obeyed. For a moment I expected man and bucket to disappear, + overwhelmed by the rush of eagerness; I thought they would pull him down + with their teeth. There was a rush, but holding the bucket on his lap he + repulsed the assault of those wretches by the mere swinging of his feet. + They flew backwards at every kick, yelling with pain; and the soldiers + laughed, gazing at the window. + </p> + <p> + “They all laughed, holding their sides, except the sergeant, who was + gloomy and morose. He was afraid the prisoners would rise and break out—which + would have been a bad example. But there was no fear of that, and I stood + myself before the window with my drawn sword. When sufficiently tamed by + the strength of Gaspar Ruiz they came up one by one, stretching their + necks and presenting their lips to the edge of the bucket which the strong + man tilted towards them from his knees with an extraordinary air of + charity, gentleness, and compassion. That benevolent appearance was of + course the effect of his care in not spilling the water and of his + attitude as he sat on the sill; for, if a man lingered with his lips glued + to the rim of the bucket after Gaspar Ruiz had said ‘You have had enough,’ + there would be no tenderness or mercy in the shove of the foot which would + send him groaning and doubled up far into the interior of the prison, + where he would knock down two or three others before he fell himself. They + came up to him again and again; it looked as if they meant to drink the + well dry before going to their death; but the soldiers were so amused by + Gaspar Ruiz’s systematic proceedings that they carried the water up to the + window cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “When the adjutant came out after his siesta there was some trouble over + this affair, I can assure you. And the worst of it was that the general + whom we expected never came to the castle that day.” + </p> + <p> + The guests of General Santierra unanimously expressed their regret that + the man of such strength and patience had not been saved. + </p> + <p> + “He was not saved by my interference,” said the General. “The prisoners + were led to execution half an hour before sunset. Gaspar Ruiz, contrary to + the sergeant’s apprehensions, gave no trouble. There was no necessity to + get a cavalry man with a lasso in order to subdue him, as if he were a + wild bull of the campo. I believe he marched out with his arms free + amongst the others who were bound. I did not see. I was not there. I had + been put under arrest for interfering with the prisoner’s guard. About + dusk, sitting dismally in my quarters, I heard three volleys fired, and + thought that I should never hear of Gaspar Ruiz again. He fell with the + others. But we were to hear of him nevertheless, though the sergeant + boasted that as he lay on his face expiring or dead in the heap of the + slain, he had slashed his neck with a sword. He had done this, he said, to + make sure of ridding the world of a dangerous traitor. + </p> + <p> + “I confess to you, senores, that I thought of that strong man with a sort + of gratitude, and with some admiration. He had used his strength + honourably. There dwelt, then, in his soul no fierceness corresponding to + the vigour of his body.” + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz, who could with ease bend apart the heavy iron bars of the + prison, was led out with others to summary execution. “Every bullet has + its billet,” runs the proverb. All the merit of proverbs consists in the + concise and picturesque expression. In the surprise of our minds is found + their persuasiveness. In other words, we are struck and convinced by the + shock. + </p> + <p> + What surprises us is the form, not the substance. Proverbs are art—cheap + art. As a general rule they are not true; unless indeed they happen to be + mere platitudes, as for instance the proverb, “Half a loaf is better than + no bread,” or “A miss is as good as a mile.” Some proverbs are simply + imbecile, others are immoral. That one evolved out of the naive heart of + the great Russian people, “Man discharges the piece, but God carries the + bullet,” is piously atrocious, and at bitter variance with the accepted + conception of a compassionate God. It would indeed be an inconsistent + occupation for the Guardian of the poor, the innocent, and the helpless, + to carry the bullet, for instance, into the heart of a father. + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz was childless, he had no wife, he had never been in love. He + had hardly ever spoken to a woman, beyond his mother and the ancient + negress of the household, whose wrinkled skin was the colour of cinders, + and whose lean body was bent double from age. If some bullets from those + muskets fired off at fifteen paces were specifically destined for the + heart of Gaspar Ruiz, they all missed their billet. One, however, carried + away a small piece of his ear, and another a fragment of flesh from his + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + A red and unclouded sun setting into a purple ocean looked with a fiery + stare upon the enormous wall of the Cordilleras, worthy witnesses of his + glorious extinction. But it is inconceivable that it should have seen the + ant-like men busy with their absurd and insignificant trials of killing + and dying for reasons that, apart from being generally childish, were also + imperfectly understood. It did light up, however, the backs of the firing + party and the faces of the condemned men. Some of them had fallen on their + knees, others remained standing, a few averted their heads from the + levelled barrels of muskets. Gaspar Ruiz, upright, the burliest of them + all, hung his big shock head. The low sun dazzled him a little, and he + counted himself a dead man already. + </p> + <p> + He fell at the first discharge. He fell because he thought he was a dead + man. He struck the ground heavily. The jar of the fall surprised him. “I + am not dead apparently,” he thought to himself, when he heard the + execution platoon reloading its arms at the word of command. It was then + that the hope of escape dawned upon him for the first time. He remained + lying stretched out with rigid limbs under the weight of two bodies + collapsed crosswise upon his back. + </p> + <p> + By the time the soldiers had fired a third volley into the slightly + stirring heaps of the slain, the sun had gone out of sight, and almost + immediately with the darkening of the ocean dusk fell upon the coasts of + the young Republic. Above the gloom of the lowlands the snowy peaks of the + Cordilleras remained luminous and crimson for a long time. The soldiers + before marching back to the fort sat down to smoke. + </p> + <p> + The sergeant with a naked sword in his hand strolled away by himself along + the heap of the dead. He was a humane man, and watched for any stir or + twitch of limb in the merciful idea of plunging the point of his blade + into any body giving the slightest sign of life. But none of the bodies + afforded him an opportunity for the display of this charitable intention. + Not a muscle twitched amongst them, not even the powerful muscles of + Gaspar Ruiz, who, deluged with the blood of his neighbours and shamming + death, strove to appear more lifeless than the others. + </p> + <p> + He was lying face down. The sergeant recognized him by his stature, and + being himself a very small man, looked with envy and contempt at the + prostration of so much strength. He had always disliked that particular + soldier. Moved by an obscure animosity, he inflicted a long gash across + the neck of Gaspar Ruiz, with some vague notion of making sure of that + strong man’s death, as if a powerful physique were more able to resist the + bullets. For the sergeant had no doubt that Gaspar Ruiz had been shot + through in many places. Then he passed on, and shortly afterwards marched + off with his men, leaving the bodies to the care of crows and vultures. + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz had restrained a cry, though it had seemed to him that his + head was cut off at a blow; and when darkness came, shaking off the dead, + whose weight had oppressed him, he crawled away over the plain on his + hands and knees. After drinking deeply, like a wounded beast, at a shallow + stream, he assumed an upright posture, and staggered on light-headed and + aimless, as if lost amongst the stars of the clear night. A small house + seemed to rise out of the ground before him. He stumbled into the porch + and struck at the door with his fist. There was not a gleam of light. + Gaspar Ruiz might have thought that the inhabitants had fled from it, as + from many others in the neighbourhood, had it not been for the shouts of + abuse that answered his thumping. In his feverish and enfeebled state the + angry screaming seemed to him part of a hallucination belonging to the + weird, dreamlike feeling of his unexpected condemnation to death, of the + thirst suffered, of the volleys fired at him within fifteen paces, of his + head being cut off at a blow. “Open the door!” he cried. “Open in the name + of God!” + </p> + <p> + An infuriated voice from within jeered at him: “Come in, come in. This + house belongs to you. All this land belongs to you. Come and take it.” + </p> + <p> + “For the love of God,” Gaspar Ruiz murmured. + </p> + <p> + “Does not all the land belong to you patriots?” the voice on the other + side of the door screamed on. “Are you not a patriot?” + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz did not know. “I am a wounded man,” he said, apathetically. + </p> + <p> + All became still inside. Gaspar Ruiz lost the hope of being admitted, and + lay down under the porch just outside the door. He was utterly careless of + what was going to happen to him. All his consciousness seemed to be + concentrated in his neck, where he felt a severe pain. His indifference as + to his fate was genuine. The day was breaking when he awoke from a + feverish doze; the door at which he had knocked in the dark stood wide + open now, and a girl, steadying herself with her outspread arms, leaned + over the threshold. Lying on his back, he stared up at her. Her face was + pale and her eyes were very dark; her hair hung down black as ebony + against her white cheeks; her lips were full and red. Beyond her he saw + another head with long grey hair, and a thin old face with a pair of + anxiously clasped hands under the chin. + </p> + <p> + VI + </p> + <p> + “I knew those people by sight,” General Santierra would tell his guests at + the dining-table. “I mean the people with whom Gaspar Ruiz found shelter. + The father was an old Spaniard, a man of property ruined by the + revolution. His estates, his house in town, his money, everything he had + in the world had been confiscated by proclamation, for he was a bitter foe + of our independence. From a position of great dignity and influence on the + Viceroy’s Council he became of less importance than his own negro slaves + made free by our glorious revolution. He had not even the means to flee + the country, as other Spaniards had managed to do. It may be that, + wandering ruined and houseless, and burdened with nothing but his life, + which was left to him by the clemency of the Provisional Government, he + had simply walked under that broken roof of old tiles. It was a lonely + spot. There did not seem to be even a dog belonging to the place. But + though the roof had holes, as if a cannon-ball or two had dropped through + it, the wooden shutters were thick and tight-closed all the time. + </p> + <p> + “My way took me frequently along the path in front of that miserable + rancho. I rode from the fort to the town almost every evening, to sigh at + the window of a lady I was in love with, then. When one is young, you + understand. . . . She was a good patriot, you may believe. Caballeros, + credit me or not, political feeling ran so high in those days that I do + not believe I could have been fascinated by the charms of a woman of + Royalist opinions. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Murmurs of amused incredulity all round the table interrupted the General; + and while they lasted he stroked his white beard gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Senores,” he protested, “a Royalist was a monster to our overwrought + feelings. I am telling you this in order not to be suspected of the + slightest tenderness towards that old Royalist’s daughter. Moreover, as + you know, my affections were engaged elsewhere. But I could not help + noticing her on rare occasions when with the front door open she stood in + the porch. + </p> + <p> + “You must know that this old Royalist was as crazy as a man can be. His + political misfortunes, his total downfall and ruin, had disordered his + mind. To show his contempt for what we patriots could do, he affected to + laugh at his imprisonment, at the confiscation of his lands, the burning + of his houses, and at the misery to which he and his womenfolk were + reduced. This habit of laughing had grown upon him, so that he would begin + to laugh and shout directly he caught sight of any stranger. That was the + form of his madness. + </p> + <p> + “I, of course, disregarded the noise of that madman with that feeling of + superiority the success of our cause inspired in us Americans. I suppose I + really despised him because he was an old Castilian, a Spaniard born, and + a Royalist. Those were certainly no reasons to scorn a man; but for + centuries Spaniards born had shown their contempt of us Americans, men as + well descended as themselves, simply because we were what they called + colonists. We had been kept in abasement and made to feel our inferiority + in social intercourse. And now it was our turn. It was safe for us + patriots to display the same sentiments; and I being a young patriot, son + of a patriot, despised that old Spaniard, and despising him I naturally + disregarded his abuse, though it was annoying to my feelings. Others + perhaps would not have been so forbearing. + </p> + <p> + “He would begin with a great yell—‘I see a patriot. Another of + them!’ long before I came abreast of the house. The tone of his senseless + revilings, mingled with bursts of laughter, was sometimes piercingly + shrill and sometimes grave. It was all very mad; but I felt it incumbent + upon my dignity to check my horse to a walk without even glancing towards + the house, as if that man’s abusive clamour in the porch were less than + the barking of a cur. Always I rode by preserving an expression of haughty + indifference on my face. + </p> + <p> + “It was no doubt very dignified; but I should have done better if I had + kept my eyes open. A military man in war time should never consider + himself off duty; and especially so if the war is a revolutionary war, + when the enemy is not at the door, but within your very house. At such + times the heat of passionate convictions passing into hatred, removes the + restraints of honour and humanity from many men and of delicacy and fear + from some women. These last, when once they throw off the timidity and + reserve of their sex, become by the vivacity of their intelligence and the + violence of their merciless resentment more dangerous than so many armed + giants.” + </p> + <p> + The General’s voice rose, but his big hand stroked his white beard twice + with an effect of venerable calmness. “Si, Senores! Women are ready to + rise to the heights of devotion unattainable by us men, or to sink into + the depths of abasement which amazes our masculine prejudices. I am + speaking now of exceptional women, you understand. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Here one of the guests observed that he had never met a woman yet who was + not capable of turning out quite exceptional under circumstances that + would engage her feelings strongly. “That sort of superiority in + recklessness they have over us,” he concluded, “makes of them the more + interesting half of mankind.” + </p> + <p> + The General, who bore the interruption with gravity, nodded courteous + assent. “Si. Si. Under circumstances. . . . Precisely. They can do an + infinite deal of mischief sometimes in quite unexpected ways. For who + could have imagined that a young girl, daughter of a ruined Royalist whose + life was held only by the contempt of his enemies, would have had the + power to bring death and devastation upon two flourishing provinces and + cause serious anxiety to the leaders of the revolution in the very hour of + its success!” He paused to let the wonder of it penetrate our minds. + </p> + <p> + “Death and devastation,” somebody murmured in surprise: “how shocking!” + </p> + <p> + The old General gave a glance in the direction of the murmur and went on. + “Yes. That is, war—calamity. But the means by which she obtained the + power to work this havoc on our southern frontier seem to me, who have + seen her and spoken to her, still more shocking. That particular thing + left on my mind a dreadful amazement which the further experience of life, + of more than fifty years, has done nothing to diminish.” He looked round + as if to make sure of our attention, and, in a changed voice: “I am, as + you know, a republican, son of a Liberator,” he declared. “My incomparable + mother, God rest her soul, was a Frenchwoman, the daughter of an ardent + republican. As a boy I fought for liberty; I’ve always believed in the + equality of men; and as to their brotherhood, that, to my mind, is even + more certain. Look at the fierce animosity they display in their + differences. And what in the world do you know that is more bitterly + fierce than brothers’ quarrels?” + </p> + <p> + All absence of cynicism checked an inclination to smile at this view of + human brotherhood. On the contrary, there was in the tone the melancholy + natural to a man profoundly humane at heart who from duty, from + conviction, and from necessity, had played his part in scenes of ruthless + violence. + </p> + <p> + The General had seen much of fratricidal strife. “Certainly. There is no + doubt of their brotherhood,” he insisted. “All men are brothers, and as + such know almost too much of each other. But”—and here in the old + patriarchal head, white as silver, the black eyes humorously twinkled—“if + we are all brothers, all the women are not our sisters.” + </p> + <p> + One of the younger guests was heard murmuring his satisfaction at the + fact. But the General continued, with deliberate earnestness: “They are so + different! The tale of a king who took a beggar-maid for a partner of his + throne may be pretty enough as we men look upon ourselves and upon love. + But that a young girl, famous for her haughty beauty and, only a short + time before, the admired of all at the balls in the Viceroy’s palace, + should take by the hand a guasso, a common peasant, is intolerable to our + sentiment of women and their love. It is madness. Nevertheless it + happened. But it must be said that in her case it was the madness of hate—not + of love.” + </p> + <p> + After presenting this excuse in a spirit of chivalrous justice, the + General remained silent for a time. “I rode past the house every day + almost,” he began again, “and this was what was going on within. But how + it was going on no mind of man can conceive. Her desperation must have + been extreme, and Gaspar Ruiz was a docile fellow. He had been an obedient + soldier. His strength was like an enormous stone lying on the ground, + ready to be hurled this way or that by the hand that picks it up. + </p> + <p> + “It is clear that he would tell his story to the people who gave him the + shelter he needed. And he needed assistance badly. His wound was not + dangerous, but his life was forfeited. The old Royalist being wrapped up + in his laughing madness, the two women arranged a hiding-place for the + wounded man in one of the huts amongst the fruit trees at the back of the + house. That hovel, an abundance of clear water while the fever was on him, + and some words of pity were all they could give. I suppose he had a share + of what food there was. And it would be but little: a handful of roasted + corn, perhaps a dish of beans, or a piece of bread with a few figs. To + such misery were those proud and once wealthy people reduced.” + </p> + <p> + VII + </p> + <p> + General Santierra was right in his surmise. Such was the exact nature of + the assistance which Gaspar Ruiz, peasant son of peasants, received from + the Royalist family whose daughter had opened the door of their miserable + refuge to his extreme distress. Her sombre resolution ruled the madness of + her father and the trembling bewilderment of her mother. + </p> + <p> + She had asked the strange man on the doorstep, “Who wounded you?” + </p> + <p> + “The soldiers, senora,” Gaspar Ruiz had answered, in a faint voice. + </p> + <p> + “Patriots?” + </p> + <p> + “Si.” + </p> + <p> + “What for?” + </p> + <p> + “Deserter,” he gasped, leaning against the wall under the scrutiny of her + black eyes. “I was left for dead over there.” + </p> + <p> + She led him through the house out to a small hut of clay and reeds, lost + in the long grass of the overgrown orchard. He sank on a heap of maize + straw in a corner, and sighed profoundly. + </p> + <p> + “No one will look for you here,” she said, looking down at him. “Nobody + comes near us. We, too, have been left for dead—here.” + </p> + <p> + He stirred uneasily on his heap of dirty straw, and the pain in his neck + made him groan deliriously. + </p> + <p> + “I shall show Estaban some day that I am alive yet,” he mumbled. + </p> + <p> + He accepted her assistance in silence, and the many days of pain went by. + Her appearances in the hut brought him relief and became connected with + the feverish dreams of angels which visited his couch; for Gaspar Ruiz was + instructed in the mysteries of his religion, and had even been taught to + read and write a little by the priest of his village. He waited for her + with impatience, and saw her pass out of the dark hut and disappear in the + brilliant sunshine with poignant regret. He discovered that, while he lay + there feeling so very weak, he could, by closing his eyes, evoke her face + with considerable distinctness. And this discovered faculty charmed the + long, solitary hours of his convalescence. Later on, when he began to + regain his strength, he would creep at dusk from his hut to the house and + sit on the step of the garden door. + </p> + <p> + In one of the rooms the mad father paced to and fro, muttering to himself + with short, abrupt laughs. In the passage, sitting on a stool, the mother + sighed and moaned. The daughter, in rough threadbare clothing, and her + white haggard face half hidden by a coarse manta, stood leaning against + the side of the door. Gaspar Ruiz, with his elbows propped on his knees + and his head resting in his hands, talked to the two women in an + undertone. + </p> + <p> + The common misery of destitution would have made a bitter mockery of a + marked insistence on social differences. Gaspar Ruiz understood this in + his simplicity. From his captivity amongst the Royalists he could give + them news of people they knew. He described their appearance; and when he + related the story of the battle in which he was recaptured the two women + lamented the blow to their cause and the ruin of their secret hopes. + </p> + <p> + He had no feeling either way. But he felt a great devotion for that young + girl. In his desire to appear worthy of her condescension, he boasted a + little of his bodily strength. He had nothing else to boast of. Because of + that quality his comrades treated him with as great a deference, he + explained, as though he had been a sergeant, both in camp and in battle. + </p> + <p> + “I could always get as many as I wanted to follow me anywhere, senorita. I + ought to have been made an officer, because I can read and write.” + </p> + <p> + Behind him the silent old lady fetched a moaning sigh from time to time; + the distracted father muttered to himself, pacing the sala; and Gaspar + Ruiz would raise his eyes now and then to look at the daughter of these + people. + </p> + <p> + He would look at her with curiosity because she was alive, and also with + that feeling of familiarity and awe with which he had contemplated in + churches the inanimate and powerful statues of the saints, whose + protection is invoked in dangers and difficulties. His difficulty was very + great. + </p> + <p> + He could not remain hiding in an orchard for ever and ever. He knew also + very well that before he had gone half a day’s journey in any direction, + he would be picked up by one of the cavalry patrols scouring the country, + and brought into one or another of the camps where the patriot army + destined for the liberation of Peru was collected. There he would in the + end be recognized as Gaspar Ruiz—the deserter to the Royalists—and + no doubt shot very effectually this time. There did not seem any place in + the world for the innocent Gaspar Ruiz anywhere. And at this thought his + simple soul surrendered itself to gloom and resentment as black as night. + </p> + <p> + They had made him a soldier forcibly. He did not mind being a soldier. And + he had been a good soldier as he had been a good son, because of his + docility and his strength. But now there was no use for either. They had + taken him from his parents, and he could no longer be a soldier—not + a good soldier at any rate. Nobody would listen to his explanations. What + injustice it was! What injustice! + </p> + <p> + And in a mournful murmur he would go over the story of his capture and + recapture for the twentieth time. Then, raising his eyes to the silent + girl in the doorway, “Si, senorita,” he would say with a deep sigh, + “injustice has made this poor breath in my body quite worthless to me and + to anybody else. And I do not care who robs me of it.” + </p> + <p> + One evening, as he exhaled thus the plaint of his wounded soul, she + condescended to say that, if she were a man, she would consider no life + worthless which held the possibility of revenge. + </p> + <p> + She seemed to be speaking to herself. Her voice was low. He drank in the + gentle, as if dreamy sound with a consciousness of peculiar delight of + something warming his breast like a draught of generous wine. + </p> + <p> + “True, Senorita,” he said, raising his face up to hers slowly: “there is + Estaban, who must be shown that I am not dead after all.” + </p> + <p> + The mutterings of the mad father had ceased long before; the sighing + mother had withdrawn somewhere into one of the empty rooms. All was still + within as well as without, in the moonlight bright as day on the wild + orchard full of inky shadows. Gaspar Ruiz saw the dark eyes of Dona + Erminia look down at him. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! The sergeant,” she muttered, disdainfully. + </p> + <p> + “Why! He has wounded me with his sword,” he protested, bewildered by the + contempt that seemed to shine livid on her pale face. + </p> + <p> + She crushed him with her glance. The power of her will to be understood + was so strong that it kindled in him the intelligence of unexpressed + things. + </p> + <p> + “What else did you expect me to do?” he cried, as if suddenly driven to + despair. “Have I the power to do more? Am I a general with an army at my + back?—miserable sinner that I am to be despised by you at last.” + </p> + <p> + VIII + </p> + <p> + “Senores,” related the General to his guests, “though my thoughts were of + love then, and therefore enchanting, the sight of that house always + affected me disagreeably, especially in the moonlight, when its close + shutters and its air of lonely neglect appeared sinister. Still I went on + using the bridle-path by the ravine, because it was a short cut. The mad + Royalist howled and laughed at me every evening to his complete + satisfaction; but after a time, as if wearied with my indifference, he + ceased to appear in the porch. How they persuaded him to leave off I do + not know. However, with Gaspar Ruiz in the house there would have been no + difficulty in restraining him by force. It was now part of their policy in + there to avoid anything which could provoke me. At least, so I suppose. + </p> + <p> + “Notwithstanding my infatuation with the brightest pair of eyes in Chile, + I noticed the absence of the old man after a week or so. A few more days + passed. I began to think that perhaps these Royalists had gone away + somewhere else. But one evening, as I was hastening towards the city, I + saw again somebody in the porch. It was not the madman; it was the girl. + She stood holding on to one of the wooden columns, tall and white-faced, + her big eyes sunk deep with privation and sorrow. I looked hard at her, + and she met my stare with a strange, inquisitive look. Then, as I turned + my head after riding past, she seemed to gather courage for the act, and + absolutely beckoned me back. + </p> + <p> + “I obeyed, senores, almost without thinking, so great was my astonishment. + It was greater still when I heard what she had to say. She began by + thanking me for my forbearance of her father’s infirmity, so that I felt + ashamed of myself. I had meant to show disdain, not forbearance! Every + word must have burnt her lips, but she never departed from a gentle and + melancholy dignity which filled me with respect against my will. Senores, + we are no match for women. But I could hardly believe my ears when she + began her tale. Providence, she concluded, seemed to have preserved the + life of that wronged soldier, who now trusted to my honour as a caballero + and to my compassion for his sufferings. + </p> + <p> + “‘Wronged man,’ I observed, coldly. ‘Well, I think so, too: and you have + been harbouring an enemy of your cause.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘He was a poor Christian crying for help at our door in the name of God, + senor,’ she answered, simply. + </p> + <p> + “I began to admire her. ‘Where is he now?’ I asked, stiffly. + </p> + <p> + “But she would not answer that question. With extreme cunning, and an + almost fiendish delicacy, she managed to remind me of my failure in saving + the lives of the prisoners in the guardroom, without wounding my pride. + She knew, of course, the whole story. Gaspar Ruiz, she said, entreated me + to procure for him a safe-conduct from General San Martin himself. He had + an important communication to make to the commander-in-chief. + </p> + <p> + “Por Dios, senores, she made me swallow all that, pretending to be only + the mouthpiece of that poor man. Overcome by injustice, he expected to + find, she said, as much generosity in me as had been shown to him by the + Royalist family which had given him a refuge. + </p> + <p> + “Ha! It was well and nobly said to a youngster like me. I thought her + great. Alas! she was only implacable. + </p> + <p> + “In the end I rode away very enthusiastic about the business, without + demanding even to see Gaspar Ruiz, who I was confident was in the house. + </p> + <p> + “But on calm reflection I began to see some difficulties which I had not + confidence enough in myself to encounter. It was not easy to approach a + commander-in-chief with such a story. I feared failure. At last I thought + it better to lay the matter before my general-of-division, Robles, a + friend of my family, who had appointed me his aide-de-camp lately. + </p> + <p> + “He took it out of my hands at once without any ceremony. + </p> + <p> + “‘In the house! of course he is in the house,’ he said contemptuously. + ‘You ought to have gone sword in hand inside and demanded his surrender, + instead of chatting with a Royalist girl in the porch. Those people should + have been hunted out of that long ago. Who knows how many spies they have + harboured right in the very midst of our camps? A safe-conduct from the + Commander-in-Chief! The audacity of the fellow! Ha! ha! Now we shall catch + him to-night, and then we shall find out, without any safe-conduct, what + he has got to say, that is so very important. Ha! ha! ha!’ + </p> + <p> + “General Robles, peace to his soul, was a short, thick man, with round, + staring eyes, fierce and jovial. Seeing my distress he added: + </p> + <p> + “‘Come, come, chico. I promise you his life if he does not resist. And + that is not likely. We are not going to break up a good soldier if it can + be helped. I tell you what! I am curious to see your strong man. Nothing + but a general will do for the picaro—well, he shall have a general + to talk to. Ha! ha! I shall go myself to the catching, and you are coming + with me, of course.’ + </p> + <p> + “And it was done that same night. Early in the evening the house and the + orchard were surrounded quietly. Later on the General and I left a ball we + were attending in town and rode out at an easy gallop. At some little + distance from the house we pulled up. A mounted orderly held our horses. A + low whistle warned the men watching all along the ravine, and we walked up + to the porch softly. The barricaded house in the moonlight seemed empty. + </p> + <p> + “The General knocked at the door. After a time a woman’s voice within + asked who was there. My chief nudged me hard. I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “‘It is I, Lieutenant Santierra,’ I stammered out, as if choked. ‘Open the + door.’ + </p> + <p> + “It came open slowly. The girl, holding a thin taper in her hand, seeing + another man with me, began to back away before us slowly, shading the + light with her hand. Her impassive white face looked ghostly. I followed + behind General Robles. Her eyes were fixed on mine. I made a gesture of + helplessness behind my chief’s back, trying at the same time to give a + reassuring expression to my face. None of us three uttered a sound. + </p> + <p> + “We found ourselves in a room with bare floor and walls. There was a rough + table and a couple of stools in it, nothing else whatever. An old woman + with her grey hair hanging loose wrung her hands when we appeared. A peal + of loud laughter resounded through the empty house, very amazing and + weird. At this the old woman tried to get past us. + </p> + <p> + “‘Nobody to leave the room,’ said General Robles to me. + </p> + <p> + “I swung the door to, heard the latch click, and the laughter became faint + in our ears. + </p> + <p> + “Before another word could be spoken in that room I was amazed by hearing + the sound of distant thunder. + </p> + <p> + “I had carried in with me into the house a vivid impression of a beautiful + clear moonlight night, without a speck of cloud in the sky. I could not + believe my ears. Sent early abroad for my education, I was not familiar + with the most dreaded natural phenomenon of my native land. I saw, with + inexpressible astonishment, a look of terror in my chief’s eyes. Suddenly + I felt giddy. The General staggered against me heavily; the girl seemed to + reel in the middle of the room, the taper fell out of her hand and the + light went out; a shrill cry of ‘Misericordia!’ from the old woman pierced + my ears. In the pitchy darkness I heard the plaster off the walls falling + on the floor. It is a mercy there was no ceiling. Holding on to the latch + of the door, I heard the grinding of the roof-tiles cease above my head. + The shock was over. + </p> + <p> + “‘Out of the house! The door! Fly, Santierra, fly!’ howled the General. + You know, senores, in our country the bravest are not ashamed of the fear + an earthquake strikes into all the senses of man. One never gets used to + it. Repeated experience only augments the mastery of that nameless terror. + </p> + <p> + “It was my first earthquake, and I was the calmest of them all. I + understood that the crash outside was caused by the porch, with its wooden + pillars and tiled roof projection, falling down. The next shock would + destroy the house, maybe. That rumble as of thunder was approaching again. + The General was rushing round the room, to find the door perhaps. He made + a noise as though he were trying to climb the walls, and I heard him + distinctly invoke the names of several saints. ‘Out, out, Santierra!’ he + yelled. + </p> + <p> + “The girl’s voice was the only one I did not hear. + </p> + <p> + “‘General,’ I cried, I cannot move the door. We must be locked in.’ + </p> + <p> + “I did not recognize his voice in the shout of malediction and despair he + let out. Senores, I know many men in my country, especially in the + provinces most subject to earthquakes, who will neither eat, sleep, pray, + nor even sit down to cards with closed doors. The danger is not in the + loss of time, but in this—that the movement of the walls may prevent + a door being opened at all. This was what had happened to us. We were + trapped, and we had no help to expect from anybody. There is no man in my + country who will go into a house when the earth trembles. There never was—except + one: Gaspar Ruiz. + </p> + <p> + “He had come out of whatever hole he had been hiding in outside, and had + clambered over the timbers of the destroyed porch. Above the awful + subterranean groan of coming destruction I heard a mighty voice shouting + the word ‘Erminia!’ with the lungs of a giant. An earthquake is a great + leveller of distinctions. I collected all my resolution against the terror + of the scene. ‘She is here,’ I shouted back. A roar as of a furious wild + beast answered me—while my head swam, my heart sank, and the sweat + of anguish streamed like rain off my brow. + </p> + <p> + “He had the strength to pick up one of the heavy posts of the porch. + Holding it under his armpit like a lance, but with both hands, he charged + madly the rocking house with the force of a battering-ram, bursting open + the door and rushing in, headlong, over our prostrate bodies. I and the + General picking ourselves up, bolted out together, without looking round + once till we got across the road. Then, clinging to each other, we beheld + the house change suddenly into a heap of formless rubbish behind the back + of a man, who staggered towards us bearing the form of a woman clasped in + his arms. Her long black hair hung nearly to his feet. He laid her down + reverently on the heaving earth, and the moonlight shone on her closed + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Senores, we mounted with difficulty. Our horses getting up plunged madly, + held by the soldiers who had come running from all sides. Nobody thought + of catching Gaspar Ruiz then. The eyes of men and animals shone with wild + fear. My general approached Gaspar Ruiz, who stood motionless as a statue + above the girl. He let himself be shaken by the shoulder without detaching + his eyes from her face. + </p> + <p> + “‘Que guape!’ shouted the General in his ear. ‘You are the bravest man + living. You have saved my life. I am General Robles. Come to my quarters + to-morrow if God gives us the grace to see another day.’ + </p> + <p> + “He never stirred—as if deaf, without feeling, insensible. + </p> + <p> + “We rode away for the town, full of our relations, of our friends, of + whose fate we hardly dared to think. The soldiers ran by the side of our + horses. Everything was forgotten in the immensity of the catastrophe + overtaking a whole country.” + </p> + <p> + . . . . . . . + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz saw the girl open her eyes. The raising of her eyelids seemed + to recall him from a trance. They were alone; the cries of terror and + distress from homeless people filled the plains of the coast remote and + immense, coming like a whisper into their loneliness. + </p> + <p> + She rose swiftly to her feet, darting fearful glances on all sides. “What + is it?” she cried out low, and peering into his face. “Where am I?” + </p> + <p> + He bowed his head sadly, without a word. + </p> + <p> + “. . . Who are you?” + </p> + <p> + He knelt down slowly before her, and touched the hem of her coarse black + baize skirt. “Your slave,” he said. + </p> + <p> + She caught sight then of the heap of rubbish that had been the house, all + misty in the cloud of dust. “Ah!” she cried, pressing her hand to her + forehead. + </p> + <p> + “I carried you out from there,” he whispered at her feet. + </p> + <p> + “And they?” she asked in a great sob. + </p> + <p> + He rose, and taking her by the arms, led her gently towards the shapeless + ruin half overwhelmed by a landslide. “Come and listen,” he said. + </p> + <p> + The serene moon saw them clambering over that heap of stones, joists and + tiles, which was a grave. They pressed their ears to the interstices, + listening for the sound of a groan, for a sigh of pain. + </p> + <p> + At last he said, “They died swiftly. You are alone.” + </p> + <p> + She sat down on a piece of broken timber and put one arm across her face. + He waited—then approaching his lips to her ear: “Let us go,” he + whispered. + </p> + <p> + “Never—never from here,” she cried out, flinging her arms above her + head. + </p> + <p> + He stooped over her, and her raised arms fell upon his shoulders. He + lifted her up, steadied himself and began to walk, looking straight before + him. + </p> + <p> + “What are you doing?” she asked, feebly. + </p> + <p> + “I am escaping from my enemies,” he said, never once glancing at his light + burden. + </p> + <p> + “With me?” she sighed, helplessly. + </p> + <p> + “Never without you,” he said. “You are my strength.” + </p> + <p> + He pressed her close to him. His face was grave and his footsteps steady. + The conflagrations bursting out in the ruins of destroyed villages dotted + the plain with red fires; and the sounds of distant lamentations, the + cries of Misericordia! Misericordia! made a desolate murmur in his ears. + He walked on, solemn and collected, as if carrying something holy, + fragile, and precious. + </p> + <p> + The earth rocked at times under his feet. + </p> + <p> + IX + </p> + <p> + With movements of mechanical care and an air of abstraction old General + Santierra lighted a long and thick cigar. + </p> + <p> + “It was a good many hours before we could send a party back to the + ravine,” he said to his guests. “We had found one-third of the town laid + low, the rest shaken up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced to + the same state of distraction by the universal disaster. The affected + cheerfulness of some contrasted with the despair of others. In the general + confusion a number of reckless thieves, without fear of God or man, became + a danger to those who from the downfall of their homes had managed to save + some valuables. Crying ‘Misericordia’ louder than any at every tremor, and + beating their breast with one hand, these scoundrels robbed the poor + victims with the other, not even stopping short of murder. + </p> + <p> + “General Robles’ division was occupied entirely in guarding the destroyed + quarters of the town from the depredations of these inhuman monsters. + Taken up with my duties of orderly officer, it was only in the morning + that I could assure myself of the safety of my own family. My mother and + my sisters had escaped with their lives from that ballroom, where I had + left them early in the evening. I remember those two beautiful young women—God + rest their souls—as if I saw them this moment, in the garden of our + destroyed house, pale but active, assisting some of our poor neighbours, + in their soiled ball-dresses and with the dust of fallen walls on their + hair. As to my mother, she had a stoical soul in her frail body. + Half-covered by a costly shawl, she was lying on a rustic seat by the side + of an ornamental basin whose fountain had ceased to play for ever on that + night. + </p> + <p> + “I had hardly had time to embrace them all with transports of joy when my + chief, coming along, dispatched me to the ravine with a few soldiers, to + bring in my strong man, as he called him, and that pale girl. + </p> + <p> + “But there was no one for us to bring in. A landslide had covered the + ruins of the house; and it was like a large mound of earth with only the + ends of some timbers visible here and there—nothing more. + </p> + <p> + “Thus were the tribulations of the old Royalist couple ended. An enormous + and unconsecrated grave had swallowed them up alive, in their unhappy + obstinacy against the will of a people to be free. And their daughter was + gone. + </p> + <p> + “That Gaspar Ruiz had carried her off I understood very well. But as the + case was not foreseen, I had no instructions to pursue them. And certainly + I had no desire to do so. I had grown mistrustful of my interference. It + had never been successful, and had not even appeared creditable. He was + gone. Well, let him go. And he had carried off the Royalist girl! Nothing + better. Vaya con Dios. This was not the time to bother about a deserter + who, justly or unjustly, ought to have been dead, and a girl for whom it + would have been better to have never been born. + </p> + <p> + “So I marched my men back to the town. + </p> + <p> + “After a few days, order having been re-established, all the principal + families, including my own, left for Santiago. We had a fine house there. + At the same time the division of Robles was moved to new cantonments near + the capital. This change suited very well the state of my domestic and + amorous feelings. + </p> + <p> + “One night, rather late, I was called to my chief. I found General Robles + in his quarters, at ease, with his uniform off, drinking neat brandy out + of a tumbler—as a precaution, he used to say, against the + sleeplessness induced by the bites of mosquitoes. He was a good soldier, + and he taught me the art and practice of war. No doubt God has been + merciful to his soul; for his motives were never other than patriotic, if + his character was irascible. As to the use of mosquito nets, he considered + it effeminate, shameful—unworthy of a soldier. I noticed at the + first glance that his face, already very red, wore an expression of high + good-humour. + </p> + <p> + “‘Aha! Senor teniente,’ he cried, loudly, as I saluted at the door. + ‘Behold! Your strong man has turned up again.’ + </p> + <p> + “He extended to me a folded letter, which I saw was superscribed ‘To the + Commander-in-Chief of the Republican Armies.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘This,’ General Robles went on in his loud voice, ‘was thrust by a boy + into the hand of a sentry at the Quartel General, while the fellow stood + there thinking of his girl, no doubt—for before he could gather his + wits together the boy had disappeared amongst the market people, and he + protests he could not recognize him to save his life.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘My chief told me further that the soldier had given the letter to the + sergeant of the guard, and that ultimately it had reached the hands of our + generalissimo. His Excellency had deigned to take cognizance of it with + his own eyes. After that he had referred the matter in confidence to + General Robles. + </p> + <p> + “The letter, senores, I cannot now recollect textually. I saw the + signature of Gaspar Ruiz. He was an audacious fellow. He had snatched a + soul for himself out of a cataclysm, remember. And now it was that soul + which had dictated the terms of his letter. Its tone was very independent. + I remember it struck me at the time as noble—dignified. It was, no + doubt, her letter. Now I shudder at the depth of its duplicity. Gaspar + Ruiz was made to complain of the injustice of which he had been a victim. + He invoked his previous record of fidelity and courage. Having been saved + from death by the miraculous interposition of Providence, he could think + of nothing but of retrieving his character. This, he wrote, he could not + hope to do in the ranks as a discredited soldier still under suspicion. He + had the means to give a striking proof of his fidelity. He had ended by + proposing to the General-in-Chief a meeting at midnight in the middle of + the Plaza before the Moneta. The signal would be to strike fire with flint + and steel three times, which was not too conspicuous and yet distinctive + enough for recognition. + </p> + <p> + “San Martin, the great Liberator, loved men of audacity and courage. + Besides, he was just and compassionate. I told him as much of the man’s + story as I knew, and was ordered to accompany him on the appointed night. + The signals were duly exchanged. It was midnight, and the whole town was + dark and silent. Their two cloaked figures came together in the centre of + the vast Plaza, and, keeping discreetly at a distance, I listened for an + hour or more to the murmur of their voices. Then the General motioned me + to approach; and as I did so I heard San Martin, who was courteous to + gentle and simple alike, offer Gaspar Ruiz the hospitality of the + headquarters for the night. But the soldier refused, saying that he would + be not worthy of that honour till he had done something. + </p> + <p> + “‘You cannot have a common deserter for your guest, Excellency,’ he + protested with a low laugh, and stepping backwards merged slowly into the + night. + </p> + <p> + “The Commander-in-Chief observed to me, as we turned away: ‘He had + somebody with him, our friend Ruiz. I saw two figures for a moment. It was + an unobtrusive companion.’ + </p> + <p> + “I, too, had observed another figure join the vanishing form of Gaspar + Ruiz. It had the appearance of a short fellow in a poncho and a big hat. + And I wondered stupidly who it could be he had dared take into his + confidence. I might have guessed it could be no one but that fatal girl—alas! + </p> + <p> + “Where he kept her concealed I do not know. He had—it was known + afterwards—an uncle, his mother’s brother, a small shopkeeper in + Santiago. Perhaps it was there that she found a roof and food. Whatever + she found, it was poor enough to exasperate her pride and keep up her + anger and hate. It is certain she did not accompany him on the feat he + undertook to accomplish first of all. It was nothing less than the + destruction of a store of war material collected secretly by the Spanish + authorities in the south, in a town called Linares. Gaspar Ruiz was + entrusted with a small party only, but they proved themselves worthy of + San Martin’s confidence. The season was not propitious. They had to swim + swollen rivers. They seemed, however, to have galloped night and day + out-riding the news of their foray, and holding straight for the town, a + hundred miles into the enemy’s country, till at break of day they rode + into it sword in hand, surprising the little garrison. It fled without + making a stand, leaving most of its officers in Gaspar Ruiz’ hands. + </p> + <p> + “A great explosion of gunpowder ended the conflagration of the magazines + the raiders had set on fire without loss of time. In less than six hours + they were riding away at the same mad speed, without the loss of a single + man. Good as they were, such an exploit is not performed without a still + better leadership. + </p> + <p> + “I was dining at the headquarters when Gaspar Ruiz himself brought the + news of his success. And it was a great blow to the Royalist troops. For a + proof he displayed to us the garrison’s flag. He took it from under his + poncho and flung it on the table. The man was transfigured; there was + something exulting and menacing in the expression of his face. He stood + behind General San Martin’s chair and looked proudly at us all. He had a + round blue cap edged with silver braid on his head, and we all could see a + large white scar on the nape of his sunburnt neck. + </p> + <p> + “Somebody asked him what he had done with the captured Spanish officers. + </p> + <p> + “He shrugged his shoulders scornfully. ‘What a question to ask! In a + partisan war you do not burden yourself with prisoners. I let them go—and + here are their sword-knots.’ + </p> + <p> + “He flung a bunch of them on the table upon the flag. Then General Robles, + whom I was attending there, spoke up in his loud, thick voice: ‘You did! + Then, my brave friend, you do not know yet how a war like ours ought to be + conducted. You should have done—this.’ And he passed the edge of his + hand across his own throat. + </p> + <p> + “Alas, senores! It was only too true that on both sides this contest, in + its nature so heroic, was stained by ferocity. The murmurs that arose at + General Robles’ words were by no means unanimous in tone. But the generous + and brave San Martin praised the humane action, and pointed out to Ruiz a + place on his right hand. Then rising with a full glass he proposed a + toast: ‘Caballeros and comrades-in-arms, let us drink the health of + Captain Gaspar Ruiz.’ And when we had emptied our glasses: ‘I intend,’ the + Commander-in-Chief continued, ‘to entrust him with the guardianship of our + southern frontier, while we go afar to liberate our brethren in Peru. He + whom the enemy could not stop from striking a blow at his very heart will + know how to protect the peaceful populations we leave behind us to pursue + our sacred task.’ And he embraced the silent Gaspar Ruiz by his side. + </p> + <p> + “Later on, when we all rose from table, I approached the latest officer of + the army with my congratulations. ‘And, Captain Ruiz,’ I added, ‘perhaps + you do not mind telling a man who has always believed in the uprightness + of your character what became of Dona Erminia on that night?’ + </p> + <p> + “At this friendly question his aspect changed. He looked at me from under + his eyebrows with the heavy, dull glance of a guasso—of a peasant. + ‘Senor teniente,’ he said, thickly, and as if very much cast down, ‘do not + ask me about the senorita, for I prefer not to think about her at all when + I am amongst you.” + </p> + <p> + “He looked, with a frown, all about the room, full of smoking and talking + officers. Of course I did not insist. + </p> + <p> + “These, senores, were the last words I was to hear him utter for a long, + long time. The very next day we embarked for our arduous expedition to + Peru, and we only heard of Gaspar Ruiz’ doings in the midst of battles of + our own. He had been appointed military guardian of our southern province. + He raised a partida. But his leniency to the conquered foe displeased the + Civil Governor, who was a formal, uneasy man, full of suspicions. He + forwarded reports against Gaspar Ruiz to the Supreme Government; one of + them being that he had married publicly, with great pomp, a woman of + Royalist tendencies. Quarrels were sure to arise between these two men of + very different character. At last the Civil Governor began to complain of + his inactivity and to hint at treachery, which, he wrote, would be not + surprising in a man of such antecedents. Gaspar Ruiz heard of it. His rage + flamed up, and the woman ever by his side knew how to feed it with + perfidious words. I do not know whether really the Supreme Government ever + did—as he complained afterwards—send orders for his arrest. It + seems certain that the Civil Governor began to tamper with his officers, + and that Gaspar Ruiz discovered the fact. + </p> + <p> + “One evening, when the Governor was giving a tertullia, Gaspar Ruiz, + followed by six men he could trust, appeared riding through the town to + the door of the Government House, and entered the sala armed, his hat on + his head. As the Governor, displeased, advanced to meet him, he seized the + wretched man round the body, carried him off from the midst of the + appalled guests, as though he were a child, and flung him down the outer + steps into the street. An angry hug from Gaspar Ruiz was enough to crush + the life out of a giant; but in addition Gaspar Ruiz’ horsemen fired their + pistols at the body of the Governor as it lay motionless at the bottom of + the stairs.” + </p> + <p> + X + </p> + <p> + “After this—as he called it—act of justice, Ruiz crossed the + Rio Blanco, followed by the greater part of his band, and entrenched + himself upon a hill. A company of regular troops sent out foolishly + against him was surrounded, and destroyed almost to a man. Other + expeditions, though better organized, were equally unsuccessful. + </p> + <p> + “It was during these sanguinary skirmishes that his wife first began to + appear on horseback at his right hand. Rendered proud and self-confident + by his successes, Ruiz no longer charged at the head of his partida, but + presumptuously, like a general directing the movements of an army, he + remained in the rear, well mounted and motionless on an eminence, sending + out his orders. She was seen repeatedly at his side, and for a long time + was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then of a mysterious + white-faced chief, to whom the defeats of our troops were ascribed. She + rode like an Indian woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmed man’s hat and a + dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatest prosperity, this + poncho was embroidered in gold, and she wore then, also, the sword of poor + Don Antonio de Leyva. This veteran Chilian officer, having the misfortune + to be surrounded with his small force, and running short of ammunition, + found his death at the hands of the Arauco Indians, the allies and + auxiliaries of Gaspar Ruiz. This was the fatal affair long remembered + afterwards as the ‘Massacre of the Island.’ The sword of the unhappy + officer was presented to her by Peneleo, the Araucanian chief; for these + Indians, struck by her aspect, the deathly pallor of her face, which no + exposure to the weather seemed to affect, and her calm indifference under + fire, looked upon her as a supernatural being, or at least as a witch. By + this superstition the prestige and authority of Gaspar Ruiz amongst these + ignorant people were greatly augmented. She must have savoured her + vengeance to the full on that day when she buckled on the sword of Don + Antonio de Leyva. It never left her side, unless she put on her woman’s + clothes—not that she would or could ever use it, but she loved to + feel it beating upon her thigh as a perpetual reminder and symbol of the + dishonour to the arms of the Republic. She was insatiable. Moreover, on + the path she had led Gaspar Ruiz upon, there is no stopping. Escaped + prisoners—and they were not many—used to relate how with a few + whispered words she could change the expression of his face and revive his + flagging animosity. They told how after every skirmish, after every raid, + after every successful action, he would ride up to her and look into her + face. Its haughty calm was never relaxed. Her embrace, senores, must have + been as cold as the embrace of a statue. He tried to melt her icy heart in + a stream of warm blood. Some English naval officers who visited him at + that time noticed the strange character of his infatuation.” + </p> + <p> + At the movement of surprise and curiosity in his audience General + Santierra paused for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Yes—English naval officers,” he repeated. “Ruiz had consented to + receive them to arrange for the liberation of some prisoners of your + nationality. In the territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast to the + Cordillera, there was a bay where the ships of that time, after rounding + Cape Horn, used to resort for wood and water. There, decoying the crew on + shore, he captured first the whaling brig Hersalia, and afterwards made + himself master by surprise of two more ships, one English and one + American. + </p> + <p> + “It was rumoured at the time that he dreamed of setting up a navy of his + own. But that, of course, was impossible. Still, manning the brig with + part of her own crew, and putting an officer and a good many men of his + own on board, he sent her off to the Spanish Governor of the island of + Chiloe with a report of his exploits, and a demand for assistance in the + war against the rebels. The Governor could not do much for him; but he + sent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of compliments, with a + colonel’s commission in the royal forces, and a great Spanish flag. This + standard with much ceremony was hoisted over his house in the heart of the + Arauco country. Surely on that day she may have smiled on her guasso + husband with a less haughty reserve. + </p> + <p> + “The senior officer of the English squadron on our coast made + representations to our Government as to these captures. But Gaspar Ruiz + refused to treat with us. Then an English frigate proceeded to the bay, + and her captain, doctor, and two lieutenants travelled inland under a + safe-conduct. They were well received, and spent three days as guests of + the partisan chief. A sort of military barbaric state was kept up at the + residence. It was furnished with the loot of frontier towns. When first + admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife lying down (she was not + in good health then), with Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot of the couch. + His hat was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on the hilt of his + sword. + </p> + <p> + “During that first conversation he never removed his big hands from the + sword-hilt, except once, to arrange the coverings about her, with gentle, + careful touches. They noticed that whenever she spoke he would fix his + eyes upon her in a kind of expectant, breathless attention, and seemingly + forget the existence of the world and his own existence, too. In the + course of the farewell banquet, at which she was present reclining on her + couch, he burst forth into complaints of the treatment he had received. + After General San Martin’s departure he had been beset by spies, slandered + by civil officials, his services ignored, his liberty and even his life + threatened by the Chilian Government. He got up from the table, thundered + execrations pacing the room wildly, then sat down on the couch at his + wife’s feet, his breast heaving, his eyes fixed on the floor. She reclined + on her back, her head on the cushions, her eyes nearly closed. + </p> + <p> + “‘And now I am an honoured Spanish officer,’ he added in a calm voice. + </p> + <p> + “The captain of the English frigate then took the opportunity to inform + him gently that Lima had fallen, and that by the terms of a convention the + Spaniards were withdrawing from the whole continent. + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz raised his head, and without hesitation, speaking with + suppressed vehemence, declared that if not a single Spanish soldier were + left in the whole of South America he would persist in carrying on the + contest against Chile to the last drop of blood. When he finished that mad + tirade his wife’s long white hand was raised, and she just caressed his + knee with the tips of her fingers for a fraction of a second. + </p> + <p> + “For the rest of the officers’ stay, which did not extend for more than + half an hour after the banquet, that ferocious chieftain of a desperate + partida overflowed with amiability and kindness. He had been hospitable + before, but now it seemed as though he could not do enough for the comfort + and safety of his visitors’ journey back to their ship. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, I have been told, could have presented a greater contrast to his + late violence or the habitual taciturn reserve of his manner. Like a man + elated beyond measure by an unexpected happiness, he overflowed with + good-will, amiability, and attentions. He embraced the officers like + brothers, almost with tears in his eyes. The released prisoners were + presented each with a piece of gold. At the last moment, suddenly, he + declared he could do no less than restore to the masters of the merchant + vessels all their private property. This unexpected generosity caused some + delay in the departure of the party, and their first march was very short. + </p> + <p> + “Late in the evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an escort, to their camp + fires, bringing along with him a mule loaded with cases of wine. He had + come, he said, to drink a stirrup cup with his English friends, whom he + would never see again. He was mellow and joyous in his temper. He told + stories of his own exploits, laughed like a boy, borrowed a guitar from + the Englishmen’s chief muleteer, and sitting cross-legged on his superfine + poncho spread before the glow of the embers, sang a guasso love-song in a + tender voice. Then his head dropped on his breast, his hands fell to the + ground; the guitar rolled off his knees—and a great hush fell over + the camp after the love-song of the implacable partisan who had made so + many of our people weep for destroyed homes and for loves cut short. + </p> + <p> + “Before anybody could make a sound he sprang up from the ground and called + for his horse. + </p> + <p> + “‘Adios, my friends!’ he cried. ‘Go with God. I love you. And tell them + well in Santiago that between Gaspar Ruiz, colonel of the King of Spain, + and the republican carrion-crows of Chile there is war to the last breath—war! + war! war!’ + </p> + <p> + “With a great yell of ‘War! war! war!’ which his escort took up, they rode + away, and the sound of hoofs and of voices died out in the distance + between the slopes of the hills. + </p> + <p> + “The two young English officers were convinced that Ruiz was mad. How do + you say that?—tile loose—eh? But the doctor, an observant + Scotsman with much shrewdness and philosophy in his character, told me + that it was a very curious case of possession. I met him many years + afterwards, but he remembered the experience very well. He told me, too, + that in his opinion that woman did not lead Gaspar Ruiz into the practice + of sanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the subtle way of + awakening and keeping alive in his simple mind a burning sense of an + irreparable wrong. Maybe, maybe. But I would say that she poured half of + her vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you may pour + intoxication, madness, poison into an empty cup. + </p> + <p> + “If he wanted war he got it in earnest when our victorious army began to + return from Peru. Systematic operations were planned against this blot on + the honour and prosperity of our hardly won independence. General Robles + commanded, with his well-known ruthless severity. Savage reprisals were + exercised on both sides and no quarter was given in the field. Having won + my promotion in the Peru campaign, I was a captain on the staff. Gaspar + Ruiz found himself hard pressed; at the same time we heard by means of a + fugitive priest who had been carried off from his village presbytery and + galloped eighty miles into the hills to perform the christening ceremony, + that a daughter was born to them. To celebrate the event, I suppose, Ruiz + executed one or two brilliant forays clear away at the rear of our forces, + and defeated the detachments sent out to cut off his retreat. General + Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy from rage. He found another cause + of insomnia than the bites of mosquitoes; but against this one, senores, + tumblers of raw brandy had no more effect than so much water. He took to + railing and storming at me about my strong man. And from our impatience to + end this inglorious campaign I am afraid that all we young officers became + reckless and apt to take undue risks on service. + </p> + <p> + “Nevertheless, slowly, inch by inch as it were, our columns were closing + upon Gaspar Ruiz, though he had managed to raise all the Araucanian nation + of wild Indians against us. Then a year or more later our Government + became aware through its agents and spies that he had actually entered + into alliance with Carreras, the so-called dictator of the so-called + republic of Mendoza, on the other side of the mountains. Whether Gaspar + Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether he wished only to secure a + safe retreat for his wife and child while he pursued remorselessly against + us his war of surprises and massacres, I cannot tell. The alliance, + however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt to check our advance from the + sea, he retreated with his usual swiftness, and preparing for another hard + and hazardous tussle, began by sending his wife with the little girl + across the Pequena range of mountains, on the frontier of Mendoza.” + </p> + <p> + XI + </p> + <p> + “Now Carreras, under the guise of politics and liberalism, was a scoundrel + of the deepest dye, and the unhappy state of Mendoza was the prey of + thieves, robbers, traitors, and murderers, who formed his party. He was + under a noble exterior a man without heart, pity, honour, or conscience. + He aspired to nothing but tyranny, and though he would have made use of + Gaspar Ruiz for his nefarious designs, yet he soon became aware that to + propitiate the Chilian Government would answer his purpose better. I blush + to say that he made proposals to our Government to deliver up on certain + conditions the wife and child of the man who had trusted to his honour, + and that this offer was accepted. + </p> + <p> + “While on her way to Mendoza over the Pequena Pass she was betrayed by her + escort of Carreras’ men, and given up to the officer in command of a + Chilian fort on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range. This + atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for as a matter of fact I + was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz’ camp when he received the news. I had been + captured during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers being + speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was saved from the same fate + because he recognized my features just in time. No doubt my friends + thought I was dead, and I would not have given much for my life at any + time. But the strong man treated me very well, because, he said, I had + always believed in his innocence and had tried to serve him when he was a + victim of injustice. + </p> + <p> + “‘And now,’ was his speech to me, ‘you shall see that I always speak the + truth. You are safe.’ + </p> + <p> + “I did not think I was very safe when I was called up to go to him one + night. He paced up and down like a wild beast, exclaiming, ‘Betrayed! + Betrayed!’ + </p> + <p> + “He walked up to me clenching his fists. ‘I could cut your throat.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Will that give your wife back to you?’ I said as quietly as I could. + </p> + <p> + “‘And the child!’ he yelled out, as if mad. He fell into a chair and + laughed in a frightful, boisterous manner. ‘Oh, no, you are safe.’ + </p> + <p> + “I assured him that his wife’s life was safe, too; but I did not say what + I was convinced of—that he would never see her again. He wanted war + to the death, and the war could only end with his death. + </p> + <p> + “He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat muttering blankly, ‘In + their hands. In their hands.’ + </p> + <p> + “I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. + </p> + <p> + “Suddenly he jumped up. ‘What am I doing here?’ he cried; and opening the + door, he yelled out orders to saddle and mount. ‘What is it?’ he + stammered, coming up to me. ‘The Pequena fort; a fort of palisades! + Nothing. I would get her back if she were hidden in the very heart of the + mountain.’ He amazed me by adding, with an effort: ‘I carried her off in + my two arms while the earth trembled. And the child at least is mine. She + at least is mine!’ + </p> + <p> + “Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for wonder. + </p> + <p> + “‘You shall go with me,’ he said, violently. ‘I may want to parley, and + any other messenger from Ruiz, the outlaw, would have his throat cut.’ + </p> + <p> + “This was true enough. Between him and the rest of incensed mankind there + could be no communication, according to the customs of honourable warfare. + </p> + <p> + “In less than half an hour we were in the saddle, flying wildly through + the night. He had only an escort of twenty men at his quarters, but would + not wait for more. He sent, however, messengers to Peneleo, the Indian + chief then ranging in the foothills, directing him to bring his warriors + to the uplands and meet him at the lake called the Eye of Water, near + whose shores the frontier fort of Pequena was built. + </p> + <p> + “We crossed the lowlands with that untired rapidity of movement which had + made Gaspar Ruiz’ raids so famous. We followed the lower valleys up to + their precipitous heads. The ride was not without its dangers. A cornice + road on a perpendicular wall of basalt wound itself around a buttressing + rock, and at last we emerged from the gloom of a deep gorge upon the + upland of Pequena. + </p> + <p> + “It was a plain of green wiry grass and thin flowering bushes; but high + above our heads patches of snow hung in the folds and crevices of the + great walls of rock. The little lake was as round as a staring eye. The + garrison of the fort were just driving in their small herd of cattle when + we appeared. Then the great wooden gates swung to, and that four-square + enclosure of broad blackened stakes pointed at the top and barely hiding + the grass roofs of the huts inside seemed deserted, empty, without a + single soul. + </p> + <p> + “But when summoned to surrender, by a man who at Gaspar Ruiz’ order rode + fearlessly forward those inside answered by a volley which rolled him and + his horse over. I heard Ruiz by my side grind his teeth. ‘It does not + matter,’ he said. ‘Now you go.’ + </p> + <p> + “Torn and faded as its rags were, the vestiges of my uniform were + recognized, and I was allowed to approach within speaking distance; and + then I had to wait, because a voice clamouring through a loophole with joy + and astonishment would not allow me to place a word. It was the voice of + Major Pajol, an old friend. He, like my other comrades, had thought me + killed a long time ago. + </p> + <p> + “‘Put spurs to your horse, man!’ he yelled, in the greatest excitement; + ‘we will swing the gate open for you.’ + </p> + <p> + “I let the reins fall out of my hand and shook my head. ‘I am on my + honour,’ I cried. + </p> + <p> + “‘To him!’ he shouted, with infinite disgust. + </p> + <p> + “‘He promises you your life.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Our life is our own. And do you, Santierra, advise us to surrender to + that rastrero?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘No!’ I shouted. ‘But he wants his wife and child, and he can cut you off + from water.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Then she would be the first to suffer. You may tell him that. Look here—this + is all nonsense: we shall dash out and capture you.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You shall not catch me alive,’ I said, firmly. + </p> + <p> + “‘Imbecile!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘For God’s sake,’ I continued, hastily, ‘do not open the gate.’ And I + pointed at the multitude of Peneleo’s Indians who covered the shores of + the lake. + </p> + <p> + “I had never seen so many of these savages together. Their lances seemed + as numerous as stalks of grass. Their hoarse voices made a vast, + inarticulate sound like the murmur of the sea. + </p> + <p> + “My friend Pajol was swearing to himself. ‘Well, then—go to the + devil!’ he shouted, exasperated. But as I swung round he repented, for I + heard him say hurriedly, ‘Shoot the fool’s horse before he gets away.’ + </p> + <p> + “He had good marksmen. Two shots rang out, and in the very act of turning + my horse staggered, fell and lay still as if struck by lightning. I had my + feet out of the stirrups and rolled clear of him; but I did not attempt to + rise. Neither dared they rush out to drag me in. + </p> + <p> + “The masses of Indians had begun to move upon the fort. They rode up in + squadrons, trailing their long chusos; then dismounted out of musket-shot, + and, throwing off their fur mantles, advanced naked to the attack, + stamping their feet and shouting in cadence. A sheet of flame ran three + times along the face of the fort without checking their steady march. They + crowded right up to the very stakes, flourishing their broad knives. But + this palisade was not fastened together with hide lashings in the usual + way, but with long iron nails, which they could not cut. Dismayed at the + failure of their usual method of forcing an entrance, the heathen, who had + marched so steadily against the musketry fire, broke and fled under the + volleys of the besieged. + </p> + <p> + “Directly they had passed me on their advance I got up and rejoined Gaspar + Ruiz on a low ridge which jutted out upon the plain. The musketry of his + own men had covered the attack, but now at a sign from him a trumpet + sounded the ‘Cease fire.’ Together we looked in silence at the hopeless + rout of the savages. + </p> + <p> + “‘It must be a siege, then,’ he muttered. And I detected him wringing his + hands stealthily. + </p> + <p> + “But what sort of siege could it be? Without any need for me to repeat my + friend Pajol’s message, he dared not cut the water off from the besieged. + They had plenty of meat. And, indeed, if they had been short he would have + been too anxious to send food into the stockade had he been able. But, as + a matter of fact, it was we on the plain who were beginning to feel the + pinch of hunger. + </p> + <p> + “Peneleo, the Indian chief, sat by our fire folded in his ample mantle of + guanaco skins. He was an athletic savage, with an enormous square shock + head of hair resembling a straw beehive in shape and size, and with grave, + surly, much-lined features. In his broken Spanish he repeated, growling + like a bad-tempered wild beast, that if an opening ever so small were made + in the stockade his men would march in and get the senora—not + otherwise. + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz, sitting opposite him, kept his eyes fixed on the fort night + and day as it were, in awful silence and immobility. Meantime, by runners + from the lowlands that arrived nearly every day, we heard of the defeat of + one of his lieutenants in the Maipu valley. Scouts sent afar brought news + of a column of infantry advancing through distant passes to the relief of + the fort. They were slow, but we could trace their toilful progress up the + lower valleys. I wondered why Ruiz did not march to attack and destroy + this threatening force, in some wild gorge fit for an ambuscade, in + accordance with his genius for guerilla warfare. But his genius seemed to + have abandoned him to his despair. + </p> + <p> + “It was obvious to me that he could not tear himself away from the sight + of the fort. I protest to you, senores, that I was moved almost to pity by + the sight of this powerless strong man sitting on the ridge, indifferent + to sun, to rain, to cold, to wind; with his hands clasped round his legs + and his chin resting on his knees, gazing—gazing—gazing. + </p> + <p> + “And the fort he kept his eyes fastened on was as still and silent as + himself. The garrison gave no sign of life. They did not even answer the + desultory fire directed at the loopholes. + </p> + <p> + “One night, as I strolled past him, he, without changing his attitude, + spoke to me unexpectedly. ‘I have sent for a gun,’ he said. ‘I shall have + time to get her back and retreat before your Robles manages to crawl up + here.’ + </p> + <p> + “He had sent for a gun to the plains. + </p> + <p> + “It was long in coming, but at last it came. It was a seven-pounder field + gun. Dismounted and lashed crosswise to two long poles, it had been + carried up the narrow paths between two mules with ease. His wild cry of + exultation at daybreak when he saw the gun escort emerge from the valley + rings in my ears now. + </p> + <p> + “But, senores, I have no words to depict his amazement, his fury, his + despair and distraction, when he heard that the animal loaded with the + gun-carriage had, during the last night march, somehow or other tumbled + down a precipice. He broke into menaces of death and torture against the + escort. I kept out of his way all that day, lying behind some bushes, and + wondering what he would do now. Retreat was left for him, but he could not + retreat. + </p> + <p> + “I saw below me his artillerist, Jorge, an old Spanish soldier, building + up a sort of structure with heaped-up saddles. The gun, ready loaded, was + lifted on to that, but in the act of firing the whole thing collapsed and + the shot flew high above the stockade. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing more was attempted. One of the ammunition mules had been lost, + too, and they had no more than six shots to fire; ample enough to batter + down the gate providing the gun was well laid. This was impossible without + it being properly mounted. There was no time nor means to construct a + carriage. Already every moment I expected to hear Robles’ bugle-calls echo + amongst the crags. + </p> + <p> + “Peneleo, wandering about uneasily, draped in his skins, sat down for a + moment near me growling his usual tale. + </p> + <p> + “‘Make an entrada—a hole. If make a hole, bueno. If not make a hole, + then vamos—we must go away.’ + </p> + <p> + “After sunset I observed with surprise the Indians making preparations as + if for another assault. Their lines stood ranged in the shadows of the + mountains. On the plain in front of the fort gate I saw a group of men + swaying about in the same place. + </p> + <p> + “I walked down the ridge disregarded. The moonlight in the clear air of + the uplands was bright as day, but the intense shadows confused my sight, + and I could not make out what they were doing. I heard the voice of Jorge, + the artillerist, say in a queer, doubtful tone, ‘It is loaded, senor.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then another voice in that group pronounced firmly the words, ‘Bring the + riata here.’ It was the voice of Gaspar Ruiz. + </p> + <p> + “A silence fell, in which the popping shots of the besieged garrison rang + out sharply. They, too, had observed the group. But the distance was too + great and in the spatter of spent musket-balls cutting up the ground, the + group opened, closed, swayed, giving me a glimpse of busy stooping figures + in its midst. I drew nearer, doubting whether this was a weird vision, a + suggestive and insensate dream. + </p> + <p> + “A strangely stifled voice commanded, ‘Haul the hitches tighter.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Si, senor,’ several other voices answered in tones of awed alacrity. + </p> + <p> + “Then the stifled voice said: ‘Like this. I must be free to breathe.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then there was a concerned noise of many men together. ‘Help him up, + hombres. Steady! Under the other arm.’ + </p> + <p> + “That deadened voice ordered: ‘Bueno! Stand away from me, men.’ + </p> + <p> + “I pushed my way through the recoiling circle, and heard once more that + same oppressed voice saying earnestly: ‘Forget that I am a living man, + Jorge. Forget me altogether, and think of what you have to do.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Be without fear, senor. You are nothing to me but a gun-carriage, and I + shall not waste a shot.’ + </p> + <p> + “I heard the spluttering of a port-fire, and smelt the saltpetre of the + match. I saw suddenly before me a nondescript shape on all fours like a + beast, but with a man’s head drooping below a tubular projection over the + nape of the neck, and the gleam of a rounded mass of bronze on its back. + </p> + <p> + “In front of a silent semicircle of men it squatted alone, with Jorge + behind it and a trumpeter motionless, his trumpet in his hand, by its + side. + </p> + <p> + “Jorge, bent double, muttered, port-fire in hand: ‘An inch to the left, + senor. Too much. So. Now, if you let yourself down a little by letting + your elbows bend, I will . . .’ + </p> + <p> + “He leaped aside, lowering his port-fire, and a burst of flame darted out + of the muzzle of the gun lashed on the man’s back. + </p> + <p> + “Then Gaspar Ruiz lowered himself slowly. ‘Good shot?’ he asked. + </p> + <p> + “‘Full on, senor.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Then load again.’ + </p> + <p> + “He lay there before me on his breast under the darkly glittering bronze + of his monstrous burden, such as no love or strength of man had ever had + to bear in the lamentable history of the world. His arms were spread out, + and he resembled a prostrate penitent on the moonlit ground. + </p> + <p> + “Again I saw him raised to his hands and knees and the men stand away from + him, and old Jorge stoop glancing along the gun. + </p> + <p> + “‘Left a little. Right an inch. Por Dios, senor, stop this trembling. + Where is your strength?’ + </p> + <p> + “The old gunner’s voice was cracked with emotion. He stepped aside, and + quick as lightning brought the spark to the touch-hole. + </p> + <p> + “‘Excellent!’ he cried, tearfully; but Gaspar Ruiz lay for a long time + silent, flattened on the ground. + </p> + <p> + “‘I am tired,’ he murmured at last. ‘Will another shot do it?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Without doubt,’ said Jorge, bending down to his ear. + </p> + <p> + “‘Then—load,’ I heard him utter distinctly. ‘Trumpeter!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I am here, senor, ready for your word.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Blow a blast at this word that shall be heard from one end of Chile to + the other,’ he said, in an extraordinarily strong voice. ‘And you others + stand ready to cut this accursed riata, for then will be the time for me + to lead you in your rush. Now raise me up, and you, Jorge—be quick + with your aim.’ + </p> + <p> + “The rattle of musketry from the fort nearly drowned his voice. The + palisade was wreathed in smoke and flame. + </p> + <p> + “‘Exert your force forward against the recoil, mi amo,’ said the old + gunner, shakily. ‘Dig your fingers into the ground. So. Now!’ + </p> + <p> + “A cry of exultation escaped him after the shot. The trumpeter raised his + trumpet nearly to his lips and waited. But no word came from the prostrate + man. I fell on one knee, and heard all he had to say then. + </p> + <p> + “‘Something broken,’ he whispered, lifting his head a little, and turning + his eyes towards me in his hopelessly crushed attitude. + </p> + <p> + “‘The gate hangs only by the splinters,’ yelled Jorge. + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz tried to speak, but his voice died out in his throat, and I + helped to roll the gun off his broken back. He was insensible. + </p> + <p> + “I kept my lips shut, of course. The signal for the Indians to attack was + never given. Instead, the bugle-calls of the relieving force for which my + ears had thirsted so long, burst out, terrifying like the call of the Last + Day to our surprised enemies. + </p> + <p> + “A tornado, senores, a real hurricane of stampeded men, wild horses, + mounted Indians, swept over me as I cowered on the ground by the side of + Gaspar Ruiz, still stretched out on his face in the shape of a cross. + Peneleo, galloping for life, jabbed at me with his long chuso in passing—for + the sake of old acquaintance, I suppose. How I escaped the flying lead is + more difficult to explain. Venturing to rise on my knees too soon some + soldiers of the 17th Taltal regiment, in their hurry to get at something + alive, nearly bayoneted me on the spot. They looked very disappointed, + too, when, some officers galloping up drove them away with the flat of + their swords. + </p> + <p> + “It was General Robles with his staff. He wanted badly to make some + prisoners. He, too, seemed disappointed for a moment. ‘What! Is it you?’ + he cried. But he dismounted at once to embrace me, for he was an old + friend of my family. I pointed to the body at our feet, and said only + these two words: + </p> + <p> + “‘Gaspar Ruiz.’ + </p> + <p> + “He threw his arms up in astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “‘Aha! Your strong man! Always to the last with your strong man. No + matter. He saved our lives when the earth trembled enough to make the + bravest faint with fear. I was frightened out of my wits. But he—no! + Que guape! Where’s the hero who got the best of him? ha! ha! ha! What + killed him, chico?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘His own strength, General,’ I answered.” + </p> + <p> + XII + </p> + <p> + “But Gaspar Ruiz breathed yet. I had him carried in his poncho under the + shelter of some bushes on the very ridge from which he had been gazing so + fixedly at the fort while unseen death was hovering already over his head. + </p> + <p> + “Our troops had bivouacked round the fort. Towards daybreak I was not + surprised to hear that I was designated to command the escort of a + prisoner who was to be sent down at once to Santiago. Of course the + prisoner was Gaspar Ruiz’ wife. + </p> + <p> + “‘I have named you out of regard for your feelings,’ General Robles + remarked. ‘Though the woman really ought to be shot for all the harm she + has done to the Republic.’ + </p> + <p> + “And as I made a movement of shocked protest, he continued: + </p> + <p> + “‘Now he is as well as dead, she is of no importance. Nobody will know + what to do with her. However, the Government wants her.’ He shrugged his + shoulders. ‘I suppose he must have buried large quantities of his loot in + places that she alone knows of.’ + </p> + <p> + “At dawn I saw her coming up the ridge, guarded by two soldiers, and + carrying her child on her arm. + </p> + <p> + “I walked to meet her. + </p> + <p> + “‘Is he living yet?’ she asked, confronting me with that white, impassive + face he used to look at in an adoring way. + </p> + <p> + “I bent my head, and led her round a clump of bushes without a word. His + eyes were open. He breathed with difficulty, and uttered her name with a + great effort. + </p> + <p> + “‘Erminia!’ + </p> + <p> + “She knelt at his head. The little girl, unconscious of him, and with her + big eyes looking about, began to chatter suddenly, in a joyous, thin + voice. She pointed a tiny finger at the rosy glow of sunrise behind the + black shapes of the peaks. And while that child-talk, incomprehensible and + sweet to the ear, lasted, those two, the dying man and the kneeling woman, + remained silent, looking into each other’s eyes, listening to the frail + sound. Then the prattle stopped. The child laid its head against its + mother’s breast and was still. + </p> + <p> + “‘It was for you,’ he began. ‘Forgive.’ His voice failed him. Presently I + heard a mutter and caught the pitiful words: ‘Not strong enough.’ + </p> + <p> + “She looked at him with an extraordinary intensity. He tried to smile, and + in a humble tone, ‘Forgive me,’ he repeated. ‘Leaving you . . .’ + </p> + <p> + “She bent down, dry-eyed and in a steady voice: ‘On all the earth I have + loved nothing but you, Gaspar,’ she said. + </p> + <p> + “His head made a movement. His eyes revived. ‘At last!’ he sighed out. + Then, anxiously, ‘But is this true . . . is this true?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘As true as that there is no mercy and justice in this world,’ she + answered him, passionately. She stooped over his face. He tried to raise + his head, but it fell back, and when she kissed his lips he was already + dead. His glazed eyes stared at the sky, on which pink clouds floated very + high. But I noticed the eyelids of the child, pressed to its mother’s + breast, droop and close slowly. She had gone to sleep. + </p> + <p> + “The widow of Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed me to lead her away + without shedding a tear. + </p> + <p> + “For travelling we had arranged for her a sidesaddle very much like a + chair, with a board swung beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day + she rode without uttering a word, and hardly for one moment turning her + eyes away from the little girl, whom she held on her knees. At our first + camp I saw her during the night walking about, rocking the child in her + arms and gazing down at it by the light of the moon. After we had started + on our second day’s march she asked me how soon we should come to the + first village of the inhabited country. + </p> + <p> + “I said we should be there about noon. + </p> + <p> + “‘And will there be women there?’ she inquired. + </p> + <p> + “I told her that it was a large village. ‘There will be men and women + there, senora,’ I said, ‘whose hearts shall be made glad by the news that + all the unrest and war is over now.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, it is all over now,’ she repeated. Then, after a time: ‘Senor + officer, what will your Government do with me?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I do not know, senora,’ I said. ‘They will treat you well, no doubt. We + republicans are not savages and take no vengeance on women.’ + </p> + <p> + “She gave me a look at the word ‘republicans’ which I imagined full of + undying hate. But an hour or so afterwards, as we drew up to let the + baggage mules go first along a narrow path skirting a precipice, she + looked at me with such a white, troubled face that I felt a great pity for + her. + </p> + <p> + “‘Senor officer,’ she said, ‘I am weak, I tremble. It is an insensate + fear.’ And indeed her lips did tremble while she tried to smile, glancing + at the beginning of the narrow path which was not so dangerous after all. + ‘I am afraid I shall drop the child. Gaspar saved your life, you remember. + . . . Take her from me.’ + </p> + <p> + “I took the child out of her extended arms. ‘Shut your eyes, senora, and + trust to your mule,’ I recommended. + </p> + <p> + “She did so, and with her pallor and her wasted, thin face she looked + deathlike. At a turn of the path where a great crag of purple porphyry + closes the view of the lowlands, I saw her open her eyes. I rode just + behind her holding the little girl with my right arm. ‘The child is all + right,’ I cried encouragingly. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ she answered, faintly; and then, to my intense terror, I saw her + stand up on the foot-rest, staring horribly, and throw herself forward + into the chasm on our right. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot describe to you the sudden and abject fear that came over me at + that dreadful sight. It was a dread of the abyss, the dread of the crags + which seemed to nod upon me. My head swam. I pressed the child to my side + and sat my horse as still as a statue. I was speechless and cold all over. + Her mule staggered, sidling close to the rock, and then went on. My horse + only pricked up his ears with a slight snort. My heart stood still, and + from the depths of the precipice the stones rattling in the bed of the + furious stream made me almost insane with their sound. + </p> + <p> + “Next moment we were round the turn and on a broad and grassy slope. And + then I yelled. My men came running back to me in great alarm. It seems + that at first I did nothing but shout, ‘She has given the child into my + hands! She has given the child into my hands!’ The escort thought I had + gone mad.” + </p> + <p> + General Santierra ceased and got up from the table. “And that is all, + senores,” he concluded, with a courteous glance at his rising guests. + </p> + <p> + “But what became of the child. General?” we asked. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, the child, the child.” + </p> + <p> + He walked to one of the windows opening on his beautiful garden, the + refuge of his old days. Its fame was great in the land. Keeping us back + with a raised arm, he called out, “Erminia, Erminia!” and waited. Then his + cautioning arm dropped, and we crowded to the windows. + </p> + <p> + From a clump of trees a woman had come upon the broad walk bordered with + flowers. We could hear the rustle of her starched petticoats and observed + the ample spread of her old-fashioned black silk skirt. She looked up, and + seeing all these eyes staring at her stopped, frowned, smiled, shook her + finger at the General, who was laughing boisterously, and drawing the + black lace on her head so as to partly conceal her haughty profile, passed + out of our sight, walking with stiff dignity. + </p> + <p> + “You have beheld the guardian angel of the old man—and her to whom + you owe all that is seemly and comfortable in my hospitality. Somehow, + senores, though the flame of love has been kindled early in my breast, I + have never married. And because of that perhaps the sparks of the sacred + fire are not yet extinct here.” He struck his broad chest. “Still alive, + still alive,” he said, with serio-comic emphasis. “But I shall not marry + now. She is General Santierra’s adopted daughter and heiress.” + </p> + <p> + One of our fellow-guests, a young naval officer, described her afterwards + as a “short, stout, old girl of forty or thereabouts.” We had all noticed + that her hair was turning grey, and that she had very fine black eyes. + </p> + <p> + “And,” General Santierra continued, “neither would she ever hear of + marrying any one. A real calamity! Good, patient, devoted to the old man. + A simple soul. But I would not advise any of you to ask for her hand, for + if she took yours into hers it would be only to crush your bones. Ah! she + does not jest on that subject. And she is the own daughter of her father, + the strong man who perished through his own strength: the strength of his + body, of his simplicity—of his love!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE INFORMER + </h2> + <h3> + AN IRONIC TALE + </h3> + <p> + Mr. X came to me, preceded by a letter of introduction from a good friend + of mine in Paris, specifically to see my collection of Chinese bronzes and + porcelain. + </p> + <p> + “My friend in Paris is a collector, too. He collects neither porcelain, + nor bronzes, nor pictures, nor medals, nor stamps, nor anything that could + be profitably dispersed under an auctioneer’s hammer. He would reject, + with genuine surprise, the name of a collector. Nevertheless, that’s what + he is by temperament. He collects acquaintances. It is delicate work. He + brings to it the patience, the passion, the determination of a true + collector of curiosities. His collection does not contain any royal + personages. I don’t think he considers them sufficiently rare and + interesting; but, with that exception, he has met with and talked to + everyone worth knowing on any conceivable ground. He observes them, + listens to them, penetrates them, measures them, and puts the memory away + in the galleries of his mind. He has schemed, plotted, and travelled all + over Europe in order to add to his collection of distinguished personal + acquaintances. + </p> + <p> + “As he is wealthy, well connected, and unprejudiced, his collection is + pretty complete, including objects (or should I say subjects?) whose value + is unappreciated by the vulgar, and often unknown to popular fame. Of + trevolte of modern times. The world knows him as a revolutionary writer + whose savage irony has laid bare the rottenness of the most respectable + institutions. He has scalped every venerated head, and has mangled at the + stake of his wit every received opinion and every recognized principle of + conduct and policy. Who does not remember his flaming red revolutionary + pamphlets? Their sudden swarmings used to overwhelm the powers of every + Continental police like a plague of crimson gadflies. But this extreme + writer has been also the active inspirer of secret societies, the + mysterious unknown Number One of desperate conspiracies suspected and + unsuspected, matured or baffled. And the world at large has never had an + inkling of that fact! This accounts for him going about amongst us to this + day, a veteran of many subterranean campaigns, standing aside now, safe + within his reputation of merely the greatest destructive publicist that + ever lived.” + </p> + <p> + Thus wrote my friend, adding that Mr. X was an enlightened connoisseur of + bronzes and china, and asking me to show him my collection. + </p> + <p> + X turned up in due course. My treasures are disposed in three large rooms + without carpets and curtains. There is no other furniture than the etagres + and the glass cases whose contents shall be worth a fortune to my heirs. I + allow no fires to be lighted, for fear of accidents, and a fire-proof door + separates them from the rest of the house. + </p> + <p> + It was a bitter cold day. We kept on our overcoats and hats. Middle-sized + and spare, his eyes alert in a long, Roman-nosed countenance, X walked on + his neat little feet, with short steps, and looked at my collection + intelligently. I hope I looked at him intelligently, too. A snow-white + moustache and imperial made his nutbrown complexion appear darker than it + really was. In his fur coat and shiny tall hat that terrible man looked + fashionable. I believe he belonged to a noble family, and could have + called himself Vicomte X de la Z if he chose. We talked nothing but + bronzes and porcelain. He was remarkably appreciative. We parted on + cordial terms. + </p> + <p> + Where he was staying I don’t know. I imagine he must have been a lonely + man. Anarchists, I suppose, have no families—not, at any rate, as we + understand that social relation. Organization into families may answer to + a need of human nature, but in the last instance it is based on law, and + therefore must be something odious and impossible to an anarchist. But, + indeed, I don’t understand anarchists. Does a man of that—of that—persuasion + still remain an anarchist when alone, quite alone and going to bed, for + instance? Does he lay his head on the pillow, pull his bedclothes over + him, and go to sleep with the necessity of the chambardement general, as + the French slang has it, of the general blow-up, always present to his + mind? And if so how can he? I am sure that if such a faith (or such a + fanaticism) once mastered my thoughts I would never be able to compose + myself sufficiently to sleep or eat or perform any of the routine acts of + daily life. I would want no wife, no children; I could have no friends, it + seems to me; and as to collecting bronzes or china, that, I should say, + would be quite out of the question. But I don’t know. All I know is that + Mr. X took his meals in a very good restaurant which I frequented also. + </p> + <p> + With his head uncovered, the silver top-knot of his brushed-up hair + completed the character of his physiognomy, all bony ridges and sunken + hollows, clothed in a perfect impassiveness of expression. His meagre + brown hands emerging from large white cuffs came and went breaking bread, + pouring wine, and so on, with quiet mechanical precision. His head and + body above the tablecloth had a rigid immobility. This firebrand, this + great agitator, exhibited the least possible amount of warmth and + animation. His voice was rasping, cold, and monotonous in a low key. He + could not be called a talkative personality; but with his detached calm + manner he appeared as ready to keep the conversation going as to drop it + at any moment. + </p> + <p> + And his conversation was by no means commonplace. To me, I own, there was + some excitement in talking quietly across a dinner-table with a man whose + venomous pen-stabs had sapped the vitality of at least one monarchy. That + much was a matter of public knowledge. But I knew more. I knew of him—from + my friend—as a certainty what the guardians of social order in + Europe had at most only suspected, or dimly guessed at. + </p> + <p> + He had had what I may call his underground life. And as I sat, evening + after evening, facing him at dinner, a curiosity in that direction would + naturally arise in my mind. I am a quiet and peaceable product of + civilization, and know no passion other than the passion for collecting + things which are rare, and must remain exquisite even if approaching to + the monstrous. Some Chinese bronzes are monstrously precious. And here + (out of my friend’s collection), here I had before me a kind of rare + monster. It is true that this monster was polished and in a sense even + exquisite. His beautiful unruffled manner was that. But then he was not of + bronze. He was not even Chinese, which would have enabled one to + contemplate him calmly across the gulf of racial difference. He was alive + and European; he had the manner of good society, wore a coat and hat like + mine, and had pretty near the same taste in cooking. It was too frightful + to think of. + </p> + <p> + One evening he remarked, casually, in the course of conversation, “There’s + no amendment to be got out of mankind except by terror and violence.” + </p> + <p> + You can imagine the effect of such a phrase out of such a man’s mouth upon + a person like myself, whose whole scheme of life had been based upon a + suave and delicate discrimination of social and artistic values. Just + imagine! Upon me, to whom all sorts and forms of violence appeared as + unreal as the giants, ogres, and seven-headed hydras whose activities + affect, fantastically, the course of legends and fairy-tales! + </p> + <p> + I seemed suddenly to hear above the festive bustle and clatter of the + brilliant restaurant the mutter of a hungry and seditious multitude. + </p> + <p> + I suppose I am impressionable and imaginative. I had a disturbing vision + of darkness, full of lean jaws and wild eyes, amongst the hundred electric + lights of the place. But somehow this vision made me angry, too. The sight + of that man, so calm, breaking bits of white bread, exasperated me. And I + had the audacity to ask him how it was that the starving proletariat of + Europe to whom he had been preaching revolt and violence had not been made + indignant by his openly luxurious life. “At all this,” I said, pointedly, + with a glance round the room and at the bottle of champagne we generally + shared between us at dinner. + </p> + <p> + He remained unmoved. + </p> + <p> + “Do I feed on their toil and their heart’s blood? Am I a speculator or a + capitalist? Did I steal my fortune from a starving people? No! They know + this very well. And they envy me nothing. The miserable mass of the people + is generous to its leaders. What I have acquired has come to me through my + writings; not from the millions of pamphlets distributed gratis to the + hungry and the oppressed, but from the hundreds of thousands of copies + sold to the well-fed bourgeoisie. You know that my writings were at one + time the rage, the fashion—the thing to read with wonder and horror, + to turn your eyes up at my pathos . . . or else, to laugh in ecstasies at + my wit.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I admitted. “I remember, of course; and I confess frankly that I + could never understand that infatuation.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you know yet,” he said, “that an idle and selfish class loves to + see mischief being made, even if it is made at its own expense? Its own + life being all a matter of pose and gesture, it is unable to realize the + power and the danger of a real movement and of words that have no sham + meaning. It is all fun and sentiment. It is sufficient, for instance, to + point out the attitude of the old French aristocracy towards the + philosophers whose words were preparing the Great Revolution. Even in + England, where you have some common-sense, a demagogue has only to shout + loud enough and long enough to find some backing in the very class he is + shouting at. You, too, like to see mischief being made. The demagogue + carries the amateurs of emotion with him. Amateurism in this, that, and + the other thing is a delightfully easy way of killing time, and feeding + one’s own vanity—the silly vanity of being abreast with the ideas of + the day after to-morrow. Just as good and otherwise harmless people will + join you in ecstasies over your collection without having the slightest + notion in what its marvellousness really consists.” + </p> + <p> + I hung my head. It was a crushing illustration of the sad truth he + advanced. The world is full of such people. And that instance of the + French aristocracy before the Revolution was extremely telling, too. I + could not traverse his statement, though its cynicism—always a + distasteful trait—took off much of its value to my mind. However, I + admit I was impressed. I felt the need to say something which would not be + in the nature of assent and yet would not invite discussion. + </p> + <p> + “You don’t mean to say,” I observed, airily, “that extreme revolutionists + have ever been actively assisted by the infatuation of such people?” + </p> + <p> + “I did not mean exactly that by what I said just now. I generalized. But + since you ask me, I may tell you that such help has been given to + revolutionary activities, more or less consciously, in various countries. + And even in this country.” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible!” I protested with firmness. “We don’t play with fire to that + extent.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet you can better afford it than others, perhaps. But let me observe + that most women, if not always ready to play with fire, are generally + eager to play with a loose spark or so.” + </p> + <p> + “Is this a joke?” I asked, smiling. + </p> + <p> + “If it is, I am not aware of it,” he said, woodenly. “I was thinking of an + instance. Oh! mild enough in a way . . .” + </p> + <p> + I became all expectation at this. I had tried many times to approach him + on his underground side, so to speak. The very word had been pronounced + between us. But he had always met me with his impenetrable calm. + </p> + <p> + “And at the same time,” Mr. X continued, “it will give you a notion of the + difficulties that may arise in what you are pleased to call underground + work. It is sometimes difficult to deal with them. Of course there is no + hierarchy amongst the affiliated. No rigid system.” + </p> + <p> + My surprise was great, but short-lived. Clearly, amongst extreme + anarchists there could be no hierarchy; nothing in the nature of a law of + precedence. The idea of anarchy ruling among anarchists was comforting, + too. It could not possibly make for efficiency. + </p> + <p> + Mr. X startled me by asking, abruptly, “You know Hermione Street?” + </p> + <p> + I nodded doubtful assent. Hermione Street has been, within the last three + years, improved out of any man’s knowledge. The name exists still, but not + one brick or stone of the old Hermione Street is left now. It was the old + street he meant, for he said: + </p> + <p> + “There was a row of two-storied brick houses on the left, with their backs + against the wing of a great public building—you remember. Would it + surprise you very much to hear that one of these houses was for a time the + centre of anarchist propaganda and of what you would call underground + action?” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” I declared. Hermione Street had never been particularly + respectable, as I remembered it. + </p> + <p> + “The house was the property of a distinguished government official,” he + added, sipping his champagne. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed!” I said, this time not believing a word of it. + </p> + <p> + “Of course he was not living there,” Mr. X continued. “But from ten till + four he sat next door to it, the dear man, in his well-appointed private + room in the wing of the public building I’ve mentioned. To be strictly + accurate, I must explain that the house in Hermione Street did not really + belong to him. It belonged to his grown-up children—a daughter and a + son. The girl, a fine figure, was by no means vulgarly pretty. To more + personal charm than mere youth could account for, she added the seductive + appearance of enthusiasm, of independence, of courageous thought. I + suppose she put on these appearances as she put on her picturesque dresses + and for the same reason: to assert her individuality at any cost. You + know, women would go to any length almost for such a purpose. She went to + a great length. She had acquired all the appropriate gestures of + revolutionary convictions—the gestures of pity, of anger, of + indignation against the anti-humanitarian vices of the social class to + which she belonged herself. All this sat on her striking personality as + well as her slightly original costumes. Very slightly original; just + enough to mark a protest against the philistinism of the overfed + taskmasters of the poor. Just enough, and no more. It would not have done + to go too far in that direction—you understand. But she was of age, + and nothing stood in the way of her offering her house to the + revolutionary workers.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t mean it!” I cried. + </p> + <p> + “I assure you,” he affirmed, “that she made that very practical gesture. + How else could they have got hold of it? The cause is not rich. And, + moreover, there would have been difficulties with any ordinary + house-agent, who would have wanted references and so on. The group she + came in contact with while exploring the poor quarters of the town (you + know the gesture of charity and personal service which was so fashionable + some years ago) accepted with gratitude. The first advantage was that + Hermione Street is, as you know, well away from the suspect part of the + town, specially watched by the police. + </p> + <p> + “The ground floor consisted of a little Italian restaurant, of the + flyblown sort. There was no difficulty in buying the proprietor out. A + woman and a man belonging to the group took it on. The man had been a + cook. The comrades could get their meals there, unnoticed amongst the + other customers. This was another advantage. The first floor was occupied + by a shabby Variety Artists’ Agency—an agency for performers in + inferior music-halls, you know. A fellow called Bomm, I remember. He was + not disturbed. It was rather favourable than otherwise to have a lot of + foreign-looking people, jugglers, acrobats, singers of both sexes, and so + on, going in and out all day long. The police paid no attention to new + faces, you see. The top floor happened, most conveniently, to stand empty + then.” + </p> + <p> + X interrupted himself to attack impassively, with measured movements, a + bombe glacee which the waiter had just set down on the table. He swallowed + carefully a few spoonfuls of the iced sweet, and asked me, “Did you ever + hear of Stone’s Dried Soup?” + </p> + <p> + “Hear of what?” + </p> + <p> + “It was,” X pursued, evenly, “a comestible article once rather prominently + advertised in the dailies, but which never, somehow, gained the favour of + the public. The enterprise fizzled out, as you say here. Parcels of their + stock could be picked up at auctions at considerably less than a penny a + pound. The group bought some of it, and an agency for Stone’s Dried Soup + was started on the top floor. A perfectly respectable business. The stuff, + a yellow powder of extremely unappetizing aspect, was put up in large + square tins, of which six went to a case. If anybody ever came to give an + order, it was, of course, executed. But the advantage of the powder was + this, that things could be concealed in it very conveniently. Now and then + a special case got put on a van and sent off to be exported abroad under + the very nose of the policeman on duty at the corner. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + “I think I do,” I said, with an expressive nod at the remnants of the + bombe melting slowly in the dish. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. But the cases were useful in another way, too. In the basement, + or in the cellar at the back, rather, two printing-presses were + established. A lot of revolutionary literature of the most inflammatory + kind was got away from the house in Stone’s Dried Soup cases. The brother + of our anarchist young lady found some occupation there. He wrote + articles, helped to set up type and pull off the sheets, and generally + assisted the man in charge, a very able young fellow called Sevrin. + </p> + <p> + “The guiding spirit of that group was a fanatic of social revolution. He + is dead now. He was an engraver and etcher of genius. You must have seen + his work. It is much sought after by certain amateurs now. He began by + being revolutionary in his art, and ended by becoming a revolutionist, + after his wife and child had died in want and misery. He used to say that + the bourgeoisie, the smug, overfed lot, had killed them. That was his real + belief. He still worked at his art and led a double life. He was tall, + gaunt, and swarthy, with a long, brown beard and deep-set eyes. You must + have seen him. His name was Horne.” + </p> + <p> + At this I was really startled. Of course years ago I used to meet Horne + about. He looked like a powerful, rough gipsy, in an old top hat, with a + red muffler round his throat and buttoned up in a long, shabby overcoat. + He talked of his art with exaltation, and gave one the impression of being + strung up to the verge of insanity. A small group of connoisseurs + appreciated his work. Who would have thought that this man. . . . Amazing! + And yet it was not, after all, so difficult to believe. + </p> + <p> + “As you see,” X went on, “this group was in a position to pursue its work + of propaganda, and the other kind of work, too, under very advantageous + conditions. They were all resolute, experienced men of a superior stamp. + And yet we became struck at length by the fact that plans prepared in + Hermione Street almost invariably failed.” + </p> + <p> + “Who were ‘we’?” I asked, pointedly. + </p> + <p> + “Some of us in Brussels—at the centre,” he said, hastily. “Whatever + vigorous action originated in Hermione Street seemed doomed to failure. + Something always happened to baffle the best planned manifestations in + every part of Europe. It was a time of general activity. You must not + imagine that all our failures are of a loud sort, with arrests and trials. + That is not so. Often the police work quietly, almost secretly, defeating + our combinations by clever counter-plotting. No arrests, no noise, no + alarming of the public mind and inflaming the passions. It is a wise + procedure. But at that time the police were too uniformly successful from + the Mediterranean to the Baltic. It was annoying and began to look + dangerous. At last we came to the conclusion that there must be some + untrustworthy elements amongst the London groups. And I came over to see + what could be done quietly. + </p> + <p> + “My first step was to call upon our young Lady Amateur of anarchism at her + private house. She received me in a flattering way. I judged that she knew + nothing of the chemical and other operations going on at the top of the + house in Hermione Street. The printing of anarchist literature was the + only ‘activity’ she seemed to be aware of there. She was displaying very + strikingly the usual signs of severe enthusiasm, and had already written + many sentimental articles with ferocious conclusions. I could see she was + enjoying herself hugely, with all the gestures and grimaces of deadly + earnestness. They suited her big-eyed, broad-browed face and the good + carriage of her shapely head, crowned by a magnificent lot of brown hair + done in an unusual and becoming style. Her brother was in the room, too, a + serious youth, with arched eyebrows and wearing a red necktie, who struck + me as being absolutely in the dark about everything in the world, + including himself. By and by a tall young man came in. He was clean-shaved + with a strong bluish jaw and something of the air of a taciturn actor or + of a fanatical priest: the type with thick black eyebrows—you know. + But he was very presentable indeed. He shook hands at once vigorously with + each of us. The young lady came up to me and murmured sweetly, ‘Comrade + Sevrin.’ + </p> + <p> + “I had never seen him before. He had little to say to us, but sat down by + the side of the girl, and they fell at once into earnest conversation. She + leaned forward in her deep armchair, and took her nicely rounded chin in + her beautiful white hand. He looked attentively into her eyes. It was the + attitude of love-making, serious, intense, as if on the brink of the + grave. I suppose she felt it necessary to round and complete her + assumption of advanced ideas, of revolutionary lawlessness, by making + believe to be in love with an anarchist. And this one, I repeat, was + extremely presentable, notwithstanding his fanatical black-browed aspect. + After a few stolen glances in their direction, I had no doubt that he was + in earnest. As to the lady, her gestures were unapproachable, better than + the very thing itself in the blended suggestion of dignity, sweetness, + condescension, fascination, surrender, and reserve. She interpreted her + conception of what that precise sort of love-making should be with + consummate art. And so far, she, too, no doubt, was in earnest. Gestures—but + so perfect! + </p> + <p> + “After I had been left alone with our Lady Amateur I informed her + guardedly of the object of my visit. I hinted at our suspicions. I wanted + to hear what she would have to say, and half expected some perhaps + unconscious revelation. All she said was, ‘That’s serious,’ looking + delightfully concerned and grave. But there was a sparkle in her eyes + which meant plainly, ‘How exciting!’ After all, she knew little of + anything except of words. Still, she undertook to put me in communication + with Horne, who was not easy to find unless in Hermione Street, where I + did not wish to show myself just then. + </p> + <p> + “I met Horne. This was another kind of a fanatic altogether. I exposed to + him the conclusion we in Brussels had arrived at, and pointed out the + significant series of failures. To this he answered with irrelevant + exaltation: + </p> + <p> + “‘I have something in hand that shall strike terror into the heart of + these gorged brutes.’ + </p> + <p> + “And then I learned that, by excavating in one of the cellars of the + house, he and some companions had made their way into the vaults under the + great public building I have mentioned before. The blowing up of a whole + wing was a certainty as soon as the materials were ready. + </p> + <p> + “I was not so appalled at the stupidity of that move as I might have been + had not the usefulness of our centre in Hermione Street become already + very problematical. In fact, in my opinion it was much more of a police + trap by this time than anything else. + </p> + <p> + “What was necessary now was to discover what, or rather who, was wrong, + and I managed at last to get that idea into Horne’s head. He glared, + perplexed, his nostrils working as if he were sniffing treachery in the + air. + </p> + <p> + “And here comes a piece of work which will no doubt strike you as a sort + of theatrical expedient. And yet what else could have been done? The + problem was to find out the untrustworthy member of the group. But no + suspicion could be fastened on one more than another. To set a watch upon + them all was not very practicable. Besides, that proceeding often fails. + In any case, it takes time, and the danger was pressing. I felt certain + that the premises in Hermione Street would be ultimately raided, though + the police had evidently such confidence in the informer that the house, + for the time being, was not even watched. Horne was positive on that + point. Under the circumstances it was an unfavourable symptom. Something + had to be done quickly. + </p> + <p> + “I decided to organize a raid myself upon the group. Do you understand? A + raid of other trusty comrades personating the police. A conspiracy within + a conspiracy. You see the object of it, of course. When apparently about + to be arrested I hoped the informer would betray himself in some way or + other; either by some unguarded act or simply by his unconcerned + demeanour, for instance. Of coarse there was the risk of complete failure + and the no lesser risk of some fatal accident in the course of resistance, + perhaps, or in the efforts at escape. For, as you will easily see, the + Hermione Street group had to be actually and completely taken unawares, as + I was sure they would be by the real police before very long. The informer + was amongst them, and Horne alone could be let into the secret of my plan. + </p> + <p> + “I will not enter into the detail of my preparations. It was not very easy + to arrange, but it was done very well, with a really convincing effect. + The sham police invaded the restaurant, whose shutters were immediately + put up. The surprise was perfect. Most of the Hermione Street party were + found in the second cellar, enlarging the hole communicating with the + vaults of the great public building. At the first alarm, several comrades + bolted through impulsively into the aforesaid vault, where, of course, had + this been a genuine raid, they would have been hopelessly trapped. We did + not bother about them for the moment. They were harmless enough. The top + floor caused considerable anxiety to Horne and myself. There, surrounded + by tins of Stone’s Dried Soup, a comrade, nick-named the Professor (he was + an ex-science student) was engaged in perfecting some new detonators. He + was an abstracted, self-confident, sallow little man, armed with large + round spectacles, and we were afraid that under a mistaken impression he + would blow himself up and wreck the house about our ears. I rushed + upstairs and found him already at the door, on the alert, listening, as he + said, to ‘suspicious noises down below.’ Before I had quite finished + explaining to him what was going on he shrugged his shoulders disdainfully + and turned away to his balances and test-tubes. His was the true spirit of + an extreme revolutionist. Explosives were his faith, his hope, his weapon, + and his shield. He perished a couple of years afterwards in a secret + laboratory through the premature explosion of one of his improved + detonators. + </p> + <p> + “Hurrying down again, I found an impressive scene in the gloom of the big + cellar. The man who personated the inspector (he was no stranger to the + part) was speaking harshly, and giving bogus orders to his bogus + subordinates for the removal of his prisoners. Evidently nothing + enlightening had happened so far. Horne, saturnine and swarthy, waited + with folded arms, and his patient, moody expectation had an air of + stoicism well in keeping with the situation. I detected in the shadows one + of the Hermione Street group surreptitiously chewing up and swallowing a + small piece of paper. Some compromising scrap, I suppose; perhaps just a + note of a few names and addresses. He was a true and faithful ‘companion.’ + But the fund of secret malice which lurks at the bottom of our sympathies + caused me to feel amused at that perfectly uncalled-for performance. + </p> + <p> + “In every other respect the risky experiment, the theatrical coup, if you + like to call it so, seemed to have failed. The deception could not be kept + up much longer; the explanation would bring about a very embarrassing and + even grave situation. The man who had eaten the paper would be furious. + The fellows who had bolted away would be angry, too. + </p> + <p> + “To add to my vexation, the door communicating with the other cellar, + where the printing-presses were, flew open, and our young lady + revolutionist appeared, a black silhouette in a close-fitting dress and a + large hat, with the blaze of gas flaring in there at her back. Over her + shoulder I perceived the arched eyebrows and the red necktie of her + brother. + </p> + <p> + “The last people in the world I wanted to see then! They had gone that + evening to some amateur concert for the delectation of the poor people, + you know; but she had insisted on leaving early, on purpose to call in + Hermione Street on the way home, under the pretext of having some work to + do. Her usual task was to correct the proofs of the Italian and French + editions of the Alarm Bell and the Firebrand.” . . . + </p> + <p> + “Heavens!” I murmured. I had been shown once a few copies of these + publications. Nothing, in my opinion, could have been less fit for the + eyes of a young lady. They were the most advanced things of the sort; + advanced, I mean, beyond all bounds of reason and decency. One of them + preached the dissolution of all social and domestic ties; the other + advocated systematic murder. To think of a young girl calmly tracking + printers’ errors all along the sort of abominable sentences I remembered + was intolerable to my sentiment of womanhood. Mr. X, after giving me a + glance, pursued steadily. + </p> + <p> + “I think, however, that she came mostly to exercise her fascinations upon + Sevrin, and to receive his homage in her queenly and condescending way. + She was aware of both—her power and his homage—and enjoyed + them with, I dare say, complete innocence. We have no ground in expediency + or morals to quarrel with her on that account. Charm in woman and + exceptional intelligence in man are a law unto themselves. Is it not so?” + </p> + <p> + I refrained from expressing my abhorrence of that licentious doctrine + because of my curiosity. + </p> + <p> + “But what happened then?” I hastened to ask. + </p> + <p> + X went on crumbling slowly a small piece of bread with a careless left + hand. + </p> + <p> + “What happened, in effect,” he confessed, “is that she saved the + situation.” + </p> + <p> + “She gave you an opportunity to end your rather sinister farce,” I + suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said, preserving his impassive bearing. “The farce was bound to + end soon. And it ended in a very few minutes. And it ended well. Had she + not come in, it might have ended badly. Her brother, of course, did not + count. They had slipped into the house quietly some time before. The + printing-cellar had an entrance of its own. Not finding any one there, she + sat down to her proofs, expecting Sevrin to return to his work at any + moment. He did not do so. She grew impatient, heard through the door the + sounds of a disturbance in the other cellar and naturally came in to see + what was the matter. + </p> + <p> + “Sevrin had been with us. At first he had seemed to me the most amazed of + the whole raided lot. He appeared for an instant as if paralyzed with + astonishment. He stood rooted to the spot. He never moved a limb. A + solitary gas-jet flared near his head; all the other lights had been put + out at the first alarm. And presently, from my dark corner, I observed on + his shaven actor’s face an expression of puzzled, vexed watchfulness. He + knitted his heavy eyebrows. The corners of his mouth dropped scornfully. + He was angry. Most likely he had seen through the game, and I regretted I + had not taken him from the first into my complete confidence. + </p> + <p> + “But with the appearance of the girl he became obviously alarmed. It was + plain. I could see it grow. The change of his expression was swift and + startling. And I did not know why. The reason never occurred to me. I was + merely astonished at the extreme alteration of the man’s face. Of course + he had not been aware of her presence in the other cellar; but that did + not explain the shock her advent had given him. For a moment he seemed to + have been reduced to imbecility. He opened his mouth as if to shout, or + perhaps only to gasp. At any rate, it was somebody else who shouted. This + somebody else was the heroic comrade whom I had detected swallowing a + piece of paper. With laudable presence of mind he let out a warning yell. + </p> + <p> + “‘It’s the police! Back! Back! Run back, and bolt the door behind you.’ + </p> + <p> + “It was an excellent hint; but instead of retreating the girl continued to + advance, followed by her long-faced brother in his knickerbocker suit, in + which he had been singing comic songs for the entertainment of a joyless + proletariat. She advanced not as if she had failed to understand—the + word ‘police’ has an unmistakable sound—but rather as if she could + not help herself. She did not advance with the free gait and expanding + presence of a distinguished amateur anarchist amongst poor, struggling + professionals, but with slightly raised shoulders, and her elbows pressed + close to her body, as if trying to shrink within herself. Her eyes were + fixed immovably upon Sevrin. Sevrin the man, I fancy; not Sevrin the + anarchist. But she advanced. And that was natural. For all their + assumption of independence, girls of that class are used to the feeling of + being specially protected, as, in fact, they are. This feeling accounts + for nine tenths of their audacious gestures. Her face had gone completely + colourless. Ghastly. Fancy having it brought home to her so brutally that + she was the sort of person who must run away from the police! I believe + she was pale with indignation, mostly, though there was, of course, also + the concern for her intact personality, a vague dread of some sort of + rudeness. And, naturally, she turned to a man, to the man on whom she had + a claim of fascination and homage—the man who could not conceivably + fail her at any juncture.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” I cried, amazed at this analysis, “if it had been serious, real, I + mean—as she thought it was—what could she expect him to do for + her?” + </p> + <p> + X never moved a muscle of his face. + </p> + <p> + “Goodness knows. I imagine that this charming, generous, and independent + creature had never known in her life a single genuine thought; I mean a + single thought detached from small human vanities, or whose source was not + in some conventional perception. All I know is that after advancing a few + steps she extended her hand towards the motionless Sevrin. And that at + least was no gesture. It was a natural movement. As to what she expected + him to do, who can tell? The impossible. But whatever she expected, it + could not have come up, I am safe to say, to what he had made up his mind + to do, even before that entreating hand had appealed to him so directly. + It had not been necessary. From the moment he had seen her enter that + cellar, he had made up his mind to sacrifice his future usefulness, to + throw off the impenetrable, solidly fastened mask it had been his pride to + wear—” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” I interrupted, puzzled. “Was it Sevrin, then, who was—” + </p> + <p> + “He was. The most persistent, the most dangerous, the craftiest, the most + systematic of informers. A genius amongst betrayers. Fortunately for us, + he was unique. The man was a fanatic, I have told you. Fortunately, again, + for us, he had fallen in love with the accomplished and innocent gestures + of that girl. An actor in desperate earnest himself, he must have believed + in the absolute value of conventional signs. As to the grossness of the + trap into which he fell, the explanation must be that two sentiments of + such absorbing magnitude cannot exist simultaneously in one heart. The + danger of that other and unconscious comedian robbed him of his vision, of + his perspicacity, of his judgment. Indeed, it did at first rob him of his + self-possession. But he regained that through the necessity—as it + appeared to him imperiously—to do something at once. To do what? + Why, to get her out of the house as quickly as possible. He was + desperately anxious to do that. I have told you he was terrified. It could + not be about himself. He had been surprised and annoyed at a move quite + unforeseen and premature. I may even say he had been furious. He was + accustomed to arrange the last scene of his betrayals with a deep, subtle + art which left his revolutionist reputation untouched. But it seems clear + to me that at the same time he had resolved to make the best of it, to + keep his mask resolutely on. It was only with the discovery of her being + in the house that everything—the forced calm, the restraint of his + fanaticism, the mask—all came off together in a kind of panic. Why + panic, do you ask? The answer is very simple. He remembered—or, I + dare say, he had never forgotten—the Professor alone at the top of + the house, pursuing his researches, surrounded by tins upon tins of + Stone’s Dried Soup. There was enough in some few of them to bury us all + where we stood under a heap of bricks. Sevrin, of course, was aware of + that. And we must believe, also, that he knew the exact character of the + man. He had gauged so many such characters! Or perhaps he only gave the + Professor credit for what he himself was capable of. But, in any case, the + effect was produced. And suddenly he raised his voice in authority. + </p> + <p> + “‘Get the lady away at once.’ + </p> + <p> + “It turned out that he was as hoarse as a crow; result, no doubt, of the + intense emotion. It passed off in a moment. But these fateful words issued + forth from his contracted throat in a discordant, ridiculous croak. They + required no answer. The thing was done. However, the man personating the + inspector judged it expedient to say roughly: + </p> + <p> + “‘She shall go soon enough, together with the rest of you.’ + </p> + <p> + “These were the last words belonging to the comedy part of this affair. + </p> + <p> + “Oblivious of everything and everybody, Sevrin strode towards him and + seized the lapels of his coat. Under his thin bluish cheeks one could see + his jaws working with passion. + </p> + <p> + “‘You have men posted outside. Get the lady taken home at once. Do you + hear? Now. Before you try to get hold of the man upstairs.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! There is a man upstairs,’ scoffed the other, openly. ‘Well, he shall + be brought down in time to see the end of this.’ + </p> + <p> + “But Sevrin, beside himself, took no heed of the tone. + </p> + <p> + “‘Who’s the imbecile meddler who sent you blundering here? Didn’t you + understand your instructions? Don’t you know anything? It’s incredible. + Here—’ + </p> + <p> + “He dropped the lapels of the coat and, plunging his hand into his breast, + jerked feverishly at something under his shirt. At last he produced a + small square pocket of soft leather, which must have been hanging like a + scapulary from his neck by the tape whose broken ends dangled from his + fist. + </p> + <p> + “‘Look inside,’ he spluttered, flinging it in the other’s face. And + instantly he turned round towards the girl. She stood just behind him, + perfectly still and silent. Her set, white face gave an illusion of + placidity. Only her staring eyes seemed bigger and darker. + </p> + <p> + “He spoke rapidly, with nervous assurance. I heard him distinctly promise + her to make everything as clear as daylight presently. But that was all I + caught. He stood close to her, never attempting to touch her even with the + tip of his little finger—and she stared at him stupidly. For a + moment, however, her eyelids descended slowly, pathetically, and then, + with the long black eyelashes lying on her white cheeks, she looked ready + to fall down in a swoon. But she never even swayed where she stood. He + urged her loudly to follow him at once, and walked towards the door at the + bottom of the cellar stairs without looking behind him. And, as a matter + of fact, she did move after him a pace or two. But, of course, he was not + allowed to reach the door. There were angry exclamations, a short, fierce + scuffle. Flung away violently, he came flying backwards upon her, and + fell. She threw out her arms in a gesture of dismay and stepped aside, + just clear of his head, which struck the ground heavily near her shoe. + </p> + <p> + “He grunted with the shock. By the time he had picked himself up, slowly, + dazedly, he was awake to the reality of things. The man into whose hands + he had thrust the leather case had extracted therefrom a narrow strip of + bluish paper. He held it up above his head, and, as after the scuffle an + expectant uneasy stillness reigned once more, he threw it down + disdainfully with the words, ‘I think, comrades, that this proof was + hardly necessary.’ + </p> + <p> + “Quick as thought, the girl stooped after the fluttering slip. Holding it + spread out in both hands, she looked at it; then, without raising her + eyes, opened her fingers slowly and let it fall. + </p> + <p> + “I examined that curious document afterwards. It was signed by a very high + personage, and stamped and countersigned by other high officials in + various countries of Europe. In his trade—or shall I say, in his + mission?—that sort of talisman might have been necessary, no doubt. + Even to the police itself—all but the heads—he had been known + only as Sevrin the noted anarchist. + </p> + <p> + “He hung his head, biting his lower lip. A change had come over him, a + sort of thoughtful, absorbed calmness. Nevertheless, he panted. His sides + worked visibly, and his nostrils expanded and collapsed in weird contrast + with his sombre aspect of a fanatical monk in a meditative attitude, but + with something, too, in his face of an actor intent upon the terrible + exigencies of his part. Before him Horne declaimed, haggard and bearded, + like an inspired denunciatory prophet from a wilderness. Two fanatics. + They were made to understand each other. Does this surprise you? I suppose + you think that such people would be foaming at the mouth and snarling at + each other?” + </p> + <p> + I protested hastily that I was not surprised in the least; that I thought + nothing of the kind; that anarchists in general were simply inconceivable + to me mentally, morally, logically, sentimentally, and even physically. X + received this declaration with his usual woodenness and went on. + </p> + <p> + “Horne had burst out into eloquence. While pouring out scornful invective, + he let tears escape from his eyes and roll down his black beard unheeded. + Sevrin panted quicker and quicker. When he opened his mouth to speak, + everyone hung on his words. + </p> + <p> + “‘Don’t be a fool, Horne,’ he began. ‘You know very well that I have done + this for none of the reasons you are throwing at me.’ And in a moment he + became outwardly as steady as a rock under the other’s lurid stare. ‘I + have been thwarting, deceiving, and betraying you—from conviction.’ + </p> + <p> + “He turned his back on Horne, and addressing the girl, repeated the words: + ‘From conviction.’ + </p> + <p> + “It’s extraordinary how cold she looked. I suppose she could not think of + any appropriate gesture. There can have been few precedents indeed for + such a situation. + </p> + <p> + “‘Clear as daylight,’ he added. ‘Do you understand what that means? From + conviction.’ + </p> + <p> + “And still she did not stir. She did not know what to do. But the luckless + wretch was about to give her the opportunity for a beautiful and correct + gesture. + </p> + <p> + “‘I have felt in me the power to make you share this conviction,’ he + protested, ardently. He had forgotten himself; he made a step towards her—perhaps + he stumbled. To me he seemed to be stooping low as if to touch the hem of + her garment. And then the appropriate gesture came. She snatched her skirt + away from his polluting contact and averted her head with an upward tilt. + It was magnificently done, this gesture of conventionally unstained + honour, of an unblemished high-minded amateur. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing could have been better. And he seemed to think so, too, for once + more he turned away. But this time he faced no one. He was again panting + frightfully, while he fumbled hurriedly in his waistcoat pocket, and then + raised his hand to his lips. There was something furtive in this movement, + but directly afterwards his bearing changed. His laboured breathing gave + him a resemblance to a man who had just run a desperate race; but a + curious air of detachment, of sudden and profound indifference, replaced + the strain of the striving effort. The race was over. I did not want to + see what would happen next. I was only too well aware. I tucked the young + lady’s arm under mine without a word, and made my way with her to the + stairs. + </p> + <p> + “Her brother walked behind us. Half-way up the short flight she seemed + unable to lift her feet high enough for the steps, and we had to pull and + push to get her to the top. In the passage she dragged herself along, + hanging on my arm, helplessly bent like an old woman. We issued into an + empty street through a half-open door, staggering like besotted revellers. + At the corner we stopped a four-wheeler, and the ancient driver looked + round from his box with morose scorn at our efforts to get her in. Twice + during the drive I felt her collapse on my shoulder in a half faint. + Facing us, the youth in knickerbockers remained as mute as a fish, and, + till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat more still than I would have + believed it possible. + </p> + <p> + “At the door of their drawing-room she left my arm and walked in first, + catching at the chairs and tables. She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted + with the effort, her cloak still hanging from her shoulders, flung herself + into a deep armchair, sideways, her face half buried in a cushion. The + good brother appeared silently before her with a glass of water. She + motioned it away. He drank it himself and walked off to a distant corner—behind + the grand piano, somewhere. All was still in this room where I had seen, + for the first time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist, captivated and spellbound + by the consummate and hereditary grimaces that in a certain sphere of life + take the place of feelings with an excellent effect. I suppose her + thoughts were busy with the same memory. Her shoulders shook violently. A + pure attack of nerves. When it quieted down she affected firmness, ‘What + is done to a man of that sort? What will they do to him?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Nothing. They can do nothing to him,’ I assured her, with perfect truth. + I was pretty certain he had died in less than twenty minutes from the + moment his hand had gone to his lips. For if his fanatical anti-anarchism + went even as far as carrying poison in his pocket, only to rob his + adversaries of legitimate vengeance, I knew he would take care to provide + something that would not fail him when required. + </p> + <p> + “She drew an angry breath. There were red spots on her cheeks and a + feverish brilliance in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “‘Has ever any one been exposed to such a terrible experience? To think + that he had held my hand! That man!’ Her face twitched, she gulped down a + pathetic sob. ‘If I ever felt sure of anything, it was of Sevrin’s + high-minded motives.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then she began to weep quietly, which was good for her. Then through her + flood of tears, half resentful, ‘What was it he said to me?—“From + conviction!” It seemed a vile mockery. What could he mean by it?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘That, my dear young lady,’ I said, gently, ‘is more than I or anybody + else can ever explain to you.’” + </p> + <p> + Mr. X flicked a crumb off the front of his coat. + </p> + <p> + “And that was strictly true as to her. Though Horne, for instance, + understood very well; and so did I, especially after we had been to + Sevrin’s lodging in a dismal back street of an intensely respectable + quarter. Horne was known there as a friend, and we had no difficulty in + being admitted, the slatternly maid merely remarking, as she let us in, + that ‘Mr Sevrin had not been home that night.’ We forced open a couple of + drawers in the way of duty, and found a little useful information. The + most interesting part was his diary; for this man, engaged in such deadly + work, had the weakness to keep a record of the most damnatory kind. There + were his acts and also his thoughts laid bare to us. But the dead don’t + mind that. They don’t mind anything. + </p> + <p> + “‘From conviction.’ Yes. A vague but ardent humanitarianism had urged him + in his first youth into the bitterest extremity of negation and revolt. + Afterwards his optimism flinched. He doubted and became lost. You have + heard of converted atheists. These turn often into dangerous fanatics, but + the soul remains the same. After he had got acquainted with the girl, + there are to be met in that diary of his very queer politico-amorous + rhapsodies. He took her sovereign grimaces with deadly seriousness. He + longed to convert her. But all this cannot interest you. For the rest, I + don’t know if you remember—it is a good many years ago now—the + journalistic sensation of the ‘Hermione Street Mystery’; the finding of a + man’s body in the cellar of an empty house; the inquest; some arrests; + many surmises—then silence—the usual end for many obscure + martyrs and confessors. The fact is, he was not enough of an optimist. You + must be a savage, tyrannical, pitiless, thick-and-thin optimist, like + Horne, for instance, to make a good social rebel of the extreme type. + </p> + <p> + “He rose from the table. A waiter hurried up with his overcoat; another + held his hat in readiness. + </p> + <p> + “But what became of the young lady?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Do you really want to know?” he said, buttoning himself in his fur coat + carefully. “I confess to the small malice of sending her Sevrin’s diary. + She went into retirement; then she went to Florence; then she went into + retreat in a convent. I can’t tell where she will go next. What does it + matter? Gestures! Gestures! Mere gestures of her class.” + </p> + <p> + “He fitted on his glossy high hat with extreme precision, and casting a + rapid glance round the room, full of well-dressed people, innocently + dining, muttered between his teeth: + </p> + <p> + “And nothing else! That is why their kind is fated to perish.” + </p> + <p> + “I never met Mr. X again after that evening. I took to dining at my club. + On my next visit to Paris I found my friend all impatience to hear of the + effect produced on me by this rare item of his collection. I told him all + the story, and he beamed on me with the pride of his distinguished + specimen. + </p> + <p> + “‘Isn’t X well worth knowing?’ he bubbled over in great delight. ‘He’s + unique, amazing, absolutely terrific.’ + </p> + <p> + “His enthusiasm grated upon my finer feelings. I told him curtly that the + man’s cynicism was simply abominable. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, abominable! abominable!’ assented my friend, effusively. ‘And then, + you know, he likes to have his little joke sometimes,’ he added in a + confidential tone. + </p> + <p> + “I fail to understand the connection of this last remark. I have been + utterly unable to discover where in all this the joke comes in.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BRUTE + </h2> + <h3> + AN INDIGNANT TALE + </h3> + <p> + Dodging in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged a smile and a glance + with Miss Blank in the bar of the Three Crows. This exchange was effected + with extreme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still alive, Miss + Blank must be something over sixty now. How time passes! + </p> + <p> + Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the partition of glass and + varnished wood, Miss Blank was good enough to say, encouragingly: + </p> + <p> + “Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with another gentleman I’ve + never seen before.” + </p> + <p> + I moved towards the parlour door. A voice discoursing on the other side + (it was but a matchboard partition), rose so loudly that the concluding + words became quite plain in all their atrocity. + </p> + <p> + “That fellow Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, and a good job, too!” + </p> + <p> + This inhuman sentiment, since there was nothing profane or improper in it, + failed to do as much as to check the slight yawn Miss Blank was achieving + behind her hand. And she remained gazing fixedly at the window-panes, + which streamed with rain. + </p> + <p> + As I opened the parlour door the same voice went on in the same cruel + strain: + </p> + <p> + “I was glad when I heard she got the knock from somebody at last. Sorry + enough for poor Wilmot, though. That man and I used to be chums at one + time. Of course that was the end of him. A clear case if there ever was + one. No way out of it. None at all.” + </p> + <p> + The voice belonged to the gentleman Miss Blank had never seen before. He + straddled his long legs on the hearthrug. Jermyn, leaning forward, held + his pocket-handkerchief spread out before the grate. He looked back + dismally over his shoulder, and as I slipped behind one of the little + wooden tables, I nodded to him. On the other side of the fire, imposingly + calm and large, sat Mr. Stonor, jammed tight into a capacious Windsor + armchair. There was nothing small about him but his short, white + side-whiskers. Yards and yards of extra superfine blue cloth (made up into + an overcoat) reposed on a chair by his side. And he must just have brought + some liner from sea, because another chair was smothered under his black + waterproof, ample as a pall, and made of three-fold oiled silk, + double-stitched throughout. A man’s hand-bag of the usual size looked like + a child’s toy on the floor near his feet. + </p> + <p> + I did not nod to him. He was too big to be nodded to in that parlour. He + was a senior Trinity pilot and condescended to take his turn in the cutter + only during the summer months. He had been many times in charge of royal + yachts in and out of Port Victoria. Besides, it’s no use nodding to a + monument. And he was like one. He didn’t speak, he didn’t budge. He just + sat there, holding his handsome old head up, immovable, and almost bigger + than life. It was extremely fine. Mr. Stonor’s presence reduced poor old + Jermyn to a mere shabby wisp of a man, and made the talkative stranger in + tweeds on the hearthrug look absurdly boyish. The latter must have been a + few years over thirty, and was certainly not the sort of individual that + gets abashed at the sound of his own voice, because gathering me in, as it + were, by a friendly glance, he kept it going without a check. + </p> + <p> + “I was glad of it,” he repeated, emphatically. “You may be surprised at + it, but then you haven’t gone through the experience I’ve had of her. I + can tell you, it was something to remember. Of course, I got off scot free + myself—as you can see. She did her best to break up my pluck for me + tho’. She jolly near drove as fine a fellow as ever lived into a madhouse. + What do you say to that—eh?” + </p> + <p> + Not an eyelid twitched in Mr. Stonor’s enormous face. Monumental! The + speaker looked straight into my eyes. + </p> + <p> + “It used to make me sick to think of her going about the world murdering + people.” + </p> + <p> + Jermyn approached the handkerchief a little nearer to the grate and + groaned. It was simply a habit he had. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve seen her once,” he declared, with mournful indifference. “She had a + house—” + </p> + <p> + The stranger in tweeds turned to stare down at him, surprised. + </p> + <p> + “She had three houses,” he corrected, authoritatively. But Jermyn was not + to be contradicted. + </p> + <p> + “She had a house, I say,” he repeated, with dismal obstinacy. “A great, + big, ugly, white thing. You could see it from miles away—sticking + up.” + </p> + <p> + “So you could,” assented the other readily. “It was old Colchester’s + notion, though he was always threatening to give her up. He couldn’t stand + her racket any more, he declared; it was too much of a good thing for him; + he would wash his hands of her, if he never got hold of another—and + so on. I daresay he would have chucked her, only—it may surprise you—his + missus wouldn’t hear of it. Funny, eh? But with women, you never know how + they will take a thing, and Mrs. Colchester, with her moustaches and big + eyebrows, set up for being as strong-minded as they make them. She used to + walk about in a brown silk dress, with a great gold cable flopping about + her bosom. You should have heard her snapping out: ‘Rubbish!’ or ‘Stuff + and nonsense!’ I daresay she knew when she was well off. They had no + children, and had never set up a home anywhere. When in England she just + made shift to hang out anyhow in some cheap hotel or boarding-house. I + daresay she liked to get back to the comforts she was used to. She knew + very well she couldn’t gain by any change. And, moreover, Colchester, + though a first-rate man, was not what you may call in his first youth, + and, perhaps, she may have thought that he wouldn’t be able to get hold of + another (as he used to say) so easily. Anyhow, for one reason or another, + it was ‘Rubbish’ and ‘Stuff and nonsense’ for the good lady. I overheard + once young Mr. Apse himself say to her confidentially: ‘I assure you, Mrs. + Colchester, I am beginning to feel quite unhappy about the name she’s + getting for herself.’ ‘Oh,’ says she, with her deep little hoarse laugh, + ‘if one took notice of all the silly talk,’ and she showed Apse all her + ugly false teeth at once. ‘It would take more than that to make me lose my + confidence in her, I assure you,’ says she.” + </p> + <p> + At this point, without any change of facial expression, Mr. Stonor emitted + a short, sardonic laugh. It was very impressive, but I didn’t see the fun. + I looked from one to another. The stranger on the hearthrug had an ugly + smile. + </p> + <p> + “And Mr. Apse shook both Mrs. Colchester’s hands, he was so pleased to + hear a good word said for their favourite. All these Apses, young and old + you know, were perfectly infatuated with that abominable, dangerous—” + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon,” I interrupted, for he seemed to be addressing himself + exclusively to me; “but who on earth are you talking about?” + </p> + <p> + “I am talking of the Apse family,” he answered, courteously. + </p> + <p> + I nearly let out a damn at this. But just then the respected Miss Blank + put her head in, and said that the cab was at the door, if Mr. Stonor + wanted to catch the eleven three up. + </p> + <p> + At once the senior pilot arose in his mighty bulk and began to struggle + into his coat, with awe-inspiring upheavals. The stranger and I hurried + impulsively to his assistance, and directly we laid our hands on him he + became perfectly quiescent. We had to raise our arms very high, and to + make efforts. It was like caparisoning a docile elephant. With a “Thanks, + gentlemen,” he dived under and squeezed himself through the door in a + great hurry. + </p> + <p> + We smiled at each other in a friendly way. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder how he manages to hoist himself up a ship’s side-ladder,” said + the man in tweeds; and poor Jermyn, who was a mere North Sea pilot, + without official status or recognition of any sort, pilot only by + courtesy, groaned. + </p> + <p> + “He makes eight hundred a year.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you a sailor?” I asked the stranger, who had gone back to his + position on the rug. + </p> + <p> + “I used to be till a couple of years ago, when I got married,” answered + this communicative individual. “I even went to sea first in that very ship + we were speaking of when you came in.” + </p> + <p> + “What ship?” I asked, puzzled. “I never heard you mention a ship.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve just told you her name, my dear sir,” he replied. “The Apse Family. + Surely you’ve heard of the great firm of Apse & Sons, shipowners. They + had a pretty big fleet. There was the Lucy Apse, and the Harold Apse, and + Anne, John, Malcolm, Clara, Juliet, and so on—no end of Apses. Every + brother, sister, aunt, cousin, wife—and grandmother, too, for all I + know—of the firm had a ship named after them. Good, solid, + old-fashioned craft they were, too, built to carry and to last. None of + your new-fangled, labour-saving appliances in them, but plenty of men and + plenty of good salt beef and hard tack put aboard—and off you go to + fight your way out and home again.” + </p> + <p> + The miserable Jermyn made a sound of approval, which sounded like a groan + of pain. Those were the ships for him. He pointed out in doleful tones + that you couldn’t say to labour-saving appliances: “Jump lively now, my + hearties.” No labour-saving appliance would go aloft on a dirty night with + the sands under your lee. + </p> + <p> + “No,” assented the stranger, with a wink at me. “The Apses didn’t believe + in them either, apparently. They treated their people well—as people + don’t get treated nowadays, and they were awfully proud of their ships. + Nothing ever happened to them. This last one, the Apse Family, was to be + like the others, only she was to be still stronger, still safer, still + more roomy and comfortable. I believe they meant her to last for ever. + They had her built composite—iron, teak-wood, and greenheart, and + her scantling was something fabulous. If ever an order was given for a + ship in a spirit of pride this one was. Everything of the best. The + commodore captain of the employ was to command her, and they planned the + accommodation for him like a house on shore under a big, tall poop that + went nearly to the mainmast. No wonder Mrs. Colchester wouldn’t let the + old man give her up. Why, it was the best home she ever had in all her + married days. She had a nerve, that woman. + </p> + <p> + “The fuss that was made while that ship was building! Let’s have this a + little stronger, and that a little heavier; and hadn’t that other thing + better be changed for something a little thicker. The builders entered + into the spirit of the game, and there she was, growing into the + clumsiest, heaviest ship of her size right before all their eyes, without + anybody becoming aware of it somehow. She was to be 2,000 tons register, + or a little over; no less on any account. But see what happens. When they + came to measure her she turned out 1,999 tons and a fraction. General + consternation! And they say old Mr. Apse was so annoyed when they told him + that he took to his bed and died. The old gentleman had retired from the + firm twenty-five years before, and was ninety-six years old if a day, so + his death wasn’t, perhaps, so surprising. Still Mr. Lucian Apse was + convinced that his father would have lived to a hundred. So we may put him + at the head of the list. Next comes the poor devil of a shipwright that + brute caught and squashed as she went off the ways. They called it the + launch of a ship, but I’ve heard people say that, from the wailing and + yelling and scrambling out of the way, it was more like letting a devil + loose upon the river. She snapped all her checks like pack-thread, and + went for the tugs in attendance like a fury. Before anybody could see what + she was up to she sent one of them to the bottom, and laid up another for + three months’ repairs. One of her cables parted, and then, suddenly—you + couldn’t tell why—she let herself be brought up with the other as + quiet as a lamb. + </p> + <p> + “That’s how she was. You could never be sure what she would be up to next. + There are ships difficult to handle, but generally you can depend on them + behaving rationally. With that ship, whatever you did with her you never + knew how it would end. She was a wicked beast. Or, perhaps, she was only + just insane.” + </p> + <p> + He uttered this supposition in so earnest a tone that I could not refrain + from smiling. He left off biting his lower lip to apostrophize me. + </p> + <p> + “Eh! Why not? Why couldn’t there be something in her build, in her lines + corresponding to—What’s madness? Only something just a tiny bit + wrong in the make of your brain. Why shouldn’t there be a mad ship—I + mean mad in a ship-like way, so that under no circumstances could you be + sure she would do what any other sensible ship would naturally do for you. + There are ships that steer wildly, and ships that can’t be quite trusted + always to stay; others want careful watching when running in a gale; and, + again, there may be a ship that will make heavy weather of it in every + little blow. But then you expect her to be always so. You take it as part + of her character, as a ship, just as you take account of a man’s + peculiarities of temper when you deal with him. But with her you couldn’t. + She was unaccountable. If she wasn’t mad, then she was the most + evil-minded, underhand, savage brute that ever went afloat. I’ve seen her + run in a heavy gale beautifully for two days, and on the third broach to + twice in the same afternoon. The first time she flung the helmsman clean + over the wheel, but as she didn’t quite manage to kill him she had another + try about three hours afterwards. She swamped herself fore and aft, burst + all the canvas we had set, scared all hands into a panic, and even + frightened Mrs. Colchester down there in these beautiful stern cabins that + she was so proud of. When we mustered the crew there was one man missing. + Swept overboard, of course, without being either seen or heard, poor + devil! and I only wonder more of us didn’t go. + </p> + <p> + “Always something like that. Always. I heard an old mate tell Captain + Colchester once that it had come to this with him, that he was afraid to + open his mouth to give any sort of order. She was as much of a terror in + harbour as at sea. You could never be certain what would hold her. On the + slightest provocation she would start snapping ropes, cables, wire + hawsers, like carrots. She was heavy, clumsy, unhandy—but that does + not quite explain that power for mischief she had. You know, somehow, when + I think of her I can’t help remembering what we hear of incurable lunatics + breaking loose now and then.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at me inquisitively. But, of course, I couldn’t admit that a + ship could be mad. + </p> + <p> + “In the ports where she was known,” he went on,’ “they dreaded the sight + of her. She thought nothing of knocking away twenty feet or so of solid + stone facing off a quay or wiping off the end of a wooden wharf. She must + have lost miles of chain and hundreds of tons of anchors in her time. When + she fell aboard some poor unoffending ship it was the very devil of a job + to haul her off again. And she never got hurt herself—just a few + scratches or so, perhaps. They had wanted to have her strong. And so she + was. Strong enough to ram Polar ice with. And as she began so she went on. + From the day she was launched she never let a year pass without murdering + somebody. I think the owners got very worried about it. But they were a + stiff-necked generation all these Apses; they wouldn’t admit there could + be anything wrong with the Apse Family. They wouldn’t even change her + name. ‘Stuff and nonsense,’ as Mrs. Colchester used to say. They ought at + least to have shut her up for life in some dry dock or other, away up the + river, and never let her smell salt water again. I assure you, my dear + sir, that she invariably did kill someone every voyage she made. It was + perfectly well-known. She got a name for it, far and wide.” + </p> + <p> + I expressed my surprise that a ship with such a deadly reputation could + ever get a crew. + </p> + <p> + “Then, you don’t know what sailors are, my dear sir. Let me just show you + by an instance. One day in dock at home, while loafing on the forecastle + head, I noticed two respectable salts come along, one a middle-aged, + competent, steady man, evidently, the other a smart, youngish chap. They + read the name on the bows and stopped to look at her. Says the elder man: + ‘Apse Family. That’s the sanguinary female dog’ (I’m putting it in that + way) ‘of a ship, Jack, that kills a man every voyage. I wouldn’t sign in + her—not for Joe, I wouldn’t.’ And the other says: ‘If she were mine, + I’d have her towed on the mud and set on fire, blame if I wouldn’t.’ Then + the first man chimes in: ‘Much do they care! Men are cheap, God knows.’ + The younger one spat in the water alongside. ‘They won’t have me—not + for double wages.’ + </p> + <p> + “They hung about for some time and then walked up the dock. Half an hour + later I saw them both on our deck looking about for the mate, and + apparently very anxious to be taken on. And they were.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you account for this?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “What would you say?” he retorted. “Recklessness! The vanity of boasting + in the evening to all their chums: ‘We’ve just shipped in that there Apse + Family. Blow her. She ain’t going to scare us.’ Sheer sailorlike + perversity! A sort of curiosity. Well—a little of all that, no + doubt. I put the question to them in the course of the voyage. The answer + of the elderly chap was: + </p> + <p> + “‘A man can die but once.’ The younger assured me in a mocking tone that + he wanted to see ‘how she would do it this time.’ But I tell you what; + there was a sort of fascination about the brute.” + </p> + <p> + Jermyn, who seemed to have seen every ship in the world, broke in sulkily: + </p> + <p> + “I saw her once out of this very window towing up the river; a great black + ugly thing, going along like a big hearse.” + </p> + <p> + “Something sinister about her looks, wasn’t there?” said the man in + tweeds, looking down at old Jermyn with a friendly eye. “I always had a + sort of horror of her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more than + fourteen, the very first day—nay, hour—I joined her. Father + came up to see me off, and was to go down to Gravesend with us. I was his + second boy to go to sea. My big brother was already an officer then. We. + got on board about eleven in the morning, and found the ship ready to drop + out of the basin, stern first. She had not moved three times her own + length when, at a little pluck the tug gave her to enter the dock gates, + she made one of her rampaging starts, and put such a weight on the check + rope—a new six-inch hawser—that forward there they had no + chance to ease it round in time, and it parted. I saw the broken end fly + up high in the air, and the next moment that brute brought her quarter + against the pier-head with a jar that staggered everybody about her decks. + She didn’t hurt herself. Not she! But one of the boys the mate had sent + aloft on the mizzen to do something, came down on the poop-deck—thump—right + in front of me. He was not much older than myself. We had been grinning at + each other only a few minutes before. He must have been handling himself + carelessly, not expecting to get such a jerk. I heard his startled cry—Oh!—in + a high treble as he felt himself going, and looked up in time to see him + go limp all over as he fell. Ough! Poor father was remarkably white about + the gills when we shook hands in Gravesend. ‘Are you all right?’ he says, + looking hard at me. ‘Yes, father.’ ‘Quite sure?’ ‘Yes, father.’ ‘Well, + then good-bye, my boy.’ He told me afterwards that for half a word he + would have carried me off home with him there and then. I am the baby of + the family—you know,” added the man in tweeds, stroking his + moustache with an ingenuous smile. + </p> + <p> + I acknowledged this interesting communication by a sympathetic murmur. He + waved his hand carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “This might have utterly spoiled a chap’s nerve for going aloft, you know—utterly. + He fell within two feet of me, cracking his head on a mooring-bitt. Never + moved. Stone dead. Nice looking little fellow, he was. I had just been + thinking we would be great chums. However, that wasn’t yet the worst that + brute of a ship could do. I served in her three years of my time, and then + I got transferred to the Lucy Apse, for a year. The sailmaker we had in + the Apse Family turned up there, too, and I remember him saying to me one + evening, after we had been a week at sea: Isn’t she a meek little ship?’ + No wonder we thought the Lucy Apse a dear, meek, little ship after getting + clear of that big, rampaging savage brute. It was like heaven. Her + officers seemed to me the restfullest lot of men on earth. To me who had + known no ship but the Apse Family, the Lucy was like a sort of magic craft + that did what you wanted her to do of her own accord. One evening we got + caught aback pretty sharply from right ahead. In about ten minutes we had + her full again, sheets aft, tacks down, decks cleared, and the officer of + the watch leaning against the weather rail peacefully. It seemed simply + marvellous to me. The other would have stuck for half-an-hour in irons, + rolling her decks full of water, knocking the men about—spars + cracking, braces snapping, yards taking charge, and a confounded scare + going on aft because of her beastly rudder, which she had a way of + flapping about fit to raise your hair on end. I couldn’t get over my + wonder for days. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I finished my last year of apprenticeship in that jolly little ship—she + wasn’t so little either, but after that other heavy devil she seemed but a + plaything to handle. I finished my time and passed; and then just as I was + thinking of having three weeks of real good time on shore I got at + breakfast a letter asking me the earliest day I could be ready to join the + Apse Family as third mate. I gave my plate a shove that shot it into the + middle of the table; dad looked up over his paper; mother raised her hands + in astonishment, and I went out bare-headed into our bit of garden, where + I walked round and round for an hour. + </p> + <p> + “When I came in again mother was out of the dining-room, and dad had + shifted berth into his big armchair. The letter was lying on the + mantelpiece. + </p> + <p> + “‘It’s very creditable to you to get the offer, and very kind of them to + make it,’ he said. ‘And I see also that Charles has been appointed chief + mate of that ship for one voyage.’ + </p> + <p> + “There was, over leaf, a P.S. to that effect in Mr. Apse’s own + handwriting, which I had overlooked. Charley was my big brother. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t like very much to have two of my boys together in one ship,’ + father goes on, in his deliberate, solemn way. ‘And I may tell you that I + would not mind writing Mr. Apse a letter to that effect.’ + </p> + <p> + “Dear old dad! He was a wonderful father. What would you have done? The + mere notion of going back (and as an officer, too), to be worried and + bothered, and kept on the jump night and day by that brute, made me feel + sick. But she wasn’t a ship you could afford to fight shy of. Besides, the + most genuine excuse could not be given without mortally offending Apse + & Sons. The firm, and I believe the whole family down to the old + unmarried aunts in Lancashire, had grown desperately touchy about that + accursed ship’s character. This was the case for answering ‘Ready now’ + from your very death-bed if you wished to die in their good graces. And + that’s precisely what I did answer—by wire, to have it over and done + with at once. + </p> + <p> + “The prospect of being shipmates with my big brother cheered me up + considerably, though it made me a bit anxious, too. Ever since I remember + myself as a little chap he had been very good to me, and I looked upon him + as the finest fellow in the world. And so he was. No better officer ever + walked the deck of a merchant ship. And that’s a fact. He was a fine, + strong, upstanding, sun-tanned, young fellow, with his brown hair curling + a little, and an eye like a hawk. He was just splendid. We hadn’t seen + each other for many years, and even this time, though he had been in + England three weeks already, he hadn’t showed up at home yet, but had + spent his spare time in Surrey somewhere making up to Maggie Colchester, + old Captain Colchester’s niece. Her father, a great friend of dad’s, was + in the sugar-broking business, and Charley made a sort of second home of + their house. I wondered what my big brother would think of me. There was a + sort of sternness about Charley’s face which never left it, not even when + he was larking in his rather wild fashion. + </p> + <p> + “He received me with a great shout of laughter. He seemed to think my + joining as an officer the greatest joke in the world. There was a + difference of ten years between us, and I suppose he remembered me best in + pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first went to sea. It surprised me + to find how boisterous he could be. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now we shall see what you are made of,’ he cried. And he held me off by + the shoulders, and punched my ribs, and hustled me into his berth. ‘Sit + down, Ned. I am glad of the chance of having you with me. I’ll put the + finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing you’re worth the + trouble. And, first of all, get it well into your head that we are not + going to let this brute kill anybody this voyage. We’ll stop her racket.’ + </p> + <p> + “I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He talked grimly of the + ship, and how we must be careful and never allow this ugly beast to catch + us napping with any of her damned tricks. + </p> + <p> + “He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship for the use of the + Apse Family; then changing his tone, he began to talk at large, rattling + off the wildest, funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. I + could see very well he was a bit above himself with high spirits. It + couldn’t be because of my coming. Not to that extent. But, of course, I + wouldn’t have dreamt of asking what was the matter. I had a proper respect + for my big brother, I can tell you. But it was all made plain enough a day + or two afterwards, when I heard that Miss Maggie Colchester was coming for + the voyage. Uncle was giving her a sea-trip for the benefit of her health. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know what could have been wrong with her health. She had a + beautiful colour, and a deuce of a lot of fair hair. She didn’t care a rap + for wind, or rain, or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. She was a + blue-eyed, jolly girl of the very best sort, but the way she cheeked my + big brother used to frighten me. I always expected it to end in an awful + row. However, nothing decisive happened till after we had been in Sydney + for a week. One day, in the men’s dinner hour, Charley sticks his head + into my cabin. I was stretched out on my back on the settee, smoking in + peace. + </p> + <p> + “‘Come ashore with me, Ned,’ he says, in his curt way. + </p> + <p> + “I jumped up, of course, and away after him down the gangway and up George + Street. He strode along like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting. It was + confoundedly hot. ‘Where on earth are you rushing me to, Charley?’ I made + bold to ask. + </p> + <p> + “‘Here,’ he says. + </p> + <p> + “‘Here’ was a jeweller’s shop. I couldn’t imagine what he could want + there. It seemed a sort of mad freak. He thrusts under my nose three + rings, which looked very tiny on his big, brown palm, growling out— + </p> + <p> + “‘For Maggie! Which?’ + </p> + <p> + “I got a kind of scare at this. I couldn’t make a sound, but I pointed at + the one that sparkled white and blue. He put it in his waistcoat pocket, + paid for it with a lot of sovereigns, and bolted out. When we got on board + I was quite out of breath. ‘Shake hands, old chap,’ I gasped out. He gave + me a thump on the back. ‘Give what orders you like to the boatswain when + the hands turn-to,’ says he; ‘I am off duty this afternoon.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but presently he came out of + the cabin with Maggie, and these two went over the gangway publicly, + before all hands, going for a walk together on that awful, blazing hot + day, with clouds of dust flying about. They came back after a few hours + looking very staid, but didn’t seem to have the slightest idea where they + had been. Anyway, that’s the answer they both made to Mrs. Colchester’s + question at tea-time. + </p> + <p> + “And didn’t she turn on Charley, with her voice like an old night + cabman’s! ‘Rubbish. Don’t know where you’ve been! Stuff and nonsense. + You’ve walked the girl off her legs. Don’t do it again.’ + </p> + <p> + “It’s surprising how meek Charley could be with that old woman. Only on + one occasion he whispered to me, ‘I’m jolly glad she isn’t Maggie’s aunt, + except by marriage. That’s no sort of relationship.’ But I think he let + Maggie have too much of her own way. She was hopping all over that ship in + her yachting skirt and a red tam o’ shanter like a bright bird on a dead + black tree. The old salts used to grin to themselves when they saw her + coming along, and offered to teach her knots or splices. I believe she + liked the men, for Charley’s sake, I suppose. + </p> + <p> + “As you may imagine, the fiendish propensities of that cursed ship were + never spoken of on board. Not in the cabin, at any rate. Only once on the + homeward passage Charley said, incautiously, something about bringing all + her crew home this time. Captain Colchester began to look uncomfortable at + once, and that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as though + he had said something indecent. I was quite confounded myself; as to + Maggie, she sat completely mystified, opening her blue eyes very wide. Of + course, before she was a day older she wormed it all out of me. She was a + very difficult person to lie to. + </p> + <p> + “‘How awful,’ she said, quite solemn. ‘So many poor fellows. I am glad the + voyage is nearly over. I won’t have a moment’s peace about Charley now.’ + </p> + <p> + “I assured her Charley was all right. It took more than that ship knew to + get over a seaman like Charley. And she agreed with me. + </p> + <p> + “Next day we got the tug off Dungeness; and when the tow-rope was fast + Charley rubbed his hands and said to me in an undertone— + </p> + <p> + “‘We’ve baffled her, Ned.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Looks like it,’ I said, with a grin at him. It was beautiful weather, + and the sea as smooth as a millpond. We went up the river without a shadow + of trouble except once, when off Hole Haven, the brute took a sudden sheer + and nearly had a barge anchored just clear of the fairway. But I was aft, + looking after the steering, and she did not catch me napping that time. + Charley came up on the poop, looking very concerned. ‘Close shave,’ says + he. + </p> + <p> + “‘Never mind, Charley,’ I answered, cheerily. ‘You’ve tamed her.’ + </p> + <p> + “We were to tow right up to the dock. The river pilot boarded us below + Gravesend, and the first words I heard him say were: ‘You may just as well + take your port anchor inboard at once, Mr. Mate.’ + </p> + <p> + “This had been done when I went forward. I saw Maggie on the forecastle + head enjoying the bustle and I begged her to go aft, but she took no + notice of me, of course. Then Charley, who was very busy with the head + gear, caught sight of her and shouted in his biggest voice: ‘Get off the + forecastle head, Maggie. You’re in the way here.’ For all answer she made + a funny face at him, and I saw poor Charley turn away, hiding a smile. She + was flushed with the excitement of getting home again, and her blue eyes + seemed to snap electric sparks as she looked at the river. A collier brig + had gone round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop her engines in a + hurry to avoid running into her. + </p> + <p> + “In a moment, as is usually the case, all the shipping in the reach seemed + to get into a hopeless tangle. A schooner and a ketch got up a small + collision all to themselves right in the middle of the river. It was + exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained stopped. Any other ship + than that brute could have been coaxed to keep straight for a couple of + minutes—but not she! Her head fell off at once, and she began to + drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed a cluster of coasters + at anchor within a quarter of a mile of us, and I thought I had better + speak to the pilot. ‘If you let her get amongst that lot,’ I said, + quietly, ‘she will grind some of them to bits before we get her out + again.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Don’t I know her!’ cries he, stamping his foot in a perfect fury. And he + out with his whistle to make that bothered tug get the ship’s head up + again as quick as possible. He blew like mad, waving his arm to port, and + presently we could see that the tug’s engines had been set going ahead. + Her paddles churned the water, but it was as if she had been trying to tow + a rock—she couldn’t get an inch out of that ship. Again the pilot + blew his whistle, and waved his arm to port. We could see the tug’s + paddles turning faster and faster away, broad on our bow. + </p> + <p> + “For a moment tug and ship hung motionless in a crowd of moving shipping, + and then the terrific strain that evil, stony-hearted brute would always + put on everything, tore the towing-chock clean out. The tow-rope surged + over, snapping the iron stanchions of the head-rail one after another as + if they had been sticks of sealing-wax. It was only then I noticed that in + order to have a better view over our heads, Maggie had stepped upon the + port anchor as it lay flat on the forecastle deck. + </p> + <p> + “It had been lowered properly into its hardwood beds, but there had been + no time to take a turn with it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, for + going into dock; but I could see directly that the tow-rope would sweep + under the fluke in another second. My heart flew up right into my throat, + but not before I had time to yell out: ‘Jump clear of that anchor!’ + </p> + <p> + “But I hadn’t time to shriek out her name. I don’t suppose she heard me at + all. The first touch of the hawser against the fluke threw her down; she + was up on her feet again quick as lightning, but she was up on the wrong + side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and then that anchor, tipping + over, rose up like something alive; its great, rough iron arm caught + Maggie round the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a dreadful hug, and + flung itself with her over and down in a terrific clang of iron, followed + by heavy ringing blows that shook the ship from stem to stern—because + the ring stopper held!” + </p> + <p> + “How horrible!” I exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “I used to dream for years afterwards of anchors catching hold of girls,” + said the man in tweeds, a little wildly. He shuddered. “With a most + pitiful howl Charley was over after her almost on the instant. But, Lord! + he didn’t see as much as a gleam of her red tam o’ shanter in the water. + Nothing! nothing whatever! In a moment there were half-a-dozen boats + around us, and he got pulled into one. I, with the boatswain and the + carpenter, let go the other anchor in a hurry and brought the ship up + somehow. The pilot had gone silly. He walked up and down the forecastle + head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: ‘Killing women, now! + Killing women, now!’ Not another word could you get out of him. + </p> + <p> + “Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch; and peering upon the river I + heard a low, mournful hail, ‘Ship, ahoy!’ Two Gravesend watermen came + alongside. They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the ship’s + side, holding on to the ladder without a word. I saw in the patch of light + a lot of loose, fair hair down there.” + </p> + <p> + He shuddered again. + </p> + <p> + “After the tide turned poor Maggie’s body had floated clear of one of them + big mooring buoys,” he explained. “I crept aft, feeling half-dead, and + managed to send a rocket up—to let the other searchers know, on the + river. And then I slunk away forward like a cur, and spent the night + sitting on the heel of the bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out of + Charley’s way.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor fellow!” I murmured. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Poor fellow,” he repeated, musingly. “That brute wouldn’t let him—not + even him—cheat her of her prey. But he made her fast in dock next + morning. He did. We hadn’t exchanged a word—not a single look for + that matter. I didn’t want to look at him. When the last rope was fast he + put his hands to his head and stood gazing down at his feet as if trying + to remember something. The men waited on the main deck for the words that + end the voyage. Perhaps that is what he was trying to remember. I spoke + for him. ‘That’ll do, men.’ + </p> + <p> + “I never saw a crew leave a ship so quietly. They sneaked over the rail + one after another, taking care not to bang their sea chests too heavily. + They looked our way, but not one had the stomach to come up and offer to + shake hands with the mate as is usual. + </p> + <p> + “I followed him all over the empty ship to and fro, here and there, with + no living soul about but the two of us, because the old ship-keeper had + locked himself up in the galley—both doors. Suddenly poor Charley + mutters, in a crazy voice: ‘I’m done here,’ and strides down the gangway + with me at his heels, up the dock, out at the gate, on towards Tower Hill. + He used to take rooms with a decent old landlady in America Square, to be + near his work. + </p> + <p> + “All at once he stops short, turns round, and comes back straight at me. + ‘Ned,’ says he, I am going home.’ I had the good luck to sight a + four-wheeler and got him in just in time. His legs were beginning to give + way. In our hall he fell down on a chair, and I’ll never forget father’s + and mother’s amazed, perfectly still faces as they stood over him. They + couldn’t understand what had happened to him till I blubbered out, ‘Maggie + got drowned, yesterday, in the river.’ + </p> + <p> + “Mother let out a little cry. Father looks from him to me, and from me to + him, as if comparing our faces—for, upon my soul, Charley did not + resemble himself at all. Nobody moved; and the poor fellow raises his big + brown hands slowly to his throat, and with one single tug rips everything + open—collar, shirt, waistcoat—a perfect wreck and ruin of a + man. Father and I got him upstairs somehow, and mother pretty nearly + killed herself nursing him through a brain fever.” + </p> + <p> + The man in tweeds nodded at me significantly. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! there was nothing that could be done with that brute. She had a devil + in her.” + </p> + <p> + “Where’s your brother?” I asked, expecting to hear he was dead. But he was + commanding a smart steamer on the China coast, and never came home now. + </p> + <p> + Jermyn fetched a heavy sigh, and the handkerchief being now sufficiently + dry, put it up tenderly to his red and lamentable nose. + </p> + <p> + “She was a ravening beast,” the man in tweeds started again. “Old + Colchester put his foot down and resigned. And would you believe it? Apse + & Sons wrote to ask whether he wouldn’t reconsider his decision! + Anything to save the good name of the Apse Family.’ Old Colchester went to + the office then and said that he would take charge again but only to sail + her out into the North Sea and scuttle her there. He was nearly off his + chump. He used to be darkish iron-grey, but his hair went snow-white in a + fortnight. And Mr. Lucian Apse (they had known each other as young men) + pretended not to notice it. Eh? Here’s infatuation if you like! Here’s + pride for you! + </p> + <p> + “They jumped at the first man they could get to take her, for fear of the + scandal of the Apse Family not being able to find a skipper. He was a + festive soul, I believe, but he stuck to her grim and hard. Wilmot was his + second mate. A harum-scarum fellow, and pretending to a great scorn for + all the girls. The fact is he was really timid. But let only one of them + do as much as lift her little finger in encouragement, and there was + nothing that could hold the beggar. As apprentice, once, he deserted + abroad after a petticoat, and would have gone to the dogs then, if his + skipper hadn’t taken the trouble to find him and lug him by the ears out + of some house of perdition or other. + </p> + <p> + “It was said that one of the firm had been heard once to express a hope + that this brute of a ship would get lost soon. I can hardly credit the + tale, unless it might have been Mr. Alfred Apse, whom the family didn’t + think much of. They had him in the office, but he was considered a bad egg + altogether, always flying off to race meetings and coming home drunk. You + would have thought that a ship so full of deadly tricks would run herself + ashore some day out of sheer cussedness. But not she! She was going to + last for ever. She had a nose to keep off the bottom.” + </p> + <p> + Jermyn made a grunt of approval. + </p> + <p> + “A ship after a pilot’s own heart, eh?” jeered the man in tweeds. “Well, + Wilmot managed it. He was the man for it, but even he, perhaps, couldn’t + have done the trick without the green-eyed governess, or nurse, or + whatever she was to the children of Mr. and Mrs. Pamphilius. + </p> + <p> + “Those people were passengers in her from Port Adelaide to the Cape. Well, + the ship went out and anchored outside for the day. The skipper—hospitable + soul—had a lot of guests from town to a farewell lunch—as + usual with him. It was five in the evening before the last shore boat left + the side, and the weather looked ugly and dark in the gulf. There was no + reason for him to get under way. However, as he had told everybody he was + going that day, he imagined it was proper to do so anyhow. But as he had + no mind after all these festivities to tackle the straits in the dark, + with a scant wind, he gave orders to keep the ship under lower topsails + and foresail as close as she would lie, dodging along the land till the + morning. Then he sought his virtuous couch. The mate was on deck, having + his face washed very clean with hard rain squalls. Wilmot relieved him at + midnight. + </p> + <p> + “The Apse Family had, as you observed, a house on her poop . . .” + </p> + <p> + “A big, ugly white thing, sticking up,” Jermyn murmured, sadly, at the + fire. + </p> + <p> + “That’s it: a companion for the cabin stairs and a sort of chart-room + combined. The rain drove in gusts on the sleepy Wilmot. The ship was then + surging slowly to the southward, close hauled, with the coast within three + miles or so to windward. There was nothing to look out for in that part of + the gulf, and Wilmot went round to dodge the squalls under the lee of that + chart-room, whose door on that side was open. The night was black, like a + barrel of coal-tar. And then he heard a woman’s voice whispering to him. + </p> + <p> + “That confounded green-eyed girl of the Pamphilius people had put the kids + to bed a long time ago, of course, but it seems couldn’t get to sleep + herself. She heard eight bells struck, and the chief mate come below to + turn in. She waited a bit, then got into her dressing-gown and stole + across the empty saloon and up the stairs into the chart-room. She sat + down on the settee near the open door to cool herself, I daresay. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose when she whispered to Wilmot it was as if somebody had struck a + match in the fellow’s brain. I don’t know how it was they had got so very + thick. I fancy he had met her ashore a few times before. I couldn’t make + it out, because, when telling the story, Wilmot would break off to swear + something awful at every second word. We had met on the quay in Sydney, + and he had an apron of sacking up to his chin, a big whip in his hand. A + wagon-driver. Glad to do anything not to starve. That’s what he had come + down to. + </p> + <p> + “However, there he was, with his head inside the door, on the girl’s + shoulder as likely as not—officer of the watch! The helmsman, on + giving his evidence afterwards, said that he shouted several times that + the binnacle lamp had gone out. It didn’t matter to him, because his + orders were to ‘sail her close.’ ‘I thought it funny,’ he said, ‘that the + ship should keep on falling off in squalls, but I luffed her up every time + as close as I was able. It was so dark I couldn’t see my hand before my + face, and the rain came in bucketfuls on my head.’ + </p> + <p> + “The truth was that at every squall the wind hauled aft a little, till + gradually the ship came to be heading straight for the coast, without a + single soul in her being aware of it. Wilmot himself confessed that he had + not been near the standard compass for an hour. He might well have + confessed! The first thing he knew was the man on the look-out shouting + blue murder forward there. + </p> + <p> + “He tore his neck free, he says, and yelled back at him: ‘What do you + say?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I think I hear breakers ahead, sir,’ howled the man, and came rushing + aft with the rest of the watch, in the ‘awfullest blinding deluge that + ever fell from the sky,’ Wilmot says. For a second or so he was so scared + and bewildered that he could not remember on which side of the gulf the + ship was. He wasn’t a good officer, but he was a seaman all the same. He + pulled himself together in a second, and the right orders sprang to his + lips without thinking. They were to hard up with the helm and shiver the + main and mizzen-topsails. + </p> + <p> + “It seems that the sails actually fluttered. He couldn’t see them, but he + heard them rattling and banging above his head. ‘No use! She was too slow + in going off,’ he went on, his dirty face twitching, and the damn’d + carter’s whip shaking in his hand. ‘She seemed to stick fast.’ And then + the flutter of the canvas above his head ceased. At this critical moment + the wind hauled aft again with a gust, filling the sails and sending the + ship with a great way upon the rocks on her lee bow. She had overreached + herself in her last little game. Her time had come—the hour, the + man, the black night, the treacherous gust of wind—the right woman + to put an end to her. The brute deserved nothing better. Strange are the + instruments of Providence. There’s a sort of poetical justice—” + </p> + <p> + The man in tweeds looked hard at me. + </p> + <p> + “The first ledge she went over stripped the false keel off her. Rip! The + skipper, rushing out of his berth, found a crazy woman, in a red flannel + dressing-gown, flying round and round the cuddy, screeching like a + cockatoo. + </p> + <p> + “The next bump knocked her clean under the cabin table. It also started + the stern-post and carried away the rudder, and then that brute ran up a + shelving, rocky shore, tearing her bottom out, till she stopped short, and + the foremast dropped over the bows like a gangway.” + </p> + <p> + “Anybody lost?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No one, unless that fellow, Wilmot,” answered the gentleman, unknown to + Miss Blank, looking round for his cap. “And his case was worse than + drowning for a man. Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn’t come on + till next day, dead from the West, and broke up that brute in a + surprisingly short time. It was as though she had been rotten at heart.” . + . . He changed his tone, “Rain left off? I must get my bike and rush home + to dinner. I live in Herne Bay—came out for a spin this morning.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded at me in a friendly way, and went out with a swagger. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know who he is, Jermyn?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + The North Sea pilot shook his head, dismally. “Fancy losing a ship in that + silly fashion! Oh, dear! oh dear!” he groaned in lugubrious tones, + spreading his damp handkerchief again like a curtain before the glowing + grate. + </p> + <p> + On going out I exchanged a glance and a smile (strictly proper) with the + respectable Miss Blank, barmaid of the Three Crows. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AN ANARCHIST + </h2> + <h3> + A DESPERATE TALE + </h3> + <p> + That year I spent the best two months of the dry season on one of the + estates—in fact, on the principal cattle estate—of a famous + meat-extract manufacturing company. + </p> + <p> + B.O.S. Bos. You have seen the three magic letters on the advertisement + pages of magazines and newspapers, in the windows of provision merchants, + and on calendars for next year you receive by post in the month of + November. They scatter pamphlets also, written in a sickly enthusiastic + style and in several languages, giving statistics of slaughter and + bloodshed enough to make a Turk turn faint. The “art” illustrating that + “literature” represents in vivid and shining colours a large and enraged + black bull stamping upon a yellow snake writhing in emerald-green grass, + with a cobalt-blue sky for a background. It is atrocious and it is an + allegory. The snake symbolizes disease, weakness—perhaps mere + hunger, which last is the chronic disease of the majority of mankind. Of + course everybody knows the B. O. S. Ltd., with its unrivalled products: + Vinobos, Jellybos, and the latest unequalled perfection, Tribos, whose + nourishment is offered to you not only highly concentrated, but already + half digested. Such apparently is the love that Limited Company bears to + its fellowmen—even as the love of the father and mother penguin for + their hungry fledglings. + </p> + <p> + Of course the capital of a country must be productively employed. I have + nothing to say against the company. But being myself animated by feelings + of affection towards my fellow-men, I am saddened by the modern system of + advertising. Whatever evidence it offers of enterprise, ingenuity, + impudence, and resource in certain individuals, it proves to my mind the + wide prevalence of that form of mental degradation which is called + gullibility. + </p> + <p> + In various parts of the civilized and uncivilized world I have had to + swallow B. O. S. with more or less benefit to myself, though without great + pleasure. Prepared with hot water and abundantly peppered to bring out the + taste, this extract is not really unpalatable. But I have never swallowed + its advertisements. Perhaps they have not gone far enough. As far as I can + remember they make no promise of everlasting youth to the users of B. O. + S., nor yet have they claimed the power of raising the dead for their + estimable products. Why this austere reserve, I wonder? But I don’t think + they would have had me even on these terms. Whatever form of mental + degradation I may (being but human) be suffering from, it is not the + popular form. I am not gullible. + </p> + <p> + I have been at some pains to bring out distinctly this statement about + myself in view of the story which follows. I have checked the facts as far + as possible. I have turned up the files of French newspapers, and I have + also talked with the officer who commands the military guard on the Ile + Royale, when in the course of my travels I reached Cayenne. I believe the + story to be in the main true. It is the sort of story that no man, I + think, would ever invent about himself, for it is neither grandiose nor + flattering, nor yet funny enough to gratify a perverted vanity. + </p> + <p> + It concerns the engineer of the steam-launch belonging to the Maranon + cattle estate of the B. O. S. Co., Ltd. This estate is also an island—an + island as big as a small province, lying in the estuary of a great South + American river. It is wild and not beautiful, but the grass growing on its + low plains seems to possess exceptionally nourishing and flavouring + qualities. It resounds with the lowing of innumerable herds—a deep + and distressing sound under the open sky, rising like a monstrous protest + of prisoners condemned to death. On the mainland, across twenty miles of + discoloured muddy water, there stands a city whose name, let us say, is + Horta. + </p> + <p> + But the most interesting characteristic of this island (which seems like a + sort of penal settlement for condemned cattle) consists in its being the + only known habitat of an extremely rare and gorgeous butterfly. The + species is even more rare than it is beautiful, which is not saying + little. I have already alluded to my travels. I travelled at that time, + but strictly for myself and with a moderation unknown in our days of + round-the-world tickets. I even travelled with a purpose. As a matter of + fact, I am—“Ha, ha, ha!—a desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, + ha!” + </p> + <p> + This was the tone in which Mr. Harry Gee, the manager of the cattle + station, alluded to my pursuits. He seemed to consider me the greatest + absurdity in the world. On the other hand, the B. O. S. Co., Ltd., + represented to him the acme of the nineteenth century’s achievement. I + believe that he slept in his leggings and spurs. His days he spent in the + saddle flying over the plains, followed by a train of half-wild horsemen, + who called him Don Enrique, and who had no definite idea of the B. O. S. + Co., Ltd., which paid their wages. He was an excellent manager, but I + don’t see why, when we met at meals, he should have thumped me on the + back, with loud, derisive inquiries: “How’s the deadly sport to-day? + Butterflies going strong? Ha, ha, ha!”—especially as he charged me + two dollars per diem for the hospitality of the B. O. S. Co., Ltd., + (capital L1,500,000, fully paid up), in whose balance-sheet for that year + those monies are no doubt included. “I don’t think I can make it anything + less in justice to my company,” he had remarked, with extreme gravity, + when I was arranging with him the terms of my stay on the island. + </p> + <p> + His chaff would have been harmless enough if intimacy of intercourse in + the absence of all friendly feeling were not a thing detestable in itself. + Moreover, his facetiousness was not very amusing. It consisted in the + wearisome repetition of descriptive phrases applied to people with a burst + of laughter. “Desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!” was one sample of + his peculiar wit which he himself enjoyed so much. And in the same vein of + exquisite humour he called my attention to the engineer of the + steam-launch, one day, as we strolled on the path by the side of the + creek. + </p> + <p> + The man’s head and shoulders emerged above the deck, over which were + scattered various tools of his trade and a few pieces of machinery. He was + doing some repairs to the engines. At the sound of our footsteps he raised + anxiously a grimy face with a pointed chin and a tiny fair moustache. What + could be seen of his delicate features under the black smudges appeared to + me wasted and livid in the greenish shade of the enormous tree spreading + its foliage over the launch moored close to the bank. + </p> + <p> + To my great surprise, Harry Gee addressed him as “Crocodile,” in that + half-jeering, half-bullying tone which is characteristic of + self-satisfaction in his delectable kind: + </p> + <p> + “How does the work get on, Crocodile?” + </p> + <p> + I should have said before that the amiable Harry had picked up French of a + sort somewhere—in some colony or other—and that he pronounced + it with a disagreeable forced precision as though he meant to guy the + language. The man in the launch answered him quickly in a pleasant voice. + His eyes had a liquid softness and his teeth flashed dazzlingly white + between his thin, drooping lips. The manager turned to me, very cheerful + and loud, explaining: + </p> + <p> + “I call him Crocodile because he lives half in, half out of the creek. + Amphibious—see? There’s nothing else amphibious living on the island + except crocodiles; so he must belong to the species—eh? But in + reality he’s nothing less than un citoyen anarchiste de Barcelone.” + </p> + <p> + “A citizen anarchist from Barcelona?” I repeated, stupidly, looking down + at the man. He had turned to his work in the engine-well of the launch and + presented his bowed back to us. In that attitude I heard him protest, very + audibly: + </p> + <p> + “I do not even know Spanish.” + </p> + <p> + “Hey? What? You dare to deny you come from over there?” the accomplished + manager was down on him truculently. + </p> + <p> + At this the man straightened himself up, dropping a spanner he had been + using, and faced us; but he trembled in all his limbs. + </p> + <p> + “I deny nothing, nothing, nothing!” he said, excitedly. + </p> + <p> + He picked up the spanner and went to work again without paying any further + attention to us. After looking at him for a minute or so, we went away. + </p> + <p> + “Is he really an anarchist?” I asked, when out of ear-shot. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care a hang what he is,” answered the humorous official of the B. + O. S. Co. “I gave him the name because it suited me to label him in that + way, It’s good for the company.” + </p> + <p> + “For the company!” I exclaimed, stopping short. + </p> + <p> + “Aha!” he triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug face and straddling his + thin, long legs. “That surprises you. I am bound to do my best for my + company. They have enormous expenses. Why—our agent in Horta tells + me they spend fifty thousand pounds every year in advertising all over the + world! One can’t be too economical in working the show. Well, just you + listen. When I took charge here the estate had no steam-launch. I asked + for one, and kept on asking by every mail till I got it; but the man they + sent out with it chucked his job at the end of two months, leaving the + launch moored at the pontoon in Horta. Got a better screw at a sawmill up + the river—blast him! And ever since it has been the same thing. Any + Scotch or Yankee vagabond that likes to call himself a mechanic out here + gets eighteen pounds a month, and the next you know he’s cleared out, + after smashing something as likely as not. I give you my word that some of + the objects I’ve had for engine-drivers couldn’t tell the boiler from the + funnel. But this fellow understands his trade, and I don’t mean him to + clear out. See?” + </p> + <p> + And he struck me lightly on the chest for emphasis. Disregarding his + peculiarities of manner, I wanted to know what all this had to do with the + man being an anarchist. + </p> + <p> + “Come!” jeered the manager. “If you saw suddenly a barefooted, unkempt + chap slinking amongst the bushes on the sea face of the island, and at the + same time observed less than a mile from the beach, a small schooner full + of niggers hauling off in a hurry, you wouldn’t think the man fell there + from the sky, would you? And it could be nothing else but either that or + Cayenne. I’ve got my wits about me. Directly I sighted this queer game I + said to myself—‘Escaped Convict.’ I was as certain of it as I am of + seeing you standing here this minute. So I spurred on straight at him. He + stood his ground for a bit on a sand hillock crying out: ‘Monsieur! + Monsieur! Arretez!’ then at the last moment broke and ran for life. Says I + to myself, ‘I’ll tame you before I’m done with you.’ So without a single + word I kept on, heading him off here and there. I rounded him up towards + the shore, and at last I had him corralled on a spit, his heels in the + water and nothing but sea and sky at his back, with my horse pawing the + sand and shaking his head within a yard of him. + </p> + <p> + “He folded his arms on his breast then and stuck his chin up in a sort of + desperate way; but I wasn’t to be impressed by the beggar’s posturing. + </p> + <p> + “Says I, ‘You’re a runaway convict.’ + </p> + <p> + “When he heard French, his chin went down and his face changed. + </p> + <p> + “‘I deny nothing,’ says he, panting yet, for I had kept him skipping about + in front of my horse pretty smartly. I asked him what he was doing there. + He had got his breath by then, and explained that he had meant to make his + way to a farm which he understood (from the schooner’s people, I suppose) + was to be found in the neighbourhood. At that I laughed aloud and he got + uneasy. Had he been deceived? Was there no farm within walking distance? + </p> + <p> + “I laughed more and more. He was on foot, and of course the first bunch of + cattle he came across would have stamped him to rags under their hoofs. A + dismounted man caught on the feeding-grounds hasn’t got the ghost of a + chance. + </p> + <p> + “‘My coming upon you like this has certainly saved your life,’ I said. He + remarked that perhaps it was so; but that for his part he had imagined I + had wanted to kill him under the hoofs of my horse. I assured him that + nothing would have been easier had I meant it. And then we came to a sort + of dead stop. For the life of me I didn’t know what to do with this + convict, unless I chucked him into the sea. It occurred to me to ask him + what he had been transported for. He hung his head. + </p> + <p> + “‘What is it?’ says I. ‘Theft, murder, rape, or what?’ I wanted to hear + what he would have to say for himself, though of course I expected it + would be some sort of lie. But all he said was— + </p> + <p> + “‘Make it what you like. I deny nothing. It is no good denying anything.’ + </p> + <p> + “I looked him over carefully and a thought struck me. + </p> + <p> + “‘They’ve got anarchists there, too,’ I said. ‘Perhaps you’re one of + them.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I deny nothing whatever, monsieur,’ he repeats. + </p> + <p> + “This answer made me think that perhaps he was not an anarchist. I believe + those damned lunatics are rather proud of themselves. If he had been one, + he would have probably confessed straight out. + </p> + <p> + “‘What were you before you became a convict?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Ouvrier,’ he says. ‘And a good workman, too.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that I began to think he must be an anarchist, after all. That’s the + class they come mostly from, isn’t it? I hate the cowardly bomb-throwing + brutes. I almost made up my mind to turn my horse short round and leave + him to starve or drown where he was, whichever he liked best. As to + crossing the island to bother me again, the cattle would see to that. I + don’t know what induced me to ask— + </p> + <p> + “‘What sort of workman?’ + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t care a hang whether he answered me or not. But when he said at + once, ‘Mecanicien, monsieur,’ I nearly jumped out of the saddle with + excitement. The launch had been lying disabled and idle in the creek for + three weeks. My duty to the company was clear. He noticed my start, too, + and there we were for a minute or so staring at each other as if + bewitched. + </p> + <p> + “‘Get up on my horse behind me,’ I told him. ‘You shall put my + steam-launch to rights.’” + </p> + <p> + These are the words in which the worthy manager of the Maranon estate + related to me the coming of the supposed anarchist. He meant to keep him—out + of a sense of duty to the company—and the name he had given him + would prevent the fellow from obtaining employment anywhere in Horta. The + vaqueros of the estate, when they went on leave, spread it all over the + town. They did not know what an anarchist was, nor yet what Barcelona + meant. They called him Anarchisto de Barcelona, as if it were his + Christian name and surname. But the people in town had been reading in + their papers about the anarchists in Europe and were very much impressed. + Over the jocular addition of “de Barcelona” Mr. Harry Gee chuckled with + immense satisfaction. “That breed is particularly murderous, isn’t it? It + makes the sawmills crowd still more afraid of having anything to do with + him—see?” he exulted, candidly. “I hold him by that name better than + if I had him chained up by the leg to the deck of the steam-launch. + </p> + <p> + “And mark,” he added, after a pause, “he does not deny it. I am not + wronging him in any way. He is a convict of some sort, anyhow.” + </p> + <p> + “But I suppose you pay him some wages, don’t you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Wages! What does he want with money here? He gets his food from my + kitchen and his clothing from the store. Of course I’ll give him something + at the end of the year, but you don’t think I’d employ a convict and give + him the same money I would give an honest man? I am looking after the + interests of my company first and last.” + </p> + <p> + I admitted that, for a company spending fifty thousand pounds every year + in advertising, the strictest economy was obviously necessary. The manager + of the Maranon Estancia grunted approvingly. + </p> + <p> + “And I’ll tell you what,” he continued: “if I were certain he’s an + anarchist and he had the cheek to ask me for money, I would give him the + toe of my boot. However, let him have the benefit of the doubt. I am + perfectly willing to take it that he has done nothing worse than to stick + a knife into somebody—with extenuating circumstances—French + fashion, don’t you know. But that subversive sanguinary rot of doing away + with all law and order in the world makes my blood boil. It’s simply + cutting the ground from under the feet of every decent, respectable, + hard-working person. I tell you that the consciences of people who have + them, like you or I, must be protected in some way; or else the first low + scoundrel that came along would in every respect be just as good as + myself. Wouldn’t he, now? And that’s absurd!” + </p> + <p> + He glared at me. I nodded slightly and murmured that doubtless there was + much subtle truth in his view. + </p> + <p> + The principal truth discoverable in the views of Paul the engineer was + that a little thing may bring about the undoing of a man. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Il ne faut pas beaucoup pour perdre un homme</i>,” he said to me, + thoughtfully, one evening. + </p> + <p> + I report this reflection in French, since the man was of Paris, not of + Barcelona at all. At the Maranon he lived apart from the station, in a + small shed with a metal roof and straw walls, which he called mon atelier. + He had a work-bench there. They had given him several horse-blankets and a + saddle—not that he ever had occasion to ride, but because no other + bedding was used by the working-hands, who were all vaqueros—cattlemen. + And on this horseman’s gear, like a son of the plains, he used to sleep + amongst the tools of his trade, in a litter of rusty scrap-iron, with a + portable forge at his head, under the work-bench sustaining his grimy + mosquito-net. + </p> + <p> + Now and then I would bring him a few candle ends saved from the scant + supply of the manager’s house. He was very thankful for these. He did not + like to lie awake in the dark, he confessed. He complained that sleep fled + from him. “Le sommeil me fuit,” he declared, with his habitual air of + subdued stoicism, which made him sympathetic and touching. I made it clear + to him that I did not attach undue importance to the fact of his having + been a convict. + </p> + <p> + Thus it came about that one evening he was led to talk about himself. As + one of the bits of candle on the edge of the bench burned down to the end, + he hastened to light another. + </p> + <p> + He had done his military service in a provincial garrison and returned to + Paris to follow his trade. It was a well-paid one. He told me with some + pride that in a short time he was earning no less than ten francs a day. + He was thinking of setting up for himself by and by and of getting + married. + </p> + <p> + Here he sighed deeply and paused. Then with a return to his stoical note: + </p> + <p> + “It seems I did not know enough about myself.” + </p> + <p> + On his twenty-fifth birthday two of his friends in the repairing shop + where he worked proposed to stand him a dinner. He was immensely touched + by this attention. + </p> + <p> + “I was a steady man,” he remarked, “but I am not less sociable than any + other body.” + </p> + <p> + The entertainment came off in a little cafe on the Boulevard de la + Chapelle. At dinner they drank some special wine. It was excellent. + Everything was excellent; and the world—in his own words—seemed + a very good place to live in. He had good prospects, some little money + laid by, and the affection of two excellent friends. He offered to pay for + all the drinks after dinner, which was only proper on his part. + </p> + <p> + They drank more wine; they drank liqueurs, cognac, beer, then more + liqueurs and more cognac. Two strangers sitting at the next table looked + at him, he said, with so much friendliness, that he invited them to join + the party. + </p> + <p> + He had never drunk so much in his life. His elation was extreme, and so + pleasurable that whenever it flagged he hastened to order more drinks. + </p> + <p> + “It seemed to me,” he said, in his quiet tone and looking on the ground in + the gloomy shed full of shadows, “that I was on the point of just + attaining a great and wonderful felicity. Another drink, I felt, would do + it. The others were holding out well with me, glass for glass.” + </p> + <p> + But an extraordinary thing happened. At something the strangers said his + elation fell. Gloomy ideas—des idees noires—rushed into his + head. All the world outside the cafe; appeared to him as a dismal evil + place where a multitude of poor wretches had to work and slave to the sole + end that a few individuals should ride in carriages and live riotously in + palaces. He became ashamed of his happiness. The pity of mankind’s cruel + lot wrung his heart. In a voice choked with sorrow he tried to express + these sentiments. He thinks he wept and swore in turns. + </p> + <p> + The two new acquaintances hastened to applaud his humane indignation. Yes. + The amount of injustice in the world was indeed scandalous. There was only + one way of dealing with the rotten state of society. Demolish the whole + sacree boutique. Blow up the whole iniquitous show. + </p> + <p> + Their heads hovered over the table. They whispered to him eloquently; I + don’t think they quite expected the result. He was extremely drunk—mad + drunk. With a howl of rage he leaped suddenly upon the table. Kicking over + the bottles and glasses, he yelled: “Vive l’anarchie! Death to the + capitalists!” He yelled this again and again. All round him broken glass + was falling, chairs were being swung in the air, people were taking each + other by the throat. The police dashed in. He hit, bit, scratched and + struggled, till something crashed down upon his head. . . . + </p> + <p> + He came to himself in a police cell, locked up on a charge of assault, + seditious cries, and anarchist propaganda. + </p> + <p> + He looked at me fixedly with his liquid, shining eyes, that seemed very + big in the dim light. + </p> + <p> + “That was bad. But even then I might have got off somehow, perhaps,” he + said, slowly. + </p> + <p> + I doubt it. But whatever chance he had was done away with by a young + socialist lawyer who volunteered to undertake his defence. In vain he + assured him that he was no anarchist; that he was a quiet, respectable + mechanic, only too anxious to work ten hours per day at his trade. He was + represented at the trial as the victim of society and his drunken + shoutings as the expression of infinite suffering. The young lawyer had + his way to make, and this case was just what he wanted for a start. The + speech for the defence was pronounced magnificent. + </p> + <p> + The poor fellow paused, swallowed, and brought out the statement: + </p> + <p> + “I got the maximum penalty applicable to a first offence.” + </p> + <p> + I made an appropriate murmur. He hung his head and folded his arms. + </p> + <p> + “When they let me out of prison,” he began, gently, “I made tracks, of + course, for my old workshop. My patron had a particular liking for me + before; but when he saw me he turned green with fright and showed me the + door with a shaking hand.” + </p> + <p> + While he stood in the street, uneasy and disconcerted, he was accosted by + a middle-aged man who introduced himself as an engineer’s fitter, too. “I + know who you are,” he said. “I have attended your trial. You are a good + comrade and your ideas are sound. But the devil of it is that you won’t be + able to get work anywhere now. These bourgeois’ll conspire to starve you. + That’s their way. Expect no mercy from the rich.” + </p> + <p> + To be spoken to so kindly in the street had comforted him very much. His + seemed to be the sort of nature needing support and sympathy. The idea of + not being able to find work had knocked him over completely. If his + patron, who knew him so well for a quiet, orderly, competent workman, + would have nothing to do with him now—then surely nobody else would. + That was clear. The police, keeping their eye on him, would hasten to warn + every employer inclined to give him a chance. He felt suddenly very + helpless, alarmed and idle; and he followed the middle-aged man to the + estaminet round the corner where he met some other good companions. They + assured him that he would not be allowed to starve, work or no work. They + had drinks all round to the discomfiture of all employers of labour and to + the destruction of society. + </p> + <p> + He sat biting his lower lip. + </p> + <p> + “That is, monsieur, how I became a compagnon,” he said. The hand he passed + over his forehead was trembling. “All the same, there’s something wrong in + a world where a man can get lost for a glass more or less.” + </p> + <p> + He never looked up, though I could see he was getting excited under his + dejection. He slapped the bench with his open palm. + </p> + <p> + “No!” he cried. “It was an impossible existence! Watched by the police, + watched by the comrades, I did not belong to myself any more! Why, I could + not even go to draw a few francs from my savings-bank without a comrade + hanging about the door to see that I didn’t bolt! And most of them were + neither more nor less than housebreakers. The intelligent, I mean. They + robbed the rich; they were only getting back their own, they said. When I + had had some drink I believed them. There were also the fools and the mad. + Des exaltes—quoi! When I was drunk I loved them. When I got more + drink I was angry with the world. That was the best time. I found refuge + from misery in rage. But one can’t be always drunk—n’est-ce pas, + monsieur? And when I was sober I was afraid to break away. They would have + stuck me like a pig.” + </p> + <p> + He folded his arms again and raised his sharp chin with a bitter smile. + </p> + <p> + “By and by they told me it was time to go to work. The work was to rob a + bank. Afterwards a bomb would be thrown to wreck the place. My beginner’s + part would be to keep watch in a street at the back and to take care of a + black bag with the bomb inside till it was wanted. After the meeting at + which the affair was arranged a trusty comrade did not leave me an inch. I + had not dared to protest; I was afraid of being done away with quietly in + that room; only, as we were walking together I wondered whether it would + not be better for me to throw myself suddenly into the Seine. But while I + was turning it over in my mind we had crossed the bridge, and afterwards I + had not the opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + In the light of the candle end, with his sharp features, fluffy little + moustache, and oval face, he looked at times delicately and gaily young, + and then appeared quite old, decrepit, full of sorrow, pressing his folded + arms to his breast. + </p> + <p> + As he remained silent I felt bound to ask: + </p> + <p> + “Well! And how did it end?” + </p> + <p> + “Deportation to Cayenne,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + He seemed to think that somebody had given the plot away. As he was + keeping watch in the back street, bag in hand, he was set upon by the + police. “These imbeciles,” had knocked him down without noticing what he + had in his hand. He wondered how the bomb failed to explode as he fell. + But it didn’t explode. + </p> + <p> + “I tried to tell my story in court,” he continued. “The president was + amused. There were in the audience some idiots who laughed.” + </p> + <p> + I expressed the hope that some of his companions had been caught, too. He + shuddered slightly before he told me that there were two—Simon, + called also Biscuit, the middle-aged fitter who spoke to him in the + street, and a fellow of the name of Mafile, one of the sympathetic + strangers who had applauded his sentiments and consoled his humanitarian + sorrows when he got drunk in the cafe. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he went on, with an effort, “I had the advantage of their company + over there on St. Joseph’s Island, amongst some eighty or ninety other + convicts. We were all classed as dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + St. Joseph’s Island is the prettiest of the Iles de Salut. It is rocky and + green, with shallow ravines, bushes, thickets, groves of mango-trees, and + many feathery palms. Six warders armed with revolvers and carbines are in + charge of the convicts kept there. + </p> + <p> + An eight-oared galley keeps up the communication in the daytime, across a + channel a quarter of a mile wide, with the Ile Royale, where there is a + military post. She makes the first trip at six in the morning. At four in + the afternoon her service is over, and she is then hauled up into a little + dock on the Ile Royale and a sentry put over her and a few smaller boats. + From that time till next morning the island of St. Joseph remains cut off + from the rest of the world, with the warders patrolling in turn the path + from the warders’ house to the convict huts, and a multitude of sharks + patrolling the waters all round. + </p> + <p> + Under these circumstances the convicts planned a mutiny. Such a thing had + never been known in the penitentiary’s history before. But their plan was + not without some possibility of success. The warders were to be taken by + surprise and murdered during the night. Their arms would enable the + convicts to shoot down the people in the galley as she came alongside in + the morning. The galley once in their possession, other boats were to be + captured, and the whole company was to row away up the coast. + </p> + <p> + At dusk the two warders on duty mustered the convicts as usual. Then they + proceeded to inspect the huts to ascertain that everything was in order. + In the second they entered they were set upon and absolutely smothered + under the numbers of their assailants. The twilight faded rapidly. It was + a new moon; and a heavy black squall gathering over the coast increased + the profound darkness of the night. The convicts assembled in the open + space, deliberating upon the next step to be taken, argued amongst + themselves in low voices. + </p> + <p> + “You took part in all this?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No. I knew what was going to be done, of course. But why should I kill + these warders? I had nothing against them. But I was afraid of the others. + Whatever happened, I could not escape from them. I sat alone on the stump + of a tree with my head in my hands, sick at heart at the thought of a + freedom that could be nothing but a mockery to me. Suddenly I was startled + to perceive the shape of a man on the path near by. He stood perfectly + still, then his form became effaced in the night. It must have been the + chief warder coming to see what had become of his two men. No one noticed + him. The convicts kept on quarrelling over their plans. The leaders could + not get themselves obeyed. The fierce whispering of that dark mass of men + was very horrible. + </p> + <p> + “At last they divided into two parties and moved off. When they had passed + me I rose, weary and hopeless. The path to the warders’ house was dark and + silent, but on each side the bushes rustled slightly. Presently I saw a + faint thread of light before me. The chief warder, followed by his three + men, was approaching cautiously. But he had failed to close his dark + lantern properly. The convicts had seen that faint gleam, too. There was + an awful savage yell, a turmoil on the dark path, shots fired, blows, + groans: and with the sound of smashed bushes, the shouts of the pursuers + and the screams of the pursued, the man-hunt, the warder-hunt, passed by + me into the interior of the island. I was alone. And I assure you, + monsieur, I was indifferent to everything. After standing still for a + while, I walked on along the path till I kicked something hard. I stooped + and picked up a warder’s revolver. I felt with my fingers that it was + loaded in five chambers. In the gusts of wind I heard the convicts calling + to each other far away, and then a roll of thunder would cover the + soughing and rustling of the trees. Suddenly, a big light ran across my + path very low along the ground. And it showed a woman’s skirt with the + edge of an apron. + </p> + <p> + “I knew that the person who carried it must be the wife of the head + warder. They had forgotten all about her, it seems. A shot rang out in the + interior of the island, and she cried out to herself as she ran. She + passed on. I followed, and presently I saw her again. She was pulling at + the cord of the big bell which hangs at the end of the landing-pier, with + one hand, and with the other she was swinging the heavy lantern to and + fro. This is the agreed signal for the Ile Royale should assistance be + required at night. The wind carried the sound away from our island and the + light she swung was hidden on the shore side by the few trees that grow + near the warders’ house. + </p> + <p> + “I came up quite close to her from behind. She went on without stopping, + without looking aside, as though she had been all alone on the island. A + brave woman, monsieur. I put the revolver inside the breast of my blue + blouse and waited. A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder destroyed + both the sound and the light of the signal for an instant, but she never + faltered, pulling at the cord and swinging the lantern as regularly as a + machine. She was a comely woman of thirty—no more. I thought to + myself, ‘All that’s no good on a night like this.’ And I made up my mind + that if a body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier—which was + sure to happen soon—I would shoot her through the head before I shot + myself. I knew the ‘comrades’ well. This idea of mine gave me quite an + interest in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of remaining stupidly + exposed on the pier, I retreated a little way and crouched behind a bush. + I did not intend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be prevented + perhaps from rendering a supreme service to at least one human creature + before I died myself. + </p> + <p> + “But we must believe the signal was seen, for the galley from Ile Royale + came over in an astonishingly short time. The woman kept right on till the + light of her lantern flashed upon the officer in command and the bayonets + of the soldiers in the boat. Then she sat down and began to cry. + </p> + <p> + “She didn’t need me any more. I did not budge. Some soldiers were only in + their shirt-sleeves, others without boots, just as the call to arms had + found them. They passed by my bush at the double. The galley had been sent + away for more; and the woman sat all alone crying at the end of the pier, + with the lantern standing on the ground near her. + </p> + <p> + “Then suddenly I saw in the light at the end of the pier the red + pantaloons of two more men. I was overcome with astonishment. They, too, + started off at a run. Their tunics flapped unbuttoned and they were + bare-headed. One of them panted out to the other, ‘Straight on, straight + on!’ + </p> + <p> + “Where on earth did they spring from, I wondered. Slowly I walked down the + short pier. I saw the woman’s form shaken by sobs and heard her moaning + more and more distinctly, ‘Oh, my man! my poor man! my poor man!’ I stole + on quietly. She could neither hear nor see anything. She had thrown her + apron over her head and was rocking herself to and fro in her grief. But I + remarked a small boat fastened to the end of the pier. + </p> + <p> + “Those two men—they looked like sous-officiers—must have come + in it, after being too late, I suppose, for the galley. It is incredible + that they should have thus broken the regulations from a sense of duty. + And it was a stupid thing to do. I could not believe my eyes in the very + moment I was stepping into that boat. + </p> + <p> + “I pulled along the shore slowly. A black cloud hung over the Iles de + Salut. I heard firing, shouts. Another hunt had begun—the + convict-hunt. The oars were too long to pull comfortably. I managed them + with difficulty, though the boat herself was light. But when I got round + to the other side of the island the squall broke in rain and wind. I was + unable to make head against it. I let the boat drift ashore and secured + her. + </p> + <p> + “I knew the spot. There was a tumbledown old hovel standing near the + water. Cowering in there I heard through the noises of the wind and the + falling downpour some people tearing through the bushes. They came out on + the strand. Soldiers perhaps. A flash of lightning threw everything near + me into violent relief. Two convicts! + </p> + <p> + “And directly an amazed voice exclaimed. ‘It’s a miracle!’ It was the + voice of Simon, otherwise Biscuit. + </p> + <p> + “And another voice growled, ‘What’s a miracle?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, there’s a boat lying here!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You must be mad, Simon! But there is, after all. . . . A boat.’ + </p> + <p> + “They seemed awed into complete silence. The other man was Mafile. He + spoke again, cautiously. + </p> + <p> + “‘It is fastened up. There must be somebody here.’ + </p> + <p> + “I spoke to them from within the hovel: ‘I am here.’ + </p> + <p> + “They came in then, and soon gave me to understand that the boat was + theirs, not mine. ‘There are two of us,’ said Mafile, ‘against you alone.’ + </p> + <p> + “I got out into the open to keep clear of them for fear of getting a + treacherous blow on the head. I could have shot them both where they + stood. But I said nothing. I kept down the laughter rising in my throat. I + made myself very humble and begged to be allowed to go. They consulted in + low tones about my fate, while with my hand on the revolver in the bosom + of my blouse I had their lives in my power. I let them live. I meant them + to pull that boat. I represented to them with abject humility that I + understood the management of a boat, and that, being three to pull, we + could get a rest in turns. That decided them at last. It was time. A + little more and I would have gone into screaming fits at the drollness of + it.” + </p> + <p> + At this point his excitement broke out. He jumped off the bench and + gesticulated. The great shadows of his arms darting over roof and walls + made the shed appear too small to contain his agitation. + </p> + <p> + “I deny nothing,” he burst out. “I was elated, monsieur. I tasted a sort + of felicity. But I kept very quiet. I took my turns at pulling all through + the night. We made for the open sea, putting our trust in a passing ship. + It was a foolhardy action. I persuaded them to it. When the sun rose the + immensity of water was calm, and the Iles de Salut appeared only like dark + specks from the top of each swell. I was steering then. Mafile, who was + pulling bow, let out an oath and said, ‘We must rest.’ + </p> + <p> + “The time to laugh had come at last. And I took my fill of it, I can tell + you. I held my sides and rolled in my seat, they had such startled faces. + ‘What’s got into him, the animal?’ cries Mafile. + </p> + <p> + “And Simon, who was nearest to me, says over his shoulder to him, ‘Devil + take me if I don’t think he’s gone mad!’ + </p> + <p> + “Then I produced the revolver. Aha! In a moment they both got the stoniest + eyes you can imagine. Ha, ha! They were frightened. But they pulled. Oh, + yes, they pulled all day, sometimes looking wild and sometimes looking + faint. I lost nothing of it because I had to keep my eyes on them all the + time, or else—crack!—they would have been on top of me in a + second. I rested my revolver hand on my knee all ready and steered with + the other. Their faces began to blister. Sky and sea seemed on fire round + us and the sea steamed in the sun. The boat made a sizzling sound as she + went through the water. Sometimes Mafile foamed at the mouth and sometimes + he groaned. But he pulled. He dared not stop. His eyes became blood-shot + all over, and he had bitten his lower lip to pieces. Simon was as hoarse + as a crow. + </p> + <p> + “‘Comrade—’ he begins. + </p> + <p> + “‘There are no comrades here. I am your patron.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Patron, then,’ he says, ‘in the name of humanity let us rest.’ + </p> + <p> + “I let them. There was a little rainwater washing about the bottom of the + boat. I permitted them to snatch some of it in the hollow of their palms. + But as I gave the command, ‘En route!’ I caught them exchanging + significant glances. They thought I would have to go to sleep sometime! + Aha! But I did not want to go to sleep. I was more awake than ever. It is + they who went to sleep as they pulled, tumbling off the thwarts head over + heels suddenly, one after another. I let them lie. All the stars were out. + It was a quiet world. The sun rose. Another day. Allez! En route! + </p> + <p> + “They pulled badly. Their eyes rolled about and their tongues hung out. In + the middle of the forenoon Mafile croaks out: ‘Let us make a rush at him, + Simon. I would just as soon be shot at once as to die of thirst, hunger, + and fatigue at the oar.’ + </p> + <p> + “But while he spoke he pulled; and Simon kept on pulling too. It made me + smile. Ah! They loved their life these two, in this evil world of theirs, + just as I used to love my life, too, before they spoiled it for me with + their phrases. I let them go on to the point of exhaustion, and only then + I pointed at the sails of a ship on the horizon. + </p> + <p> + “Aha! You should have seen them revive and buckle to their work! For I + kept them at it to pull right across that ship’s path. They were changed. + The sort of pity I had felt for them left me. They looked more like + themselves every minute. They looked at me with the glances I remembered + so well. They were happy. They smiled. + </p> + <p> + “‘Well,’ says Simon, ‘the energy of that youngster has saved our lives. If + he hadn’t made us, we could never have pulled so far out into the track of + ships. Comrade, I forgive you. I admire you.’ + </p> + <p> + “And Mafile growls from forward: ‘We owe you a famous debt of gratitude, + comrade. You are cut out for a chief.’ + </p> + <p> + “Comrade! Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! And they, such men as these two, + had made it accursed. I looked at them. I remembered their lies, their + promises, their menaces, and all my days of misery. Why could they not + have left me alone after I came out of prison? I looked at them and + thought that while they lived I could never be free. Never. Neither I nor + others like me with warm hearts and weak heads. For I know I have not a + strong head, monsieur. A black rage came upon me—the rage of extreme + intoxication—but not against the injustice of society. Oh, no! + </p> + <p> + “‘I must be free!’ I cried, furiously. + </p> + <p> + “‘Vive la liberte!” yells that ruffian Mafile. ‘Mort aux bourgeois who + send us to Cayenne! They shall soon know that we are free.’ + </p> + <p> + “The sky, the sea, the whole horizon, seemed to turn red, blood red all + round the boat. My temples were beating so loud that I wondered they did + not hear. How is it that they did not? How is it they did not understand? + </p> + <p> + “I heard Simon ask, ‘Have we not pulled far enough out now?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes. Far enough,’ I said. I was sorry for him; it was the other I hated. + He hauled in his oar with a loud sigh, and as he was raising his hand to + wipe his forehead with the air of a man who has done his work, I pulled + the trigger of my revolver and shot him like this off the knee, right + through the heart. + </p> + <p> + “He tumbled down, with his head hanging over the side of the boat. I did + not give him a second glance. The other cried out piercingly. Only one + shriek of horror. Then all was still. + </p> + <p> + “He slipped off the thwart on to his knees and raised his clasped hands + before his face in an attitude of supplication. ‘Mercy,’ he whispered, + faintly. ‘Mercy for me!—comrade.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Ah, comrade,’ I said, in a low tone. ‘Yes, comrade, of course. Well, + then, shout Vive l’anarchie.’ + </p> + <p> + “He flung up his arms, his face up to the sky and his mouth wide open in a + great yell of despair. ‘Vive l’anarchie! Vive—’ + </p> + <p> + “He collapsed all in a heap, with a bullet through his head. + </p> + <p> + “I flung them both overboard. I threw away the revolver, too. Then I sat + down quietly. I was free at last! At last. I did not even look towards the + ship; I did not care; indeed, I think I must have gone to sleep, because + all of a sudden there were shouts and I found the ship almost on top of + me. They hauled me on board and secured the boat astern. They were all + blacks, except the captain, who was a mulatto. He alone knew a few words + of French. I could not find out where they were going nor who they were. + They gave me something to eat every day; but I did not like the way they + used to discuss me in their language. Perhaps they were deliberating about + throwing me overboard in order to keep possession of the boat. How do I + know? As we were passing this island I asked whether it was inhabited. I + understood from the mulatto that there was a house on it. A farm, I + fancied, they meant. So I asked them to put me ashore on the beach and + keep the boat for their trouble. This, I imagine, was just what they + wanted. The rest you know.” + </p> + <p> + After pronouncing these words he lost suddenly all control over himself. + He paced to and fro rapidly, till at last he broke into a run; his arms + went like a windmill and his ejaculations became very much like raving. + The burden of them was that he “denied nothing, nothing!” I could only let + him go on, and sat out of his way, repeating, “Calmez vous, calmez vous,” + at intervals, till his agitation exhausted itself. + </p> + <p> + I must confess, too, that I remained there long after he had crawled under + his mosquito-net. He had entreated me not to leave him; so, as one sits up + with a nervous child, I sat up with him—in the name of humanity—till + he fell asleep. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, my idea is that he was much more of an anarchist than he + confessed to me or to himself; and that, the special features of his case + apart, he was very much like many other anarchists. Warm heart and weak + head—that is the word of the riddle; and it is a fact that the + bitterest contradictions and the deadliest conflicts of the world are + carried on in every individual breast capable of feeling and passion. + </p> + <p> + From personal inquiry I can vouch that the story of the convict mutiny was + in every particular as stated by him. + </p> + <p> + When I got back to Horta from Cayenne and saw the “Anarchist” again, he + did not look well. He was more worn, still more frail, and very livid + indeed under the grimy smudges of his calling. Evidently the meat of the + company’s main herd (in its unconcentrated form) did not agree with him at + all. + </p> + <p> + It was on the pontoon in Horta that we met; and I tried to induce him to + leave the launch moored where she was and follow me to Europe there and + then. It would have been delightful to think of the excellent manager’s + surprise and disgust at the poor fellow’s escape. But he refused with + unconquerable obstinacy. + </p> + <p> + “Surely you don’t mean to live always here!” I cried. He shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “I shall die here,” he said. Then added moodily, “Away from them.” + </p> + <p> + Sometimes I think of him lying open-eyed on his horseman’s gear in the low + shed full of tools and scraps of iron—the anarchist slave of the + Maranon estate, waiting with resignation for that sleep which “fled” from + him, as he used to say, in such an unaccountable manner. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE DUEL + </h2> + <h3> + A MILITARY TALE + </h3> + <p> + I + </p> + <p> + Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole of + Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great + military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect for + tradition. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in the army, runs + through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration of their + fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined gold or + paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the years of universal + carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and their connection with the + high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems + particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to imagine for heroes of + this legend two officers of infantry of the line, for example, whose + fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily + must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or engineers, whose heads + are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is simply unthinkable. + </p> + <p> + The names of the two officers were Feraud and D’Hubert, and they were both + lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not in the same regiment. + </p> + <p> + Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieut. D’Hubert had the good fortune + to be attached to the person of the general commanding the division, as + officier d’ordonnance. It was in Strasbourg, and in this agreeable and + important garrison they were enjoying greatly a short interval of peace. + They were enjoying it, though both intensely warlike, because it was a + sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a military heart and + undamaging to military prestige, inasmuch that no one believed in its + sincerity or duration. + </p> + <p> + Under those historical circumstances, so favourable to the proper + appreciation of military leisure, Lieut. D’Hubert, one fine afternoon, + made his way along a quiet street of a cheerful suburb towards Lieut. + Feraud’s quarters, which were in a private house with a garden at the + back, belonging to an old maiden lady. + </p> + <p> + His knock at the door was answered instantly by a young maid in Alsatian + costume. Her fresh complexion and her long eyelashes, lowered demurely at + the sight of the tall officer, caused Lieut. D’Hubert, who was accessible + to esthetic impressions, to relax the cold, severe gravity of his face. At + the same time he observed that the girl had over her arm a pair of + hussar’s breeches, blue with a red stripe. + </p> + <p> + “Lieut. Feraud in?” he inquired, benevolently. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, sir! He went out at six this morning.” + </p> + <p> + The pretty maid tried to close the door. Lieut. D’Hubert, opposing this + move with gentle firmness, stepped into the ante-room, jingling his spurs. + </p> + <p> + “Come, my dear! You don’t mean to say he has not been home since six + o’clock this morning?” + </p> + <p> + Saying these words, Lieut. D’Hubert opened without ceremony the door of a + room so comfortably and neatly ordered that only from internal evidence in + the shape of boots, uniforms, and military accoutrements did he acquire + the conviction that it was Lieut. Feraud’s room. And he saw also that + Lieut. Feraud was not at home. The truthful maid had followed him, and + raised her candid eyes to his face. + </p> + <p> + “H’m!” said Lieut. D’Hubert, greatly disappointed, for he had already + visited all the haunts where a lieutenant of hussars could be found of a + fine afternoon. “So he’s out? And do you happen to know, my dear, why he + went out at six this morning?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she answered, readily. “He came home late last night, and snored. I + heard him when I got up at five. Then he dressed himself in his oldest + uniform and went out. Service, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “Service? Not a bit of it!” cried Lieut. D’Hubert. “Learn, my angel, that + he went out thus early to fight a duel with a civilian.” + </p> + <p> + She heard this news without a quiver of her dark eyelashes. It was very + obvious that the actions of Lieut. Feraud were generally above criticism. + She only looked up for a moment in mute surprise, and Lieut. D’Hubert + concluded from this absence of emotion that she must have seen Lieut. + Feraud since the morning. He looked around the room. + </p> + <p> + “Come!” he insisted, with confidential familiarity. “He’s perhaps + somewhere in the house now?” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse for him!” continued Lieut. D’Hubert, in a tone of + anxious conviction. “But he has been home this morning.” + </p> + <p> + This time the pretty maid nodded slightly. + </p> + <p> + “He has!” cried Lieut. D’Hubert. “And went out again? What for? Couldn’t + he keep quietly indoors! What a lunatic! My dear girl—” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s natural kindness of disposition and strong sense of + comradeship helped his powers of observation. He changed his tone to a + most insinuating softness, and, gazing at the hussar’s breeches hanging + over the arm of the girl, he appealed to the interest she took in Lieut. + Feraud’s comfort and happiness. He was pressing and persuasive. He used + his eyes, which were kind and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety to + get hold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut. Feraud’s own good, seemed so + genuine that at last it overcame the girl’s unwillingness to speak. + Unluckily she had not much to tell. Lieut. Feraud had returned home + shortly before ten, had walked straight into his room, and had thrown + himself on his bed to resume his slumbers. She had heard him snore rather + louder than before far into the afternoon. Then he got up, put on his best + uniform, and went out. That was all she knew. + </p> + <p> + She raised her eyes, and Lieut. D’Hubert stared into them incredulously. + </p> + <p> + “It’s incredible. Gone parading the town in his best uniform! My dear + child, don’t you know he ran that civilian through this morning? Clean + through, as you spit a hare.” + </p> + <p> + The pretty maid heard the gruesome intelligence without any signs of + distress. But she pressed her lips together thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + “He isn’t parading the town,” she remarked in a low tone. “Far from it.” + </p> + <p> + “The civilian’s family is making an awful row,” continued Lieut. D’Hubert, + pursuing his train of thought. “And the general is very angry. It’s one of + the best families in the town. Feraud ought to have kept close at least—” + </p> + <p> + “What will the general do to him?” inquired the girl, anxiously. + </p> + <p> + “He won’t have his head cut off, to be sure,” grumbled Lieut. D’Hubert. + “His conduct is positively indecent. He’s making no end of trouble for + himself by this sort of bravado.” + </p> + <p> + “But he isn’t parading the town,” the maid insisted in a shy murmur. + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes! Now I think of it, I haven’t seen him anywhere about. What on + earth has he done with himself?” + </p> + <p> + “He’s gone to pay a call,” suggested the maid, after a moment of silence. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert started. + </p> + <p> + “A call! Do you mean a call on a lady? The cheek of the man! And how do + you know this, my dear?” + </p> + <p> + Without concealing her woman’s scorn for the denseness of the masculine + mind, the pretty maid reminded him that Lieut. Feraud had arrayed himself + in his best uniform before going out. He had also put on his newest + dolman, she added, in a tone as if this conversation were getting on her + nerves, and turned away brusquely. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert, without questioning the accuracy of the deduction, did + not see that it advanced him much on his official quest. For his quest + after Lieut. Feraud had an official character. He did not know any of the + women this fellow, who had run a man through in the morning, was likely to + visit in the afternoon. The two young men knew each other but slightly. He + bit his gloved finger in perplexity. + </p> + <p> + “Call!” he exclaimed. “Call on the devil!” + </p> + <p> + The girl, with her back to him, and folding the hussars breeches on a + chair, protested with a vexed little laugh: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear, no! On Madame de Lionne.” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert whistled softly. Madame de Lionne was the wife of a high + official who had a well-known salon and some pretensions to sensibility + and elegance. The husband was a civilian, and old; but the society of the + salon was young and military. Lieut. D’Hubert had whistled, not because + the idea of pursuing Lieut. Feraud into that very salon was disagreeable + to him, but because, having arrived in Strasbourg only lately, he had not + had the time as yet to get an introduction to Madame de Lionne. And what + was that swashbuckler Feraud doing there, he wondered. He did not seem the + sort of man who— + </p> + <p> + “Are you certain of what you say?” asked Lieut. D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + The girl was perfectly certain. Without turning round to look at him, she + explained that the coachman of their next door neighbours knew the + maitre-d’hotel of Madame de Lionne. In this way she had her information. + And she was perfectly certain. In giving this assurance she sighed. Lieut. + Feraud called there nearly every afternoon, she added. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, bah!” exclaimed D’Hubert, ironically. His opinion of Madame de Lionne + went down several degrees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him specially + worthy of attention on the part of a woman with a reputation for + sensibility and elegance. But there was no saying. At bottom they were all + alike—very practical rather than idealistic. Lieut. D’Hubert, + however, did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations. + </p> + <p> + “By thunder!” he reflected aloud. “The general goes there sometimes. If he + happens to find the fellow making eyes at the lady there will be the devil + to pay! Our general is not a very accommodating person, I can tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “Go quickly, then! Don’t stand here now I’ve told you where he is!” cried + the girl, colouring to the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Thanks, my dear! I don’t know what I would have done without you.” + </p> + <p> + After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, which at first was + repulsed violently, and then submitted to with a sudden and still more + repellent indifference, Lieut. D’Hubert took his departure. + </p> + <p> + He clanked and jingled along the streets with a martial swagger. To run a + comrade to earth in a drawing-room where he was not known did not trouble + him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His position as officier + d’ordonnance of the general added to his assurance. Moreover, now that he + knew where to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a service + matter. + </p> + <p> + Madame de Lionne’s house had an excellent appearance. A man in livery, + opening the door of a large drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his + name and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. The ladies + wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of feathers; their bodies + sheathed in clinging white gowns, from the armpits to the tips of the low + satin shoes, looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare necks + and arms. The men who talked with them, on the contrary, were arrayed + heavily in multi-coloured garments with collars up to their ears and thick + sashes round their waists. Lieut. D’Hubert made his unabashed way across + the room and, bowing low before a sylph-like form reclining on a couch, + offered his apologies for this intrusion, which nothing could excuse but + the extreme urgency of the service order he had to communicate to his + comrade Feraud. He proposed to himself to return presently in a more + regular manner and beg forgiveness for interrupting the interesting + conversation . . . + </p> + <p> + A bare arm was extended towards him with gracious nonchalance even before + he had finished speaking. He pressed the hand respectfully to his lips, + and made the mental remark that it was bony. Madame de Lionne was a + blonde, with too fine a skin and a long face. + </p> + <p> + “C’est ca!” she said, with an ethereal smile, disclosing a set of large + teeth. “Come this evening to plead for your forgiveness.” + </p> + <p> + “I will not fail, madame.” + </p> + <p> + Meantime, Lieut. Feraud, splendid in his new dolman and the extremely + polished boots of his calling, sat on a chair within a foot of the couch, + one hand resting on his thigh, the other twirling his moustache to a + point. At a significant glance from D’Hubert he rose without alacrity, and + followed him into the recess of a window. + </p> + <p> + “What is it you want with me?” he asked, with astonishing indifference. + Lieut. D’Hubert could not imagine that in the innocence of his heart and + simplicity of his conscience Lieut. Feraud took a view of his duel in + which neither remorse nor yet a rational apprehension of consequences had + any place. Though he had no clear recollection how the quarrel had + originated (it was begun in an establishment where beer and wine are drunk + late at night), he had not the slightest doubt of being himself the + outraged party. He had had two experienced friends for his seconds. + Everything had been done according to the rules governing that sort of + adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the purpose of someone + being at least hurt, if not killed outright. The civilian got hurt. That + also was in order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectly tranquil; but Lieut. + D’Hubert took it for affectation, and spoke with a certain vivacity. + </p> + <p> + “I am directed by the general to give you the order to go at once to your + quarters, and remain there under close arrest.” + </p> + <p> + It was now the turn of Lieut. Feraud to be astonished. “What the devil are + you telling me there?” he murmured, faintly, and fell into such profound + wonder that he could only follow mechanically the motions of Lieut. + D’Hubert. The two officers, one tall, with an interesting face and a + moustache the colour of ripe corn, the other, short and sturdy, with a + hooked nose and a thick crop of black curly hair, approached the mistress + of the house to take their leave. Madame de Lionne, a woman of eclectic + taste, smiled upon these armed young men with impartial sensibility and an + equal share of interest. Madame de Lionne took her delight in the infinite + variety of the human species. All the other eyes in the drawing-room + followed the departing officers; and when they had gone out one or two + men, who had already heard of the duel, imparted the information to the + sylph-like ladies, who received it with faint shrieks of humane concern. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, the two hussars walked side by side, Lieut. Feraud trying to + master the hidden reason of things which in this instance eluded the grasp + of his intellect, Lieut. D’Hubert feeling annoyed at the part he had to + play, because the general’s instructions were that he should see + personally that Lieut. Feraud carried out his orders to the letter, and at + once. + </p> + <p> + “The chief seems to know this animal,” he thought, eyeing his companion, + whose round face, the round eyes, and even the twisted-up jet black little + moustache seemed animated by a mental exasperation against the + incomprehensible. And aloud he observed rather reproachfully, “The general + is in a devilish fury with you!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud stopped short on the edge of the pavement, and cried in + accents of unmistakable sincerity, “What on earth for?” The innocence of + the fiery Gascon soul was depicted in the manner in which he seized his + head in both hands as if to prevent it bursting with perplexity. + </p> + <p> + “For the duel,” said Lieut. D’Hubert, curtly. He was annoyed greatly by + this sort of perverse fooling. + </p> + <p> + “The duel! The . . .” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud passed from one paroxysm of astonishment into another. He + dropped his hands and walked on slowly, trying to reconcile this + information with the state of his own feelings. It was impossible. He + burst out indignantly, “Was I to let that sauerkraut-eating civilian wipe + his boots on the uniform of the 7th Hussars?” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert could not remain altogether unmoved by that simple + sentiment. This little fellow was a lunatic, he thought to himself, but + there was something in what he said. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I don’t know how far you were justified,” he began, + soothingly. “And the general himself may not be exactly informed. Those + people have been deafening him with their lamentations.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! the general is not exactly informed,” mumbled Lieut. Feraud, walking + faster and faster as his choler at the injustice of his fate began to + rise. “He is not exactly . . . And he orders me under close arrest, with + God knows what afterwards!” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t excite yourself like this,” remonstrated the other. “Your + adversary’s people are very influential, you know, and it looks bad enough + on the face of it. The general had to take notice of their complaint at + once. I don’t think he means to be over-severe with you. It’s the best + thing for you to be kept out of sight for a while.” + </p> + <p> + “I am very much obliged to the general,” muttered Lieut. Feraud through + his teeth. “And perhaps you would say I ought to be grateful to you, too, + for the trouble you have taken to hunt me up in the drawing-room of a lady + who—” + </p> + <p> + “Frankly,” interrupted Lieut. D’Hubert, with an innocent laugh, “I think + you ought to be. I had no end of trouble to find out where you were. It + wasn’t exactly the place for you to disport yourself in under the + circumstances. If the general had caught you there making eyes at the + goddess of the temple . . . oh, my word! . . . He hates to be bothered + with complaints against his officers, you know. And it looked uncommonly + like sheer bravado.” + </p> + <p> + The two officers had arrived now at the street door of Lieut. Feraud’s + lodgings. The latter turned towards his companion. “Lieut. D’Hubert,” he + said, “I have something to say to you, which can’t be said very well in + the street. You can’t refuse to come up.” + </p> + <p> + The pretty maid had opened the door. Lieut. Feraud brushed past her + brusquely, and she raised her scared and questioning eyes to Lieut. + D’Hubert, who could do nothing but shrug his shoulders slightly as he + followed with marked reluctance. + </p> + <p> + In his room Lieut. Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung his new dolman on the + bed, and, folding his arms across his chest, turned to the other hussar. + </p> + <p> + “Do you imagine I am a man to submit tamely to injustice?” he inquired, in + a boisterous voice. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do be reasonable!” remonstrated Lieut. D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + “I am reasonable! I am perfectly reasonable!” retorted the other with + ominous restraint. “I can’t call the general to account for his behaviour, + but you are going to answer me for yours.” + </p> + <p> + “I can’t listen to this nonsense,” murmured Lieut. D’Hubert, making a + slightly contemptuous grimace. + </p> + <p> + “You call this nonsense? It seems to me a perfectly plain statement. + Unless you don’t understand French.” + </p> + <p> + “What on earth do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, “to cut off your ears to teach + you to disturb me with the general’s orders when I am talking to a lady!” + </p> + <p> + A profound silence followed this mad declaration; and through the open + window Lieut. D’Hubert heard the little birds singing sanely in the + garden. He said, preserving his calm, “Why! If you take that tone, of + course I shall hold myself at your disposition whenever you are at liberty + to attend to this affair; but I don’t think you will cut my ears off.” + </p> + <p> + “I am going to attend to it at once,” declared Lieut. Feraud, with extreme + truculence. “If you are thinking of displaying your airs and graces + to-night in Madame de Lionne’s salon you are very much mistaken.” + </p> + <p> + “Really!” said Lieut. D’Hubert, who was beginning to feel irritated, “you + are an impracticable sort of fellow. The general’s orders to me were to + put you under arrest, not to carve you into small pieces. Good-morning!” + And turning his back on the little Gascon, who, always sober in his + potations, was as though born intoxicated with the sunshine of his + vine-ripening country, the Northman, who could drink hard on occasion, but + was born sober under the watery skies of Picardy, made for the door. + Hearing, however, the unmistakable sound behind his back of a sword drawn + from the scabbard, he had no option but to stop. + </p> + <p> + “Devil take this mad Southerner!” he thought, spinning round and surveying + with composure the warlike posture of Lieut. Feraud, with a bare sword in + his hand. + </p> + <p> + “At once!—at once!” stuttered Feraud, beside himself. + </p> + <p> + “You had my answer,” said the other, keeping his temper very well. + </p> + <p> + At first he had been only vexed, and somewhat amused; but now his face got + clouded. He was asking himself seriously how he could manage to get away. + It was impossible to run from a man with a sword, and as to fighting him, + it seemed completely out of the question. He waited awhile, then said + exactly what was in his heart. + </p> + <p> + “Drop this! I won’t fight with you. I won’t be made ridiculous.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you won’t?” hissed the Gascon. “I suppose you prefer to be made + infamous. Do you hear what I say? . . . Infamous! Infamous! Infamous!” he + shrieked, rising and falling on his toes and getting very red in the face. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert, on the contrary, became very pale at the sound of the + unsavoury word for a moment, then flushed pink to the roots of his fair + hair. “But you can’t go out to fight; you are under arrest, you lunatic!” + he objected, with angry scorn. + </p> + <p> + “There’s the garden: it’s big enough to lay out your long carcass in,” + spluttered the other with such ardour that somehow the anger of the cooler + man subsided. + </p> + <p> + “This is perfectly absurd,” he said, glad enough to think he had found a + way out of it for the moment. “We shall never get any of our comrades to + serve as seconds. It’s preposterous.” + </p> + <p> + “Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don’t want any seconds. Don’t you worry + about any seconds. I shall send word to your friends to come and bury you + when I am done. And if you want any witnesses, I’ll send word to the old + girl to put her head out of a window at the back. Stay! There’s the + gardener. He’ll do. He’s as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes in his + head. Come along! I will teach you, my staff officer, that the carrying + about of a general’s orders is not always child’s play.” + </p> + <p> + While thus discoursing he had unbuckled his empty scabbard. He sent it + flying under the bed, and, lowering the point of the sword, brushed past + the perplexed Lieut. D’Hubert, exclaiming, “Follow me!” Directly he had + flung open the door a faint shriek was heard and the pretty maid, who had + been listening at the keyhole, staggered away, putting the backs of her + hands over her eyes. Feraud did not seem to see her, but she ran after him + and seized his left arm. He shook her off, and then she rushed towards + Lieut. D’Hubert and clawed at the sleeve of his uniform. + </p> + <p> + “Wretched man!” she sobbed. “Is this what you wanted to find him for?” + </p> + <p> + “Let me go,” entreated Lieut. D’Hubert, trying to disengage himself + gently. “It’s like being in a madhouse,” he protested, with exasperation. + “Do let me go! I won’t do him any harm.” + </p> + <p> + A fiendish laugh from Lieut. Feraud commented that assurance. “Come + along!” he shouted, with a stamp of his foot. + </p> + <p> + And Lieut. D’Hubert did follow. He could do nothing else. Yet in + vindication of his sanity it must be recorded that as he passed through + the ante-room the notion of opening the street door and bolting out + presented itself to this brave youth, only of course to be instantly + dismissed, for he felt sure that the other would pursue him without shame + or compunction. And the prospect of an officer of hussars being chased + along the street by another officer of hussars with a naked sword could + not be for a moment entertained. Therefore he followed into the garden. + Behind them the girl tottered out, too. With ashy lips and wild, scared + eyes, she surrendered herself to a dreadful curiosity. She had also the + notion of rushing if need be between Lieut. Feraud and death. + </p> + <p> + The deaf gardener, utterly unconscious of approaching footsteps, went on + watering his flowers till Lieut. Feraud thumped him on the back. Beholding + suddenly an enraged man flourishing a big sabre, the old chap trembling in + all his limbs dropped the watering-pot. At once Lieut. Feraud kicked it + away with great animosity, and, seizing the gardener by the throat, backed + him against a tree. He held him there, shouting in his ear, “Stay here, + and look on! You understand? You’ve got to look on! Don’t dare budge from + the spot!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert came slowly down the walk, unclasping his dolman with + unconcealed disgust. Even then, with his hand already on the hilt of his + sword, he hesitated to draw till a roar, “En garde, fichtre! What do you + think you came here for?” and the rush of his adversary forced him to put + himself as quickly as possible in a posture of defence. + </p> + <p> + The clash of arms filled that prim garden, which hitherto had known no + more warlike sound than the click of clipping shears; and presently the + upper part of an old lady’s body was projected out of a window upstairs. + She tossed her arms above her white cap, scolding in a cracked voice. The + gardener remained glued to the tree, his toothless mouth open in idiotic + astonishment, and a little farther up the path the pretty girl, as if + spellbound to a small grass plot, ran a few steps this way and that, + wringing her hands and muttering crazily. She did not rush between the + combatants: the onslaughts of Lieut. Feraud were so fierce that her heart + failed her. Lieut. D’Hubert, his faculties concentrated upon defence, + needed all his skill and science of the sword to stop the rushes of his + adversary. Twice already he had to break ground. It bothered him to feel + his foothold made insecure by the round, dry gravel of the path rolling + under the hard soles of his boots. This was most unsuitable ground, he + thought, keeping a watchful, narrowed gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, upon + the fiery stare of his thick-set adversary. This absurd affair would ruin + his reputation of a sensible, well-behaved, promising young officer. It + would damage, at any rate, his immediate prospects, and lose him the + good-will of his general. These worldly preoccupations were no doubt + misplaced in view of the solemnity of the moment. A duel, whether regarded + as a ceremony in the cult of honour, or even when reduced in its moral + essence to a form of manly sport, demands a perfect singleness of + intention, a homicidal austerity of mood. On the other hand, this vivid + concern for his future had not a bad effect inasmuch as it began to rouse + the anger of Lieut. D’Hubert. Some seventy seconds had elapsed since they + had crossed blades, and Lieut. D’Hubert had to break ground again in order + to avoid impaling his reckless adversary like a beetle for a cabinet of + specimens. The result was that misapprehending the motive, Lieut. Feraud + with a triumphant sort of snarl pressed his attack. + </p> + <p> + “This enraged animal will have me against the wall directly,” thought + Lieut. D’Hubert. He imagined himself much closer to the house than he was, + and he dared not turn his head; it seemed to him that he was keeping his + adversary off with his eyes rather more than with his point. Lieut. Feraud + crouched and bounded with a fierce tigerish agility fit to trouble the + stoutest heart. But what was more appalling than the fury of a wild beast, + accomplishing in all innocence of heart a natural function, was the fixity + of savage purpose man alone is capable of displaying. Lieut. D ‘Hubert in + the midst of his worldly preoccupations perceived it at last. It was an + absurd and damaging affair to be drawn into, but whatever silly intention + the fellow had started with, it was clear enough that by this time he + meant to kill—nothing less. He meant it with an intensity of will + utterly beyond the inferior faculties of a tiger. + </p> + <p> + As is the case with constitutionally brave men, the full view of the + danger interested Lieut. D’Hubert. And directly he got properly + interested, the length of his arm and the coolness of his head told in his + favour. It was the turn of Lieut. Feraud to recoil, with a bloodcurdling + grunt of baffled rage. He made a swift feint, and then rushed straight + forward. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! you would, would you?” Lieut. D’Hubert exclaimed, mentally. The + combat had lasted nearly two minutes, time enough for any man to get + embittered, apart from the merits of the quarrel. And all at once it was + over. Trying to close breast to breast under his adversary’s guard Lieut. + Feraud received a slash on his shortened arm. He did not feel it in the + least, but it checked his rush, and his feet slipping on the gravel he + fell backwards with great violence. The shock jarred his boiling brain + into the perfect quietude of insensibility. Simultaneously with his fall + the pretty servant-girl shrieked; but the old maiden lady at the window + ceased her scolding, and began to cross herself piously. + </p> + <p> + Beholding his adversary stretched out perfectly still, his face to the + sky, Lieut. D’Hubert thought he had killed him outright. The impression of + having slashed hard enough to cut his man clean in two abode with him for + a while in an exaggerated memory of the right good-will he had put into + the blow. He dropped on his knees hastily by the side of the prostrate + body. Discovering that not even the arm was severed, a slight sense of + disappointment mingled with the feeling of relief. The fellow deserved the + worst. But truly he did not want the death of that sinner. The affair was + ugly enough as it stood, and Lieut. D’Hubert addressed himself at once to + the task of stopping the bleeding. In this task it was his fate to be + ridiculously impeded by the pretty maid. Rending the air with screams of + horror, she attacked him from behind and, twining her fingers in his hair, + tugged back at his head. Why she should choose to hinder him at this + precise moment he could not in the least understand. He did not try. It + was all like a very wicked and harassing dream. Twice to save himself from + being pulled over he had to rise and fling her off. He did this stoically, + without a word, kneeling down again at once to go on with his work. But + the third time, his work being done, he seized her and held her arms + pinned to her body. Her cap was half off, her face was red, her eyes + blazed with crazy boldness. He looked mildly into them while she called + him a wretch, a traitor, and a murderer many times in succession. This did + not annoy him so much as the conviction that she had managed to scratch + his face abundantly. Ridicule would be added to the scandal of the story. + He imagined the adorned tale making its way through the garrison of the + town, through the whole army on the frontier, with every possible + distortion of motive and sentiment and circumstance, spreading a doubt + upon the sanity of his conduct and the distinction of his taste even to + the very ears of his honourable family. It was all very well for that + fellow Feraud, who had no connections, no family to speak of, and no + quality but courage, which, anyhow, was a matter of course, and possessed + by every single trooper in the whole mass of French cavalry. Still holding + down the arms of the girl in a strong grip, Lieut. D’Hubert glanced over + his shoulder. Lieut. Feraud had opened his eyes. He did not move. Like a + man just waking from a deep sleep he stared without any expression at the + evening sky. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s urgent shouts to the old gardener produced no effect—not + so much as to make him shut his toothless mouth. Then he remembered that + the man was stone deaf. All that time the girl struggled, not with + maidenly coyness, but like a pretty, dumb fury, kicking his shins now and + then. He continued to hold her as if in a vice, his instinct telling him + that were he to let her go she would fly at his eyes. But he was greatly + humiliated by his position. At last she gave up. She was more exhausted + than appeased, he feared. Nevertheless, he attempted to get out of this + wicked dream by way of negotiation. + </p> + <p> + “Listen to me,” he said, as calmly as he could. “Will you promise to run + for a surgeon if I let you go?” + </p> + <p> + With real affliction he heard her declare that she would do nothing of the + kind. On the contrary, her sobbed out intention was to remain in the + garden, and fight tooth and nail for the protection of the vanquished man. + This was shocking. + </p> + <p> + “My dear child!” he cried in despair, “is it possible that you think me + capable of murdering a wounded adversary? Is it. . . . Be quiet, you + little wild cat, you!” + </p> + <p> + They struggled. A thick, drowsy voice said behind him, “What are you after + with that girl?” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud had raised himself on his good arm. He was looking sleepily + at his other arm, at the mess of blood on his uniform, at a small red pool + on the ground, at his sabre lying a foot away on the path. Then he laid + himself down gently again to think it all out, as far as a thundering + headache would permit of mental operations. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert released the girl who crouched at once by the side of the + other lieutenant. The shades of night were falling on the little trim + garden with this touching group, whence proceeded low murmurs of sorrow + and compassion, with other feeble sounds of a different character, as if + an imperfectly awake invalid were trying to swear. Lieut. D’Hubert went + away. + </p> + <p> + He passed through the silent house, and congratulated himself upon the + dusk concealing his gory hands and scratched face from the passers-by. But + this story could by no means be concealed. He dreaded the discredit and + ridicule above everything, and was painfully aware of sneaking through the + back streets in the manner of a murderer. Presently the sounds of a flute + coming out of the open window of a lighted upstairs room in a modest house + interrupted his dismal reflections. It was being played with a persevering + virtuosity, and through the fioritures of the tune one could hear the + regular thumping of the foot beating time on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert shouted a name, which was that of an army surgeon whom he + knew fairly well. The sounds of the flute ceased, and the musician + appeared at the window, his instrument still in his hand, peering into the + street. + </p> + <p> + “Who calls? You, D’Hubert? What brings you this way?” + </p> + <p> + He did not like to be disturbed at the hour when he was playing the flute. + He was a man whose hair had turned grey already in the thankless task of + tying up wounds on battlefields where others reaped advancement and glory. + </p> + <p> + “I want you to go at once and see Feraud. You know Lieut. Feraud? He lives + down the second street. It’s but a step from here.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s the matter with him?” + </p> + <p> + “Wounded.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure?” + </p> + <p> + “Sure!” cried D’Hubert. “I come from there.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s amusing,” said the elderly surgeon. Amusing was his favourite + word; but the expression of his face when he pronounced it never + corresponded. He was a stolid man. “Come in,” he added. “I’ll get ready in + a moment.” + </p> + <p> + “Thanks! I will. I want to wash my hands in your room.” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert found the surgeon occupied in unscrewing his flute, and + packing the pieces methodically in a case. He turned his head. + </p> + <p> + “Water there—in the corner. Your hands do want washing.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve stopped the bleeding,” said Lieut. D’Hubert. “But you had better + make haste. It’s rather more than ten minutes ago, you know.” + </p> + <p> + The surgeon did not hurry his movements. + </p> + <p> + “What’s the matter? Dressing came off? That’s amusing. I’ve been at work + in the hospital all day but I’ve been told this morning by somebody that + he had come off without a scratch.” + </p> + <p> + “Not the same duel probably,” growled moodily Lieut. D’Hubert, wiping his + hands on a coarse towel. + </p> + <p> + “Not the same. . . . What? Another. It would take the very devil to make + me go out twice in one day.” The surgeon looked narrowly at Lieut. + D’Hubert. “How did you come by that scratched face? Both sides, too—and + symmetrical. It’s amusing.” + </p> + <p> + “Very!” snarled Lieut. D’Hubert. “And you will find his slashed arm + amusing, too. It will keep both of you amused for quite a long time.” + </p> + <p> + The doctor was mystified and impressed by the brusque bitterness of Lieut. + D’Hubert’s tone. They left the house together, and in the street he was + still more mystified by his conduct. + </p> + <p> + “Aren’t you coming with me?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Lieut. D’Hubert. “You can find the house by yourself. The front + door will be standing open very likely.” + </p> + <p> + “All right. Where’s his room?” + </p> + <p> + “Ground floor. But you had better go right through and look in the garden + first.” + </p> + <p> + This astonishing piece of information made the surgeon go off without + further parley. Lieut. D’Hubert regained his quarters nursing a hot and + uneasy indignation. He dreaded the chaff of his comrades almost as much as + the anger of his superiors. The truth was confoundedly grotesque and + embarrassing, even putting aside the irregularity of the combat itself, + which made it come abominably near a criminal offence. Like all men + without much imagination, a faculty which helps the process of reflective + thought, Lieut. D’Hubert became frightfully harassed by the obvious + aspects of his predicament. He was certainly glad that he had not killed + Lieut. Feraud outside all rules, and without the regular witnesses proper + to such a transaction. Uncommonly glad. At the same time he felt as though + he would have liked to wring his neck for him without ceremony. + </p> + <p> + He was still under the sway of these contradictory sentiments when the + surgeon amateur of the flute came to see him. More than three days had + elapsed. Lieut. D’Hubert was no longer officier d’ordonnance to the + general commanding the division. He had been sent back to his regiment. + And he was resuming his connection with the soldiers’ military family by + being shut up in close confinement, not at his own quarters in town, but + in a room in the barracks. Owing to the gravity of the incident, he was + forbidden to see any one. He did not know what had happened, what was + being said, or what was being thought. The arrival of the surgeon was a + most unexpected thing to the worried captive. The amateur of the flute + began by explaining that he was there only by a special favour of the + colonel. + </p> + <p> + “I represented to him that it would be only fair to let you have some + authentic news of your adversary,” he continued. “You’ll be glad to hear + he’s getting better fast.” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s face exhibited no conventional signs of gladness. He + continued to walk the floor of the dusty bare room. + </p> + <p> + “Take this chair, doctor,” he mumbled. + </p> + <p> + The doctor sat down. + </p> + <p> + “This affair is variously appreciated—in town and in the army. In + fact, the diversity of opinions is amusing.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it!” mumbled Lieut. D’Hubert, tramping steadily from wall to wall. But + within himself he marvelled that there could be two opinions on the + matter. The surgeon continued. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, as the real facts are not known—” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” interrupted D’Hubert, “that the fellow would have + put you in possession of facts.” + </p> + <p> + “He said something,” admitted the other, “the first time I saw him. And, + by the by, I did find him in the garden. The thump on the back of his head + had made him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather reticent + than otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “Didn’t think he would have the grace to be ashamed!” mumbled D’Hubert, + resuming his pacing while the doctor murmured, “It’s very amusing. + Ashamed! Shame was not exactly his frame of mind. However, you may look at + the matter otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “What are you talking about? What matter?” asked D’Hubert, with a sidelong + look at the heavy-faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden chair. + </p> + <p> + “Whatever it is,” said the surgeon a little impatiently, “I don’t want to + pronounce any opinion on your conduct—” + </p> + <p> + “By heavens, you had better not!” burst out D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + “There!—there! Don’t be so quick in flourishing the sword. It + doesn’t pay in the long run. Understand once for all that I would not + carve any of you youngsters except with the tools of my trade. But my + advice is good. If you go on like this you will make for yourself an ugly + reputation.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on like what?” demanded Lieut. D’Hubert, stopping short, quite + startled. “I!—I!—make for myself a reputation. . . . What do + you imagine?” + </p> + <p> + “I told you I don’t wish to judge of the rights and wrongs of this + incident. It’s not my business. Nevertheless—” + </p> + <p> + “What on earth has he been telling you?” interrupted Lieut. D’Hubert, in a + sort of awed scare. + </p> + <p> + “I told you already, that at first, when I picked him up in the garden, he + was incoherent. Afterwards he was naturally reticent. But I gather at + least that he could not help himself.” + </p> + <p> + “He couldn’t?” shouted Lieut. D’Hubert in a great voice. Then, lowering + his tone impressively, “And what about me? Could I help myself?” + </p> + <p> + The surgeon stood up. His thoughts were running upon the flute, his + constant companion with a consoling voice. In the vicinity of field + ambulances, after twenty-four hours’ hard work, he had been known to + trouble with its sweet sounds the horrible stillness of battlefields, + given over to silence and the dead. The solacing hour of his daily life + was approaching, and in peace time he held on to the minutes as a miser to + his hoard. + </p> + <p> + “Of course!—of course!” he said, perfunctorily. “You would think so. + It’s amusing. However, being perfectly neutral and friendly to you both, I + have consented to deliver his message to you. Say that I am humouring an + invalid if you like. He wants you to know that this affair is by no means + at an end. He intends to send you his seconds directly he has regained his + strength—providing, of course, the army is not in the field at that + time.” + </p> + <p> + “He intends, does he? Why, certainly,” spluttered Lieut. D’Hubert in a + passion. + </p> + <p> + The secret of his exasperation was not apparent to the visitor; but this + passion confirmed the surgeon in the belief which was gaining ground + outside that some very serious difference had arisen between these two + young men, something serious enough to wear an air of mystery, some fact + of the utmost gravity. To settle their urgent difference about that fact, + those two young men had risked being broken and disgraced at the outset + almost of their career. The surgeon feared that the forthcoming inquiry + would fail to satisfy the public curiosity. They would not take the public + into their confidence as to that something which had passed between them + of a nature so outrageous as to make them face a charge of murder—neither + more nor less. But what could it be? + </p> + <p> + The surgeon was not very curious by temperament; but that question + haunting his mind caused him twice that evening to hold the instrument off + his lips and sit silent for a whole minute—right in the middle of a + tune—trying to form a plausible conjecture. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + He succeeded in this object no better than the rest of the garrison and + the whole of society. The two young officers, of no especial consequence + till then, became distinguished by the universal curiosity as to the + origin of their quarrel. Madame de Lionne’s salon was the centre of + ingenious surmises; that lady herself was for a time assailed by inquiries + as being the last person known to have spoken to these unhappy and + reckless young men before they went out together from her house to a + savage encounter with swords, at dusk, in a private garden. She protested + she had not observed anything unusual in their demeanour. Lieut. Feraud + had been visibly annoyed at being called away. That was natural enough; no + man likes to be disturbed in a conversation with a lady famed for her + elegance and sensibility. But in truth the subject bored Madame de Lionne, + since her personality could by no stretch of reckless gossip be connected + with this affair. And it irritated her to hear it advanced that there + might have been some woman in the case. This irritation arose, not from + her elegance or sensibility, but from a more instinctive side of her + nature. It became so great at last that she peremptorily forbade the + subject to be mentioned under her roof. Near her couch the prohibition was + obeyed, but farther off in the salon the pall of the imposed silence + continued to be lifted more or less. A personage with a long, pale face, + resembling the countenance of a sheep, opined, shaking his head, that it + was a quarrel of long standing envenomed by time. It was objected to him + that the men themselves were too young for such a theory. They belonged + also to different and distant parts of France. There were other physical + impossibilities, too. A sub-commissary of the Intendence, an agreeable and + cultivated bachelor in kerseymere breeches, Hessian boots, and a blue coat + embroidered with silver lace, who affected to believe in the + transmigration of souls, suggested that the two had met perhaps in some + previous existence. The feud was in the forgotten past. It might have been + something quite inconceivable in the present state of their being; but + their souls remembered the animosity, and manifested an instinctive + antagonism. He developed this theme jocularly. Yet the affair was so + absurd from the worldly, the military, the honourable, or the prudential + point of view, that this weird explanation seemed rather more reasonable + than any other. + </p> + <p> + The two officers had confided nothing definite to any one. Humiliation at + having been worsted arms in hand, and an uneasy feeling of having been + involved in a scrape by the injustice of fate, kept Lieut. Feraud savagely + dumb. He mistrusted the sympathy of mankind. That would, of course, go to + that dandified staff officer. Lying in bed, he raved aloud to the pretty + maid who administered to his needs with devotion, and listened to his + horrible imprecations with alarm. That Lieut. D’Hubert should be made to + “pay for it,” seemed to her just and natural. Her principal care was that + Lieut. Feraud should not excite himself. He appeared so wholly admirable + and fascinating to the humility of her heart that her only concern was to + see him get well quickly, even if it were only to resume his visits to + Madame de Lionne’s salon. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert kept silent for the immediate reason that there was no + one, except a stupid young soldier servant, to speak to. Further, he was + aware that the episode, so grave professionally, had its comic side. When + reflecting upon it, he still felt that he would like to wring Lieut. + Feraud’s neck for him. But this formula was figurative rather than + precise, and expressed more a state of mind than an actual physical + impulse. At the same time, there was in that young man a feeling of + comradeship and kindness which made him unwilling to make the position of + Lieut. Feraud worse than it was. He did not want to talk at large about + this wretched affair. At the inquiry he would have, of course, to speak + the truth in self-defence. This prospect vexed him. + </p> + <p> + But no inquiry took place. The army took the field instead. Lieut. + D’Hubert, liberated without remark, took up his regimental duties; and + Lieut. Feraud, his arm just out of the sling, rode unquestioned with his + squadron to complete his convalescence in the smoke of battlefields and + the fresh air of night bivouacs. This bracing treatment suited him so + well, that at the first rumour of an armistice being signed he could turn + without misgivings to the thoughts of his private warfare. + </p> + <p> + This time it was to be regular warfare. He sent two friends to Lieut. + D’Hubert, whose regiment was stationed only a few miles away. Those + friends had asked no questions of their principal. “I owe him one, that + pretty staff officer,” he had said, grimly, and they went away quite + contentedly on their mission. Lieut. D’Hubert had no difficulty in finding + two friends equally discreet and devoted to their principal. “There’s a + crazy fellow to whom I must give a lesson,” he had declared curtly; and + they asked for no better reasons. + </p> + <p> + On these grounds an encounter with duelling-swords was arranged one early + morning in a convenient field. At the third set-to Lieut. D’Hubert found + himself lying on his back on the dewy grass with a hole in his side. A + serene sun rising over a landscape of meadows and woods hung on his left. + A surgeon—not the flute player, but another—was bending over + him, feeling around the wound. + </p> + <p> + “Narrow squeak. But it will be nothing,” he pronounced. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert heard these words with pleasure. One of his seconds, + sitting on the wet grass, and sustaining his head on his lap, said, “The + fortune of war, mon pauvre vieux. What will you have? You had better make + it up like two good fellows. Do!” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t know what you ask,” murmured Lieut. D’Hubert, in a feeble + voice. “However, if he . . .” + </p> + <p> + In another part of the meadow the seconds of Lieut. Feraud were urging him + to go over and shake hands with his adversary. + </p> + <p> + “You have paid him off now—que diable. It’s the proper thing to do. + This D’Hubert is a decent fellow.” + </p> + <p> + “I know the decency of these generals’ pets,” muttered Lieut. Feraud + through his teeth, and the sombre expression of his face discouraged + further efforts at reconciliation. The seconds, bowing from a distance, + took their men off the field. In the afternoon Lieut. D’Hubert, very + popular as a good comrade uniting great bravery with a frank and equable + temper, had many visitors. It was remarked that Lieut. Feraud did not, as + is customary, show himself much abroad to receive the felicitations of his + friends. They would not have failed him, because he, too, was liked for + the exuberance of his southern nature and the simplicity of his character. + In all the places where officers were in the habit of assembling at the + end of the day the duel of the morning was talked over from every point of + view. Though Lieut. D’Hubert had got worsted this time, his sword play was + commended. No one could deny that it was very close, very scientific. It + was even whispered that if he got touched it was because he wished to + spare his adversary. But by many the vigour and dash of Lieut. Feraud’s + attack were pronounced irresistible. + </p> + <p> + The merits of the two officers as combatants were frankly discussed; but + their attitude to each other after the duel was criticised lightly and + with caution. It was irreconcilable, and that was to be regretted. But + after all they knew best what the care of their honour dictated. It was + not a matter for their comrades to pry into over-much. As to the origin of + the quarrel, the general impression was that it dated from the time they + were holding garrison in Strasbourg. The musical surgeon shook his head at + that. It went much farther back, he thought. + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course! You must know the whole story,” cried several voices, + eager with curiosity. “What was it?” + </p> + <p> + He raised his eyes from his glass deliberately. “Even if I knew ever so + well, you can’t expect me to tell you, since both the principals choose to + say nothing.” + </p> + <p> + He got up and went out, leaving the sense of mystery behind him. He could + not stay any longer, because the witching hour of flute-playing was + drawing near. + </p> + <p> + After he had gone a very young officer observed solemnly, “Obviously, his + lips are sealed!” + </p> + <p> + Nobody questioned the high correctness of that remark. Somehow it added to + the impressiveness of the affair. Several older officers of both + regiments, prompted by nothing but sheer kindness and love of harmony, + proposed to form a Court of Honour, to which the two young men would leave + the task of their reconciliation. Unfortunately they began by approaching + Lieut. Feraud, on the assumption that, having just scored heavily, he + would be found placable and disposed to moderation. + </p> + <p> + The reasoning was sound enough. Nevertheless, the move turned out + unfortunate. In that relaxation of moral fibre, which is brought about by + the ease of soothed vanity, Lieut. Feraud had condescended in the secret + of his heart to review the case, and even had come to doubt not the + justice of his cause, but the absolute sagacity of his conduct. This being + so, he was disinclined to talk about it. The suggestion of the regimental + wise men put him in a difficult position. He was disgusted at it, and this + disgust, by a paradoxical logic, reawakened his animosity against Lieut. + D’Hubert. Was he to be pestered with this fellow for ever—the fellow + who had an infernal knack of getting round people somehow? And yet it was + difficult to refuse point blank that mediation sanctioned by the code of + honour. + </p> + <p> + He met the difficulty by an attitude of grim reserve. He twisted his + moustache and used vague words. His case was perfectly clear. He was not + ashamed to state it before a proper Court of Honour, neither was he afraid + to defend it on the ground. He did not see any reason to jump at the + suggestion before ascertaining how his adversary was likely to take it. + </p> + <p> + Later in the day, his exasperation growing upon him, he was heard in a + public place saying sardonically, “that it would be the very luckiest + thing for Lieut. D’Hubert, because the next time of meeting he need not + hope to get off with the mere trifle of three weeks in bed.” + </p> + <p> + This boastful phrase might have been prompted by the most profound + Machiavellism. Southern natures often hide, under the outward + impulsiveness of action and speech, a certain amount of astuteness. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud, mistrusting the justice of men, by no means desired a Court + of Honour; and the above words, according so well with his temperament, + had also the merit of serving his turn. Whether meant so or not, they + found their way in less than four-and-twenty hours into Lieut. D’Hubert’s + bedroom. In consequence Lieut. D’Hubert, sitting propped up with pillows, + received the overtures made to him next day by the statement that the + affair was of a nature which could not bear discussion. + </p> + <p> + The pale face of the wounded officer, his weak voice which he had yet to + use cautiously, and the courteous dignity of his tone had a great effect + on his hearers. Reported outside all this did more for deepening the + mystery than the vapourings of Lieut. Feraud. This last was greatly + relieved at the issue. He began to enjoy the state of general wonder, and + was pleased to add to it by assuming an attitude of fierce discretion. + </p> + <p> + The colonel of Lieut. D’Hubert’s regiment was a grey-haired, + weather-beaten warrior, who took a simple view of his responsibilities. “I + can’t,” he said to himself, “let the best of my subalterns get damaged + like this for nothing. I must get to the bottom of this affair privately. + He must speak out if the devil were in it. The colonel should be more than + a father to these youngsters.” And indeed he loved all his men with as + much affection as a father of a large family can feel for every individual + member of it. If human beings by an oversight of Providence came into the + world as mere civilians, they were born again into a regiment as infants + are born into a family, and it was that military birth alone which + counted. + </p> + <p> + At the sight of Lieut. D’Hubert standing before him very bleached and + hollow-eyed the heart of the old warrior felt a pang of genuine + compassion. All his affection for the regiment—that body of men + which he held in his hand to launch forward and draw back, who ministered + to his pride and commanded all his thoughts—seemed centred for a + moment on the person of the most promising subaltern. He cleared his + throat in a threatening manner, and frowned terribly. “You must + understand,” he began, “that I don’t care a rap for the life of a single + man in the regiment. I would send the eight hundred and forty-three of you + men and horses galloping into the pit of perdition with no more + compunction than I would kill a fly!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Colonel. You would be riding at our head,” said Lieut. D’Hubert with + a wan smile. + </p> + <p> + The colonel, who felt the need of being very diplomatic, fairly roared at + this. “I want you to know, Lieut. D’Hubert, that I could stand aside and + see you all riding to Hades if need be. I am a man to do even that if the + good of the service and my duty to my country required it from me. But + that’s unthinkable, so don’t you even hint at such a thing.” He glared + awfully, but his tone softened. “There’s some milk yet about that + moustache of yours, my boy. You don’t know what a man like me is capable + of. I would hide behind a haystack if . . . Don’t grin at me, sir! How + dare you? If this were not a private conversation I would . . . Look here! + I am responsible for the proper expenditure of lives under my command for + the glory of our country and the honour of the regiment. Do you understand + that? Well, then, what the devil do you mean by letting yourself be + spitted like this by that fellow of the 7th Hussars? It’s simply + disgraceful!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert felt vexed beyond measure. His shoulders moved slightly. + He made no other answer. He could not ignore his responsibility. + </p> + <p> + The colonel veiled his glance and lowered his voice still more. “It’s + deplorable!” he murmured. And again he changed his tone. “Come!” he went + on, persuasively, but with that note of authority which dwells in the + throat of a good leader of men, “this affair must be settled. I desire to + be told plainly what it is all about. I demand, as your best friend, to + know.” + </p> + <p> + The compelling power of authority, the persuasive influence of kindness, + affected powerfully a man just risen from a bed of sickness. Lieut. + D’Hubert’s hand, which grasped the knob of a stick, trembled slightly. But + his northern temperament, sentimental yet cautious and clear-sighted, too, + in its idealistic way, checked his impulse to make a clean breast of the + whole deadly absurdity. According to the precept of transcendental wisdom, + he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth before he spoke. He made + then only a speech of thanks. + </p> + <p> + The colonel listened, interested at first, then looked mystified. At last + he frowned. “You hesitate?—mille tonnerres! Haven’t I told you that + I will condescend to argue with you—as a friend?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Colonel!” answered Lieut. D’Hubert, gently. “But I am afraid that + after you have heard me out as a friend you will take action as my + superior officer.” + </p> + <p> + The attentive colonel snapped his jaws. “Well, what of that?” he said, + frankly. “Is it so damnably disgraceful?” + </p> + <p> + “It is not,” negatived Lieut. D’Hubert, in a faint but firm voice. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I shall act for the good of the service. Nothing can prevent + me doing that. What do you think I want to be told for?” + </p> + <p> + “I know it is not from idle curiosity,” protested Lieut. D’Hubert. “I know + you will act wisely. But what about the good fame of the regiment?” + </p> + <p> + “It cannot be affected by any youthful folly of a lieutenant,” said the + colonel, severely. + </p> + <p> + “No. It cannot be. But it can be by evil tongues. It will be said that a + lieutenant of the 4th Hussars, afraid of meeting his adversary, is hiding + behind his colonel. And that would be worse than hiding behind a haystack—for + the good of the service. I cannot afford to do that, Colonel.” + </p> + <p> + “Nobody would dare to say anything of the kind,” began the colonel very + fiercely, but ended the phrase on an uncertain note. The bravery of Lieut. + D’Hubert was well known. But the colonel was well aware that the duelling + courage, the single combat courage, is rightly or wrongly supposed to be + courage of a special sort. And it was eminently necessary that an officer + of his regiment should possess every kind of courage—and prove it, + too. The colonel stuck out his lower lip, and looked far away with a + peculiar glazed stare. This was the expression of his perplexity—an + expression practically unknown to his regiment; for perplexity is a + sentiment which is incompatible with the rank of colonel of cavalry. The + colonel himself was overcome by the unpleasant novelty of the sensation. + As he was not accustomed to think except on professional matters connected + with the welfare of men and horses, and the proper use thereof on the + field of glory, his intellectual efforts degenerated into mere mental + repetitions of profane language. “Mille tonnerres! . . . Sacre nom de nom + . . .” he thought. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert coughed painfully, and added in a weary voice: “There will + be plenty of evil tongues to say that I’ve been cowed. And I am sure you + will not expect me to pass that over. I may find myself suddenly with a + dozen duels on my hands instead of this one affair.” + </p> + <p> + The direct simplicity of this argument came home to the colonel’s + understanding. He looked at his subordinate fixedly. “Sit down, + Lieutenant!” he said, gruffly. “This is the very devil of a . . . Sit + down!” + </p> + <p> + “Mon Colonel,” D’Hubert began again, “I am not afraid of evil tongues. + There’s a way of silencing them. But there’s my peace of mind, too. I + wouldn’t be able to shake off the notion that I’ve ruined a brother + officer. Whatever action you take, it is bound to go farther. The inquiry + has been dropped—let it rest now. It would have been absolutely + fatal to Feraud.” + </p> + <p> + “Hey! What! Did he behave so badly?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. It was pretty bad,” muttered Lieut. D’Hubert. Being still very weak, + he felt a disposition to cry. + </p> + <p> + As the other man did not belong to his own regiment the colonel had no + difficulty in believing this. He began to pace up and down the room. He + was a good chief, a man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human in + other ways, too, and this became apparent because he was not capable of + artifice. + </p> + <p> + “The very devil, Lieutenant,” he blurted out, in the innocence of his + heart, “is that I have declared my intention to get to the bottom of this + affair. And when a colonel says something . . . you see . . .” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert broke in earnestly: “Let me entreat you, Colonel, to be + satisfied with taking my word of honour that I was put into a damnable + position where I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent with + my dignity as a man and an officer. . . . After all, Colonel, this fact is + the very bottom of this affair. Here you’ve got it. The rest is mere + detail. . . .” + </p> + <p> + The colonel stopped short. The reputation of Lieut. D’Hubert for good + sense and good temper weighed in the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, + open as the day. Always correct in his behaviour. One had to trust him. + The colonel repressed manfully an immense curiosity. “H’m! You affirm that + as a man and an officer. . . . No option? Eh?” + </p> + <p> + “As an officer—an officer of the 4th Hussars, too,” insisted Lieut. + D’Hubert, “I had not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. But still I don’t see why, to one’s colonel. . . . A colonel is a + father—que diable!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert ought not to have been allowed out as yet. He was becoming + aware of his physical insufficiency with humiliation and despair. But the + morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at the same time he felt + with dismay his eyes filling with water. This trouble seemed too big to + handle. A tear fell down the thin, pale cheek of Lieut. D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin + drop. “This is some silly woman story—is it not?” + </p> + <p> + Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the truth, which is not a + beautiful shape living in a well, but a shy bird best caught by stratagem. + This was the last move of the colonel’s diplomacy. He saw the truth + shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D’Hubert raising his weak + arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme protest. + </p> + <p> + “Not a woman affair—eh?” growled the colonel, staring hard. “I don’t + ask you who or where. All I want to know is whether there is a woman in + it?” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s arms dropped, and his weak voice was pathetically + broken. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing of the kind, mon Colonel.” + </p> + <p> + “On your honour?” insisted the old warrior. + </p> + <p> + “On my honour.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said the colonel, thoughtfully, and bit his lip. The + arguments of Lieut. D’Hubert, helped by his liking for the man, had + convinced him. On the other hand, it was highly improper that his + intervention, of which he had made no secret, should produce no visible + effect. He kept Lieut. D’Hubert a few minutes longer, and dismissed him + kindly. + </p> + <p> + “Take a few days more in bed. Lieutenant. What the devil does the surgeon + mean by reporting you fit for duty?” + </p> + <p> + On coming out of the colonel’s quarters, Lieut. D’Hubert said nothing to + the friend who was waiting outside to take him home. He said nothing to + anybody. Lieut. D’Hubert made no confidences. But on the evening of that + day the colonel, strolling under the elms growing near his quarters, in + the company of his second in command, opened his lips. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve got to the bottom of this affair,” he remarked. The lieut.-colonel, + a dry, brown chip of a man with short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears + at that without letting a sign of curiosity escape him. + </p> + <p> + “It’s no trifle,” added the colonel, oracularly. The other waited for a + long while before he murmured: + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, sir!” + </p> + <p> + “No trifle,” repeated the colonel, looking straight before him. “I’ve, + however, forbidden D’Hubert either to send to or receive a challenge from + Feraud for the next twelve months.” + </p> + <p> + He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige a colonel should + have. The result of it was to give an official seal to the mystery + surrounding this deadly quarrel. Lieut. D’Hubert repelled by an impassive + silence all attempts to worm the truth out of him. Lieut. Feraud, secretly + uneasy at first, regained his assurance as time went on. He disguised his + ignorance of the meaning of the imposed truce by slight sardonic laughs, + as though he were amused by what he intended to keep to himself. “But what + will you do?” his chums used to ask him. He contented himself by replying + “Qui vivra verra” with a little truculent air. And everybody admired his + discretion. + </p> + <p> + Before the end of the truce Lieut. D’Hubert got his troop. The promotion + was well earned, but somehow no one seemed to expect the event. When + Lieut. Feraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered through + his teeth, “Is that so?” At once he unhooked his sabre from a peg near the + door, buckled it on carefully, and left the company without another word. + He walked home with measured steps, struck a light with his flint and + steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then snatching an unlucky glass tumbler + off the mantelpiece he dashed it violently on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Now that D’Hubert was an officer of superior rank there could be no + question of a duel. Neither of them could send or receive a challenge + without rendering himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be + thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days now had experienced no real + desire to meet Lieut. D’Hubert arms in hand, chafed again at the + systematic injustice of fate. “Does he think he will escape me in that + way?” he thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an intrigue, a + conspiracy, a cowardly manoeuvre. That colonel knew what he was doing. He + had hastened to recommend his favourite for a step. It was outrageous that + a man should be able to avoid the consequences of his acts in such a dark + and tortuous manner. + </p> + <p> + Of a happy-go-lucky disposition, of a temperament more pugnacious than + military, Lieut. Feraud had been content to give and receive blows for + sheer love of armed strife, and without much thought of advancement; but + now an urgent desire to get on sprang up in his breast. This fighter by + vocation resolved in his mind to seize showy occasions and to court the + favourable opinion of his chiefs like a mere worldling. He knew he was as + brave as any one, and never doubted his personal charm. Nevertheless, + neither the bravery nor the charm seemed to work very swiftly. Lieut. + Feraud’s engaging, careless truculence of a beau sabreur underwent a + change. He began to make bitter allusions to “clever fellows who stick at + nothing to get on.” The army was full of them, he would say; you had only + to look round. But all the time he had in view one person only, his + adversary, D’Hubert. Once he confided to an appreciative friend: “You see, + I don’t know how to fawn on the right sort of people. It isn’t in my + character.” + </p> + <p> + He did not get his step till a week after Austerlitz. The Light Cavalry of + the Grand Army had its hands very full of interesting work for a little + while. Directly the pressure of professional occupation had been eased + Captain Feraud took measures to arrange a meeting without loss of time. “I + know my bird,” he observed, grimly. “If I don’t look sharp he will take + care to get himself promoted over the heads of a dozen better men than + himself. He’s got the knack for that sort of thing.” + </p> + <p> + This duel was fought in Silesia. If not fought to a finish, it was, at any + rate, fought to a standstill. The weapon was the cavalry sabre, and the + skill, the science, the vigour, and the determination displayed by the + adversaries compelled the admiration of the beholders. It became the + subject of talk on both shores of the Danube, and as far as the garrisons + of Gratz and Laybach. They crossed blades seven times. Both had many cuts + which bled profusely. Both refused to have the combat stopped, time after + time, with what appeared the most deadly animosity. This appearance was + caused on the part of Captain D’Hubert by a rational desire to be done + once for all with this worry; on the part of Captain Feraud by a + tremendous exaltation of his pugnacious instincts and the incitement of + wounded vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in rags, covered with + gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away forcibly by their + marvelling and horrified seconds. Later on, besieged by comrades avid of + details, these gentlemen declared that they could not have allowed that + sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked whether the quarrel was + settled this time, they gave it out as their conviction that it was a + difference which could only be settled by one of the parties remaining + lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread from army corps to army + corps, and penetrated at last to the smallest detachments of the troops + cantoned between the Rhine and the Save. In the cafes in Vienna it was + generally estimated, from details to hand, that the adversaries would be + able to meet again in three weeks’ time on the outside. Something really + transcendent in the way of duelling was expected. + </p> + <p> + These expectations were brought to naught by the necessities of the + service which separated the two officers. No official notice had been + taken of their quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not to be + meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, or rather their duelling + propensities, must have stood somewhat in the way of their advancement, + because they were still captains when they came together again during the + war with Prussia. Detached north after Jena, with the army commanded by + Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they entered Lubeck together. + </p> + <p> + It was only after the occupation of that town that Captain Feraud found + leisure to consider his future conduct in view of the fact that Captain + D’Hubert had been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the marshal. + He considered it a great part of a night, and in the morning summoned two + sympathetic friends. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been thinking it over calmly,” he said, gazing at them with + blood-shot, tired eyes. “I see that I must get rid of that intriguing + personage. Here he’s managed to sneak on to the personal staff of the + marshal. It’s a direct provocation to me. I can’t tolerate a situation in + which I am exposed any day to receive an order through him. And God knows + what order, too! That sort of thing has happened once before—and + that’s once too often. He understands this perfectly, never fear. I can’t + tell you any more. Now you know what it is you have to do.” + </p> + <p> + This encounter took place outside the town of Lubeck, on very open ground, + selected with special care in deference to the general sentiment of the + cavalry division belonging to the army corps, that this time the two + officers should meet on horseback. After all, this duel was a cavalry + affair, and to persist in fighting on foot would look like a slight on + one’s own arm of the service. The seconds, startled by the unusual nature + of the suggestion, hastened to refer to their principals. Captain Feraud + jumped at it with alacrity. For some obscure reason, depending, no doubt, + on his psychology, he imagined himself invincible on horseback. All alone + within the four walls of his room he rubbed his hands and muttered + triumphantly, “Aha! my pretty staff officer, I’ve got you now.” + </p> + <p> + Captain D’Hubert on his side, after staring hard for a considerable time + at his friends, shrugged his shoulders slightly. This affair had + hopelessly and unreasonably complicated his existence for him. One + absurdity more or less in the development did not matter—all + absurdity was distasteful to him; but, urbane as ever, he produced a + faintly ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, “It certainly will do + away to some extent with the monotony of the thing.” + </p> + <p> + When left alone, he sat down at a table and took his head into his hands. + He had not spared himself of late and the marshal had been working all his + aides-decamp particularly hard. The last three weeks of campaigning in + horrible weather had affected his health. When over-tired he suffered from + a stitch in his wounded side, and that uncomfortable sensation always + depressed him. “It’s that brute’s doing, too,” he thought bitterly. + </p> + <p> + The day before he had received a letter from home, announcing that his + only sister was going to be married. He reflected that from the time she + was nineteen and he twenty-six, when he went away to garrison life in + Strasbourg, he had had but two short glimpses of her. They had been great + friends and confidants; and now she was going to be given away to a man + whom he did not know—a very worthy fellow no doubt, but not half + good enough for her. He would never see his old Leonie again. She had a + capable little head, and plenty of tact; she would know how to manage the + fellow, to be sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness but he + felt ousted from the first place in her thoughts which had been his ever + since the girl could speak. A melancholy regret of the days of his + childhood settled upon Captain D’Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the Prince + of Ponte Corvo. + </p> + <p> + He threw aside the letter of congratulation he had begun to write as in + duty bound, but without enthusiasm. He took a fresh piece of paper, and + traced on it the words: “This is my last will and testament.” Looking at + these words he gave himself up to unpleasant reflection; a presentiment + that he would never see the scenes of his childhood weighed down the + equable spirits of Captain D’Hubert. He jumped up, pushing his chair back, + yawned elaborately in sign that he didn’t care anything for presentiments, + and throwing himself on the bed went to sleep. During the night he + shivered from time to time without waking up. In the morning he rode out + of town between his two seconds, talking of indifferent things, and + looking right and left with apparent detachment into the heavy morning + mists shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He leaped a + ditch, and saw the forms of many mounted men moving in the fog. “We are to + fight before a gallery, it seems,” he muttered to himself, bitterly. + </p> + <p> + His seconds were rather concerned at the state of the atmosphere, but + presently a pale, sickly sun struggled out of the low vapours, and Captain + D’Hubert made out, in the distance, three horsemen riding a little apart + from the others. It was Captain Feraud and his seconds. He drew his sabre, + and assured himself that it was properly fastened to his wrist. And now + the seconds, who had been standing in close group with the heads of their + horses together, separated at an easy canter, leaving a large, clear field + between him and his adversary. Captain D’Hubert looked at the pale sun, at + the dismal fields, and the imbecility of the impending fight filled him + with desolation. From a distant part of the field a stentorian voice + shouted commands at proper intervals: Au pas—Au trot—Charrrgez! + . . . Presentiments of death don’t come to a man for nothing, he thought + at the very moment he put spurs to his horse. + </p> + <p> + And therefore he was more than surprised when, at the very first set-to, + Captain Feraud laid himself open to a cut over the forehead, which + blinding him with blood, ended the combat almost before it had fairly + begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain D’Hubert, leaving his enemy + swearing horribly and reeling in the saddle between his two appalled + friends, leaped the ditch again into the road and trotted home with his + two seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy issue of that + encounter. In the evening Captain D’Hubert finished the congratulatory + letter on his sister’s marriage. + </p> + <p> + He finished it late. It was a long letter. Captain D’Hubert gave reins to + his fancy. He told his sister that he would feel rather lonely after this + great change in her life; but then the day would come for him, too, to get + married. In fact, he was thinking already of the time when there would be + no one left to fight with in Europe and the epoch of wars would be over. + “I expect then,” he wrote, “to be within measurable distance of a + marshal’s baton, and you will be an experienced married woman. You shall + look out a wife for me. I will be, probably, bald by then, and a little + blase. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and with a large + fortune, which should help me to close my glorious career in the splendour + befitting my exalted rank.” He ended with the information that he had just + given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow who imagined he had a + grievance against him. “But if you, in the depths of your province,” he + continued, “ever hear it said that your brother is of a quarrelsome + disposition, don’t you believe it on any account. There is no saying what + gossip from the army may reach your innocent ears. Whatever you hear you + may rest assured that your ever-loving brother is not a duellist.” Then + Captain D’Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of paper headed with the + words “This is my last will and testament,” and threw it in the fire with + a great laugh at himself. He didn’t care a snap for what that lunatic + could do. He had suddenly acquired the conviction that his adversary was + utterly powerless to affect his life in any sort of way; except, perhaps, + in the way of putting a special excitement into the delightful, gay + intervals between the campaigns. + </p> + <p> + From this on there were, however, to be no peaceful intervals in the + career of Captain D’Hubert. He saw the fields of Eylau and Friedland, + marched and countermarched in the snow, in the mud, in the dust of Polish + plains, picking up distinction and advancement on all the roads of + North-eastern Europe. Meantime, Captain Feraud, despatched southwards with + his regiment, made unsatisfactory war in Spain. It was only when the + preparations for the Russian campaign began that he was ordered north + again. He left the country of mantillas and oranges without regret. + </p> + <p> + The first signs of a not unbecoming baldness added to the lofty aspect of + Colonel D’Hubert’s forehead. This feature was no longer white and smooth + as in the days of his youth; the kindly open glance of his blue eyes had + grown a little hard as if from much peering through the smoke of battles. + The ebony crop on Colonel Feraud’s head, coarse and crinkly like a cap of + horsehair, showed many silver threads about the temples. A detestable + warfare of ambushes and inglorious surprises had not improved his temper. + The beak-like curve of his nose was unpleasantly set off by a deep fold on + each side of his mouth. The round orbits of his eyes radiated wrinkles. + More than ever he recalled an irritable and staring bird—something + like a cross between a parrot and an owl. He was still extremely outspoken + in his dislike of “intriguing fellows.” He seized every opportunity to + state that he did not pick up his rank in the ante-rooms of marshals. The + unlucky persons, civil or military, who, with an intention of being + pleasant, begged Colonel Feraud to tell them how he came by that very + apparent scar on the forehead, were astonished to find themselves snubbed + in various ways, some of which were simply rude and others mysteriously + sardonic. Young officers were warned kindly by their more experienced + comrades not to stare openly at the colonel’s scar. But indeed an officer + need have been very young in his profession not to have heard the + legendary tale of that duel originating in a mysterious, unforgivable + offence. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + The retreat from Moscow submerged all private feelings in a sea of + disaster and misery. Colonels without regiments, D’Hubert and Feraud + carried the musket in the ranks of the so-called sacred battalion—a + battalion recruited from officers of all arms who had no longer any troops + to lead. + </p> + <p> + In that battalion promoted colonels did duty as sergeants; the generals + captained the companies; a marshal of France, Prince of the Empire, + commanded the whole. All had provided themselves with muskets picked up on + the road, and with cartridges taken from the dead. In the general + destruction of the bonds of discipline and duty holding together the + companies, the battalions, the regiments, the brigades, and divisions of + an armed host, this body of men put its pride in preserving some semblance + of order and formation. The only stragglers were those who fell out to + give up to the frost their exhausted souls. They plodded on, and their + passage did not disturb the mortal silence of the plains, shining with the + livid light of snows under a sky the colour of ashes. Whirlwinds ran along + the fields, broke against the dark column, enveloped it in a turmoil of + flying icicles, and subsided, disclosing it creeping on its tragic way + without the swing and rhythm of the military pace. It struggled onwards, + the men exchanging neither words nor looks; whole ranks marched touching + elbow, day after day and never raising their eyes from the ground, as if + lost in despairing reflections. In the dumb, black forests of pines the + cracking of overloaded branches was the only sound they heard. Often from + daybreak to dusk no one spoke in the whole column. It was like a macabre + march of struggling corpses towards a distant grave. Only an alarm of + Cossacks could restore to their eyes a semblance of martial resolution. + The battalion faced about and deployed, or formed square under the endless + fluttering of snowflakes. A cloud of horsemen with fur caps on their + heads, levelled long lances, and yelled “Hurrah! Hurrah!” around their + menacing immobility whence, with muffled detonations, hundreds of dark red + flames darted through the air thick with falling snow. In a very few + moments the horsemen would disappear, as if carried off yelling in the + gale, and the sacred battalion standing still, alone in the blizzard, + heard only the howling of the wind, whose blasts searched their very + hearts. Then, with a cry or two of “Vive l’Empereur!” it would resume its + march, leaving behind a few lifeless bodies lying huddled up, tiny black + specks on the white immensity of the snows. + </p> + <p> + Though often marching in the ranks, or skirmishing in the woods side by + side, the two officers ignored each other; this not so much from inimical + intention as from a very real indifference. All their store of moral + energy was expended in resisting the terrific enmity of nature and the + crushing sense of irretrievable disaster. To the last they counted among + the most active, the least demoralized of the battalion; their vigorous + vitality invested them both with the appearance of an heroic pair in the + eyes of their comrades. And they never exchanged more than a casual word + or two, except one day, when skirmishing in front of the battalion against + a worrying attack of cavalry, they found themselves cut off in the woods + by a small party of Cossacks. A score of fur-capped, hairy horsemen rode + to and fro, brandishing their lances in ominous silence; but the two + officers had no mind to lay down their arms, and Colonel Feraud suddenly + spoke up in a hoarse, growling voice, bringing his firelock to the + shoulder. “You take the nearest brute, Colonel D’Hubert; I’ll settle the + next one. I am a better shot than you are.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel D’Hubert nodded over his levelled musket. Their shoulders were + pressed against the trunk of a large tree; on their front enormous + snowdrifts protected them from a direct charge. Two carefully aimed shots + rang out in the frosty air, two Cossacks reeled in their saddles. The + rest, not thinking the game good enough, closed round their wounded + comrades and galloped away out of range. The two officers managed to + rejoin their battalion halted for the night. During that afternoon they + had leaned upon each other more than once, and towards the end, Colonel + D’Hubert, whose long legs gave him an advantage in walking through soft + snow, peremptorily took the musket of Colonel Feraud from him and carried + it on his shoulder, using his own as a staff. + </p> + <p> + On the outskirts of a village half buried in the snow an old wooden barn + burned with a clear and an immense flame. The sacred battalion of + skeletons, muffled in rags, crowded greedily the windward side, stretching + hundreds of numbed, bony hands to the blaze. Nobody had noted their + approach. Before entering the circle of light playing on the sunken, + glassy-eyed, starved faces, Colonel D’Hubert spoke in his turn: + </p> + <p> + “Here’s your musket, Colonel Feraud. I can walk better than you.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel Feraud nodded, and pushed on towards the warmth of the fierce + flames. Colonel D’Hubert was more deliberate, but not the less bent on + getting a place in the front rank. Those they shouldered aside tried to + greet with a faint cheer the reappearance of the two indomitable + companions in activity and endurance. Those manly qualities had never + perhaps received a higher tribute than this feeble acclamation. + </p> + <p> + This is the faithful record of speeches exchanged during the retreat from + Moscow by Colonels Feraud and D’Hubert. Colonel Feraud’s taciturnity was + the outcome of concentrated rage. Short, hairy, black faced, with layers + of grime and the thick sprouting of a wiry beard, a frost-bitten hand + wrapped up in filthy rags carried in a sling, he accused fate of + unparalleled perfidy towards the sublime Man of Destiny. Colonel D’Hubert, + his long moustaches pendent in icicles on each side of his cracked blue + lips, his eyelids inflamed with the glare of snows, the principal part of + his costume consisting of a sheepskin coat looted with difficulty from the + frozen corpse of a camp follower found in an abandoned cart, took a more + thoughtful view of events. His regularly handsome features, now reduced to + mere bony lines and fleshless hollows, looked out of a woman’s black + velvet hood, over which was rammed forcibly a cocked hat picked up under + the wheels of an empty army fourgon, which must have contained at one time + some general officer’s luggage. The sheepskin coat being short for a man + of his inches ended very high up, and the skin of his legs, blue with the + cold, showed through the tatters of his nether garments. This under the + circumstances provoked neither jeers nor pity. No one cared how the next + man felt or looked. Colonel D’Hubert himself, hardened to exposure, + suffered mainly in his self-respect from the lamentable indecency of his + costume. A thoughtless person may think that with a whole host of + inanimate bodies bestrewing the path of retreat there could not have been + much difficulty in supplying the deficiency. But to loot a pair of + breeches from a frozen corpse is not so easy as it may appear to a mere + theorist. It requires time and labour. You must remain behind while your + companions march on. Colonel D’Hubert had his scruples as to falling out. + Once he had stepped aside he could not be sure of ever rejoining his + battalion; and the ghastly intimacy of a wrestling match with the frozen + dead opposing the unyielding rigidity of iron to your violence was + repugnant to the delicacy of his feelings. Luckily, one day, grubbing in a + mound of snow between the huts of a village in the hope of finding there a + frozen potato or some vegetable garbage he could put between his long and + shaky teeth, Colonel D’Hubert uncovered a couple of mats of the sort + Russian peasants use to line the sides of their carts with. These, beaten + free of frozen snow, bent about his elegant person and fastened solidly + round his waist, made a bell-shaped nether garment, a sort of stiff + petticoat, which rendered Colonel D’Hubert a perfectly decent, but a much + more noticeable figure than before. + </p> + <p> + Thus accoutred, he continued to retreat, never doubting of his personal + escape, but full of other misgivings. The early buoyancy of his belief in + the future was destroyed. If the road of glory led through such unforeseen + passages, he asked himself—for he was reflective—whether the + guide was altogether trustworthy. It was a patriotic sadness, not + unmingled with some personal concern, and quite unlike the unreasoning + indignation against men and things nursed by Colonel Feraud. Recruiting + his strength in a little German town for three weeks, Colonel D’Hubert was + surprised to discover within himself a love of repose. His returning + vigour was strangely pacific in its aspirations. He meditated silently + upon this bizarre change of mood. No doubt many of his brother officers of + field rank went through the same moral experience. But these were not the + times to talk of it. In one of his letters home Colonel D’Hubert wrote, + “All your plans, my dear Leonie, for marrying me to the charming girl you + have discovered in your neighbourhood, seem farther off than ever. Peace + is not yet. Europe wants another lesson. It will be a hard task for us, + but it shall be done, because the Emperor is invincible.” + </p> + <p> + Thus wrote Colonel D ‘Hubert from Pomerania to his married sister Leonie, + settled in the south of France. And so far the sentiments expressed would + not have been disowned by Colonel Feraud, who wrote no letters to anybody, + whose father had been in life an illiterate blacksmith, who had no sister + or brother, and whom no one desired ardently to pair off for a life of + peace with a charming young girl. But Colonel D ‘Hubert’s letter contained + also some philosophical generalities upon the uncertainty of all personal + hopes, when bound up entirely with the prestigious fortune of one + incomparably great it is true, yet still remaining but a man in his + greatness. This view would have appeared rank heresy to Colonel Feraud. + Some melancholy forebodings of a military kind, expressed cautiously, + would have been pronounced as nothing short of high treason by Colonel + Feraud. But Leonie, the sister of Colonel D’Hubert, read them with + profound satisfaction, and, folding the letter thoughtfully, remarked to + herself that “Armand was likely to prove eventually a sensible fellow.” + Since her marriage into a Southern family she had become a convinced + believer in the return of the legitimate king. Hopeful and anxious she + offered prayers night and morning, and burnt candles in churches for the + safety and prosperity of her brother. + </p> + <p> + She had every reason to suppose that her prayers were heard. Colonel + D’Hubert passed through Lutzen, Bautzen, and Leipsic losing no limb, and + acquiring additional reputation. Adapting his conduct to the needs of that + desperate time, he had never voiced his misgivings. He concealed them + under a cheerful courtesy of such pleasant character that people were + inclined to ask themselves with wonder whether Colonel D’Hubert was aware + of any disasters. Not only his manners, but even his glances remained + untroubled. The steady amenity of his blue eyes disconcerted all + grumblers, and made despair itself pause. + </p> + <p> + This bearing was remarked favourably by the Emperor himself; for Colonel + D’Hubert, attached now to the Major-General’s staff, came on several + occasions under the imperial eye. But it exasperated the higher strung + nature of Colonel Feraud. Passing through Magdeburg on service, this last + allowed himself, while seated gloomily at dinner with the Commandant de + Place, to say of his life-long adversary: “This man does not love the + Emperor,” and his words were received by the other guests in profound + silence. Colonel Feraud, troubled in his conscience at the atrocity of the + aspersion, felt the need to back it up by a good argument. “I ought to + know him,” he cried, adding some oaths. “One studies one’s adversary. I + have met him on the ground half a dozen times, as all the army knows. What + more do you want? If that isn’t opportunity enough for any fool to size up + his man, may the devil take me if I can tell what is.” And he looked + around the table, obstinate and sombre. + </p> + <p> + Later on in Paris, while extremely busy reorganizing his regiment, Colonel + Feraud learned that Colonel D’Hubert had been made a general. He glared at + his informant incredulously, then folded his arms and turned away + muttering, “Nothing surprises me on the part of that man.” + </p> + <p> + And aloud he added, speaking over his shoulder, “You would oblige me + greatly by telling General D’Hubert at the first opportunity that his + advancement saves him for a time from a pretty hot encounter. I was only + waiting for him to turn up here.” + </p> + <p> + The other officer remonstrated. + </p> + <p> + “Could you think of it, Colonel Feraud, at this time, when every life + should be consecrated to the glory and safety of France?” + </p> + <p> + But the strain of unhappiness caused by military reverses had spoiled + Colonel Feraud’s character. Like many other men, he was rendered wicked by + misfortune. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot consider General D’Hubert’s existence of any account either for + the glory or safety of France,” he snapped viciously. “You don’t pretend, + perhaps, to know him better than I do—I who have met him half a + dozen times on the ground—do you?” + </p> + <p> + His interlocutor, a young man, was silenced. Colonel Feraud walked up and + down the room. + </p> + <p> + “This is not the time to mince matters,” he said. “I can’t believe that + that man ever loved the Emperor. He picked up his general’s stars under + the boots of Marshal Berthier. Very well. I’ll get mine in another + fashion, and then we shall settle this business which has been dragging on + too long.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert, informed indirectly of Colonel Feraud’s attitude, made a + gesture as if to put aside an importunate person. His thoughts were + solicited by graver cares. He had had no time to go and see his family. + His sister, whose royalist hopes were rising higher every day, though + proud of her brother, regretted his recent advancement in a measure, + because it put on him a prominent mark of the usurper’s favour, which + later on could have an adverse influence upon his career. He wrote to her + that no one but an inveterate enemy could say he had got his promotion by + favour. As to his career, he assured her that he looked no farther forward + into the future than the next battlefield. + </p> + <p> + Beginning the campaign of France in this dogged spirit, General D’Hubert + was wounded on the second day of the battle under Laon. While being + carried off the field he heard that Colonel Feraud, promoted this moment + to general, had been sent to replace him at the head of his brigade. He + cursed his luck impulsively, not being able at the first glance to discern + all the advantages of a nasty wound. And yet it was by this heroic method + that Providence was shaping his future. Travelling slowly south to his + sister’s country home under the care of a trusty old servant, General + D’Hubert was spared the humiliating contacts and the perplexities of + conduct which assailed the men of Napoleonic empire at the moment of its + downfall. Lying in his bed, with the windows of his room open wide to the + sunshine of Provence, he perceived the undisguised aspect of the blessing + conveyed by that jagged fragment of a Prussian shell, which, killing his + horse and ripping open his thigh, saved him from an active conflict with + his conscience. After the last fourteen years spent sword in hand in the + saddle, and with the sense of his duty done to the very end, General + D’Hubert found resignation an easy virtue. His sister was delighted with + his reasonableness. “I leave myself altogether in your hands, my dear + Leonie,” he had said to her. + </p> + <p> + He was still laid up when, the credit of his brother-in-law’s family being + exerted on his behalf, he received from the royal government not only the + confirmation of his rank, but the assurance of being retained on the + active list. To this was added an unlimited convalescent leave. The + unfavourable opinion entertained of him in Bonapartist circles, though it + rested on nothing more solid than the unsupported pronouncement of General + Feraud, was directly responsible for General D’Hubert’s retention on the + active list. As to General Feraud, his rank was confirmed, too. It was + more than he dared to expect; but Marshal Soult, then Minister of War to + the restored king, was partial to officers who had served in Spain. Only + not even the marshal’s protection could secure for him active employment. + He remained irreconcilable, idle, and sinister. He sought in obscure + restaurants the company of other half-pay officers who cherished dingy but + glorious old tricolour cockades in their breast-pockets, and buttoned with + the forbidden eagle buttons their shabby uniforms, declaring themselves + too poor to afford the expense of the prescribed change. + </p> + <p> + The triumphant return from Elba, an historical fact as marvellous and + incredible as the exploits of some mythological demi-god, found General + D’Hubert still quite unable to sit a horse. Neither could he walk very + well. These disabilities, which Madame Leonie accounted most lucky, helped + to keep her brother out of all possible mischief. His frame of mind at + that time, she noted with dismay, became very far from reasonable. This + general officer, still menaced by the loss of a limb, was discovered one + night in the stables of the chateau by a groom, who, seeing a light, + raised an alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying half-buried in the straw + of the litter, and the general was hopping on one leg in a loose box + around a snorting horse he was trying to saddle. Such were the effects of + imperial magic upon a calm temperament and a pondered mind. Beset in the + light of stable lanterns, by the tears, entreaties, indignation, + remonstrances and reproaches of his family, he got out of the difficult + situation by fainting away there and then in the arms of his nearest + relatives, and was carried off to bed. Before he got out of it again, the + second reign of Napoleon, the Hundred Days of feverish agitation and + supreme effort, passed away like a terrifying dream. The tragic year 1815, + begun in the trouble and unrest of consciences, was ending in vengeful + proscriptions. + </p> + <p> + How General Feraud escaped the clutches of the Special Commission and the + last offices of a firing squad he never knew himself. It was partly due to + the subordinate position he was assigned during the Hundred Days. The + Emperor had never given him active command, but had kept him busy at the + cavalry depot in Paris, mounting and despatching hastily drilled troopers + into the field. Considering this task as unworthy of his abilities, he had + discharged it with no offensively noticeable zeal; but for the greater + part he was saved from the excesses of Royalist reaction by the + interference of General D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + This last, still on convalescent leave, but able now to travel, had been + despatched by his sister to Paris to present himself to his legitimate + sovereign. As no one in the capital could possibly know anything of the + episode in the stable he was received there with distinction. Military to + the very bottom of his soul, the prospect of rising in his profession + consoled him from finding himself the butt of Bonapartist malevolence, + which pursued him with a persistence he could not account for. All the + rancour of that embittered and persecuted party pointed to him as the man + who had never loved the Emperor—a sort of monster essentially worse + than a mere betrayer. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert shrugged his shoulders without anger at this ferocious + prejudice. Rejected by his old friends, and mistrusting profoundly the + advances of Royalist society, the young and handsome general (he was + barely forty) adopted a manner of cold, punctilious courtesy, which at the + merest shadow of an intended slight passed easily into harsh haughtiness. + Thus prepared, General D’Hubert went about his affairs in Paris feeling + inwardly very happy with the peculiar uplifting happiness of a man very + much in love. The charming girl looked out by his sister had come upon the + scene, and had conquered him in the thorough manner in which a young girl + by merely existing in his sight can make a man of forty her own. They were + going to be married as soon as General D’Hubert had obtained his official + nomination to a promised command. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon, sitting on the terrasse of the Cafe Tortoni, General + D’Hubert learned from the conversation of two strangers occupying a table + near his own, that General Feraud, included in the batch of superior + officers arrested after the second return of the king, was in danger of + passing before the Special Commission. Living all his spare moments, as is + frequently the case with expectant lovers, a day in advance of reality, + and in a state of bestarred hallucination, it required nothing less than + the name of his perpetual antagonist pronounced in a loud voice to call + the youngest of Napoleon’s generals away from the mental contemplation of + his betrothed. He looked round. The strangers wore civilian clothes. Lean + and weather-beaten, lolling back in their chairs, they scowled at people + with moody and defiant abstraction from under their hats pulled low over + their eyes. It was not difficult to recognize them for two of the + compulsorily retired officers of the Old Guard. As from bravado or + carelessness they chose to speak in loud tones, General D’Hubert, who saw + no reason why he should change his seat, heard every word. They did not + seem to be the personal friends of General Feraud. His name came up + amongst others. Hearing it repeated, General D’Hubert’s tender + anticipations of a domestic future adorned with a woman’s grace were + traversed by the harsh regret of his warlike past, of that one long, + intoxicating clash of arms, unique in the magnitude of its glory and + disaster—the marvellous work and the special possession of his own + generation. He felt an irrational tenderness towards his old adversary and + appreciated emotionally the murderous absurdity their encounter had + introduced into his life. It was like an additional pinch of spice in a + hot dish. He remembered the flavour with sudden melancholy. He would never + taste it again. It was all over. “I fancy it was being left lying in the + garden that had exasperated him so against me from the first,” he thought, + indulgently. + </p> + <p> + The two strangers at the next table had fallen silent after the third + mention of General Feraud’s name. Presently the elder of the two, speaking + again in a bitter tone, affirmed that General Feraud’s account was + settled. And why? Simply because he was not like some bigwigs who loved + only themselves. The Royalists knew they could never make anything of him. + He loved The Other too well. + </p> + <p> + The Other was the Man of St. Helena. The two officers nodded and touched + glasses before they drank to an impossible return. Then the same who had + spoken before, remarked with a sardonic laugh, “His adversary showed more + cleverness.” + </p> + <p> + “What adversary?” asked the younger, as if puzzled. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you know? They were two hussars. At each promotion they fought a + duel. Haven’t you heard of the duel going on ever since 1801?” + </p> + <p> + The other had heard of the duel, of course. Now he understood the + allusion. General Baron D’Hubert would be able now to enjoy his fat king’s + favour in peace. + </p> + <p> + “Much good may it do to him,” mumbled the elder. “They were both brave + men. I never saw this D’Hubert—a sort of intriguing dandy, I am + told. But I can well believe what I’ve heard Feraud say of him—that + he never loved the Emperor.” + </p> + <p> + They rose and went away. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert experienced the horror of a somnambulist who wakes up + from a complacent dream of activity to find himself walking on a quagmire. + A profound disgust of the ground on which he was making his way overcame + him. Even the image of the charming girl was swept from his view in the + flood of moral distress. Everything he had ever been or hoped to be would + taste of bitter ignominy unless he could manage to save General Feraud + from the fate which threatened so many braves. Under the impulse of this + almost morbid need to attend to the safety of his adversary, General + D’Hubert worked so well with hands and feet (as the French saying is), + that in less than twenty-four hours he found means of obtaining an + extraordinary private audience from the Minister of Police. + </p> + <p> + General Baron D’Hubert was shown in suddenly without preliminaries. In the + dusk of the Minister’s cabinet, behind the forms of writing-desk, chairs, + and tables, between two bunches of wax candles blazing in sconces, he + beheld a figure in a gorgeous coat posturing before a tall mirror. The old + conventionnel Fouche, Senator of the Empire, traitor to every man, to + every principle and motive of human conduct. Duke of Otranto, and the wily + artizan of the second Restoration, was trying the fit of a court suit in + which his young and accomplished fiancee had declared her intention to + have his portrait painted on porcelain. It was a caprice, a charming fancy + which the first Minister of Police of the second Restoration was anxious + to gratify. For that man, often compared in wiliness of conduct to a fox, + but whose ethical side could be worthily symbolized by nothing less + emphatic than a skunk, was as much possessed by his love as General + D’Hubert himself. + </p> + <p> + Startled to be discovered thus by the blunder of a servant, he met this + little vexation with the characteristic impudence which had served his + turn so well in the endless intrigues of his self-seeking career. Without + altering his attitude a hair’s-breadth, one leg in a silk stocking + advanced, his head twisted over his left shoulder, he called out calmly, + “This way, General. Pray approach. Well? I am all attention.” + </p> + <p> + While General D’Hubert, ill at ease as if one of his own little weaknesses + had been exposed, presented his request as shortly as possible, the Duke + of Otranto went on feeling the fit of his collar, settling the lapels + before the glass, and buckling his back in an effort to behold the set of + the gold embroidered coat-skirts behind. His still face, his attentive + eyes, could not have expressed a more complete interest in those matters + if he had been alone. + </p> + <p> + “Exclude from the operations of the Special Court a certain Feraud, + Gabriel Florian, General of brigade of the promotion of 1814?” he + repeated, in a slightly wondering tone, and then turned away from the + glass. “Why exclude him precisely?” + </p> + <p> + “I am surprised that your Excellency, so competent in the evaluation of + men of his time, should have thought worth while to have that name put + down on the list.” + </p> + <p> + “A rabid Bonapartist!” + </p> + <p> + “So is every grenadier and every trooper of the army, as your Excellency + well knows. And the individuality of General Feraud can have no more + weight than that of any casual grenadier. He is a man of no mental grasp, + of no capacity whatever. It is inconceivable that he should ever have any + influence.” + </p> + <p> + “He has a well-hung tongue, though,” interjected Fouche. + </p> + <p> + “Noisy, I admit, but not dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + “I will not dispute with you. I know next to nothing of him. Hardly his + name, in fact.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet your Excellency has the presidency of the Commission charged by + the king to point out those who were to be tried,” said General D’Hubert, + with an emphasis which did not miss the minister’s ear. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General,” he said, walking away into the dark part of the vast room, + and throwing himself into a deep armchair that swallowed him up, all but + the soft gleam of gold embroideries and the pallid patch of the face—“yes, + General. Take this chair there.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert sat down. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General,” continued the arch-master in the arts of intrigue and + betrayals, whose duplicity, as if at times intolerable to his + self-knowledge, found relief in bursts of cynical openness. “I did hurry + on the formation of the proscribing Commission, and I took its presidency. + And do you know why? Simply from fear that if I did not take it quickly + into my hands my own name would head the list of the proscribed. Such are + the times in which we live. But I am minister of the king yet, and I ask + you plainly why I should take the name of this obscure Feraud off the + list? You wonder how his name got there! Is it possible that you should + know men so little? My dear General, at the very first sitting of the + Commission names poured on us like rain off the roof of the Tuileries. + Names! We had our choice of thousands. How do you know that the name of + this Feraud, whose life or death don’t matter to France, does not keep out + some other name?” + </p> + <p> + The voice out of the armchair stopped. Opposite General D’Hubert sat + still, shadowy and silent. Only his sabre clinked slightly. The voice in + the armchair began again. “And we must try to satisfy the exigencies of + the Allied Sovereigns, too. The Prince de Talleyrand told me only + yesterday that Nesselrode had informed him officially of His Majesty the + Emperor Alexander’s dissatisfaction at the small number of examples the + Government of the king intends to make—especially amongst military + men. I tell you this confidentially.” + </p> + <p> + “Upon my word!” broke out General D’Hubert, speaking through his teeth, + “if your Excellency deigns to favour me with any more confidential + information I don’t know what I will do. It’s enough to break one’s sword + over one’s knee, and fling the pieces. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “What government you imagined yourself to be serving?” interrupted the + minister, sharply. + </p> + <p> + After a short pause the crestfallen voice of General D’Hubert answered, + “The Government of France.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s paying your conscience off with mere words, General. The truth is + that you are serving a government of returned exiles, of men who have been + without country for twenty years. Of men also who have just got over a + very bad and humiliating fright. . . . Have no illusions on that score.” + </p> + <p> + The Duke of Otranto ceased. He had relieved himself, and had attained his + object of stripping some self-respect off that man who had inconveniently + discovered him posturing in a gold-embroidered court costume before a + mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot in the army; it occurred to him + that it would be inconvenient if a well-disposed general officer, received + in audience on the recommendation of one of the Princes, were to do + something rashly scandalous directly after a private interview with the + minister. In a changed tone he put a question to the point: “Your relation—this + Feraud?” + </p> + <p> + “No. No relation at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Intimate friend?” + </p> + <p> + “Intimate . . . yes. There is between us an intimate connection of a + nature which makes it a point of honour with me to try . . .” + </p> + <p> + The minister rang a bell without waiting for the end of the phrase. When + the servant had gone out, after bringing in a pair of heavy silver + candelabra for the writing-desk, the Duke of Otranto rose, his breast + glistening all over with gold in the strong light, and taking a piece of + paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand ostentatiously while he said + with persuasive gentleness: “You must not speak of breaking your sword + across your knee, General. Perhaps you would never get another. The + Emperor will not return this time. . . . Diable d’homme! There was just a + moment, here in Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me. It + looked as though he were ready to begin all over again. Luckily one never + does begin all over again, really. You must not think of breaking your + sword, General.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert, looking on the ground, moved slightly his hand in a + hopeless gesture of renunciation. The Minister of Police turned his eyes + away from him, and scanned deliberately the paper he had been holding up + all the time. + </p> + <p> + “There are only twenty general officers selected to be made an example of. + Twenty. A round number. And let’s see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he’s there. + Gabriel Florian. Parfaitement. That’s your man. Well, there will be only + nineteen examples made now.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert stood up feeling as though he had gone through an + infectious illness. “I must beg your Excellency to keep my interference a + profound secret. I attach the greatest importance to his never learning . + . .” + </p> + <p> + “Who is going to inform him, I should like to know?” said Fouche, raising + his eyes curiously to General D’Hubert’s tense, set face. “Take one of + these pens, and run it through the name yourself. This is the only list in + existence. If you are careful to take up enough ink no one will be able to + tell what was the name struck out. But, par exemple, I am not responsible + for what Clarke will do with him afterwards. If he persists in being rabid + he will be ordered by the Minister of War to reside in some provincial + town under the supervision of the police.” + </p> + <p> + A few days later General D’Hubert was saying to his sister, after the + first greetings had been got over: “Ah, my dear Leonie! it seemed to me I + couldn’t get away from Paris quick enough.” + </p> + <p> + “Effect of love,” she suggested, with a malicious smile. + </p> + <p> + “And horror,” added General D’Hubert, with profound seriousness. “I have + nearly died there of . . . of nausea.” + </p> + <p> + His face was contracted with disgust. And as his sister looked at him + attentively he continued, “I have had to see Fouche. I have had an + audience. I have been in his cabinet. There remains with one, who had the + misfortune to breathe the air of the same room with that man, a sense of + diminished dignity, an uneasy feeling of being not so clean, after all, as + one hoped one was. . . . But you can’t understand.” + </p> + <p> + She nodded quickly several times. She understood very well, on the + contrary. She knew her brother thoroughly, and liked him as he was. + Moreover, the scorn and loathing of mankind were the lot of the Jacobin + Fouche, who, exploiting for his own advantage every weakness, every + virtue, every generous illusion of mankind, made dupes of his whole + generation, and died obscurely as Duke of Otranto. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Armand,” she said, compassionately, “what could you want from + that man?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing less than a life,” answered General D’Hubert. “And I’ve got it. + It had to be done. But I feel yet as if I could never forgive the + necessity to the man I had to save.” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud, totally unable (as is the case with most of us) to + comprehend what was happening to him, received the Minister of War’s order + to proceed at once to a small town of Central France with feelings whose + natural expression consisted in a fierce rolling of the eye and savage + grinding of the teeth. The passing away of the state of war, the only + condition of society he had ever known, the horrible view of a world at + peace, frightened him. He went away to his little town firmly convinced + that this could not last. There he was informed of his retirement from the + army, and that his pension (calculated on the scale of a colonel’s rank) + was made dependent on the correctness of his conduct, and on the good + reports of the police. No longer in the army! He felt suddenly strange to + the earth, like a disembodied spirit. It was impossible to exist. But at + first he reacted from sheer incredulity. This could not be. He waited for + thunder, earthquakes, natural cataclysms; but nothing happened. The leaden + weight of an irremediable idleness descended upon General Feraud, who + having no resources within himself sank into a state of awe-inspiring + hebetude. He haunted the streets of the little town, gazing before him + with lacklustre eyes, disregarding the hats raised on his passage; and + people, nudging each other as he went by, whispered, “That’s poor General + Feraud. His heart is broken. Behold how he loved the Emperor.” + </p> + <p> + The other living wreckage of Napoleonic tempest clustered round General + Feraud with infinite respect. He, himself, imagined his soul to be crushed + by grief. He suffered from quickly succeeding impulses to weep, to howl, + to bite his fists till blood came, to spend days on his bed with his head + thrust under the pillow; but these arose from sheer ennui, from the + anguish of an immense, indescribable, inconceivable boredom. His mental + inability to grasp the hopeless nature of his case as a whole saved him + from suicide. He never even thought of it once. He thought of nothing. But + his appetite abandoned him, and the difficulty he experienced to express + the overwhelming nature of his feelings (the most furious swearing could + do no justice to it) induced gradually a habit of silence—a sort of + death to a southern temperament. + </p> + <p> + Great, therefore, was the sensation amongst the anciens militaires + frequenting a certain little cafe; full of flies when one stuffy afternoon + “that poor General Feraud” let out suddenly a volley of formidable curses. + </p> + <p> + He had been sitting quietly in his own privileged corner looking through + the Paris gazettes with just as much interest as a condemned man on the + eve of execution could be expected to show in the news of the day. “I’ll + find out presently that I am alive yet,” he declared, in a dogmatic tone. + “However, this is a private affair. An old affair of honour. Bah! Our + honour does not matter. Here we are driven off with a split ear like a lot + of cast troop horses—good only for a knacker’s yard. But it would be + like striking a blow for the Emperor. . . . Messieurs, I shall require the + assistance of two of you.” + </p> + <p> + Every man moved forward. General Feraud, deeply touched by this + demonstration, called with visible emotion upon the one-eyed veteran + cuirassier and the officer of the Chasseurs a Cheval who had left the tip + of his nose in Russia. He excused his choice to the others. + </p> + <p> + “A cavalry affair this—you know.” + </p> + <p> + He was answered with a varied chorus of “Parfaitement, mon General . . . . + C’est juste. . . . Parbleu, c’est connu. . . .” Everybody was satisfied. + The three left the cafe together, followed by cries of “Bonne chance.” + </p> + <p> + Outside they linked arms, the general in the middle. The three rusty + cocked hats worn en bataille with a sinister forward slant barred the + narrow street nearly right across. The overheated little town of grey + stones and red tiles was drowsing away its provincial afternoon under a + blue sky. The loud blows of a cooper hooping a cask reverberated regularly + between the houses. The general dragged his left foot a little in the + shade of the walls. + </p> + <p> + “This damned winter of 1813 has got into my bones for good. Never mind. We + must take pistols, that’s all. A little lumbago. We must have pistols. + He’s game for my bag. My eyes are as keen as ever. You should have seen me + in Russia picking off the dodging Cossacks with a beastly old infantry + musket. I have a natural gift for firearms.” + </p> + <p> + In this strain General Feraud ran on, holding up his head, with owlish + eyes and rapacious beak. A mere fighter all his life, a cavalry man, a + sabreur, he conceived war with the utmost simplicity, as, in the main, a + massed lot of personal contests, a sort of gregarious duelling. And here + he had in hand a war of his own. He revived. The shadow of peace passed + away from him like the shadow of death. It was the marvellous resurrection + of the named Feraud, Gabriel Florian, engage volontaire of 1793, General + of 1814, buried without ceremony by means of a service order signed by the + War Minister of the Second Restoration. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + No man succeeds in everything he undertakes. In that sense we are all + failures. The great point is not to fail in ordering and sustaining the + effort of our life. In this matter vanity is what leads us astray. It + hurries us into situations from which we must come out damaged; whereas + pride is our safeguard, by the reserve it imposes on the choice of our + endeavour as much as by the virtue of its sustaining power. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert was proud and reserved. He had not been damaged by his + casual love affairs, successful or otherwise. In his war-scarred body his + heart at forty remained unscratched. Entering with reserve into his + sister’s matrimonial plans, he had felt himself falling irremediably in + love as one falls off a roof. He was too proud to be frightened. Indeed, + the sensation was too delightful to be alarming. + </p> + <p> + The inexperience of a man of forty is a much more serious thing than the + inexperience of a youth of twenty, for it is not helped out by the + rashness of hot blood. The girl was mysterious, as young girls are by the + mere effect of their guarded ingenuity; and to him the mysteriousness of + that young girl appeared exceptional and fascinating. But there was + nothing mysterious about the arrangements of the match which Madame Leonie + had promoted. There was nothing peculiar, either. It was a very + appropriate match, commending itself extremely to the young lady’s mother + (the father was dead) and tolerable to the young lady’s uncle—an old + emigre lately returned from Germany, and pervading, cane in hand, a lean + ghost of the ancien regime, the garden walks of the young lady’s ancestral + home. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert was not the man to be satisfied merely with the woman and + the fortune—when it came to the point. His pride (and pride aims + always at true success) would be satisfied with nothing short of love. But + as true pride excludes vanity, he could not imagine any reason why this + mysterious creature with deep and brilliant eyes of a violet colour should + have any feeling for him warmer than indifference. The young lady (her + name was Adele) baffled every attempt at a clear understanding on that + point. It is true that the attempts were clumsy and made timidly, because + by then General D’Hubert had become acutely aware of the number of his + years, of his wounds, of his many moral imperfections, of his secret + unworthiness—and had incidentally learned by experience the meaning + of the word funk. As far as he could make out she seemed to imply that, + with an unbounded confidence in her mother’s affection and sagacity, she + felt no unsurmountable dislike for the person of General D’Hubert; and + that this was quite sufficient for a well-brought-up young lady to begin + married life upon. This view hurt and tormented the pride of General + D’Hubert. And yet he asked himself, with a sort of sweet despair, what + more could he expect? She had a quiet and luminous forehead. Her violet + eyes laughed while the lines of her lips and chin remained composed in + admirable gravity. All this was set off by such a glorious mass of fair + hair, by a complexion so marvellous, by such a grace of expression, that + General D’Hubert really never found the opportunity to examine with + sufficient detachment the lofty exigencies of his pride. In fact, he + became shy of that line of inquiry since it had led once or twice to a + crisis of solitary passion in which it was borne upon him that he loved + her enough to kill her rather than lose her. From such passages, not + unknown to men of forty, he would come out broken, exhausted, remorseful, + a little dismayed. He derived, however, considerable comfort from the + quietist practice of sitting now and then half the night by an open window + and meditating upon the wonder of her existence, like a believer lost in + the mystic contemplation of his faith. + </p> + <p> + It must not be supposed that all these variations of his inward state were + made manifest to the world. General D ‘Hubert found no difficulty in + appearing wreathed in smiles. Because, in fact, he was very happy. He + followed the established rules of his condition, sending over flowers + (from his sister’s garden and hot-houses) early every morning, and a + little later following himself to lunch with his intended, her mother, and + her emigre uncle. The middle of the day was spent in strolling or sitting + in the shade. A watchful deference, trembling on the verge of tenderness + was the note of their intercourse on his side—with a playful turn of + the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole being caused by + her inaccessible nearness. Late in the afternoon General D ‘Hubert walked + home between the fields of vines, sometimes intensely miserable, sometimes + supremely happy, sometimes pensively sad; but always feeling a special + intensity of existence, that elation common to artists, poets, and lovers—to + men haunted by a great passion, a noble thought, or a new vision of + plastic beauty. + </p> + <p> + The outward world at that time did not exist with any special distinctness + for General D’Hubert. One evening, however, crossing a ridge from which he + could see both houses, General D’Hubert became aware of two figures far + down the road. The day had been divine. The festal decoration of the + inflamed sky lent a gentle glow to the sober tints of the southern land. + The grey rocks, the brown fields, the purple, undulating distances + harmonized in luminous accord, exhaled already the scents of the evening. + The two figures down the road presented themselves like two rigid and + wooden silhouettes all black on the ribbon of white dust. General D’Hubert + made out the long, straight, military capotes buttoned closely right up to + the black stocks, the cocked hats, the lean, carven, brown countenances—old + soldiers—vieilles moustaches! The taller of the two had a black + patch over one eye; the other’s hard, dry countenance presented some + bizarre, disquieting peculiarity, which on nearer approach proved to be + the absence of the tip of the nose. Lifting their hands with one movement + to salute the slightly lame civilian walking with a thick stick, they + inquired for the house where the General Baron D’Hubert lived, and what + was the best way to get speech with him quietly. + </p> + <p> + “If you think this quiet enough,” said General D’Hubert, looking round at + the vine-fields, framed in purple lines, and dominated by the nest of grey + and drab walls of a village clustering around the top of a conical hill, + so that the blunt church tower seemed but the shape of a crowning rock—“if + you think this spot quiet enough, you can speak to him at once. And I beg + you, comrades, to speak openly, with perfect confidence.” + </p> + <p> + They stepped back at this, and raised again their hands to their hats with + marked ceremoniousness. Then the one with the chipped nose, speaking for + both, remarked that the matter was confidential enough, and to be arranged + discreetly. Their general quarters were established in that village over + there, where the infernal clodhoppers—damn their false, Royalist + hearts!—looked remarkably cross-eyed at three unassuming military + men. For the present he should only ask for the name of General D’Hubert’s + friends. + </p> + <p> + “What friends?” said the astonished General D’Hubert, completely off the + track. “I am staying with my brother-in-law over there.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he will do for one,” said the chipped veteran. + </p> + <p> + “We’re the friends of General Feraud,” interjected the other, who had kept + silent till then, only glowering with his one eye at the man who had never + loved the Emperor. That was something to look at. For even the gold-laced + Judases who had sold him to the English, the marshals and princes, had + loved him at some time or other. But this man had never loved the Emperor. + General Feraud had said so distinctly. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert felt an inward blow in his chest. For an infinitesimal + fraction of a second it was as if the spinning of the earth had become + perceptible with an awful, slight rustle in the eternal stillness of + space. But this noise of blood in his ears passed off at once. + Involuntarily he murmured, “Feraud! I had forgotten his existence.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s existing at present, very uncomfortably, it is true, in the infamous + inn of that nest of savages up there,” said the one-eyed cuirassier, + drily. “We arrived in your parts an hour ago on post horses. He’s awaiting + our return with impatience. There is hurry, you know. The General has + broken the ministerial order to obtain from you the satisfaction he’s + entitled to by the laws of honour, and naturally he’s anxious to have it + all over before the gendarmerie gets on his scent.” + </p> + <p> + The other elucidated the idea a little further. “Get back on the quiet—you + understand? Phitt! No one the wiser. We have broken out, too. Your friend + the king would be glad to cut off our scurvy pittances at the first + chance. It’s a risk. But honour before everything.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert had recovered his powers of speech. “So you come here + like this along the road to invite me to a throat-cutting match with that—that + . . .” A laughing sort of rage took possession of him. “Ha! ha! ha! ha!” + </p> + <p> + His fists on his hips, he roared without restraint, while they stood + before him lank and straight, as though they had been shot up with a snap + through a trap door in the ground. Only four-and-twenty months ago the + masters of Europe, they had already the air of antique ghosts, they seemed + less substantial in their faded coats than their own narrow shadows + falling so black across the white road: the military and grotesque shadows + of twenty years of war and conquests. They had an outlandish appearance of + two imperturbable bonzes of the religion of the sword. And General + D’Hubert, also one of the ex-masters of Europe, laughed at these serious + phantoms standing in his way. + </p> + <p> + Said one, indicating the laughing General with a jerk of the head: “A + merry companion, that.” + </p> + <p> + “There are some of us that haven’t smiled from the day The Other went + away,” remarked his comrade. + </p> + <p> + A violent impulse to set upon and beat those unsubstantial wraiths to the + ground frightened General D’Hubert. He ceased laughing suddenly. His + desire now was to get rid of them, to get them away from his sight quickly + before he lost control of himself. He wondered at the fury he felt rising + in his breast. But he had no time to look into that peculiarity just then. + </p> + <p> + “I understand your wish to be done with me as quickly as possible. Don’t + let us waste time in empty ceremonies. Do you see that wood there at the + foot of that slope? Yes, the wood of pines. Let us meet there to-morrow at + sunrise. I will bring with me my sword or my pistols, or both if you + like.” + </p> + <p> + The seconds of General Feraud looked at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Pistols, General,” said the cuirassier. + </p> + <p> + “So be it. Au revoir—to-morrow morning. Till then let me advise you + to keep close if you don’t want the gendarmerie making inquiries about you + before it gets dark. Strangers are rare in this part of the country.” + </p> + <p> + They saluted in silence. General D’Hubert, turning his back on their + retreating forms, stood still in the middle of the road for a long time, + biting his lower lip and looking on the ground. Then he began to walk + straight before him, thus retracing his steps till he found himself before + the park gate of his intended’s house. Dusk had fallen. Motionless he + stared through the bars at the front of the house, gleaming clear beyond + the thickets and trees. Footsteps scrunched on the gravel, and presently a + tall stooping shape emerged from the lateral alley following the inner + side of the park wall. + </p> + <p> + Le Chevalier de Valmassigue, uncle of the adorable Adele, ex-brigadier in + the army of the Princes, bookbinder in Altona, afterwards shoemaker (with + a great reputation for elegance in the fit of ladies’ shoes) in another + small German town, wore silk stockings on his lean shanks, low shoes with + silver buckles, a brocaded waistcoat. A long-skirted coat, a la francaise, + covered loosely his thin, bowed back. A small three-cornered hat rested on + a lot of powdered hair, tied in a queue. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Chevalier,” called General D’Hubert, softly. + </p> + <p> + “What? You here again, mon ami? Have you forgotten something?” + </p> + <p> + “By heavens! that’s just it. I have forgotten something. I am come to tell + you of it. No—outside. Behind this wall. It’s too ghastly a thing to + be let in at all where she lives.” + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier came out at once with that benevolent resignation some old + people display towards the fugue of youth. Older by a quarter of a century + than General D’Hubert, he looked upon him in the secret of his heart as a + rather troublesome youngster in love. He had heard his enigmatical words + very well, but attached no undue importance to what a mere man of forty so + hard hit was likely to do or say. The turn of mind of the generation of + Frenchmen grown up during the years of his exile was almost unintelligible + to him. Their sentiments appeared to him unduly violent, lacking fineness + and measure, their language needlessly exaggerated. He joined calmly the + General on the road, and they made a few steps in silence, the General + trying to master his agitation, and get proper control of his voice. + </p> + <p> + “It is perfectly true; I forgot something. I forgot till half an hour ago + that I had an urgent affair of honour on my hands. It’s incredible, but it + is so!” + </p> + <p> + All was still for a moment. Then in the profound evening silence of the + countryside the clear, aged voice of the Chevalier was heard trembling + slightly: “Monsieur! That’s an indignity.” + </p> + <p> + It was his first thought. The girl born during his exile, the posthumous + daughter of his poor brother murdered by a band of Jacobins, had grown + since his return very dear to his old heart, which had been starving on + mere memories of affection for so many years. “It is an inconceivable + thing, I say! A man settles such affairs before he thinks of asking for a + young girl’s hand. Why! If you had forgotten for ten days longer, you + would have been married before your memory returned to you. In my time men + did not forget such things—nor yet what is due to the feelings of an + innocent young woman. If I did not respect them myself, I would qualify + your conduct in a way which you would not like.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert relieved himself frankly by a groan. “Don’t let that + consideration prevent you. You run no risk of offending her mortally.” + </p> + <p> + But the old man paid no attention to this lover’s nonsense. It’s doubtful + whether he even heard. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s the nature of . . . + ?” “Call it a youthful folly, Monsieur le Chevalier. An inconceivable, + incredible result of . . .” He stopped short. “He will never believe the + story,” he thought. “He will only think I am taking him for a fool, and + get offended.” General D’Hubert spoke up again: “Yes, originating in + youthful folly, it has become . . .” + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier interrupted: “Well, then it must be arranged.” + </p> + <p> + “Arranged?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, no matter at what cost to your amour propre. You should have + remembered you were engaged. You forgot that, too, I suppose. And then you + go and forget your quarrel. It’s the most hopeless exhibition of levity I + ever heard of.” + </p> + <p> + “Good heavens, Monsieur! You don’t imagine I have been picking up this + quarrel last time I was in Paris, or anything of the sort, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh! What matters the precise date of your insane conduct,” exclaimed the + Chevalier, testily. “The principal thing is to arrange it.” + </p> + <p> + Noticing General D’Hubert getting restive and trying to place a word, the + old emigre raised his hand, and added with dignity, “I’ve been a soldier, + too. I would never dare suggest a doubtful step to the man whose name my + niece is to bear. I tell you that entre galants hommes an affair can + always be arranged.” + </p> + <p> + “But saperiotte, Monsieur le Chevalier, it’s fifteen or sixteen years ago. + I was a lieutenant of hussars then.” + </p> + <p> + The old Chevalier seemed confounded by the vehemently despairing tone of + this information. “You were a lieutenant of hussars sixteen years ago,” he + mumbled in a dazed manner. + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes! You did not suppose I was made a general in my cradle like a + royal prince.” + </p> + <p> + In the deepening purple twilight of the fields spread with vine leaves, + backed by a low band of sombre crimson in the west, the voice of the old + ex-officer in the army of the Princes sounded collected, punctiliously + civil. + </p> + <p> + “Do I dream? Is this a pleasantry? Or am I to understand that you have + been hatching an affair of honour for sixteen years?” + </p> + <p> + “It has clung to me for that length of time. That is my precise meaning. + The quarrel itself is not to be explained easily. We met on the ground + several times during that time, of course.” + </p> + <p> + “What manners! What horrible perversion of manliness! Nothing can account + for such inhumanity but the sanguinary madness of the Revolution which has + tainted a whole generation,” mused the returned emigre in a low tone. + “Who’s your adversary?” he asked a little louder. + </p> + <p> + “My adversary? His name is Feraud.” + </p> + <p> + Shadowy in his tricorne and old-fashioned clothes, like a bowed, thin + ghost of the ancien regime, the Chevalier voiced a ghostly memory. “I can + remember the feud about little Sophie Derval, between Monsieur de Brissac, + Captain in the Bodyguards, and d’Anjorrant (not the pock-marked one, the + other—the Beau d’Anjorrant, as they called him). They met three + times in eighteen months in a most gallant manner. It was the fault of + that little Sophie, too, who would keep on playing . . .” + </p> + <p> + “This is nothing of the kind,” interrupted General D’Hubert. He laughed a + little sardonically. “Not at all so simple,” he added. “Nor yet half so + reasonable,” he finished, inaudibly, between his teeth, and ground them + with rage. + </p> + <p> + After this sound nothing troubled the silence for a long time, till the + Chevalier asked, without animation: “What is he—this Feraud?” + </p> + <p> + “Lieutenant of hussars, too—I mean, he’s a general. A Gascon. Son of + a blacksmith, I believe.” + </p> + <p> + “There! I thought so. That Bonaparte had a special predilection for the + canaille. I don’t mean this for you, D’Hubert. You are one of us, though + you have served this usurper, who . . .” + </p> + <p> + “Let’s leave him out of this,” broke in General D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier shrugged his peaked shoulders. “Feraud of sorts. Offspring + of a blacksmith and some village troll. See what comes of mixing yourself + up with that sort of people.” + </p> + <p> + “You have made shoes yourself, Chevalier.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. But I am not the son of a shoemaker. Neither are you, Monsieur + D’Hubert. You and I have something that your Bonaparte’s princes, dukes, + and marshals have not, because there’s no power on earth that could give + it to them,” retorted the emigre, with the rising animation of a man who + has got hold of a hopeful argument. “Those people don’t exist—all + these Ferauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A va-nu-pieds disguised into a + general by a Corsican adventurer masquerading as an emperor. There is no + earthly reason for a D’Hubert to s’encanailler by a duel with a person of + that sort. You can make your excuses to him perfectly well. And if the + manant takes into his head to decline them, you may simply refuse to meet + him.” + </p> + <p> + “You say I may do that?” + </p> + <p> + “I do. With the clearest conscience.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Chevalier! To what do you think you have returned from your + emigration?” + </p> + <p> + This was said in such a startling tone that the old man raised sharply his + bowed head, glimmering silvery white under the points of the little + tricorne. For a time he made no sound. + </p> + <p> + “God knows!” he said at last, pointing with a slow and grave gesture at a + tall roadside cross mounted on a block of stone, and stretching its arms + of forged iron all black against the darkening red band in the sky—“God + knows! If it were not for this emblem, which I remember seeing on this + spot as a child, I would wonder to what we who remained faithful to God + and our king have returned. The very voices of the people have changed.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is a changed France,” said General D’Hubert. He seemed to have + regained his calm. His tone was slightly ironic. “Therefore I cannot take + your advice. Besides, how is one to refuse to be bitten by a dog that + means to bite? It’s impracticable. Take my word for it—Feraud isn’t + a man to be stayed by apologies or refusals. But there are other ways. I + could, for instance, send a messenger with a word to the brigadier of the + gendarmerie in Senlac. He and his two friends are liable to arrest on my + simple order. It would make some talk in the army, both the organized and + the disbanded—especially the disbanded. All canaille! All once upon + a time the companions in arms of Armand D’Hubert. But what need a D’Hubert + care what people that don’t exist may think? Or, better still, I might get + my brother-in-law to send for the mayor of the village and give him a + hint. No more would be needed to get the three ‘brigands’ set upon with + flails and pitchforks and hunted into some nice, deep, wet ditch—and + nobody the wiser! It has been done only ten miles from here to three poor + devils of the disbanded Red Lancers of the Guard going to their homes. + What says your conscience, Chevalier? Can a D’Hubert do that thing to + three men who do not exist?” + </p> + <p> + A few stars had come out on the blue obscurity, clear as crystal, of the + sky. The dry, thin voice of the Chevalier spoke harshly: “Why are you + telling me all this?” + </p> + <p> + The General seized the withered old hand with a strong grip. “Because I + owe you my fullest confidence. Who could tell Adele but you? You + understand why I dare not trust my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. + Chevalier! I have been so near doing these things that I tremble yet. You + don’t know how terrible this duel appears to me. And there’s no escape + from it.” + </p> + <p> + He murmured after a pause, “It’s a fatality,” dropped the Chevalier’s + passive hand, and said in his ordinary conversational voice, “I shall have + to go without seconds. If it is my lot to remain on the ground, you at + least will know all that can be made known of this affair.” + </p> + <p> + The shadowy ghost of the ancien regime seemed to have become more bowed + during the conversation. “How am I to keep an indifferent face this + evening before these two women?” he groaned. “General! I find it very + difficult to forgive you.” + </p> + <p> + General D ‘Hubert made no answer. + </p> + <p> + “Is your cause good, at least?” + </p> + <p> + “I am innocent.” + </p> + <p> + This time he seized the Chevalier’s ghostly arm above the elbow, and gave + it a mighty squeeze. “I must kill him!” he hissed, and opening his hand + strode away down the road. + </p> + <p> + The delicate attentions of his adoring sister had secured for the General + perfect liberty of movement in the house where he was a guest. He had even + his own entrance through a small door in one corner of the orangery. Thus + he was not exposed that evening to the necessity of dissembling his + agitation before the calm ignorance of the other inmates. He was glad of + it. It seemed to him that if he had to open his lips he would break out + into horrible and aimless imprecations, start breaking furniture, smashing + china and glass. From the moment he opened the private door and while + ascending the twenty-eight steps of a winding staircase, giving access to + the corridor on which his room opened, he went through a horrible and + humiliating scene in which an infuriated madman with blood-shot eyes and a + foaming mouth played inconceivable havoc with everything inanimate that + may be found in a well-appointed dining-room. When he opened the door of + his apartment the fit was over, and his bodily fatigue was so great that + he had to catch at the backs of the chairs while crossing the room to + reach a low and broad divan on which he let himself fall heavily. His + moral prostration was still greater. That brutality of feeling which he + had known only when charging the enemy, sabre in hand, amazed this man of + forty, who did not recognize in it the instinctive fury of his menaced + passion. But in his mental and bodily exhaustion this passion got cleared, + distilled, refined into a sentiment of melancholy despair at having, + perhaps, to die before he had taught this beautiful girl to love him. + </p> + <p> + That night, General D’Hubert stretched out on his back with his hands over + his eyes, or lying on his breast with his face buried in a cushion, made + the full pilgrimage of emotions. Nauseating disgust at the absurdity of + the situation, doubt of his own fitness to conduct his existence, and + mistrust of his best sentiments (for what the devil did he want to go to + Fouche for?)—he knew them all in turn. “I am an idiot, neither more + nor less,” he thought—“A sensitive idiot. Because I overheard two + men talking in a cafe. . . . I am an idiot afraid of lies—whereas in + life it is only truth that matters.” + </p> + <p> + Several times he got up and, walking in his socks in order not to be heard + by anybody downstairs, drank all the water he could find in the dark. And + he tasted the torments of jealousy, too. She would marry somebody else. + His very soul writhed. The tenacity of that Feraud, the awful persistence + of that imbecile brute, came to him with the tremendous force of a + relentless destiny. General D’Hubert trembled as he put down the empty + water ewer. “He will have me,” he thought. General D’Hubert was tasting + every emotion that life has to give. He had in his dry mouth the faint + sickly flavour of fear, not the excusable fear before a young girl’s + candid and amused glance, but the fear of death and the honourable man’s + fear of cowardice. + </p> + <p> + But if true courage consists in going out to meet an odious danger from + which our body, soul, and heart recoil together, General D’Hubert had the + opportunity to practise it for the first time in his life. He had charged + exultingly at batteries and at infantry squares, and ridden with messages + through a hail of bullets without thinking anything about it. His business + now was to sneak out unheard, at break of day, to an obscure and revolting + death. General D’Hubert never hesitated. He carried two pistols in a + leather bag which he slung over his shoulder. Before he had crossed the + garden his mouth was dry again. He picked two oranges. It was only after + shutting the gate after him that he felt a slight faintness. + </p> + <p> + He staggered on, disregarding it, and after going a few yards regained the + command of his legs. In the colourless and pellucid dawn the wood of pines + detached its columns of trunks and its dark green canopy very clearly + against the rocks of the grey hillside. He kept his eyes fixed on it + steadily, and sucked at an orange as he walked. That temperamental + good-humoured coolness in the face of danger which had made him an officer + liked by his men and appreciated by his superiors was gradually asserting + itself. It was like going into battle. Arriving at the edge of the wood he + sat down on a boulder, holding the other orange in his hand, and + reproached himself for coming so ridiculously early on the ground. Before + very long, however, he heard the swishing of bushes, footsteps on the hard + ground, and the sounds of a disjointed, loud conversation. A voice + somewhere behind him said boastfully, “He’s game for my bag.” + </p> + <p> + He thought to himself, “Here they are. What’s this about game? Are they + talking of me?” And becoming aware of the other orange in his hand, he + thought further, “These are very good oranges. Leonie’s own tree. I may + just as well eat this orange now instead of flinging it away.” + </p> + <p> + Emerging from a wilderness of rocks and bushes, General Feraud and his + seconds discovered General D’Hubert engaged in peeling the orange. They + stood still, waiting till he looked up. Then the seconds raised their + hats, while General Feraud, putting his hands behind his back, walked + aside a little way. + </p> + <p> + “I am compelled to ask one of you, messieurs, to act for me. I have + brought no friends. Will you?” + </p> + <p> + The one-eyed cuirassier said judicially, “That cannot be refused.” + </p> + <p> + The other veteran remarked, “It’s awkward all the same.” + </p> + <p> + “Owing to the state of the people’s minds in this part of the country + there was no one I could trust safely with the object of your presence + here,” explained General D’Hubert, urbanely. + </p> + <p> + They saluted, looked round, and remarked both together: + </p> + <p> + “Poor ground.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s unfit.” + </p> + <p> + “Why bother about ground, measurements, and so on? Let us simplify + matters. Load the two pairs of pistols. I will take those of General + Feraud, and let him take mine. Or, better still, let us take a mixed pair. + One of each pair. Then let us go into the wood and shoot at sight, while + you remain outside. We did not come here for ceremonies, but for war—war + to the death. Any ground is good enough for that. If I fall, you must + leave me where I lie and clear out. It wouldn’t be healthy for you to be + found hanging about here after that.” + </p> + <p> + It appeared after a short parley that General Feraud was willing to accept + these conditions. While the seconds were loading the pistols, he could be + heard whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with perfect contentment. + He flung off his coat briskly, and General D ‘Hubert took off his own and + folded it carefully on a stone. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose you take your principal to the other side of the wood and let him + enter exactly in ten minutes from now,” suggested General D’Hubert, + calmly, but feeling as if he were giving directions for his own execution. + This, however, was his last moment of weakness. “Wait. Let us compare + watches first.” + </p> + <p> + He pulled out his own. The officer with the chipped nose went over to + borrow the watch of General Feraud. They bent their heads over them for a + time. + </p> + <p> + “That’s it. At four minutes to six by yours. Seven to by mine.” + </p> + <p> + It was the cuirassier who remained by the side of General D’Hubert, + keeping his one eye fixed immovably on the white face of the watch he held + in the palm of his hand. He opened his mouth, waiting for the beat of the + last second long before he snapped out the word, “Avancez.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert moved on, passing from the glaring sunshine of the + Provencal morning into the cool and aromatic shade of the pines. The + ground was clear between the reddish trunks, whose multitude, leaning at + slightly different angles, confused his eye at first. It was like going + into battle. The commanding quality of confidence in himself woke up in + his breast. He was all to his affair. The problem was how to kill the + adversary. Nothing short of that would free him from this imbecile + nightmare. “It’s no use wounding that brute,” thought General D’Hubert. He + was known as a resourceful officer. His comrades years ago used also to + call him The Strategist. And it was a fact that he could think in the + presence of the enemy. Whereas Feraud had been always a mere fighter—but + a dead shot, unluckily. + </p> + <p> + “I must draw his fire at the greatest possible range,” said General + D’Hubert to himself. + </p> + <p> + At that moment he saw something white moving far off between the trees—the + shirt of his adversary. He stepped out at once between the trunks, + exposing himself freely; then, quick as lightning, leaped back. It had + been a risky move but it succeeded in its object. Almost simultaneously + with the pop of a shot a small piece of bark chipped off by the bullet + stung his ear painfully. + </p> + <p> + General Feraud, with one shot expended, was getting cautious. Peeping + round the tree, General D’Hubert could not see him at all. This ignorance + of the foe’s whereabouts carried with it a sense of insecurity. General + D’Hubert felt himself abominably exposed on his flank and rear. Again + something white fluttered in his sight. Ha! The enemy was still on his + front, then. He had feared a turning movement. But apparently General + Feraud was not thinking of it. General D’Hubert saw him pass without + special haste from one tree to another in the straight line of approach. + With great firmness of mind General D’Hubert stayed his hand. Too far yet. + He knew he was no marksman. His must be a waiting game—to kill. + </p> + <p> + Wishing to take advantage of the greater thickness of the trunk, he sank + down to the ground. Extended at full length, head on to his enemy, he had + his person completely protected. Exposing himself would not do now, + because the other was too near by this time. A conviction that Feraud + would presently do something rash was like balm to General D’Hubert’s + soul. But to keep his chin raised off the ground was irksome, and not much + use either. He peeped round, exposing a fraction of his head with dread, + but really with little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact, did not + expect to see anything of him so far down as that. General D’Hubert caught + a fleeting view of General Feraud shifting trees again with deliberate + caution. “He despises my shooting,” he thought, displaying that insight + into the mind of his antagonist which is of such great help in winning + battles. He was confirmed in his tactics of immobility. “If I could only + watch my rear as well as my front!” he thought anxiously, longing for the + impossible. + </p> + <p> + It required some force of character to lay his pistols down; but, on a + sudden impulse, General D’Hubert did this very gently—one on each + side of him. In the army he had been looked upon as a bit of a dandy + because he used to shave and put on a clean shirt on the days of battle. + As a matter of fact, he had always been very careful of his personal + appearance. In a man of nearly forty, in love with a young and charming + girl, this praiseworthy self-respect may run to such little weaknesses as, + for instance, being provided with an elegant little leather folding-case + containing a small ivory comb, and fitted with a piece of looking-glass on + the outside. General D’Hubert, his hands being free, felt in his breeches’ + pockets for that implement of innocent vanity excusable in the possessor + of long, silky moustaches. He drew it out, and then with the utmost + coolness and promptitude turned himself over on his back. In this new + attitude, his head a little raised, holding the little looking-glass just + clear of his tree, he squinted into it with his left eye, while the right + kept a direct watch on the rear of his position. Thus was proved + Napoleon’s saying, that “for a French soldier, the word impossible does + not exist.” He had the right tree nearly filling the field of his little + mirror. + </p> + <p> + “If he moves from behind it,” he reflected with satisfaction, “I am bound + to see his legs. But in any case he can’t come upon me unawares.” + </p> + <p> + And sure enough he saw the boots of General Feraud flash in and out, + eclipsing for an instant everything else reflected in the little mirror. + He shifted its position accordingly. But having to form his judgment of + the change from that indirect view he did not realize that now his feet + and a portion of his legs were in plain sight of General Feraud. + </p> + <p> + General Feraud had been getting gradually impressed by the amazing + cleverness with which his enemy was keeping cover. He had spotted the + right tree with bloodthirsty precision. He was absolutely certain of it. + And yet he had not been able to glimpse as much as the tip of an ear. As + he had been looking for it at the height of about five feet ten inches + from the ground it was no great wonder—but it seemed very wonderful + to General Feraud. + </p> + <p> + The first view of these feet and legs determined a rush of blood to his + head. He literally staggered behind his tree, and had to steady himself + against it with his hand. The other was lying on the ground, then! On the + ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed! What could it mean? . . . The + notion that he had knocked over his adversary at the first shot entered + then General Feraud’s head. Once there it grew with every second of + attentive gazing, overshadowing every other supposition—irresistible, + triumphant, ferocious. + </p> + <p> + “What an ass I was to think I could have missed him,” he muttered to + himself. “He was exposed en plein—the fool!—for quite a couple + of seconds.” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud gazed at the motionless limbs, the last vestiges of + surprise fading before an unbounded admiration of his own deadly skill + with the pistol. + </p> + <p> + “Turned up his toes! By the god of war, that was a shot!” he exulted + mentally. “Got it through the head, no doubt, just where I aimed, + staggered behind that tree, rolled over on his back, and died.” + </p> + <p> + And he stared! He stared, forgetting to move, almost awed, almost sorry. + But for nothing in the world would he have had it undone. Such a shot!—such + a shot! Rolled over on his back and died! + </p> + <p> + For it was this helpless position, lying on the back, that shouted its + direct evidence at General Feraud! It never occurred to him that it might + have been deliberately assumed by a living man. It was inconceivable. It + was beyond the range of sane supposition. There was no possibility to + guess the reason for it. And it must be said, too, that General D’Hubert’s + turned-up feet looked thoroughly dead. General Feraud expanded his lungs + for a stentorian shout to his seconds, but, from what he felt to be an + excessive scrupulousness, refrained for a while. + </p> + <p> + “I will just go and see first whether he breathes yet,” he mumbled to + himself, leaving carelessly the shelter of his tree. This move was + immediately perceived by the resourceful General D’Hubert. He concluded it + to be another shift, but when he lost the boots out of the field of the + mirror he became uneasy. General Feraud had only stepped a little out of + the line, but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him walking + up with perfect unconcern. General D’Hubert, beginning to wonder at what + had become of the other, was taken unawares so completely that the first + warning of danger consisted in the long, early-morning shadow of his enemy + falling aslant on his outstretched legs. He had not even heard a footfall + on the soft ground between the trees! + </p> + <p> + It was too much even for his coolness. He jumped up thoughtlessly, leaving + the pistols on the ground. The irresistible instinct of an average man + (unless totally paralyzed by discomfiture) would have been to stoop for + his weapons, exposing himself to the risk of being shot down in that + position. Instinct, of course, is irreflective. It is its very definition. + But it may be an inquiry worth pursuing whether in reflective mankind the + mechanical promptings of instinct are not affected by the customary mode + of thought. In his young days, Armand D’Hubert, the reflective, promising + officer, had emitted the opinion that in warfare one should “never cast + back on the lines of a mistake.” This idea, defended and developed in many + discussions, had settled into one of the stock notions of his brain, had + become a part of his mental individuality. Whether it had gone so + inconceivably deep as to affect the dictates of his instinct, or simply + because, as he himself declared afterwards, he was “too scared to remember + the confounded pistols,” the fact is that General D’Hubert never attempted + to stoop for them. Instead of going back on his mistake, he seized the + rough trunk with both hands, and swung himself behind it with such + impetuosity that, going right round in the very flash and report of the + pistol-shot, he reappeared on the other side of the tree face to face with + General Feraud. This last, completely unstrung by such a show of agility + on the part of a dead man, was trembling yet. A very faint mist of smoke + hung before his face which had an extraordinary aspect, as if the lower + jaw had come unhinged. + </p> + <p> + “Not missed!” he croaked, hoarsely, from the depths of a dry throat. + </p> + <p> + This sinister sound loosened the spell that had fallen on General + D’Hubert’s senses. “Yes, missed—a bout portant,” he heard himself + saying, almost before he had recovered the full command of his faculties. + The revulsion of feeling was accompanied by a gust of homicidal fury, + resuming in its violence the accumulated resentment of a lifetime. For + years General D ‘Hubert had been exasperated and humiliated by an + atrocious absurdity imposed upon him by this man’s savage caprice. + Besides, General D’Hubert had been in this last instance too unwilling to + confront death for the reaction of his anguish not to take the shape of a + desire to kill. “And I have my two shots to fire yet,” he added, + pitilessly. + </p> + <p> + General Feraud snapped-to his teeth, and his face assumed an irate, + undaunted expression. “Go on!” he said, grimly. + </p> + <p> + These would have been his last words if General D’Hubert had been holding + the pistols in his hands. But the pistols were lying on the ground at the + foot of a pine. General D’Hubert had the second of leisure necessary to + remember that he had dreaded death not as a man, but as a lover; not as a + danger, but as a rival; not as a foe to life, but as an obstacle to + marriage. And behold! there was the rival defeated!—utterly + defeated, crushed, done for! + </p> + <p> + He picked up the weapons mechanically, and, instead of firing them into + General Feraud’s breast, he gave expression to the thoughts uppermost in + his mind, “You will fight no more duels now.” + </p> + <p> + His tone of leisurely, ineffable satisfaction was too much for General + Feraud’s stoicism. “Don’t dawdle, then, damn you for a cold-blooded + staff-coxcomb!” he roared out, suddenly, out of an impassive face held + erect on a rigidly still body. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert uncocked the pistols carefully. This proceeding was + observed with mixed feelings by the other general. “You missed me twice,” + the victor said, coolly, shifting both pistols to one hand; “the last time + within a foot or so. By every rule of single combat your life belongs to + me. That does not mean that I want to take it now.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no use for your forbearance,” muttered General Feraud, gloomily. + </p> + <p> + “Allow me to point out that this is no concern of mine,” said General + D’Hubert, whose every word was dictated by a consummate delicacy of + feeling. In anger he could have killed that man, but in cold blood he + recoiled from humiliating by a show of generosity this unreasonable being—a + fellow-soldier of the Grande Armee, a companion in the wonders and terrors + of the great military epic. “You don’t set up the pretension of dictating + to me what I am to do with what’s my own.” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud looked startled, and the other continued, “You’ve forced me + on a point of honour to keep my life at your disposal, as it were, for + fifteen years. Very well. Now that the matter is decided to my advantage, + I am going to do what I like with your life on the same principle. You + shall keep it at my disposal as long as I choose. Neither more nor less. + You are on your honour till I say the word.” + </p> + <p> + “I am! But, sacrebleu! This is an absurd position for a General of the + Empire to be placed in!” cried General Feraud, in accents of profound and + dismayed conviction. “It amounts to sitting all the rest of my life with a + loaded pistol in a drawer waiting for your word. It’s—it’s idiotic; + I shall be an object of—of—derision.” + </p> + <p> + “Absurd?—idiotic? Do you think so?” queried General D’Hubert with + sly gravity. “Perhaps. But I don’t see how that can be helped. However, I + am not likely to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need ever know + anything about it. Just as no one to this day, I believe, knows the origin + of our quarrel. . . . Not a word more,” he added, hastily. “I can’t really + discuss this question with a man who, as far as I am concerned, does not + exist.” + </p> + <p> + When the two duellists came out into the open, General Feraud walking a + little behind, and rather with the air of walking in a trance, the two + seconds hurried towards them, each from his station at the edge of the + wood. General D’Hubert addressed them, speaking loud and distinctly, + “Messieurs, I make it a point of declaring to you solemnly, in the + presence of General Feraud, that our difference is at last settled for + good. You may inform all the world of that fact.” + </p> + <p> + “A reconciliation, after all!” they exclaimed together. + </p> + <p> + “Reconciliation? Not that exactly. It is something much more binding. Is + it not so, General?” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud only lowered his head in sign of assent. The two veterans + looked at each other. Later in the day, when they found themselves alone + out of their moody friend’s earshot, the cuirassier remarked suddenly, + “Generally speaking, I can see with my one eye as far as most people; but + this beats me. He won’t say anything.” + </p> + <p> + “In this affair of honour I understand there has been from first to last + always something that no one in the army could quite make out,” declared + the chasseur with the imperfect nose. “In mystery it began, in mystery it + went on, in mystery it is to end, apparently.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert walked home with long, hasty strides, by no means + uplifted by a sense of triumph. He had conquered, yet it did not seem to + him that he had gained very much by his conquest. The night before he had + grudged the risk of his life which appeared to him magnificent, worthy of + preservation as an opportunity to win a girl’s love. He had known moments + when, by a marvellous illusion, this love seemed to be already his, and + his threatened life a still more magnificent opportunity of devotion. Now + that his life was safe it had suddenly lost its special magnificence. It + had acquired instead a specially alarming aspect as a snare for the + exposure of unworthiness. As to the marvellous illusion of conquered love + that had visited him for a moment in the agitated watches of the night, + which might have been his last on earth, he comprehended now its true + nature. It had been merely a paroxysm of delirious conceit. Thus to this + man, sobered by the victorious issue of a duel, life appeared robbed of + its charm, simply because it was no longer menaced. + </p> + <p> + Approaching the house from the back, through the orchard and the kitchen + garden, he could not notice the agitation which reigned in front. He never + met a single soul. Only while walking softly along the corridor, he became + aware that the house was awake and more noisy than usual. Names of + servants were being called out down below in a confused noise of coming + and going. With some concern he noticed that the door of his own room + stood ajar, though the shutters had not been opened yet. He had hoped that + his early excursion would have passed unperceived. He expected to find + some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering through the usual + cracks enabled him to see lying on the low divan something bulky, which + had the appearance of two women clasped in each other’s arms. Tearful and + desolate murmurs issued mysteriously from that appearance. General + D’Hubert pulled open the nearest pair of shutters violently. One of the + women then jumped up. It was his sister. She stood for a moment with her + hair hanging down and her arms raised straight up above her head, and then + flung herself with a stifled cry into his arms. He returned her embrace, + trying at the same time to disengage himself from it. The other woman had + not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to cling closer to the divan, + hiding her face in the cushions. Her hair was also loose; it was admirably + fair. General D’Hubert recognized it with staggering emotion. Mademoiselle + de Valmassigue! Adele! In distress! + </p> + <p> + He became greatly alarmed, and got rid of his sister’s hug definitely. + Madame Leonie then extended her shapely bare arm out of her peignoir, + pointing dramatically at the divan. “This poor, terrified child has rushed + here from home, on foot, two miles—running all the way.” + </p> + <p> + “What on earth has happened?” asked General D’Hubert in a low, agitated + voice. + </p> + <p> + But Madame Leonie was speaking loudly. “She rang the great bell at the + gate and roused all the household—we were all asleep yet. You may + imagine what a terrible shock. . . . Adele, my dear child, sit up.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert’s expression was not that of a man who “imagines” with + facility. He did, however, fish out of the chaos of surmises the notion + that his prospective mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only to dismiss + it at once. He could not conceive the nature of the event or the + catastrophe which would induce Mademoiselle de Valmassigue, living in a + house full of servants, to bring the news over the fields herself, two + miles, running all the way. + </p> + <p> + “But why are you in this room?” he whispered, full of awe. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I ran up to see, and this child . . . I did not notice it . . + . she followed me. It’s that absurd Chevalier,” went on Madame Leonie, + looking towards the divan. . . . “Her hair is all come down. You may + imagine she did not stop to call her maid to dress it before she started. + . . Adele, my dear, sit up. . . . He blurted it all out to her at + half-past five in the morning. She woke up early and opened her shutters + to breathe the fresh air, and saw him sitting collapsed on a garden bench + at the end of the great alley. At that hour—you may imagine! And the + evening before he had declared himself indisposed. She hurried on some + clothes and flew down to him. One would be anxious for less. He loves her, + but not very intelligently. He had been up all night, fully dressed, the + poor old man, perfectly exhausted. He wasn’t in a state to invent a + plausible story. . . . What a confidant you chose there! My husband was + furious. He said, ‘We can’t interfere now.’ So we sat down to wait. It was + awful. And this poor child running with her hair loose over here publicly! + She has been seen by some people in the fields. She has roused the whole + household, too. It’s awkward for her. Luckily you are to be married next + week. . . . Adele, sit up. He has come home on his own legs. . . . We + expected to see you coming on a stretcher, perhaps—what do I know? + Go and see if the carriage is ready. I must take this child home at once. + It isn’t proper for her to stay here a minute longer.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert did not move. It was as though he had heard nothing. + Madame Leonie changed her mind. “I will go and see myself,” she cried. “I + want also my cloak.—Adele—” she began, but did not add “sit + up.” She went out saying, in a very loud and cheerful tone: “I leave the + door open.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert made a movement towards the divan, but then Adele sat up, + and that checked him dead. He thought, “I haven’t washed this morning. I + must look like an old tramp. There’s earth on the back of my coat and + pine-needles in my hair.” It occurred to him that the situation required a + good deal of circumspection on his part. + </p> + <p> + “I am greatly concerned, mademoiselle,” he began, vaguely, and abandoned + that line. She was sitting up on the divan with her cheeks unusually pink + and her hair, brilliantly fair, falling all over her shoulders—which + was a very novel sight to the general. He walked away up the room, and + looking out of the window for safety said, “I fear you must think I + behaved like a madman,” in accents of sincere despair. Then he spun round, + and noticed that she had followed him with her eyes. They were not cast + down on meeting his glance. And the expression of her face was novel to + him also. It was, one might have said, reversed. Those eyes looked at him + with grave thoughtfulness, while the exquisite lines of her mouth seemed + to suggest a restrained smile. This change made her transcendental beauty + much less mysterious, much more accessible to a man’s comprehension. An + amazing ease of mind came to the general—and even some ease of + manner. He walked down the room with as much pleasurable excitement as he + would have found in walking up to a battery vomiting death, fire, and + smoke; then stood looking down with smiling eyes at the girl whose + marriage with him (next week) had been so carefully arranged by the wise, + the good, the admirable Leonie. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! mademoiselle,” he said, in a tone of courtly regret, “if only I could + be certain that you did not come here this morning, two miles, running all + the way, merely from affection for your mother!” + </p> + <p> + He waited for an answer imperturbable but inwardly elated. It came in a + demure murmur, eyelashes lowered with fascinating effect. “You must not be + mechant as well as mad.” + </p> + <p> + And then General D’Hubert made an aggressive movement towards the divan + which nothing could check. That piece of furniture was not exactly in the + line of the open door. But Madame Leonie, coming back wrapped up in a + light cloak and carrying a lace shawl on her arm for Adele to hide her + incriminating hair under, had a swift impression of her brother getting up + from his knees. + </p> + <p> + “Come along, my dear child,” she cried from the doorway. + </p> + <p> + The general, now himself again in the fullest sense, showed the readiness + of a resourceful cavalry officer and the peremptoriness of a leader of + men. “You don’t expect her to walk to the carriage,” he said, indignantly. + “She isn’t fit. I shall carry her downstairs.” + </p> + <p> + This he did slowly, followed by his awed and respectful sister; but he + rushed back like a whirlwind to wash off all the signs of the night of + anguish and the morning of war, and to put on the festive garments of a + conqueror before hurrying over to the other house. Had it not been for + that, General D ‘Hubert felt capable of mounting a horse and pursuing his + late adversary in order simply to embrace him from excess of happiness. “I + owe it all to this stupid brute,” he thought. “He has made plain in a + morning what might have taken me years to find out—for I am a timid + fool. No self-confidence whatever. Perfect coward. And the Chevalier! + Delightful old man!” General D’Hubert longed to embrace him also. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier was in bed. For several days he was very unwell. The men of + the Empire and the post-revolution young ladies were too much for him. He + got up the day before the wedding, and, being curious by nature, took his + niece aside for a quiet talk. He advised her to find out from her husband + the true story of the affair of honour, whose claim, so imperative and so + persistent, had led her to within an ace of tragedy. “It is right that his + wife should be told. And next month or so will be your time to learn from + him anything you want to know, my dear child.” + </p> + <p> + Later on, when the married couple came on a visit to the mother of the + bride, Madame la Generale D’Hubert communicated to her beloved old uncle + the true story she had obtained without any difficulty from her husband. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier listened with deep attention to the end, took a pinch of + snuff, flicked the grains of tobacco from the frilled front of his shirt, + and asked, calmly, “And that’s all it was?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, uncle,” replied Madame la Generale, opening her pretty eyes very + wide. “Isn’t it funny? C’est insense—to think what men are capable + of!” + </p> + <p> + “H’m!” commented the old emigre. “It depends what sort of men. That + Bonaparte’s soldiers were savages. It is insense. As a wife, my dear, you + must believe implicitly what your husband says.” + </p> + <p> + But to Leonie’s husband the Chevalier confided his true opinion. “If + that’s the tale the fellow made up for his wife, and during the honeymoon, + too, you may depend on it that no one will ever know now the secret of + this affair.” + </p> + <p> + Considerably later still, General D’Hubert judged the time come, and the + opportunity propitious to write a letter to General Feraud. This letter + began by disclaiming all animosity. “I’ve never,” wrote the General Baron + D’Hubert, “wished for your death during all the time of our deplorable + quarrel. Allow me,” he continued, “to give you back in all form your + forfeited life. It is proper that we two, who have been partners in so + much military glory, should be friendly to each other publicly.” + </p> + <p> + The same letter contained also an item of domestic information. It was in + reference to this last that General Feraud answered from a little village + on the banks of the Garonne, in the following words: + </p> + <p> + “If one of your boy’s names had been Napoleon—or Joseph—or + even Joachim, I could congratulate you on the event with a better heart. + As you have thought proper to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand, + I am confirmed in my conviction that you never loved the Emperor. The + thought of that sublime hero chained to a rock in the middle of a savage + ocean makes life of so little value that I would receive with positive joy + your instructions to blow my brains out. From suicide I consider myself in + honour debarred. But I keep a loaded pistol in my drawer.” + </p> + <p> + Madame la Generale D’Hubert lifted up her hands in despair after perusing + that answer. + </p> + <p> + “You see? He won’t be reconciled,” said her husband. “He must never, by + any chance, be allowed to guess where the money comes from. It wouldn’t + do. He couldn’t bear it.” + </p> + <p> + “You are a brave homme, Armand,” said Madame la Generale, appreciatively. + </p> + <p> + “My dear, I had the right to blow his brains out; but as I didn’t, we + can’t let him starve. He has lost his pension and he is utterly incapable + of doing anything in the world for himself. We must take care of him, + secretly, to the end of his days. Don’t I owe him the most ecstatic moment + of my life? . . . Ha! ha! ha! Over the fields, two miles, running all the + way! I couldn’t believe my ears! . . . But for his stupid ferocity, it + would have taken me years to find you out. It’s extraordinary how in one + way or another this man has managed to fasten himself on my deeper + feelings.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IL CONDE + </h2> + <h3> + A PATHETIC TALE + </h3> + <p> + “<i>Vedi Napoli e poi mori</i>.” + </p> + <p> + The first time we got into conversation was in the National Museum in + Naples, in the rooms on the ground floor containing the famous collection + of bronzes from Herculaneum and Pompeii: that marvellous legacy of antique + art whose delicate perfection has been preserved for us by the + catastrophic fury of a volcano. + </p> + <p> + He addressed me first, over the celebrated Resting Hermes which we had + been looking at side by side. He said the right things about that wholly + admirable piece. Nothing profound. His taste was natural rather than + cultivated. He had obviously seen many fine things in his life and + appreciated them: but he had no jargon of a dilettante or the connoisseur. + A hateful tribe. He spoke like a fairly intelligent man of the world, a + perfectly unaffected gentleman. + </p> + <p> + We had known each other by sight for some few days past. Staying in the + same hotel—good, but not extravagantly up to date—I had + noticed him in the vestibule going in and out. I judged he was an old and + valued client. The bow of the hotel-keeper was cordial in its deference, + and he acknowledged it with familiar courtesy. For the servants he was Il + Conde. There was some squabble over a man’s parasol—yellow silk with + white lining sort of thing—the waiters had discovered abandoned + outside the dining-room door. Our gold-laced door-keeper recognized it and + I heard him directing one of the lift boys to run after Il Conde with it. + Perhaps he was the only Count staying in the hotel, or perhaps he had the + distinction of being the Count par excellence, conferred upon him because + of his tried fidelity to the house. + </p> + <p> + Having conversed at the Museo—(and by the by he had expressed his + dislike of the busts and statues of Roman emperors in the gallery of + marbles: their faces were too vigorous, too pronounced for him)—having + conversed already in the morning I did not think I was intruding when in + the evening, finding the dining-room very full, I proposed to share his + little table. Judging by the quiet urbanity of his consent he did not + think so either. His smile was very attractive. + </p> + <p> + He dined in an evening waistcoat and a “smoking” (he called it so) with a + black tie. All this of very good cut, not new—just as these things + should be. He was, morning or evening, very correct in his dress. I have + no doubt that his whole existence had been correct, well ordered and + conventional, undisturbed by startling events. His white hair brushed + upwards off a lofty forehead gave him the air of an idealist, of an + imaginative man. His white moustache, heavy but carefully trimmed and + arranged, was not unpleasantly tinted a golden yellow in the middle. The + faint scent of some very good perfume, and of good cigars (that last an + odour quite remarkable to come upon in Italy) reached me across the table. + It was in his eyes that his age showed most. They were a little weary with + creased eyelids. He must have been sixty or a couple of years more. And he + was communicative. I would not go so far as to call it garrulous—but + distinctly communicative. + </p> + <p> + He had tried various climates, of Abbazia, of the Riviera, of other + places, too, he told me, but the only one which suited him was the climate + of the Gulf of Naples. The ancient Romans, who, he pointed out to me, were + men expert in the art of living, knew very well what they were doing when + they built their villas on these shores, in Baiae, in Vico, in Capri. They + came down to this seaside in search of health, bringing with them their + trains of mimes and flute-players to amuse their leisure. He thought it + extremely probable that the Romans of the higher classes were specially + predisposed to painful rheumatic affections. + </p> + <p> + This was the only personal opinion I heard him express. It was based on no + special erudition. He knew no more of the Romans than an average informed + man of the world is expected to know. He argued from personal experience. + He had suffered himself from a painful and dangerous rheumatic affection + till he found relief in this particular spot of Southern Europe. + </p> + <p> + This was three years ago, and ever since he had taken up his quarters on + the shores of the gulf, either in one of the hotels in Sorrento or hiring + a small villa in Capri. He had a piano, a few books: picked up transient + acquaintances of a day, week, or month in the stream of travellers from + all Europe. One can imagine him going out for his walks in the streets and + lanes, becoming known to beggars, shopkeepers, children, country people; + talking amiably over the walls to the contadini—and coming back to + his rooms or his villa to sit before the piano, with his white hair + brushed up and his thick orderly moustache, “to make a little music for + myself.” And, of course, for a change there was Naples near by—life, + movement, animation, opera. A little amusement, as he said, is necessary + for health. Mimes and flute-players, in fact. Only unlike the magnates of + ancient Rome, he had no affairs of the city to call him away from these + moderate delights. He had no affairs at all. Probably he had never had any + grave affairs to attend to in his life. It was a kindly existence, with + its joys and sorrows regulated by the course of Nature—marriages, + births, deaths—ruled by the prescribed usages of good society and + protected by the State. + </p> + <p> + He was a widower; but in the months of July and August he ventured to + cross the Alps for six weeks on a visit to his married daughter. He told + me her name. It was that of a very aristocratic family. She had a castle—in + Bohemia, I think. This is as near as I ever came to ascertaining his + nationality. His own name, strangely enough, he never mentioned. Perhaps + he thought I had seen it on the published list. Truth to say, I never + looked. At any rate, he was a good European—he spoke four languages + to my certain knowledge—and a man of fortune. Not of great fortune + evidently and appropriately. I imagine that to be extremely rich would + have appeared to him improper, outre—too blatant altogether. And + obviously, too, the fortune was not of his making. The making of a fortune + cannot be achieved without some roughness. It is a matter of temperament. + His nature was too kindly for strife. In the course of conversation he + mentioned his estate quite by the way, in reference to that painful and + alarming rheumatic affection. One year, staying incautiously beyond the + Alps as late as the middle of September, he had been laid up for three + months in that lonely country house with no one but his valet and the + caretaking couple to attend to him. Because, as he expressed it, he “kept + no establishment there.” He had only gone for a couple of days to confer + with his land agent. He promised himself never to be so imprudent in the + future. The first weeks of September would find him on the shores of his + beloved gulf. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes in travelling one comes upon such lonely men, whose only + business is to wait for the unavoidable. Deaths and marriages have made a + solitude round them, and one really cannot blame their endeavours to make + the waiting as easy as possible. As he remarked to me, “At my time of life + freedom from physical pain is a very important matter.” + </p> + <p> + It must not be imagined that he was a wearisome hypochondriac. He was + really much too well-bred to be a nuisance. He had an eye for the small + weaknesses of humanity. But it was a good-natured eye. He made a restful, + easy, pleasant companion for the hours between dinner and bedtime. We + spent three evenings together, and then I had to leave Naples in a hurry + to look after a friend who had fallen seriously ill in Taormina. Having + nothing to do, Il Conde came to see me off at the station. I was somewhat + upset, and his idleness was always ready to take a kindly form. He was by + no means an indolent man. + </p> + <p> + He went along the train peering into the carriages for a good seat for me, + and then remained talking cheerily from below. He declared he would miss + me that evening very much and announced his intention of going after + dinner to listen to the band in the public garden, the Villa Nazionale. He + would amuse himself by hearing excellent music and looking at the best + society. There would be a lot of people, as usual. + </p> + <p> + I seem to see him yet—his raised face with a friendly smile under + the thick moustaches, and his kind, fatigued eyes. As the train began to + move, he addressed me in two languages: first in French, saying, “Bon + voyage”; then, in his very good, somewhat emphatic English, encouragingly, + because he could see my concern: “All will—be—well—yet!” + </p> + <p> + My friend’s illness having taken a decidedly favourable turn, I returned + to Naples on the tenth day. I cannot say I had given much thought to Il + Conde during my absence, but entering the dining-room I looked for him in + his habitual place. I had an idea he might have gone back to Sorrento to + his piano and his books and his fishing. He was great friends with all the + boatmen, and fished a good deal with lines from a boat. But I made out his + white head in the crowd of heads, and even from a distance noticed + something unusual in his attitude. Instead of sitting erect, gazing all + round with alert urbanity, he drooped over his plate. I stood opposite him + for some time before he looked up, a little wildly, if such a strong word + can be used in connection with his correct appearance. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, my dear sir! Is it you?” he greeted me. “I hope all is well.” + </p> + <p> + He was very nice about my friend. Indeed, he was always nice, with the + niceness of people whose hearts are genuinely humane. But this time it + cost him an effort. His attempts at general conversation broke down into + dullness. It occurred to me he might have been indisposed. But before I + could frame the inquiry he muttered: + </p> + <p> + “You find me here very sad.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry for that,” I said. “You haven’t had bad news, I hope?” + </p> + <p> + It was very kind of me to take an interest. No. It was not that. No bad + news, thank God. And he became very still as if holding his breath. Then, + leaning forward a little, and in an odd tone of awed embarrassment, he + took me into his confidence. + </p> + <p> + “The truth is that I have had a very—a very—how shall I say?—abominable + adventure happen to me.” + </p> + <p> + The energy of the epithet was sufficiently startling in that man of + moderate feelings and toned-down vocabulary. The word unpleasant I should + have thought would have fitted amply the worst experience likely to befall + a man of his stamp. And an adventure, too. Incredible! But it is in human + nature to believe the worst; and I confess I eyed him stealthily, + wondering what he had been up to. In a moment, however, my unworthy + suspicions vanished. There was a fundamental refinement of nature about + the man which made me dismiss all idea of some more or less disreputable + scrape. + </p> + <p> + “It is very serious. Very serious.” He went on, nervously. “I will tell + you after dinner, if you will allow me.” + </p> + <p> + I expressed my perfect acquiescence by a little bow, nothing more. I + wished him to understand that I was not likely to hold him to that offer, + if he thought better of it later on. We talked of indifferent things, but + with a sense of difficulty quite unlike our former easy, gossipy + intercourse. The hand raising a piece of bread to his lips, I noticed, + trembled slightly. This symptom, in regard to my reading of the man, was + no less than startling. + </p> + <p> + In the smoking-room he did not hang back at all. Directly we had taken our + usual seats he leaned sideways over the arm of his chair and looked + straight into my eyes earnestly. + </p> + <p> + “You remember,” he began, “that day you went away? I told you then I would + go to the Villa Nazionale to hear some music in the evening.” + </p> + <p> + I remembered. His handsome old face, so fresh for his age, unmarked by any + trying experience, appeared haggard for an instant. It was like the + passing of a shadow. Returning his steadfast gaze, I took a sip of my + black coffee. He was systematically minute in his narrative, simply in + order, I think, not to let his excitement get the better of him. + </p> + <p> + After leaving the railway station, he had an ice, and read the paper in a + cafe. Then he went back to the hotel, dressed for dinner, and dined with a + good appetite. After dinner he lingered in the hall (there were chairs and + tables there) smoking his cigar; talked to the little girl of the Primo + Tenore of the San Carlo theatre, and exchanged a few words with that + “amiable lady,” the wife of the Primo Tenore. There was no performance + that evening, and these people were going to the Villa also. They went out + of the hotel. Very well. + </p> + <p> + At the moment of following their example—it was half-past nine + already—he remembered he had a rather large sum of money in his + pocket-book. He entered, therefore, the office and deposited the greater + part of it with the book-keeper of the hotel. This done, he took a + carozella and drove to the seashore. He got out of the cab and entered the + Villa on foot from the Largo di Vittoria end. + </p> + <p> + He stared at me very hard. And I understood then how really impressionable + he was. Every small fact and event of that evening stood out in his memory + as if endowed with mystic significance. If he did not mention to me the + colour of the pony which drew the carozella, and the aspect of the man who + drove, it was a mere oversight arising from his agitation, which he + repressed manfully. + </p> + <p> + He had then entered the Villa Nazionale from the Largo di Vittoria end. + The Villa Nazionale is a public pleasure-ground laid out in grass plots, + bushes, and flower-beds between the houses of the Riviera di Chiaja and + the waters of the bay. Alleys of trees, more or less parallel, stretch its + whole length—which is considerable. On the Riviera di Chiaja side + the electric tramcars run close to the railings. Between the garden and + the sea is the fashionable drive, a broad road bordered by a low wall, + beyond which the Mediterranean splashes with gentle murmurs when the + weather is fine. + </p> + <p> + As life goes on late at night in Naples, the broad drive was all astir + with a brilliant swarm of carriage lamps moving in pairs, some creeping + slowly, others running rapidly under the thin, motionless line of electric + lamps defining the shore. And a brilliant swarm of stars hung above the + land humming with voices, piled up with houses, glittering with lights—and + over the silent flat shadows of the sea. + </p> + <p> + The gardens themselves are not very well lit. Our friend went forward in + the warm gloom, his eyes fixed upon a distant luminous region extending + nearly across the whole width of the Villa, as if the air had glowed there + with its own cold, bluish, and dazzling light. This magic spot, behind the + black trunks of trees and masses of inky foliage, breathed out sweet + sounds mingled with bursts of brassy roar, sudden clashes of metal, and + grave, vibrating thuds. + </p> + <p> + As he walked on, all these noises combined together into a piece of + elaborate music whose harmonious phrases came persuasively through a great + disorderly murmur of voices and shuffling of feet on the gravel of that + open space. An enormous crowd immersed in the electric light, as if in a + bath of some radiant and tenuous fluid shed upon their heads by luminous + globes, drifted in its hundreds round the band. Hundreds more sat on + chairs in more or less concentric circles, receiving unflinchingly the + great waves of sonority that ebbed out into the darkness. The Count + penetrated the throng, drifted with it in tranquil enjoyment, listening + and looking at the faces. All people of good society: mothers with their + daughters, parents and children, young men and young women all talking, + smiling, nodding to each other. Very many pretty faces, and very many + pretty toilettes. There was, of course, a quantity of diverse types: showy + old fellows with white moustaches, fat men, thin men, officers in uniform; + but what predominated, he told me, was the South Italian type of young + man, with a colourless, clear complexion, red lips, jet-black little + moustache and liquid black eyes so wonderfully effective in leering or + scowling. + </p> + <p> + Withdrawing from the throng, the Count shared a little table in front of + the cafe with a young man of just such a type. Our friend had some + lemonade. The young man was sitting moodily before an empty glass. He + looked up once, and then looked down again. He also tilted his hat + forward. Like this— + </p> + <p> + The Count made the gesture of a man pulling his hat down over his brow, + and went on: + </p> + <p> + “I think to myself: he is sad; something is wrong with him; young men have + their troubles. I take no notice of him, of course. I pay for my lemonade, + and go away.” + </p> + <p> + Strolling about in the neighbourhood of the band, the Count thinks he saw + twice that young man wandering alone in the crowd. Once their eyes met. It + must have been the same young man, but there were so many there of that + type that he could not be certain. Moreover, he was not very much + concerned except in so far that he had been struck by the marked, peevish + discontent of that face. + </p> + <p> + Presently, tired of the feeling of confinement one experiences in a crowd, + the Count edged away from the band. An alley, very sombre by contrast, + presented itself invitingly with its promise of solitude and coolness. He + entered it, walking slowly on till the sound of the orchestra became + distinctly deadened. Then he walked back and turned about once more. He + did this several times before he noticed that there was somebody occupying + one of the benches. + </p> + <p> + The spot being midway between two lamp-posts the light was faint. + </p> + <p> + The man lolled back in the corner of the seat, his legs stretched out, his + arms folded and his head drooping on his breast. He never stirred, as + though he had fallen asleep there, but when the Count passed by next time + he had changed his attitude. He sat leaning forward. His elbows were + propped on his knees, and his hands were rolling a cigarette. He never + looked up from that occupation. + </p> + <p> + The Count continued his stroll away from the band. He returned slowly, he + said. I can imagine him enjoying to the full, but with his usual + tranquillity, the balminess of this southern night and the sounds of music + softened delightfully by the distance. + </p> + <p> + Presently, he approached for the third time the man on the garden seat, + still leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. It was a dejected + pose. In the semi-obscurity of the alley his high shirt collar and his + cuffs made small patches of vivid whiteness. The Count said that he had + noticed him getting up brusquely as if to walk away, but almost before he + was aware of it the man stood before him asking in a low, gentle tone + whether the signore would have the kindness to oblige him with a light. + </p> + <p> + The Count answered this request by a polite “Certainly,” and dropped his + hands with the intention of exploring both pockets of his trousers for the + matches. + </p> + <p> + “I dropped my hands,” he said, “but I never put them in my pockets. I felt + a pressure there—” + </p> + <p> + He put the tip of his finger on a spot close under his breastbone, the + very spot of the human body where a Japanese gentleman begins the + operations of the Harakiri, which is a form of suicide following upon + dishonour, upon an intolerable outrage to the delicacy of one’s feelings. + </p> + <p> + “I glance down,” the Count continued in an awestruck voice, “and what do I + see? A knife! A long knife—” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t mean to say,” I exclaimed, amazed, “that you have been held up + like this in the Villa at half-past ten o’clock, within a stone’s throw of + a thousand people!” + </p> + <p> + He nodded several times, staring at me with all his might. + </p> + <p> + “The clarionet,” he declared, solemnly, “was finishing his solo, and I + assure you I could hear every note. Then the band crashed fortissimo, and + that creature rolled its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me with the + greatest ferocity, ‘Be silent! No noise or—‘” + </p> + <p> + I could not get over my astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “What sort of knife was it?” I asked, stupidly. + </p> + <p> + “A long blade. A stiletto—perhaps a kitchen knife. A long narrow + blade. It gleamed. And his eyes gleamed. His white teeth, too. I could see + them. He was very ferocious. I thought to myself: ‘If I hit him he will + kill me.’ How could I fight with him? He had the knife and I had nothing. + I am nearly seventy, you know, and that was a young man. I seemed even to + recognize him. The moody young man of the cafe. The young man I met in the + crowd. But I could not tell. There are so many like him in this country.” + </p> + <p> + The distress of that moment was reflected in his face. I should think that + physically he must have been paralyzed by surprise. His thoughts, however, + remained extremely active. They ranged over every alarming possibility. + The idea of setting up a vigorous shouting for help occurred to him, too. + But he did nothing of the kind, and the reason why he refrained gave me a + good opinion of his mental self-possession. He saw in a flash that nothing + prevented the other from shouting, too. + </p> + <p> + “That young man might in an instant have thrown away his knife and + pretended I was the aggressor. Why not? He might have said I attacked him. + Why not? It was one incredible story against another! He might have said + anything—bring some dishonouring charge against me—what do I + know? By his dress he was no common robber. He seemed to belong to the + better classes. What could I say? He was an Italian—I am a + foreigner. Of course, I have my passport, and there is our consul—but + to be arrested, dragged at night to the police office like a criminal!” + </p> + <p> + He shuddered. It was in his character to shrink from scandal, much more + than from mere death. And certainly for many people this would have always + remained—considering certain peculiarities of Neapolitan manners—a + deucedly queer story. The Count was no fool. His belief in the respectable + placidity of life having received this rude shock, he thought that now + anything might happen. But also a notion came into his head that this + young man was perhaps merely an infuriated lunatic. + </p> + <p> + This was for me the first hint of his attitude towards this adventure. In + his exaggerated delicacy of sentiment he felt that nobody’s self-esteem + need be affected by what a madman may choose to do to one. It became + apparent, however, that the Count was to be denied that consolation. He + enlarged upon the abominably savage way in which that young man rolled his + glistening eyes and gnashed his white teeth. The band was going now + through a slow movement of solemn braying by all the trombones, with + deliberately repeated bangs of the big drum. + </p> + <p> + “But what did you do?” I asked, greatly excited. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” answered the Count. “I let my hands hang down very still. I + told him quietly I did not intend making a noise. He snarled like a dog, + then said in an ordinary voice: + </p> + <p> + “‘Vostro portofolio.’” + </p> + <p> + “So I naturally,” continued the Count—and from this point acted the + whole thing in pantomime. Holding me with his eyes, he went through all + the motions of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out a + pocket-book, and handing it over. But that young man, still bearing + steadily on the knife, refused to touch it. + </p> + <p> + He directed the Count to take the money out himself, received it into his + left hand, motioned the pocketbook to be returned to the pocket, all this + being done to the sweet thrilling of flutes and clarionets sustained by + the emotional drone of the hautboys. And the “young man,” as the Count + called him, said: “This seems very little.” + </p> + <p> + “It was, indeed, only 340 or 360 lire,” the Count pursued. “I had left my + money in the hotel, as you know. I told him this was all I had on me. He + shook his head impatiently and said: + </p> + <p> + “‘Vostro orologio.’” + </p> + <p> + The Count gave me the dumb show of pulling out his watch, detaching it. + But, as it happened, the valuable gold half-chronometer he possessed had + been left at a watch-maker’s for cleaning. He wore that evening (on a + leather guard) the Waterbury fifty-franc thing he used to take with him on + his fishing expeditions. Perceiving the nature of this booty, the + well-dressed robber made a contemptuous clicking sound with his tongue + like this, “Tse-Ah!” and waved it away hastily. Then, as the Count was + returning the disdained object to his pocket, he demanded with a + threateningly increased pressure of the knife on the epigastrium, by way + of reminder: + </p> + <p> + “‘Vostri anelli.’” + </p> + <p> + “One of the rings,” went on the Count, “was given me many years ago by my + wife; the other is the signet ring of my father. I said, ‘No. That you + shall not have!’” + </p> + <p> + Here the Count reproduced the gesture corresponding to that declaration by + clapping one hand upon the other, and pressing both thus against his + chest. It was touching in its resignation. “That you shall not have,” he + repeated, firmly, and closed his eyes, fully expecting—I don’t know + whether I am right in recording that such an unpleasant word had passed + his lips—fully expecting to feel himself being—I really + hesitate to say—being disembowelled by the push of the long, sharp + blade resting murderously against the pit of his stomach—the very + seat, in all human beings, of anguishing sensations. + </p> + <p> + Great waves of harmony went on flowing from the band. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the Count felt the nightmarish pressure removed from the + sensitive spot. He opened his eyes. He was alone. He had heard nothing. It + is probable that “the young man” had departed, with light steps, some time + before, but the sense of the horrid pressure had lingered even after the + knife had gone. A feeling of weakness came over him. He had just time to + stagger to the garden seat. He felt as though he had held his breath for a + long time. He sat all in a heap, panting with the shock of the reaction. + </p> + <p> + The band was executing, with immense bravura, the complicated finale. It + ended with a tremendous crash. He heard it unreal and remote, as if his + ears had been stopped, and then the hard clapping of a thousand, more or + less, pairs of hands, like a sudden hail-shower passing away. The profound + silence which succeeded recalled him to himself. + </p> + <p> + A tramcar resembling a long glass box wherein people sat with their heads + strongly lighted, ran along swiftly within sixty yards of the spot where + he had been robbed. Then another rustled by, and yet another going the + other way. The audience about the band had broken up, and were entering + the alley in small conversing groups. The Count sat up straight and tried + to think calmly of what had happened to him. The vileness of it took his + breath away again. As far as I can make it out he was disgusted with + himself. I do not mean to say with his behaviour. Indeed, if his + pantomimic rendering of it for my information was to be trusted, it was + simply perfect. No, it was not that. He was not ashamed. He was shocked at + being the selected victim, not of robbery so much as of contempt. His + tranquillity had been wantonly desecrated. His lifelong, kindly nicety of + outlook had been defaced. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, at that stage, before the iron had time to sink deep, he was + able to argue himself into comparative equanimity. As his agitation calmed + down somewhat, he became aware that he was frightfully hungry. Yes, + hungry. The sheer emotion had made him simply ravenous. He left the seat + and, after walking for some time, found himself outside the gardens and + before an arrested tramcar, without knowing very well how he came there. + He got in as if in a dream, by a sort of instinct. Fortunately he found in + his trouser pocket a copper to satisfy the conductor. Then the car + stopped, and as everybody was getting out he got out, too. He recognized + the Piazza San Ferdinando, but apparently it did not occur to him to take + a cab and drive to the hotel. He remained in distress on the Piazza like a + lost dog, thinking vaguely of the best way of getting something to eat at + once. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he remembered his twenty-franc piece. He explained to me that he + had that piece of French gold for something like three years. He used to + carry it about with him as a sort of reserve in case of accident. Anybody + is liable to have his pocket picked—a quite different thing from a + brazen and insulting robbery. + </p> + <p> + The monumental arch of the Galleria Umberto faced him at the top of a + noble flight of stairs. He climbed these without loss of time, and + directed his steps towards the Cafe Umberto. All the tables outside were + occupied by a lot of people who were drinking. But as he wanted something + to eat, he went inside into the cafe, which is divided into aisles by + square pillars set all round with long looking-glasses. The Count sat down + on a red plush bench against one of these pillars, waiting for his + risotto. And his mind reverted to his abominable adventure. + </p> + <p> + He thought of the moody, well-dressed young man, with whom he had + exchanged glances in the crowd around the bandstand, and who, he felt + confident, was the robber. Would he recognize him again? Doubtless. But he + did not want ever to see him again. The best thing was to forget this + humiliating episode. + </p> + <p> + The Count looked round anxiously for the coming of his risotto, and, + behold! to the left against the wall—there sat the young man. He was + alone at a table, with a bottle of some sort of wine or syrup and a carafe + of iced water before him. The smooth olive cheeks, the red lips, the + little jet-black moustache turned up gallantly, the fine black eyes a + little heavy and shaded by long eyelashes, that peculiar expression of + cruel discontent to be seen only in the busts of some Roman emperors—it + was he, no doubt at all. But that was a type. The Count looked away + hastily. The young officer over there reading a paper was like that, too. + Same type. Two young men farther away playing draughts also resembled— + </p> + <p> + The Count lowered his head with the fear in his heart of being + everlastingly haunted by the vision of that young man. He began to eat his + risotto. Presently he heard the young man on his left call the waiter in a + bad-tempered tone. + </p> + <p> + At the call, not only his own waiter, but two other idle waiters belonging + to a quite different row of tables, rushed towards him with obsequious + alacrity, which is not the general characteristic of the waiters in the + Cafe Umberto. The young man muttered something and one of the waiters + walking rapidly to the nearest door called out into the Galleria: + “Pasquale! O! Pasquale!” + </p> + <p> + Everybody knows Pasquale, the shabby old fellow who, shuffling between the + tables, offers for sale cigars, cigarettes, picture postcards, and matches + to the clients of the cafe. He is in many respects an engaging scoundrel. + The Count saw the grey-haired, unshaven ruffian enter the cafe, the glass + case hanging from his neck by a leather strap, and, at a word from the + waiter, make his shuffling way with a sudden spurt to the young man’s + table. The young man was in need of a cigar with which Pasquale served him + fawningly. The old pedlar was going out, when the Count, on a sudden + impulse, beckoned to him. + </p> + <p> + Pasquale approached, the smile of deferential recognition combining oddly + with the cynical searching expression of his eyes. Leaning his case on the + table, he lifted the glass lid without a word. The Count took a box of + cigarettes and urged by a fearful curiosity, asked as casually as he could— + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, Pasquale, who is that young signore sitting over there?” + </p> + <p> + The other bent over his box confidentially. + </p> + <p> + “That, Signor Conde,” he said, beginning to rearrange his wares busily and + without looking up, “that is a young Cavaliere of a very good family from + Bari. He studies in the University here, and is the chief, capo, of an + association of young men—of very nice young men.” + </p> + <p> + He paused, and then, with mingled discretion and pride of knowledge, + murmured the explanatory word “Camorra” and shut down the lid. “A very + powerful Camorra,” he breathed out. “The professors themselves respect it + greatly . . . una lira e cinquanti centesimi, Signor Conde.” + </p> + <p> + Our friend paid with the gold piece. While Pasquale was making up the + change, he observed that the young man, of whom he had heard so much in a + few words, was watching the transaction covertly. After the old vagabond + had withdrawn with a bow, the Count settled with the waiter and sat still. + A numbness, he told me, had come over him. + </p> + <p> + The young man paid, too, got up, and crossed over, apparently for the + purpose of looking at himself in the mirror set in the pillar nearest to + the Count’s seat. He was dressed all in black with a dark green bow tie. + The Count looked round, and was startled by meeting a vicious glance out + of the corners of the other’s eyes. The young Cavaliere from Bari + (according to Pasquale; but Pasquale is, of course, an accomplished liar) + went on arranging his tie, settling his hat before the glass, and meantime + he spoke just loud enough to be heard by the Count. He spoke through his + teeth with the most insulting venom of contempt and gazing straight into + the mirror. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! So you had some gold on you—you old liar—you old birba—you + furfante! But you are not done with me yet.” + </p> + <p> + The fiendishness of his expression vanished like lightning, and he lounged + out of the cafe with a moody, impassive face. + </p> + <p> + The poor Count, after telling me this last episode, fell back trembling in + his chair. His forehead broke into perspiration. There was a wanton + insolence in the spirit of this outrage which appalled even me. What it + was to the Count’s delicacy I won’t attempt to guess. I am sure that if he + had been not too refined to do such a blatantly vulgar thing as dying from + apoplexy in a cafe, he would have had a fatal stroke there and then. All + irony apart, my difficulty was to keep him from seeing the full extent of + my commiseration. He shrank from every excessive sentiment, and my + commiseration was practically unbounded. It did not surprise me to hear + that he had been in bed a week. He had got up to make his arrangements for + leaving Southern Italy for good and all. + </p> + <p> + And the man was convinced that he could not live through a whole year in + any other climate! + </p> + <p> + No argument of mine had any effect. It was not timidity, though he did say + to me once: “You do not know what a Camorra is, my dear sir. I am a marked + man.” He was not afraid of what could be done to him. His delicate + conception of his dignity was defiled by a degrading experience. He + couldn’t stand that. No Japanese gentleman, outraged in his exaggerated + sense of honour, could have gone about his preparations for Hara-kiri with + greater resolution. To go home really amounted to suicide for the poor + Count. + </p> + <p> + There is a saying of Neapolitan patriotism, intended for the information + of foreigners, I presume: “See Naples and then die.” Vedi Napoli e poi + mori. It is a saying of excessive vanity, and everything excessive was + abhorrent to the nice moderation of the poor Count. Yet, as I was seeing + him off at the railway station, I thought he was behaving with singular + fidelity to its conceited spirit. Vedi Napoli! . . . He had seen it! He + had seen it with startling thoroughness—and now he was going to his + grave. He was going to it by the train de luxe of the International + Sleeping Car Company, via Trieste and Vienna. As the four long, sombre + coaches pulled out of the station I raised my hat with the solemn feeling + of paying the last tribute of respect to a funeral cortege. Il Conde’s + profile, much aged already, glided away from me in stony immobility, + behind the lighted pane of glass—Vedi Napoli e poi mori! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF SIX *** + +***** This file should be named 2305-h.htm or 2305-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/2305/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Set of Six + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #2305] +Last Updated: September 10, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF SIX *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + A SET OF SIX + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Joseph Conrad + </h2> +<div class="middle"> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <i>Les petites marionnettes<br /> Font, font, font, <br /> Trois + petits tours <br /> Et puis s’en vont</i>.<br /> —NURSERY RHYME <br /> + <br /> + </p> +</div> + <h3> + TO MISS M. H. M. CAPES + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> AUTHOR’S NOTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> GASPAR RUIZ </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE INFORMER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE BRUTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> AN ANARCHIST </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE DUEL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> IL CONDE </a> + </p> + <a name="link2H_TOC" id="link2H_TOC"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHOR’S NOTE + </h2> + <p> + The six stories in this volume are the result of some three or four years + of occasional work. The dates of their writing are far apart, their + origins are various. None of them are connected directly with personal + experiences. In all of them the facts are inherently true, by which I mean + that they are not only possible but that they have actually happened. For + instance, the last story in the volume, the one I call Pathetic, whose + first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an almost verbatim + transcript of the tale told me by a very charming old gentleman whom I met + in Italy. I don’t mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is + something more than a verbatim report, but where he left off and where I + began must be left to the acute discrimination of the reader who may be + interested in the problem. I don’t mean to say that the problem is worth + the trouble. What I am certain of, however, is that it is not to be + solved, for I am not at all clear about it myself by this time. All I can + say is that the personality of the narrator was extremely suggestive quite + apart from the story he was telling me. I heard a few years ago that he + had died far away from his beloved Naples where that “abominable + adventure” did really happen to him. + </p> + <p> + Thus the genealogy of Il Conde is simple. It is not the case with the + other stories. Various strains contributed to their composition, and the + nature of many of those I have forgotten, not having the habit of making + notes either before or after the fact. I mean the fact of writing a story. + What I remember best about Gaspar Ruiz is that it was written, or at any + rate begun, within a month of finishing Nostromo; but apart from the + locality, and that a pretty wide one (all the South American Continent), + the novel and the story have nothing in common, neither mood, nor + intention and, certainly, not the style. The manner for the most part is + that of General Santierra, and that old warrior, I note with satisfaction, + is very true to himself all through. Looking now dispassionately at the + various ways in which this story could have been presented I can’t + honestly think the General superfluous. It is he, an old man talking of + the days of his youth, who characterizes the whole narrative and gives it + an air of actuality which I doubt whether I could have achieved without + his help. In the mere writing his existence of course was of no help at + all, because the whole thing had to be carefully kept within the frame of + his simple mind. But all this is but a laborious searching of memories. My + present feeling is that the story could not have been told otherwise. The + hint for Gaspar Ruiz the man I found in a book by Captain Basil Hall, + R.N., who was for some time, between the years 1824 and 1828, senior + officer of a small British Squadron on the West Coast of South America. + His book published in the thirties obtained a certain celebrity and I + suppose is to be found still in some libraries. The curious who may be + mistrusting my imagination are referred to that printed document, Vol. II, + I forget the page, but it is somewhere not far from the end. Another + document connected with this story is a letter of a biting and ironic kind + from a friend then in Burma, passing certain strictures upon “the + gentleman with the gun on his back” which I do not intend to make + accessible to the public. Yet the gun episode did really happen, or at + least I am bound to believe it because I remember it, described in an + extremely matter-of-fact tone, in some book I read in my boyhood; and I am + not going to discard the beliefs of my boyhood for anybody on earth. + </p> + <p> + The Brute, which is the only sea-story in the volume, is, like Il Conde, + associated with a direct narrative and based on a suggestion gathered on + warm human lips. I will not disclose the real name of the criminal ship + but the first I heard of her homicidal habits was from the late Captain + Blake, commanding a London ship in which I served in 1884 as Second + Officer. Captain Blake was, of all my commanders, the one I remember with + the greatest affection. I have sketched in his personality, without + however mentioning his name, in the first paper of The Mirror of the Sea. + In his young days he had had a personal experience of the brute and it is + perhaps for that reason that I have put the story into the mouth of a + young man and made of it what the reader will see. The existence of the + brute was a fact. The end of the brute as related in the story is also a + fact, well-known at the time though it really happened to another ship, of + great beauty of form and of blameless character, which certainly deserved + a better fate. I have unscrupulously adapted it to the needs of my story + thinking that I had there something in the nature of poetical justice. I + hope that little villainy will not cast a shadow upon the general honesty + of my proceedings as a writer of tales. + </p> + <p> + Of The Informer and An Anarchist I will say next to nothing. The pedigree + of these tales is hopelessly complicated and not worth disentangling at + this distance of time. I found them and here they are. The discriminating + reader will guess that I have found them within my mind; but how they or + their elements came in there I have forgotten for the most part; and for + the rest I really don’t see why I should give myself away more than I have + done already. + </p> + <p> + It remains for me only now to mention The Duel, the longest story in the + book. That story attained the dignity of publication all by itself in a + small illustrated volume, under the title, “The Point of Honour.” That was + many years ago. It has been since reinstated in its proper place, which is + the place it occupies in this volume, in all the subsequent editions of my + work. Its pedigree is extremely simple. It springs from a ten-line + paragraph in a small provincial paper published in the South of France. + That paragraph, occasioned by a duel with a fatal ending between two + well-known Parisian personalities, referred for some reason or other to + the “well-known fact” of two officers in Napoleon’s Grand Army having + fought a series of duels in the midst of great wars and on some futile + pretext. The pretext was never disclosed. I had therefore to invent it; + and I think that, given the character of the two officers which I had to + invent, too, I have made it sufficiently convincing by the mere force of + its absurdity. The truth is that in my mind the story is nothing but a + serious and even earnest attempt at a bit of historical fiction. I had + heard in my boyhood a good deal of the great Napoleonic legend. I had a + genuine feeling that I would find myself at home in it, and The Duel is + the result of that feeling, or, if the reader prefers, of that + presumption. Personally I have no qualms of conscience about this piece of + work. The story might have been better told of course. All one’s work + might have been better done; but this is the sort of reflection a worker + must put aside courageously if he doesn’t mean every one of his + conceptions to remain for ever a private vision, an evanescent reverie. + How many of those visions have I seen vanish in my time! This one, + however, has remained, a testimony, if you like, to my courage or a proof + of my rashness. What I care to remember best is the testimony of some + French readers who volunteered the opinion that in those hundred pages or + so I had managed to render “wonderfully” the spirit of the whole epoch. + Exaggeration of kindness no doubt; but even so I hug it still to my + breast, because in truth that is exactly what I was trying to capture in + my small net: the Spirit of the Epoch—never purely militarist in the + long clash of arms, youthful, almost childlike in its exaltation of + sentiment—naively heroic in its faith. + </p> + <p> + 1920. J. C. <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + A SET OF SIX + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + GASPAR RUIZ + </h2> + <p> + I + </p> + <p> + A revolutionary war raises many strange characters out of the obscurity + which is the common lot of humble lives in an undisturbed state of + society. + </p> + <p> + Certain individualities grow into fame through their vices and their + virtues, or simply by their actions, which may have a temporary + importance; and then they become forgotten. The names of a few leaders + alone survive the end of armed strife and are further preserved in + history; so that, vanishing from men’s active memories, they still exist + in books. + </p> + <p> + The name of General Santierra attained that cold paper-and-ink + immortality. He was a South American of good family, and the books + published in his lifetime numbered him amongst the liberators of that + continent from the oppressive rule of Spain. + </p> + <p> + That long contest, waged for independence on one side and for dominion on + the other, developed in the course of years and the vicissitudes of + changing fortune the fierceness and inhumanity of a struggle for life. All + feelings of pity and compassion disappeared in the growth of political + hatred. And, as is usual in war, the mass of the people, who had the least + to gain by the issue, suffered most in their obscure persons and their + humble fortunes. + </p> + <p> + General Santierra began his service as lieutenant in the patriot army + raised and commanded by the famous San Martin, afterwards conqueror of + Lima and liberator of Peru. A great battle had just been fought on the + banks of the river Bio-Bio. Amongst the prisoners made upon the routed + Royalist troops there was a soldier called Gaspar Ruiz. His powerful build + and his big head rendered him remarkable amongst his fellow-captives. The + personality of the man was unmistakable. Some months before he had been + missed from the ranks of Republican troops after one of the many + skirmishes which preceded the great battle. And now, having been captured + arms in hand amongst Royalists, he could expect no other fate but to be + shot as a deserter. + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz, however, was not a deserter; his mind was hardly active + enough to take a discriminating view of the advantages or perils of + treachery. Why should he change sides? He had really been made a prisoner, + had suffered ill-usage and many privations. Neither side showed tenderness + to its adversaries. There came a day when he was ordered, together with + some other captured rebels, to march in the front rank of the Royal + troops. A musket had been thrust into his hands. He had taken it. He had + marched. He did not want to be killed with circumstances of peculiar + atrocity for refusing to march. He did not understand heroism but it was + his intention to throw his musket away at the first opportunity. Meantime + he had gone on loading and firing, from fear of having his brains blown + out at the first sign of unwillingness, by some non-commissioned officer + of the King of Spain. He tried to set forth these elementary + considerations before the sergeant of the guard set over him and some + twenty other such deserters, who had been condemned summarily to be shot. + </p> + <p> + It was in the quadrangle of the fort at the back of the batteries which + command the roadstead of Valparaiso. The officer who had identified him + had gone on without listening to his protestations. His doom was sealed; + his hands were tied very tightly together behind his back; his body was + sore all over from the many blows with sticks and butts of muskets which + had hurried him along on the painful road from the place of his capture to + the gate of the fort. This was the only kind of systematic attention the + prisoners had received from their escort during a four days’ journey + across a scantily watered tract of country. At the crossings of rare + streams they were permitted to quench their thirst by lapping hurriedly + like dogs. In the evening a few scraps of meat were thrown amongst them as + they dropped down dead-beat upon the stony ground of the halting-place. + </p> + <p> + As he stood in the courtyard of the castle in the early morning, after + having been driven hard all night, Gaspar Ruiz’s throat was parched, and + his tongue felt very large and dry in his mouth. + </p> + <p> + And Gaspar Ruiz, besides being very thirsty, was stirred by a feeling of + sluggish anger, which he could not very well express, as though the vigour + of his spirit were by no means equal to the strength of his body. + </p> + <p> + The other prisoners in the batch of the condemned hung their heads, + looking obstinately on the ground. But Gaspar Ruiz kept on repeating: + “What should I desert for to the Royalists? Why should I desert? Tell me, + Estaban!” + </p> + <p> + He addressed himself to the sergeant, who happened to belong to the same + part of the country as himself. But the sergeant, after shrugging his + meagre shoulders once, paid no further attention to the deep murmuring + voice at his back. It was indeed strange that Gaspar Ruiz should desert. + His people were in too humble a station to feel much the disadvantages of + any form of government. There was no reason why Gaspar Ruiz should wish to + uphold in his own person the rule of the King of Spain. Neither had he + been anxious to exert himself for its subversion. He had joined the side + of Independence in an extremely reasonable and natural manner. A band of + patriots appeared one morning early, surrounding his father’s ranche, + spearing the watch-dogs and ham-stringing a fat cow all in the twinkling + of an eye, to the cries of “Viva la Libertad!” Their officer discoursed of + Liberty with enthusiasm and eloquence after a long and refreshing sleep. + When they left in the evening, taking with them some of Ruiz, the + father’s, best horses to replace their own lamed animals, Gaspar Ruiz went + away with them, having been invited pressingly to do so by the eloquent + officer. + </p> + <p> + Shortly afterwards a detachment of Royalist troops coming to pacify the + district, burnt the ranche, carried off the remaining horses and cattle, + and having thus deprived the old people of all their worldly possessions, + left them sitting under a bush in the enjoyment of the inestimable boon of + life. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz, condemned to death as a deserter, was not thinking either of + his native place or of his parents, to whom he had been a good son on + account of the mildness of his character and the great strength of his + limbs. The practical advantage of this last was made still more valuable + to his father by his obedient disposition. Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent + soul. + </p> + <p> + But it was stirred now to a sort of dim revolt by his dislike to die the + death of a traitor. He was not a traitor. He said again to the sergeant: + “You know I did not desert, Estaban. You know I remained behind amongst + the trees with three others to keep the enemy back while the detachment + was running away!” + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the time, and unused as + yet to the sanguinary imbecilities of a state of war, had lingered near + by, as if fascinated by the sight of these men who were to be shot + presently—“for an example”—as the Commandante had said. + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, without deigning to look at the prisoner, addressed himself + to the young officer with a superior smile. + </p> + <p> + “Ten men would not have been enough to make him a prisoner, mi teniente. + Moreover, the other three rejoined the detachment after dark. Why should + he, unwounded and the strongest of them all, have failed to do so?” + </p> + <p> + “My strength is as nothing against a mounted man with a lasso,” Gaspar + Ruiz protested, eagerly. “He dragged me behind his horse for half a mile.” + </p> + <p> + At this excellent reason the sergeant only laughed contemptuously. The + young officer hurried away after the Commandante. + </p> + <p> + Presently the adjutant of the castle came by. He was a truculent, + raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. His spluttering voice issued out of a + flat yellow face. The sergeant learned from him that the condemned men + would not be shot till sunset. He begged then to know what he was to do + with them meantime. + </p> + <p> + The adjutant looked savagely round the courtyard and, pointing to the door + of a small dungeon-like guardroom, receiving light and air through one + heavily barred window, said: “Drive the scoundrels in there.” + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, tightening his grip upon the stick he carried in virtue of + his rank, executed this order with alacrity and zeal. He hit Gaspar Ruiz, + whose movements were slow, over his head and shoulders. Gaspar Ruiz stood + still for a moment under the shower of blows, biting his lip thoughtfully + as if absorbed by a perplexing mental process—then followed the + others without haste. The door was locked, and the adjutant carried off + the key. + </p> + <p> + By noon the heat of that vaulted place crammed to suffocation had become + unbearable. The prisoners crowded towards the window, begging their guards + for a drop of water; but the soldiers remained lying in indolent attitudes + wherever there was a little shade under a wall, while the sentry sat with + his back against the door smoking a cigarette, and raising his eyebrows + philosophically from time to time. Gaspar Ruiz had pushed his way to the + window with irresistible force. His capacious chest needed more air than + the others; his big face, resting with its chin on the ledge, pressed + close to the bars, seemed to support the other faces crowding up for + breath. From moaned entreaties they had passed to desperate cries, and the + tumultuous howling of those thirsty men obliged a young officer who was + just then crossing the courtyard to shout in order to make himself heard. + </p> + <p> + “Why don’t you give some water to these prisoners?” + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, with an air of surprised innocence, excused himself by the + remark that all those men were condemned to die in a very few hours. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra stamped his foot. “They are condemned to death, not + to torture,” he shouted. “Give them some water at once.” + </p> + <p> + Impressed by this appearance of anger, the soldiers bestirred themselves, + and the sentry, snatching up his musket, stood to attention. + </p> + <p> + But when a couple of buckets were found and filled from the well, it was + discovered that they could not be passed through the bars, which were set + too close. At the prospect of quenching their thirst, the shrieks of those + trampled down in the struggle to get near the opening became very + heartrending. But when the soldiers who had lifted the buckets towards the + window put them to the ground again helplessly, the yell of disappointment + was still more terrible. + </p> + <p> + The soldiers of the army of Independence were not equipped with canteens. + A small tin cup was found, but its approach to the opening caused such a + commotion, such yells of rage and pain in the vague mass of limbs behind + the straining faces at the window, that Lieutenant Santierra cried out + hurriedly, “No, no—you must open the door, sergeant.” + </p> + <p> + The sergeant, shrugging his shoulders, explained that he had no right to + open the door even if he had had the key. But he had not the key. The + adjutant of the garrison kept the key. Those men were giving much + unnecessary trouble, since they had to die at sunset in any case. Why they + had not been shot at once early in the morning he could not understand. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra kept his back studiously to the window. It was at his + earnest solicitations that the Commandante had delayed the execution. This + favour had been granted to him in consideration of his distinguished + family and of his father’s high position amongst the chiefs of the + Republican party. Lieutenant Santierra believed that the General + commanding would visit the fort some time in the afternoon, and he + ingenuously hoped that his naive intercession would induce that severe man + to pardon some, at least, of those criminals. In the revulsion of his + feeling his interference stood revealed now as guilty and futile meddling. + It appeared to him obvious that the general would never even consent to + listen to his petition. He could never save those men, and he had only + made himself responsible for the sufferings added to the cruelty of their + fate. + </p> + <p> + “Then go at once and get the key from the adjutant,” said Lieutenant + Santierra. + </p> + <p> + The sergeant shook his head with a sort of bashful smile, while his eyes + glanced sideways at Gaspar Ruiz’s face, motionless and silent, staring + through the bars at the bottom of a heap of other haggard, distorted, + yelling faces. + </p> + <p> + His worship the adjutant de Plaza, the sergeant murmured, was having his + siesta; and supposing that he, the sergeant, would be allowed access to + him, the only result he expected would be to have his soul flogged out of + his body for presuming to disturb his worship’s repose. He made a + deprecatory movement with his hands, and stood stock-still, looking down + modestly upon his brown toes. + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant Santierra glared with indignation, but hesitated. His handsome + oval face, as smooth as a girl’s, flushed with the shame of his + perplexity. Its nature humiliated his spirit. His hairless upper lip + trembled; he seemed on the point of either bursting into a fit of rage or + into tears of dismay. + </p> + <p> + Fifty years later, General Santierra, the venerable relic of revolutionary + times, was well able to remember the feelings of the young lieutenant. + Since he had given up riding altogether, and found it difficult to walk + beyond the limits of his garden, the general’s greatest delight was to + entertain in his house the officers of the foreign men-of-war visiting the + harbour. For Englishmen he had a preference, as for old companions in + arms. English naval men of all ranks accepted his hospitality with + curiosity, because he had known Lord Cochrane and had taken part, on board + the patriot squadron commanded by that marvellous seaman, in the cutting + out and blockading operations before Callao—an episode of unalloyed + glory in the wars of Independence and of endless honour in the fighting + tradition of Englishmen. He was a fair linguist, this ancient survivor of + the Liberating armies. A trick of smoothing his long white beard whenever + he was short of a word in French or English imparted an air of leisurely + dignity to the tone of his reminiscences. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my friends,” he used to say to his guests, “what would you have? A + youth of seventeen summers, without worldly experience, and owing my rank + only to the glorious patriotism of my father, may God rest his soul. I + suffered immense humiliation, not so much from the disobedience of that + subordinate, who, after all, was responsible for those prisoners; but I + suffered because, like the boy I was, I myself dreaded going to the + adjutant for the key. I had felt, before, his rough and cutting tongue. + Being quite a common fellow, with no merit except his savage valour, he + made me feel his contempt and dislike from the first day I joined my + battalion in garrison at the fort. It was only a fortnight before! I would + have confronted him sword in hand, but I shrank from the mocking brutality + of his sneers. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t remember having been so miserable in my life before or since. The + torment of my sensibility was so great that I wished the sergeant to fall + dead at my feet, and the stupid soldiers who stared at me to turn into + corpses; and even those wretches for whom my entreaties had procured a + reprieve I wished dead also, because I could not face them without shame. + A mephitic heat like a whiff of air from hell came out of that dark place + in which they were confined. Those at the window who had heard what was + going on jeered at me in very desperation: one of these fellows, gone mad + no doubt, kept on urging me volubly to order the soldiers to fire through + the window. His insane loquacity made my heart turn faint. And my feet + were like lead. There was no higher officer to whom I could appeal. I had + not even the firmness of spirit to simply go away. + </p> + <p> + “Benumbed by my remorse, I stood with my back to the window. You must not + suppose that all this lasted a long time. How long could it have been? A + minute? If you measured by mental suffering it was like a hundred years; a + longer time than all my life has been since. No, certainly, it was not so + much as a minute. The hoarse screaming of those miserable wretches died + out in their dry throats, and then suddenly a voice spoke, a deep voice + muttering calmly. It called upon me to turn round. + </p> + <p> + “That voice, senores, proceeded from the head of Gaspar Ruiz. Of his body + I could see nothing. Some of his fellow-captives had clambered upon his + back. He was holding them up. His eyes blinked without looking at me. That + and the moving of his lips was all he seemed able to manage in his + overloaded state. And when I turned round, this head, that seemed more + than human size resting on its chin under a multitude of other heads, + asked me whether I really desired to quench the thirst of the captives. + </p> + <p> + “I said, ‘Yes, yes!’ eagerly, and came up quite close to the window. I was + like a child, and did not know what would happen. I was anxious to be + comforted in my helplessness and remorse. + </p> + <p> + “‘Have you the authority, Senor teniente, to release my wrists from their + bonds?’ Gaspar Ruiz’s head asked me. + </p> + <p> + “His features expressed no anxiety, no hope; his heavy eyelids blinked + upon his eyes that looked past me straight into the courtyard. + </p> + <p> + “As if in an ugly dream, I spoke, stammering: ‘What do you mean? And how + can I reach the bonds on your wrists?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I will try what I can do,’ he said; and then that large staring head + moved at last, and all the wild faces piled up in that window disappeared, + tumbling down. He had shaken his load off with one movement, so strong he + was. + </p> + <p> + “And he had not only shaken it off, but he got free of the crush and + vanished from my sight. For a moment there was no one at all to be seen at + the window. He had swung about, butting and shouldering, clearing a space + for himself in the only way he could do it with his hands tied behind his + back. + </p> + <p> + “Finally, backing to the opening, he pushed out to me between the bars his + wrists, lashed with many turns of rope. His hands, very swollen, with + knotted veins, looked enormous and unwieldy. I saw his bent back. It was + very broad. His voice was like the muttering of a bull. + </p> + <p> + “‘Cut, Senor teniente. Cut!’ + </p> + <p> + “I drew my sword, my new unblunted sword that had seen no service as yet, + and severed the many turns of the hide rope. I did this without knowing + the why and the wherefore of my action, but as it were compelled by my + faith in that man. The sergeant made as if to cry out, but astonishment + deprived him of his voice, and he remained standing with his mouth open as + if overtaken by sudden imbecility. + </p> + <p> + “I sheathed my sword and faced the soldiers. An air of awestruck + expectation had replaced their usual listless apathy. I heard the voice of + Gaspar Ruiz shouting inside, but the words I could not make out plainly. I + suppose that to see him with his arms free augmented the influence of his + strength: I mean by this, the spiritual influence that with ignorant + people attaches to an exceptional degree of bodily vigour. In fact, he was + no more to be feared than before, on account of the numbness of his arms + and hands, which lasted for some time. + </p> + <p> + “The sergeant had recovered his power of speech. ‘By all the saints!’ he + cried, ‘we shall have to get a cavalry man with a lasso to secure him + again, if he is to be led to the place of execution. Nothing less than a + good enlazador on a good horse can subdue him. Your worship was pleased to + perform a very mad thing.’ + </p> + <p> + “I had nothing to say. I was surprised myself, and I felt a childish + curiosity to see what would happen next. But the sergeant was thinking of + the difficulty of controlling Gaspar Ruiz when the time for making an + example would come. + </p> + <p> + “‘Or perhaps,’ the sergeant pursued, vexedly, ‘we shall be obliged to + shoot him down as he dashes out when the door is opened.’ He was going to + give further vent to his anxieties as to the proper carrying out of the + sentence; but he interrupted himself with a sudden exclamation, snatched a + musket from a soldier, and stood watchful with his eyes fixed on the + window.” + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz had clambered up on the sill, and sat down there with his + feet against the thickness of the wall and his knees slightly bent. The + window was not quite broad enough for the length of his legs. It appeared + to my crestfallen perception that he meant to keep the window all to + himself. He seemed to be taking up a comfortable position. Nobody inside + dared to approach him now he could strike with his hands. + </p> + <p> + “‘Por Dios!’ I heard the sergeant muttering at my elbow, ‘I shall shoot + him through the head now, and get rid of that trouble. He is a condemned + man.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that I looked at him angrily. ‘The general has not confirmed the + sentence,’ I said—though I knew well in my heart that these were but + vain words. The sentence required no confirmation. ‘You have no right to + shoot him unless he tries to escape,’ I added, firmly. + </p> + <p> + “‘But sangre de Dios!’ the sergeant yelled out, bringing his musket up to + the shoulder, ‘he is escaping now. Look!’ + </p> + <p> + “But I, as if that Gaspar Ruiz had cast a spell upon me, struck the musket + upward, and the bullet flew over the roofs somewhere. The sergeant dashed + his arm to the ground and stared. He might have commanded the soldiers to + fire, but he did not. And if he had he would not have been obeyed, I + think, just then. + </p> + <p> + “With his feet against the thickness of the wall and his hairy hands + grasping the iron bar, Gaspar sat still. It was an attitude. Nothing + happened for a time. And suddenly it dawned upon us that he was + straightening his bowed back and contracting his arms. His lips were + twisted into a snarl. Next thing we perceived was that the bar of forged + iron was being bent slowly by the mightiness of his pull. The sun was + beating full upon his cramped, unquivering figure. A shower of sweat-drops + burst out of his forehead. Watching the bar grow crooked, I saw a little + blood ooze from under his finger-nails. Then he let go. For a moment he + remained all huddled up, with a hanging head, looking drowsily into the + upturned palms of his mighty hands. Indeed he seemed to have dozed off. + Suddenly he flung himself backwards on the sill, and setting the soles of + his bare feet against the other middle bar, he bent that one, too, but in + the opposite direction from the first. + </p> + <p> + “Such was his strength, which in this case relieved my painful feelings. + And the man seemed to have done nothing. Except for the change of position + in order to use his feet, which made us all start by its swiftness, my + recollection is that of immobility. But he had bent the bars wide apart. + And now he could get out if he liked; but he dropped his legs inwards, and + looking over his shoulder beckoned to the soldiers. ‘Hand up the water,’ + he said. ‘I will give them all a drink.’ + </p> + <p> + “He was obeyed. For a moment I expected man and bucket to disappear, + overwhelmed by the rush of eagerness; I thought they would pull him down + with their teeth. There was a rush, but holding the bucket on his lap he + repulsed the assault of those wretches by the mere swinging of his feet. + They flew backwards at every kick, yelling with pain; and the soldiers + laughed, gazing at the window. + </p> + <p> + “They all laughed, holding their sides, except the sergeant, who was + gloomy and morose. He was afraid the prisoners would rise and break out—which + would have been a bad example. But there was no fear of that, and I stood + myself before the window with my drawn sword. When sufficiently tamed by + the strength of Gaspar Ruiz they came up one by one, stretching their + necks and presenting their lips to the edge of the bucket which the strong + man tilted towards them from his knees with an extraordinary air of + charity, gentleness, and compassion. That benevolent appearance was of + course the effect of his care in not spilling the water and of his + attitude as he sat on the sill; for, if a man lingered with his lips glued + to the rim of the bucket after Gaspar Ruiz had said ‘You have had enough,’ + there would be no tenderness or mercy in the shove of the foot which would + send him groaning and doubled up far into the interior of the prison, + where he would knock down two or three others before he fell himself. They + came up to him again and again; it looked as if they meant to drink the + well dry before going to their death; but the soldiers were so amused by + Gaspar Ruiz’s systematic proceedings that they carried the water up to the + window cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “When the adjutant came out after his siesta there was some trouble over + this affair, I can assure you. And the worst of it was that the general + whom we expected never came to the castle that day.” + </p> + <p> + The guests of General Santierra unanimously expressed their regret that + the man of such strength and patience had not been saved. + </p> + <p> + “He was not saved by my interference,” said the General. “The prisoners + were led to execution half an hour before sunset. Gaspar Ruiz, contrary to + the sergeant’s apprehensions, gave no trouble. There was no necessity to + get a cavalry man with a lasso in order to subdue him, as if he were a + wild bull of the campo. I believe he marched out with his arms free + amongst the others who were bound. I did not see. I was not there. I had + been put under arrest for interfering with the prisoner’s guard. About + dusk, sitting dismally in my quarters, I heard three volleys fired, and + thought that I should never hear of Gaspar Ruiz again. He fell with the + others. But we were to hear of him nevertheless, though the sergeant + boasted that as he lay on his face expiring or dead in the heap of the + slain, he had slashed his neck with a sword. He had done this, he said, to + make sure of ridding the world of a dangerous traitor. + </p> + <p> + “I confess to you, senores, that I thought of that strong man with a sort + of gratitude, and with some admiration. He had used his strength + honourably. There dwelt, then, in his soul no fierceness corresponding to + the vigour of his body.” + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz, who could with ease bend apart the heavy iron bars of the + prison, was led out with others to summary execution. “Every bullet has + its billet,” runs the proverb. All the merit of proverbs consists in the + concise and picturesque expression. In the surprise of our minds is found + their persuasiveness. In other words, we are struck and convinced by the + shock. + </p> + <p> + What surprises us is the form, not the substance. Proverbs are art—cheap + art. As a general rule they are not true; unless indeed they happen to be + mere platitudes, as for instance the proverb, “Half a loaf is better than + no bread,” or “A miss is as good as a mile.” Some proverbs are simply + imbecile, others are immoral. That one evolved out of the naive heart of + the great Russian people, “Man discharges the piece, but God carries the + bullet,” is piously atrocious, and at bitter variance with the accepted + conception of a compassionate God. It would indeed be an inconsistent + occupation for the Guardian of the poor, the innocent, and the helpless, + to carry the bullet, for instance, into the heart of a father. + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz was childless, he had no wife, he had never been in love. He + had hardly ever spoken to a woman, beyond his mother and the ancient + negress of the household, whose wrinkled skin was the colour of cinders, + and whose lean body was bent double from age. If some bullets from those + muskets fired off at fifteen paces were specifically destined for the + heart of Gaspar Ruiz, they all missed their billet. One, however, carried + away a small piece of his ear, and another a fragment of flesh from his + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + A red and unclouded sun setting into a purple ocean looked with a fiery + stare upon the enormous wall of the Cordilleras, worthy witnesses of his + glorious extinction. But it is inconceivable that it should have seen the + ant-like men busy with their absurd and insignificant trials of killing + and dying for reasons that, apart from being generally childish, were also + imperfectly understood. It did light up, however, the backs of the firing + party and the faces of the condemned men. Some of them had fallen on their + knees, others remained standing, a few averted their heads from the + levelled barrels of muskets. Gaspar Ruiz, upright, the burliest of them + all, hung his big shock head. The low sun dazzled him a little, and he + counted himself a dead man already. + </p> + <p> + He fell at the first discharge. He fell because he thought he was a dead + man. He struck the ground heavily. The jar of the fall surprised him. “I + am not dead apparently,” he thought to himself, when he heard the + execution platoon reloading its arms at the word of command. It was then + that the hope of escape dawned upon him for the first time. He remained + lying stretched out with rigid limbs under the weight of two bodies + collapsed crosswise upon his back. + </p> + <p> + By the time the soldiers had fired a third volley into the slightly + stirring heaps of the slain, the sun had gone out of sight, and almost + immediately with the darkening of the ocean dusk fell upon the coasts of + the young Republic. Above the gloom of the lowlands the snowy peaks of the + Cordilleras remained luminous and crimson for a long time. The soldiers + before marching back to the fort sat down to smoke. + </p> + <p> + The sergeant with a naked sword in his hand strolled away by himself along + the heap of the dead. He was a humane man, and watched for any stir or + twitch of limb in the merciful idea of plunging the point of his blade + into any body giving the slightest sign of life. But none of the bodies + afforded him an opportunity for the display of this charitable intention. + Not a muscle twitched amongst them, not even the powerful muscles of + Gaspar Ruiz, who, deluged with the blood of his neighbours and shamming + death, strove to appear more lifeless than the others. + </p> + <p> + He was lying face down. The sergeant recognized him by his stature, and + being himself a very small man, looked with envy and contempt at the + prostration of so much strength. He had always disliked that particular + soldier. Moved by an obscure animosity, he inflicted a long gash across + the neck of Gaspar Ruiz, with some vague notion of making sure of that + strong man’s death, as if a powerful physique were more able to resist the + bullets. For the sergeant had no doubt that Gaspar Ruiz had been shot + through in many places. Then he passed on, and shortly afterwards marched + off with his men, leaving the bodies to the care of crows and vultures. + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz had restrained a cry, though it had seemed to him that his + head was cut off at a blow; and when darkness came, shaking off the dead, + whose weight had oppressed him, he crawled away over the plain on his + hands and knees. After drinking deeply, like a wounded beast, at a shallow + stream, he assumed an upright posture, and staggered on light-headed and + aimless, as if lost amongst the stars of the clear night. A small house + seemed to rise out of the ground before him. He stumbled into the porch + and struck at the door with his fist. There was not a gleam of light. + Gaspar Ruiz might have thought that the inhabitants had fled from it, as + from many others in the neighbourhood, had it not been for the shouts of + abuse that answered his thumping. In his feverish and enfeebled state the + angry screaming seemed to him part of a hallucination belonging to the + weird, dreamlike feeling of his unexpected condemnation to death, of the + thirst suffered, of the volleys fired at him within fifteen paces, of his + head being cut off at a blow. “Open the door!” he cried. “Open in the name + of God!” + </p> + <p> + An infuriated voice from within jeered at him: “Come in, come in. This + house belongs to you. All this land belongs to you. Come and take it.” + </p> + <p> + “For the love of God,” Gaspar Ruiz murmured. + </p> + <p> + “Does not all the land belong to you patriots?” the voice on the other + side of the door screamed on. “Are you not a patriot?” + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz did not know. “I am a wounded man,” he said, apathetically. + </p> + <p> + All became still inside. Gaspar Ruiz lost the hope of being admitted, and + lay down under the porch just outside the door. He was utterly careless of + what was going to happen to him. All his consciousness seemed to be + concentrated in his neck, where he felt a severe pain. His indifference as + to his fate was genuine. The day was breaking when he awoke from a + feverish doze; the door at which he had knocked in the dark stood wide + open now, and a girl, steadying herself with her outspread arms, leaned + over the threshold. Lying on his back, he stared up at her. Her face was + pale and her eyes were very dark; her hair hung down black as ebony + against her white cheeks; her lips were full and red. Beyond her he saw + another head with long grey hair, and a thin old face with a pair of + anxiously clasped hands under the chin. + </p> + <p> + VI + </p> + <p> + “I knew those people by sight,” General Santierra would tell his guests at + the dining-table. “I mean the people with whom Gaspar Ruiz found shelter. + The father was an old Spaniard, a man of property ruined by the + revolution. His estates, his house in town, his money, everything he had + in the world had been confiscated by proclamation, for he was a bitter foe + of our independence. From a position of great dignity and influence on the + Viceroy’s Council he became of less importance than his own negro slaves + made free by our glorious revolution. He had not even the means to flee + the country, as other Spaniards had managed to do. It may be that, + wandering ruined and houseless, and burdened with nothing but his life, + which was left to him by the clemency of the Provisional Government, he + had simply walked under that broken roof of old tiles. It was a lonely + spot. There did not seem to be even a dog belonging to the place. But + though the roof had holes, as if a cannon-ball or two had dropped through + it, the wooden shutters were thick and tight-closed all the time. + </p> + <p> + “My way took me frequently along the path in front of that miserable + rancho. I rode from the fort to the town almost every evening, to sigh at + the window of a lady I was in love with, then. When one is young, you + understand. . . . She was a good patriot, you may believe. Caballeros, + credit me or not, political feeling ran so high in those days that I do + not believe I could have been fascinated by the charms of a woman of + Royalist opinions. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Murmurs of amused incredulity all round the table interrupted the General; + and while they lasted he stroked his white beard gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Senores,” he protested, “a Royalist was a monster to our overwrought + feelings. I am telling you this in order not to be suspected of the + slightest tenderness towards that old Royalist’s daughter. Moreover, as + you know, my affections were engaged elsewhere. But I could not help + noticing her on rare occasions when with the front door open she stood in + the porch. + </p> + <p> + “You must know that this old Royalist was as crazy as a man can be. His + political misfortunes, his total downfall and ruin, had disordered his + mind. To show his contempt for what we patriots could do, he affected to + laugh at his imprisonment, at the confiscation of his lands, the burning + of his houses, and at the misery to which he and his womenfolk were + reduced. This habit of laughing had grown upon him, so that he would begin + to laugh and shout directly he caught sight of any stranger. That was the + form of his madness. + </p> + <p> + “I, of course, disregarded the noise of that madman with that feeling of + superiority the success of our cause inspired in us Americans. I suppose I + really despised him because he was an old Castilian, a Spaniard born, and + a Royalist. Those were certainly no reasons to scorn a man; but for + centuries Spaniards born had shown their contempt of us Americans, men as + well descended as themselves, simply because we were what they called + colonists. We had been kept in abasement and made to feel our inferiority + in social intercourse. And now it was our turn. It was safe for us + patriots to display the same sentiments; and I being a young patriot, son + of a patriot, despised that old Spaniard, and despising him I naturally + disregarded his abuse, though it was annoying to my feelings. Others + perhaps would not have been so forbearing. + </p> + <p> + “He would begin with a great yell—‘I see a patriot. Another of + them!’ long before I came abreast of the house. The tone of his senseless + revilings, mingled with bursts of laughter, was sometimes piercingly + shrill and sometimes grave. It was all very mad; but I felt it incumbent + upon my dignity to check my horse to a walk without even glancing towards + the house, as if that man’s abusive clamour in the porch were less than + the barking of a cur. Always I rode by preserving an expression of haughty + indifference on my face. + </p> + <p> + “It was no doubt very dignified; but I should have done better if I had + kept my eyes open. A military man in war time should never consider + himself off duty; and especially so if the war is a revolutionary war, + when the enemy is not at the door, but within your very house. At such + times the heat of passionate convictions passing into hatred, removes the + restraints of honour and humanity from many men and of delicacy and fear + from some women. These last, when once they throw off the timidity and + reserve of their sex, become by the vivacity of their intelligence and the + violence of their merciless resentment more dangerous than so many armed + giants.” + </p> + <p> + The General’s voice rose, but his big hand stroked his white beard twice + with an effect of venerable calmness. “Si, Senores! Women are ready to + rise to the heights of devotion unattainable by us men, or to sink into + the depths of abasement which amazes our masculine prejudices. I am + speaking now of exceptional women, you understand. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Here one of the guests observed that he had never met a woman yet who was + not capable of turning out quite exceptional under circumstances that + would engage her feelings strongly. “That sort of superiority in + recklessness they have over us,” he concluded, “makes of them the more + interesting half of mankind.” + </p> + <p> + The General, who bore the interruption with gravity, nodded courteous + assent. “Si. Si. Under circumstances. . . . Precisely. They can do an + infinite deal of mischief sometimes in quite unexpected ways. For who + could have imagined that a young girl, daughter of a ruined Royalist whose + life was held only by the contempt of his enemies, would have had the + power to bring death and devastation upon two flourishing provinces and + cause serious anxiety to the leaders of the revolution in the very hour of + its success!” He paused to let the wonder of it penetrate our minds. + </p> + <p> + “Death and devastation,” somebody murmured in surprise: “how shocking!” + </p> + <p> + The old General gave a glance in the direction of the murmur and went on. + “Yes. That is, war—calamity. But the means by which she obtained the + power to work this havoc on our southern frontier seem to me, who have + seen her and spoken to her, still more shocking. That particular thing + left on my mind a dreadful amazement which the further experience of life, + of more than fifty years, has done nothing to diminish.” He looked round + as if to make sure of our attention, and, in a changed voice: “I am, as + you know, a republican, son of a Liberator,” he declared. “My incomparable + mother, God rest her soul, was a Frenchwoman, the daughter of an ardent + republican. As a boy I fought for liberty; I’ve always believed in the + equality of men; and as to their brotherhood, that, to my mind, is even + more certain. Look at the fierce animosity they display in their + differences. And what in the world do you know that is more bitterly + fierce than brothers’ quarrels?” + </p> + <p> + All absence of cynicism checked an inclination to smile at this view of + human brotherhood. On the contrary, there was in the tone the melancholy + natural to a man profoundly humane at heart who from duty, from + conviction, and from necessity, had played his part in scenes of ruthless + violence. + </p> + <p> + The General had seen much of fratricidal strife. “Certainly. There is no + doubt of their brotherhood,” he insisted. “All men are brothers, and as + such know almost too much of each other. But”—and here in the old + patriarchal head, white as silver, the black eyes humorously twinkled—“if + we are all brothers, all the women are not our sisters.” + </p> + <p> + One of the younger guests was heard murmuring his satisfaction at the + fact. But the General continued, with deliberate earnestness: “They are so + different! The tale of a king who took a beggar-maid for a partner of his + throne may be pretty enough as we men look upon ourselves and upon love. + But that a young girl, famous for her haughty beauty and, only a short + time before, the admired of all at the balls in the Viceroy’s palace, + should take by the hand a guasso, a common peasant, is intolerable to our + sentiment of women and their love. It is madness. Nevertheless it + happened. But it must be said that in her case it was the madness of hate—not + of love.” + </p> + <p> + After presenting this excuse in a spirit of chivalrous justice, the + General remained silent for a time. “I rode past the house every day + almost,” he began again, “and this was what was going on within. But how + it was going on no mind of man can conceive. Her desperation must have + been extreme, and Gaspar Ruiz was a docile fellow. He had been an obedient + soldier. His strength was like an enormous stone lying on the ground, + ready to be hurled this way or that by the hand that picks it up. + </p> + <p> + “It is clear that he would tell his story to the people who gave him the + shelter he needed. And he needed assistance badly. His wound was not + dangerous, but his life was forfeited. The old Royalist being wrapped up + in his laughing madness, the two women arranged a hiding-place for the + wounded man in one of the huts amongst the fruit trees at the back of the + house. That hovel, an abundance of clear water while the fever was on him, + and some words of pity were all they could give. I suppose he had a share + of what food there was. And it would be but little: a handful of roasted + corn, perhaps a dish of beans, or a piece of bread with a few figs. To + such misery were those proud and once wealthy people reduced.” + </p> + <p> + VII + </p> + <p> + General Santierra was right in his surmise. Such was the exact nature of + the assistance which Gaspar Ruiz, peasant son of peasants, received from + the Royalist family whose daughter had opened the door of their miserable + refuge to his extreme distress. Her sombre resolution ruled the madness of + her father and the trembling bewilderment of her mother. + </p> + <p> + She had asked the strange man on the doorstep, “Who wounded you?” + </p> + <p> + “The soldiers, senora,” Gaspar Ruiz had answered, in a faint voice. + </p> + <p> + “Patriots?” + </p> + <p> + “Si.” + </p> + <p> + “What for?” + </p> + <p> + “Deserter,” he gasped, leaning against the wall under the scrutiny of her + black eyes. “I was left for dead over there.” + </p> + <p> + She led him through the house out to a small hut of clay and reeds, lost + in the long grass of the overgrown orchard. He sank on a heap of maize + straw in a corner, and sighed profoundly. + </p> + <p> + “No one will look for you here,” she said, looking down at him. “Nobody + comes near us. We, too, have been left for dead—here.” + </p> + <p> + He stirred uneasily on his heap of dirty straw, and the pain in his neck + made him groan deliriously. + </p> + <p> + “I shall show Estaban some day that I am alive yet,” he mumbled. + </p> + <p> + He accepted her assistance in silence, and the many days of pain went by. + Her appearances in the hut brought him relief and became connected with + the feverish dreams of angels which visited his couch; for Gaspar Ruiz was + instructed in the mysteries of his religion, and had even been taught to + read and write a little by the priest of his village. He waited for her + with impatience, and saw her pass out of the dark hut and disappear in the + brilliant sunshine with poignant regret. He discovered that, while he lay + there feeling so very weak, he could, by closing his eyes, evoke her face + with considerable distinctness. And this discovered faculty charmed the + long, solitary hours of his convalescence. Later on, when he began to + regain his strength, he would creep at dusk from his hut to the house and + sit on the step of the garden door. + </p> + <p> + In one of the rooms the mad father paced to and fro, muttering to himself + with short, abrupt laughs. In the passage, sitting on a stool, the mother + sighed and moaned. The daughter, in rough threadbare clothing, and her + white haggard face half hidden by a coarse manta, stood leaning against + the side of the door. Gaspar Ruiz, with his elbows propped on his knees + and his head resting in his hands, talked to the two women in an + undertone. + </p> + <p> + The common misery of destitution would have made a bitter mockery of a + marked insistence on social differences. Gaspar Ruiz understood this in + his simplicity. From his captivity amongst the Royalists he could give + them news of people they knew. He described their appearance; and when he + related the story of the battle in which he was recaptured the two women + lamented the blow to their cause and the ruin of their secret hopes. + </p> + <p> + He had no feeling either way. But he felt a great devotion for that young + girl. In his desire to appear worthy of her condescension, he boasted a + little of his bodily strength. He had nothing else to boast of. Because of + that quality his comrades treated him with as great a deference, he + explained, as though he had been a sergeant, both in camp and in battle. + </p> + <p> + “I could always get as many as I wanted to follow me anywhere, senorita. I + ought to have been made an officer, because I can read and write.” + </p> + <p> + Behind him the silent old lady fetched a moaning sigh from time to time; + the distracted father muttered to himself, pacing the sala; and Gaspar + Ruiz would raise his eyes now and then to look at the daughter of these + people. + </p> + <p> + He would look at her with curiosity because she was alive, and also with + that feeling of familiarity and awe with which he had contemplated in + churches the inanimate and powerful statues of the saints, whose + protection is invoked in dangers and difficulties. His difficulty was very + great. + </p> + <p> + He could not remain hiding in an orchard for ever and ever. He knew also + very well that before he had gone half a day’s journey in any direction, + he would be picked up by one of the cavalry patrols scouring the country, + and brought into one or another of the camps where the patriot army + destined for the liberation of Peru was collected. There he would in the + end be recognized as Gaspar Ruiz—the deserter to the Royalists—and + no doubt shot very effectually this time. There did not seem any place in + the world for the innocent Gaspar Ruiz anywhere. And at this thought his + simple soul surrendered itself to gloom and resentment as black as night. + </p> + <p> + They had made him a soldier forcibly. He did not mind being a soldier. And + he had been a good soldier as he had been a good son, because of his + docility and his strength. But now there was no use for either. They had + taken him from his parents, and he could no longer be a soldier—not + a good soldier at any rate. Nobody would listen to his explanations. What + injustice it was! What injustice! + </p> + <p> + And in a mournful murmur he would go over the story of his capture and + recapture for the twentieth time. Then, raising his eyes to the silent + girl in the doorway, “Si, senorita,” he would say with a deep sigh, + “injustice has made this poor breath in my body quite worthless to me and + to anybody else. And I do not care who robs me of it.” + </p> + <p> + One evening, as he exhaled thus the plaint of his wounded soul, she + condescended to say that, if she were a man, she would consider no life + worthless which held the possibility of revenge. + </p> + <p> + She seemed to be speaking to herself. Her voice was low. He drank in the + gentle, as if dreamy sound with a consciousness of peculiar delight of + something warming his breast like a draught of generous wine. + </p> + <p> + “True, Senorita,” he said, raising his face up to hers slowly: “there is + Estaban, who must be shown that I am not dead after all.” + </p> + <p> + The mutterings of the mad father had ceased long before; the sighing + mother had withdrawn somewhere into one of the empty rooms. All was still + within as well as without, in the moonlight bright as day on the wild + orchard full of inky shadows. Gaspar Ruiz saw the dark eyes of Dona + Erminia look down at him. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! The sergeant,” she muttered, disdainfully. + </p> + <p> + “Why! He has wounded me with his sword,” he protested, bewildered by the + contempt that seemed to shine livid on her pale face. + </p> + <p> + She crushed him with her glance. The power of her will to be understood + was so strong that it kindled in him the intelligence of unexpressed + things. + </p> + <p> + “What else did you expect me to do?” he cried, as if suddenly driven to + despair. “Have I the power to do more? Am I a general with an army at my + back?—miserable sinner that I am to be despised by you at last.” + </p> + <p> + VIII + </p> + <p> + “Senores,” related the General to his guests, “though my thoughts were of + love then, and therefore enchanting, the sight of that house always + affected me disagreeably, especially in the moonlight, when its close + shutters and its air of lonely neglect appeared sinister. Still I went on + using the bridle-path by the ravine, because it was a short cut. The mad + Royalist howled and laughed at me every evening to his complete + satisfaction; but after a time, as if wearied with my indifference, he + ceased to appear in the porch. How they persuaded him to leave off I do + not know. However, with Gaspar Ruiz in the house there would have been no + difficulty in restraining him by force. It was now part of their policy in + there to avoid anything which could provoke me. At least, so I suppose. + </p> + <p> + “Notwithstanding my infatuation with the brightest pair of eyes in Chile, + I noticed the absence of the old man after a week or so. A few more days + passed. I began to think that perhaps these Royalists had gone away + somewhere else. But one evening, as I was hastening towards the city, I + saw again somebody in the porch. It was not the madman; it was the girl. + She stood holding on to one of the wooden columns, tall and white-faced, + her big eyes sunk deep with privation and sorrow. I looked hard at her, + and she met my stare with a strange, inquisitive look. Then, as I turned + my head after riding past, she seemed to gather courage for the act, and + absolutely beckoned me back. + </p> + <p> + “I obeyed, senores, almost without thinking, so great was my astonishment. + It was greater still when I heard what she had to say. She began by + thanking me for my forbearance of her father’s infirmity, so that I felt + ashamed of myself. I had meant to show disdain, not forbearance! Every + word must have burnt her lips, but she never departed from a gentle and + melancholy dignity which filled me with respect against my will. Senores, + we are no match for women. But I could hardly believe my ears when she + began her tale. Providence, she concluded, seemed to have preserved the + life of that wronged soldier, who now trusted to my honour as a caballero + and to my compassion for his sufferings. + </p> + <p> + “‘Wronged man,’ I observed, coldly. ‘Well, I think so, too: and you have + been harbouring an enemy of your cause.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘He was a poor Christian crying for help at our door in the name of God, + senor,’ she answered, simply. + </p> + <p> + “I began to admire her. ‘Where is he now?’ I asked, stiffly. + </p> + <p> + “But she would not answer that question. With extreme cunning, and an + almost fiendish delicacy, she managed to remind me of my failure in saving + the lives of the prisoners in the guardroom, without wounding my pride. + She knew, of course, the whole story. Gaspar Ruiz, she said, entreated me + to procure for him a safe-conduct from General San Martin himself. He had + an important communication to make to the commander-in-chief. + </p> + <p> + “Por Dios, senores, she made me swallow all that, pretending to be only + the mouthpiece of that poor man. Overcome by injustice, he expected to + find, she said, as much generosity in me as had been shown to him by the + Royalist family which had given him a refuge. + </p> + <p> + “Ha! It was well and nobly said to a youngster like me. I thought her + great. Alas! she was only implacable. + </p> + <p> + “In the end I rode away very enthusiastic about the business, without + demanding even to see Gaspar Ruiz, who I was confident was in the house. + </p> + <p> + “But on calm reflection I began to see some difficulties which I had not + confidence enough in myself to encounter. It was not easy to approach a + commander-in-chief with such a story. I feared failure. At last I thought + it better to lay the matter before my general-of-division, Robles, a + friend of my family, who had appointed me his aide-de-camp lately. + </p> + <p> + “He took it out of my hands at once without any ceremony. + </p> + <p> + “‘In the house! of course he is in the house,’ he said contemptuously. + ‘You ought to have gone sword in hand inside and demanded his surrender, + instead of chatting with a Royalist girl in the porch. Those people should + have been hunted out of that long ago. Who knows how many spies they have + harboured right in the very midst of our camps? A safe-conduct from the + Commander-in-Chief! The audacity of the fellow! Ha! ha! Now we shall catch + him to-night, and then we shall find out, without any safe-conduct, what + he has got to say, that is so very important. Ha! ha! ha!’ + </p> + <p> + “General Robles, peace to his soul, was a short, thick man, with round, + staring eyes, fierce and jovial. Seeing my distress he added: + </p> + <p> + “‘Come, come, chico. I promise you his life if he does not resist. And + that is not likely. We are not going to break up a good soldier if it can + be helped. I tell you what! I am curious to see your strong man. Nothing + but a general will do for the picaro—well, he shall have a general + to talk to. Ha! ha! I shall go myself to the catching, and you are coming + with me, of course.’ + </p> + <p> + “And it was done that same night. Early in the evening the house and the + orchard were surrounded quietly. Later on the General and I left a ball we + were attending in town and rode out at an easy gallop. At some little + distance from the house we pulled up. A mounted orderly held our horses. A + low whistle warned the men watching all along the ravine, and we walked up + to the porch softly. The barricaded house in the moonlight seemed empty. + </p> + <p> + “The General knocked at the door. After a time a woman’s voice within + asked who was there. My chief nudged me hard. I gasped. + </p> + <p> + “‘It is I, Lieutenant Santierra,’ I stammered out, as if choked. ‘Open the + door.’ + </p> + <p> + “It came open slowly. The girl, holding a thin taper in her hand, seeing + another man with me, began to back away before us slowly, shading the + light with her hand. Her impassive white face looked ghostly. I followed + behind General Robles. Her eyes were fixed on mine. I made a gesture of + helplessness behind my chief’s back, trying at the same time to give a + reassuring expression to my face. None of us three uttered a sound. + </p> + <p> + “We found ourselves in a room with bare floor and walls. There was a rough + table and a couple of stools in it, nothing else whatever. An old woman + with her grey hair hanging loose wrung her hands when we appeared. A peal + of loud laughter resounded through the empty house, very amazing and + weird. At this the old woman tried to get past us. + </p> + <p> + “‘Nobody to leave the room,’ said General Robles to me. + </p> + <p> + “I swung the door to, heard the latch click, and the laughter became faint + in our ears. + </p> + <p> + “Before another word could be spoken in that room I was amazed by hearing + the sound of distant thunder. + </p> + <p> + “I had carried in with me into the house a vivid impression of a beautiful + clear moonlight night, without a speck of cloud in the sky. I could not + believe my ears. Sent early abroad for my education, I was not familiar + with the most dreaded natural phenomenon of my native land. I saw, with + inexpressible astonishment, a look of terror in my chief’s eyes. Suddenly + I felt giddy. The General staggered against me heavily; the girl seemed to + reel in the middle of the room, the taper fell out of her hand and the + light went out; a shrill cry of ‘Misericordia!’ from the old woman pierced + my ears. In the pitchy darkness I heard the plaster off the walls falling + on the floor. It is a mercy there was no ceiling. Holding on to the latch + of the door, I heard the grinding of the roof-tiles cease above my head. + The shock was over. + </p> + <p> + “‘Out of the house! The door! Fly, Santierra, fly!’ howled the General. + You know, senores, in our country the bravest are not ashamed of the fear + an earthquake strikes into all the senses of man. One never gets used to + it. Repeated experience only augments the mastery of that nameless terror. + </p> + <p> + “It was my first earthquake, and I was the calmest of them all. I + understood that the crash outside was caused by the porch, with its wooden + pillars and tiled roof projection, falling down. The next shock would + destroy the house, maybe. That rumble as of thunder was approaching again. + The General was rushing round the room, to find the door perhaps. He made + a noise as though he were trying to climb the walls, and I heard him + distinctly invoke the names of several saints. ‘Out, out, Santierra!’ he + yelled. + </p> + <p> + “The girl’s voice was the only one I did not hear. + </p> + <p> + “‘General,’ I cried, I cannot move the door. We must be locked in.’ + </p> + <p> + “I did not recognize his voice in the shout of malediction and despair he + let out. Senores, I know many men in my country, especially in the + provinces most subject to earthquakes, who will neither eat, sleep, pray, + nor even sit down to cards with closed doors. The danger is not in the + loss of time, but in this—that the movement of the walls may prevent + a door being opened at all. This was what had happened to us. We were + trapped, and we had no help to expect from anybody. There is no man in my + country who will go into a house when the earth trembles. There never was—except + one: Gaspar Ruiz. + </p> + <p> + “He had come out of whatever hole he had been hiding in outside, and had + clambered over the timbers of the destroyed porch. Above the awful + subterranean groan of coming destruction I heard a mighty voice shouting + the word ‘Erminia!’ with the lungs of a giant. An earthquake is a great + leveller of distinctions. I collected all my resolution against the terror + of the scene. ‘She is here,’ I shouted back. A roar as of a furious wild + beast answered me—while my head swam, my heart sank, and the sweat + of anguish streamed like rain off my brow. + </p> + <p> + “He had the strength to pick up one of the heavy posts of the porch. + Holding it under his armpit like a lance, but with both hands, he charged + madly the rocking house with the force of a battering-ram, bursting open + the door and rushing in, headlong, over our prostrate bodies. I and the + General picking ourselves up, bolted out together, without looking round + once till we got across the road. Then, clinging to each other, we beheld + the house change suddenly into a heap of formless rubbish behind the back + of a man, who staggered towards us bearing the form of a woman clasped in + his arms. Her long black hair hung nearly to his feet. He laid her down + reverently on the heaving earth, and the moonlight shone on her closed + eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Senores, we mounted with difficulty. Our horses getting up plunged madly, + held by the soldiers who had come running from all sides. Nobody thought + of catching Gaspar Ruiz then. The eyes of men and animals shone with wild + fear. My general approached Gaspar Ruiz, who stood motionless as a statue + above the girl. He let himself be shaken by the shoulder without detaching + his eyes from her face. + </p> + <p> + “‘Que guape!’ shouted the General in his ear. ‘You are the bravest man + living. You have saved my life. I am General Robles. Come to my quarters + to-morrow if God gives us the grace to see another day.’ + </p> + <p> + “He never stirred—as if deaf, without feeling, insensible. + </p> + <p> + “We rode away for the town, full of our relations, of our friends, of + whose fate we hardly dared to think. The soldiers ran by the side of our + horses. Everything was forgotten in the immensity of the catastrophe + overtaking a whole country.” + </p> + <p> + . . . . . . . + </p> + <p> + Gaspar Ruiz saw the girl open her eyes. The raising of her eyelids seemed + to recall him from a trance. They were alone; the cries of terror and + distress from homeless people filled the plains of the coast remote and + immense, coming like a whisper into their loneliness. + </p> + <p> + She rose swiftly to her feet, darting fearful glances on all sides. “What + is it?” she cried out low, and peering into his face. “Where am I?” + </p> + <p> + He bowed his head sadly, without a word. + </p> + <p> + “. . . Who are you?” + </p> + <p> + He knelt down slowly before her, and touched the hem of her coarse black + baize skirt. “Your slave,” he said. + </p> + <p> + She caught sight then of the heap of rubbish that had been the house, all + misty in the cloud of dust. “Ah!” she cried, pressing her hand to her + forehead. + </p> + <p> + “I carried you out from there,” he whispered at her feet. + </p> + <p> + “And they?” she asked in a great sob. + </p> + <p> + He rose, and taking her by the arms, led her gently towards the shapeless + ruin half overwhelmed by a landslide. “Come and listen,” he said. + </p> + <p> + The serene moon saw them clambering over that heap of stones, joists and + tiles, which was a grave. They pressed their ears to the interstices, + listening for the sound of a groan, for a sigh of pain. + </p> + <p> + At last he said, “They died swiftly. You are alone.” + </p> + <p> + She sat down on a piece of broken timber and put one arm across her face. + He waited—then approaching his lips to her ear: “Let us go,” he + whispered. + </p> + <p> + “Never—never from here,” she cried out, flinging her arms above her + head. + </p> + <p> + He stooped over her, and her raised arms fell upon his shoulders. He + lifted her up, steadied himself and began to walk, looking straight before + him. + </p> + <p> + “What are you doing?” she asked, feebly. + </p> + <p> + “I am escaping from my enemies,” he said, never once glancing at his light + burden. + </p> + <p> + “With me?” she sighed, helplessly. + </p> + <p> + “Never without you,” he said. “You are my strength.” + </p> + <p> + He pressed her close to him. His face was grave and his footsteps steady. + The conflagrations bursting out in the ruins of destroyed villages dotted + the plain with red fires; and the sounds of distant lamentations, the + cries of Misericordia! Misericordia! made a desolate murmur in his ears. + He walked on, solemn and collected, as if carrying something holy, + fragile, and precious. + </p> + <p> + The earth rocked at times under his feet. + </p> + <p> + IX + </p> + <p> + With movements of mechanical care and an air of abstraction old General + Santierra lighted a long and thick cigar. + </p> + <p> + “It was a good many hours before we could send a party back to the + ravine,” he said to his guests. “We had found one-third of the town laid + low, the rest shaken up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced to + the same state of distraction by the universal disaster. The affected + cheerfulness of some contrasted with the despair of others. In the general + confusion a number of reckless thieves, without fear of God or man, became + a danger to those who from the downfall of their homes had managed to save + some valuables. Crying ‘Misericordia’ louder than any at every tremor, and + beating their breast with one hand, these scoundrels robbed the poor + victims with the other, not even stopping short of murder. + </p> + <p> + “General Robles’ division was occupied entirely in guarding the destroyed + quarters of the town from the depredations of these inhuman monsters. + Taken up with my duties of orderly officer, it was only in the morning + that I could assure myself of the safety of my own family. My mother and + my sisters had escaped with their lives from that ballroom, where I had + left them early in the evening. I remember those two beautiful young women—God + rest their souls—as if I saw them this moment, in the garden of our + destroyed house, pale but active, assisting some of our poor neighbours, + in their soiled ball-dresses and with the dust of fallen walls on their + hair. As to my mother, she had a stoical soul in her frail body. + Half-covered by a costly shawl, she was lying on a rustic seat by the side + of an ornamental basin whose fountain had ceased to play for ever on that + night. + </p> + <p> + “I had hardly had time to embrace them all with transports of joy when my + chief, coming along, dispatched me to the ravine with a few soldiers, to + bring in my strong man, as he called him, and that pale girl. + </p> + <p> + “But there was no one for us to bring in. A landslide had covered the + ruins of the house; and it was like a large mound of earth with only the + ends of some timbers visible here and there—nothing more. + </p> + <p> + “Thus were the tribulations of the old Royalist couple ended. An enormous + and unconsecrated grave had swallowed them up alive, in their unhappy + obstinacy against the will of a people to be free. And their daughter was + gone. + </p> + <p> + “That Gaspar Ruiz had carried her off I understood very well. But as the + case was not foreseen, I had no instructions to pursue them. And certainly + I had no desire to do so. I had grown mistrustful of my interference. It + had never been successful, and had not even appeared creditable. He was + gone. Well, let him go. And he had carried off the Royalist girl! Nothing + better. Vaya con Dios. This was not the time to bother about a deserter + who, justly or unjustly, ought to have been dead, and a girl for whom it + would have been better to have never been born. + </p> + <p> + “So I marched my men back to the town. + </p> + <p> + “After a few days, order having been re-established, all the principal + families, including my own, left for Santiago. We had a fine house there. + At the same time the division of Robles was moved to new cantonments near + the capital. This change suited very well the state of my domestic and + amorous feelings. + </p> + <p> + “One night, rather late, I was called to my chief. I found General Robles + in his quarters, at ease, with his uniform off, drinking neat brandy out + of a tumbler—as a precaution, he used to say, against the + sleeplessness induced by the bites of mosquitoes. He was a good soldier, + and he taught me the art and practice of war. No doubt God has been + merciful to his soul; for his motives were never other than patriotic, if + his character was irascible. As to the use of mosquito nets, he considered + it effeminate, shameful—unworthy of a soldier. I noticed at the + first glance that his face, already very red, wore an expression of high + good-humour. + </p> + <p> + “‘Aha! Senor teniente,’ he cried, loudly, as I saluted at the door. + ‘Behold! Your strong man has turned up again.’ + </p> + <p> + “He extended to me a folded letter, which I saw was superscribed ‘To the + Commander-in-Chief of the Republican Armies.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘This,’ General Robles went on in his loud voice, ‘was thrust by a boy + into the hand of a sentry at the Quartel General, while the fellow stood + there thinking of his girl, no doubt—for before he could gather his + wits together the boy had disappeared amongst the market people, and he + protests he could not recognize him to save his life.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘My chief told me further that the soldier had given the letter to the + sergeant of the guard, and that ultimately it had reached the hands of our + generalissimo. His Excellency had deigned to take cognizance of it with + his own eyes. After that he had referred the matter in confidence to + General Robles. + </p> + <p> + “The letter, senores, I cannot now recollect textually. I saw the + signature of Gaspar Ruiz. He was an audacious fellow. He had snatched a + soul for himself out of a cataclysm, remember. And now it was that soul + which had dictated the terms of his letter. Its tone was very independent. + I remember it struck me at the time as noble—dignified. It was, no + doubt, her letter. Now I shudder at the depth of its duplicity. Gaspar + Ruiz was made to complain of the injustice of which he had been a victim. + He invoked his previous record of fidelity and courage. Having been saved + from death by the miraculous interposition of Providence, he could think + of nothing but of retrieving his character. This, he wrote, he could not + hope to do in the ranks as a discredited soldier still under suspicion. He + had the means to give a striking proof of his fidelity. He had ended by + proposing to the General-in-Chief a meeting at midnight in the middle of + the Plaza before the Moneta. The signal would be to strike fire with flint + and steel three times, which was not too conspicuous and yet distinctive + enough for recognition. + </p> + <p> + “San Martin, the great Liberator, loved men of audacity and courage. + Besides, he was just and compassionate. I told him as much of the man’s + story as I knew, and was ordered to accompany him on the appointed night. + The signals were duly exchanged. It was midnight, and the whole town was + dark and silent. Their two cloaked figures came together in the centre of + the vast Plaza, and, keeping discreetly at a distance, I listened for an + hour or more to the murmur of their voices. Then the General motioned me + to approach; and as I did so I heard San Martin, who was courteous to + gentle and simple alike, offer Gaspar Ruiz the hospitality of the + headquarters for the night. But the soldier refused, saying that he would + be not worthy of that honour till he had done something. + </p> + <p> + “‘You cannot have a common deserter for your guest, Excellency,’ he + protested with a low laugh, and stepping backwards merged slowly into the + night. + </p> + <p> + “The Commander-in-Chief observed to me, as we turned away: ‘He had + somebody with him, our friend Ruiz. I saw two figures for a moment. It was + an unobtrusive companion.’ + </p> + <p> + “I, too, had observed another figure join the vanishing form of Gaspar + Ruiz. It had the appearance of a short fellow in a poncho and a big hat. + And I wondered stupidly who it could be he had dared take into his + confidence. I might have guessed it could be no one but that fatal girl—alas! + </p> + <p> + “Where he kept her concealed I do not know. He had—it was known + afterwards—an uncle, his mother’s brother, a small shopkeeper in + Santiago. Perhaps it was there that she found a roof and food. Whatever + she found, it was poor enough to exasperate her pride and keep up her + anger and hate. It is certain she did not accompany him on the feat he + undertook to accomplish first of all. It was nothing less than the + destruction of a store of war material collected secretly by the Spanish + authorities in the south, in a town called Linares. Gaspar Ruiz was + entrusted with a small party only, but they proved themselves worthy of + San Martin’s confidence. The season was not propitious. They had to swim + swollen rivers. They seemed, however, to have galloped night and day + out-riding the news of their foray, and holding straight for the town, a + hundred miles into the enemy’s country, till at break of day they rode + into it sword in hand, surprising the little garrison. It fled without + making a stand, leaving most of its officers in Gaspar Ruiz’ hands. + </p> + <p> + “A great explosion of gunpowder ended the conflagration of the magazines + the raiders had set on fire without loss of time. In less than six hours + they were riding away at the same mad speed, without the loss of a single + man. Good as they were, such an exploit is not performed without a still + better leadership. + </p> + <p> + “I was dining at the headquarters when Gaspar Ruiz himself brought the + news of his success. And it was a great blow to the Royalist troops. For a + proof he displayed to us the garrison’s flag. He took it from under his + poncho and flung it on the table. The man was transfigured; there was + something exulting and menacing in the expression of his face. He stood + behind General San Martin’s chair and looked proudly at us all. He had a + round blue cap edged with silver braid on his head, and we all could see a + large white scar on the nape of his sunburnt neck. + </p> + <p> + “Somebody asked him what he had done with the captured Spanish officers. + </p> + <p> + “He shrugged his shoulders scornfully. ‘What a question to ask! In a + partisan war you do not burden yourself with prisoners. I let them go—and + here are their sword-knots.’ + </p> + <p> + “He flung a bunch of them on the table upon the flag. Then General Robles, + whom I was attending there, spoke up in his loud, thick voice: ‘You did! + Then, my brave friend, you do not know yet how a war like ours ought to be + conducted. You should have done—this.’ And he passed the edge of his + hand across his own throat. + </p> + <p> + “Alas, senores! It was only too true that on both sides this contest, in + its nature so heroic, was stained by ferocity. The murmurs that arose at + General Robles’ words were by no means unanimous in tone. But the generous + and brave San Martin praised the humane action, and pointed out to Ruiz a + place on his right hand. Then rising with a full glass he proposed a + toast: ‘Caballeros and comrades-in-arms, let us drink the health of + Captain Gaspar Ruiz.’ And when we had emptied our glasses: ‘I intend,’ the + Commander-in-Chief continued, ‘to entrust him with the guardianship of our + southern frontier, while we go afar to liberate our brethren in Peru. He + whom the enemy could not stop from striking a blow at his very heart will + know how to protect the peaceful populations we leave behind us to pursue + our sacred task.’ And he embraced the silent Gaspar Ruiz by his side. + </p> + <p> + “Later on, when we all rose from table, I approached the latest officer of + the army with my congratulations. ‘And, Captain Ruiz,’ I added, ‘perhaps + you do not mind telling a man who has always believed in the uprightness + of your character what became of Dona Erminia on that night?’ + </p> + <p> + “At this friendly question his aspect changed. He looked at me from under + his eyebrows with the heavy, dull glance of a guasso—of a peasant. + ‘Senor teniente,’ he said, thickly, and as if very much cast down, ‘do not + ask me about the senorita, for I prefer not to think about her at all when + I am amongst you.” + </p> + <p> + “He looked, with a frown, all about the room, full of smoking and talking + officers. Of course I did not insist. + </p> + <p> + “These, senores, were the last words I was to hear him utter for a long, + long time. The very next day we embarked for our arduous expedition to + Peru, and we only heard of Gaspar Ruiz’ doings in the midst of battles of + our own. He had been appointed military guardian of our southern province. + He raised a partida. But his leniency to the conquered foe displeased the + Civil Governor, who was a formal, uneasy man, full of suspicions. He + forwarded reports against Gaspar Ruiz to the Supreme Government; one of + them being that he had married publicly, with great pomp, a woman of + Royalist tendencies. Quarrels were sure to arise between these two men of + very different character. At last the Civil Governor began to complain of + his inactivity and to hint at treachery, which, he wrote, would be not + surprising in a man of such antecedents. Gaspar Ruiz heard of it. His rage + flamed up, and the woman ever by his side knew how to feed it with + perfidious words. I do not know whether really the Supreme Government ever + did—as he complained afterwards—send orders for his arrest. It + seems certain that the Civil Governor began to tamper with his officers, + and that Gaspar Ruiz discovered the fact. + </p> + <p> + “One evening, when the Governor was giving a tertullia, Gaspar Ruiz, + followed by six men he could trust, appeared riding through the town to + the door of the Government House, and entered the sala armed, his hat on + his head. As the Governor, displeased, advanced to meet him, he seized the + wretched man round the body, carried him off from the midst of the + appalled guests, as though he were a child, and flung him down the outer + steps into the street. An angry hug from Gaspar Ruiz was enough to crush + the life out of a giant; but in addition Gaspar Ruiz’ horsemen fired their + pistols at the body of the Governor as it lay motionless at the bottom of + the stairs.” + </p> + <p> + X + </p> + <p> + “After this—as he called it—act of justice, Ruiz crossed the + Rio Blanco, followed by the greater part of his band, and entrenched + himself upon a hill. A company of regular troops sent out foolishly + against him was surrounded, and destroyed almost to a man. Other + expeditions, though better organized, were equally unsuccessful. + </p> + <p> + “It was during these sanguinary skirmishes that his wife first began to + appear on horseback at his right hand. Rendered proud and self-confident + by his successes, Ruiz no longer charged at the head of his partida, but + presumptuously, like a general directing the movements of an army, he + remained in the rear, well mounted and motionless on an eminence, sending + out his orders. She was seen repeatedly at his side, and for a long time + was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then of a mysterious + white-faced chief, to whom the defeats of our troops were ascribed. She + rode like an Indian woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmed man’s hat and a + dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatest prosperity, this + poncho was embroidered in gold, and she wore then, also, the sword of poor + Don Antonio de Leyva. This veteran Chilian officer, having the misfortune + to be surrounded with his small force, and running short of ammunition, + found his death at the hands of the Arauco Indians, the allies and + auxiliaries of Gaspar Ruiz. This was the fatal affair long remembered + afterwards as the ‘Massacre of the Island.’ The sword of the unhappy + officer was presented to her by Peneleo, the Araucanian chief; for these + Indians, struck by her aspect, the deathly pallor of her face, which no + exposure to the weather seemed to affect, and her calm indifference under + fire, looked upon her as a supernatural being, or at least as a witch. By + this superstition the prestige and authority of Gaspar Ruiz amongst these + ignorant people were greatly augmented. She must have savoured her + vengeance to the full on that day when she buckled on the sword of Don + Antonio de Leyva. It never left her side, unless she put on her woman’s + clothes—not that she would or could ever use it, but she loved to + feel it beating upon her thigh as a perpetual reminder and symbol of the + dishonour to the arms of the Republic. She was insatiable. Moreover, on + the path she had led Gaspar Ruiz upon, there is no stopping. Escaped + prisoners—and they were not many—used to relate how with a few + whispered words she could change the expression of his face and revive his + flagging animosity. They told how after every skirmish, after every raid, + after every successful action, he would ride up to her and look into her + face. Its haughty calm was never relaxed. Her embrace, senores, must have + been as cold as the embrace of a statue. He tried to melt her icy heart in + a stream of warm blood. Some English naval officers who visited him at + that time noticed the strange character of his infatuation.” + </p> + <p> + At the movement of surprise and curiosity in his audience General + Santierra paused for a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Yes—English naval officers,” he repeated. “Ruiz had consented to + receive them to arrange for the liberation of some prisoners of your + nationality. In the territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast to the + Cordillera, there was a bay where the ships of that time, after rounding + Cape Horn, used to resort for wood and water. There, decoying the crew on + shore, he captured first the whaling brig Hersalia, and afterwards made + himself master by surprise of two more ships, one English and one + American. + </p> + <p> + “It was rumoured at the time that he dreamed of setting up a navy of his + own. But that, of course, was impossible. Still, manning the brig with + part of her own crew, and putting an officer and a good many men of his + own on board, he sent her off to the Spanish Governor of the island of + Chiloe with a report of his exploits, and a demand for assistance in the + war against the rebels. The Governor could not do much for him; but he + sent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of compliments, with a + colonel’s commission in the royal forces, and a great Spanish flag. This + standard with much ceremony was hoisted over his house in the heart of the + Arauco country. Surely on that day she may have smiled on her guasso + husband with a less haughty reserve. + </p> + <p> + “The senior officer of the English squadron on our coast made + representations to our Government as to these captures. But Gaspar Ruiz + refused to treat with us. Then an English frigate proceeded to the bay, + and her captain, doctor, and two lieutenants travelled inland under a + safe-conduct. They were well received, and spent three days as guests of + the partisan chief. A sort of military barbaric state was kept up at the + residence. It was furnished with the loot of frontier towns. When first + admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife lying down (she was not + in good health then), with Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot of the couch. + His hat was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on the hilt of his + sword. + </p> + <p> + “During that first conversation he never removed his big hands from the + sword-hilt, except once, to arrange the coverings about her, with gentle, + careful touches. They noticed that whenever she spoke he would fix his + eyes upon her in a kind of expectant, breathless attention, and seemingly + forget the existence of the world and his own existence, too. In the + course of the farewell banquet, at which she was present reclining on her + couch, he burst forth into complaints of the treatment he had received. + After General San Martin’s departure he had been beset by spies, slandered + by civil officials, his services ignored, his liberty and even his life + threatened by the Chilian Government. He got up from the table, thundered + execrations pacing the room wildly, then sat down on the couch at his + wife’s feet, his breast heaving, his eyes fixed on the floor. She reclined + on her back, her head on the cushions, her eyes nearly closed. + </p> + <p> + “‘And now I am an honoured Spanish officer,’ he added in a calm voice. + </p> + <p> + “The captain of the English frigate then took the opportunity to inform + him gently that Lima had fallen, and that by the terms of a convention the + Spaniards were withdrawing from the whole continent. + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz raised his head, and without hesitation, speaking with + suppressed vehemence, declared that if not a single Spanish soldier were + left in the whole of South America he would persist in carrying on the + contest against Chile to the last drop of blood. When he finished that mad + tirade his wife’s long white hand was raised, and she just caressed his + knee with the tips of her fingers for a fraction of a second. + </p> + <p> + “For the rest of the officers’ stay, which did not extend for more than + half an hour after the banquet, that ferocious chieftain of a desperate + partida overflowed with amiability and kindness. He had been hospitable + before, but now it seemed as though he could not do enough for the comfort + and safety of his visitors’ journey back to their ship. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing, I have been told, could have presented a greater contrast to his + late violence or the habitual taciturn reserve of his manner. Like a man + elated beyond measure by an unexpected happiness, he overflowed with + good-will, amiability, and attentions. He embraced the officers like + brothers, almost with tears in his eyes. The released prisoners were + presented each with a piece of gold. At the last moment, suddenly, he + declared he could do no less than restore to the masters of the merchant + vessels all their private property. This unexpected generosity caused some + delay in the departure of the party, and their first march was very short. + </p> + <p> + “Late in the evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an escort, to their camp + fires, bringing along with him a mule loaded with cases of wine. He had + come, he said, to drink a stirrup cup with his English friends, whom he + would never see again. He was mellow and joyous in his temper. He told + stories of his own exploits, laughed like a boy, borrowed a guitar from + the Englishmen’s chief muleteer, and sitting cross-legged on his superfine + poncho spread before the glow of the embers, sang a guasso love-song in a + tender voice. Then his head dropped on his breast, his hands fell to the + ground; the guitar rolled off his knees—and a great hush fell over + the camp after the love-song of the implacable partisan who had made so + many of our people weep for destroyed homes and for loves cut short. + </p> + <p> + “Before anybody could make a sound he sprang up from the ground and called + for his horse. + </p> + <p> + “‘Adios, my friends!’ he cried. ‘Go with God. I love you. And tell them + well in Santiago that between Gaspar Ruiz, colonel of the King of Spain, + and the republican carrion-crows of Chile there is war to the last breath—war! + war! war!’ + </p> + <p> + “With a great yell of ‘War! war! war!’ which his escort took up, they rode + away, and the sound of hoofs and of voices died out in the distance + between the slopes of the hills. + </p> + <p> + “The two young English officers were convinced that Ruiz was mad. How do + you say that?—tile loose—eh? But the doctor, an observant + Scotsman with much shrewdness and philosophy in his character, told me + that it was a very curious case of possession. I met him many years + afterwards, but he remembered the experience very well. He told me, too, + that in his opinion that woman did not lead Gaspar Ruiz into the practice + of sanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the subtle way of + awakening and keeping alive in his simple mind a burning sense of an + irreparable wrong. Maybe, maybe. But I would say that she poured half of + her vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you may pour + intoxication, madness, poison into an empty cup. + </p> + <p> + “If he wanted war he got it in earnest when our victorious army began to + return from Peru. Systematic operations were planned against this blot on + the honour and prosperity of our hardly won independence. General Robles + commanded, with his well-known ruthless severity. Savage reprisals were + exercised on both sides and no quarter was given in the field. Having won + my promotion in the Peru campaign, I was a captain on the staff. Gaspar + Ruiz found himself hard pressed; at the same time we heard by means of a + fugitive priest who had been carried off from his village presbytery and + galloped eighty miles into the hills to perform the christening ceremony, + that a daughter was born to them. To celebrate the event, I suppose, Ruiz + executed one or two brilliant forays clear away at the rear of our forces, + and defeated the detachments sent out to cut off his retreat. General + Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy from rage. He found another cause + of insomnia than the bites of mosquitoes; but against this one, senores, + tumblers of raw brandy had no more effect than so much water. He took to + railing and storming at me about my strong man. And from our impatience to + end this inglorious campaign I am afraid that all we young officers became + reckless and apt to take undue risks on service. + </p> + <p> + “Nevertheless, slowly, inch by inch as it were, our columns were closing + upon Gaspar Ruiz, though he had managed to raise all the Araucanian nation + of wild Indians against us. Then a year or more later our Government + became aware through its agents and spies that he had actually entered + into alliance with Carreras, the so-called dictator of the so-called + republic of Mendoza, on the other side of the mountains. Whether Gaspar + Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether he wished only to secure a + safe retreat for his wife and child while he pursued remorselessly against + us his war of surprises and massacres, I cannot tell. The alliance, + however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt to check our advance from the + sea, he retreated with his usual swiftness, and preparing for another hard + and hazardous tussle, began by sending his wife with the little girl + across the Pequena range of mountains, on the frontier of Mendoza.” + </p> + <p> + XI + </p> + <p> + “Now Carreras, under the guise of politics and liberalism, was a scoundrel + of the deepest dye, and the unhappy state of Mendoza was the prey of + thieves, robbers, traitors, and murderers, who formed his party. He was + under a noble exterior a man without heart, pity, honour, or conscience. + He aspired to nothing but tyranny, and though he would have made use of + Gaspar Ruiz for his nefarious designs, yet he soon became aware that to + propitiate the Chilian Government would answer his purpose better. I blush + to say that he made proposals to our Government to deliver up on certain + conditions the wife and child of the man who had trusted to his honour, + and that this offer was accepted. + </p> + <p> + “While on her way to Mendoza over the Pequena Pass she was betrayed by her + escort of Carreras’ men, and given up to the officer in command of a + Chilian fort on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range. This + atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for as a matter of fact I + was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz’ camp when he received the news. I had been + captured during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers being + speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was saved from the same fate + because he recognized my features just in time. No doubt my friends + thought I was dead, and I would not have given much for my life at any + time. But the strong man treated me very well, because, he said, I had + always believed in his innocence and had tried to serve him when he was a + victim of injustice. + </p> + <p> + “‘And now,’ was his speech to me, ‘you shall see that I always speak the + truth. You are safe.’ + </p> + <p> + “I did not think I was very safe when I was called up to go to him one + night. He paced up and down like a wild beast, exclaiming, ‘Betrayed! + Betrayed!’ + </p> + <p> + “He walked up to me clenching his fists. ‘I could cut your throat.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Will that give your wife back to you?’ I said as quietly as I could. + </p> + <p> + “‘And the child!’ he yelled out, as if mad. He fell into a chair and + laughed in a frightful, boisterous manner. ‘Oh, no, you are safe.’ + </p> + <p> + “I assured him that his wife’s life was safe, too; but I did not say what + I was convinced of—that he would never see her again. He wanted war + to the death, and the war could only end with his death. + </p> + <p> + “He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat muttering blankly, ‘In + their hands. In their hands.’ + </p> + <p> + “I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. + </p> + <p> + “Suddenly he jumped up. ‘What am I doing here?’ he cried; and opening the + door, he yelled out orders to saddle and mount. ‘What is it?’ he + stammered, coming up to me. ‘The Pequena fort; a fort of palisades! + Nothing. I would get her back if she were hidden in the very heart of the + mountain.’ He amazed me by adding, with an effort: ‘I carried her off in + my two arms while the earth trembled. And the child at least is mine. She + at least is mine!’ + </p> + <p> + “Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for wonder. + </p> + <p> + “‘You shall go with me,’ he said, violently. ‘I may want to parley, and + any other messenger from Ruiz, the outlaw, would have his throat cut.’ + </p> + <p> + “This was true enough. Between him and the rest of incensed mankind there + could be no communication, according to the customs of honourable warfare. + </p> + <p> + “In less than half an hour we were in the saddle, flying wildly through + the night. He had only an escort of twenty men at his quarters, but would + not wait for more. He sent, however, messengers to Peneleo, the Indian + chief then ranging in the foothills, directing him to bring his warriors + to the uplands and meet him at the lake called the Eye of Water, near + whose shores the frontier fort of Pequena was built. + </p> + <p> + “We crossed the lowlands with that untired rapidity of movement which had + made Gaspar Ruiz’ raids so famous. We followed the lower valleys up to + their precipitous heads. The ride was not without its dangers. A cornice + road on a perpendicular wall of basalt wound itself around a buttressing + rock, and at last we emerged from the gloom of a deep gorge upon the + upland of Pequena. + </p> + <p> + “It was a plain of green wiry grass and thin flowering bushes; but high + above our heads patches of snow hung in the folds and crevices of the + great walls of rock. The little lake was as round as a staring eye. The + garrison of the fort were just driving in their small herd of cattle when + we appeared. Then the great wooden gates swung to, and that four-square + enclosure of broad blackened stakes pointed at the top and barely hiding + the grass roofs of the huts inside seemed deserted, empty, without a + single soul. + </p> + <p> + “But when summoned to surrender, by a man who at Gaspar Ruiz’ order rode + fearlessly forward those inside answered by a volley which rolled him and + his horse over. I heard Ruiz by my side grind his teeth. ‘It does not + matter,’ he said. ‘Now you go.’ + </p> + <p> + “Torn and faded as its rags were, the vestiges of my uniform were + recognized, and I was allowed to approach within speaking distance; and + then I had to wait, because a voice clamouring through a loophole with joy + and astonishment would not allow me to place a word. It was the voice of + Major Pajol, an old friend. He, like my other comrades, had thought me + killed a long time ago. + </p> + <p> + “‘Put spurs to your horse, man!’ he yelled, in the greatest excitement; + ‘we will swing the gate open for you.’ + </p> + <p> + “I let the reins fall out of my hand and shook my head. ‘I am on my + honour,’ I cried. + </p> + <p> + “‘To him!’ he shouted, with infinite disgust. + </p> + <p> + “‘He promises you your life.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Our life is our own. And do you, Santierra, advise us to surrender to + that rastrero?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘No!’ I shouted. ‘But he wants his wife and child, and he can cut you off + from water.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Then she would be the first to suffer. You may tell him that. Look here—this + is all nonsense: we shall dash out and capture you.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You shall not catch me alive,’ I said, firmly. + </p> + <p> + “‘Imbecile!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘For God’s sake,’ I continued, hastily, ‘do not open the gate.’ And I + pointed at the multitude of Peneleo’s Indians who covered the shores of + the lake. + </p> + <p> + “I had never seen so many of these savages together. Their lances seemed + as numerous as stalks of grass. Their hoarse voices made a vast, + inarticulate sound like the murmur of the sea. + </p> + <p> + “My friend Pajol was swearing to himself. ‘Well, then—go to the + devil!’ he shouted, exasperated. But as I swung round he repented, for I + heard him say hurriedly, ‘Shoot the fool’s horse before he gets away.’ + </p> + <p> + “He had good marksmen. Two shots rang out, and in the very act of turning + my horse staggered, fell and lay still as if struck by lightning. I had my + feet out of the stirrups and rolled clear of him; but I did not attempt to + rise. Neither dared they rush out to drag me in. + </p> + <p> + “The masses of Indians had begun to move upon the fort. They rode up in + squadrons, trailing their long chusos; then dismounted out of musket-shot, + and, throwing off their fur mantles, advanced naked to the attack, + stamping their feet and shouting in cadence. A sheet of flame ran three + times along the face of the fort without checking their steady march. They + crowded right up to the very stakes, flourishing their broad knives. But + this palisade was not fastened together with hide lashings in the usual + way, but with long iron nails, which they could not cut. Dismayed at the + failure of their usual method of forcing an entrance, the heathen, who had + marched so steadily against the musketry fire, broke and fled under the + volleys of the besieged. + </p> + <p> + “Directly they had passed me on their advance I got up and rejoined Gaspar + Ruiz on a low ridge which jutted out upon the plain. The musketry of his + own men had covered the attack, but now at a sign from him a trumpet + sounded the ‘Cease fire.’ Together we looked in silence at the hopeless + rout of the savages. + </p> + <p> + “‘It must be a siege, then,’ he muttered. And I detected him wringing his + hands stealthily. + </p> + <p> + “But what sort of siege could it be? Without any need for me to repeat my + friend Pajol’s message, he dared not cut the water off from the besieged. + They had plenty of meat. And, indeed, if they had been short he would have + been too anxious to send food into the stockade had he been able. But, as + a matter of fact, it was we on the plain who were beginning to feel the + pinch of hunger. + </p> + <p> + “Peneleo, the Indian chief, sat by our fire folded in his ample mantle of + guanaco skins. He was an athletic savage, with an enormous square shock + head of hair resembling a straw beehive in shape and size, and with grave, + surly, much-lined features. In his broken Spanish he repeated, growling + like a bad-tempered wild beast, that if an opening ever so small were made + in the stockade his men would march in and get the senora—not + otherwise. + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz, sitting opposite him, kept his eyes fixed on the fort night + and day as it were, in awful silence and immobility. Meantime, by runners + from the lowlands that arrived nearly every day, we heard of the defeat of + one of his lieutenants in the Maipu valley. Scouts sent afar brought news + of a column of infantry advancing through distant passes to the relief of + the fort. They were slow, but we could trace their toilful progress up the + lower valleys. I wondered why Ruiz did not march to attack and destroy + this threatening force, in some wild gorge fit for an ambuscade, in + accordance with his genius for guerilla warfare. But his genius seemed to + have abandoned him to his despair. + </p> + <p> + “It was obvious to me that he could not tear himself away from the sight + of the fort. I protest to you, senores, that I was moved almost to pity by + the sight of this powerless strong man sitting on the ridge, indifferent + to sun, to rain, to cold, to wind; with his hands clasped round his legs + and his chin resting on his knees, gazing—gazing—gazing. + </p> + <p> + “And the fort he kept his eyes fastened on was as still and silent as + himself. The garrison gave no sign of life. They did not even answer the + desultory fire directed at the loopholes. + </p> + <p> + “One night, as I strolled past him, he, without changing his attitude, + spoke to me unexpectedly. ‘I have sent for a gun,’ he said. ‘I shall have + time to get her back and retreat before your Robles manages to crawl up + here.’ + </p> + <p> + “He had sent for a gun to the plains. + </p> + <p> + “It was long in coming, but at last it came. It was a seven-pounder field + gun. Dismounted and lashed crosswise to two long poles, it had been + carried up the narrow paths between two mules with ease. His wild cry of + exultation at daybreak when he saw the gun escort emerge from the valley + rings in my ears now. + </p> + <p> + “But, senores, I have no words to depict his amazement, his fury, his + despair and distraction, when he heard that the animal loaded with the + gun-carriage had, during the last night march, somehow or other tumbled + down a precipice. He broke into menaces of death and torture against the + escort. I kept out of his way all that day, lying behind some bushes, and + wondering what he would do now. Retreat was left for him, but he could not + retreat. + </p> + <p> + “I saw below me his artillerist, Jorge, an old Spanish soldier, building + up a sort of structure with heaped-up saddles. The gun, ready loaded, was + lifted on to that, but in the act of firing the whole thing collapsed and + the shot flew high above the stockade. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing more was attempted. One of the ammunition mules had been lost, + too, and they had no more than six shots to fire; ample enough to batter + down the gate providing the gun was well laid. This was impossible without + it being properly mounted. There was no time nor means to construct a + carriage. Already every moment I expected to hear Robles’ bugle-calls echo + amongst the crags. + </p> + <p> + “Peneleo, wandering about uneasily, draped in his skins, sat down for a + moment near me growling his usual tale. + </p> + <p> + “‘Make an entrada—a hole. If make a hole, bueno. If not make a hole, + then vamos—we must go away.’ + </p> + <p> + “After sunset I observed with surprise the Indians making preparations as + if for another assault. Their lines stood ranged in the shadows of the + mountains. On the plain in front of the fort gate I saw a group of men + swaying about in the same place. + </p> + <p> + “I walked down the ridge disregarded. The moonlight in the clear air of + the uplands was bright as day, but the intense shadows confused my sight, + and I could not make out what they were doing. I heard the voice of Jorge, + the artillerist, say in a queer, doubtful tone, ‘It is loaded, senor.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then another voice in that group pronounced firmly the words, ‘Bring the + riata here.’ It was the voice of Gaspar Ruiz. + </p> + <p> + “A silence fell, in which the popping shots of the besieged garrison rang + out sharply. They, too, had observed the group. But the distance was too + great and in the spatter of spent musket-balls cutting up the ground, the + group opened, closed, swayed, giving me a glimpse of busy stooping figures + in its midst. I drew nearer, doubting whether this was a weird vision, a + suggestive and insensate dream. + </p> + <p> + “A strangely stifled voice commanded, ‘Haul the hitches tighter.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Si, senor,’ several other voices answered in tones of awed alacrity. + </p> + <p> + “Then the stifled voice said: ‘Like this. I must be free to breathe.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then there was a concerned noise of many men together. ‘Help him up, + hombres. Steady! Under the other arm.’ + </p> + <p> + “That deadened voice ordered: ‘Bueno! Stand away from me, men.’ + </p> + <p> + “I pushed my way through the recoiling circle, and heard once more that + same oppressed voice saying earnestly: ‘Forget that I am a living man, + Jorge. Forget me altogether, and think of what you have to do.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Be without fear, senor. You are nothing to me but a gun-carriage, and I + shall not waste a shot.’ + </p> + <p> + “I heard the spluttering of a port-fire, and smelt the saltpetre of the + match. I saw suddenly before me a nondescript shape on all fours like a + beast, but with a man’s head drooping below a tubular projection over the + nape of the neck, and the gleam of a rounded mass of bronze on its back. + </p> + <p> + “In front of a silent semicircle of men it squatted alone, with Jorge + behind it and a trumpeter motionless, his trumpet in his hand, by its + side. + </p> + <p> + “Jorge, bent double, muttered, port-fire in hand: ‘An inch to the left, + senor. Too much. So. Now, if you let yourself down a little by letting + your elbows bend, I will . . .’ + </p> + <p> + “He leaped aside, lowering his port-fire, and a burst of flame darted out + of the muzzle of the gun lashed on the man’s back. + </p> + <p> + “Then Gaspar Ruiz lowered himself slowly. ‘Good shot?’ he asked. + </p> + <p> + “‘Full on, senor.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Then load again.’ + </p> + <p> + “He lay there before me on his breast under the darkly glittering bronze + of his monstrous burden, such as no love or strength of man had ever had + to bear in the lamentable history of the world. His arms were spread out, + and he resembled a prostrate penitent on the moonlit ground. + </p> + <p> + “Again I saw him raised to his hands and knees and the men stand away from + him, and old Jorge stoop glancing along the gun. + </p> + <p> + “‘Left a little. Right an inch. Por Dios, senor, stop this trembling. + Where is your strength?’ + </p> + <p> + “The old gunner’s voice was cracked with emotion. He stepped aside, and + quick as lightning brought the spark to the touch-hole. + </p> + <p> + “‘Excellent!’ he cried, tearfully; but Gaspar Ruiz lay for a long time + silent, flattened on the ground. + </p> + <p> + “‘I am tired,’ he murmured at last. ‘Will another shot do it?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Without doubt,’ said Jorge, bending down to his ear. + </p> + <p> + “‘Then—load,’ I heard him utter distinctly. ‘Trumpeter!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I am here, senor, ready for your word.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Blow a blast at this word that shall be heard from one end of Chile to + the other,’ he said, in an extraordinarily strong voice. ‘And you others + stand ready to cut this accursed riata, for then will be the time for me + to lead you in your rush. Now raise me up, and you, Jorge—be quick + with your aim.’ + </p> + <p> + “The rattle of musketry from the fort nearly drowned his voice. The + palisade was wreathed in smoke and flame. + </p> + <p> + “‘Exert your force forward against the recoil, mi amo,’ said the old + gunner, shakily. ‘Dig your fingers into the ground. So. Now!’ + </p> + <p> + “A cry of exultation escaped him after the shot. The trumpeter raised his + trumpet nearly to his lips and waited. But no word came from the prostrate + man. I fell on one knee, and heard all he had to say then. + </p> + <p> + “‘Something broken,’ he whispered, lifting his head a little, and turning + his eyes towards me in his hopelessly crushed attitude. + </p> + <p> + “‘The gate hangs only by the splinters,’ yelled Jorge. + </p> + <p> + “Gaspar Ruiz tried to speak, but his voice died out in his throat, and I + helped to roll the gun off his broken back. He was insensible. + </p> + <p> + “I kept my lips shut, of course. The signal for the Indians to attack was + never given. Instead, the bugle-calls of the relieving force for which my + ears had thirsted so long, burst out, terrifying like the call of the Last + Day to our surprised enemies. + </p> + <p> + “A tornado, senores, a real hurricane of stampeded men, wild horses, + mounted Indians, swept over me as I cowered on the ground by the side of + Gaspar Ruiz, still stretched out on his face in the shape of a cross. + Peneleo, galloping for life, jabbed at me with his long chuso in passing—for + the sake of old acquaintance, I suppose. How I escaped the flying lead is + more difficult to explain. Venturing to rise on my knees too soon some + soldiers of the 17th Taltal regiment, in their hurry to get at something + alive, nearly bayoneted me on the spot. They looked very disappointed, + too, when, some officers galloping up drove them away with the flat of + their swords. + </p> + <p> + “It was General Robles with his staff. He wanted badly to make some + prisoners. He, too, seemed disappointed for a moment. ‘What! Is it you?’ + he cried. But he dismounted at once to embrace me, for he was an old + friend of my family. I pointed to the body at our feet, and said only + these two words: + </p> + <p> + “‘Gaspar Ruiz.’ + </p> + <p> + “He threw his arms up in astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “‘Aha! Your strong man! Always to the last with your strong man. No + matter. He saved our lives when the earth trembled enough to make the + bravest faint with fear. I was frightened out of my wits. But he—no! + Que guape! Where’s the hero who got the best of him? ha! ha! ha! What + killed him, chico?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘His own strength, General,’ I answered.” + </p> + <p> + XII + </p> + <p> + “But Gaspar Ruiz breathed yet. I had him carried in his poncho under the + shelter of some bushes on the very ridge from which he had been gazing so + fixedly at the fort while unseen death was hovering already over his head. + </p> + <p> + “Our troops had bivouacked round the fort. Towards daybreak I was not + surprised to hear that I was designated to command the escort of a + prisoner who was to be sent down at once to Santiago. Of course the + prisoner was Gaspar Ruiz’ wife. + </p> + <p> + “‘I have named you out of regard for your feelings,’ General Robles + remarked. ‘Though the woman really ought to be shot for all the harm she + has done to the Republic.’ + </p> + <p> + “And as I made a movement of shocked protest, he continued: + </p> + <p> + “‘Now he is as well as dead, she is of no importance. Nobody will know + what to do with her. However, the Government wants her.’ He shrugged his + shoulders. ‘I suppose he must have buried large quantities of his loot in + places that she alone knows of.’ + </p> + <p> + “At dawn I saw her coming up the ridge, guarded by two soldiers, and + carrying her child on her arm. + </p> + <p> + “I walked to meet her. + </p> + <p> + “‘Is he living yet?’ she asked, confronting me with that white, impassive + face he used to look at in an adoring way. + </p> + <p> + “I bent my head, and led her round a clump of bushes without a word. His + eyes were open. He breathed with difficulty, and uttered her name with a + great effort. + </p> + <p> + “‘Erminia!’ + </p> + <p> + “She knelt at his head. The little girl, unconscious of him, and with her + big eyes looking about, began to chatter suddenly, in a joyous, thin + voice. She pointed a tiny finger at the rosy glow of sunrise behind the + black shapes of the peaks. And while that child-talk, incomprehensible and + sweet to the ear, lasted, those two, the dying man and the kneeling woman, + remained silent, looking into each other’s eyes, listening to the frail + sound. Then the prattle stopped. The child laid its head against its + mother’s breast and was still. + </p> + <p> + “‘It was for you,’ he began. ‘Forgive.’ His voice failed him. Presently I + heard a mutter and caught the pitiful words: ‘Not strong enough.’ + </p> + <p> + “She looked at him with an extraordinary intensity. He tried to smile, and + in a humble tone, ‘Forgive me,’ he repeated. ‘Leaving you . . .’ + </p> + <p> + “She bent down, dry-eyed and in a steady voice: ‘On all the earth I have + loved nothing but you, Gaspar,’ she said. + </p> + <p> + “His head made a movement. His eyes revived. ‘At last!’ he sighed out. + Then, anxiously, ‘But is this true . . . is this true?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘As true as that there is no mercy and justice in this world,’ she + answered him, passionately. She stooped over his face. He tried to raise + his head, but it fell back, and when she kissed his lips he was already + dead. His glazed eyes stared at the sky, on which pink clouds floated very + high. But I noticed the eyelids of the child, pressed to its mother’s + breast, droop and close slowly. She had gone to sleep. + </p> + <p> + “The widow of Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed me to lead her away + without shedding a tear. + </p> + <p> + “For travelling we had arranged for her a sidesaddle very much like a + chair, with a board swung beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day + she rode without uttering a word, and hardly for one moment turning her + eyes away from the little girl, whom she held on her knees. At our first + camp I saw her during the night walking about, rocking the child in her + arms and gazing down at it by the light of the moon. After we had started + on our second day’s march she asked me how soon we should come to the + first village of the inhabited country. + </p> + <p> + “I said we should be there about noon. + </p> + <p> + “‘And will there be women there?’ she inquired. + </p> + <p> + “I told her that it was a large village. ‘There will be men and women + there, senora,’ I said, ‘whose hearts shall be made glad by the news that + all the unrest and war is over now.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, it is all over now,’ she repeated. Then, after a time: ‘Senor + officer, what will your Government do with me?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I do not know, senora,’ I said. ‘They will treat you well, no doubt. We + republicans are not savages and take no vengeance on women.’ + </p> + <p> + “She gave me a look at the word ‘republicans’ which I imagined full of + undying hate. But an hour or so afterwards, as we drew up to let the + baggage mules go first along a narrow path skirting a precipice, she + looked at me with such a white, troubled face that I felt a great pity for + her. + </p> + <p> + “‘Senor officer,’ she said, ‘I am weak, I tremble. It is an insensate + fear.’ And indeed her lips did tremble while she tried to smile, glancing + at the beginning of the narrow path which was not so dangerous after all. + ‘I am afraid I shall drop the child. Gaspar saved your life, you remember. + . . . Take her from me.’ + </p> + <p> + “I took the child out of her extended arms. ‘Shut your eyes, senora, and + trust to your mule,’ I recommended. + </p> + <p> + “She did so, and with her pallor and her wasted, thin face she looked + deathlike. At a turn of the path where a great crag of purple porphyry + closes the view of the lowlands, I saw her open her eyes. I rode just + behind her holding the little girl with my right arm. ‘The child is all + right,’ I cried encouragingly. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ she answered, faintly; and then, to my intense terror, I saw her + stand up on the foot-rest, staring horribly, and throw herself forward + into the chasm on our right. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot describe to you the sudden and abject fear that came over me at + that dreadful sight. It was a dread of the abyss, the dread of the crags + which seemed to nod upon me. My head swam. I pressed the child to my side + and sat my horse as still as a statue. I was speechless and cold all over. + Her mule staggered, sidling close to the rock, and then went on. My horse + only pricked up his ears with a slight snort. My heart stood still, and + from the depths of the precipice the stones rattling in the bed of the + furious stream made me almost insane with their sound. + </p> + <p> + “Next moment we were round the turn and on a broad and grassy slope. And + then I yelled. My men came running back to me in great alarm. It seems + that at first I did nothing but shout, ‘She has given the child into my + hands! She has given the child into my hands!’ The escort thought I had + gone mad.” + </p> + <p> + General Santierra ceased and got up from the table. “And that is all, + senores,” he concluded, with a courteous glance at his rising guests. + </p> + <p> + “But what became of the child. General?” we asked. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, the child, the child.” + </p> + <p> + He walked to one of the windows opening on his beautiful garden, the + refuge of his old days. Its fame was great in the land. Keeping us back + with a raised arm, he called out, “Erminia, Erminia!” and waited. Then his + cautioning arm dropped, and we crowded to the windows. + </p> + <p> + From a clump of trees a woman had come upon the broad walk bordered with + flowers. We could hear the rustle of her starched petticoats and observed + the ample spread of her old-fashioned black silk skirt. She looked up, and + seeing all these eyes staring at her stopped, frowned, smiled, shook her + finger at the General, who was laughing boisterously, and drawing the + black lace on her head so as to partly conceal her haughty profile, passed + out of our sight, walking with stiff dignity. + </p> + <p> + “You have beheld the guardian angel of the old man—and her to whom + you owe all that is seemly and comfortable in my hospitality. Somehow, + senores, though the flame of love has been kindled early in my breast, I + have never married. And because of that perhaps the sparks of the sacred + fire are not yet extinct here.” He struck his broad chest. “Still alive, + still alive,” he said, with serio-comic emphasis. “But I shall not marry + now. She is General Santierra’s adopted daughter and heiress.” + </p> + <p> + One of our fellow-guests, a young naval officer, described her afterwards + as a “short, stout, old girl of forty or thereabouts.” We had all noticed + that her hair was turning grey, and that she had very fine black eyes. + </p> + <p> + “And,” General Santierra continued, “neither would she ever hear of + marrying any one. A real calamity! Good, patient, devoted to the old man. + A simple soul. But I would not advise any of you to ask for her hand, for + if she took yours into hers it would be only to crush your bones. Ah! she + does not jest on that subject. And she is the own daughter of her father, + the strong man who perished through his own strength: the strength of his + body, of his simplicity—of his love!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE INFORMER + </h2> + <h3> + AN IRONIC TALE + </h3> + <p> + Mr. X came to me, preceded by a letter of introduction from a good friend + of mine in Paris, specifically to see my collection of Chinese bronzes and + porcelain. + </p> + <p> + “My friend in Paris is a collector, too. He collects neither porcelain, + nor bronzes, nor pictures, nor medals, nor stamps, nor anything that could + be profitably dispersed under an auctioneer’s hammer. He would reject, + with genuine surprise, the name of a collector. Nevertheless, that’s what + he is by temperament. He collects acquaintances. It is delicate work. He + brings to it the patience, the passion, the determination of a true + collector of curiosities. His collection does not contain any royal + personages. I don’t think he considers them sufficiently rare and + interesting; but, with that exception, he has met with and talked to + everyone worth knowing on any conceivable ground. He observes them, + listens to them, penetrates them, measures them, and puts the memory away + in the galleries of his mind. He has schemed, plotted, and travelled all + over Europe in order to add to his collection of distinguished personal + acquaintances. + </p> + <p> + “As he is wealthy, well connected, and unprejudiced, his collection is + pretty complete, including objects (or should I say subjects?) whose value + is unappreciated by the vulgar, and often unknown to popular fame. Of + trevolte of modern times. The world knows him as a revolutionary writer + whose savage irony has laid bare the rottenness of the most respectable + institutions. He has scalped every venerated head, and has mangled at the + stake of his wit every received opinion and every recognized principle of + conduct and policy. Who does not remember his flaming red revolutionary + pamphlets? Their sudden swarmings used to overwhelm the powers of every + Continental police like a plague of crimson gadflies. But this extreme + writer has been also the active inspirer of secret societies, the + mysterious unknown Number One of desperate conspiracies suspected and + unsuspected, matured or baffled. And the world at large has never had an + inkling of that fact! This accounts for him going about amongst us to this + day, a veteran of many subterranean campaigns, standing aside now, safe + within his reputation of merely the greatest destructive publicist that + ever lived.” + </p> + <p> + Thus wrote my friend, adding that Mr. X was an enlightened connoisseur of + bronzes and china, and asking me to show him my collection. + </p> + <p> + X turned up in due course. My treasures are disposed in three large rooms + without carpets and curtains. There is no other furniture than the etagres + and the glass cases whose contents shall be worth a fortune to my heirs. I + allow no fires to be lighted, for fear of accidents, and a fire-proof door + separates them from the rest of the house. + </p> + <p> + It was a bitter cold day. We kept on our overcoats and hats. Middle-sized + and spare, his eyes alert in a long, Roman-nosed countenance, X walked on + his neat little feet, with short steps, and looked at my collection + intelligently. I hope I looked at him intelligently, too. A snow-white + moustache and imperial made his nutbrown complexion appear darker than it + really was. In his fur coat and shiny tall hat that terrible man looked + fashionable. I believe he belonged to a noble family, and could have + called himself Vicomte X de la Z if he chose. We talked nothing but + bronzes and porcelain. He was remarkably appreciative. We parted on + cordial terms. + </p> + <p> + Where he was staying I don’t know. I imagine he must have been a lonely + man. Anarchists, I suppose, have no families—not, at any rate, as we + understand that social relation. Organization into families may answer to + a need of human nature, but in the last instance it is based on law, and + therefore must be something odious and impossible to an anarchist. But, + indeed, I don’t understand anarchists. Does a man of that—of that—persuasion + still remain an anarchist when alone, quite alone and going to bed, for + instance? Does he lay his head on the pillow, pull his bedclothes over + him, and go to sleep with the necessity of the chambardement general, as + the French slang has it, of the general blow-up, always present to his + mind? And if so how can he? I am sure that if such a faith (or such a + fanaticism) once mastered my thoughts I would never be able to compose + myself sufficiently to sleep or eat or perform any of the routine acts of + daily life. I would want no wife, no children; I could have no friends, it + seems to me; and as to collecting bronzes or china, that, I should say, + would be quite out of the question. But I don’t know. All I know is that + Mr. X took his meals in a very good restaurant which I frequented also. + </p> + <p> + With his head uncovered, the silver top-knot of his brushed-up hair + completed the character of his physiognomy, all bony ridges and sunken + hollows, clothed in a perfect impassiveness of expression. His meagre + brown hands emerging from large white cuffs came and went breaking bread, + pouring wine, and so on, with quiet mechanical precision. His head and + body above the tablecloth had a rigid immobility. This firebrand, this + great agitator, exhibited the least possible amount of warmth and + animation. His voice was rasping, cold, and monotonous in a low key. He + could not be called a talkative personality; but with his detached calm + manner he appeared as ready to keep the conversation going as to drop it + at any moment. + </p> + <p> + And his conversation was by no means commonplace. To me, I own, there was + some excitement in talking quietly across a dinner-table with a man whose + venomous pen-stabs had sapped the vitality of at least one monarchy. That + much was a matter of public knowledge. But I knew more. I knew of him—from + my friend—as a certainty what the guardians of social order in + Europe had at most only suspected, or dimly guessed at. + </p> + <p> + He had had what I may call his underground life. And as I sat, evening + after evening, facing him at dinner, a curiosity in that direction would + naturally arise in my mind. I am a quiet and peaceable product of + civilization, and know no passion other than the passion for collecting + things which are rare, and must remain exquisite even if approaching to + the monstrous. Some Chinese bronzes are monstrously precious. And here + (out of my friend’s collection), here I had before me a kind of rare + monster. It is true that this monster was polished and in a sense even + exquisite. His beautiful unruffled manner was that. But then he was not of + bronze. He was not even Chinese, which would have enabled one to + contemplate him calmly across the gulf of racial difference. He was alive + and European; he had the manner of good society, wore a coat and hat like + mine, and had pretty near the same taste in cooking. It was too frightful + to think of. + </p> + <p> + One evening he remarked, casually, in the course of conversation, “There’s + no amendment to be got out of mankind except by terror and violence.” + </p> + <p> + You can imagine the effect of such a phrase out of such a man’s mouth upon + a person like myself, whose whole scheme of life had been based upon a + suave and delicate discrimination of social and artistic values. Just + imagine! Upon me, to whom all sorts and forms of violence appeared as + unreal as the giants, ogres, and seven-headed hydras whose activities + affect, fantastically, the course of legends and fairy-tales! + </p> + <p> + I seemed suddenly to hear above the festive bustle and clatter of the + brilliant restaurant the mutter of a hungry and seditious multitude. + </p> + <p> + I suppose I am impressionable and imaginative. I had a disturbing vision + of darkness, full of lean jaws and wild eyes, amongst the hundred electric + lights of the place. But somehow this vision made me angry, too. The sight + of that man, so calm, breaking bits of white bread, exasperated me. And I + had the audacity to ask him how it was that the starving proletariat of + Europe to whom he had been preaching revolt and violence had not been made + indignant by his openly luxurious life. “At all this,” I said, pointedly, + with a glance round the room and at the bottle of champagne we generally + shared between us at dinner. + </p> + <p> + He remained unmoved. + </p> + <p> + “Do I feed on their toil and their heart’s blood? Am I a speculator or a + capitalist? Did I steal my fortune from a starving people? No! They know + this very well. And they envy me nothing. The miserable mass of the people + is generous to its leaders. What I have acquired has come to me through my + writings; not from the millions of pamphlets distributed gratis to the + hungry and the oppressed, but from the hundreds of thousands of copies + sold to the well-fed bourgeoisie. You know that my writings were at one + time the rage, the fashion—the thing to read with wonder and horror, + to turn your eyes up at my pathos . . . or else, to laugh in ecstasies at + my wit.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” I admitted. “I remember, of course; and I confess frankly that I + could never understand that infatuation.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you know yet,” he said, “that an idle and selfish class loves to + see mischief being made, even if it is made at its own expense? Its own + life being all a matter of pose and gesture, it is unable to realize the + power and the danger of a real movement and of words that have no sham + meaning. It is all fun and sentiment. It is sufficient, for instance, to + point out the attitude of the old French aristocracy towards the + philosophers whose words were preparing the Great Revolution. Even in + England, where you have some common-sense, a demagogue has only to shout + loud enough and long enough to find some backing in the very class he is + shouting at. You, too, like to see mischief being made. The demagogue + carries the amateurs of emotion with him. Amateurism in this, that, and + the other thing is a delightfully easy way of killing time, and feeding + one’s own vanity—the silly vanity of being abreast with the ideas of + the day after to-morrow. Just as good and otherwise harmless people will + join you in ecstasies over your collection without having the slightest + notion in what its marvellousness really consists.” + </p> + <p> + I hung my head. It was a crushing illustration of the sad truth he + advanced. The world is full of such people. And that instance of the + French aristocracy before the Revolution was extremely telling, too. I + could not traverse his statement, though its cynicism—always a + distasteful trait—took off much of its value to my mind. However, I + admit I was impressed. I felt the need to say something which would not be + in the nature of assent and yet would not invite discussion. + </p> + <p> + “You don’t mean to say,” I observed, airily, “that extreme revolutionists + have ever been actively assisted by the infatuation of such people?” + </p> + <p> + “I did not mean exactly that by what I said just now. I generalized. But + since you ask me, I may tell you that such help has been given to + revolutionary activities, more or less consciously, in various countries. + And even in this country.” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible!” I protested with firmness. “We don’t play with fire to that + extent.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet you can better afford it than others, perhaps. But let me observe + that most women, if not always ready to play with fire, are generally + eager to play with a loose spark or so.” + </p> + <p> + “Is this a joke?” I asked, smiling. + </p> + <p> + “If it is, I am not aware of it,” he said, woodenly. “I was thinking of an + instance. Oh! mild enough in a way . . .” + </p> + <p> + I became all expectation at this. I had tried many times to approach him + on his underground side, so to speak. The very word had been pronounced + between us. But he had always met me with his impenetrable calm. + </p> + <p> + “And at the same time,” Mr. X continued, “it will give you a notion of the + difficulties that may arise in what you are pleased to call underground + work. It is sometimes difficult to deal with them. Of course there is no + hierarchy amongst the affiliated. No rigid system.” + </p> + <p> + My surprise was great, but short-lived. Clearly, amongst extreme + anarchists there could be no hierarchy; nothing in the nature of a law of + precedence. The idea of anarchy ruling among anarchists was comforting, + too. It could not possibly make for efficiency. + </p> + <p> + Mr. X startled me by asking, abruptly, “You know Hermione Street?” + </p> + <p> + I nodded doubtful assent. Hermione Street has been, within the last three + years, improved out of any man’s knowledge. The name exists still, but not + one brick or stone of the old Hermione Street is left now. It was the old + street he meant, for he said: + </p> + <p> + “There was a row of two-storied brick houses on the left, with their backs + against the wing of a great public building—you remember. Would it + surprise you very much to hear that one of these houses was for a time the + centre of anarchist propaganda and of what you would call underground + action?” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” I declared. Hermione Street had never been particularly + respectable, as I remembered it. + </p> + <p> + “The house was the property of a distinguished government official,” he + added, sipping his champagne. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed!” I said, this time not believing a word of it. + </p> + <p> + “Of course he was not living there,” Mr. X continued. “But from ten till + four he sat next door to it, the dear man, in his well-appointed private + room in the wing of the public building I’ve mentioned. To be strictly + accurate, I must explain that the house in Hermione Street did not really + belong to him. It belonged to his grown-up children—a daughter and a + son. The girl, a fine figure, was by no means vulgarly pretty. To more + personal charm than mere youth could account for, she added the seductive + appearance of enthusiasm, of independence, of courageous thought. I + suppose she put on these appearances as she put on her picturesque dresses + and for the same reason: to assert her individuality at any cost. You + know, women would go to any length almost for such a purpose. She went to + a great length. She had acquired all the appropriate gestures of + revolutionary convictions—the gestures of pity, of anger, of + indignation against the anti-humanitarian vices of the social class to + which she belonged herself. All this sat on her striking personality as + well as her slightly original costumes. Very slightly original; just + enough to mark a protest against the philistinism of the overfed + taskmasters of the poor. Just enough, and no more. It would not have done + to go too far in that direction—you understand. But she was of age, + and nothing stood in the way of her offering her house to the + revolutionary workers.” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t mean it!” I cried. + </p> + <p> + “I assure you,” he affirmed, “that she made that very practical gesture. + How else could they have got hold of it? The cause is not rich. And, + moreover, there would have been difficulties with any ordinary + house-agent, who would have wanted references and so on. The group she + came in contact with while exploring the poor quarters of the town (you + know the gesture of charity and personal service which was so fashionable + some years ago) accepted with gratitude. The first advantage was that + Hermione Street is, as you know, well away from the suspect part of the + town, specially watched by the police. + </p> + <p> + “The ground floor consisted of a little Italian restaurant, of the + flyblown sort. There was no difficulty in buying the proprietor out. A + woman and a man belonging to the group took it on. The man had been a + cook. The comrades could get their meals there, unnoticed amongst the + other customers. This was another advantage. The first floor was occupied + by a shabby Variety Artists’ Agency—an agency for performers in + inferior music-halls, you know. A fellow called Bomm, I remember. He was + not disturbed. It was rather favourable than otherwise to have a lot of + foreign-looking people, jugglers, acrobats, singers of both sexes, and so + on, going in and out all day long. The police paid no attention to new + faces, you see. The top floor happened, most conveniently, to stand empty + then.” + </p> + <p> + X interrupted himself to attack impassively, with measured movements, a + bombe glacee which the waiter had just set down on the table. He swallowed + carefully a few spoonfuls of the iced sweet, and asked me, “Did you ever + hear of Stone’s Dried Soup?” + </p> + <p> + “Hear of what?” + </p> + <p> + “It was,” X pursued, evenly, “a comestible article once rather prominently + advertised in the dailies, but which never, somehow, gained the favour of + the public. The enterprise fizzled out, as you say here. Parcels of their + stock could be picked up at auctions at considerably less than a penny a + pound. The group bought some of it, and an agency for Stone’s Dried Soup + was started on the top floor. A perfectly respectable business. The stuff, + a yellow powder of extremely unappetizing aspect, was put up in large + square tins, of which six went to a case. If anybody ever came to give an + order, it was, of course, executed. But the advantage of the powder was + this, that things could be concealed in it very conveniently. Now and then + a special case got put on a van and sent off to be exported abroad under + the very nose of the policeman on duty at the corner. You understand?” + </p> + <p> + “I think I do,” I said, with an expressive nod at the remnants of the + bombe melting slowly in the dish. + </p> + <p> + “Exactly. But the cases were useful in another way, too. In the basement, + or in the cellar at the back, rather, two printing-presses were + established. A lot of revolutionary literature of the most inflammatory + kind was got away from the house in Stone’s Dried Soup cases. The brother + of our anarchist young lady found some occupation there. He wrote + articles, helped to set up type and pull off the sheets, and generally + assisted the man in charge, a very able young fellow called Sevrin. + </p> + <p> + “The guiding spirit of that group was a fanatic of social revolution. He + is dead now. He was an engraver and etcher of genius. You must have seen + his work. It is much sought after by certain amateurs now. He began by + being revolutionary in his art, and ended by becoming a revolutionist, + after his wife and child had died in want and misery. He used to say that + the bourgeoisie, the smug, overfed lot, had killed them. That was his real + belief. He still worked at his art and led a double life. He was tall, + gaunt, and swarthy, with a long, brown beard and deep-set eyes. You must + have seen him. His name was Horne.” + </p> + <p> + At this I was really startled. Of course years ago I used to meet Horne + about. He looked like a powerful, rough gipsy, in an old top hat, with a + red muffler round his throat and buttoned up in a long, shabby overcoat. + He talked of his art with exaltation, and gave one the impression of being + strung up to the verge of insanity. A small group of connoisseurs + appreciated his work. Who would have thought that this man. . . . Amazing! + And yet it was not, after all, so difficult to believe. + </p> + <p> + “As you see,” X went on, “this group was in a position to pursue its work + of propaganda, and the other kind of work, too, under very advantageous + conditions. They were all resolute, experienced men of a superior stamp. + And yet we became struck at length by the fact that plans prepared in + Hermione Street almost invariably failed.” + </p> + <p> + “Who were ‘we’?” I asked, pointedly. + </p> + <p> + “Some of us in Brussels—at the centre,” he said, hastily. “Whatever + vigorous action originated in Hermione Street seemed doomed to failure. + Something always happened to baffle the best planned manifestations in + every part of Europe. It was a time of general activity. You must not + imagine that all our failures are of a loud sort, with arrests and trials. + That is not so. Often the police work quietly, almost secretly, defeating + our combinations by clever counter-plotting. No arrests, no noise, no + alarming of the public mind and inflaming the passions. It is a wise + procedure. But at that time the police were too uniformly successful from + the Mediterranean to the Baltic. It was annoying and began to look + dangerous. At last we came to the conclusion that there must be some + untrustworthy elements amongst the London groups. And I came over to see + what could be done quietly. + </p> + <p> + “My first step was to call upon our young Lady Amateur of anarchism at her + private house. She received me in a flattering way. I judged that she knew + nothing of the chemical and other operations going on at the top of the + house in Hermione Street. The printing of anarchist literature was the + only ‘activity’ she seemed to be aware of there. She was displaying very + strikingly the usual signs of severe enthusiasm, and had already written + many sentimental articles with ferocious conclusions. I could see she was + enjoying herself hugely, with all the gestures and grimaces of deadly + earnestness. They suited her big-eyed, broad-browed face and the good + carriage of her shapely head, crowned by a magnificent lot of brown hair + done in an unusual and becoming style. Her brother was in the room, too, a + serious youth, with arched eyebrows and wearing a red necktie, who struck + me as being absolutely in the dark about everything in the world, + including himself. By and by a tall young man came in. He was clean-shaved + with a strong bluish jaw and something of the air of a taciturn actor or + of a fanatical priest: the type with thick black eyebrows—you know. + But he was very presentable indeed. He shook hands at once vigorously with + each of us. The young lady came up to me and murmured sweetly, ‘Comrade + Sevrin.’ + </p> + <p> + “I had never seen him before. He had little to say to us, but sat down by + the side of the girl, and they fell at once into earnest conversation. She + leaned forward in her deep armchair, and took her nicely rounded chin in + her beautiful white hand. He looked attentively into her eyes. It was the + attitude of love-making, serious, intense, as if on the brink of the + grave. I suppose she felt it necessary to round and complete her + assumption of advanced ideas, of revolutionary lawlessness, by making + believe to be in love with an anarchist. And this one, I repeat, was + extremely presentable, notwithstanding his fanatical black-browed aspect. + After a few stolen glances in their direction, I had no doubt that he was + in earnest. As to the lady, her gestures were unapproachable, better than + the very thing itself in the blended suggestion of dignity, sweetness, + condescension, fascination, surrender, and reserve. She interpreted her + conception of what that precise sort of love-making should be with + consummate art. And so far, she, too, no doubt, was in earnest. Gestures—but + so perfect! + </p> + <p> + “After I had been left alone with our Lady Amateur I informed her + guardedly of the object of my visit. I hinted at our suspicions. I wanted + to hear what she would have to say, and half expected some perhaps + unconscious revelation. All she said was, ‘That’s serious,’ looking + delightfully concerned and grave. But there was a sparkle in her eyes + which meant plainly, ‘How exciting!’ After all, she knew little of + anything except of words. Still, she undertook to put me in communication + with Horne, who was not easy to find unless in Hermione Street, where I + did not wish to show myself just then. + </p> + <p> + “I met Horne. This was another kind of a fanatic altogether. I exposed to + him the conclusion we in Brussels had arrived at, and pointed out the + significant series of failures. To this he answered with irrelevant + exaltation: + </p> + <p> + “‘I have something in hand that shall strike terror into the heart of + these gorged brutes.’ + </p> + <p> + “And then I learned that, by excavating in one of the cellars of the + house, he and some companions had made their way into the vaults under the + great public building I have mentioned before. The blowing up of a whole + wing was a certainty as soon as the materials were ready. + </p> + <p> + “I was not so appalled at the stupidity of that move as I might have been + had not the usefulness of our centre in Hermione Street become already + very problematical. In fact, in my opinion it was much more of a police + trap by this time than anything else. + </p> + <p> + “What was necessary now was to discover what, or rather who, was wrong, + and I managed at last to get that idea into Horne’s head. He glared, + perplexed, his nostrils working as if he were sniffing treachery in the + air. + </p> + <p> + “And here comes a piece of work which will no doubt strike you as a sort + of theatrical expedient. And yet what else could have been done? The + problem was to find out the untrustworthy member of the group. But no + suspicion could be fastened on one more than another. To set a watch upon + them all was not very practicable. Besides, that proceeding often fails. + In any case, it takes time, and the danger was pressing. I felt certain + that the premises in Hermione Street would be ultimately raided, though + the police had evidently such confidence in the informer that the house, + for the time being, was not even watched. Horne was positive on that + point. Under the circumstances it was an unfavourable symptom. Something + had to be done quickly. + </p> + <p> + “I decided to organize a raid myself upon the group. Do you understand? A + raid of other trusty comrades personating the police. A conspiracy within + a conspiracy. You see the object of it, of course. When apparently about + to be arrested I hoped the informer would betray himself in some way or + other; either by some unguarded act or simply by his unconcerned + demeanour, for instance. Of coarse there was the risk of complete failure + and the no lesser risk of some fatal accident in the course of resistance, + perhaps, or in the efforts at escape. For, as you will easily see, the + Hermione Street group had to be actually and completely taken unawares, as + I was sure they would be by the real police before very long. The informer + was amongst them, and Horne alone could be let into the secret of my plan. + </p> + <p> + “I will not enter into the detail of my preparations. It was not very easy + to arrange, but it was done very well, with a really convincing effect. + The sham police invaded the restaurant, whose shutters were immediately + put up. The surprise was perfect. Most of the Hermione Street party were + found in the second cellar, enlarging the hole communicating with the + vaults of the great public building. At the first alarm, several comrades + bolted through impulsively into the aforesaid vault, where, of course, had + this been a genuine raid, they would have been hopelessly trapped. We did + not bother about them for the moment. They were harmless enough. The top + floor caused considerable anxiety to Horne and myself. There, surrounded + by tins of Stone’s Dried Soup, a comrade, nick-named the Professor (he was + an ex-science student) was engaged in perfecting some new detonators. He + was an abstracted, self-confident, sallow little man, armed with large + round spectacles, and we were afraid that under a mistaken impression he + would blow himself up and wreck the house about our ears. I rushed + upstairs and found him already at the door, on the alert, listening, as he + said, to ‘suspicious noises down below.’ Before I had quite finished + explaining to him what was going on he shrugged his shoulders disdainfully + and turned away to his balances and test-tubes. His was the true spirit of + an extreme revolutionist. Explosives were his faith, his hope, his weapon, + and his shield. He perished a couple of years afterwards in a secret + laboratory through the premature explosion of one of his improved + detonators. + </p> + <p> + “Hurrying down again, I found an impressive scene in the gloom of the big + cellar. The man who personated the inspector (he was no stranger to the + part) was speaking harshly, and giving bogus orders to his bogus + subordinates for the removal of his prisoners. Evidently nothing + enlightening had happened so far. Horne, saturnine and swarthy, waited + with folded arms, and his patient, moody expectation had an air of + stoicism well in keeping with the situation. I detected in the shadows one + of the Hermione Street group surreptitiously chewing up and swallowing a + small piece of paper. Some compromising scrap, I suppose; perhaps just a + note of a few names and addresses. He was a true and faithful ‘companion.’ + But the fund of secret malice which lurks at the bottom of our sympathies + caused me to feel amused at that perfectly uncalled-for performance. + </p> + <p> + “In every other respect the risky experiment, the theatrical coup, if you + like to call it so, seemed to have failed. The deception could not be kept + up much longer; the explanation would bring about a very embarrassing and + even grave situation. The man who had eaten the paper would be furious. + The fellows who had bolted away would be angry, too. + </p> + <p> + “To add to my vexation, the door communicating with the other cellar, + where the printing-presses were, flew open, and our young lady + revolutionist appeared, a black silhouette in a close-fitting dress and a + large hat, with the blaze of gas flaring in there at her back. Over her + shoulder I perceived the arched eyebrows and the red necktie of her + brother. + </p> + <p> + “The last people in the world I wanted to see then! They had gone that + evening to some amateur concert for the delectation of the poor people, + you know; but she had insisted on leaving early, on purpose to call in + Hermione Street on the way home, under the pretext of having some work to + do. Her usual task was to correct the proofs of the Italian and French + editions of the Alarm Bell and the Firebrand.” . . . + </p> + <p> + “Heavens!” I murmured. I had been shown once a few copies of these + publications. Nothing, in my opinion, could have been less fit for the + eyes of a young lady. They were the most advanced things of the sort; + advanced, I mean, beyond all bounds of reason and decency. One of them + preached the dissolution of all social and domestic ties; the other + advocated systematic murder. To think of a young girl calmly tracking + printers’ errors all along the sort of abominable sentences I remembered + was intolerable to my sentiment of womanhood. Mr. X, after giving me a + glance, pursued steadily. + </p> + <p> + “I think, however, that she came mostly to exercise her fascinations upon + Sevrin, and to receive his homage in her queenly and condescending way. + She was aware of both—her power and his homage—and enjoyed + them with, I dare say, complete innocence. We have no ground in expediency + or morals to quarrel with her on that account. Charm in woman and + exceptional intelligence in man are a law unto themselves. Is it not so?” + </p> + <p> + I refrained from expressing my abhorrence of that licentious doctrine + because of my curiosity. + </p> + <p> + “But what happened then?” I hastened to ask. + </p> + <p> + X went on crumbling slowly a small piece of bread with a careless left + hand. + </p> + <p> + “What happened, in effect,” he confessed, “is that she saved the + situation.” + </p> + <p> + “She gave you an opportunity to end your rather sinister farce,” I + suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he said, preserving his impassive bearing. “The farce was bound to + end soon. And it ended in a very few minutes. And it ended well. Had she + not come in, it might have ended badly. Her brother, of course, did not + count. They had slipped into the house quietly some time before. The + printing-cellar had an entrance of its own. Not finding any one there, she + sat down to her proofs, expecting Sevrin to return to his work at any + moment. He did not do so. She grew impatient, heard through the door the + sounds of a disturbance in the other cellar and naturally came in to see + what was the matter. + </p> + <p> + “Sevrin had been with us. At first he had seemed to me the most amazed of + the whole raided lot. He appeared for an instant as if paralyzed with + astonishment. He stood rooted to the spot. He never moved a limb. A + solitary gas-jet flared near his head; all the other lights had been put + out at the first alarm. And presently, from my dark corner, I observed on + his shaven actor’s face an expression of puzzled, vexed watchfulness. He + knitted his heavy eyebrows. The corners of his mouth dropped scornfully. + He was angry. Most likely he had seen through the game, and I regretted I + had not taken him from the first into my complete confidence. + </p> + <p> + “But with the appearance of the girl he became obviously alarmed. It was + plain. I could see it grow. The change of his expression was swift and + startling. And I did not know why. The reason never occurred to me. I was + merely astonished at the extreme alteration of the man’s face. Of course + he had not been aware of her presence in the other cellar; but that did + not explain the shock her advent had given him. For a moment he seemed to + have been reduced to imbecility. He opened his mouth as if to shout, or + perhaps only to gasp. At any rate, it was somebody else who shouted. This + somebody else was the heroic comrade whom I had detected swallowing a + piece of paper. With laudable presence of mind he let out a warning yell. + </p> + <p> + “‘It’s the police! Back! Back! Run back, and bolt the door behind you.’ + </p> + <p> + “It was an excellent hint; but instead of retreating the girl continued to + advance, followed by her long-faced brother in his knickerbocker suit, in + which he had been singing comic songs for the entertainment of a joyless + proletariat. She advanced not as if she had failed to understand—the + word ‘police’ has an unmistakable sound—but rather as if she could + not help herself. She did not advance with the free gait and expanding + presence of a distinguished amateur anarchist amongst poor, struggling + professionals, but with slightly raised shoulders, and her elbows pressed + close to her body, as if trying to shrink within herself. Her eyes were + fixed immovably upon Sevrin. Sevrin the man, I fancy; not Sevrin the + anarchist. But she advanced. And that was natural. For all their + assumption of independence, girls of that class are used to the feeling of + being specially protected, as, in fact, they are. This feeling accounts + for nine tenths of their audacious gestures. Her face had gone completely + colourless. Ghastly. Fancy having it brought home to her so brutally that + she was the sort of person who must run away from the police! I believe + she was pale with indignation, mostly, though there was, of course, also + the concern for her intact personality, a vague dread of some sort of + rudeness. And, naturally, she turned to a man, to the man on whom she had + a claim of fascination and homage—the man who could not conceivably + fail her at any juncture.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” I cried, amazed at this analysis, “if it had been serious, real, I + mean—as she thought it was—what could she expect him to do for + her?” + </p> + <p> + X never moved a muscle of his face. + </p> + <p> + “Goodness knows. I imagine that this charming, generous, and independent + creature had never known in her life a single genuine thought; I mean a + single thought detached from small human vanities, or whose source was not + in some conventional perception. All I know is that after advancing a few + steps she extended her hand towards the motionless Sevrin. And that at + least was no gesture. It was a natural movement. As to what she expected + him to do, who can tell? The impossible. But whatever she expected, it + could not have come up, I am safe to say, to what he had made up his mind + to do, even before that entreating hand had appealed to him so directly. + It had not been necessary. From the moment he had seen her enter that + cellar, he had made up his mind to sacrifice his future usefulness, to + throw off the impenetrable, solidly fastened mask it had been his pride to + wear—” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” I interrupted, puzzled. “Was it Sevrin, then, who was—” + </p> + <p> + “He was. The most persistent, the most dangerous, the craftiest, the most + systematic of informers. A genius amongst betrayers. Fortunately for us, + he was unique. The man was a fanatic, I have told you. Fortunately, again, + for us, he had fallen in love with the accomplished and innocent gestures + of that girl. An actor in desperate earnest himself, he must have believed + in the absolute value of conventional signs. As to the grossness of the + trap into which he fell, the explanation must be that two sentiments of + such absorbing magnitude cannot exist simultaneously in one heart. The + danger of that other and unconscious comedian robbed him of his vision, of + his perspicacity, of his judgment. Indeed, it did at first rob him of his + self-possession. But he regained that through the necessity—as it + appeared to him imperiously—to do something at once. To do what? + Why, to get her out of the house as quickly as possible. He was + desperately anxious to do that. I have told you he was terrified. It could + not be about himself. He had been surprised and annoyed at a move quite + unforeseen and premature. I may even say he had been furious. He was + accustomed to arrange the last scene of his betrayals with a deep, subtle + art which left his revolutionist reputation untouched. But it seems clear + to me that at the same time he had resolved to make the best of it, to + keep his mask resolutely on. It was only with the discovery of her being + in the house that everything—the forced calm, the restraint of his + fanaticism, the mask—all came off together in a kind of panic. Why + panic, do you ask? The answer is very simple. He remembered—or, I + dare say, he had never forgotten—the Professor alone at the top of + the house, pursuing his researches, surrounded by tins upon tins of + Stone’s Dried Soup. There was enough in some few of them to bury us all + where we stood under a heap of bricks. Sevrin, of course, was aware of + that. And we must believe, also, that he knew the exact character of the + man. He had gauged so many such characters! Or perhaps he only gave the + Professor credit for what he himself was capable of. But, in any case, the + effect was produced. And suddenly he raised his voice in authority. + </p> + <p> + “‘Get the lady away at once.’ + </p> + <p> + “It turned out that he was as hoarse as a crow; result, no doubt, of the + intense emotion. It passed off in a moment. But these fateful words issued + forth from his contracted throat in a discordant, ridiculous croak. They + required no answer. The thing was done. However, the man personating the + inspector judged it expedient to say roughly: + </p> + <p> + “‘She shall go soon enough, together with the rest of you.’ + </p> + <p> + “These were the last words belonging to the comedy part of this affair. + </p> + <p> + “Oblivious of everything and everybody, Sevrin strode towards him and + seized the lapels of his coat. Under his thin bluish cheeks one could see + his jaws working with passion. + </p> + <p> + “‘You have men posted outside. Get the lady taken home at once. Do you + hear? Now. Before you try to get hold of the man upstairs.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! There is a man upstairs,’ scoffed the other, openly. ‘Well, he shall + be brought down in time to see the end of this.’ + </p> + <p> + “But Sevrin, beside himself, took no heed of the tone. + </p> + <p> + “‘Who’s the imbecile meddler who sent you blundering here? Didn’t you + understand your instructions? Don’t you know anything? It’s incredible. + Here—’ + </p> + <p> + “He dropped the lapels of the coat and, plunging his hand into his breast, + jerked feverishly at something under his shirt. At last he produced a + small square pocket of soft leather, which must have been hanging like a + scapulary from his neck by the tape whose broken ends dangled from his + fist. + </p> + <p> + “‘Look inside,’ he spluttered, flinging it in the other’s face. And + instantly he turned round towards the girl. She stood just behind him, + perfectly still and silent. Her set, white face gave an illusion of + placidity. Only her staring eyes seemed bigger and darker. + </p> + <p> + “He spoke rapidly, with nervous assurance. I heard him distinctly promise + her to make everything as clear as daylight presently. But that was all I + caught. He stood close to her, never attempting to touch her even with the + tip of his little finger—and she stared at him stupidly. For a + moment, however, her eyelids descended slowly, pathetically, and then, + with the long black eyelashes lying on her white cheeks, she looked ready + to fall down in a swoon. But she never even swayed where she stood. He + urged her loudly to follow him at once, and walked towards the door at the + bottom of the cellar stairs without looking behind him. And, as a matter + of fact, she did move after him a pace or two. But, of course, he was not + allowed to reach the door. There were angry exclamations, a short, fierce + scuffle. Flung away violently, he came flying backwards upon her, and + fell. She threw out her arms in a gesture of dismay and stepped aside, + just clear of his head, which struck the ground heavily near her shoe. + </p> + <p> + “He grunted with the shock. By the time he had picked himself up, slowly, + dazedly, he was awake to the reality of things. The man into whose hands + he had thrust the leather case had extracted therefrom a narrow strip of + bluish paper. He held it up above his head, and, as after the scuffle an + expectant uneasy stillness reigned once more, he threw it down + disdainfully with the words, ‘I think, comrades, that this proof was + hardly necessary.’ + </p> + <p> + “Quick as thought, the girl stooped after the fluttering slip. Holding it + spread out in both hands, she looked at it; then, without raising her + eyes, opened her fingers slowly and let it fall. + </p> + <p> + “I examined that curious document afterwards. It was signed by a very high + personage, and stamped and countersigned by other high officials in + various countries of Europe. In his trade—or shall I say, in his + mission?—that sort of talisman might have been necessary, no doubt. + Even to the police itself—all but the heads—he had been known + only as Sevrin the noted anarchist. + </p> + <p> + “He hung his head, biting his lower lip. A change had come over him, a + sort of thoughtful, absorbed calmness. Nevertheless, he panted. His sides + worked visibly, and his nostrils expanded and collapsed in weird contrast + with his sombre aspect of a fanatical monk in a meditative attitude, but + with something, too, in his face of an actor intent upon the terrible + exigencies of his part. Before him Horne declaimed, haggard and bearded, + like an inspired denunciatory prophet from a wilderness. Two fanatics. + They were made to understand each other. Does this surprise you? I suppose + you think that such people would be foaming at the mouth and snarling at + each other?” + </p> + <p> + I protested hastily that I was not surprised in the least; that I thought + nothing of the kind; that anarchists in general were simply inconceivable + to me mentally, morally, logically, sentimentally, and even physically. X + received this declaration with his usual woodenness and went on. + </p> + <p> + “Horne had burst out into eloquence. While pouring out scornful invective, + he let tears escape from his eyes and roll down his black beard unheeded. + Sevrin panted quicker and quicker. When he opened his mouth to speak, + everyone hung on his words. + </p> + <p> + “‘Don’t be a fool, Horne,’ he began. ‘You know very well that I have done + this for none of the reasons you are throwing at me.’ And in a moment he + became outwardly as steady as a rock under the other’s lurid stare. ‘I + have been thwarting, deceiving, and betraying you—from conviction.’ + </p> + <p> + “He turned his back on Horne, and addressing the girl, repeated the words: + ‘From conviction.’ + </p> + <p> + “It’s extraordinary how cold she looked. I suppose she could not think of + any appropriate gesture. There can have been few precedents indeed for + such a situation. + </p> + <p> + “‘Clear as daylight,’ he added. ‘Do you understand what that means? From + conviction.’ + </p> + <p> + “And still she did not stir. She did not know what to do. But the luckless + wretch was about to give her the opportunity for a beautiful and correct + gesture. + </p> + <p> + “‘I have felt in me the power to make you share this conviction,’ he + protested, ardently. He had forgotten himself; he made a step towards her—perhaps + he stumbled. To me he seemed to be stooping low as if to touch the hem of + her garment. And then the appropriate gesture came. She snatched her skirt + away from his polluting contact and averted her head with an upward tilt. + It was magnificently done, this gesture of conventionally unstained + honour, of an unblemished high-minded amateur. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing could have been better. And he seemed to think so, too, for once + more he turned away. But this time he faced no one. He was again panting + frightfully, while he fumbled hurriedly in his waistcoat pocket, and then + raised his hand to his lips. There was something furtive in this movement, + but directly afterwards his bearing changed. His laboured breathing gave + him a resemblance to a man who had just run a desperate race; but a + curious air of detachment, of sudden and profound indifference, replaced + the strain of the striving effort. The race was over. I did not want to + see what would happen next. I was only too well aware. I tucked the young + lady’s arm under mine without a word, and made my way with her to the + stairs. + </p> + <p> + “Her brother walked behind us. Half-way up the short flight she seemed + unable to lift her feet high enough for the steps, and we had to pull and + push to get her to the top. In the passage she dragged herself along, + hanging on my arm, helplessly bent like an old woman. We issued into an + empty street through a half-open door, staggering like besotted revellers. + At the corner we stopped a four-wheeler, and the ancient driver looked + round from his box with morose scorn at our efforts to get her in. Twice + during the drive I felt her collapse on my shoulder in a half faint. + Facing us, the youth in knickerbockers remained as mute as a fish, and, + till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat more still than I would have + believed it possible. + </p> + <p> + “At the door of their drawing-room she left my arm and walked in first, + catching at the chairs and tables. She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted + with the effort, her cloak still hanging from her shoulders, flung herself + into a deep armchair, sideways, her face half buried in a cushion. The + good brother appeared silently before her with a glass of water. She + motioned it away. He drank it himself and walked off to a distant corner—behind + the grand piano, somewhere. All was still in this room where I had seen, + for the first time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist, captivated and spellbound + by the consummate and hereditary grimaces that in a certain sphere of life + take the place of feelings with an excellent effect. I suppose her + thoughts were busy with the same memory. Her shoulders shook violently. A + pure attack of nerves. When it quieted down she affected firmness, ‘What + is done to a man of that sort? What will they do to him?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Nothing. They can do nothing to him,’ I assured her, with perfect truth. + I was pretty certain he had died in less than twenty minutes from the + moment his hand had gone to his lips. For if his fanatical anti-anarchism + went even as far as carrying poison in his pocket, only to rob his + adversaries of legitimate vengeance, I knew he would take care to provide + something that would not fail him when required. + </p> + <p> + “She drew an angry breath. There were red spots on her cheeks and a + feverish brilliance in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + “‘Has ever any one been exposed to such a terrible experience? To think + that he had held my hand! That man!’ Her face twitched, she gulped down a + pathetic sob. ‘If I ever felt sure of anything, it was of Sevrin’s + high-minded motives.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then she began to weep quietly, which was good for her. Then through her + flood of tears, half resentful, ‘What was it he said to me?—“From + conviction!” It seemed a vile mockery. What could he mean by it?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘That, my dear young lady,’ I said, gently, ‘is more than I or anybody + else can ever explain to you.’” + </p> + <p> + Mr. X flicked a crumb off the front of his coat. + </p> + <p> + “And that was strictly true as to her. Though Horne, for instance, + understood very well; and so did I, especially after we had been to + Sevrin’s lodging in a dismal back street of an intensely respectable + quarter. Horne was known there as a friend, and we had no difficulty in + being admitted, the slatternly maid merely remarking, as she let us in, + that ‘Mr Sevrin had not been home that night.’ We forced open a couple of + drawers in the way of duty, and found a little useful information. The + most interesting part was his diary; for this man, engaged in such deadly + work, had the weakness to keep a record of the most damnatory kind. There + were his acts and also his thoughts laid bare to us. But the dead don’t + mind that. They don’t mind anything. + </p> + <p> + “‘From conviction.’ Yes. A vague but ardent humanitarianism had urged him + in his first youth into the bitterest extremity of negation and revolt. + Afterwards his optimism flinched. He doubted and became lost. You have + heard of converted atheists. These turn often into dangerous fanatics, but + the soul remains the same. After he had got acquainted with the girl, + there are to be met in that diary of his very queer politico-amorous + rhapsodies. He took her sovereign grimaces with deadly seriousness. He + longed to convert her. But all this cannot interest you. For the rest, I + don’t know if you remember—it is a good many years ago now—the + journalistic sensation of the ‘Hermione Street Mystery’; the finding of a + man’s body in the cellar of an empty house; the inquest; some arrests; + many surmises—then silence—the usual end for many obscure + martyrs and confessors. The fact is, he was not enough of an optimist. You + must be a savage, tyrannical, pitiless, thick-and-thin optimist, like + Horne, for instance, to make a good social rebel of the extreme type. + </p> + <p> + “He rose from the table. A waiter hurried up with his overcoat; another + held his hat in readiness. + </p> + <p> + “But what became of the young lady?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Do you really want to know?” he said, buttoning himself in his fur coat + carefully. “I confess to the small malice of sending her Sevrin’s diary. + She went into retirement; then she went to Florence; then she went into + retreat in a convent. I can’t tell where she will go next. What does it + matter? Gestures! Gestures! Mere gestures of her class.” + </p> + <p> + “He fitted on his glossy high hat with extreme precision, and casting a + rapid glance round the room, full of well-dressed people, innocently + dining, muttered between his teeth: + </p> + <p> + “And nothing else! That is why their kind is fated to perish.” + </p> + <p> + “I never met Mr. X again after that evening. I took to dining at my club. + On my next visit to Paris I found my friend all impatience to hear of the + effect produced on me by this rare item of his collection. I told him all + the story, and he beamed on me with the pride of his distinguished + specimen. + </p> + <p> + “‘Isn’t X well worth knowing?’ he bubbled over in great delight. ‘He’s + unique, amazing, absolutely terrific.’ + </p> + <p> + “His enthusiasm grated upon my finer feelings. I told him curtly that the + man’s cynicism was simply abominable. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, abominable! abominable!’ assented my friend, effusively. ‘And then, + you know, he likes to have his little joke sometimes,’ he added in a + confidential tone. + </p> + <p> + “I fail to understand the connection of this last remark. I have been + utterly unable to discover where in all this the joke comes in.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BRUTE + </h2> + <h3> + AN INDIGNANT TALE + </h3> + <p> + Dodging in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged a smile and a glance + with Miss Blank in the bar of the Three Crows. This exchange was effected + with extreme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still alive, Miss + Blank must be something over sixty now. How time passes! + </p> + <p> + Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the partition of glass and + varnished wood, Miss Blank was good enough to say, encouragingly: + </p> + <p> + “Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with another gentleman I’ve + never seen before.” + </p> + <p> + I moved towards the parlour door. A voice discoursing on the other side + (it was but a matchboard partition), rose so loudly that the concluding + words became quite plain in all their atrocity. + </p> + <p> + “That fellow Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, and a good job, too!” + </p> + <p> + This inhuman sentiment, since there was nothing profane or improper in it, + failed to do as much as to check the slight yawn Miss Blank was achieving + behind her hand. And she remained gazing fixedly at the window-panes, + which streamed with rain. + </p> + <p> + As I opened the parlour door the same voice went on in the same cruel + strain: + </p> + <p> + “I was glad when I heard she got the knock from somebody at last. Sorry + enough for poor Wilmot, though. That man and I used to be chums at one + time. Of course that was the end of him. A clear case if there ever was + one. No way out of it. None at all.” + </p> + <p> + The voice belonged to the gentleman Miss Blank had never seen before. He + straddled his long legs on the hearthrug. Jermyn, leaning forward, held + his pocket-handkerchief spread out before the grate. He looked back + dismally over his shoulder, and as I slipped behind one of the little + wooden tables, I nodded to him. On the other side of the fire, imposingly + calm and large, sat Mr. Stonor, jammed tight into a capacious Windsor + armchair. There was nothing small about him but his short, white + side-whiskers. Yards and yards of extra superfine blue cloth (made up into + an overcoat) reposed on a chair by his side. And he must just have brought + some liner from sea, because another chair was smothered under his black + waterproof, ample as a pall, and made of three-fold oiled silk, + double-stitched throughout. A man’s hand-bag of the usual size looked like + a child’s toy on the floor near his feet. + </p> + <p> + I did not nod to him. He was too big to be nodded to in that parlour. He + was a senior Trinity pilot and condescended to take his turn in the cutter + only during the summer months. He had been many times in charge of royal + yachts in and out of Port Victoria. Besides, it’s no use nodding to a + monument. And he was like one. He didn’t speak, he didn’t budge. He just + sat there, holding his handsome old head up, immovable, and almost bigger + than life. It was extremely fine. Mr. Stonor’s presence reduced poor old + Jermyn to a mere shabby wisp of a man, and made the talkative stranger in + tweeds on the hearthrug look absurdly boyish. The latter must have been a + few years over thirty, and was certainly not the sort of individual that + gets abashed at the sound of his own voice, because gathering me in, as it + were, by a friendly glance, he kept it going without a check. + </p> + <p> + “I was glad of it,” he repeated, emphatically. “You may be surprised at + it, but then you haven’t gone through the experience I’ve had of her. I + can tell you, it was something to remember. Of course, I got off scot free + myself—as you can see. She did her best to break up my pluck for me + tho’. She jolly near drove as fine a fellow as ever lived into a madhouse. + What do you say to that—eh?” + </p> + <p> + Not an eyelid twitched in Mr. Stonor’s enormous face. Monumental! The + speaker looked straight into my eyes. + </p> + <p> + “It used to make me sick to think of her going about the world murdering + people.” + </p> + <p> + Jermyn approached the handkerchief a little nearer to the grate and + groaned. It was simply a habit he had. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve seen her once,” he declared, with mournful indifference. “She had a + house—” + </p> + <p> + The stranger in tweeds turned to stare down at him, surprised. + </p> + <p> + “She had three houses,” he corrected, authoritatively. But Jermyn was not + to be contradicted. + </p> + <p> + “She had a house, I say,” he repeated, with dismal obstinacy. “A great, + big, ugly, white thing. You could see it from miles away—sticking + up.” + </p> + <p> + “So you could,” assented the other readily. “It was old Colchester’s + notion, though he was always threatening to give her up. He couldn’t stand + her racket any more, he declared; it was too much of a good thing for him; + he would wash his hands of her, if he never got hold of another—and + so on. I daresay he would have chucked her, only—it may surprise you—his + missus wouldn’t hear of it. Funny, eh? But with women, you never know how + they will take a thing, and Mrs. Colchester, with her moustaches and big + eyebrows, set up for being as strong-minded as they make them. She used to + walk about in a brown silk dress, with a great gold cable flopping about + her bosom. You should have heard her snapping out: ‘Rubbish!’ or ‘Stuff + and nonsense!’ I daresay she knew when she was well off. They had no + children, and had never set up a home anywhere. When in England she just + made shift to hang out anyhow in some cheap hotel or boarding-house. I + daresay she liked to get back to the comforts she was used to. She knew + very well she couldn’t gain by any change. And, moreover, Colchester, + though a first-rate man, was not what you may call in his first youth, + and, perhaps, she may have thought that he wouldn’t be able to get hold of + another (as he used to say) so easily. Anyhow, for one reason or another, + it was ‘Rubbish’ and ‘Stuff and nonsense’ for the good lady. I overheard + once young Mr. Apse himself say to her confidentially: ‘I assure you, Mrs. + Colchester, I am beginning to feel quite unhappy about the name she’s + getting for herself.’ ‘Oh,’ says she, with her deep little hoarse laugh, + ‘if one took notice of all the silly talk,’ and she showed Apse all her + ugly false teeth at once. ‘It would take more than that to make me lose my + confidence in her, I assure you,’ says she.” + </p> + <p> + At this point, without any change of facial expression, Mr. Stonor emitted + a short, sardonic laugh. It was very impressive, but I didn’t see the fun. + I looked from one to another. The stranger on the hearthrug had an ugly + smile. + </p> + <p> + “And Mr. Apse shook both Mrs. Colchester’s hands, he was so pleased to + hear a good word said for their favourite. All these Apses, young and old + you know, were perfectly infatuated with that abominable, dangerous—” + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon,” I interrupted, for he seemed to be addressing himself + exclusively to me; “but who on earth are you talking about?” + </p> + <p> + “I am talking of the Apse family,” he answered, courteously. + </p> + <p> + I nearly let out a damn at this. But just then the respected Miss Blank + put her head in, and said that the cab was at the door, if Mr. Stonor + wanted to catch the eleven three up. + </p> + <p> + At once the senior pilot arose in his mighty bulk and began to struggle + into his coat, with awe-inspiring upheavals. The stranger and I hurried + impulsively to his assistance, and directly we laid our hands on him he + became perfectly quiescent. We had to raise our arms very high, and to + make efforts. It was like caparisoning a docile elephant. With a “Thanks, + gentlemen,” he dived under and squeezed himself through the door in a + great hurry. + </p> + <p> + We smiled at each other in a friendly way. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder how he manages to hoist himself up a ship’s side-ladder,” said + the man in tweeds; and poor Jermyn, who was a mere North Sea pilot, + without official status or recognition of any sort, pilot only by + courtesy, groaned. + </p> + <p> + “He makes eight hundred a year.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you a sailor?” I asked the stranger, who had gone back to his + position on the rug. + </p> + <p> + “I used to be till a couple of years ago, when I got married,” answered + this communicative individual. “I even went to sea first in that very ship + we were speaking of when you came in.” + </p> + <p> + “What ship?” I asked, puzzled. “I never heard you mention a ship.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve just told you her name, my dear sir,” he replied. “The Apse Family. + Surely you’ve heard of the great firm of Apse & Sons, shipowners. They + had a pretty big fleet. There was the Lucy Apse, and the Harold Apse, and + Anne, John, Malcolm, Clara, Juliet, and so on—no end of Apses. Every + brother, sister, aunt, cousin, wife—and grandmother, too, for all I + know—of the firm had a ship named after them. Good, solid, + old-fashioned craft they were, too, built to carry and to last. None of + your new-fangled, labour-saving appliances in them, but plenty of men and + plenty of good salt beef and hard tack put aboard—and off you go to + fight your way out and home again.” + </p> + <p> + The miserable Jermyn made a sound of approval, which sounded like a groan + of pain. Those were the ships for him. He pointed out in doleful tones + that you couldn’t say to labour-saving appliances: “Jump lively now, my + hearties.” No labour-saving appliance would go aloft on a dirty night with + the sands under your lee. + </p> + <p> + “No,” assented the stranger, with a wink at me. “The Apses didn’t believe + in them either, apparently. They treated their people well—as people + don’t get treated nowadays, and they were awfully proud of their ships. + Nothing ever happened to them. This last one, the Apse Family, was to be + like the others, only she was to be still stronger, still safer, still + more roomy and comfortable. I believe they meant her to last for ever. + They had her built composite—iron, teak-wood, and greenheart, and + her scantling was something fabulous. If ever an order was given for a + ship in a spirit of pride this one was. Everything of the best. The + commodore captain of the employ was to command her, and they planned the + accommodation for him like a house on shore under a big, tall poop that + went nearly to the mainmast. No wonder Mrs. Colchester wouldn’t let the + old man give her up. Why, it was the best home she ever had in all her + married days. She had a nerve, that woman. + </p> + <p> + “The fuss that was made while that ship was building! Let’s have this a + little stronger, and that a little heavier; and hadn’t that other thing + better be changed for something a little thicker. The builders entered + into the spirit of the game, and there she was, growing into the + clumsiest, heaviest ship of her size right before all their eyes, without + anybody becoming aware of it somehow. She was to be 2,000 tons register, + or a little over; no less on any account. But see what happens. When they + came to measure her she turned out 1,999 tons and a fraction. General + consternation! And they say old Mr. Apse was so annoyed when they told him + that he took to his bed and died. The old gentleman had retired from the + firm twenty-five years before, and was ninety-six years old if a day, so + his death wasn’t, perhaps, so surprising. Still Mr. Lucian Apse was + convinced that his father would have lived to a hundred. So we may put him + at the head of the list. Next comes the poor devil of a shipwright that + brute caught and squashed as she went off the ways. They called it the + launch of a ship, but I’ve heard people say that, from the wailing and + yelling and scrambling out of the way, it was more like letting a devil + loose upon the river. She snapped all her checks like pack-thread, and + went for the tugs in attendance like a fury. Before anybody could see what + she was up to she sent one of them to the bottom, and laid up another for + three months’ repairs. One of her cables parted, and then, suddenly—you + couldn’t tell why—she let herself be brought up with the other as + quiet as a lamb. + </p> + <p> + “That’s how she was. You could never be sure what she would be up to next. + There are ships difficult to handle, but generally you can depend on them + behaving rationally. With that ship, whatever you did with her you never + knew how it would end. She was a wicked beast. Or, perhaps, she was only + just insane.” + </p> + <p> + He uttered this supposition in so earnest a tone that I could not refrain + from smiling. He left off biting his lower lip to apostrophize me. + </p> + <p> + “Eh! Why not? Why couldn’t there be something in her build, in her lines + corresponding to—What’s madness? Only something just a tiny bit + wrong in the make of your brain. Why shouldn’t there be a mad ship—I + mean mad in a ship-like way, so that under no circumstances could you be + sure she would do what any other sensible ship would naturally do for you. + There are ships that steer wildly, and ships that can’t be quite trusted + always to stay; others want careful watching when running in a gale; and, + again, there may be a ship that will make heavy weather of it in every + little blow. But then you expect her to be always so. You take it as part + of her character, as a ship, just as you take account of a man’s + peculiarities of temper when you deal with him. But with her you couldn’t. + She was unaccountable. If she wasn’t mad, then she was the most + evil-minded, underhand, savage brute that ever went afloat. I’ve seen her + run in a heavy gale beautifully for two days, and on the third broach to + twice in the same afternoon. The first time she flung the helmsman clean + over the wheel, but as she didn’t quite manage to kill him she had another + try about three hours afterwards. She swamped herself fore and aft, burst + all the canvas we had set, scared all hands into a panic, and even + frightened Mrs. Colchester down there in these beautiful stern cabins that + she was so proud of. When we mustered the crew there was one man missing. + Swept overboard, of course, without being either seen or heard, poor + devil! and I only wonder more of us didn’t go. + </p> + <p> + “Always something like that. Always. I heard an old mate tell Captain + Colchester once that it had come to this with him, that he was afraid to + open his mouth to give any sort of order. She was as much of a terror in + harbour as at sea. You could never be certain what would hold her. On the + slightest provocation she would start snapping ropes, cables, wire + hawsers, like carrots. She was heavy, clumsy, unhandy—but that does + not quite explain that power for mischief she had. You know, somehow, when + I think of her I can’t help remembering what we hear of incurable lunatics + breaking loose now and then.” + </p> + <p> + He looked at me inquisitively. But, of course, I couldn’t admit that a + ship could be mad. + </p> + <p> + “In the ports where she was known,” he went on,’ “they dreaded the sight + of her. She thought nothing of knocking away twenty feet or so of solid + stone facing off a quay or wiping off the end of a wooden wharf. She must + have lost miles of chain and hundreds of tons of anchors in her time. When + she fell aboard some poor unoffending ship it was the very devil of a job + to haul her off again. And she never got hurt herself—just a few + scratches or so, perhaps. They had wanted to have her strong. And so she + was. Strong enough to ram Polar ice with. And as she began so she went on. + From the day she was launched she never let a year pass without murdering + somebody. I think the owners got very worried about it. But they were a + stiff-necked generation all these Apses; they wouldn’t admit there could + be anything wrong with the Apse Family. They wouldn’t even change her + name. ‘Stuff and nonsense,’ as Mrs. Colchester used to say. They ought at + least to have shut her up for life in some dry dock or other, away up the + river, and never let her smell salt water again. I assure you, my dear + sir, that she invariably did kill someone every voyage she made. It was + perfectly well-known. She got a name for it, far and wide.” + </p> + <p> + I expressed my surprise that a ship with such a deadly reputation could + ever get a crew. + </p> + <p> + “Then, you don’t know what sailors are, my dear sir. Let me just show you + by an instance. One day in dock at home, while loafing on the forecastle + head, I noticed two respectable salts come along, one a middle-aged, + competent, steady man, evidently, the other a smart, youngish chap. They + read the name on the bows and stopped to look at her. Says the elder man: + ‘Apse Family. That’s the sanguinary female dog’ (I’m putting it in that + way) ‘of a ship, Jack, that kills a man every voyage. I wouldn’t sign in + her—not for Joe, I wouldn’t.’ And the other says: ‘If she were mine, + I’d have her towed on the mud and set on fire, blame if I wouldn’t.’ Then + the first man chimes in: ‘Much do they care! Men are cheap, God knows.’ + The younger one spat in the water alongside. ‘They won’t have me—not + for double wages.’ + </p> + <p> + “They hung about for some time and then walked up the dock. Half an hour + later I saw them both on our deck looking about for the mate, and + apparently very anxious to be taken on. And they were.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you account for this?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “What would you say?” he retorted. “Recklessness! The vanity of boasting + in the evening to all their chums: ‘We’ve just shipped in that there Apse + Family. Blow her. She ain’t going to scare us.’ Sheer sailorlike + perversity! A sort of curiosity. Well—a little of all that, no + doubt. I put the question to them in the course of the voyage. The answer + of the elderly chap was: + </p> + <p> + “‘A man can die but once.’ The younger assured me in a mocking tone that + he wanted to see ‘how she would do it this time.’ But I tell you what; + there was a sort of fascination about the brute.” + </p> + <p> + Jermyn, who seemed to have seen every ship in the world, broke in sulkily: + </p> + <p> + “I saw her once out of this very window towing up the river; a great black + ugly thing, going along like a big hearse.” + </p> + <p> + “Something sinister about her looks, wasn’t there?” said the man in + tweeds, looking down at old Jermyn with a friendly eye. “I always had a + sort of horror of her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more than + fourteen, the very first day—nay, hour—I joined her. Father + came up to see me off, and was to go down to Gravesend with us. I was his + second boy to go to sea. My big brother was already an officer then. We. + got on board about eleven in the morning, and found the ship ready to drop + out of the basin, stern first. She had not moved three times her own + length when, at a little pluck the tug gave her to enter the dock gates, + she made one of her rampaging starts, and put such a weight on the check + rope—a new six-inch hawser—that forward there they had no + chance to ease it round in time, and it parted. I saw the broken end fly + up high in the air, and the next moment that brute brought her quarter + against the pier-head with a jar that staggered everybody about her decks. + She didn’t hurt herself. Not she! But one of the boys the mate had sent + aloft on the mizzen to do something, came down on the poop-deck—thump—right + in front of me. He was not much older than myself. We had been grinning at + each other only a few minutes before. He must have been handling himself + carelessly, not expecting to get such a jerk. I heard his startled cry—Oh!—in + a high treble as he felt himself going, and looked up in time to see him + go limp all over as he fell. Ough! Poor father was remarkably white about + the gills when we shook hands in Gravesend. ‘Are you all right?’ he says, + looking hard at me. ‘Yes, father.’ ‘Quite sure?’ ‘Yes, father.’ ‘Well, + then good-bye, my boy.’ He told me afterwards that for half a word he + would have carried me off home with him there and then. I am the baby of + the family—you know,” added the man in tweeds, stroking his + moustache with an ingenuous smile. + </p> + <p> + I acknowledged this interesting communication by a sympathetic murmur. He + waved his hand carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “This might have utterly spoiled a chap’s nerve for going aloft, you know—utterly. + He fell within two feet of me, cracking his head on a mooring-bitt. Never + moved. Stone dead. Nice looking little fellow, he was. I had just been + thinking we would be great chums. However, that wasn’t yet the worst that + brute of a ship could do. I served in her three years of my time, and then + I got transferred to the Lucy Apse, for a year. The sailmaker we had in + the Apse Family turned up there, too, and I remember him saying to me one + evening, after we had been a week at sea: Isn’t she a meek little ship?’ + No wonder we thought the Lucy Apse a dear, meek, little ship after getting + clear of that big, rampaging savage brute. It was like heaven. Her + officers seemed to me the restfullest lot of men on earth. To me who had + known no ship but the Apse Family, the Lucy was like a sort of magic craft + that did what you wanted her to do of her own accord. One evening we got + caught aback pretty sharply from right ahead. In about ten minutes we had + her full again, sheets aft, tacks down, decks cleared, and the officer of + the watch leaning against the weather rail peacefully. It seemed simply + marvellous to me. The other would have stuck for half-an-hour in irons, + rolling her decks full of water, knocking the men about—spars + cracking, braces snapping, yards taking charge, and a confounded scare + going on aft because of her beastly rudder, which she had a way of + flapping about fit to raise your hair on end. I couldn’t get over my + wonder for days. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I finished my last year of apprenticeship in that jolly little ship—she + wasn’t so little either, but after that other heavy devil she seemed but a + plaything to handle. I finished my time and passed; and then just as I was + thinking of having three weeks of real good time on shore I got at + breakfast a letter asking me the earliest day I could be ready to join the + Apse Family as third mate. I gave my plate a shove that shot it into the + middle of the table; dad looked up over his paper; mother raised her hands + in astonishment, and I went out bare-headed into our bit of garden, where + I walked round and round for an hour. + </p> + <p> + “When I came in again mother was out of the dining-room, and dad had + shifted berth into his big armchair. The letter was lying on the + mantelpiece. + </p> + <p> + “‘It’s very creditable to you to get the offer, and very kind of them to + make it,’ he said. ‘And I see also that Charles has been appointed chief + mate of that ship for one voyage.’ + </p> + <p> + “There was, over leaf, a P.S. to that effect in Mr. Apse’s own + handwriting, which I had overlooked. Charley was my big brother. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t like very much to have two of my boys together in one ship,’ + father goes on, in his deliberate, solemn way. ‘And I may tell you that I + would not mind writing Mr. Apse a letter to that effect.’ + </p> + <p> + “Dear old dad! He was a wonderful father. What would you have done? The + mere notion of going back (and as an officer, too), to be worried and + bothered, and kept on the jump night and day by that brute, made me feel + sick. But she wasn’t a ship you could afford to fight shy of. Besides, the + most genuine excuse could not be given without mortally offending Apse + & Sons. The firm, and I believe the whole family down to the old + unmarried aunts in Lancashire, had grown desperately touchy about that + accursed ship’s character. This was the case for answering ‘Ready now’ + from your very death-bed if you wished to die in their good graces. And + that’s precisely what I did answer—by wire, to have it over and done + with at once. + </p> + <p> + “The prospect of being shipmates with my big brother cheered me up + considerably, though it made me a bit anxious, too. Ever since I remember + myself as a little chap he had been very good to me, and I looked upon him + as the finest fellow in the world. And so he was. No better officer ever + walked the deck of a merchant ship. And that’s a fact. He was a fine, + strong, upstanding, sun-tanned, young fellow, with his brown hair curling + a little, and an eye like a hawk. He was just splendid. We hadn’t seen + each other for many years, and even this time, though he had been in + England three weeks already, he hadn’t showed up at home yet, but had + spent his spare time in Surrey somewhere making up to Maggie Colchester, + old Captain Colchester’s niece. Her father, a great friend of dad’s, was + in the sugar-broking business, and Charley made a sort of second home of + their house. I wondered what my big brother would think of me. There was a + sort of sternness about Charley’s face which never left it, not even when + he was larking in his rather wild fashion. + </p> + <p> + “He received me with a great shout of laughter. He seemed to think my + joining as an officer the greatest joke in the world. There was a + difference of ten years between us, and I suppose he remembered me best in + pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first went to sea. It surprised me + to find how boisterous he could be. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now we shall see what you are made of,’ he cried. And he held me off by + the shoulders, and punched my ribs, and hustled me into his berth. ‘Sit + down, Ned. I am glad of the chance of having you with me. I’ll put the + finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing you’re worth the + trouble. And, first of all, get it well into your head that we are not + going to let this brute kill anybody this voyage. We’ll stop her racket.’ + </p> + <p> + “I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He talked grimly of the + ship, and how we must be careful and never allow this ugly beast to catch + us napping with any of her damned tricks. + </p> + <p> + “He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship for the use of the + Apse Family; then changing his tone, he began to talk at large, rattling + off the wildest, funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. I + could see very well he was a bit above himself with high spirits. It + couldn’t be because of my coming. Not to that extent. But, of course, I + wouldn’t have dreamt of asking what was the matter. I had a proper respect + for my big brother, I can tell you. But it was all made plain enough a day + or two afterwards, when I heard that Miss Maggie Colchester was coming for + the voyage. Uncle was giving her a sea-trip for the benefit of her health. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know what could have been wrong with her health. She had a + beautiful colour, and a deuce of a lot of fair hair. She didn’t care a rap + for wind, or rain, or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. She was a + blue-eyed, jolly girl of the very best sort, but the way she cheeked my + big brother used to frighten me. I always expected it to end in an awful + row. However, nothing decisive happened till after we had been in Sydney + for a week. One day, in the men’s dinner hour, Charley sticks his head + into my cabin. I was stretched out on my back on the settee, smoking in + peace. + </p> + <p> + “‘Come ashore with me, Ned,’ he says, in his curt way. + </p> + <p> + “I jumped up, of course, and away after him down the gangway and up George + Street. He strode along like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting. It was + confoundedly hot. ‘Where on earth are you rushing me to, Charley?’ I made + bold to ask. + </p> + <p> + “‘Here,’ he says. + </p> + <p> + “‘Here’ was a jeweller’s shop. I couldn’t imagine what he could want + there. It seemed a sort of mad freak. He thrusts under my nose three + rings, which looked very tiny on his big, brown palm, growling out— + </p> + <p> + “‘For Maggie! Which?’ + </p> + <p> + “I got a kind of scare at this. I couldn’t make a sound, but I pointed at + the one that sparkled white and blue. He put it in his waistcoat pocket, + paid for it with a lot of sovereigns, and bolted out. When we got on board + I was quite out of breath. ‘Shake hands, old chap,’ I gasped out. He gave + me a thump on the back. ‘Give what orders you like to the boatswain when + the hands turn-to,’ says he; ‘I am off duty this afternoon.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but presently he came out of + the cabin with Maggie, and these two went over the gangway publicly, + before all hands, going for a walk together on that awful, blazing hot + day, with clouds of dust flying about. They came back after a few hours + looking very staid, but didn’t seem to have the slightest idea where they + had been. Anyway, that’s the answer they both made to Mrs. Colchester’s + question at tea-time. + </p> + <p> + “And didn’t she turn on Charley, with her voice like an old night + cabman’s! ‘Rubbish. Don’t know where you’ve been! Stuff and nonsense. + You’ve walked the girl off her legs. Don’t do it again.’ + </p> + <p> + “It’s surprising how meek Charley could be with that old woman. Only on + one occasion he whispered to me, ‘I’m jolly glad she isn’t Maggie’s aunt, + except by marriage. That’s no sort of relationship.’ But I think he let + Maggie have too much of her own way. She was hopping all over that ship in + her yachting skirt and a red tam o’ shanter like a bright bird on a dead + black tree. The old salts used to grin to themselves when they saw her + coming along, and offered to teach her knots or splices. I believe she + liked the men, for Charley’s sake, I suppose. + </p> + <p> + “As you may imagine, the fiendish propensities of that cursed ship were + never spoken of on board. Not in the cabin, at any rate. Only once on the + homeward passage Charley said, incautiously, something about bringing all + her crew home this time. Captain Colchester began to look uncomfortable at + once, and that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as though + he had said something indecent. I was quite confounded myself; as to + Maggie, she sat completely mystified, opening her blue eyes very wide. Of + course, before she was a day older she wormed it all out of me. She was a + very difficult person to lie to. + </p> + <p> + “‘How awful,’ she said, quite solemn. ‘So many poor fellows. I am glad the + voyage is nearly over. I won’t have a moment’s peace about Charley now.’ + </p> + <p> + “I assured her Charley was all right. It took more than that ship knew to + get over a seaman like Charley. And she agreed with me. + </p> + <p> + “Next day we got the tug off Dungeness; and when the tow-rope was fast + Charley rubbed his hands and said to me in an undertone— + </p> + <p> + “‘We’ve baffled her, Ned.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Looks like it,’ I said, with a grin at him. It was beautiful weather, + and the sea as smooth as a millpond. We went up the river without a shadow + of trouble except once, when off Hole Haven, the brute took a sudden sheer + and nearly had a barge anchored just clear of the fairway. But I was aft, + looking after the steering, and she did not catch me napping that time. + Charley came up on the poop, looking very concerned. ‘Close shave,’ says + he. + </p> + <p> + “‘Never mind, Charley,’ I answered, cheerily. ‘You’ve tamed her.’ + </p> + <p> + “We were to tow right up to the dock. The river pilot boarded us below + Gravesend, and the first words I heard him say were: ‘You may just as well + take your port anchor inboard at once, Mr. Mate.’ + </p> + <p> + “This had been done when I went forward. I saw Maggie on the forecastle + head enjoying the bustle and I begged her to go aft, but she took no + notice of me, of course. Then Charley, who was very busy with the head + gear, caught sight of her and shouted in his biggest voice: ‘Get off the + forecastle head, Maggie. You’re in the way here.’ For all answer she made + a funny face at him, and I saw poor Charley turn away, hiding a smile. She + was flushed with the excitement of getting home again, and her blue eyes + seemed to snap electric sparks as she looked at the river. A collier brig + had gone round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop her engines in a + hurry to avoid running into her. + </p> + <p> + “In a moment, as is usually the case, all the shipping in the reach seemed + to get into a hopeless tangle. A schooner and a ketch got up a small + collision all to themselves right in the middle of the river. It was + exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained stopped. Any other ship + than that brute could have been coaxed to keep straight for a couple of + minutes—but not she! Her head fell off at once, and she began to + drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed a cluster of coasters + at anchor within a quarter of a mile of us, and I thought I had better + speak to the pilot. ‘If you let her get amongst that lot,’ I said, + quietly, ‘she will grind some of them to bits before we get her out + again.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Don’t I know her!’ cries he, stamping his foot in a perfect fury. And he + out with his whistle to make that bothered tug get the ship’s head up + again as quick as possible. He blew like mad, waving his arm to port, and + presently we could see that the tug’s engines had been set going ahead. + Her paddles churned the water, but it was as if she had been trying to tow + a rock—she couldn’t get an inch out of that ship. Again the pilot + blew his whistle, and waved his arm to port. We could see the tug’s + paddles turning faster and faster away, broad on our bow. + </p> + <p> + “For a moment tug and ship hung motionless in a crowd of moving shipping, + and then the terrific strain that evil, stony-hearted brute would always + put on everything, tore the towing-chock clean out. The tow-rope surged + over, snapping the iron stanchions of the head-rail one after another as + if they had been sticks of sealing-wax. It was only then I noticed that in + order to have a better view over our heads, Maggie had stepped upon the + port anchor as it lay flat on the forecastle deck. + </p> + <p> + “It had been lowered properly into its hardwood beds, but there had been + no time to take a turn with it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, for + going into dock; but I could see directly that the tow-rope would sweep + under the fluke in another second. My heart flew up right into my throat, + but not before I had time to yell out: ‘Jump clear of that anchor!’ + </p> + <p> + “But I hadn’t time to shriek out her name. I don’t suppose she heard me at + all. The first touch of the hawser against the fluke threw her down; she + was up on her feet again quick as lightning, but she was up on the wrong + side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and then that anchor, tipping + over, rose up like something alive; its great, rough iron arm caught + Maggie round the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a dreadful hug, and + flung itself with her over and down in a terrific clang of iron, followed + by heavy ringing blows that shook the ship from stem to stern—because + the ring stopper held!” + </p> + <p> + “How horrible!” I exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “I used to dream for years afterwards of anchors catching hold of girls,” + said the man in tweeds, a little wildly. He shuddered. “With a most + pitiful howl Charley was over after her almost on the instant. But, Lord! + he didn’t see as much as a gleam of her red tam o’ shanter in the water. + Nothing! nothing whatever! In a moment there were half-a-dozen boats + around us, and he got pulled into one. I, with the boatswain and the + carpenter, let go the other anchor in a hurry and brought the ship up + somehow. The pilot had gone silly. He walked up and down the forecastle + head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: ‘Killing women, now! + Killing women, now!’ Not another word could you get out of him. + </p> + <p> + “Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch; and peering upon the river I + heard a low, mournful hail, ‘Ship, ahoy!’ Two Gravesend watermen came + alongside. They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the ship’s + side, holding on to the ladder without a word. I saw in the patch of light + a lot of loose, fair hair down there.” + </p> + <p> + He shuddered again. + </p> + <p> + “After the tide turned poor Maggie’s body had floated clear of one of them + big mooring buoys,” he explained. “I crept aft, feeling half-dead, and + managed to send a rocket up—to let the other searchers know, on the + river. And then I slunk away forward like a cur, and spent the night + sitting on the heel of the bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out of + Charley’s way.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor fellow!” I murmured. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Poor fellow,” he repeated, musingly. “That brute wouldn’t let him—not + even him—cheat her of her prey. But he made her fast in dock next + morning. He did. We hadn’t exchanged a word—not a single look for + that matter. I didn’t want to look at him. When the last rope was fast he + put his hands to his head and stood gazing down at his feet as if trying + to remember something. The men waited on the main deck for the words that + end the voyage. Perhaps that is what he was trying to remember. I spoke + for him. ‘That’ll do, men.’ + </p> + <p> + “I never saw a crew leave a ship so quietly. They sneaked over the rail + one after another, taking care not to bang their sea chests too heavily. + They looked our way, but not one had the stomach to come up and offer to + shake hands with the mate as is usual. + </p> + <p> + “I followed him all over the empty ship to and fro, here and there, with + no living soul about but the two of us, because the old ship-keeper had + locked himself up in the galley—both doors. Suddenly poor Charley + mutters, in a crazy voice: ‘I’m done here,’ and strides down the gangway + with me at his heels, up the dock, out at the gate, on towards Tower Hill. + He used to take rooms with a decent old landlady in America Square, to be + near his work. + </p> + <p> + “All at once he stops short, turns round, and comes back straight at me. + ‘Ned,’ says he, I am going home.’ I had the good luck to sight a + four-wheeler and got him in just in time. His legs were beginning to give + way. In our hall he fell down on a chair, and I’ll never forget father’s + and mother’s amazed, perfectly still faces as they stood over him. They + couldn’t understand what had happened to him till I blubbered out, ‘Maggie + got drowned, yesterday, in the river.’ + </p> + <p> + “Mother let out a little cry. Father looks from him to me, and from me to + him, as if comparing our faces—for, upon my soul, Charley did not + resemble himself at all. Nobody moved; and the poor fellow raises his big + brown hands slowly to his throat, and with one single tug rips everything + open—collar, shirt, waistcoat—a perfect wreck and ruin of a + man. Father and I got him upstairs somehow, and mother pretty nearly + killed herself nursing him through a brain fever.” + </p> + <p> + The man in tweeds nodded at me significantly. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! there was nothing that could be done with that brute. She had a devil + in her.” + </p> + <p> + “Where’s your brother?” I asked, expecting to hear he was dead. But he was + commanding a smart steamer on the China coast, and never came home now. + </p> + <p> + Jermyn fetched a heavy sigh, and the handkerchief being now sufficiently + dry, put it up tenderly to his red and lamentable nose. + </p> + <p> + “She was a ravening beast,” the man in tweeds started again. “Old + Colchester put his foot down and resigned. And would you believe it? Apse + & Sons wrote to ask whether he wouldn’t reconsider his decision! + Anything to save the good name of the Apse Family.’ Old Colchester went to + the office then and said that he would take charge again but only to sail + her out into the North Sea and scuttle her there. He was nearly off his + chump. He used to be darkish iron-grey, but his hair went snow-white in a + fortnight. And Mr. Lucian Apse (they had known each other as young men) + pretended not to notice it. Eh? Here’s infatuation if you like! Here’s + pride for you! + </p> + <p> + “They jumped at the first man they could get to take her, for fear of the + scandal of the Apse Family not being able to find a skipper. He was a + festive soul, I believe, but he stuck to her grim and hard. Wilmot was his + second mate. A harum-scarum fellow, and pretending to a great scorn for + all the girls. The fact is he was really timid. But let only one of them + do as much as lift her little finger in encouragement, and there was + nothing that could hold the beggar. As apprentice, once, he deserted + abroad after a petticoat, and would have gone to the dogs then, if his + skipper hadn’t taken the trouble to find him and lug him by the ears out + of some house of perdition or other. + </p> + <p> + “It was said that one of the firm had been heard once to express a hope + that this brute of a ship would get lost soon. I can hardly credit the + tale, unless it might have been Mr. Alfred Apse, whom the family didn’t + think much of. They had him in the office, but he was considered a bad egg + altogether, always flying off to race meetings and coming home drunk. You + would have thought that a ship so full of deadly tricks would run herself + ashore some day out of sheer cussedness. But not she! She was going to + last for ever. She had a nose to keep off the bottom.” + </p> + <p> + Jermyn made a grunt of approval. + </p> + <p> + “A ship after a pilot’s own heart, eh?” jeered the man in tweeds. “Well, + Wilmot managed it. He was the man for it, but even he, perhaps, couldn’t + have done the trick without the green-eyed governess, or nurse, or + whatever she was to the children of Mr. and Mrs. Pamphilius. + </p> + <p> + “Those people were passengers in her from Port Adelaide to the Cape. Well, + the ship went out and anchored outside for the day. The skipper—hospitable + soul—had a lot of guests from town to a farewell lunch—as + usual with him. It was five in the evening before the last shore boat left + the side, and the weather looked ugly and dark in the gulf. There was no + reason for him to get under way. However, as he had told everybody he was + going that day, he imagined it was proper to do so anyhow. But as he had + no mind after all these festivities to tackle the straits in the dark, + with a scant wind, he gave orders to keep the ship under lower topsails + and foresail as close as she would lie, dodging along the land till the + morning. Then he sought his virtuous couch. The mate was on deck, having + his face washed very clean with hard rain squalls. Wilmot relieved him at + midnight. + </p> + <p> + “The Apse Family had, as you observed, a house on her poop . . .” + </p> + <p> + “A big, ugly white thing, sticking up,” Jermyn murmured, sadly, at the + fire. + </p> + <p> + “That’s it: a companion for the cabin stairs and a sort of chart-room + combined. The rain drove in gusts on the sleepy Wilmot. The ship was then + surging slowly to the southward, close hauled, with the coast within three + miles or so to windward. There was nothing to look out for in that part of + the gulf, and Wilmot went round to dodge the squalls under the lee of that + chart-room, whose door on that side was open. The night was black, like a + barrel of coal-tar. And then he heard a woman’s voice whispering to him. + </p> + <p> + “That confounded green-eyed girl of the Pamphilius people had put the kids + to bed a long time ago, of course, but it seems couldn’t get to sleep + herself. She heard eight bells struck, and the chief mate come below to + turn in. She waited a bit, then got into her dressing-gown and stole + across the empty saloon and up the stairs into the chart-room. She sat + down on the settee near the open door to cool herself, I daresay. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose when she whispered to Wilmot it was as if somebody had struck a + match in the fellow’s brain. I don’t know how it was they had got so very + thick. I fancy he had met her ashore a few times before. I couldn’t make + it out, because, when telling the story, Wilmot would break off to swear + something awful at every second word. We had met on the quay in Sydney, + and he had an apron of sacking up to his chin, a big whip in his hand. A + wagon-driver. Glad to do anything not to starve. That’s what he had come + down to. + </p> + <p> + “However, there he was, with his head inside the door, on the girl’s + shoulder as likely as not—officer of the watch! The helmsman, on + giving his evidence afterwards, said that he shouted several times that + the binnacle lamp had gone out. It didn’t matter to him, because his + orders were to ‘sail her close.’ ‘I thought it funny,’ he said, ‘that the + ship should keep on falling off in squalls, but I luffed her up every time + as close as I was able. It was so dark I couldn’t see my hand before my + face, and the rain came in bucketfuls on my head.’ + </p> + <p> + “The truth was that at every squall the wind hauled aft a little, till + gradually the ship came to be heading straight for the coast, without a + single soul in her being aware of it. Wilmot himself confessed that he had + not been near the standard compass for an hour. He might well have + confessed! The first thing he knew was the man on the look-out shouting + blue murder forward there. + </p> + <p> + “He tore his neck free, he says, and yelled back at him: ‘What do you + say?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I think I hear breakers ahead, sir,’ howled the man, and came rushing + aft with the rest of the watch, in the ‘awfullest blinding deluge that + ever fell from the sky,’ Wilmot says. For a second or so he was so scared + and bewildered that he could not remember on which side of the gulf the + ship was. He wasn’t a good officer, but he was a seaman all the same. He + pulled himself together in a second, and the right orders sprang to his + lips without thinking. They were to hard up with the helm and shiver the + main and mizzen-topsails. + </p> + <p> + “It seems that the sails actually fluttered. He couldn’t see them, but he + heard them rattling and banging above his head. ‘No use! She was too slow + in going off,’ he went on, his dirty face twitching, and the damn’d + carter’s whip shaking in his hand. ‘She seemed to stick fast.’ And then + the flutter of the canvas above his head ceased. At this critical moment + the wind hauled aft again with a gust, filling the sails and sending the + ship with a great way upon the rocks on her lee bow. She had overreached + herself in her last little game. Her time had come—the hour, the + man, the black night, the treacherous gust of wind—the right woman + to put an end to her. The brute deserved nothing better. Strange are the + instruments of Providence. There’s a sort of poetical justice—” + </p> + <p> + The man in tweeds looked hard at me. + </p> + <p> + “The first ledge she went over stripped the false keel off her. Rip! The + skipper, rushing out of his berth, found a crazy woman, in a red flannel + dressing-gown, flying round and round the cuddy, screeching like a + cockatoo. + </p> + <p> + “The next bump knocked her clean under the cabin table. It also started + the stern-post and carried away the rudder, and then that brute ran up a + shelving, rocky shore, tearing her bottom out, till she stopped short, and + the foremast dropped over the bows like a gangway.” + </p> + <p> + “Anybody lost?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No one, unless that fellow, Wilmot,” answered the gentleman, unknown to + Miss Blank, looking round for his cap. “And his case was worse than + drowning for a man. Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn’t come on + till next day, dead from the West, and broke up that brute in a + surprisingly short time. It was as though she had been rotten at heart.” . + . . He changed his tone, “Rain left off? I must get my bike and rush home + to dinner. I live in Herne Bay—came out for a spin this morning.” + </p> + <p> + He nodded at me in a friendly way, and went out with a swagger. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know who he is, Jermyn?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + The North Sea pilot shook his head, dismally. “Fancy losing a ship in that + silly fashion! Oh, dear! oh dear!” he groaned in lugubrious tones, + spreading his damp handkerchief again like a curtain before the glowing + grate. + </p> + <p> + On going out I exchanged a glance and a smile (strictly proper) with the + respectable Miss Blank, barmaid of the Three Crows. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AN ANARCHIST + </h2> + <h3> + A DESPERATE TALE + </h3> + <p> + That year I spent the best two months of the dry season on one of the + estates—in fact, on the principal cattle estate—of a famous + meat-extract manufacturing company. + </p> + <p> + B.O.S. Bos. You have seen the three magic letters on the advertisement + pages of magazines and newspapers, in the windows of provision merchants, + and on calendars for next year you receive by post in the month of + November. They scatter pamphlets also, written in a sickly enthusiastic + style and in several languages, giving statistics of slaughter and + bloodshed enough to make a Turk turn faint. The “art” illustrating that + “literature” represents in vivid and shining colours a large and enraged + black bull stamping upon a yellow snake writhing in emerald-green grass, + with a cobalt-blue sky for a background. It is atrocious and it is an + allegory. The snake symbolizes disease, weakness—perhaps mere + hunger, which last is the chronic disease of the majority of mankind. Of + course everybody knows the B. O. S. Ltd., with its unrivalled products: + Vinobos, Jellybos, and the latest unequalled perfection, Tribos, whose + nourishment is offered to you not only highly concentrated, but already + half digested. Such apparently is the love that Limited Company bears to + its fellowmen—even as the love of the father and mother penguin for + their hungry fledglings. + </p> + <p> + Of course the capital of a country must be productively employed. I have + nothing to say against the company. But being myself animated by feelings + of affection towards my fellow-men, I am saddened by the modern system of + advertising. Whatever evidence it offers of enterprise, ingenuity, + impudence, and resource in certain individuals, it proves to my mind the + wide prevalence of that form of mental degradation which is called + gullibility. + </p> + <p> + In various parts of the civilized and uncivilized world I have had to + swallow B. O. S. with more or less benefit to myself, though without great + pleasure. Prepared with hot water and abundantly peppered to bring out the + taste, this extract is not really unpalatable. But I have never swallowed + its advertisements. Perhaps they have not gone far enough. As far as I can + remember they make no promise of everlasting youth to the users of B. O. + S., nor yet have they claimed the power of raising the dead for their + estimable products. Why this austere reserve, I wonder? But I don’t think + they would have had me even on these terms. Whatever form of mental + degradation I may (being but human) be suffering from, it is not the + popular form. I am not gullible. + </p> + <p> + I have been at some pains to bring out distinctly this statement about + myself in view of the story which follows. I have checked the facts as far + as possible. I have turned up the files of French newspapers, and I have + also talked with the officer who commands the military guard on the Ile + Royale, when in the course of my travels I reached Cayenne. I believe the + story to be in the main true. It is the sort of story that no man, I + think, would ever invent about himself, for it is neither grandiose nor + flattering, nor yet funny enough to gratify a perverted vanity. + </p> + <p> + It concerns the engineer of the steam-launch belonging to the Maranon + cattle estate of the B. O. S. Co., Ltd. This estate is also an island—an + island as big as a small province, lying in the estuary of a great South + American river. It is wild and not beautiful, but the grass growing on its + low plains seems to possess exceptionally nourishing and flavouring + qualities. It resounds with the lowing of innumerable herds—a deep + and distressing sound under the open sky, rising like a monstrous protest + of prisoners condemned to death. On the mainland, across twenty miles of + discoloured muddy water, there stands a city whose name, let us say, is + Horta. + </p> + <p> + But the most interesting characteristic of this island (which seems like a + sort of penal settlement for condemned cattle) consists in its being the + only known habitat of an extremely rare and gorgeous butterfly. The + species is even more rare than it is beautiful, which is not saying + little. I have already alluded to my travels. I travelled at that time, + but strictly for myself and with a moderation unknown in our days of + round-the-world tickets. I even travelled with a purpose. As a matter of + fact, I am—“Ha, ha, ha!—a desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, + ha!” + </p> + <p> + This was the tone in which Mr. Harry Gee, the manager of the cattle + station, alluded to my pursuits. He seemed to consider me the greatest + absurdity in the world. On the other hand, the B. O. S. Co., Ltd., + represented to him the acme of the nineteenth century’s achievement. I + believe that he slept in his leggings and spurs. His days he spent in the + saddle flying over the plains, followed by a train of half-wild horsemen, + who called him Don Enrique, and who had no definite idea of the B. O. S. + Co., Ltd., which paid their wages. He was an excellent manager, but I + don’t see why, when we met at meals, he should have thumped me on the + back, with loud, derisive inquiries: “How’s the deadly sport to-day? + Butterflies going strong? Ha, ha, ha!”—especially as he charged me + two dollars per diem for the hospitality of the B. O. S. Co., Ltd., + (capital L1,500,000, fully paid up), in whose balance-sheet for that year + those monies are no doubt included. “I don’t think I can make it anything + less in justice to my company,” he had remarked, with extreme gravity, + when I was arranging with him the terms of my stay on the island. + </p> + <p> + His chaff would have been harmless enough if intimacy of intercourse in + the absence of all friendly feeling were not a thing detestable in itself. + Moreover, his facetiousness was not very amusing. It consisted in the + wearisome repetition of descriptive phrases applied to people with a burst + of laughter. “Desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!” was one sample of + his peculiar wit which he himself enjoyed so much. And in the same vein of + exquisite humour he called my attention to the engineer of the + steam-launch, one day, as we strolled on the path by the side of the + creek. + </p> + <p> + The man’s head and shoulders emerged above the deck, over which were + scattered various tools of his trade and a few pieces of machinery. He was + doing some repairs to the engines. At the sound of our footsteps he raised + anxiously a grimy face with a pointed chin and a tiny fair moustache. What + could be seen of his delicate features under the black smudges appeared to + me wasted and livid in the greenish shade of the enormous tree spreading + its foliage over the launch moored close to the bank. + </p> + <p> + To my great surprise, Harry Gee addressed him as “Crocodile,” in that + half-jeering, half-bullying tone which is characteristic of + self-satisfaction in his delectable kind: + </p> + <p> + “How does the work get on, Crocodile?” + </p> + <p> + I should have said before that the amiable Harry had picked up French of a + sort somewhere—in some colony or other—and that he pronounced + it with a disagreeable forced precision as though he meant to guy the + language. The man in the launch answered him quickly in a pleasant voice. + His eyes had a liquid softness and his teeth flashed dazzlingly white + between his thin, drooping lips. The manager turned to me, very cheerful + and loud, explaining: + </p> + <p> + “I call him Crocodile because he lives half in, half out of the creek. + Amphibious—see? There’s nothing else amphibious living on the island + except crocodiles; so he must belong to the species—eh? But in + reality he’s nothing less than un citoyen anarchiste de Barcelone.” + </p> + <p> + “A citizen anarchist from Barcelona?” I repeated, stupidly, looking down + at the man. He had turned to his work in the engine-well of the launch and + presented his bowed back to us. In that attitude I heard him protest, very + audibly: + </p> + <p> + “I do not even know Spanish.” + </p> + <p> + “Hey? What? You dare to deny you come from over there?” the accomplished + manager was down on him truculently. + </p> + <p> + At this the man straightened himself up, dropping a spanner he had been + using, and faced us; but he trembled in all his limbs. + </p> + <p> + “I deny nothing, nothing, nothing!” he said, excitedly. + </p> + <p> + He picked up the spanner and went to work again without paying any further + attention to us. After looking at him for a minute or so, we went away. + </p> + <p> + “Is he really an anarchist?” I asked, when out of ear-shot. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care a hang what he is,” answered the humorous official of the B. + O. S. Co. “I gave him the name because it suited me to label him in that + way, It’s good for the company.” + </p> + <p> + “For the company!” I exclaimed, stopping short. + </p> + <p> + “Aha!” he triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug face and straddling his + thin, long legs. “That surprises you. I am bound to do my best for my + company. They have enormous expenses. Why—our agent in Horta tells + me they spend fifty thousand pounds every year in advertising all over the + world! One can’t be too economical in working the show. Well, just you + listen. When I took charge here the estate had no steam-launch. I asked + for one, and kept on asking by every mail till I got it; but the man they + sent out with it chucked his job at the end of two months, leaving the + launch moored at the pontoon in Horta. Got a better screw at a sawmill up + the river—blast him! And ever since it has been the same thing. Any + Scotch or Yankee vagabond that likes to call himself a mechanic out here + gets eighteen pounds a month, and the next you know he’s cleared out, + after smashing something as likely as not. I give you my word that some of + the objects I’ve had for engine-drivers couldn’t tell the boiler from the + funnel. But this fellow understands his trade, and I don’t mean him to + clear out. See?” + </p> + <p> + And he struck me lightly on the chest for emphasis. Disregarding his + peculiarities of manner, I wanted to know what all this had to do with the + man being an anarchist. + </p> + <p> + “Come!” jeered the manager. “If you saw suddenly a barefooted, unkempt + chap slinking amongst the bushes on the sea face of the island, and at the + same time observed less than a mile from the beach, a small schooner full + of niggers hauling off in a hurry, you wouldn’t think the man fell there + from the sky, would you? And it could be nothing else but either that or + Cayenne. I’ve got my wits about me. Directly I sighted this queer game I + said to myself—‘Escaped Convict.’ I was as certain of it as I am of + seeing you standing here this minute. So I spurred on straight at him. He + stood his ground for a bit on a sand hillock crying out: ‘Monsieur! + Monsieur! Arretez!’ then at the last moment broke and ran for life. Says I + to myself, ‘I’ll tame you before I’m done with you.’ So without a single + word I kept on, heading him off here and there. I rounded him up towards + the shore, and at last I had him corralled on a spit, his heels in the + water and nothing but sea and sky at his back, with my horse pawing the + sand and shaking his head within a yard of him. + </p> + <p> + “He folded his arms on his breast then and stuck his chin up in a sort of + desperate way; but I wasn’t to be impressed by the beggar’s posturing. + </p> + <p> + “Says I, ‘You’re a runaway convict.’ + </p> + <p> + “When he heard French, his chin went down and his face changed. + </p> + <p> + “‘I deny nothing,’ says he, panting yet, for I had kept him skipping about + in front of my horse pretty smartly. I asked him what he was doing there. + He had got his breath by then, and explained that he had meant to make his + way to a farm which he understood (from the schooner’s people, I suppose) + was to be found in the neighbourhood. At that I laughed aloud and he got + uneasy. Had he been deceived? Was there no farm within walking distance? + </p> + <p> + “I laughed more and more. He was on foot, and of course the first bunch of + cattle he came across would have stamped him to rags under their hoofs. A + dismounted man caught on the feeding-grounds hasn’t got the ghost of a + chance. + </p> + <p> + “‘My coming upon you like this has certainly saved your life,’ I said. He + remarked that perhaps it was so; but that for his part he had imagined I + had wanted to kill him under the hoofs of my horse. I assured him that + nothing would have been easier had I meant it. And then we came to a sort + of dead stop. For the life of me I didn’t know what to do with this + convict, unless I chucked him into the sea. It occurred to me to ask him + what he had been transported for. He hung his head. + </p> + <p> + “‘What is it?’ says I. ‘Theft, murder, rape, or what?’ I wanted to hear + what he would have to say for himself, though of course I expected it + would be some sort of lie. But all he said was— + </p> + <p> + “‘Make it what you like. I deny nothing. It is no good denying anything.’ + </p> + <p> + “I looked him over carefully and a thought struck me. + </p> + <p> + “‘They’ve got anarchists there, too,’ I said. ‘Perhaps you’re one of + them.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I deny nothing whatever, monsieur,’ he repeats. + </p> + <p> + “This answer made me think that perhaps he was not an anarchist. I believe + those damned lunatics are rather proud of themselves. If he had been one, + he would have probably confessed straight out. + </p> + <p> + “‘What were you before you became a convict?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Ouvrier,’ he says. ‘And a good workman, too.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that I began to think he must be an anarchist, after all. That’s the + class they come mostly from, isn’t it? I hate the cowardly bomb-throwing + brutes. I almost made up my mind to turn my horse short round and leave + him to starve or drown where he was, whichever he liked best. As to + crossing the island to bother me again, the cattle would see to that. I + don’t know what induced me to ask— + </p> + <p> + “‘What sort of workman?’ + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t care a hang whether he answered me or not. But when he said at + once, ‘Mecanicien, monsieur,’ I nearly jumped out of the saddle with + excitement. The launch had been lying disabled and idle in the creek for + three weeks. My duty to the company was clear. He noticed my start, too, + and there we were for a minute or so staring at each other as if + bewitched. + </p> + <p> + “‘Get up on my horse behind me,’ I told him. ‘You shall put my + steam-launch to rights.’” + </p> + <p> + These are the words in which the worthy manager of the Maranon estate + related to me the coming of the supposed anarchist. He meant to keep him—out + of a sense of duty to the company—and the name he had given him + would prevent the fellow from obtaining employment anywhere in Horta. The + vaqueros of the estate, when they went on leave, spread it all over the + town. They did not know what an anarchist was, nor yet what Barcelona + meant. They called him Anarchisto de Barcelona, as if it were his + Christian name and surname. But the people in town had been reading in + their papers about the anarchists in Europe and were very much impressed. + Over the jocular addition of “de Barcelona” Mr. Harry Gee chuckled with + immense satisfaction. “That breed is particularly murderous, isn’t it? It + makes the sawmills crowd still more afraid of having anything to do with + him—see?” he exulted, candidly. “I hold him by that name better than + if I had him chained up by the leg to the deck of the steam-launch. + </p> + <p> + “And mark,” he added, after a pause, “he does not deny it. I am not + wronging him in any way. He is a convict of some sort, anyhow.” + </p> + <p> + “But I suppose you pay him some wages, don’t you?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Wages! What does he want with money here? He gets his food from my + kitchen and his clothing from the store. Of course I’ll give him something + at the end of the year, but you don’t think I’d employ a convict and give + him the same money I would give an honest man? I am looking after the + interests of my company first and last.” + </p> + <p> + I admitted that, for a company spending fifty thousand pounds every year + in advertising, the strictest economy was obviously necessary. The manager + of the Maranon Estancia grunted approvingly. + </p> + <p> + “And I’ll tell you what,” he continued: “if I were certain he’s an + anarchist and he had the cheek to ask me for money, I would give him the + toe of my boot. However, let him have the benefit of the doubt. I am + perfectly willing to take it that he has done nothing worse than to stick + a knife into somebody—with extenuating circumstances—French + fashion, don’t you know. But that subversive sanguinary rot of doing away + with all law and order in the world makes my blood boil. It’s simply + cutting the ground from under the feet of every decent, respectable, + hard-working person. I tell you that the consciences of people who have + them, like you or I, must be protected in some way; or else the first low + scoundrel that came along would in every respect be just as good as + myself. Wouldn’t he, now? And that’s absurd!” + </p> + <p> + He glared at me. I nodded slightly and murmured that doubtless there was + much subtle truth in his view. + </p> + <p> + The principal truth discoverable in the views of Paul the engineer was + that a little thing may bring about the undoing of a man. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Il ne faut pas beaucoup pour perdre un homme</i>,” he said to me, + thoughtfully, one evening. + </p> + <p> + I report this reflection in French, since the man was of Paris, not of + Barcelona at all. At the Maranon he lived apart from the station, in a + small shed with a metal roof and straw walls, which he called mon atelier. + He had a work-bench there. They had given him several horse-blankets and a + saddle—not that he ever had occasion to ride, but because no other + bedding was used by the working-hands, who were all vaqueros—cattlemen. + And on this horseman’s gear, like a son of the plains, he used to sleep + amongst the tools of his trade, in a litter of rusty scrap-iron, with a + portable forge at his head, under the work-bench sustaining his grimy + mosquito-net. + </p> + <p> + Now and then I would bring him a few candle ends saved from the scant + supply of the manager’s house. He was very thankful for these. He did not + like to lie awake in the dark, he confessed. He complained that sleep fled + from him. “Le sommeil me fuit,” he declared, with his habitual air of + subdued stoicism, which made him sympathetic and touching. I made it clear + to him that I did not attach undue importance to the fact of his having + been a convict. + </p> + <p> + Thus it came about that one evening he was led to talk about himself. As + one of the bits of candle on the edge of the bench burned down to the end, + he hastened to light another. + </p> + <p> + He had done his military service in a provincial garrison and returned to + Paris to follow his trade. It was a well-paid one. He told me with some + pride that in a short time he was earning no less than ten francs a day. + He was thinking of setting up for himself by and by and of getting + married. + </p> + <p> + Here he sighed deeply and paused. Then with a return to his stoical note: + </p> + <p> + “It seems I did not know enough about myself.” + </p> + <p> + On his twenty-fifth birthday two of his friends in the repairing shop + where he worked proposed to stand him a dinner. He was immensely touched + by this attention. + </p> + <p> + “I was a steady man,” he remarked, “but I am not less sociable than any + other body.” + </p> + <p> + The entertainment came off in a little cafe on the Boulevard de la + Chapelle. At dinner they drank some special wine. It was excellent. + Everything was excellent; and the world—in his own words—seemed + a very good place to live in. He had good prospects, some little money + laid by, and the affection of two excellent friends. He offered to pay for + all the drinks after dinner, which was only proper on his part. + </p> + <p> + They drank more wine; they drank liqueurs, cognac, beer, then more + liqueurs and more cognac. Two strangers sitting at the next table looked + at him, he said, with so much friendliness, that he invited them to join + the party. + </p> + <p> + He had never drunk so much in his life. His elation was extreme, and so + pleasurable that whenever it flagged he hastened to order more drinks. + </p> + <p> + “It seemed to me,” he said, in his quiet tone and looking on the ground in + the gloomy shed full of shadows, “that I was on the point of just + attaining a great and wonderful felicity. Another drink, I felt, would do + it. The others were holding out well with me, glass for glass.” + </p> + <p> + But an extraordinary thing happened. At something the strangers said his + elation fell. Gloomy ideas—des idees noires—rushed into his + head. All the world outside the cafe; appeared to him as a dismal evil + place where a multitude of poor wretches had to work and slave to the sole + end that a few individuals should ride in carriages and live riotously in + palaces. He became ashamed of his happiness. The pity of mankind’s cruel + lot wrung his heart. In a voice choked with sorrow he tried to express + these sentiments. He thinks he wept and swore in turns. + </p> + <p> + The two new acquaintances hastened to applaud his humane indignation. Yes. + The amount of injustice in the world was indeed scandalous. There was only + one way of dealing with the rotten state of society. Demolish the whole + sacree boutique. Blow up the whole iniquitous show. + </p> + <p> + Their heads hovered over the table. They whispered to him eloquently; I + don’t think they quite expected the result. He was extremely drunk—mad + drunk. With a howl of rage he leaped suddenly upon the table. Kicking over + the bottles and glasses, he yelled: “Vive l’anarchie! Death to the + capitalists!” He yelled this again and again. All round him broken glass + was falling, chairs were being swung in the air, people were taking each + other by the throat. The police dashed in. He hit, bit, scratched and + struggled, till something crashed down upon his head. . . . + </p> + <p> + He came to himself in a police cell, locked up on a charge of assault, + seditious cries, and anarchist propaganda. + </p> + <p> + He looked at me fixedly with his liquid, shining eyes, that seemed very + big in the dim light. + </p> + <p> + “That was bad. But even then I might have got off somehow, perhaps,” he + said, slowly. + </p> + <p> + I doubt it. But whatever chance he had was done away with by a young + socialist lawyer who volunteered to undertake his defence. In vain he + assured him that he was no anarchist; that he was a quiet, respectable + mechanic, only too anxious to work ten hours per day at his trade. He was + represented at the trial as the victim of society and his drunken + shoutings as the expression of infinite suffering. The young lawyer had + his way to make, and this case was just what he wanted for a start. The + speech for the defence was pronounced magnificent. + </p> + <p> + The poor fellow paused, swallowed, and brought out the statement: + </p> + <p> + “I got the maximum penalty applicable to a first offence.” + </p> + <p> + I made an appropriate murmur. He hung his head and folded his arms. + </p> + <p> + “When they let me out of prison,” he began, gently, “I made tracks, of + course, for my old workshop. My patron had a particular liking for me + before; but when he saw me he turned green with fright and showed me the + door with a shaking hand.” + </p> + <p> + While he stood in the street, uneasy and disconcerted, he was accosted by + a middle-aged man who introduced himself as an engineer’s fitter, too. “I + know who you are,” he said. “I have attended your trial. You are a good + comrade and your ideas are sound. But the devil of it is that you won’t be + able to get work anywhere now. These bourgeois’ll conspire to starve you. + That’s their way. Expect no mercy from the rich.” + </p> + <p> + To be spoken to so kindly in the street had comforted him very much. His + seemed to be the sort of nature needing support and sympathy. The idea of + not being able to find work had knocked him over completely. If his + patron, who knew him so well for a quiet, orderly, competent workman, + would have nothing to do with him now—then surely nobody else would. + That was clear. The police, keeping their eye on him, would hasten to warn + every employer inclined to give him a chance. He felt suddenly very + helpless, alarmed and idle; and he followed the middle-aged man to the + estaminet round the corner where he met some other good companions. They + assured him that he would not be allowed to starve, work or no work. They + had drinks all round to the discomfiture of all employers of labour and to + the destruction of society. + </p> + <p> + He sat biting his lower lip. + </p> + <p> + “That is, monsieur, how I became a compagnon,” he said. The hand he passed + over his forehead was trembling. “All the same, there’s something wrong in + a world where a man can get lost for a glass more or less.” + </p> + <p> + He never looked up, though I could see he was getting excited under his + dejection. He slapped the bench with his open palm. + </p> + <p> + “No!” he cried. “It was an impossible existence! Watched by the police, + watched by the comrades, I did not belong to myself any more! Why, I could + not even go to draw a few francs from my savings-bank without a comrade + hanging about the door to see that I didn’t bolt! And most of them were + neither more nor less than housebreakers. The intelligent, I mean. They + robbed the rich; they were only getting back their own, they said. When I + had had some drink I believed them. There were also the fools and the mad. + Des exaltes—quoi! When I was drunk I loved them. When I got more + drink I was angry with the world. That was the best time. I found refuge + from misery in rage. But one can’t be always drunk—n’est-ce pas, + monsieur? And when I was sober I was afraid to break away. They would have + stuck me like a pig.” + </p> + <p> + He folded his arms again and raised his sharp chin with a bitter smile. + </p> + <p> + “By and by they told me it was time to go to work. The work was to rob a + bank. Afterwards a bomb would be thrown to wreck the place. My beginner’s + part would be to keep watch in a street at the back and to take care of a + black bag with the bomb inside till it was wanted. After the meeting at + which the affair was arranged a trusty comrade did not leave me an inch. I + had not dared to protest; I was afraid of being done away with quietly in + that room; only, as we were walking together I wondered whether it would + not be better for me to throw myself suddenly into the Seine. But while I + was turning it over in my mind we had crossed the bridge, and afterwards I + had not the opportunity.” + </p> + <p> + In the light of the candle end, with his sharp features, fluffy little + moustache, and oval face, he looked at times delicately and gaily young, + and then appeared quite old, decrepit, full of sorrow, pressing his folded + arms to his breast. + </p> + <p> + As he remained silent I felt bound to ask: + </p> + <p> + “Well! And how did it end?” + </p> + <p> + “Deportation to Cayenne,” he answered. + </p> + <p> + He seemed to think that somebody had given the plot away. As he was + keeping watch in the back street, bag in hand, he was set upon by the + police. “These imbeciles,” had knocked him down without noticing what he + had in his hand. He wondered how the bomb failed to explode as he fell. + But it didn’t explode. + </p> + <p> + “I tried to tell my story in court,” he continued. “The president was + amused. There were in the audience some idiots who laughed.” + </p> + <p> + I expressed the hope that some of his companions had been caught, too. He + shuddered slightly before he told me that there were two—Simon, + called also Biscuit, the middle-aged fitter who spoke to him in the + street, and a fellow of the name of Mafile, one of the sympathetic + strangers who had applauded his sentiments and consoled his humanitarian + sorrows when he got drunk in the cafe. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” he went on, with an effort, “I had the advantage of their company + over there on St. Joseph’s Island, amongst some eighty or ninety other + convicts. We were all classed as dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + St. Joseph’s Island is the prettiest of the Iles de Salut. It is rocky and + green, with shallow ravines, bushes, thickets, groves of mango-trees, and + many feathery palms. Six warders armed with revolvers and carbines are in + charge of the convicts kept there. + </p> + <p> + An eight-oared galley keeps up the communication in the daytime, across a + channel a quarter of a mile wide, with the Ile Royale, where there is a + military post. She makes the first trip at six in the morning. At four in + the afternoon her service is over, and she is then hauled up into a little + dock on the Ile Royale and a sentry put over her and a few smaller boats. + From that time till next morning the island of St. Joseph remains cut off + from the rest of the world, with the warders patrolling in turn the path + from the warders’ house to the convict huts, and a multitude of sharks + patrolling the waters all round. + </p> + <p> + Under these circumstances the convicts planned a mutiny. Such a thing had + never been known in the penitentiary’s history before. But their plan was + not without some possibility of success. The warders were to be taken by + surprise and murdered during the night. Their arms would enable the + convicts to shoot down the people in the galley as she came alongside in + the morning. The galley once in their possession, other boats were to be + captured, and the whole company was to row away up the coast. + </p> + <p> + At dusk the two warders on duty mustered the convicts as usual. Then they + proceeded to inspect the huts to ascertain that everything was in order. + In the second they entered they were set upon and absolutely smothered + under the numbers of their assailants. The twilight faded rapidly. It was + a new moon; and a heavy black squall gathering over the coast increased + the profound darkness of the night. The convicts assembled in the open + space, deliberating upon the next step to be taken, argued amongst + themselves in low voices. + </p> + <p> + “You took part in all this?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “No. I knew what was going to be done, of course. But why should I kill + these warders? I had nothing against them. But I was afraid of the others. + Whatever happened, I could not escape from them. I sat alone on the stump + of a tree with my head in my hands, sick at heart at the thought of a + freedom that could be nothing but a mockery to me. Suddenly I was startled + to perceive the shape of a man on the path near by. He stood perfectly + still, then his form became effaced in the night. It must have been the + chief warder coming to see what had become of his two men. No one noticed + him. The convicts kept on quarrelling over their plans. The leaders could + not get themselves obeyed. The fierce whispering of that dark mass of men + was very horrible. + </p> + <p> + “At last they divided into two parties and moved off. When they had passed + me I rose, weary and hopeless. The path to the warders’ house was dark and + silent, but on each side the bushes rustled slightly. Presently I saw a + faint thread of light before me. The chief warder, followed by his three + men, was approaching cautiously. But he had failed to close his dark + lantern properly. The convicts had seen that faint gleam, too. There was + an awful savage yell, a turmoil on the dark path, shots fired, blows, + groans: and with the sound of smashed bushes, the shouts of the pursuers + and the screams of the pursued, the man-hunt, the warder-hunt, passed by + me into the interior of the island. I was alone. And I assure you, + monsieur, I was indifferent to everything. After standing still for a + while, I walked on along the path till I kicked something hard. I stooped + and picked up a warder’s revolver. I felt with my fingers that it was + loaded in five chambers. In the gusts of wind I heard the convicts calling + to each other far away, and then a roll of thunder would cover the + soughing and rustling of the trees. Suddenly, a big light ran across my + path very low along the ground. And it showed a woman’s skirt with the + edge of an apron. + </p> + <p> + “I knew that the person who carried it must be the wife of the head + warder. They had forgotten all about her, it seems. A shot rang out in the + interior of the island, and she cried out to herself as she ran. She + passed on. I followed, and presently I saw her again. She was pulling at + the cord of the big bell which hangs at the end of the landing-pier, with + one hand, and with the other she was swinging the heavy lantern to and + fro. This is the agreed signal for the Ile Royale should assistance be + required at night. The wind carried the sound away from our island and the + light she swung was hidden on the shore side by the few trees that grow + near the warders’ house. + </p> + <p> + “I came up quite close to her from behind. She went on without stopping, + without looking aside, as though she had been all alone on the island. A + brave woman, monsieur. I put the revolver inside the breast of my blue + blouse and waited. A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder destroyed + both the sound and the light of the signal for an instant, but she never + faltered, pulling at the cord and swinging the lantern as regularly as a + machine. She was a comely woman of thirty—no more. I thought to + myself, ‘All that’s no good on a night like this.’ And I made up my mind + that if a body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier—which was + sure to happen soon—I would shoot her through the head before I shot + myself. I knew the ‘comrades’ well. This idea of mine gave me quite an + interest in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of remaining stupidly + exposed on the pier, I retreated a little way and crouched behind a bush. + I did not intend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be prevented + perhaps from rendering a supreme service to at least one human creature + before I died myself. + </p> + <p> + “But we must believe the signal was seen, for the galley from Ile Royale + came over in an astonishingly short time. The woman kept right on till the + light of her lantern flashed upon the officer in command and the bayonets + of the soldiers in the boat. Then she sat down and began to cry. + </p> + <p> + “She didn’t need me any more. I did not budge. Some soldiers were only in + their shirt-sleeves, others without boots, just as the call to arms had + found them. They passed by my bush at the double. The galley had been sent + away for more; and the woman sat all alone crying at the end of the pier, + with the lantern standing on the ground near her. + </p> + <p> + “Then suddenly I saw in the light at the end of the pier the red + pantaloons of two more men. I was overcome with astonishment. They, too, + started off at a run. Their tunics flapped unbuttoned and they were + bare-headed. One of them panted out to the other, ‘Straight on, straight + on!’ + </p> + <p> + “Where on earth did they spring from, I wondered. Slowly I walked down the + short pier. I saw the woman’s form shaken by sobs and heard her moaning + more and more distinctly, ‘Oh, my man! my poor man! my poor man!’ I stole + on quietly. She could neither hear nor see anything. She had thrown her + apron over her head and was rocking herself to and fro in her grief. But I + remarked a small boat fastened to the end of the pier. + </p> + <p> + “Those two men—they looked like sous-officiers—must have come + in it, after being too late, I suppose, for the galley. It is incredible + that they should have thus broken the regulations from a sense of duty. + And it was a stupid thing to do. I could not believe my eyes in the very + moment I was stepping into that boat. + </p> + <p> + “I pulled along the shore slowly. A black cloud hung over the Iles de + Salut. I heard firing, shouts. Another hunt had begun—the + convict-hunt. The oars were too long to pull comfortably. I managed them + with difficulty, though the boat herself was light. But when I got round + to the other side of the island the squall broke in rain and wind. I was + unable to make head against it. I let the boat drift ashore and secured + her. + </p> + <p> + “I knew the spot. There was a tumbledown old hovel standing near the + water. Cowering in there I heard through the noises of the wind and the + falling downpour some people tearing through the bushes. They came out on + the strand. Soldiers perhaps. A flash of lightning threw everything near + me into violent relief. Two convicts! + </p> + <p> + “And directly an amazed voice exclaimed. ‘It’s a miracle!’ It was the + voice of Simon, otherwise Biscuit. + </p> + <p> + “And another voice growled, ‘What’s a miracle?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, there’s a boat lying here!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You must be mad, Simon! But there is, after all. . . . A boat.’ + </p> + <p> + “They seemed awed into complete silence. The other man was Mafile. He + spoke again, cautiously. + </p> + <p> + “‘It is fastened up. There must be somebody here.’ + </p> + <p> + “I spoke to them from within the hovel: ‘I am here.’ + </p> + <p> + “They came in then, and soon gave me to understand that the boat was + theirs, not mine. ‘There are two of us,’ said Mafile, ‘against you alone.’ + </p> + <p> + “I got out into the open to keep clear of them for fear of getting a + treacherous blow on the head. I could have shot them both where they + stood. But I said nothing. I kept down the laughter rising in my throat. I + made myself very humble and begged to be allowed to go. They consulted in + low tones about my fate, while with my hand on the revolver in the bosom + of my blouse I had their lives in my power. I let them live. I meant them + to pull that boat. I represented to them with abject humility that I + understood the management of a boat, and that, being three to pull, we + could get a rest in turns. That decided them at last. It was time. A + little more and I would have gone into screaming fits at the drollness of + it.” + </p> + <p> + At this point his excitement broke out. He jumped off the bench and + gesticulated. The great shadows of his arms darting over roof and walls + made the shed appear too small to contain his agitation. + </p> + <p> + “I deny nothing,” he burst out. “I was elated, monsieur. I tasted a sort + of felicity. But I kept very quiet. I took my turns at pulling all through + the night. We made for the open sea, putting our trust in a passing ship. + It was a foolhardy action. I persuaded them to it. When the sun rose the + immensity of water was calm, and the Iles de Salut appeared only like dark + specks from the top of each swell. I was steering then. Mafile, who was + pulling bow, let out an oath and said, ‘We must rest.’ + </p> + <p> + “The time to laugh had come at last. And I took my fill of it, I can tell + you. I held my sides and rolled in my seat, they had such startled faces. + ‘What’s got into him, the animal?’ cries Mafile. + </p> + <p> + “And Simon, who was nearest to me, says over his shoulder to him, ‘Devil + take me if I don’t think he’s gone mad!’ + </p> + <p> + “Then I produced the revolver. Aha! In a moment they both got the stoniest + eyes you can imagine. Ha, ha! They were frightened. But they pulled. Oh, + yes, they pulled all day, sometimes looking wild and sometimes looking + faint. I lost nothing of it because I had to keep my eyes on them all the + time, or else—crack!—they would have been on top of me in a + second. I rested my revolver hand on my knee all ready and steered with + the other. Their faces began to blister. Sky and sea seemed on fire round + us and the sea steamed in the sun. The boat made a sizzling sound as she + went through the water. Sometimes Mafile foamed at the mouth and sometimes + he groaned. But he pulled. He dared not stop. His eyes became blood-shot + all over, and he had bitten his lower lip to pieces. Simon was as hoarse + as a crow. + </p> + <p> + “‘Comrade—’ he begins. + </p> + <p> + “‘There are no comrades here. I am your patron.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Patron, then,’ he says, ‘in the name of humanity let us rest.’ + </p> + <p> + “I let them. There was a little rainwater washing about the bottom of the + boat. I permitted them to snatch some of it in the hollow of their palms. + But as I gave the command, ‘En route!’ I caught them exchanging + significant glances. They thought I would have to go to sleep sometime! + Aha! But I did not want to go to sleep. I was more awake than ever. It is + they who went to sleep as they pulled, tumbling off the thwarts head over + heels suddenly, one after another. I let them lie. All the stars were out. + It was a quiet world. The sun rose. Another day. Allez! En route! + </p> + <p> + “They pulled badly. Their eyes rolled about and their tongues hung out. In + the middle of the forenoon Mafile croaks out: ‘Let us make a rush at him, + Simon. I would just as soon be shot at once as to die of thirst, hunger, + and fatigue at the oar.’ + </p> + <p> + “But while he spoke he pulled; and Simon kept on pulling too. It made me + smile. Ah! They loved their life these two, in this evil world of theirs, + just as I used to love my life, too, before they spoiled it for me with + their phrases. I let them go on to the point of exhaustion, and only then + I pointed at the sails of a ship on the horizon. + </p> + <p> + “Aha! You should have seen them revive and buckle to their work! For I + kept them at it to pull right across that ship’s path. They were changed. + The sort of pity I had felt for them left me. They looked more like + themselves every minute. They looked at me with the glances I remembered + so well. They were happy. They smiled. + </p> + <p> + “‘Well,’ says Simon, ‘the energy of that youngster has saved our lives. If + he hadn’t made us, we could never have pulled so far out into the track of + ships. Comrade, I forgive you. I admire you.’ + </p> + <p> + “And Mafile growls from forward: ‘We owe you a famous debt of gratitude, + comrade. You are cut out for a chief.’ + </p> + <p> + “Comrade! Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! And they, such men as these two, + had made it accursed. I looked at them. I remembered their lies, their + promises, their menaces, and all my days of misery. Why could they not + have left me alone after I came out of prison? I looked at them and + thought that while they lived I could never be free. Never. Neither I nor + others like me with warm hearts and weak heads. For I know I have not a + strong head, monsieur. A black rage came upon me—the rage of extreme + intoxication—but not against the injustice of society. Oh, no! + </p> + <p> + “‘I must be free!’ I cried, furiously. + </p> + <p> + “‘Vive la liberte!” yells that ruffian Mafile. ‘Mort aux bourgeois who + send us to Cayenne! They shall soon know that we are free.’ + </p> + <p> + “The sky, the sea, the whole horizon, seemed to turn red, blood red all + round the boat. My temples were beating so loud that I wondered they did + not hear. How is it that they did not? How is it they did not understand? + </p> + <p> + “I heard Simon ask, ‘Have we not pulled far enough out now?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes. Far enough,’ I said. I was sorry for him; it was the other I hated. + He hauled in his oar with a loud sigh, and as he was raising his hand to + wipe his forehead with the air of a man who has done his work, I pulled + the trigger of my revolver and shot him like this off the knee, right + through the heart. + </p> + <p> + “He tumbled down, with his head hanging over the side of the boat. I did + not give him a second glance. The other cried out piercingly. Only one + shriek of horror. Then all was still. + </p> + <p> + “He slipped off the thwart on to his knees and raised his clasped hands + before his face in an attitude of supplication. ‘Mercy,’ he whispered, + faintly. ‘Mercy for me!—comrade.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Ah, comrade,’ I said, in a low tone. ‘Yes, comrade, of course. Well, + then, shout Vive l’anarchie.’ + </p> + <p> + “He flung up his arms, his face up to the sky and his mouth wide open in a + great yell of despair. ‘Vive l’anarchie! Vive—’ + </p> + <p> + “He collapsed all in a heap, with a bullet through his head. + </p> + <p> + “I flung them both overboard. I threw away the revolver, too. Then I sat + down quietly. I was free at last! At last. I did not even look towards the + ship; I did not care; indeed, I think I must have gone to sleep, because + all of a sudden there were shouts and I found the ship almost on top of + me. They hauled me on board and secured the boat astern. They were all + blacks, except the captain, who was a mulatto. He alone knew a few words + of French. I could not find out where they were going nor who they were. + They gave me something to eat every day; but I did not like the way they + used to discuss me in their language. Perhaps they were deliberating about + throwing me overboard in order to keep possession of the boat. How do I + know? As we were passing this island I asked whether it was inhabited. I + understood from the mulatto that there was a house on it. A farm, I + fancied, they meant. So I asked them to put me ashore on the beach and + keep the boat for their trouble. This, I imagine, was just what they + wanted. The rest you know.” + </p> + <p> + After pronouncing these words he lost suddenly all control over himself. + He paced to and fro rapidly, till at last he broke into a run; his arms + went like a windmill and his ejaculations became very much like raving. + The burden of them was that he “denied nothing, nothing!” I could only let + him go on, and sat out of his way, repeating, “Calmez vous, calmez vous,” + at intervals, till his agitation exhausted itself. + </p> + <p> + I must confess, too, that I remained there long after he had crawled under + his mosquito-net. He had entreated me not to leave him; so, as one sits up + with a nervous child, I sat up with him—in the name of humanity—till + he fell asleep. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, my idea is that he was much more of an anarchist than he + confessed to me or to himself; and that, the special features of his case + apart, he was very much like many other anarchists. Warm heart and weak + head—that is the word of the riddle; and it is a fact that the + bitterest contradictions and the deadliest conflicts of the world are + carried on in every individual breast capable of feeling and passion. + </p> + <p> + From personal inquiry I can vouch that the story of the convict mutiny was + in every particular as stated by him. + </p> + <p> + When I got back to Horta from Cayenne and saw the “Anarchist” again, he + did not look well. He was more worn, still more frail, and very livid + indeed under the grimy smudges of his calling. Evidently the meat of the + company’s main herd (in its unconcentrated form) did not agree with him at + all. + </p> + <p> + It was on the pontoon in Horta that we met; and I tried to induce him to + leave the launch moored where she was and follow me to Europe there and + then. It would have been delightful to think of the excellent manager’s + surprise and disgust at the poor fellow’s escape. But he refused with + unconquerable obstinacy. + </p> + <p> + “Surely you don’t mean to live always here!” I cried. He shook his head. + </p> + <p> + “I shall die here,” he said. Then added moodily, “Away from them.” + </p> + <p> + Sometimes I think of him lying open-eyed on his horseman’s gear in the low + shed full of tools and scraps of iron—the anarchist slave of the + Maranon estate, waiting with resignation for that sleep which “fled” from + him, as he used to say, in such an unaccountable manner. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE DUEL + </h2> + <h3> + A MILITARY TALE + </h3> + <p> + I + </p> + <p> + Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole of + Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great + military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect for + tradition. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in the army, runs + through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration of their + fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined gold or + paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the years of universal + carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and their connection with the + high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems + particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to imagine for heroes of + this legend two officers of infantry of the line, for example, whose + fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily + must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or engineers, whose heads + are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is simply unthinkable. + </p> + <p> + The names of the two officers were Feraud and D’Hubert, and they were both + lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not in the same regiment. + </p> + <p> + Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieut. D’Hubert had the good fortune + to be attached to the person of the general commanding the division, as + officier d’ordonnance. It was in Strasbourg, and in this agreeable and + important garrison they were enjoying greatly a short interval of peace. + They were enjoying it, though both intensely warlike, because it was a + sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a military heart and + undamaging to military prestige, inasmuch that no one believed in its + sincerity or duration. + </p> + <p> + Under those historical circumstances, so favourable to the proper + appreciation of military leisure, Lieut. D’Hubert, one fine afternoon, + made his way along a quiet street of a cheerful suburb towards Lieut. + Feraud’s quarters, which were in a private house with a garden at the + back, belonging to an old maiden lady. + </p> + <p> + His knock at the door was answered instantly by a young maid in Alsatian + costume. Her fresh complexion and her long eyelashes, lowered demurely at + the sight of the tall officer, caused Lieut. D’Hubert, who was accessible + to esthetic impressions, to relax the cold, severe gravity of his face. At + the same time he observed that the girl had over her arm a pair of + hussar’s breeches, blue with a red stripe. + </p> + <p> + “Lieut. Feraud in?” he inquired, benevolently. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, sir! He went out at six this morning.” + </p> + <p> + The pretty maid tried to close the door. Lieut. D’Hubert, opposing this + move with gentle firmness, stepped into the ante-room, jingling his spurs. + </p> + <p> + “Come, my dear! You don’t mean to say he has not been home since six + o’clock this morning?” + </p> + <p> + Saying these words, Lieut. D’Hubert opened without ceremony the door of a + room so comfortably and neatly ordered that only from internal evidence in + the shape of boots, uniforms, and military accoutrements did he acquire + the conviction that it was Lieut. Feraud’s room. And he saw also that + Lieut. Feraud was not at home. The truthful maid had followed him, and + raised her candid eyes to his face. + </p> + <p> + “H’m!” said Lieut. D’Hubert, greatly disappointed, for he had already + visited all the haunts where a lieutenant of hussars could be found of a + fine afternoon. “So he’s out? And do you happen to know, my dear, why he + went out at six this morning?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she answered, readily. “He came home late last night, and snored. I + heard him when I got up at five. Then he dressed himself in his oldest + uniform and went out. Service, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + “Service? Not a bit of it!” cried Lieut. D’Hubert. “Learn, my angel, that + he went out thus early to fight a duel with a civilian.” + </p> + <p> + She heard this news without a quiver of her dark eyelashes. It was very + obvious that the actions of Lieut. Feraud were generally above criticism. + She only looked up for a moment in mute surprise, and Lieut. D’Hubert + concluded from this absence of emotion that she must have seen Lieut. + Feraud since the morning. He looked around the room. + </p> + <p> + “Come!” he insisted, with confidential familiarity. “He’s perhaps + somewhere in the house now?” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head. + </p> + <p> + “So much the worse for him!” continued Lieut. D’Hubert, in a tone of + anxious conviction. “But he has been home this morning.” + </p> + <p> + This time the pretty maid nodded slightly. + </p> + <p> + “He has!” cried Lieut. D’Hubert. “And went out again? What for? Couldn’t + he keep quietly indoors! What a lunatic! My dear girl—” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s natural kindness of disposition and strong sense of + comradeship helped his powers of observation. He changed his tone to a + most insinuating softness, and, gazing at the hussar’s breeches hanging + over the arm of the girl, he appealed to the interest she took in Lieut. + Feraud’s comfort and happiness. He was pressing and persuasive. He used + his eyes, which were kind and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety to + get hold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut. Feraud’s own good, seemed so + genuine that at last it overcame the girl’s unwillingness to speak. + Unluckily she had not much to tell. Lieut. Feraud had returned home + shortly before ten, had walked straight into his room, and had thrown + himself on his bed to resume his slumbers. She had heard him snore rather + louder than before far into the afternoon. Then he got up, put on his best + uniform, and went out. That was all she knew. + </p> + <p> + She raised her eyes, and Lieut. D’Hubert stared into them incredulously. + </p> + <p> + “It’s incredible. Gone parading the town in his best uniform! My dear + child, don’t you know he ran that civilian through this morning? Clean + through, as you spit a hare.” + </p> + <p> + The pretty maid heard the gruesome intelligence without any signs of + distress. But she pressed her lips together thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + “He isn’t parading the town,” she remarked in a low tone. “Far from it.” + </p> + <p> + “The civilian’s family is making an awful row,” continued Lieut. D’Hubert, + pursuing his train of thought. “And the general is very angry. It’s one of + the best families in the town. Feraud ought to have kept close at least—” + </p> + <p> + “What will the general do to him?” inquired the girl, anxiously. + </p> + <p> + “He won’t have his head cut off, to be sure,” grumbled Lieut. D’Hubert. + “His conduct is positively indecent. He’s making no end of trouble for + himself by this sort of bravado.” + </p> + <p> + “But he isn’t parading the town,” the maid insisted in a shy murmur. + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes! Now I think of it, I haven’t seen him anywhere about. What on + earth has he done with himself?” + </p> + <p> + “He’s gone to pay a call,” suggested the maid, after a moment of silence. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert started. + </p> + <p> + “A call! Do you mean a call on a lady? The cheek of the man! And how do + you know this, my dear?” + </p> + <p> + Without concealing her woman’s scorn for the denseness of the masculine + mind, the pretty maid reminded him that Lieut. Feraud had arrayed himself + in his best uniform before going out. He had also put on his newest + dolman, she added, in a tone as if this conversation were getting on her + nerves, and turned away brusquely. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert, without questioning the accuracy of the deduction, did + not see that it advanced him much on his official quest. For his quest + after Lieut. Feraud had an official character. He did not know any of the + women this fellow, who had run a man through in the morning, was likely to + visit in the afternoon. The two young men knew each other but slightly. He + bit his gloved finger in perplexity. + </p> + <p> + “Call!” he exclaimed. “Call on the devil!” + </p> + <p> + The girl, with her back to him, and folding the hussars breeches on a + chair, protested with a vexed little laugh: + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear, no! On Madame de Lionne.” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert whistled softly. Madame de Lionne was the wife of a high + official who had a well-known salon and some pretensions to sensibility + and elegance. The husband was a civilian, and old; but the society of the + salon was young and military. Lieut. D’Hubert had whistled, not because + the idea of pursuing Lieut. Feraud into that very salon was disagreeable + to him, but because, having arrived in Strasbourg only lately, he had not + had the time as yet to get an introduction to Madame de Lionne. And what + was that swashbuckler Feraud doing there, he wondered. He did not seem the + sort of man who— + </p> + <p> + “Are you certain of what you say?” asked Lieut. D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + The girl was perfectly certain. Without turning round to look at him, she + explained that the coachman of their next door neighbours knew the + maitre-d’hotel of Madame de Lionne. In this way she had her information. + And she was perfectly certain. In giving this assurance she sighed. Lieut. + Feraud called there nearly every afternoon, she added. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, bah!” exclaimed D’Hubert, ironically. His opinion of Madame de Lionne + went down several degrees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him specially + worthy of attention on the part of a woman with a reputation for + sensibility and elegance. But there was no saying. At bottom they were all + alike—very practical rather than idealistic. Lieut. D’Hubert, + however, did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations. + </p> + <p> + “By thunder!” he reflected aloud. “The general goes there sometimes. If he + happens to find the fellow making eyes at the lady there will be the devil + to pay! Our general is not a very accommodating person, I can tell you.” + </p> + <p> + “Go quickly, then! Don’t stand here now I’ve told you where he is!” cried + the girl, colouring to the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Thanks, my dear! I don’t know what I would have done without you.” + </p> + <p> + After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, which at first was + repulsed violently, and then submitted to with a sudden and still more + repellent indifference, Lieut. D’Hubert took his departure. + </p> + <p> + He clanked and jingled along the streets with a martial swagger. To run a + comrade to earth in a drawing-room where he was not known did not trouble + him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His position as officier + d’ordonnance of the general added to his assurance. Moreover, now that he + knew where to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a service + matter. + </p> + <p> + Madame de Lionne’s house had an excellent appearance. A man in livery, + opening the door of a large drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his + name and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. The ladies + wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of feathers; their bodies + sheathed in clinging white gowns, from the armpits to the tips of the low + satin shoes, looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare necks + and arms. The men who talked with them, on the contrary, were arrayed + heavily in multi-coloured garments with collars up to their ears and thick + sashes round their waists. Lieut. D’Hubert made his unabashed way across + the room and, bowing low before a sylph-like form reclining on a couch, + offered his apologies for this intrusion, which nothing could excuse but + the extreme urgency of the service order he had to communicate to his + comrade Feraud. He proposed to himself to return presently in a more + regular manner and beg forgiveness for interrupting the interesting + conversation . . . + </p> + <p> + A bare arm was extended towards him with gracious nonchalance even before + he had finished speaking. He pressed the hand respectfully to his lips, + and made the mental remark that it was bony. Madame de Lionne was a + blonde, with too fine a skin and a long face. + </p> + <p> + “C’est ca!” she said, with an ethereal smile, disclosing a set of large + teeth. “Come this evening to plead for your forgiveness.” + </p> + <p> + “I will not fail, madame.” + </p> + <p> + Meantime, Lieut. Feraud, splendid in his new dolman and the extremely + polished boots of his calling, sat on a chair within a foot of the couch, + one hand resting on his thigh, the other twirling his moustache to a + point. At a significant glance from D’Hubert he rose without alacrity, and + followed him into the recess of a window. + </p> + <p> + “What is it you want with me?” he asked, with astonishing indifference. + Lieut. D’Hubert could not imagine that in the innocence of his heart and + simplicity of his conscience Lieut. Feraud took a view of his duel in + which neither remorse nor yet a rational apprehension of consequences had + any place. Though he had no clear recollection how the quarrel had + originated (it was begun in an establishment where beer and wine are drunk + late at night), he had not the slightest doubt of being himself the + outraged party. He had had two experienced friends for his seconds. + Everything had been done according to the rules governing that sort of + adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the purpose of someone + being at least hurt, if not killed outright. The civilian got hurt. That + also was in order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectly tranquil; but Lieut. + D’Hubert took it for affectation, and spoke with a certain vivacity. + </p> + <p> + “I am directed by the general to give you the order to go at once to your + quarters, and remain there under close arrest.” + </p> + <p> + It was now the turn of Lieut. Feraud to be astonished. “What the devil are + you telling me there?” he murmured, faintly, and fell into such profound + wonder that he could only follow mechanically the motions of Lieut. + D’Hubert. The two officers, one tall, with an interesting face and a + moustache the colour of ripe corn, the other, short and sturdy, with a + hooked nose and a thick crop of black curly hair, approached the mistress + of the house to take their leave. Madame de Lionne, a woman of eclectic + taste, smiled upon these armed young men with impartial sensibility and an + equal share of interest. Madame de Lionne took her delight in the infinite + variety of the human species. All the other eyes in the drawing-room + followed the departing officers; and when they had gone out one or two + men, who had already heard of the duel, imparted the information to the + sylph-like ladies, who received it with faint shrieks of humane concern. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, the two hussars walked side by side, Lieut. Feraud trying to + master the hidden reason of things which in this instance eluded the grasp + of his intellect, Lieut. D’Hubert feeling annoyed at the part he had to + play, because the general’s instructions were that he should see + personally that Lieut. Feraud carried out his orders to the letter, and at + once. + </p> + <p> + “The chief seems to know this animal,” he thought, eyeing his companion, + whose round face, the round eyes, and even the twisted-up jet black little + moustache seemed animated by a mental exasperation against the + incomprehensible. And aloud he observed rather reproachfully, “The general + is in a devilish fury with you!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud stopped short on the edge of the pavement, and cried in + accents of unmistakable sincerity, “What on earth for?” The innocence of + the fiery Gascon soul was depicted in the manner in which he seized his + head in both hands as if to prevent it bursting with perplexity. + </p> + <p> + “For the duel,” said Lieut. D’Hubert, curtly. He was annoyed greatly by + this sort of perverse fooling. + </p> + <p> + “The duel! The . . .” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud passed from one paroxysm of astonishment into another. He + dropped his hands and walked on slowly, trying to reconcile this + information with the state of his own feelings. It was impossible. He + burst out indignantly, “Was I to let that sauerkraut-eating civilian wipe + his boots on the uniform of the 7th Hussars?” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert could not remain altogether unmoved by that simple + sentiment. This little fellow was a lunatic, he thought to himself, but + there was something in what he said. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I don’t know how far you were justified,” he began, + soothingly. “And the general himself may not be exactly informed. Those + people have been deafening him with their lamentations.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah! the general is not exactly informed,” mumbled Lieut. Feraud, walking + faster and faster as his choler at the injustice of his fate began to + rise. “He is not exactly . . . And he orders me under close arrest, with + God knows what afterwards!” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t excite yourself like this,” remonstrated the other. “Your + adversary’s people are very influential, you know, and it looks bad enough + on the face of it. The general had to take notice of their complaint at + once. I don’t think he means to be over-severe with you. It’s the best + thing for you to be kept out of sight for a while.” + </p> + <p> + “I am very much obliged to the general,” muttered Lieut. Feraud through + his teeth. “And perhaps you would say I ought to be grateful to you, too, + for the trouble you have taken to hunt me up in the drawing-room of a lady + who—” + </p> + <p> + “Frankly,” interrupted Lieut. D’Hubert, with an innocent laugh, “I think + you ought to be. I had no end of trouble to find out where you were. It + wasn’t exactly the place for you to disport yourself in under the + circumstances. If the general had caught you there making eyes at the + goddess of the temple . . . oh, my word! . . . He hates to be bothered + with complaints against his officers, you know. And it looked uncommonly + like sheer bravado.” + </p> + <p> + The two officers had arrived now at the street door of Lieut. Feraud’s + lodgings. The latter turned towards his companion. “Lieut. D’Hubert,” he + said, “I have something to say to you, which can’t be said very well in + the street. You can’t refuse to come up.” + </p> + <p> + The pretty maid had opened the door. Lieut. Feraud brushed past her + brusquely, and she raised her scared and questioning eyes to Lieut. + D’Hubert, who could do nothing but shrug his shoulders slightly as he + followed with marked reluctance. + </p> + <p> + In his room Lieut. Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung his new dolman on the + bed, and, folding his arms across his chest, turned to the other hussar. + </p> + <p> + “Do you imagine I am a man to submit tamely to injustice?” he inquired, in + a boisterous voice. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do be reasonable!” remonstrated Lieut. D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + “I am reasonable! I am perfectly reasonable!” retorted the other with + ominous restraint. “I can’t call the general to account for his behaviour, + but you are going to answer me for yours.” + </p> + <p> + “I can’t listen to this nonsense,” murmured Lieut. D’Hubert, making a + slightly contemptuous grimace. + </p> + <p> + “You call this nonsense? It seems to me a perfectly plain statement. + Unless you don’t understand French.” + </p> + <p> + “What on earth do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, “to cut off your ears to teach + you to disturb me with the general’s orders when I am talking to a lady!” + </p> + <p> + A profound silence followed this mad declaration; and through the open + window Lieut. D’Hubert heard the little birds singing sanely in the + garden. He said, preserving his calm, “Why! If you take that tone, of + course I shall hold myself at your disposition whenever you are at liberty + to attend to this affair; but I don’t think you will cut my ears off.” + </p> + <p> + “I am going to attend to it at once,” declared Lieut. Feraud, with extreme + truculence. “If you are thinking of displaying your airs and graces + to-night in Madame de Lionne’s salon you are very much mistaken.” + </p> + <p> + “Really!” said Lieut. D’Hubert, who was beginning to feel irritated, “you + are an impracticable sort of fellow. The general’s orders to me were to + put you under arrest, not to carve you into small pieces. Good-morning!” + And turning his back on the little Gascon, who, always sober in his + potations, was as though born intoxicated with the sunshine of his + vine-ripening country, the Northman, who could drink hard on occasion, but + was born sober under the watery skies of Picardy, made for the door. + Hearing, however, the unmistakable sound behind his back of a sword drawn + from the scabbard, he had no option but to stop. + </p> + <p> + “Devil take this mad Southerner!” he thought, spinning round and surveying + with composure the warlike posture of Lieut. Feraud, with a bare sword in + his hand. + </p> + <p> + “At once!—at once!” stuttered Feraud, beside himself. + </p> + <p> + “You had my answer,” said the other, keeping his temper very well. + </p> + <p> + At first he had been only vexed, and somewhat amused; but now his face got + clouded. He was asking himself seriously how he could manage to get away. + It was impossible to run from a man with a sword, and as to fighting him, + it seemed completely out of the question. He waited awhile, then said + exactly what was in his heart. + </p> + <p> + “Drop this! I won’t fight with you. I won’t be made ridiculous.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you won’t?” hissed the Gascon. “I suppose you prefer to be made + infamous. Do you hear what I say? . . . Infamous! Infamous! Infamous!” he + shrieked, rising and falling on his toes and getting very red in the face. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert, on the contrary, became very pale at the sound of the + unsavoury word for a moment, then flushed pink to the roots of his fair + hair. “But you can’t go out to fight; you are under arrest, you lunatic!” + he objected, with angry scorn. + </p> + <p> + “There’s the garden: it’s big enough to lay out your long carcass in,” + spluttered the other with such ardour that somehow the anger of the cooler + man subsided. + </p> + <p> + “This is perfectly absurd,” he said, glad enough to think he had found a + way out of it for the moment. “We shall never get any of our comrades to + serve as seconds. It’s preposterous.” + </p> + <p> + “Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don’t want any seconds. Don’t you worry + about any seconds. I shall send word to your friends to come and bury you + when I am done. And if you want any witnesses, I’ll send word to the old + girl to put her head out of a window at the back. Stay! There’s the + gardener. He’ll do. He’s as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes in his + head. Come along! I will teach you, my staff officer, that the carrying + about of a general’s orders is not always child’s play.” + </p> + <p> + While thus discoursing he had unbuckled his empty scabbard. He sent it + flying under the bed, and, lowering the point of the sword, brushed past + the perplexed Lieut. D’Hubert, exclaiming, “Follow me!” Directly he had + flung open the door a faint shriek was heard and the pretty maid, who had + been listening at the keyhole, staggered away, putting the backs of her + hands over her eyes. Feraud did not seem to see her, but she ran after him + and seized his left arm. He shook her off, and then she rushed towards + Lieut. D’Hubert and clawed at the sleeve of his uniform. + </p> + <p> + “Wretched man!” she sobbed. “Is this what you wanted to find him for?” + </p> + <p> + “Let me go,” entreated Lieut. D’Hubert, trying to disengage himself + gently. “It’s like being in a madhouse,” he protested, with exasperation. + “Do let me go! I won’t do him any harm.” + </p> + <p> + A fiendish laugh from Lieut. Feraud commented that assurance. “Come + along!” he shouted, with a stamp of his foot. + </p> + <p> + And Lieut. D’Hubert did follow. He could do nothing else. Yet in + vindication of his sanity it must be recorded that as he passed through + the ante-room the notion of opening the street door and bolting out + presented itself to this brave youth, only of course to be instantly + dismissed, for he felt sure that the other would pursue him without shame + or compunction. And the prospect of an officer of hussars being chased + along the street by another officer of hussars with a naked sword could + not be for a moment entertained. Therefore he followed into the garden. + Behind them the girl tottered out, too. With ashy lips and wild, scared + eyes, she surrendered herself to a dreadful curiosity. She had also the + notion of rushing if need be between Lieut. Feraud and death. + </p> + <p> + The deaf gardener, utterly unconscious of approaching footsteps, went on + watering his flowers till Lieut. Feraud thumped him on the back. Beholding + suddenly an enraged man flourishing a big sabre, the old chap trembling in + all his limbs dropped the watering-pot. At once Lieut. Feraud kicked it + away with great animosity, and, seizing the gardener by the throat, backed + him against a tree. He held him there, shouting in his ear, “Stay here, + and look on! You understand? You’ve got to look on! Don’t dare budge from + the spot!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert came slowly down the walk, unclasping his dolman with + unconcealed disgust. Even then, with his hand already on the hilt of his + sword, he hesitated to draw till a roar, “En garde, fichtre! What do you + think you came here for?” and the rush of his adversary forced him to put + himself as quickly as possible in a posture of defence. + </p> + <p> + The clash of arms filled that prim garden, which hitherto had known no + more warlike sound than the click of clipping shears; and presently the + upper part of an old lady’s body was projected out of a window upstairs. + She tossed her arms above her white cap, scolding in a cracked voice. The + gardener remained glued to the tree, his toothless mouth open in idiotic + astonishment, and a little farther up the path the pretty girl, as if + spellbound to a small grass plot, ran a few steps this way and that, + wringing her hands and muttering crazily. She did not rush between the + combatants: the onslaughts of Lieut. Feraud were so fierce that her heart + failed her. Lieut. D’Hubert, his faculties concentrated upon defence, + needed all his skill and science of the sword to stop the rushes of his + adversary. Twice already he had to break ground. It bothered him to feel + his foothold made insecure by the round, dry gravel of the path rolling + under the hard soles of his boots. This was most unsuitable ground, he + thought, keeping a watchful, narrowed gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, upon + the fiery stare of his thick-set adversary. This absurd affair would ruin + his reputation of a sensible, well-behaved, promising young officer. It + would damage, at any rate, his immediate prospects, and lose him the + good-will of his general. These worldly preoccupations were no doubt + misplaced in view of the solemnity of the moment. A duel, whether regarded + as a ceremony in the cult of honour, or even when reduced in its moral + essence to a form of manly sport, demands a perfect singleness of + intention, a homicidal austerity of mood. On the other hand, this vivid + concern for his future had not a bad effect inasmuch as it began to rouse + the anger of Lieut. D’Hubert. Some seventy seconds had elapsed since they + had crossed blades, and Lieut. D’Hubert had to break ground again in order + to avoid impaling his reckless adversary like a beetle for a cabinet of + specimens. The result was that misapprehending the motive, Lieut. Feraud + with a triumphant sort of snarl pressed his attack. + </p> + <p> + “This enraged animal will have me against the wall directly,” thought + Lieut. D’Hubert. He imagined himself much closer to the house than he was, + and he dared not turn his head; it seemed to him that he was keeping his + adversary off with his eyes rather more than with his point. Lieut. Feraud + crouched and bounded with a fierce tigerish agility fit to trouble the + stoutest heart. But what was more appalling than the fury of a wild beast, + accomplishing in all innocence of heart a natural function, was the fixity + of savage purpose man alone is capable of displaying. Lieut. D ‘Hubert in + the midst of his worldly preoccupations perceived it at last. It was an + absurd and damaging affair to be drawn into, but whatever silly intention + the fellow had started with, it was clear enough that by this time he + meant to kill—nothing less. He meant it with an intensity of will + utterly beyond the inferior faculties of a tiger. + </p> + <p> + As is the case with constitutionally brave men, the full view of the + danger interested Lieut. D’Hubert. And directly he got properly + interested, the length of his arm and the coolness of his head told in his + favour. It was the turn of Lieut. Feraud to recoil, with a bloodcurdling + grunt of baffled rage. He made a swift feint, and then rushed straight + forward. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! you would, would you?” Lieut. D’Hubert exclaimed, mentally. The + combat had lasted nearly two minutes, time enough for any man to get + embittered, apart from the merits of the quarrel. And all at once it was + over. Trying to close breast to breast under his adversary’s guard Lieut. + Feraud received a slash on his shortened arm. He did not feel it in the + least, but it checked his rush, and his feet slipping on the gravel he + fell backwards with great violence. The shock jarred his boiling brain + into the perfect quietude of insensibility. Simultaneously with his fall + the pretty servant-girl shrieked; but the old maiden lady at the window + ceased her scolding, and began to cross herself piously. + </p> + <p> + Beholding his adversary stretched out perfectly still, his face to the + sky, Lieut. D’Hubert thought he had killed him outright. The impression of + having slashed hard enough to cut his man clean in two abode with him for + a while in an exaggerated memory of the right good-will he had put into + the blow. He dropped on his knees hastily by the side of the prostrate + body. Discovering that not even the arm was severed, a slight sense of + disappointment mingled with the feeling of relief. The fellow deserved the + worst. But truly he did not want the death of that sinner. The affair was + ugly enough as it stood, and Lieut. D’Hubert addressed himself at once to + the task of stopping the bleeding. In this task it was his fate to be + ridiculously impeded by the pretty maid. Rending the air with screams of + horror, she attacked him from behind and, twining her fingers in his hair, + tugged back at his head. Why she should choose to hinder him at this + precise moment he could not in the least understand. He did not try. It + was all like a very wicked and harassing dream. Twice to save himself from + being pulled over he had to rise and fling her off. He did this stoically, + without a word, kneeling down again at once to go on with his work. But + the third time, his work being done, he seized her and held her arms + pinned to her body. Her cap was half off, her face was red, her eyes + blazed with crazy boldness. He looked mildly into them while she called + him a wretch, a traitor, and a murderer many times in succession. This did + not annoy him so much as the conviction that she had managed to scratch + his face abundantly. Ridicule would be added to the scandal of the story. + He imagined the adorned tale making its way through the garrison of the + town, through the whole army on the frontier, with every possible + distortion of motive and sentiment and circumstance, spreading a doubt + upon the sanity of his conduct and the distinction of his taste even to + the very ears of his honourable family. It was all very well for that + fellow Feraud, who had no connections, no family to speak of, and no + quality but courage, which, anyhow, was a matter of course, and possessed + by every single trooper in the whole mass of French cavalry. Still holding + down the arms of the girl in a strong grip, Lieut. D’Hubert glanced over + his shoulder. Lieut. Feraud had opened his eyes. He did not move. Like a + man just waking from a deep sleep he stared without any expression at the + evening sky. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s urgent shouts to the old gardener produced no effect—not + so much as to make him shut his toothless mouth. Then he remembered that + the man was stone deaf. All that time the girl struggled, not with + maidenly coyness, but like a pretty, dumb fury, kicking his shins now and + then. He continued to hold her as if in a vice, his instinct telling him + that were he to let her go she would fly at his eyes. But he was greatly + humiliated by his position. At last she gave up. She was more exhausted + than appeased, he feared. Nevertheless, he attempted to get out of this + wicked dream by way of negotiation. + </p> + <p> + “Listen to me,” he said, as calmly as he could. “Will you promise to run + for a surgeon if I let you go?” + </p> + <p> + With real affliction he heard her declare that she would do nothing of the + kind. On the contrary, her sobbed out intention was to remain in the + garden, and fight tooth and nail for the protection of the vanquished man. + This was shocking. + </p> + <p> + “My dear child!” he cried in despair, “is it possible that you think me + capable of murdering a wounded adversary? Is it. . . . Be quiet, you + little wild cat, you!” + </p> + <p> + They struggled. A thick, drowsy voice said behind him, “What are you after + with that girl?” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud had raised himself on his good arm. He was looking sleepily + at his other arm, at the mess of blood on his uniform, at a small red pool + on the ground, at his sabre lying a foot away on the path. Then he laid + himself down gently again to think it all out, as far as a thundering + headache would permit of mental operations. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert released the girl who crouched at once by the side of the + other lieutenant. The shades of night were falling on the little trim + garden with this touching group, whence proceeded low murmurs of sorrow + and compassion, with other feeble sounds of a different character, as if + an imperfectly awake invalid were trying to swear. Lieut. D’Hubert went + away. + </p> + <p> + He passed through the silent house, and congratulated himself upon the + dusk concealing his gory hands and scratched face from the passers-by. But + this story could by no means be concealed. He dreaded the discredit and + ridicule above everything, and was painfully aware of sneaking through the + back streets in the manner of a murderer. Presently the sounds of a flute + coming out of the open window of a lighted upstairs room in a modest house + interrupted his dismal reflections. It was being played with a persevering + virtuosity, and through the fioritures of the tune one could hear the + regular thumping of the foot beating time on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert shouted a name, which was that of an army surgeon whom he + knew fairly well. The sounds of the flute ceased, and the musician + appeared at the window, his instrument still in his hand, peering into the + street. + </p> + <p> + “Who calls? You, D’Hubert? What brings you this way?” + </p> + <p> + He did not like to be disturbed at the hour when he was playing the flute. + He was a man whose hair had turned grey already in the thankless task of + tying up wounds on battlefields where others reaped advancement and glory. + </p> + <p> + “I want you to go at once and see Feraud. You know Lieut. Feraud? He lives + down the second street. It’s but a step from here.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s the matter with him?” + </p> + <p> + “Wounded.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you sure?” + </p> + <p> + “Sure!” cried D’Hubert. “I come from there.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s amusing,” said the elderly surgeon. Amusing was his favourite + word; but the expression of his face when he pronounced it never + corresponded. He was a stolid man. “Come in,” he added. “I’ll get ready in + a moment.” + </p> + <p> + “Thanks! I will. I want to wash my hands in your room.” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert found the surgeon occupied in unscrewing his flute, and + packing the pieces methodically in a case. He turned his head. + </p> + <p> + “Water there—in the corner. Your hands do want washing.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve stopped the bleeding,” said Lieut. D’Hubert. “But you had better + make haste. It’s rather more than ten minutes ago, you know.” + </p> + <p> + The surgeon did not hurry his movements. + </p> + <p> + “What’s the matter? Dressing came off? That’s amusing. I’ve been at work + in the hospital all day but I’ve been told this morning by somebody that + he had come off without a scratch.” + </p> + <p> + “Not the same duel probably,” growled moodily Lieut. D’Hubert, wiping his + hands on a coarse towel. + </p> + <p> + “Not the same. . . . What? Another. It would take the very devil to make + me go out twice in one day.” The surgeon looked narrowly at Lieut. + D’Hubert. “How did you come by that scratched face? Both sides, too—and + symmetrical. It’s amusing.” + </p> + <p> + “Very!” snarled Lieut. D’Hubert. “And you will find his slashed arm + amusing, too. It will keep both of you amused for quite a long time.” + </p> + <p> + The doctor was mystified and impressed by the brusque bitterness of Lieut. + D’Hubert’s tone. They left the house together, and in the street he was + still more mystified by his conduct. + </p> + <p> + “Aren’t you coming with me?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Lieut. D’Hubert. “You can find the house by yourself. The front + door will be standing open very likely.” + </p> + <p> + “All right. Where’s his room?” + </p> + <p> + “Ground floor. But you had better go right through and look in the garden + first.” + </p> + <p> + This astonishing piece of information made the surgeon go off without + further parley. Lieut. D’Hubert regained his quarters nursing a hot and + uneasy indignation. He dreaded the chaff of his comrades almost as much as + the anger of his superiors. The truth was confoundedly grotesque and + embarrassing, even putting aside the irregularity of the combat itself, + which made it come abominably near a criminal offence. Like all men + without much imagination, a faculty which helps the process of reflective + thought, Lieut. D’Hubert became frightfully harassed by the obvious + aspects of his predicament. He was certainly glad that he had not killed + Lieut. Feraud outside all rules, and without the regular witnesses proper + to such a transaction. Uncommonly glad. At the same time he felt as though + he would have liked to wring his neck for him without ceremony. + </p> + <p> + He was still under the sway of these contradictory sentiments when the + surgeon amateur of the flute came to see him. More than three days had + elapsed. Lieut. D’Hubert was no longer officier d’ordonnance to the + general commanding the division. He had been sent back to his regiment. + And he was resuming his connection with the soldiers’ military family by + being shut up in close confinement, not at his own quarters in town, but + in a room in the barracks. Owing to the gravity of the incident, he was + forbidden to see any one. He did not know what had happened, what was + being said, or what was being thought. The arrival of the surgeon was a + most unexpected thing to the worried captive. The amateur of the flute + began by explaining that he was there only by a special favour of the + colonel. + </p> + <p> + “I represented to him that it would be only fair to let you have some + authentic news of your adversary,” he continued. “You’ll be glad to hear + he’s getting better fast.” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s face exhibited no conventional signs of gladness. He + continued to walk the floor of the dusty bare room. + </p> + <p> + “Take this chair, doctor,” he mumbled. + </p> + <p> + The doctor sat down. + </p> + <p> + “This affair is variously appreciated—in town and in the army. In + fact, the diversity of opinions is amusing.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it!” mumbled Lieut. D’Hubert, tramping steadily from wall to wall. But + within himself he marvelled that there could be two opinions on the + matter. The surgeon continued. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, as the real facts are not known—” + </p> + <p> + “I should have thought,” interrupted D’Hubert, “that the fellow would have + put you in possession of facts.” + </p> + <p> + “He said something,” admitted the other, “the first time I saw him. And, + by the by, I did find him in the garden. The thump on the back of his head + had made him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather reticent + than otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “Didn’t think he would have the grace to be ashamed!” mumbled D’Hubert, + resuming his pacing while the doctor murmured, “It’s very amusing. + Ashamed! Shame was not exactly his frame of mind. However, you may look at + the matter otherwise.” + </p> + <p> + “What are you talking about? What matter?” asked D’Hubert, with a sidelong + look at the heavy-faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden chair. + </p> + <p> + “Whatever it is,” said the surgeon a little impatiently, “I don’t want to + pronounce any opinion on your conduct—” + </p> + <p> + “By heavens, you had better not!” burst out D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + “There!—there! Don’t be so quick in flourishing the sword. It + doesn’t pay in the long run. Understand once for all that I would not + carve any of you youngsters except with the tools of my trade. But my + advice is good. If you go on like this you will make for yourself an ugly + reputation.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on like what?” demanded Lieut. D’Hubert, stopping short, quite + startled. “I!—I!—make for myself a reputation. . . . What do + you imagine?” + </p> + <p> + “I told you I don’t wish to judge of the rights and wrongs of this + incident. It’s not my business. Nevertheless—” + </p> + <p> + “What on earth has he been telling you?” interrupted Lieut. D’Hubert, in a + sort of awed scare. + </p> + <p> + “I told you already, that at first, when I picked him up in the garden, he + was incoherent. Afterwards he was naturally reticent. But I gather at + least that he could not help himself.” + </p> + <p> + “He couldn’t?” shouted Lieut. D’Hubert in a great voice. Then, lowering + his tone impressively, “And what about me? Could I help myself?” + </p> + <p> + The surgeon stood up. His thoughts were running upon the flute, his + constant companion with a consoling voice. In the vicinity of field + ambulances, after twenty-four hours’ hard work, he had been known to + trouble with its sweet sounds the horrible stillness of battlefields, + given over to silence and the dead. The solacing hour of his daily life + was approaching, and in peace time he held on to the minutes as a miser to + his hoard. + </p> + <p> + “Of course!—of course!” he said, perfunctorily. “You would think so. + It’s amusing. However, being perfectly neutral and friendly to you both, I + have consented to deliver his message to you. Say that I am humouring an + invalid if you like. He wants you to know that this affair is by no means + at an end. He intends to send you his seconds directly he has regained his + strength—providing, of course, the army is not in the field at that + time.” + </p> + <p> + “He intends, does he? Why, certainly,” spluttered Lieut. D’Hubert in a + passion. + </p> + <p> + The secret of his exasperation was not apparent to the visitor; but this + passion confirmed the surgeon in the belief which was gaining ground + outside that some very serious difference had arisen between these two + young men, something serious enough to wear an air of mystery, some fact + of the utmost gravity. To settle their urgent difference about that fact, + those two young men had risked being broken and disgraced at the outset + almost of their career. The surgeon feared that the forthcoming inquiry + would fail to satisfy the public curiosity. They would not take the public + into their confidence as to that something which had passed between them + of a nature so outrageous as to make them face a charge of murder—neither + more nor less. But what could it be? + </p> + <p> + The surgeon was not very curious by temperament; but that question + haunting his mind caused him twice that evening to hold the instrument off + his lips and sit silent for a whole minute—right in the middle of a + tune—trying to form a plausible conjecture. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + He succeeded in this object no better than the rest of the garrison and + the whole of society. The two young officers, of no especial consequence + till then, became distinguished by the universal curiosity as to the + origin of their quarrel. Madame de Lionne’s salon was the centre of + ingenious surmises; that lady herself was for a time assailed by inquiries + as being the last person known to have spoken to these unhappy and + reckless young men before they went out together from her house to a + savage encounter with swords, at dusk, in a private garden. She protested + she had not observed anything unusual in their demeanour. Lieut. Feraud + had been visibly annoyed at being called away. That was natural enough; no + man likes to be disturbed in a conversation with a lady famed for her + elegance and sensibility. But in truth the subject bored Madame de Lionne, + since her personality could by no stretch of reckless gossip be connected + with this affair. And it irritated her to hear it advanced that there + might have been some woman in the case. This irritation arose, not from + her elegance or sensibility, but from a more instinctive side of her + nature. It became so great at last that she peremptorily forbade the + subject to be mentioned under her roof. Near her couch the prohibition was + obeyed, but farther off in the salon the pall of the imposed silence + continued to be lifted more or less. A personage with a long, pale face, + resembling the countenance of a sheep, opined, shaking his head, that it + was a quarrel of long standing envenomed by time. It was objected to him + that the men themselves were too young for such a theory. They belonged + also to different and distant parts of France. There were other physical + impossibilities, too. A sub-commissary of the Intendence, an agreeable and + cultivated bachelor in kerseymere breeches, Hessian boots, and a blue coat + embroidered with silver lace, who affected to believe in the + transmigration of souls, suggested that the two had met perhaps in some + previous existence. The feud was in the forgotten past. It might have been + something quite inconceivable in the present state of their being; but + their souls remembered the animosity, and manifested an instinctive + antagonism. He developed this theme jocularly. Yet the affair was so + absurd from the worldly, the military, the honourable, or the prudential + point of view, that this weird explanation seemed rather more reasonable + than any other. + </p> + <p> + The two officers had confided nothing definite to any one. Humiliation at + having been worsted arms in hand, and an uneasy feeling of having been + involved in a scrape by the injustice of fate, kept Lieut. Feraud savagely + dumb. He mistrusted the sympathy of mankind. That would, of course, go to + that dandified staff officer. Lying in bed, he raved aloud to the pretty + maid who administered to his needs with devotion, and listened to his + horrible imprecations with alarm. That Lieut. D’Hubert should be made to + “pay for it,” seemed to her just and natural. Her principal care was that + Lieut. Feraud should not excite himself. He appeared so wholly admirable + and fascinating to the humility of her heart that her only concern was to + see him get well quickly, even if it were only to resume his visits to + Madame de Lionne’s salon. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert kept silent for the immediate reason that there was no + one, except a stupid young soldier servant, to speak to. Further, he was + aware that the episode, so grave professionally, had its comic side. When + reflecting upon it, he still felt that he would like to wring Lieut. + Feraud’s neck for him. But this formula was figurative rather than + precise, and expressed more a state of mind than an actual physical + impulse. At the same time, there was in that young man a feeling of + comradeship and kindness which made him unwilling to make the position of + Lieut. Feraud worse than it was. He did not want to talk at large about + this wretched affair. At the inquiry he would have, of course, to speak + the truth in self-defence. This prospect vexed him. + </p> + <p> + But no inquiry took place. The army took the field instead. Lieut. + D’Hubert, liberated without remark, took up his regimental duties; and + Lieut. Feraud, his arm just out of the sling, rode unquestioned with his + squadron to complete his convalescence in the smoke of battlefields and + the fresh air of night bivouacs. This bracing treatment suited him so + well, that at the first rumour of an armistice being signed he could turn + without misgivings to the thoughts of his private warfare. + </p> + <p> + This time it was to be regular warfare. He sent two friends to Lieut. + D’Hubert, whose regiment was stationed only a few miles away. Those + friends had asked no questions of their principal. “I owe him one, that + pretty staff officer,” he had said, grimly, and they went away quite + contentedly on their mission. Lieut. D’Hubert had no difficulty in finding + two friends equally discreet and devoted to their principal. “There’s a + crazy fellow to whom I must give a lesson,” he had declared curtly; and + they asked for no better reasons. + </p> + <p> + On these grounds an encounter with duelling-swords was arranged one early + morning in a convenient field. At the third set-to Lieut. D’Hubert found + himself lying on his back on the dewy grass with a hole in his side. A + serene sun rising over a landscape of meadows and woods hung on his left. + A surgeon—not the flute player, but another—was bending over + him, feeling around the wound. + </p> + <p> + “Narrow squeak. But it will be nothing,” he pronounced. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert heard these words with pleasure. One of his seconds, + sitting on the wet grass, and sustaining his head on his lap, said, “The + fortune of war, mon pauvre vieux. What will you have? You had better make + it up like two good fellows. Do!” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t know what you ask,” murmured Lieut. D’Hubert, in a feeble + voice. “However, if he . . .” + </p> + <p> + In another part of the meadow the seconds of Lieut. Feraud were urging him + to go over and shake hands with his adversary. + </p> + <p> + “You have paid him off now—que diable. It’s the proper thing to do. + This D’Hubert is a decent fellow.” + </p> + <p> + “I know the decency of these generals’ pets,” muttered Lieut. Feraud + through his teeth, and the sombre expression of his face discouraged + further efforts at reconciliation. The seconds, bowing from a distance, + took their men off the field. In the afternoon Lieut. D’Hubert, very + popular as a good comrade uniting great bravery with a frank and equable + temper, had many visitors. It was remarked that Lieut. Feraud did not, as + is customary, show himself much abroad to receive the felicitations of his + friends. They would not have failed him, because he, too, was liked for + the exuberance of his southern nature and the simplicity of his character. + In all the places where officers were in the habit of assembling at the + end of the day the duel of the morning was talked over from every point of + view. Though Lieut. D’Hubert had got worsted this time, his sword play was + commended. No one could deny that it was very close, very scientific. It + was even whispered that if he got touched it was because he wished to + spare his adversary. But by many the vigour and dash of Lieut. Feraud’s + attack were pronounced irresistible. + </p> + <p> + The merits of the two officers as combatants were frankly discussed; but + their attitude to each other after the duel was criticised lightly and + with caution. It was irreconcilable, and that was to be regretted. But + after all they knew best what the care of their honour dictated. It was + not a matter for their comrades to pry into over-much. As to the origin of + the quarrel, the general impression was that it dated from the time they + were holding garrison in Strasbourg. The musical surgeon shook his head at + that. It went much farther back, he thought. + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course! You must know the whole story,” cried several voices, + eager with curiosity. “What was it?” + </p> + <p> + He raised his eyes from his glass deliberately. “Even if I knew ever so + well, you can’t expect me to tell you, since both the principals choose to + say nothing.” + </p> + <p> + He got up and went out, leaving the sense of mystery behind him. He could + not stay any longer, because the witching hour of flute-playing was + drawing near. + </p> + <p> + After he had gone a very young officer observed solemnly, “Obviously, his + lips are sealed!” + </p> + <p> + Nobody questioned the high correctness of that remark. Somehow it added to + the impressiveness of the affair. Several older officers of both + regiments, prompted by nothing but sheer kindness and love of harmony, + proposed to form a Court of Honour, to which the two young men would leave + the task of their reconciliation. Unfortunately they began by approaching + Lieut. Feraud, on the assumption that, having just scored heavily, he + would be found placable and disposed to moderation. + </p> + <p> + The reasoning was sound enough. Nevertheless, the move turned out + unfortunate. In that relaxation of moral fibre, which is brought about by + the ease of soothed vanity, Lieut. Feraud had condescended in the secret + of his heart to review the case, and even had come to doubt not the + justice of his cause, but the absolute sagacity of his conduct. This being + so, he was disinclined to talk about it. The suggestion of the regimental + wise men put him in a difficult position. He was disgusted at it, and this + disgust, by a paradoxical logic, reawakened his animosity against Lieut. + D’Hubert. Was he to be pestered with this fellow for ever—the fellow + who had an infernal knack of getting round people somehow? And yet it was + difficult to refuse point blank that mediation sanctioned by the code of + honour. + </p> + <p> + He met the difficulty by an attitude of grim reserve. He twisted his + moustache and used vague words. His case was perfectly clear. He was not + ashamed to state it before a proper Court of Honour, neither was he afraid + to defend it on the ground. He did not see any reason to jump at the + suggestion before ascertaining how his adversary was likely to take it. + </p> + <p> + Later in the day, his exasperation growing upon him, he was heard in a + public place saying sardonically, “that it would be the very luckiest + thing for Lieut. D’Hubert, because the next time of meeting he need not + hope to get off with the mere trifle of three weeks in bed.” + </p> + <p> + This boastful phrase might have been prompted by the most profound + Machiavellism. Southern natures often hide, under the outward + impulsiveness of action and speech, a certain amount of astuteness. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. Feraud, mistrusting the justice of men, by no means desired a Court + of Honour; and the above words, according so well with his temperament, + had also the merit of serving his turn. Whether meant so or not, they + found their way in less than four-and-twenty hours into Lieut. D’Hubert’s + bedroom. In consequence Lieut. D’Hubert, sitting propped up with pillows, + received the overtures made to him next day by the statement that the + affair was of a nature which could not bear discussion. + </p> + <p> + The pale face of the wounded officer, his weak voice which he had yet to + use cautiously, and the courteous dignity of his tone had a great effect + on his hearers. Reported outside all this did more for deepening the + mystery than the vapourings of Lieut. Feraud. This last was greatly + relieved at the issue. He began to enjoy the state of general wonder, and + was pleased to add to it by assuming an attitude of fierce discretion. + </p> + <p> + The colonel of Lieut. D’Hubert’s regiment was a grey-haired, + weather-beaten warrior, who took a simple view of his responsibilities. “I + can’t,” he said to himself, “let the best of my subalterns get damaged + like this for nothing. I must get to the bottom of this affair privately. + He must speak out if the devil were in it. The colonel should be more than + a father to these youngsters.” And indeed he loved all his men with as + much affection as a father of a large family can feel for every individual + member of it. If human beings by an oversight of Providence came into the + world as mere civilians, they were born again into a regiment as infants + are born into a family, and it was that military birth alone which + counted. + </p> + <p> + At the sight of Lieut. D’Hubert standing before him very bleached and + hollow-eyed the heart of the old warrior felt a pang of genuine + compassion. All his affection for the regiment—that body of men + which he held in his hand to launch forward and draw back, who ministered + to his pride and commanded all his thoughts—seemed centred for a + moment on the person of the most promising subaltern. He cleared his + throat in a threatening manner, and frowned terribly. “You must + understand,” he began, “that I don’t care a rap for the life of a single + man in the regiment. I would send the eight hundred and forty-three of you + men and horses galloping into the pit of perdition with no more + compunction than I would kill a fly!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Colonel. You would be riding at our head,” said Lieut. D’Hubert with + a wan smile. + </p> + <p> + The colonel, who felt the need of being very diplomatic, fairly roared at + this. “I want you to know, Lieut. D’Hubert, that I could stand aside and + see you all riding to Hades if need be. I am a man to do even that if the + good of the service and my duty to my country required it from me. But + that’s unthinkable, so don’t you even hint at such a thing.” He glared + awfully, but his tone softened. “There’s some milk yet about that + moustache of yours, my boy. You don’t know what a man like me is capable + of. I would hide behind a haystack if . . . Don’t grin at me, sir! How + dare you? If this were not a private conversation I would . . . Look here! + I am responsible for the proper expenditure of lives under my command for + the glory of our country and the honour of the regiment. Do you understand + that? Well, then, what the devil do you mean by letting yourself be + spitted like this by that fellow of the 7th Hussars? It’s simply + disgraceful!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert felt vexed beyond measure. His shoulders moved slightly. + He made no other answer. He could not ignore his responsibility. + </p> + <p> + The colonel veiled his glance and lowered his voice still more. “It’s + deplorable!” he murmured. And again he changed his tone. “Come!” he went + on, persuasively, but with that note of authority which dwells in the + throat of a good leader of men, “this affair must be settled. I desire to + be told plainly what it is all about. I demand, as your best friend, to + know.” + </p> + <p> + The compelling power of authority, the persuasive influence of kindness, + affected powerfully a man just risen from a bed of sickness. Lieut. + D’Hubert’s hand, which grasped the knob of a stick, trembled slightly. But + his northern temperament, sentimental yet cautious and clear-sighted, too, + in its idealistic way, checked his impulse to make a clean breast of the + whole deadly absurdity. According to the precept of transcendental wisdom, + he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth before he spoke. He made + then only a speech of thanks. + </p> + <p> + The colonel listened, interested at first, then looked mystified. At last + he frowned. “You hesitate?—mille tonnerres! Haven’t I told you that + I will condescend to argue with you—as a friend?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Colonel!” answered Lieut. D’Hubert, gently. “But I am afraid that + after you have heard me out as a friend you will take action as my + superior officer.” + </p> + <p> + The attentive colonel snapped his jaws. “Well, what of that?” he said, + frankly. “Is it so damnably disgraceful?” + </p> + <p> + “It is not,” negatived Lieut. D’Hubert, in a faint but firm voice. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I shall act for the good of the service. Nothing can prevent + me doing that. What do you think I want to be told for?” + </p> + <p> + “I know it is not from idle curiosity,” protested Lieut. D’Hubert. “I know + you will act wisely. But what about the good fame of the regiment?” + </p> + <p> + “It cannot be affected by any youthful folly of a lieutenant,” said the + colonel, severely. + </p> + <p> + “No. It cannot be. But it can be by evil tongues. It will be said that a + lieutenant of the 4th Hussars, afraid of meeting his adversary, is hiding + behind his colonel. And that would be worse than hiding behind a haystack—for + the good of the service. I cannot afford to do that, Colonel.” + </p> + <p> + “Nobody would dare to say anything of the kind,” began the colonel very + fiercely, but ended the phrase on an uncertain note. The bravery of Lieut. + D’Hubert was well known. But the colonel was well aware that the duelling + courage, the single combat courage, is rightly or wrongly supposed to be + courage of a special sort. And it was eminently necessary that an officer + of his regiment should possess every kind of courage—and prove it, + too. The colonel stuck out his lower lip, and looked far away with a + peculiar glazed stare. This was the expression of his perplexity—an + expression practically unknown to his regiment; for perplexity is a + sentiment which is incompatible with the rank of colonel of cavalry. The + colonel himself was overcome by the unpleasant novelty of the sensation. + As he was not accustomed to think except on professional matters connected + with the welfare of men and horses, and the proper use thereof on the + field of glory, his intellectual efforts degenerated into mere mental + repetitions of profane language. “Mille tonnerres! . . . Sacre nom de nom + . . .” he thought. + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert coughed painfully, and added in a weary voice: “There will + be plenty of evil tongues to say that I’ve been cowed. And I am sure you + will not expect me to pass that over. I may find myself suddenly with a + dozen duels on my hands instead of this one affair.” + </p> + <p> + The direct simplicity of this argument came home to the colonel’s + understanding. He looked at his subordinate fixedly. “Sit down, + Lieutenant!” he said, gruffly. “This is the very devil of a . . . Sit + down!” + </p> + <p> + “Mon Colonel,” D’Hubert began again, “I am not afraid of evil tongues. + There’s a way of silencing them. But there’s my peace of mind, too. I + wouldn’t be able to shake off the notion that I’ve ruined a brother + officer. Whatever action you take, it is bound to go farther. The inquiry + has been dropped—let it rest now. It would have been absolutely + fatal to Feraud.” + </p> + <p> + “Hey! What! Did he behave so badly?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. It was pretty bad,” muttered Lieut. D’Hubert. Being still very weak, + he felt a disposition to cry. + </p> + <p> + As the other man did not belong to his own regiment the colonel had no + difficulty in believing this. He began to pace up and down the room. He + was a good chief, a man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human in + other ways, too, and this became apparent because he was not capable of + artifice. + </p> + <p> + “The very devil, Lieutenant,” he blurted out, in the innocence of his + heart, “is that I have declared my intention to get to the bottom of this + affair. And when a colonel says something . . . you see . . .” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert broke in earnestly: “Let me entreat you, Colonel, to be + satisfied with taking my word of honour that I was put into a damnable + position where I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent with + my dignity as a man and an officer. . . . After all, Colonel, this fact is + the very bottom of this affair. Here you’ve got it. The rest is mere + detail. . . .” + </p> + <p> + The colonel stopped short. The reputation of Lieut. D’Hubert for good + sense and good temper weighed in the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, + open as the day. Always correct in his behaviour. One had to trust him. + The colonel repressed manfully an immense curiosity. “H’m! You affirm that + as a man and an officer. . . . No option? Eh?” + </p> + <p> + “As an officer—an officer of the 4th Hussars, too,” insisted Lieut. + D’Hubert, “I had not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. But still I don’t see why, to one’s colonel. . . . A colonel is a + father—que diable!” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert ought not to have been allowed out as yet. He was becoming + aware of his physical insufficiency with humiliation and despair. But the + morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at the same time he felt + with dismay his eyes filling with water. This trouble seemed too big to + handle. A tear fell down the thin, pale cheek of Lieut. D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin + drop. “This is some silly woman story—is it not?” + </p> + <p> + Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the truth, which is not a + beautiful shape living in a well, but a shy bird best caught by stratagem. + This was the last move of the colonel’s diplomacy. He saw the truth + shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D’Hubert raising his weak + arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme protest. + </p> + <p> + “Not a woman affair—eh?” growled the colonel, staring hard. “I don’t + ask you who or where. All I want to know is whether there is a woman in + it?” + </p> + <p> + Lieut. D’Hubert’s arms dropped, and his weak voice was pathetically + broken. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing of the kind, mon Colonel.” + </p> + <p> + “On your honour?” insisted the old warrior. + </p> + <p> + “On my honour.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said the colonel, thoughtfully, and bit his lip. The + arguments of Lieut. D’Hubert, helped by his liking for the man, had + convinced him. On the other hand, it was highly improper that his + intervention, of which he had made no secret, should produce no visible + effect. He kept Lieut. D’Hubert a few minutes longer, and dismissed him + kindly. + </p> + <p> + “Take a few days more in bed. Lieutenant. What the devil does the surgeon + mean by reporting you fit for duty?” + </p> + <p> + On coming out of the colonel’s quarters, Lieut. D’Hubert said nothing to + the friend who was waiting outside to take him home. He said nothing to + anybody. Lieut. D’Hubert made no confidences. But on the evening of that + day the colonel, strolling under the elms growing near his quarters, in + the company of his second in command, opened his lips. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve got to the bottom of this affair,” he remarked. The lieut.-colonel, + a dry, brown chip of a man with short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears + at that without letting a sign of curiosity escape him. + </p> + <p> + “It’s no trifle,” added the colonel, oracularly. The other waited for a + long while before he murmured: + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, sir!” + </p> + <p> + “No trifle,” repeated the colonel, looking straight before him. “I’ve, + however, forbidden D’Hubert either to send to or receive a challenge from + Feraud for the next twelve months.” + </p> + <p> + He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige a colonel should + have. The result of it was to give an official seal to the mystery + surrounding this deadly quarrel. Lieut. D’Hubert repelled by an impassive + silence all attempts to worm the truth out of him. Lieut. Feraud, secretly + uneasy at first, regained his assurance as time went on. He disguised his + ignorance of the meaning of the imposed truce by slight sardonic laughs, + as though he were amused by what he intended to keep to himself. “But what + will you do?” his chums used to ask him. He contented himself by replying + “Qui vivra verra” with a little truculent air. And everybody admired his + discretion. + </p> + <p> + Before the end of the truce Lieut. D’Hubert got his troop. The promotion + was well earned, but somehow no one seemed to expect the event. When + Lieut. Feraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered through + his teeth, “Is that so?” At once he unhooked his sabre from a peg near the + door, buckled it on carefully, and left the company without another word. + He walked home with measured steps, struck a light with his flint and + steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then snatching an unlucky glass tumbler + off the mantelpiece he dashed it violently on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Now that D’Hubert was an officer of superior rank there could be no + question of a duel. Neither of them could send or receive a challenge + without rendering himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be + thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days now had experienced no real + desire to meet Lieut. D’Hubert arms in hand, chafed again at the + systematic injustice of fate. “Does he think he will escape me in that + way?” he thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an intrigue, a + conspiracy, a cowardly manoeuvre. That colonel knew what he was doing. He + had hastened to recommend his favourite for a step. It was outrageous that + a man should be able to avoid the consequences of his acts in such a dark + and tortuous manner. + </p> + <p> + Of a happy-go-lucky disposition, of a temperament more pugnacious than + military, Lieut. Feraud had been content to give and receive blows for + sheer love of armed strife, and without much thought of advancement; but + now an urgent desire to get on sprang up in his breast. This fighter by + vocation resolved in his mind to seize showy occasions and to court the + favourable opinion of his chiefs like a mere worldling. He knew he was as + brave as any one, and never doubted his personal charm. Nevertheless, + neither the bravery nor the charm seemed to work very swiftly. Lieut. + Feraud’s engaging, careless truculence of a beau sabreur underwent a + change. He began to make bitter allusions to “clever fellows who stick at + nothing to get on.” The army was full of them, he would say; you had only + to look round. But all the time he had in view one person only, his + adversary, D’Hubert. Once he confided to an appreciative friend: “You see, + I don’t know how to fawn on the right sort of people. It isn’t in my + character.” + </p> + <p> + He did not get his step till a week after Austerlitz. The Light Cavalry of + the Grand Army had its hands very full of interesting work for a little + while. Directly the pressure of professional occupation had been eased + Captain Feraud took measures to arrange a meeting without loss of time. “I + know my bird,” he observed, grimly. “If I don’t look sharp he will take + care to get himself promoted over the heads of a dozen better men than + himself. He’s got the knack for that sort of thing.” + </p> + <p> + This duel was fought in Silesia. If not fought to a finish, it was, at any + rate, fought to a standstill. The weapon was the cavalry sabre, and the + skill, the science, the vigour, and the determination displayed by the + adversaries compelled the admiration of the beholders. It became the + subject of talk on both shores of the Danube, and as far as the garrisons + of Gratz and Laybach. They crossed blades seven times. Both had many cuts + which bled profusely. Both refused to have the combat stopped, time after + time, with what appeared the most deadly animosity. This appearance was + caused on the part of Captain D’Hubert by a rational desire to be done + once for all with this worry; on the part of Captain Feraud by a + tremendous exaltation of his pugnacious instincts and the incitement of + wounded vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in rags, covered with + gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away forcibly by their + marvelling and horrified seconds. Later on, besieged by comrades avid of + details, these gentlemen declared that they could not have allowed that + sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked whether the quarrel was + settled this time, they gave it out as their conviction that it was a + difference which could only be settled by one of the parties remaining + lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread from army corps to army + corps, and penetrated at last to the smallest detachments of the troops + cantoned between the Rhine and the Save. In the cafes in Vienna it was + generally estimated, from details to hand, that the adversaries would be + able to meet again in three weeks’ time on the outside. Something really + transcendent in the way of duelling was expected. + </p> + <p> + These expectations were brought to naught by the necessities of the + service which separated the two officers. No official notice had been + taken of their quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not to be + meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, or rather their duelling + propensities, must have stood somewhat in the way of their advancement, + because they were still captains when they came together again during the + war with Prussia. Detached north after Jena, with the army commanded by + Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they entered Lubeck together. + </p> + <p> + It was only after the occupation of that town that Captain Feraud found + leisure to consider his future conduct in view of the fact that Captain + D’Hubert had been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the marshal. + He considered it a great part of a night, and in the morning summoned two + sympathetic friends. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been thinking it over calmly,” he said, gazing at them with + blood-shot, tired eyes. “I see that I must get rid of that intriguing + personage. Here he’s managed to sneak on to the personal staff of the + marshal. It’s a direct provocation to me. I can’t tolerate a situation in + which I am exposed any day to receive an order through him. And God knows + what order, too! That sort of thing has happened once before—and + that’s once too often. He understands this perfectly, never fear. I can’t + tell you any more. Now you know what it is you have to do.” + </p> + <p> + This encounter took place outside the town of Lubeck, on very open ground, + selected with special care in deference to the general sentiment of the + cavalry division belonging to the army corps, that this time the two + officers should meet on horseback. After all, this duel was a cavalry + affair, and to persist in fighting on foot would look like a slight on + one’s own arm of the service. The seconds, startled by the unusual nature + of the suggestion, hastened to refer to their principals. Captain Feraud + jumped at it with alacrity. For some obscure reason, depending, no doubt, + on his psychology, he imagined himself invincible on horseback. All alone + within the four walls of his room he rubbed his hands and muttered + triumphantly, “Aha! my pretty staff officer, I’ve got you now.” + </p> + <p> + Captain D’Hubert on his side, after staring hard for a considerable time + at his friends, shrugged his shoulders slightly. This affair had + hopelessly and unreasonably complicated his existence for him. One + absurdity more or less in the development did not matter—all + absurdity was distasteful to him; but, urbane as ever, he produced a + faintly ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, “It certainly will do + away to some extent with the monotony of the thing.” + </p> + <p> + When left alone, he sat down at a table and took his head into his hands. + He had not spared himself of late and the marshal had been working all his + aides-decamp particularly hard. The last three weeks of campaigning in + horrible weather had affected his health. When over-tired he suffered from + a stitch in his wounded side, and that uncomfortable sensation always + depressed him. “It’s that brute’s doing, too,” he thought bitterly. + </p> + <p> + The day before he had received a letter from home, announcing that his + only sister was going to be married. He reflected that from the time she + was nineteen and he twenty-six, when he went away to garrison life in + Strasbourg, he had had but two short glimpses of her. They had been great + friends and confidants; and now she was going to be given away to a man + whom he did not know—a very worthy fellow no doubt, but not half + good enough for her. He would never see his old Leonie again. She had a + capable little head, and plenty of tact; she would know how to manage the + fellow, to be sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness but he + felt ousted from the first place in her thoughts which had been his ever + since the girl could speak. A melancholy regret of the days of his + childhood settled upon Captain D’Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the Prince + of Ponte Corvo. + </p> + <p> + He threw aside the letter of congratulation he had begun to write as in + duty bound, but without enthusiasm. He took a fresh piece of paper, and + traced on it the words: “This is my last will and testament.” Looking at + these words he gave himself up to unpleasant reflection; a presentiment + that he would never see the scenes of his childhood weighed down the + equable spirits of Captain D’Hubert. He jumped up, pushing his chair back, + yawned elaborately in sign that he didn’t care anything for presentiments, + and throwing himself on the bed went to sleep. During the night he + shivered from time to time without waking up. In the morning he rode out + of town between his two seconds, talking of indifferent things, and + looking right and left with apparent detachment into the heavy morning + mists shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He leaped a + ditch, and saw the forms of many mounted men moving in the fog. “We are to + fight before a gallery, it seems,” he muttered to himself, bitterly. + </p> + <p> + His seconds were rather concerned at the state of the atmosphere, but + presently a pale, sickly sun struggled out of the low vapours, and Captain + D’Hubert made out, in the distance, three horsemen riding a little apart + from the others. It was Captain Feraud and his seconds. He drew his sabre, + and assured himself that it was properly fastened to his wrist. And now + the seconds, who had been standing in close group with the heads of their + horses together, separated at an easy canter, leaving a large, clear field + between him and his adversary. Captain D’Hubert looked at the pale sun, at + the dismal fields, and the imbecility of the impending fight filled him + with desolation. From a distant part of the field a stentorian voice + shouted commands at proper intervals: Au pas—Au trot—Charrrgez! + . . . Presentiments of death don’t come to a man for nothing, he thought + at the very moment he put spurs to his horse. + </p> + <p> + And therefore he was more than surprised when, at the very first set-to, + Captain Feraud laid himself open to a cut over the forehead, which + blinding him with blood, ended the combat almost before it had fairly + begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain D’Hubert, leaving his enemy + swearing horribly and reeling in the saddle between his two appalled + friends, leaped the ditch again into the road and trotted home with his + two seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy issue of that + encounter. In the evening Captain D’Hubert finished the congratulatory + letter on his sister’s marriage. + </p> + <p> + He finished it late. It was a long letter. Captain D’Hubert gave reins to + his fancy. He told his sister that he would feel rather lonely after this + great change in her life; but then the day would come for him, too, to get + married. In fact, he was thinking already of the time when there would be + no one left to fight with in Europe and the epoch of wars would be over. + “I expect then,” he wrote, “to be within measurable distance of a + marshal’s baton, and you will be an experienced married woman. You shall + look out a wife for me. I will be, probably, bald by then, and a little + blase. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and with a large + fortune, which should help me to close my glorious career in the splendour + befitting my exalted rank.” He ended with the information that he had just + given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow who imagined he had a + grievance against him. “But if you, in the depths of your province,” he + continued, “ever hear it said that your brother is of a quarrelsome + disposition, don’t you believe it on any account. There is no saying what + gossip from the army may reach your innocent ears. Whatever you hear you + may rest assured that your ever-loving brother is not a duellist.” Then + Captain D’Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of paper headed with the + words “This is my last will and testament,” and threw it in the fire with + a great laugh at himself. He didn’t care a snap for what that lunatic + could do. He had suddenly acquired the conviction that his adversary was + utterly powerless to affect his life in any sort of way; except, perhaps, + in the way of putting a special excitement into the delightful, gay + intervals between the campaigns. + </p> + <p> + From this on there were, however, to be no peaceful intervals in the + career of Captain D’Hubert. He saw the fields of Eylau and Friedland, + marched and countermarched in the snow, in the mud, in the dust of Polish + plains, picking up distinction and advancement on all the roads of + North-eastern Europe. Meantime, Captain Feraud, despatched southwards with + his regiment, made unsatisfactory war in Spain. It was only when the + preparations for the Russian campaign began that he was ordered north + again. He left the country of mantillas and oranges without regret. + </p> + <p> + The first signs of a not unbecoming baldness added to the lofty aspect of + Colonel D’Hubert’s forehead. This feature was no longer white and smooth + as in the days of his youth; the kindly open glance of his blue eyes had + grown a little hard as if from much peering through the smoke of battles. + The ebony crop on Colonel Feraud’s head, coarse and crinkly like a cap of + horsehair, showed many silver threads about the temples. A detestable + warfare of ambushes and inglorious surprises had not improved his temper. + The beak-like curve of his nose was unpleasantly set off by a deep fold on + each side of his mouth. The round orbits of his eyes radiated wrinkles. + More than ever he recalled an irritable and staring bird—something + like a cross between a parrot and an owl. He was still extremely outspoken + in his dislike of “intriguing fellows.” He seized every opportunity to + state that he did not pick up his rank in the ante-rooms of marshals. The + unlucky persons, civil or military, who, with an intention of being + pleasant, begged Colonel Feraud to tell them how he came by that very + apparent scar on the forehead, were astonished to find themselves snubbed + in various ways, some of which were simply rude and others mysteriously + sardonic. Young officers were warned kindly by their more experienced + comrades not to stare openly at the colonel’s scar. But indeed an officer + need have been very young in his profession not to have heard the + legendary tale of that duel originating in a mysterious, unforgivable + offence. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + The retreat from Moscow submerged all private feelings in a sea of + disaster and misery. Colonels without regiments, D’Hubert and Feraud + carried the musket in the ranks of the so-called sacred battalion—a + battalion recruited from officers of all arms who had no longer any troops + to lead. + </p> + <p> + In that battalion promoted colonels did duty as sergeants; the generals + captained the companies; a marshal of France, Prince of the Empire, + commanded the whole. All had provided themselves with muskets picked up on + the road, and with cartridges taken from the dead. In the general + destruction of the bonds of discipline and duty holding together the + companies, the battalions, the regiments, the brigades, and divisions of + an armed host, this body of men put its pride in preserving some semblance + of order and formation. The only stragglers were those who fell out to + give up to the frost their exhausted souls. They plodded on, and their + passage did not disturb the mortal silence of the plains, shining with the + livid light of snows under a sky the colour of ashes. Whirlwinds ran along + the fields, broke against the dark column, enveloped it in a turmoil of + flying icicles, and subsided, disclosing it creeping on its tragic way + without the swing and rhythm of the military pace. It struggled onwards, + the men exchanging neither words nor looks; whole ranks marched touching + elbow, day after day and never raising their eyes from the ground, as if + lost in despairing reflections. In the dumb, black forests of pines the + cracking of overloaded branches was the only sound they heard. Often from + daybreak to dusk no one spoke in the whole column. It was like a macabre + march of struggling corpses towards a distant grave. Only an alarm of + Cossacks could restore to their eyes a semblance of martial resolution. + The battalion faced about and deployed, or formed square under the endless + fluttering of snowflakes. A cloud of horsemen with fur caps on their + heads, levelled long lances, and yelled “Hurrah! Hurrah!” around their + menacing immobility whence, with muffled detonations, hundreds of dark red + flames darted through the air thick with falling snow. In a very few + moments the horsemen would disappear, as if carried off yelling in the + gale, and the sacred battalion standing still, alone in the blizzard, + heard only the howling of the wind, whose blasts searched their very + hearts. Then, with a cry or two of “Vive l’Empereur!” it would resume its + march, leaving behind a few lifeless bodies lying huddled up, tiny black + specks on the white immensity of the snows. + </p> + <p> + Though often marching in the ranks, or skirmishing in the woods side by + side, the two officers ignored each other; this not so much from inimical + intention as from a very real indifference. All their store of moral + energy was expended in resisting the terrific enmity of nature and the + crushing sense of irretrievable disaster. To the last they counted among + the most active, the least demoralized of the battalion; their vigorous + vitality invested them both with the appearance of an heroic pair in the + eyes of their comrades. And they never exchanged more than a casual word + or two, except one day, when skirmishing in front of the battalion against + a worrying attack of cavalry, they found themselves cut off in the woods + by a small party of Cossacks. A score of fur-capped, hairy horsemen rode + to and fro, brandishing their lances in ominous silence; but the two + officers had no mind to lay down their arms, and Colonel Feraud suddenly + spoke up in a hoarse, growling voice, bringing his firelock to the + shoulder. “You take the nearest brute, Colonel D’Hubert; I’ll settle the + next one. I am a better shot than you are.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel D’Hubert nodded over his levelled musket. Their shoulders were + pressed against the trunk of a large tree; on their front enormous + snowdrifts protected them from a direct charge. Two carefully aimed shots + rang out in the frosty air, two Cossacks reeled in their saddles. The + rest, not thinking the game good enough, closed round their wounded + comrades and galloped away out of range. The two officers managed to + rejoin their battalion halted for the night. During that afternoon they + had leaned upon each other more than once, and towards the end, Colonel + D’Hubert, whose long legs gave him an advantage in walking through soft + snow, peremptorily took the musket of Colonel Feraud from him and carried + it on his shoulder, using his own as a staff. + </p> + <p> + On the outskirts of a village half buried in the snow an old wooden barn + burned with a clear and an immense flame. The sacred battalion of + skeletons, muffled in rags, crowded greedily the windward side, stretching + hundreds of numbed, bony hands to the blaze. Nobody had noted their + approach. Before entering the circle of light playing on the sunken, + glassy-eyed, starved faces, Colonel D’Hubert spoke in his turn: + </p> + <p> + “Here’s your musket, Colonel Feraud. I can walk better than you.” + </p> + <p> + Colonel Feraud nodded, and pushed on towards the warmth of the fierce + flames. Colonel D’Hubert was more deliberate, but not the less bent on + getting a place in the front rank. Those they shouldered aside tried to + greet with a faint cheer the reappearance of the two indomitable + companions in activity and endurance. Those manly qualities had never + perhaps received a higher tribute than this feeble acclamation. + </p> + <p> + This is the faithful record of speeches exchanged during the retreat from + Moscow by Colonels Feraud and D’Hubert. Colonel Feraud’s taciturnity was + the outcome of concentrated rage. Short, hairy, black faced, with layers + of grime and the thick sprouting of a wiry beard, a frost-bitten hand + wrapped up in filthy rags carried in a sling, he accused fate of + unparalleled perfidy towards the sublime Man of Destiny. Colonel D’Hubert, + his long moustaches pendent in icicles on each side of his cracked blue + lips, his eyelids inflamed with the glare of snows, the principal part of + his costume consisting of a sheepskin coat looted with difficulty from the + frozen corpse of a camp follower found in an abandoned cart, took a more + thoughtful view of events. His regularly handsome features, now reduced to + mere bony lines and fleshless hollows, looked out of a woman’s black + velvet hood, over which was rammed forcibly a cocked hat picked up under + the wheels of an empty army fourgon, which must have contained at one time + some general officer’s luggage. The sheepskin coat being short for a man + of his inches ended very high up, and the skin of his legs, blue with the + cold, showed through the tatters of his nether garments. This under the + circumstances provoked neither jeers nor pity. No one cared how the next + man felt or looked. Colonel D’Hubert himself, hardened to exposure, + suffered mainly in his self-respect from the lamentable indecency of his + costume. A thoughtless person may think that with a whole host of + inanimate bodies bestrewing the path of retreat there could not have been + much difficulty in supplying the deficiency. But to loot a pair of + breeches from a frozen corpse is not so easy as it may appear to a mere + theorist. It requires time and labour. You must remain behind while your + companions march on. Colonel D’Hubert had his scruples as to falling out. + Once he had stepped aside he could not be sure of ever rejoining his + battalion; and the ghastly intimacy of a wrestling match with the frozen + dead opposing the unyielding rigidity of iron to your violence was + repugnant to the delicacy of his feelings. Luckily, one day, grubbing in a + mound of snow between the huts of a village in the hope of finding there a + frozen potato or some vegetable garbage he could put between his long and + shaky teeth, Colonel D’Hubert uncovered a couple of mats of the sort + Russian peasants use to line the sides of their carts with. These, beaten + free of frozen snow, bent about his elegant person and fastened solidly + round his waist, made a bell-shaped nether garment, a sort of stiff + petticoat, which rendered Colonel D’Hubert a perfectly decent, but a much + more noticeable figure than before. + </p> + <p> + Thus accoutred, he continued to retreat, never doubting of his personal + escape, but full of other misgivings. The early buoyancy of his belief in + the future was destroyed. If the road of glory led through such unforeseen + passages, he asked himself—for he was reflective—whether the + guide was altogether trustworthy. It was a patriotic sadness, not + unmingled with some personal concern, and quite unlike the unreasoning + indignation against men and things nursed by Colonel Feraud. Recruiting + his strength in a little German town for three weeks, Colonel D’Hubert was + surprised to discover within himself a love of repose. His returning + vigour was strangely pacific in its aspirations. He meditated silently + upon this bizarre change of mood. No doubt many of his brother officers of + field rank went through the same moral experience. But these were not the + times to talk of it. In one of his letters home Colonel D’Hubert wrote, + “All your plans, my dear Leonie, for marrying me to the charming girl you + have discovered in your neighbourhood, seem farther off than ever. Peace + is not yet. Europe wants another lesson. It will be a hard task for us, + but it shall be done, because the Emperor is invincible.” + </p> + <p> + Thus wrote Colonel D ‘Hubert from Pomerania to his married sister Leonie, + settled in the south of France. And so far the sentiments expressed would + not have been disowned by Colonel Feraud, who wrote no letters to anybody, + whose father had been in life an illiterate blacksmith, who had no sister + or brother, and whom no one desired ardently to pair off for a life of + peace with a charming young girl. But Colonel D ‘Hubert’s letter contained + also some philosophical generalities upon the uncertainty of all personal + hopes, when bound up entirely with the prestigious fortune of one + incomparably great it is true, yet still remaining but a man in his + greatness. This view would have appeared rank heresy to Colonel Feraud. + Some melancholy forebodings of a military kind, expressed cautiously, + would have been pronounced as nothing short of high treason by Colonel + Feraud. But Leonie, the sister of Colonel D’Hubert, read them with + profound satisfaction, and, folding the letter thoughtfully, remarked to + herself that “Armand was likely to prove eventually a sensible fellow.” + Since her marriage into a Southern family she had become a convinced + believer in the return of the legitimate king. Hopeful and anxious she + offered prayers night and morning, and burnt candles in churches for the + safety and prosperity of her brother. + </p> + <p> + She had every reason to suppose that her prayers were heard. Colonel + D’Hubert passed through Lutzen, Bautzen, and Leipsic losing no limb, and + acquiring additional reputation. Adapting his conduct to the needs of that + desperate time, he had never voiced his misgivings. He concealed them + under a cheerful courtesy of such pleasant character that people were + inclined to ask themselves with wonder whether Colonel D’Hubert was aware + of any disasters. Not only his manners, but even his glances remained + untroubled. The steady amenity of his blue eyes disconcerted all + grumblers, and made despair itself pause. + </p> + <p> + This bearing was remarked favourably by the Emperor himself; for Colonel + D’Hubert, attached now to the Major-General’s staff, came on several + occasions under the imperial eye. But it exasperated the higher strung + nature of Colonel Feraud. Passing through Magdeburg on service, this last + allowed himself, while seated gloomily at dinner with the Commandant de + Place, to say of his life-long adversary: “This man does not love the + Emperor,” and his words were received by the other guests in profound + silence. Colonel Feraud, troubled in his conscience at the atrocity of the + aspersion, felt the need to back it up by a good argument. “I ought to + know him,” he cried, adding some oaths. “One studies one’s adversary. I + have met him on the ground half a dozen times, as all the army knows. What + more do you want? If that isn’t opportunity enough for any fool to size up + his man, may the devil take me if I can tell what is.” And he looked + around the table, obstinate and sombre. + </p> + <p> + Later on in Paris, while extremely busy reorganizing his regiment, Colonel + Feraud learned that Colonel D’Hubert had been made a general. He glared at + his informant incredulously, then folded his arms and turned away + muttering, “Nothing surprises me on the part of that man.” + </p> + <p> + And aloud he added, speaking over his shoulder, “You would oblige me + greatly by telling General D’Hubert at the first opportunity that his + advancement saves him for a time from a pretty hot encounter. I was only + waiting for him to turn up here.” + </p> + <p> + The other officer remonstrated. + </p> + <p> + “Could you think of it, Colonel Feraud, at this time, when every life + should be consecrated to the glory and safety of France?” + </p> + <p> + But the strain of unhappiness caused by military reverses had spoiled + Colonel Feraud’s character. Like many other men, he was rendered wicked by + misfortune. + </p> + <p> + “I cannot consider General D’Hubert’s existence of any account either for + the glory or safety of France,” he snapped viciously. “You don’t pretend, + perhaps, to know him better than I do—I who have met him half a + dozen times on the ground—do you?” + </p> + <p> + His interlocutor, a young man, was silenced. Colonel Feraud walked up and + down the room. + </p> + <p> + “This is not the time to mince matters,” he said. “I can’t believe that + that man ever loved the Emperor. He picked up his general’s stars under + the boots of Marshal Berthier. Very well. I’ll get mine in another + fashion, and then we shall settle this business which has been dragging on + too long.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert, informed indirectly of Colonel Feraud’s attitude, made a + gesture as if to put aside an importunate person. His thoughts were + solicited by graver cares. He had had no time to go and see his family. + His sister, whose royalist hopes were rising higher every day, though + proud of her brother, regretted his recent advancement in a measure, + because it put on him a prominent mark of the usurper’s favour, which + later on could have an adverse influence upon his career. He wrote to her + that no one but an inveterate enemy could say he had got his promotion by + favour. As to his career, he assured her that he looked no farther forward + into the future than the next battlefield. + </p> + <p> + Beginning the campaign of France in this dogged spirit, General D’Hubert + was wounded on the second day of the battle under Laon. While being + carried off the field he heard that Colonel Feraud, promoted this moment + to general, had been sent to replace him at the head of his brigade. He + cursed his luck impulsively, not being able at the first glance to discern + all the advantages of a nasty wound. And yet it was by this heroic method + that Providence was shaping his future. Travelling slowly south to his + sister’s country home under the care of a trusty old servant, General + D’Hubert was spared the humiliating contacts and the perplexities of + conduct which assailed the men of Napoleonic empire at the moment of its + downfall. Lying in his bed, with the windows of his room open wide to the + sunshine of Provence, he perceived the undisguised aspect of the blessing + conveyed by that jagged fragment of a Prussian shell, which, killing his + horse and ripping open his thigh, saved him from an active conflict with + his conscience. After the last fourteen years spent sword in hand in the + saddle, and with the sense of his duty done to the very end, General + D’Hubert found resignation an easy virtue. His sister was delighted with + his reasonableness. “I leave myself altogether in your hands, my dear + Leonie,” he had said to her. + </p> + <p> + He was still laid up when, the credit of his brother-in-law’s family being + exerted on his behalf, he received from the royal government not only the + confirmation of his rank, but the assurance of being retained on the + active list. To this was added an unlimited convalescent leave. The + unfavourable opinion entertained of him in Bonapartist circles, though it + rested on nothing more solid than the unsupported pronouncement of General + Feraud, was directly responsible for General D’Hubert’s retention on the + active list. As to General Feraud, his rank was confirmed, too. It was + more than he dared to expect; but Marshal Soult, then Minister of War to + the restored king, was partial to officers who had served in Spain. Only + not even the marshal’s protection could secure for him active employment. + He remained irreconcilable, idle, and sinister. He sought in obscure + restaurants the company of other half-pay officers who cherished dingy but + glorious old tricolour cockades in their breast-pockets, and buttoned with + the forbidden eagle buttons their shabby uniforms, declaring themselves + too poor to afford the expense of the prescribed change. + </p> + <p> + The triumphant return from Elba, an historical fact as marvellous and + incredible as the exploits of some mythological demi-god, found General + D’Hubert still quite unable to sit a horse. Neither could he walk very + well. These disabilities, which Madame Leonie accounted most lucky, helped + to keep her brother out of all possible mischief. His frame of mind at + that time, she noted with dismay, became very far from reasonable. This + general officer, still menaced by the loss of a limb, was discovered one + night in the stables of the chateau by a groom, who, seeing a light, + raised an alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying half-buried in the straw + of the litter, and the general was hopping on one leg in a loose box + around a snorting horse he was trying to saddle. Such were the effects of + imperial magic upon a calm temperament and a pondered mind. Beset in the + light of stable lanterns, by the tears, entreaties, indignation, + remonstrances and reproaches of his family, he got out of the difficult + situation by fainting away there and then in the arms of his nearest + relatives, and was carried off to bed. Before he got out of it again, the + second reign of Napoleon, the Hundred Days of feverish agitation and + supreme effort, passed away like a terrifying dream. The tragic year 1815, + begun in the trouble and unrest of consciences, was ending in vengeful + proscriptions. + </p> + <p> + How General Feraud escaped the clutches of the Special Commission and the + last offices of a firing squad he never knew himself. It was partly due to + the subordinate position he was assigned during the Hundred Days. The + Emperor had never given him active command, but had kept him busy at the + cavalry depot in Paris, mounting and despatching hastily drilled troopers + into the field. Considering this task as unworthy of his abilities, he had + discharged it with no offensively noticeable zeal; but for the greater + part he was saved from the excesses of Royalist reaction by the + interference of General D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + This last, still on convalescent leave, but able now to travel, had been + despatched by his sister to Paris to present himself to his legitimate + sovereign. As no one in the capital could possibly know anything of the + episode in the stable he was received there with distinction. Military to + the very bottom of his soul, the prospect of rising in his profession + consoled him from finding himself the butt of Bonapartist malevolence, + which pursued him with a persistence he could not account for. All the + rancour of that embittered and persecuted party pointed to him as the man + who had never loved the Emperor—a sort of monster essentially worse + than a mere betrayer. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert shrugged his shoulders without anger at this ferocious + prejudice. Rejected by his old friends, and mistrusting profoundly the + advances of Royalist society, the young and handsome general (he was + barely forty) adopted a manner of cold, punctilious courtesy, which at the + merest shadow of an intended slight passed easily into harsh haughtiness. + Thus prepared, General D’Hubert went about his affairs in Paris feeling + inwardly very happy with the peculiar uplifting happiness of a man very + much in love. The charming girl looked out by his sister had come upon the + scene, and had conquered him in the thorough manner in which a young girl + by merely existing in his sight can make a man of forty her own. They were + going to be married as soon as General D’Hubert had obtained his official + nomination to a promised command. + </p> + <p> + One afternoon, sitting on the terrasse of the Cafe Tortoni, General + D’Hubert learned from the conversation of two strangers occupying a table + near his own, that General Feraud, included in the batch of superior + officers arrested after the second return of the king, was in danger of + passing before the Special Commission. Living all his spare moments, as is + frequently the case with expectant lovers, a day in advance of reality, + and in a state of bestarred hallucination, it required nothing less than + the name of his perpetual antagonist pronounced in a loud voice to call + the youngest of Napoleon’s generals away from the mental contemplation of + his betrothed. He looked round. The strangers wore civilian clothes. Lean + and weather-beaten, lolling back in their chairs, they scowled at people + with moody and defiant abstraction from under their hats pulled low over + their eyes. It was not difficult to recognize them for two of the + compulsorily retired officers of the Old Guard. As from bravado or + carelessness they chose to speak in loud tones, General D’Hubert, who saw + no reason why he should change his seat, heard every word. They did not + seem to be the personal friends of General Feraud. His name came up + amongst others. Hearing it repeated, General D’Hubert’s tender + anticipations of a domestic future adorned with a woman’s grace were + traversed by the harsh regret of his warlike past, of that one long, + intoxicating clash of arms, unique in the magnitude of its glory and + disaster—the marvellous work and the special possession of his own + generation. He felt an irrational tenderness towards his old adversary and + appreciated emotionally the murderous absurdity their encounter had + introduced into his life. It was like an additional pinch of spice in a + hot dish. He remembered the flavour with sudden melancholy. He would never + taste it again. It was all over. “I fancy it was being left lying in the + garden that had exasperated him so against me from the first,” he thought, + indulgently. + </p> + <p> + The two strangers at the next table had fallen silent after the third + mention of General Feraud’s name. Presently the elder of the two, speaking + again in a bitter tone, affirmed that General Feraud’s account was + settled. And why? Simply because he was not like some bigwigs who loved + only themselves. The Royalists knew they could never make anything of him. + He loved The Other too well. + </p> + <p> + The Other was the Man of St. Helena. The two officers nodded and touched + glasses before they drank to an impossible return. Then the same who had + spoken before, remarked with a sardonic laugh, “His adversary showed more + cleverness.” + </p> + <p> + “What adversary?” asked the younger, as if puzzled. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you know? They were two hussars. At each promotion they fought a + duel. Haven’t you heard of the duel going on ever since 1801?” + </p> + <p> + The other had heard of the duel, of course. Now he understood the + allusion. General Baron D’Hubert would be able now to enjoy his fat king’s + favour in peace. + </p> + <p> + “Much good may it do to him,” mumbled the elder. “They were both brave + men. I never saw this D’Hubert—a sort of intriguing dandy, I am + told. But I can well believe what I’ve heard Feraud say of him—that + he never loved the Emperor.” + </p> + <p> + They rose and went away. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert experienced the horror of a somnambulist who wakes up + from a complacent dream of activity to find himself walking on a quagmire. + A profound disgust of the ground on which he was making his way overcame + him. Even the image of the charming girl was swept from his view in the + flood of moral distress. Everything he had ever been or hoped to be would + taste of bitter ignominy unless he could manage to save General Feraud + from the fate which threatened so many braves. Under the impulse of this + almost morbid need to attend to the safety of his adversary, General + D’Hubert worked so well with hands and feet (as the French saying is), + that in less than twenty-four hours he found means of obtaining an + extraordinary private audience from the Minister of Police. + </p> + <p> + General Baron D’Hubert was shown in suddenly without preliminaries. In the + dusk of the Minister’s cabinet, behind the forms of writing-desk, chairs, + and tables, between two bunches of wax candles blazing in sconces, he + beheld a figure in a gorgeous coat posturing before a tall mirror. The old + conventionnel Fouche, Senator of the Empire, traitor to every man, to + every principle and motive of human conduct. Duke of Otranto, and the wily + artizan of the second Restoration, was trying the fit of a court suit in + which his young and accomplished fiancee had declared her intention to + have his portrait painted on porcelain. It was a caprice, a charming fancy + which the first Minister of Police of the second Restoration was anxious + to gratify. For that man, often compared in wiliness of conduct to a fox, + but whose ethical side could be worthily symbolized by nothing less + emphatic than a skunk, was as much possessed by his love as General + D’Hubert himself. + </p> + <p> + Startled to be discovered thus by the blunder of a servant, he met this + little vexation with the characteristic impudence which had served his + turn so well in the endless intrigues of his self-seeking career. Without + altering his attitude a hair’s-breadth, one leg in a silk stocking + advanced, his head twisted over his left shoulder, he called out calmly, + “This way, General. Pray approach. Well? I am all attention.” + </p> + <p> + While General D’Hubert, ill at ease as if one of his own little weaknesses + had been exposed, presented his request as shortly as possible, the Duke + of Otranto went on feeling the fit of his collar, settling the lapels + before the glass, and buckling his back in an effort to behold the set of + the gold embroidered coat-skirts behind. His still face, his attentive + eyes, could not have expressed a more complete interest in those matters + if he had been alone. + </p> + <p> + “Exclude from the operations of the Special Court a certain Feraud, + Gabriel Florian, General of brigade of the promotion of 1814?” he + repeated, in a slightly wondering tone, and then turned away from the + glass. “Why exclude him precisely?” + </p> + <p> + “I am surprised that your Excellency, so competent in the evaluation of + men of his time, should have thought worth while to have that name put + down on the list.” + </p> + <p> + “A rabid Bonapartist!” + </p> + <p> + “So is every grenadier and every trooper of the army, as your Excellency + well knows. And the individuality of General Feraud can have no more + weight than that of any casual grenadier. He is a man of no mental grasp, + of no capacity whatever. It is inconceivable that he should ever have any + influence.” + </p> + <p> + “He has a well-hung tongue, though,” interjected Fouche. + </p> + <p> + “Noisy, I admit, but not dangerous.” + </p> + <p> + “I will not dispute with you. I know next to nothing of him. Hardly his + name, in fact.” + </p> + <p> + “And yet your Excellency has the presidency of the Commission charged by + the king to point out those who were to be tried,” said General D’Hubert, + with an emphasis which did not miss the minister’s ear. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General,” he said, walking away into the dark part of the vast room, + and throwing himself into a deep armchair that swallowed him up, all but + the soft gleam of gold embroideries and the pallid patch of the face—“yes, + General. Take this chair there.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert sat down. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, General,” continued the arch-master in the arts of intrigue and + betrayals, whose duplicity, as if at times intolerable to his + self-knowledge, found relief in bursts of cynical openness. “I did hurry + on the formation of the proscribing Commission, and I took its presidency. + And do you know why? Simply from fear that if I did not take it quickly + into my hands my own name would head the list of the proscribed. Such are + the times in which we live. But I am minister of the king yet, and I ask + you plainly why I should take the name of this obscure Feraud off the + list? You wonder how his name got there! Is it possible that you should + know men so little? My dear General, at the very first sitting of the + Commission names poured on us like rain off the roof of the Tuileries. + Names! We had our choice of thousands. How do you know that the name of + this Feraud, whose life or death don’t matter to France, does not keep out + some other name?” + </p> + <p> + The voice out of the armchair stopped. Opposite General D’Hubert sat + still, shadowy and silent. Only his sabre clinked slightly. The voice in + the armchair began again. “And we must try to satisfy the exigencies of + the Allied Sovereigns, too. The Prince de Talleyrand told me only + yesterday that Nesselrode had informed him officially of His Majesty the + Emperor Alexander’s dissatisfaction at the small number of examples the + Government of the king intends to make—especially amongst military + men. I tell you this confidentially.” + </p> + <p> + “Upon my word!” broke out General D’Hubert, speaking through his teeth, + “if your Excellency deigns to favour me with any more confidential + information I don’t know what I will do. It’s enough to break one’s sword + over one’s knee, and fling the pieces. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “What government you imagined yourself to be serving?” interrupted the + minister, sharply. + </p> + <p> + After a short pause the crestfallen voice of General D’Hubert answered, + “The Government of France.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s paying your conscience off with mere words, General. The truth is + that you are serving a government of returned exiles, of men who have been + without country for twenty years. Of men also who have just got over a + very bad and humiliating fright. . . . Have no illusions on that score.” + </p> + <p> + The Duke of Otranto ceased. He had relieved himself, and had attained his + object of stripping some self-respect off that man who had inconveniently + discovered him posturing in a gold-embroidered court costume before a + mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot in the army; it occurred to him + that it would be inconvenient if a well-disposed general officer, received + in audience on the recommendation of one of the Princes, were to do + something rashly scandalous directly after a private interview with the + minister. In a changed tone he put a question to the point: “Your relation—this + Feraud?” + </p> + <p> + “No. No relation at all.” + </p> + <p> + “Intimate friend?” + </p> + <p> + “Intimate . . . yes. There is between us an intimate connection of a + nature which makes it a point of honour with me to try . . .” + </p> + <p> + The minister rang a bell without waiting for the end of the phrase. When + the servant had gone out, after bringing in a pair of heavy silver + candelabra for the writing-desk, the Duke of Otranto rose, his breast + glistening all over with gold in the strong light, and taking a piece of + paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand ostentatiously while he said + with persuasive gentleness: “You must not speak of breaking your sword + across your knee, General. Perhaps you would never get another. The + Emperor will not return this time. . . . Diable d’homme! There was just a + moment, here in Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me. It + looked as though he were ready to begin all over again. Luckily one never + does begin all over again, really. You must not think of breaking your + sword, General.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert, looking on the ground, moved slightly his hand in a + hopeless gesture of renunciation. The Minister of Police turned his eyes + away from him, and scanned deliberately the paper he had been holding up + all the time. + </p> + <p> + “There are only twenty general officers selected to be made an example of. + Twenty. A round number. And let’s see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he’s there. + Gabriel Florian. Parfaitement. That’s your man. Well, there will be only + nineteen examples made now.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert stood up feeling as though he had gone through an + infectious illness. “I must beg your Excellency to keep my interference a + profound secret. I attach the greatest importance to his never learning . + . .” + </p> + <p> + “Who is going to inform him, I should like to know?” said Fouche, raising + his eyes curiously to General D’Hubert’s tense, set face. “Take one of + these pens, and run it through the name yourself. This is the only list in + existence. If you are careful to take up enough ink no one will be able to + tell what was the name struck out. But, par exemple, I am not responsible + for what Clarke will do with him afterwards. If he persists in being rabid + he will be ordered by the Minister of War to reside in some provincial + town under the supervision of the police.” + </p> + <p> + A few days later General D’Hubert was saying to his sister, after the + first greetings had been got over: “Ah, my dear Leonie! it seemed to me I + couldn’t get away from Paris quick enough.” + </p> + <p> + “Effect of love,” she suggested, with a malicious smile. + </p> + <p> + “And horror,” added General D’Hubert, with profound seriousness. “I have + nearly died there of . . . of nausea.” + </p> + <p> + His face was contracted with disgust. And as his sister looked at him + attentively he continued, “I have had to see Fouche. I have had an + audience. I have been in his cabinet. There remains with one, who had the + misfortune to breathe the air of the same room with that man, a sense of + diminished dignity, an uneasy feeling of being not so clean, after all, as + one hoped one was. . . . But you can’t understand.” + </p> + <p> + She nodded quickly several times. She understood very well, on the + contrary. She knew her brother thoroughly, and liked him as he was. + Moreover, the scorn and loathing of mankind were the lot of the Jacobin + Fouche, who, exploiting for his own advantage every weakness, every + virtue, every generous illusion of mankind, made dupes of his whole + generation, and died obscurely as Duke of Otranto. + </p> + <p> + “My dear Armand,” she said, compassionately, “what could you want from + that man?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing less than a life,” answered General D’Hubert. “And I’ve got it. + It had to be done. But I feel yet as if I could never forgive the + necessity to the man I had to save.” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud, totally unable (as is the case with most of us) to + comprehend what was happening to him, received the Minister of War’s order + to proceed at once to a small town of Central France with feelings whose + natural expression consisted in a fierce rolling of the eye and savage + grinding of the teeth. The passing away of the state of war, the only + condition of society he had ever known, the horrible view of a world at + peace, frightened him. He went away to his little town firmly convinced + that this could not last. There he was informed of his retirement from the + army, and that his pension (calculated on the scale of a colonel’s rank) + was made dependent on the correctness of his conduct, and on the good + reports of the police. No longer in the army! He felt suddenly strange to + the earth, like a disembodied spirit. It was impossible to exist. But at + first he reacted from sheer incredulity. This could not be. He waited for + thunder, earthquakes, natural cataclysms; but nothing happened. The leaden + weight of an irremediable idleness descended upon General Feraud, who + having no resources within himself sank into a state of awe-inspiring + hebetude. He haunted the streets of the little town, gazing before him + with lacklustre eyes, disregarding the hats raised on his passage; and + people, nudging each other as he went by, whispered, “That’s poor General + Feraud. His heart is broken. Behold how he loved the Emperor.” + </p> + <p> + The other living wreckage of Napoleonic tempest clustered round General + Feraud with infinite respect. He, himself, imagined his soul to be crushed + by grief. He suffered from quickly succeeding impulses to weep, to howl, + to bite his fists till blood came, to spend days on his bed with his head + thrust under the pillow; but these arose from sheer ennui, from the + anguish of an immense, indescribable, inconceivable boredom. His mental + inability to grasp the hopeless nature of his case as a whole saved him + from suicide. He never even thought of it once. He thought of nothing. But + his appetite abandoned him, and the difficulty he experienced to express + the overwhelming nature of his feelings (the most furious swearing could + do no justice to it) induced gradually a habit of silence—a sort of + death to a southern temperament. + </p> + <p> + Great, therefore, was the sensation amongst the anciens militaires + frequenting a certain little cafe; full of flies when one stuffy afternoon + “that poor General Feraud” let out suddenly a volley of formidable curses. + </p> + <p> + He had been sitting quietly in his own privileged corner looking through + the Paris gazettes with just as much interest as a condemned man on the + eve of execution could be expected to show in the news of the day. “I’ll + find out presently that I am alive yet,” he declared, in a dogmatic tone. + “However, this is a private affair. An old affair of honour. Bah! Our + honour does not matter. Here we are driven off with a split ear like a lot + of cast troop horses—good only for a knacker’s yard. But it would be + like striking a blow for the Emperor. . . . Messieurs, I shall require the + assistance of two of you.” + </p> + <p> + Every man moved forward. General Feraud, deeply touched by this + demonstration, called with visible emotion upon the one-eyed veteran + cuirassier and the officer of the Chasseurs a Cheval who had left the tip + of his nose in Russia. He excused his choice to the others. + </p> + <p> + “A cavalry affair this—you know.” + </p> + <p> + He was answered with a varied chorus of “Parfaitement, mon General . . . . + C’est juste. . . . Parbleu, c’est connu. . . .” Everybody was satisfied. + The three left the cafe together, followed by cries of “Bonne chance.” + </p> + <p> + Outside they linked arms, the general in the middle. The three rusty + cocked hats worn en bataille with a sinister forward slant barred the + narrow street nearly right across. The overheated little town of grey + stones and red tiles was drowsing away its provincial afternoon under a + blue sky. The loud blows of a cooper hooping a cask reverberated regularly + between the houses. The general dragged his left foot a little in the + shade of the walls. + </p> + <p> + “This damned winter of 1813 has got into my bones for good. Never mind. We + must take pistols, that’s all. A little lumbago. We must have pistols. + He’s game for my bag. My eyes are as keen as ever. You should have seen me + in Russia picking off the dodging Cossacks with a beastly old infantry + musket. I have a natural gift for firearms.” + </p> + <p> + In this strain General Feraud ran on, holding up his head, with owlish + eyes and rapacious beak. A mere fighter all his life, a cavalry man, a + sabreur, he conceived war with the utmost simplicity, as, in the main, a + massed lot of personal contests, a sort of gregarious duelling. And here + he had in hand a war of his own. He revived. The shadow of peace passed + away from him like the shadow of death. It was the marvellous resurrection + of the named Feraud, Gabriel Florian, engage volontaire of 1793, General + of 1814, buried without ceremony by means of a service order signed by the + War Minister of the Second Restoration. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + No man succeeds in everything he undertakes. In that sense we are all + failures. The great point is not to fail in ordering and sustaining the + effort of our life. In this matter vanity is what leads us astray. It + hurries us into situations from which we must come out damaged; whereas + pride is our safeguard, by the reserve it imposes on the choice of our + endeavour as much as by the virtue of its sustaining power. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert was proud and reserved. He had not been damaged by his + casual love affairs, successful or otherwise. In his war-scarred body his + heart at forty remained unscratched. Entering with reserve into his + sister’s matrimonial plans, he had felt himself falling irremediably in + love as one falls off a roof. He was too proud to be frightened. Indeed, + the sensation was too delightful to be alarming. + </p> + <p> + The inexperience of a man of forty is a much more serious thing than the + inexperience of a youth of twenty, for it is not helped out by the + rashness of hot blood. The girl was mysterious, as young girls are by the + mere effect of their guarded ingenuity; and to him the mysteriousness of + that young girl appeared exceptional and fascinating. But there was + nothing mysterious about the arrangements of the match which Madame Leonie + had promoted. There was nothing peculiar, either. It was a very + appropriate match, commending itself extremely to the young lady’s mother + (the father was dead) and tolerable to the young lady’s uncle—an old + emigre lately returned from Germany, and pervading, cane in hand, a lean + ghost of the ancien regime, the garden walks of the young lady’s ancestral + home. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert was not the man to be satisfied merely with the woman and + the fortune—when it came to the point. His pride (and pride aims + always at true success) would be satisfied with nothing short of love. But + as true pride excludes vanity, he could not imagine any reason why this + mysterious creature with deep and brilliant eyes of a violet colour should + have any feeling for him warmer than indifference. The young lady (her + name was Adele) baffled every attempt at a clear understanding on that + point. It is true that the attempts were clumsy and made timidly, because + by then General D’Hubert had become acutely aware of the number of his + years, of his wounds, of his many moral imperfections, of his secret + unworthiness—and had incidentally learned by experience the meaning + of the word funk. As far as he could make out she seemed to imply that, + with an unbounded confidence in her mother’s affection and sagacity, she + felt no unsurmountable dislike for the person of General D’Hubert; and + that this was quite sufficient for a well-brought-up young lady to begin + married life upon. This view hurt and tormented the pride of General + D’Hubert. And yet he asked himself, with a sort of sweet despair, what + more could he expect? She had a quiet and luminous forehead. Her violet + eyes laughed while the lines of her lips and chin remained composed in + admirable gravity. All this was set off by such a glorious mass of fair + hair, by a complexion so marvellous, by such a grace of expression, that + General D’Hubert really never found the opportunity to examine with + sufficient detachment the lofty exigencies of his pride. In fact, he + became shy of that line of inquiry since it had led once or twice to a + crisis of solitary passion in which it was borne upon him that he loved + her enough to kill her rather than lose her. From such passages, not + unknown to men of forty, he would come out broken, exhausted, remorseful, + a little dismayed. He derived, however, considerable comfort from the + quietist practice of sitting now and then half the night by an open window + and meditating upon the wonder of her existence, like a believer lost in + the mystic contemplation of his faith. + </p> + <p> + It must not be supposed that all these variations of his inward state were + made manifest to the world. General D ‘Hubert found no difficulty in + appearing wreathed in smiles. Because, in fact, he was very happy. He + followed the established rules of his condition, sending over flowers + (from his sister’s garden and hot-houses) early every morning, and a + little later following himself to lunch with his intended, her mother, and + her emigre uncle. The middle of the day was spent in strolling or sitting + in the shade. A watchful deference, trembling on the verge of tenderness + was the note of their intercourse on his side—with a playful turn of + the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole being caused by + her inaccessible nearness. Late in the afternoon General D ‘Hubert walked + home between the fields of vines, sometimes intensely miserable, sometimes + supremely happy, sometimes pensively sad; but always feeling a special + intensity of existence, that elation common to artists, poets, and lovers—to + men haunted by a great passion, a noble thought, or a new vision of + plastic beauty. + </p> + <p> + The outward world at that time did not exist with any special distinctness + for General D’Hubert. One evening, however, crossing a ridge from which he + could see both houses, General D’Hubert became aware of two figures far + down the road. The day had been divine. The festal decoration of the + inflamed sky lent a gentle glow to the sober tints of the southern land. + The grey rocks, the brown fields, the purple, undulating distances + harmonized in luminous accord, exhaled already the scents of the evening. + The two figures down the road presented themselves like two rigid and + wooden silhouettes all black on the ribbon of white dust. General D’Hubert + made out the long, straight, military capotes buttoned closely right up to + the black stocks, the cocked hats, the lean, carven, brown countenances—old + soldiers—vieilles moustaches! The taller of the two had a black + patch over one eye; the other’s hard, dry countenance presented some + bizarre, disquieting peculiarity, which on nearer approach proved to be + the absence of the tip of the nose. Lifting their hands with one movement + to salute the slightly lame civilian walking with a thick stick, they + inquired for the house where the General Baron D’Hubert lived, and what + was the best way to get speech with him quietly. + </p> + <p> + “If you think this quiet enough,” said General D’Hubert, looking round at + the vine-fields, framed in purple lines, and dominated by the nest of grey + and drab walls of a village clustering around the top of a conical hill, + so that the blunt church tower seemed but the shape of a crowning rock—“if + you think this spot quiet enough, you can speak to him at once. And I beg + you, comrades, to speak openly, with perfect confidence.” + </p> + <p> + They stepped back at this, and raised again their hands to their hats with + marked ceremoniousness. Then the one with the chipped nose, speaking for + both, remarked that the matter was confidential enough, and to be arranged + discreetly. Their general quarters were established in that village over + there, where the infernal clodhoppers—damn their false, Royalist + hearts!—looked remarkably cross-eyed at three unassuming military + men. For the present he should only ask for the name of General D’Hubert’s + friends. + </p> + <p> + “What friends?” said the astonished General D’Hubert, completely off the + track. “I am staying with my brother-in-law over there.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he will do for one,” said the chipped veteran. + </p> + <p> + “We’re the friends of General Feraud,” interjected the other, who had kept + silent till then, only glowering with his one eye at the man who had never + loved the Emperor. That was something to look at. For even the gold-laced + Judases who had sold him to the English, the marshals and princes, had + loved him at some time or other. But this man had never loved the Emperor. + General Feraud had said so distinctly. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert felt an inward blow in his chest. For an infinitesimal + fraction of a second it was as if the spinning of the earth had become + perceptible with an awful, slight rustle in the eternal stillness of + space. But this noise of blood in his ears passed off at once. + Involuntarily he murmured, “Feraud! I had forgotten his existence.” + </p> + <p> + “He’s existing at present, very uncomfortably, it is true, in the infamous + inn of that nest of savages up there,” said the one-eyed cuirassier, + drily. “We arrived in your parts an hour ago on post horses. He’s awaiting + our return with impatience. There is hurry, you know. The General has + broken the ministerial order to obtain from you the satisfaction he’s + entitled to by the laws of honour, and naturally he’s anxious to have it + all over before the gendarmerie gets on his scent.” + </p> + <p> + The other elucidated the idea a little further. “Get back on the quiet—you + understand? Phitt! No one the wiser. We have broken out, too. Your friend + the king would be glad to cut off our scurvy pittances at the first + chance. It’s a risk. But honour before everything.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert had recovered his powers of speech. “So you come here + like this along the road to invite me to a throat-cutting match with that—that + . . .” A laughing sort of rage took possession of him. “Ha! ha! ha! ha!” + </p> + <p> + His fists on his hips, he roared without restraint, while they stood + before him lank and straight, as though they had been shot up with a snap + through a trap door in the ground. Only four-and-twenty months ago the + masters of Europe, they had already the air of antique ghosts, they seemed + less substantial in their faded coats than their own narrow shadows + falling so black across the white road: the military and grotesque shadows + of twenty years of war and conquests. They had an outlandish appearance of + two imperturbable bonzes of the religion of the sword. And General + D’Hubert, also one of the ex-masters of Europe, laughed at these serious + phantoms standing in his way. + </p> + <p> + Said one, indicating the laughing General with a jerk of the head: “A + merry companion, that.” + </p> + <p> + “There are some of us that haven’t smiled from the day The Other went + away,” remarked his comrade. + </p> + <p> + A violent impulse to set upon and beat those unsubstantial wraiths to the + ground frightened General D’Hubert. He ceased laughing suddenly. His + desire now was to get rid of them, to get them away from his sight quickly + before he lost control of himself. He wondered at the fury he felt rising + in his breast. But he had no time to look into that peculiarity just then. + </p> + <p> + “I understand your wish to be done with me as quickly as possible. Don’t + let us waste time in empty ceremonies. Do you see that wood there at the + foot of that slope? Yes, the wood of pines. Let us meet there to-morrow at + sunrise. I will bring with me my sword or my pistols, or both if you + like.” + </p> + <p> + The seconds of General Feraud looked at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Pistols, General,” said the cuirassier. + </p> + <p> + “So be it. Au revoir—to-morrow morning. Till then let me advise you + to keep close if you don’t want the gendarmerie making inquiries about you + before it gets dark. Strangers are rare in this part of the country.” + </p> + <p> + They saluted in silence. General D’Hubert, turning his back on their + retreating forms, stood still in the middle of the road for a long time, + biting his lower lip and looking on the ground. Then he began to walk + straight before him, thus retracing his steps till he found himself before + the park gate of his intended’s house. Dusk had fallen. Motionless he + stared through the bars at the front of the house, gleaming clear beyond + the thickets and trees. Footsteps scrunched on the gravel, and presently a + tall stooping shape emerged from the lateral alley following the inner + side of the park wall. + </p> + <p> + Le Chevalier de Valmassigue, uncle of the adorable Adele, ex-brigadier in + the army of the Princes, bookbinder in Altona, afterwards shoemaker (with + a great reputation for elegance in the fit of ladies’ shoes) in another + small German town, wore silk stockings on his lean shanks, low shoes with + silver buckles, a brocaded waistcoat. A long-skirted coat, a la francaise, + covered loosely his thin, bowed back. A small three-cornered hat rested on + a lot of powdered hair, tied in a queue. + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Chevalier,” called General D’Hubert, softly. + </p> + <p> + “What? You here again, mon ami? Have you forgotten something?” + </p> + <p> + “By heavens! that’s just it. I have forgotten something. I am come to tell + you of it. No—outside. Behind this wall. It’s too ghastly a thing to + be let in at all where she lives.” + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier came out at once with that benevolent resignation some old + people display towards the fugue of youth. Older by a quarter of a century + than General D’Hubert, he looked upon him in the secret of his heart as a + rather troublesome youngster in love. He had heard his enigmatical words + very well, but attached no undue importance to what a mere man of forty so + hard hit was likely to do or say. The turn of mind of the generation of + Frenchmen grown up during the years of his exile was almost unintelligible + to him. Their sentiments appeared to him unduly violent, lacking fineness + and measure, their language needlessly exaggerated. He joined calmly the + General on the road, and they made a few steps in silence, the General + trying to master his agitation, and get proper control of his voice. + </p> + <p> + “It is perfectly true; I forgot something. I forgot till half an hour ago + that I had an urgent affair of honour on my hands. It’s incredible, but it + is so!” + </p> + <p> + All was still for a moment. Then in the profound evening silence of the + countryside the clear, aged voice of the Chevalier was heard trembling + slightly: “Monsieur! That’s an indignity.” + </p> + <p> + It was his first thought. The girl born during his exile, the posthumous + daughter of his poor brother murdered by a band of Jacobins, had grown + since his return very dear to his old heart, which had been starving on + mere memories of affection for so many years. “It is an inconceivable + thing, I say! A man settles such affairs before he thinks of asking for a + young girl’s hand. Why! If you had forgotten for ten days longer, you + would have been married before your memory returned to you. In my time men + did not forget such things—nor yet what is due to the feelings of an + innocent young woman. If I did not respect them myself, I would qualify + your conduct in a way which you would not like.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert relieved himself frankly by a groan. “Don’t let that + consideration prevent you. You run no risk of offending her mortally.” + </p> + <p> + But the old man paid no attention to this lover’s nonsense. It’s doubtful + whether he even heard. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s the nature of . . . + ?” “Call it a youthful folly, Monsieur le Chevalier. An inconceivable, + incredible result of . . .” He stopped short. “He will never believe the + story,” he thought. “He will only think I am taking him for a fool, and + get offended.” General D’Hubert spoke up again: “Yes, originating in + youthful folly, it has become . . .” + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier interrupted: “Well, then it must be arranged.” + </p> + <p> + “Arranged?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, no matter at what cost to your amour propre. You should have + remembered you were engaged. You forgot that, too, I suppose. And then you + go and forget your quarrel. It’s the most hopeless exhibition of levity I + ever heard of.” + </p> + <p> + “Good heavens, Monsieur! You don’t imagine I have been picking up this + quarrel last time I was in Paris, or anything of the sort, do you?” + </p> + <p> + “Eh! What matters the precise date of your insane conduct,” exclaimed the + Chevalier, testily. “The principal thing is to arrange it.” + </p> + <p> + Noticing General D’Hubert getting restive and trying to place a word, the + old emigre raised his hand, and added with dignity, “I’ve been a soldier, + too. I would never dare suggest a doubtful step to the man whose name my + niece is to bear. I tell you that entre galants hommes an affair can + always be arranged.” + </p> + <p> + “But saperiotte, Monsieur le Chevalier, it’s fifteen or sixteen years ago. + I was a lieutenant of hussars then.” + </p> + <p> + The old Chevalier seemed confounded by the vehemently despairing tone of + this information. “You were a lieutenant of hussars sixteen years ago,” he + mumbled in a dazed manner. + </p> + <p> + “Why, yes! You did not suppose I was made a general in my cradle like a + royal prince.” + </p> + <p> + In the deepening purple twilight of the fields spread with vine leaves, + backed by a low band of sombre crimson in the west, the voice of the old + ex-officer in the army of the Princes sounded collected, punctiliously + civil. + </p> + <p> + “Do I dream? Is this a pleasantry? Or am I to understand that you have + been hatching an affair of honour for sixteen years?” + </p> + <p> + “It has clung to me for that length of time. That is my precise meaning. + The quarrel itself is not to be explained easily. We met on the ground + several times during that time, of course.” + </p> + <p> + “What manners! What horrible perversion of manliness! Nothing can account + for such inhumanity but the sanguinary madness of the Revolution which has + tainted a whole generation,” mused the returned emigre in a low tone. + “Who’s your adversary?” he asked a little louder. + </p> + <p> + “My adversary? His name is Feraud.” + </p> + <p> + Shadowy in his tricorne and old-fashioned clothes, like a bowed, thin + ghost of the ancien regime, the Chevalier voiced a ghostly memory. “I can + remember the feud about little Sophie Derval, between Monsieur de Brissac, + Captain in the Bodyguards, and d’Anjorrant (not the pock-marked one, the + other—the Beau d’Anjorrant, as they called him). They met three + times in eighteen months in a most gallant manner. It was the fault of + that little Sophie, too, who would keep on playing . . .” + </p> + <p> + “This is nothing of the kind,” interrupted General D’Hubert. He laughed a + little sardonically. “Not at all so simple,” he added. “Nor yet half so + reasonable,” he finished, inaudibly, between his teeth, and ground them + with rage. + </p> + <p> + After this sound nothing troubled the silence for a long time, till the + Chevalier asked, without animation: “What is he—this Feraud?” + </p> + <p> + “Lieutenant of hussars, too—I mean, he’s a general. A Gascon. Son of + a blacksmith, I believe.” + </p> + <p> + “There! I thought so. That Bonaparte had a special predilection for the + canaille. I don’t mean this for you, D’Hubert. You are one of us, though + you have served this usurper, who . . .” + </p> + <p> + “Let’s leave him out of this,” broke in General D’Hubert. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier shrugged his peaked shoulders. “Feraud of sorts. Offspring + of a blacksmith and some village troll. See what comes of mixing yourself + up with that sort of people.” + </p> + <p> + “You have made shoes yourself, Chevalier.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. But I am not the son of a shoemaker. Neither are you, Monsieur + D’Hubert. You and I have something that your Bonaparte’s princes, dukes, + and marshals have not, because there’s no power on earth that could give + it to them,” retorted the emigre, with the rising animation of a man who + has got hold of a hopeful argument. “Those people don’t exist—all + these Ferauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A va-nu-pieds disguised into a + general by a Corsican adventurer masquerading as an emperor. There is no + earthly reason for a D’Hubert to s’encanailler by a duel with a person of + that sort. You can make your excuses to him perfectly well. And if the + manant takes into his head to decline them, you may simply refuse to meet + him.” + </p> + <p> + “You say I may do that?” + </p> + <p> + “I do. With the clearest conscience.” + </p> + <p> + “Monsieur le Chevalier! To what do you think you have returned from your + emigration?” + </p> + <p> + This was said in such a startling tone that the old man raised sharply his + bowed head, glimmering silvery white under the points of the little + tricorne. For a time he made no sound. + </p> + <p> + “God knows!” he said at last, pointing with a slow and grave gesture at a + tall roadside cross mounted on a block of stone, and stretching its arms + of forged iron all black against the darkening red band in the sky—“God + knows! If it were not for this emblem, which I remember seeing on this + spot as a child, I would wonder to what we who remained faithful to God + and our king have returned. The very voices of the people have changed.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it is a changed France,” said General D’Hubert. He seemed to have + regained his calm. His tone was slightly ironic. “Therefore I cannot take + your advice. Besides, how is one to refuse to be bitten by a dog that + means to bite? It’s impracticable. Take my word for it—Feraud isn’t + a man to be stayed by apologies or refusals. But there are other ways. I + could, for instance, send a messenger with a word to the brigadier of the + gendarmerie in Senlac. He and his two friends are liable to arrest on my + simple order. It would make some talk in the army, both the organized and + the disbanded—especially the disbanded. All canaille! All once upon + a time the companions in arms of Armand D’Hubert. But what need a D’Hubert + care what people that don’t exist may think? Or, better still, I might get + my brother-in-law to send for the mayor of the village and give him a + hint. No more would be needed to get the three ‘brigands’ set upon with + flails and pitchforks and hunted into some nice, deep, wet ditch—and + nobody the wiser! It has been done only ten miles from here to three poor + devils of the disbanded Red Lancers of the Guard going to their homes. + What says your conscience, Chevalier? Can a D’Hubert do that thing to + three men who do not exist?” + </p> + <p> + A few stars had come out on the blue obscurity, clear as crystal, of the + sky. The dry, thin voice of the Chevalier spoke harshly: “Why are you + telling me all this?” + </p> + <p> + The General seized the withered old hand with a strong grip. “Because I + owe you my fullest confidence. Who could tell Adele but you? You + understand why I dare not trust my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. + Chevalier! I have been so near doing these things that I tremble yet. You + don’t know how terrible this duel appears to me. And there’s no escape + from it.” + </p> + <p> + He murmured after a pause, “It’s a fatality,” dropped the Chevalier’s + passive hand, and said in his ordinary conversational voice, “I shall have + to go without seconds. If it is my lot to remain on the ground, you at + least will know all that can be made known of this affair.” + </p> + <p> + The shadowy ghost of the ancien regime seemed to have become more bowed + during the conversation. “How am I to keep an indifferent face this + evening before these two women?” he groaned. “General! I find it very + difficult to forgive you.” + </p> + <p> + General D ‘Hubert made no answer. + </p> + <p> + “Is your cause good, at least?” + </p> + <p> + “I am innocent.” + </p> + <p> + This time he seized the Chevalier’s ghostly arm above the elbow, and gave + it a mighty squeeze. “I must kill him!” he hissed, and opening his hand + strode away down the road. + </p> + <p> + The delicate attentions of his adoring sister had secured for the General + perfect liberty of movement in the house where he was a guest. He had even + his own entrance through a small door in one corner of the orangery. Thus + he was not exposed that evening to the necessity of dissembling his + agitation before the calm ignorance of the other inmates. He was glad of + it. It seemed to him that if he had to open his lips he would break out + into horrible and aimless imprecations, start breaking furniture, smashing + china and glass. From the moment he opened the private door and while + ascending the twenty-eight steps of a winding staircase, giving access to + the corridor on which his room opened, he went through a horrible and + humiliating scene in which an infuriated madman with blood-shot eyes and a + foaming mouth played inconceivable havoc with everything inanimate that + may be found in a well-appointed dining-room. When he opened the door of + his apartment the fit was over, and his bodily fatigue was so great that + he had to catch at the backs of the chairs while crossing the room to + reach a low and broad divan on which he let himself fall heavily. His + moral prostration was still greater. That brutality of feeling which he + had known only when charging the enemy, sabre in hand, amazed this man of + forty, who did not recognize in it the instinctive fury of his menaced + passion. But in his mental and bodily exhaustion this passion got cleared, + distilled, refined into a sentiment of melancholy despair at having, + perhaps, to die before he had taught this beautiful girl to love him. + </p> + <p> + That night, General D’Hubert stretched out on his back with his hands over + his eyes, or lying on his breast with his face buried in a cushion, made + the full pilgrimage of emotions. Nauseating disgust at the absurdity of + the situation, doubt of his own fitness to conduct his existence, and + mistrust of his best sentiments (for what the devil did he want to go to + Fouche for?)—he knew them all in turn. “I am an idiot, neither more + nor less,” he thought—“A sensitive idiot. Because I overheard two + men talking in a cafe. . . . I am an idiot afraid of lies—whereas in + life it is only truth that matters.” + </p> + <p> + Several times he got up and, walking in his socks in order not to be heard + by anybody downstairs, drank all the water he could find in the dark. And + he tasted the torments of jealousy, too. She would marry somebody else. + His very soul writhed. The tenacity of that Feraud, the awful persistence + of that imbecile brute, came to him with the tremendous force of a + relentless destiny. General D’Hubert trembled as he put down the empty + water ewer. “He will have me,” he thought. General D’Hubert was tasting + every emotion that life has to give. He had in his dry mouth the faint + sickly flavour of fear, not the excusable fear before a young girl’s + candid and amused glance, but the fear of death and the honourable man’s + fear of cowardice. + </p> + <p> + But if true courage consists in going out to meet an odious danger from + which our body, soul, and heart recoil together, General D’Hubert had the + opportunity to practise it for the first time in his life. He had charged + exultingly at batteries and at infantry squares, and ridden with messages + through a hail of bullets without thinking anything about it. His business + now was to sneak out unheard, at break of day, to an obscure and revolting + death. General D’Hubert never hesitated. He carried two pistols in a + leather bag which he slung over his shoulder. Before he had crossed the + garden his mouth was dry again. He picked two oranges. It was only after + shutting the gate after him that he felt a slight faintness. + </p> + <p> + He staggered on, disregarding it, and after going a few yards regained the + command of his legs. In the colourless and pellucid dawn the wood of pines + detached its columns of trunks and its dark green canopy very clearly + against the rocks of the grey hillside. He kept his eyes fixed on it + steadily, and sucked at an orange as he walked. That temperamental + good-humoured coolness in the face of danger which had made him an officer + liked by his men and appreciated by his superiors was gradually asserting + itself. It was like going into battle. Arriving at the edge of the wood he + sat down on a boulder, holding the other orange in his hand, and + reproached himself for coming so ridiculously early on the ground. Before + very long, however, he heard the swishing of bushes, footsteps on the hard + ground, and the sounds of a disjointed, loud conversation. A voice + somewhere behind him said boastfully, “He’s game for my bag.” + </p> + <p> + He thought to himself, “Here they are. What’s this about game? Are they + talking of me?” And becoming aware of the other orange in his hand, he + thought further, “These are very good oranges. Leonie’s own tree. I may + just as well eat this orange now instead of flinging it away.” + </p> + <p> + Emerging from a wilderness of rocks and bushes, General Feraud and his + seconds discovered General D’Hubert engaged in peeling the orange. They + stood still, waiting till he looked up. Then the seconds raised their + hats, while General Feraud, putting his hands behind his back, walked + aside a little way. + </p> + <p> + “I am compelled to ask one of you, messieurs, to act for me. I have + brought no friends. Will you?” + </p> + <p> + The one-eyed cuirassier said judicially, “That cannot be refused.” + </p> + <p> + The other veteran remarked, “It’s awkward all the same.” + </p> + <p> + “Owing to the state of the people’s minds in this part of the country + there was no one I could trust safely with the object of your presence + here,” explained General D’Hubert, urbanely. + </p> + <p> + They saluted, looked round, and remarked both together: + </p> + <p> + “Poor ground.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s unfit.” + </p> + <p> + “Why bother about ground, measurements, and so on? Let us simplify + matters. Load the two pairs of pistols. I will take those of General + Feraud, and let him take mine. Or, better still, let us take a mixed pair. + One of each pair. Then let us go into the wood and shoot at sight, while + you remain outside. We did not come here for ceremonies, but for war—war + to the death. Any ground is good enough for that. If I fall, you must + leave me where I lie and clear out. It wouldn’t be healthy for you to be + found hanging about here after that.” + </p> + <p> + It appeared after a short parley that General Feraud was willing to accept + these conditions. While the seconds were loading the pistols, he could be + heard whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with perfect contentment. + He flung off his coat briskly, and General D ‘Hubert took off his own and + folded it carefully on a stone. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose you take your principal to the other side of the wood and let him + enter exactly in ten minutes from now,” suggested General D’Hubert, + calmly, but feeling as if he were giving directions for his own execution. + This, however, was his last moment of weakness. “Wait. Let us compare + watches first.” + </p> + <p> + He pulled out his own. The officer with the chipped nose went over to + borrow the watch of General Feraud. They bent their heads over them for a + time. + </p> + <p> + “That’s it. At four minutes to six by yours. Seven to by mine.” + </p> + <p> + It was the cuirassier who remained by the side of General D’Hubert, + keeping his one eye fixed immovably on the white face of the watch he held + in the palm of his hand. He opened his mouth, waiting for the beat of the + last second long before he snapped out the word, “Avancez.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert moved on, passing from the glaring sunshine of the + Provencal morning into the cool and aromatic shade of the pines. The + ground was clear between the reddish trunks, whose multitude, leaning at + slightly different angles, confused his eye at first. It was like going + into battle. The commanding quality of confidence in himself woke up in + his breast. He was all to his affair. The problem was how to kill the + adversary. Nothing short of that would free him from this imbecile + nightmare. “It’s no use wounding that brute,” thought General D’Hubert. He + was known as a resourceful officer. His comrades years ago used also to + call him The Strategist. And it was a fact that he could think in the + presence of the enemy. Whereas Feraud had been always a mere fighter—but + a dead shot, unluckily. + </p> + <p> + “I must draw his fire at the greatest possible range,” said General + D’Hubert to himself. + </p> + <p> + At that moment he saw something white moving far off between the trees—the + shirt of his adversary. He stepped out at once between the trunks, + exposing himself freely; then, quick as lightning, leaped back. It had + been a risky move but it succeeded in its object. Almost simultaneously + with the pop of a shot a small piece of bark chipped off by the bullet + stung his ear painfully. + </p> + <p> + General Feraud, with one shot expended, was getting cautious. Peeping + round the tree, General D’Hubert could not see him at all. This ignorance + of the foe’s whereabouts carried with it a sense of insecurity. General + D’Hubert felt himself abominably exposed on his flank and rear. Again + something white fluttered in his sight. Ha! The enemy was still on his + front, then. He had feared a turning movement. But apparently General + Feraud was not thinking of it. General D’Hubert saw him pass without + special haste from one tree to another in the straight line of approach. + With great firmness of mind General D’Hubert stayed his hand. Too far yet. + He knew he was no marksman. His must be a waiting game—to kill. + </p> + <p> + Wishing to take advantage of the greater thickness of the trunk, he sank + down to the ground. Extended at full length, head on to his enemy, he had + his person completely protected. Exposing himself would not do now, + because the other was too near by this time. A conviction that Feraud + would presently do something rash was like balm to General D’Hubert’s + soul. But to keep his chin raised off the ground was irksome, and not much + use either. He peeped round, exposing a fraction of his head with dread, + but really with little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact, did not + expect to see anything of him so far down as that. General D’Hubert caught + a fleeting view of General Feraud shifting trees again with deliberate + caution. “He despises my shooting,” he thought, displaying that insight + into the mind of his antagonist which is of such great help in winning + battles. He was confirmed in his tactics of immobility. “If I could only + watch my rear as well as my front!” he thought anxiously, longing for the + impossible. + </p> + <p> + It required some force of character to lay his pistols down; but, on a + sudden impulse, General D’Hubert did this very gently—one on each + side of him. In the army he had been looked upon as a bit of a dandy + because he used to shave and put on a clean shirt on the days of battle. + As a matter of fact, he had always been very careful of his personal + appearance. In a man of nearly forty, in love with a young and charming + girl, this praiseworthy self-respect may run to such little weaknesses as, + for instance, being provided with an elegant little leather folding-case + containing a small ivory comb, and fitted with a piece of looking-glass on + the outside. General D’Hubert, his hands being free, felt in his breeches’ + pockets for that implement of innocent vanity excusable in the possessor + of long, silky moustaches. He drew it out, and then with the utmost + coolness and promptitude turned himself over on his back. In this new + attitude, his head a little raised, holding the little looking-glass just + clear of his tree, he squinted into it with his left eye, while the right + kept a direct watch on the rear of his position. Thus was proved + Napoleon’s saying, that “for a French soldier, the word impossible does + not exist.” He had the right tree nearly filling the field of his little + mirror. + </p> + <p> + “If he moves from behind it,” he reflected with satisfaction, “I am bound + to see his legs. But in any case he can’t come upon me unawares.” + </p> + <p> + And sure enough he saw the boots of General Feraud flash in and out, + eclipsing for an instant everything else reflected in the little mirror. + He shifted its position accordingly. But having to form his judgment of + the change from that indirect view he did not realize that now his feet + and a portion of his legs were in plain sight of General Feraud. + </p> + <p> + General Feraud had been getting gradually impressed by the amazing + cleverness with which his enemy was keeping cover. He had spotted the + right tree with bloodthirsty precision. He was absolutely certain of it. + And yet he had not been able to glimpse as much as the tip of an ear. As + he had been looking for it at the height of about five feet ten inches + from the ground it was no great wonder—but it seemed very wonderful + to General Feraud. + </p> + <p> + The first view of these feet and legs determined a rush of blood to his + head. He literally staggered behind his tree, and had to steady himself + against it with his hand. The other was lying on the ground, then! On the + ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed! What could it mean? . . . The + notion that he had knocked over his adversary at the first shot entered + then General Feraud’s head. Once there it grew with every second of + attentive gazing, overshadowing every other supposition—irresistible, + triumphant, ferocious. + </p> + <p> + “What an ass I was to think I could have missed him,” he muttered to + himself. “He was exposed en plein—the fool!—for quite a couple + of seconds.” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud gazed at the motionless limbs, the last vestiges of + surprise fading before an unbounded admiration of his own deadly skill + with the pistol. + </p> + <p> + “Turned up his toes! By the god of war, that was a shot!” he exulted + mentally. “Got it through the head, no doubt, just where I aimed, + staggered behind that tree, rolled over on his back, and died.” + </p> + <p> + And he stared! He stared, forgetting to move, almost awed, almost sorry. + But for nothing in the world would he have had it undone. Such a shot!—such + a shot! Rolled over on his back and died! + </p> + <p> + For it was this helpless position, lying on the back, that shouted its + direct evidence at General Feraud! It never occurred to him that it might + have been deliberately assumed by a living man. It was inconceivable. It + was beyond the range of sane supposition. There was no possibility to + guess the reason for it. And it must be said, too, that General D’Hubert’s + turned-up feet looked thoroughly dead. General Feraud expanded his lungs + for a stentorian shout to his seconds, but, from what he felt to be an + excessive scrupulousness, refrained for a while. + </p> + <p> + “I will just go and see first whether he breathes yet,” he mumbled to + himself, leaving carelessly the shelter of his tree. This move was + immediately perceived by the resourceful General D’Hubert. He concluded it + to be another shift, but when he lost the boots out of the field of the + mirror he became uneasy. General Feraud had only stepped a little out of + the line, but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him walking + up with perfect unconcern. General D’Hubert, beginning to wonder at what + had become of the other, was taken unawares so completely that the first + warning of danger consisted in the long, early-morning shadow of his enemy + falling aslant on his outstretched legs. He had not even heard a footfall + on the soft ground between the trees! + </p> + <p> + It was too much even for his coolness. He jumped up thoughtlessly, leaving + the pistols on the ground. The irresistible instinct of an average man + (unless totally paralyzed by discomfiture) would have been to stoop for + his weapons, exposing himself to the risk of being shot down in that + position. Instinct, of course, is irreflective. It is its very definition. + But it may be an inquiry worth pursuing whether in reflective mankind the + mechanical promptings of instinct are not affected by the customary mode + of thought. In his young days, Armand D’Hubert, the reflective, promising + officer, had emitted the opinion that in warfare one should “never cast + back on the lines of a mistake.” This idea, defended and developed in many + discussions, had settled into one of the stock notions of his brain, had + become a part of his mental individuality. Whether it had gone so + inconceivably deep as to affect the dictates of his instinct, or simply + because, as he himself declared afterwards, he was “too scared to remember + the confounded pistols,” the fact is that General D’Hubert never attempted + to stoop for them. Instead of going back on his mistake, he seized the + rough trunk with both hands, and swung himself behind it with such + impetuosity that, going right round in the very flash and report of the + pistol-shot, he reappeared on the other side of the tree face to face with + General Feraud. This last, completely unstrung by such a show of agility + on the part of a dead man, was trembling yet. A very faint mist of smoke + hung before his face which had an extraordinary aspect, as if the lower + jaw had come unhinged. + </p> + <p> + “Not missed!” he croaked, hoarsely, from the depths of a dry throat. + </p> + <p> + This sinister sound loosened the spell that had fallen on General + D’Hubert’s senses. “Yes, missed—a bout portant,” he heard himself + saying, almost before he had recovered the full command of his faculties. + The revulsion of feeling was accompanied by a gust of homicidal fury, + resuming in its violence the accumulated resentment of a lifetime. For + years General D ‘Hubert had been exasperated and humiliated by an + atrocious absurdity imposed upon him by this man’s savage caprice. + Besides, General D’Hubert had been in this last instance too unwilling to + confront death for the reaction of his anguish not to take the shape of a + desire to kill. “And I have my two shots to fire yet,” he added, + pitilessly. + </p> + <p> + General Feraud snapped-to his teeth, and his face assumed an irate, + undaunted expression. “Go on!” he said, grimly. + </p> + <p> + These would have been his last words if General D’Hubert had been holding + the pistols in his hands. But the pistols were lying on the ground at the + foot of a pine. General D’Hubert had the second of leisure necessary to + remember that he had dreaded death not as a man, but as a lover; not as a + danger, but as a rival; not as a foe to life, but as an obstacle to + marriage. And behold! there was the rival defeated!—utterly + defeated, crushed, done for! + </p> + <p> + He picked up the weapons mechanically, and, instead of firing them into + General Feraud’s breast, he gave expression to the thoughts uppermost in + his mind, “You will fight no more duels now.” + </p> + <p> + His tone of leisurely, ineffable satisfaction was too much for General + Feraud’s stoicism. “Don’t dawdle, then, damn you for a cold-blooded + staff-coxcomb!” he roared out, suddenly, out of an impassive face held + erect on a rigidly still body. + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert uncocked the pistols carefully. This proceeding was + observed with mixed feelings by the other general. “You missed me twice,” + the victor said, coolly, shifting both pistols to one hand; “the last time + within a foot or so. By every rule of single combat your life belongs to + me. That does not mean that I want to take it now.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no use for your forbearance,” muttered General Feraud, gloomily. + </p> + <p> + “Allow me to point out that this is no concern of mine,” said General + D’Hubert, whose every word was dictated by a consummate delicacy of + feeling. In anger he could have killed that man, but in cold blood he + recoiled from humiliating by a show of generosity this unreasonable being—a + fellow-soldier of the Grande Armee, a companion in the wonders and terrors + of the great military epic. “You don’t set up the pretension of dictating + to me what I am to do with what’s my own.” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud looked startled, and the other continued, “You’ve forced me + on a point of honour to keep my life at your disposal, as it were, for + fifteen years. Very well. Now that the matter is decided to my advantage, + I am going to do what I like with your life on the same principle. You + shall keep it at my disposal as long as I choose. Neither more nor less. + You are on your honour till I say the word.” + </p> + <p> + “I am! But, sacrebleu! This is an absurd position for a General of the + Empire to be placed in!” cried General Feraud, in accents of profound and + dismayed conviction. “It amounts to sitting all the rest of my life with a + loaded pistol in a drawer waiting for your word. It’s—it’s idiotic; + I shall be an object of—of—derision.” + </p> + <p> + “Absurd?—idiotic? Do you think so?” queried General D’Hubert with + sly gravity. “Perhaps. But I don’t see how that can be helped. However, I + am not likely to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need ever know + anything about it. Just as no one to this day, I believe, knows the origin + of our quarrel. . . . Not a word more,” he added, hastily. “I can’t really + discuss this question with a man who, as far as I am concerned, does not + exist.” + </p> + <p> + When the two duellists came out into the open, General Feraud walking a + little behind, and rather with the air of walking in a trance, the two + seconds hurried towards them, each from his station at the edge of the + wood. General D’Hubert addressed them, speaking loud and distinctly, + “Messieurs, I make it a point of declaring to you solemnly, in the + presence of General Feraud, that our difference is at last settled for + good. You may inform all the world of that fact.” + </p> + <p> + “A reconciliation, after all!” they exclaimed together. + </p> + <p> + “Reconciliation? Not that exactly. It is something much more binding. Is + it not so, General?” + </p> + <p> + General Feraud only lowered his head in sign of assent. The two veterans + looked at each other. Later in the day, when they found themselves alone + out of their moody friend’s earshot, the cuirassier remarked suddenly, + “Generally speaking, I can see with my one eye as far as most people; but + this beats me. He won’t say anything.” + </p> + <p> + “In this affair of honour I understand there has been from first to last + always something that no one in the army could quite make out,” declared + the chasseur with the imperfect nose. “In mystery it began, in mystery it + went on, in mystery it is to end, apparently.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert walked home with long, hasty strides, by no means + uplifted by a sense of triumph. He had conquered, yet it did not seem to + him that he had gained very much by his conquest. The night before he had + grudged the risk of his life which appeared to him magnificent, worthy of + preservation as an opportunity to win a girl’s love. He had known moments + when, by a marvellous illusion, this love seemed to be already his, and + his threatened life a still more magnificent opportunity of devotion. Now + that his life was safe it had suddenly lost its special magnificence. It + had acquired instead a specially alarming aspect as a snare for the + exposure of unworthiness. As to the marvellous illusion of conquered love + that had visited him for a moment in the agitated watches of the night, + which might have been his last on earth, he comprehended now its true + nature. It had been merely a paroxysm of delirious conceit. Thus to this + man, sobered by the victorious issue of a duel, life appeared robbed of + its charm, simply because it was no longer menaced. + </p> + <p> + Approaching the house from the back, through the orchard and the kitchen + garden, he could not notice the agitation which reigned in front. He never + met a single soul. Only while walking softly along the corridor, he became + aware that the house was awake and more noisy than usual. Names of + servants were being called out down below in a confused noise of coming + and going. With some concern he noticed that the door of his own room + stood ajar, though the shutters had not been opened yet. He had hoped that + his early excursion would have passed unperceived. He expected to find + some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering through the usual + cracks enabled him to see lying on the low divan something bulky, which + had the appearance of two women clasped in each other’s arms. Tearful and + desolate murmurs issued mysteriously from that appearance. General + D’Hubert pulled open the nearest pair of shutters violently. One of the + women then jumped up. It was his sister. She stood for a moment with her + hair hanging down and her arms raised straight up above her head, and then + flung herself with a stifled cry into his arms. He returned her embrace, + trying at the same time to disengage himself from it. The other woman had + not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to cling closer to the divan, + hiding her face in the cushions. Her hair was also loose; it was admirably + fair. General D’Hubert recognized it with staggering emotion. Mademoiselle + de Valmassigue! Adele! In distress! + </p> + <p> + He became greatly alarmed, and got rid of his sister’s hug definitely. + Madame Leonie then extended her shapely bare arm out of her peignoir, + pointing dramatically at the divan. “This poor, terrified child has rushed + here from home, on foot, two miles—running all the way.” + </p> + <p> + “What on earth has happened?” asked General D’Hubert in a low, agitated + voice. + </p> + <p> + But Madame Leonie was speaking loudly. “She rang the great bell at the + gate and roused all the household—we were all asleep yet. You may + imagine what a terrible shock. . . . Adele, my dear child, sit up.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert’s expression was not that of a man who “imagines” with + facility. He did, however, fish out of the chaos of surmises the notion + that his prospective mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only to dismiss + it at once. He could not conceive the nature of the event or the + catastrophe which would induce Mademoiselle de Valmassigue, living in a + house full of servants, to bring the news over the fields herself, two + miles, running all the way. + </p> + <p> + “But why are you in this room?” he whispered, full of awe. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I ran up to see, and this child . . . I did not notice it . . + . she followed me. It’s that absurd Chevalier,” went on Madame Leonie, + looking towards the divan. . . . “Her hair is all come down. You may + imagine she did not stop to call her maid to dress it before she started. + . . Adele, my dear, sit up. . . . He blurted it all out to her at + half-past five in the morning. She woke up early and opened her shutters + to breathe the fresh air, and saw him sitting collapsed on a garden bench + at the end of the great alley. At that hour—you may imagine! And the + evening before he had declared himself indisposed. She hurried on some + clothes and flew down to him. One would be anxious for less. He loves her, + but not very intelligently. He had been up all night, fully dressed, the + poor old man, perfectly exhausted. He wasn’t in a state to invent a + plausible story. . . . What a confidant you chose there! My husband was + furious. He said, ‘We can’t interfere now.’ So we sat down to wait. It was + awful. And this poor child running with her hair loose over here publicly! + She has been seen by some people in the fields. She has roused the whole + household, too. It’s awkward for her. Luckily you are to be married next + week. . . . Adele, sit up. He has come home on his own legs. . . . We + expected to see you coming on a stretcher, perhaps—what do I know? + Go and see if the carriage is ready. I must take this child home at once. + It isn’t proper for her to stay here a minute longer.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert did not move. It was as though he had heard nothing. + Madame Leonie changed her mind. “I will go and see myself,” she cried. “I + want also my cloak.—Adele—” she began, but did not add “sit + up.” She went out saying, in a very loud and cheerful tone: “I leave the + door open.” + </p> + <p> + General D’Hubert made a movement towards the divan, but then Adele sat up, + and that checked him dead. He thought, “I haven’t washed this morning. I + must look like an old tramp. There’s earth on the back of my coat and + pine-needles in my hair.” It occurred to him that the situation required a + good deal of circumspection on his part. + </p> + <p> + “I am greatly concerned, mademoiselle,” he began, vaguely, and abandoned + that line. She was sitting up on the divan with her cheeks unusually pink + and her hair, brilliantly fair, falling all over her shoulders—which + was a very novel sight to the general. He walked away up the room, and + looking out of the window for safety said, “I fear you must think I + behaved like a madman,” in accents of sincere despair. Then he spun round, + and noticed that she had followed him with her eyes. They were not cast + down on meeting his glance. And the expression of her face was novel to + him also. It was, one might have said, reversed. Those eyes looked at him + with grave thoughtfulness, while the exquisite lines of her mouth seemed + to suggest a restrained smile. This change made her transcendental beauty + much less mysterious, much more accessible to a man’s comprehension. An + amazing ease of mind came to the general—and even some ease of + manner. He walked down the room with as much pleasurable excitement as he + would have found in walking up to a battery vomiting death, fire, and + smoke; then stood looking down with smiling eyes at the girl whose + marriage with him (next week) had been so carefully arranged by the wise, + the good, the admirable Leonie. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! mademoiselle,” he said, in a tone of courtly regret, “if only I could + be certain that you did not come here this morning, two miles, running all + the way, merely from affection for your mother!” + </p> + <p> + He waited for an answer imperturbable but inwardly elated. It came in a + demure murmur, eyelashes lowered with fascinating effect. “You must not be + mechant as well as mad.” + </p> + <p> + And then General D’Hubert made an aggressive movement towards the divan + which nothing could check. That piece of furniture was not exactly in the + line of the open door. But Madame Leonie, coming back wrapped up in a + light cloak and carrying a lace shawl on her arm for Adele to hide her + incriminating hair under, had a swift impression of her brother getting up + from his knees. + </p> + <p> + “Come along, my dear child,” she cried from the doorway. + </p> + <p> + The general, now himself again in the fullest sense, showed the readiness + of a resourceful cavalry officer and the peremptoriness of a leader of + men. “You don’t expect her to walk to the carriage,” he said, indignantly. + “She isn’t fit. I shall carry her downstairs.” + </p> + <p> + This he did slowly, followed by his awed and respectful sister; but he + rushed back like a whirlwind to wash off all the signs of the night of + anguish and the morning of war, and to put on the festive garments of a + conqueror before hurrying over to the other house. Had it not been for + that, General D ‘Hubert felt capable of mounting a horse and pursuing his + late adversary in order simply to embrace him from excess of happiness. “I + owe it all to this stupid brute,” he thought. “He has made plain in a + morning what might have taken me years to find out—for I am a timid + fool. No self-confidence whatever. Perfect coward. And the Chevalier! + Delightful old man!” General D’Hubert longed to embrace him also. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier was in bed. For several days he was very unwell. The men of + the Empire and the post-revolution young ladies were too much for him. He + got up the day before the wedding, and, being curious by nature, took his + niece aside for a quiet talk. He advised her to find out from her husband + the true story of the affair of honour, whose claim, so imperative and so + persistent, had led her to within an ace of tragedy. “It is right that his + wife should be told. And next month or so will be your time to learn from + him anything you want to know, my dear child.” + </p> + <p> + Later on, when the married couple came on a visit to the mother of the + bride, Madame la Generale D’Hubert communicated to her beloved old uncle + the true story she had obtained without any difficulty from her husband. + </p> + <p> + The Chevalier listened with deep attention to the end, took a pinch of + snuff, flicked the grains of tobacco from the frilled front of his shirt, + and asked, calmly, “And that’s all it was?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, uncle,” replied Madame la Generale, opening her pretty eyes very + wide. “Isn’t it funny? C’est insense—to think what men are capable + of!” + </p> + <p> + “H’m!” commented the old emigre. “It depends what sort of men. That + Bonaparte’s soldiers were savages. It is insense. As a wife, my dear, you + must believe implicitly what your husband says.” + </p> + <p> + But to Leonie’s husband the Chevalier confided his true opinion. “If + that’s the tale the fellow made up for his wife, and during the honeymoon, + too, you may depend on it that no one will ever know now the secret of + this affair.” + </p> + <p> + Considerably later still, General D’Hubert judged the time come, and the + opportunity propitious to write a letter to General Feraud. This letter + began by disclaiming all animosity. “I’ve never,” wrote the General Baron + D’Hubert, “wished for your death during all the time of our deplorable + quarrel. Allow me,” he continued, “to give you back in all form your + forfeited life. It is proper that we two, who have been partners in so + much military glory, should be friendly to each other publicly.” + </p> + <p> + The same letter contained also an item of domestic information. It was in + reference to this last that General Feraud answered from a little village + on the banks of the Garonne, in the following words: + </p> + <p> + “If one of your boy’s names had been Napoleon—or Joseph—or + even Joachim, I could congratulate you on the event with a better heart. + As you have thought proper to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand, + I am confirmed in my conviction that you never loved the Emperor. The + thought of that sublime hero chained to a rock in the middle of a savage + ocean makes life of so little value that I would receive with positive joy + your instructions to blow my brains out. From suicide I consider myself in + honour debarred. But I keep a loaded pistol in my drawer.” + </p> + <p> + Madame la Generale D’Hubert lifted up her hands in despair after perusing + that answer. + </p> + <p> + “You see? He won’t be reconciled,” said her husband. “He must never, by + any chance, be allowed to guess where the money comes from. It wouldn’t + do. He couldn’t bear it.” + </p> + <p> + “You are a brave homme, Armand,” said Madame la Generale, appreciatively. + </p> + <p> + “My dear, I had the right to blow his brains out; but as I didn’t, we + can’t let him starve. He has lost his pension and he is utterly incapable + of doing anything in the world for himself. We must take care of him, + secretly, to the end of his days. Don’t I owe him the most ecstatic moment + of my life? . . . Ha! ha! ha! Over the fields, two miles, running all the + way! I couldn’t believe my ears! . . . But for his stupid ferocity, it + would have taken me years to find you out. It’s extraordinary how in one + way or another this man has managed to fasten himself on my deeper + feelings.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IL CONDE + </h2> + <h3> + A PATHETIC TALE + </h3> + <p> + “<i>Vedi Napoli e poi mori</i>.” + </p> + <p> + The first time we got into conversation was in the National Museum in + Naples, in the rooms on the ground floor containing the famous collection + of bronzes from Herculaneum and Pompeii: that marvellous legacy of antique + art whose delicate perfection has been preserved for us by the + catastrophic fury of a volcano. + </p> + <p> + He addressed me first, over the celebrated Resting Hermes which we had + been looking at side by side. He said the right things about that wholly + admirable piece. Nothing profound. His taste was natural rather than + cultivated. He had obviously seen many fine things in his life and + appreciated them: but he had no jargon of a dilettante or the connoisseur. + A hateful tribe. He spoke like a fairly intelligent man of the world, a + perfectly unaffected gentleman. + </p> + <p> + We had known each other by sight for some few days past. Staying in the + same hotel—good, but not extravagantly up to date—I had + noticed him in the vestibule going in and out. I judged he was an old and + valued client. The bow of the hotel-keeper was cordial in its deference, + and he acknowledged it with familiar courtesy. For the servants he was Il + Conde. There was some squabble over a man’s parasol—yellow silk with + white lining sort of thing—the waiters had discovered abandoned + outside the dining-room door. Our gold-laced door-keeper recognized it and + I heard him directing one of the lift boys to run after Il Conde with it. + Perhaps he was the only Count staying in the hotel, or perhaps he had the + distinction of being the Count par excellence, conferred upon him because + of his tried fidelity to the house. + </p> + <p> + Having conversed at the Museo—(and by the by he had expressed his + dislike of the busts and statues of Roman emperors in the gallery of + marbles: their faces were too vigorous, too pronounced for him)—having + conversed already in the morning I did not think I was intruding when in + the evening, finding the dining-room very full, I proposed to share his + little table. Judging by the quiet urbanity of his consent he did not + think so either. His smile was very attractive. + </p> + <p> + He dined in an evening waistcoat and a “smoking” (he called it so) with a + black tie. All this of very good cut, not new—just as these things + should be. He was, morning or evening, very correct in his dress. I have + no doubt that his whole existence had been correct, well ordered and + conventional, undisturbed by startling events. His white hair brushed + upwards off a lofty forehead gave him the air of an idealist, of an + imaginative man. His white moustache, heavy but carefully trimmed and + arranged, was not unpleasantly tinted a golden yellow in the middle. The + faint scent of some very good perfume, and of good cigars (that last an + odour quite remarkable to come upon in Italy) reached me across the table. + It was in his eyes that his age showed most. They were a little weary with + creased eyelids. He must have been sixty or a couple of years more. And he + was communicative. I would not go so far as to call it garrulous—but + distinctly communicative. + </p> + <p> + He had tried various climates, of Abbazia, of the Riviera, of other + places, too, he told me, but the only one which suited him was the climate + of the Gulf of Naples. The ancient Romans, who, he pointed out to me, were + men expert in the art of living, knew very well what they were doing when + they built their villas on these shores, in Baiae, in Vico, in Capri. They + came down to this seaside in search of health, bringing with them their + trains of mimes and flute-players to amuse their leisure. He thought it + extremely probable that the Romans of the higher classes were specially + predisposed to painful rheumatic affections. + </p> + <p> + This was the only personal opinion I heard him express. It was based on no + special erudition. He knew no more of the Romans than an average informed + man of the world is expected to know. He argued from personal experience. + He had suffered himself from a painful and dangerous rheumatic affection + till he found relief in this particular spot of Southern Europe. + </p> + <p> + This was three years ago, and ever since he had taken up his quarters on + the shores of the gulf, either in one of the hotels in Sorrento or hiring + a small villa in Capri. He had a piano, a few books: picked up transient + acquaintances of a day, week, or month in the stream of travellers from + all Europe. One can imagine him going out for his walks in the streets and + lanes, becoming known to beggars, shopkeepers, children, country people; + talking amiably over the walls to the contadini—and coming back to + his rooms or his villa to sit before the piano, with his white hair + brushed up and his thick orderly moustache, “to make a little music for + myself.” And, of course, for a change there was Naples near by—life, + movement, animation, opera. A little amusement, as he said, is necessary + for health. Mimes and flute-players, in fact. Only unlike the magnates of + ancient Rome, he had no affairs of the city to call him away from these + moderate delights. He had no affairs at all. Probably he had never had any + grave affairs to attend to in his life. It was a kindly existence, with + its joys and sorrows regulated by the course of Nature—marriages, + births, deaths—ruled by the prescribed usages of good society and + protected by the State. + </p> + <p> + He was a widower; but in the months of July and August he ventured to + cross the Alps for six weeks on a visit to his married daughter. He told + me her name. It was that of a very aristocratic family. She had a castle—in + Bohemia, I think. This is as near as I ever came to ascertaining his + nationality. His own name, strangely enough, he never mentioned. Perhaps + he thought I had seen it on the published list. Truth to say, I never + looked. At any rate, he was a good European—he spoke four languages + to my certain knowledge—and a man of fortune. Not of great fortune + evidently and appropriately. I imagine that to be extremely rich would + have appeared to him improper, outre—too blatant altogether. And + obviously, too, the fortune was not of his making. The making of a fortune + cannot be achieved without some roughness. It is a matter of temperament. + His nature was too kindly for strife. In the course of conversation he + mentioned his estate quite by the way, in reference to that painful and + alarming rheumatic affection. One year, staying incautiously beyond the + Alps as late as the middle of September, he had been laid up for three + months in that lonely country house with no one but his valet and the + caretaking couple to attend to him. Because, as he expressed it, he “kept + no establishment there.” He had only gone for a couple of days to confer + with his land agent. He promised himself never to be so imprudent in the + future. The first weeks of September would find him on the shores of his + beloved gulf. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes in travelling one comes upon such lonely men, whose only + business is to wait for the unavoidable. Deaths and marriages have made a + solitude round them, and one really cannot blame their endeavours to make + the waiting as easy as possible. As he remarked to me, “At my time of life + freedom from physical pain is a very important matter.” + </p> + <p> + It must not be imagined that he was a wearisome hypochondriac. He was + really much too well-bred to be a nuisance. He had an eye for the small + weaknesses of humanity. But it was a good-natured eye. He made a restful, + easy, pleasant companion for the hours between dinner and bedtime. We + spent three evenings together, and then I had to leave Naples in a hurry + to look after a friend who had fallen seriously ill in Taormina. Having + nothing to do, Il Conde came to see me off at the station. I was somewhat + upset, and his idleness was always ready to take a kindly form. He was by + no means an indolent man. + </p> + <p> + He went along the train peering into the carriages for a good seat for me, + and then remained talking cheerily from below. He declared he would miss + me that evening very much and announced his intention of going after + dinner to listen to the band in the public garden, the Villa Nazionale. He + would amuse himself by hearing excellent music and looking at the best + society. There would be a lot of people, as usual. + </p> + <p> + I seem to see him yet—his raised face with a friendly smile under + the thick moustaches, and his kind, fatigued eyes. As the train began to + move, he addressed me in two languages: first in French, saying, “Bon + voyage”; then, in his very good, somewhat emphatic English, encouragingly, + because he could see my concern: “All will—be—well—yet!” + </p> + <p> + My friend’s illness having taken a decidedly favourable turn, I returned + to Naples on the tenth day. I cannot say I had given much thought to Il + Conde during my absence, but entering the dining-room I looked for him in + his habitual place. I had an idea he might have gone back to Sorrento to + his piano and his books and his fishing. He was great friends with all the + boatmen, and fished a good deal with lines from a boat. But I made out his + white head in the crowd of heads, and even from a distance noticed + something unusual in his attitude. Instead of sitting erect, gazing all + round with alert urbanity, he drooped over his plate. I stood opposite him + for some time before he looked up, a little wildly, if such a strong word + can be used in connection with his correct appearance. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, my dear sir! Is it you?” he greeted me. “I hope all is well.” + </p> + <p> + He was very nice about my friend. Indeed, he was always nice, with the + niceness of people whose hearts are genuinely humane. But this time it + cost him an effort. His attempts at general conversation broke down into + dullness. It occurred to me he might have been indisposed. But before I + could frame the inquiry he muttered: + </p> + <p> + “You find me here very sad.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sorry for that,” I said. “You haven’t had bad news, I hope?” + </p> + <p> + It was very kind of me to take an interest. No. It was not that. No bad + news, thank God. And he became very still as if holding his breath. Then, + leaning forward a little, and in an odd tone of awed embarrassment, he + took me into his confidence. + </p> + <p> + “The truth is that I have had a very—a very—how shall I say?—abominable + adventure happen to me.” + </p> + <p> + The energy of the epithet was sufficiently startling in that man of + moderate feelings and toned-down vocabulary. The word unpleasant I should + have thought would have fitted amply the worst experience likely to befall + a man of his stamp. And an adventure, too. Incredible! But it is in human + nature to believe the worst; and I confess I eyed him stealthily, + wondering what he had been up to. In a moment, however, my unworthy + suspicions vanished. There was a fundamental refinement of nature about + the man which made me dismiss all idea of some more or less disreputable + scrape. + </p> + <p> + “It is very serious. Very serious.” He went on, nervously. “I will tell + you after dinner, if you will allow me.” + </p> + <p> + I expressed my perfect acquiescence by a little bow, nothing more. I + wished him to understand that I was not likely to hold him to that offer, + if he thought better of it later on. We talked of indifferent things, but + with a sense of difficulty quite unlike our former easy, gossipy + intercourse. The hand raising a piece of bread to his lips, I noticed, + trembled slightly. This symptom, in regard to my reading of the man, was + no less than startling. + </p> + <p> + In the smoking-room he did not hang back at all. Directly we had taken our + usual seats he leaned sideways over the arm of his chair and looked + straight into my eyes earnestly. + </p> + <p> + “You remember,” he began, “that day you went away? I told you then I would + go to the Villa Nazionale to hear some music in the evening.” + </p> + <p> + I remembered. His handsome old face, so fresh for his age, unmarked by any + trying experience, appeared haggard for an instant. It was like the + passing of a shadow. Returning his steadfast gaze, I took a sip of my + black coffee. He was systematically minute in his narrative, simply in + order, I think, not to let his excitement get the better of him. + </p> + <p> + After leaving the railway station, he had an ice, and read the paper in a + cafe. Then he went back to the hotel, dressed for dinner, and dined with a + good appetite. After dinner he lingered in the hall (there were chairs and + tables there) smoking his cigar; talked to the little girl of the Primo + Tenore of the San Carlo theatre, and exchanged a few words with that + “amiable lady,” the wife of the Primo Tenore. There was no performance + that evening, and these people were going to the Villa also. They went out + of the hotel. Very well. + </p> + <p> + At the moment of following their example—it was half-past nine + already—he remembered he had a rather large sum of money in his + pocket-book. He entered, therefore, the office and deposited the greater + part of it with the book-keeper of the hotel. This done, he took a + carozella and drove to the seashore. He got out of the cab and entered the + Villa on foot from the Largo di Vittoria end. + </p> + <p> + He stared at me very hard. And I understood then how really impressionable + he was. Every small fact and event of that evening stood out in his memory + as if endowed with mystic significance. If he did not mention to me the + colour of the pony which drew the carozella, and the aspect of the man who + drove, it was a mere oversight arising from his agitation, which he + repressed manfully. + </p> + <p> + He had then entered the Villa Nazionale from the Largo di Vittoria end. + The Villa Nazionale is a public pleasure-ground laid out in grass plots, + bushes, and flower-beds between the houses of the Riviera di Chiaja and + the waters of the bay. Alleys of trees, more or less parallel, stretch its + whole length—which is considerable. On the Riviera di Chiaja side + the electric tramcars run close to the railings. Between the garden and + the sea is the fashionable drive, a broad road bordered by a low wall, + beyond which the Mediterranean splashes with gentle murmurs when the + weather is fine. + </p> + <p> + As life goes on late at night in Naples, the broad drive was all astir + with a brilliant swarm of carriage lamps moving in pairs, some creeping + slowly, others running rapidly under the thin, motionless line of electric + lamps defining the shore. And a brilliant swarm of stars hung above the + land humming with voices, piled up with houses, glittering with lights—and + over the silent flat shadows of the sea. + </p> + <p> + The gardens themselves are not very well lit. Our friend went forward in + the warm gloom, his eyes fixed upon a distant luminous region extending + nearly across the whole width of the Villa, as if the air had glowed there + with its own cold, bluish, and dazzling light. This magic spot, behind the + black trunks of trees and masses of inky foliage, breathed out sweet + sounds mingled with bursts of brassy roar, sudden clashes of metal, and + grave, vibrating thuds. + </p> + <p> + As he walked on, all these noises combined together into a piece of + elaborate music whose harmonious phrases came persuasively through a great + disorderly murmur of voices and shuffling of feet on the gravel of that + open space. An enormous crowd immersed in the electric light, as if in a + bath of some radiant and tenuous fluid shed upon their heads by luminous + globes, drifted in its hundreds round the band. Hundreds more sat on + chairs in more or less concentric circles, receiving unflinchingly the + great waves of sonority that ebbed out into the darkness. The Count + penetrated the throng, drifted with it in tranquil enjoyment, listening + and looking at the faces. All people of good society: mothers with their + daughters, parents and children, young men and young women all talking, + smiling, nodding to each other. Very many pretty faces, and very many + pretty toilettes. There was, of course, a quantity of diverse types: showy + old fellows with white moustaches, fat men, thin men, officers in uniform; + but what predominated, he told me, was the South Italian type of young + man, with a colourless, clear complexion, red lips, jet-black little + moustache and liquid black eyes so wonderfully effective in leering or + scowling. + </p> + <p> + Withdrawing from the throng, the Count shared a little table in front of + the cafe with a young man of just such a type. Our friend had some + lemonade. The young man was sitting moodily before an empty glass. He + looked up once, and then looked down again. He also tilted his hat + forward. Like this— + </p> + <p> + The Count made the gesture of a man pulling his hat down over his brow, + and went on: + </p> + <p> + “I think to myself: he is sad; something is wrong with him; young men have + their troubles. I take no notice of him, of course. I pay for my lemonade, + and go away.” + </p> + <p> + Strolling about in the neighbourhood of the band, the Count thinks he saw + twice that young man wandering alone in the crowd. Once their eyes met. It + must have been the same young man, but there were so many there of that + type that he could not be certain. Moreover, he was not very much + concerned except in so far that he had been struck by the marked, peevish + discontent of that face. + </p> + <p> + Presently, tired of the feeling of confinement one experiences in a crowd, + the Count edged away from the band. An alley, very sombre by contrast, + presented itself invitingly with its promise of solitude and coolness. He + entered it, walking slowly on till the sound of the orchestra became + distinctly deadened. Then he walked back and turned about once more. He + did this several times before he noticed that there was somebody occupying + one of the benches. + </p> + <p> + The spot being midway between two lamp-posts the light was faint. + </p> + <p> + The man lolled back in the corner of the seat, his legs stretched out, his + arms folded and his head drooping on his breast. He never stirred, as + though he had fallen asleep there, but when the Count passed by next time + he had changed his attitude. He sat leaning forward. His elbows were + propped on his knees, and his hands were rolling a cigarette. He never + looked up from that occupation. + </p> + <p> + The Count continued his stroll away from the band. He returned slowly, he + said. I can imagine him enjoying to the full, but with his usual + tranquillity, the balminess of this southern night and the sounds of music + softened delightfully by the distance. + </p> + <p> + Presently, he approached for the third time the man on the garden seat, + still leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. It was a dejected + pose. In the semi-obscurity of the alley his high shirt collar and his + cuffs made small patches of vivid whiteness. The Count said that he had + noticed him getting up brusquely as if to walk away, but almost before he + was aware of it the man stood before him asking in a low, gentle tone + whether the signore would have the kindness to oblige him with a light. + </p> + <p> + The Count answered this request by a polite “Certainly,” and dropped his + hands with the intention of exploring both pockets of his trousers for the + matches. + </p> + <p> + “I dropped my hands,” he said, “but I never put them in my pockets. I felt + a pressure there—” + </p> + <p> + He put the tip of his finger on a spot close under his breastbone, the + very spot of the human body where a Japanese gentleman begins the + operations of the Harakiri, which is a form of suicide following upon + dishonour, upon an intolerable outrage to the delicacy of one’s feelings. + </p> + <p> + “I glance down,” the Count continued in an awestruck voice, “and what do I + see? A knife! A long knife—” + </p> + <p> + “You don’t mean to say,” I exclaimed, amazed, “that you have been held up + like this in the Villa at half-past ten o’clock, within a stone’s throw of + a thousand people!” + </p> + <p> + He nodded several times, staring at me with all his might. + </p> + <p> + “The clarionet,” he declared, solemnly, “was finishing his solo, and I + assure you I could hear every note. Then the band crashed fortissimo, and + that creature rolled its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me with the + greatest ferocity, ‘Be silent! No noise or—‘” + </p> + <p> + I could not get over my astonishment. + </p> + <p> + “What sort of knife was it?” I asked, stupidly. + </p> + <p> + “A long blade. A stiletto—perhaps a kitchen knife. A long narrow + blade. It gleamed. And his eyes gleamed. His white teeth, too. I could see + them. He was very ferocious. I thought to myself: ‘If I hit him he will + kill me.’ How could I fight with him? He had the knife and I had nothing. + I am nearly seventy, you know, and that was a young man. I seemed even to + recognize him. The moody young man of the cafe. The young man I met in the + crowd. But I could not tell. There are so many like him in this country.” + </p> + <p> + The distress of that moment was reflected in his face. I should think that + physically he must have been paralyzed by surprise. His thoughts, however, + remained extremely active. They ranged over every alarming possibility. + The idea of setting up a vigorous shouting for help occurred to him, too. + But he did nothing of the kind, and the reason why he refrained gave me a + good opinion of his mental self-possession. He saw in a flash that nothing + prevented the other from shouting, too. + </p> + <p> + “That young man might in an instant have thrown away his knife and + pretended I was the aggressor. Why not? He might have said I attacked him. + Why not? It was one incredible story against another! He might have said + anything—bring some dishonouring charge against me—what do I + know? By his dress he was no common robber. He seemed to belong to the + better classes. What could I say? He was an Italian—I am a + foreigner. Of course, I have my passport, and there is our consul—but + to be arrested, dragged at night to the police office like a criminal!” + </p> + <p> + He shuddered. It was in his character to shrink from scandal, much more + than from mere death. And certainly for many people this would have always + remained—considering certain peculiarities of Neapolitan manners—a + deucedly queer story. The Count was no fool. His belief in the respectable + placidity of life having received this rude shock, he thought that now + anything might happen. But also a notion came into his head that this + young man was perhaps merely an infuriated lunatic. + </p> + <p> + This was for me the first hint of his attitude towards this adventure. In + his exaggerated delicacy of sentiment he felt that nobody’s self-esteem + need be affected by what a madman may choose to do to one. It became + apparent, however, that the Count was to be denied that consolation. He + enlarged upon the abominably savage way in which that young man rolled his + glistening eyes and gnashed his white teeth. The band was going now + through a slow movement of solemn braying by all the trombones, with + deliberately repeated bangs of the big drum. + </p> + <p> + “But what did you do?” I asked, greatly excited. + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” answered the Count. “I let my hands hang down very still. I + told him quietly I did not intend making a noise. He snarled like a dog, + then said in an ordinary voice: + </p> + <p> + “‘Vostro portofolio.’” + </p> + <p> + “So I naturally,” continued the Count—and from this point acted the + whole thing in pantomime. Holding me with his eyes, he went through all + the motions of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out a + pocket-book, and handing it over. But that young man, still bearing + steadily on the knife, refused to touch it. + </p> + <p> + He directed the Count to take the money out himself, received it into his + left hand, motioned the pocketbook to be returned to the pocket, all this + being done to the sweet thrilling of flutes and clarionets sustained by + the emotional drone of the hautboys. And the “young man,” as the Count + called him, said: “This seems very little.” + </p> + <p> + “It was, indeed, only 340 or 360 lire,” the Count pursued. “I had left my + money in the hotel, as you know. I told him this was all I had on me. He + shook his head impatiently and said: + </p> + <p> + “‘Vostro orologio.’” + </p> + <p> + The Count gave me the dumb show of pulling out his watch, detaching it. + But, as it happened, the valuable gold half-chronometer he possessed had + been left at a watch-maker’s for cleaning. He wore that evening (on a + leather guard) the Waterbury fifty-franc thing he used to take with him on + his fishing expeditions. Perceiving the nature of this booty, the + well-dressed robber made a contemptuous clicking sound with his tongue + like this, “Tse-Ah!” and waved it away hastily. Then, as the Count was + returning the disdained object to his pocket, he demanded with a + threateningly increased pressure of the knife on the epigastrium, by way + of reminder: + </p> + <p> + “‘Vostri anelli.’” + </p> + <p> + “One of the rings,” went on the Count, “was given me many years ago by my + wife; the other is the signet ring of my father. I said, ‘No. That you + shall not have!’” + </p> + <p> + Here the Count reproduced the gesture corresponding to that declaration by + clapping one hand upon the other, and pressing both thus against his + chest. It was touching in its resignation. “That you shall not have,” he + repeated, firmly, and closed his eyes, fully expecting—I don’t know + whether I am right in recording that such an unpleasant word had passed + his lips—fully expecting to feel himself being—I really + hesitate to say—being disembowelled by the push of the long, sharp + blade resting murderously against the pit of his stomach—the very + seat, in all human beings, of anguishing sensations. + </p> + <p> + Great waves of harmony went on flowing from the band. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the Count felt the nightmarish pressure removed from the + sensitive spot. He opened his eyes. He was alone. He had heard nothing. It + is probable that “the young man” had departed, with light steps, some time + before, but the sense of the horrid pressure had lingered even after the + knife had gone. A feeling of weakness came over him. He had just time to + stagger to the garden seat. He felt as though he had held his breath for a + long time. He sat all in a heap, panting with the shock of the reaction. + </p> + <p> + The band was executing, with immense bravura, the complicated finale. It + ended with a tremendous crash. He heard it unreal and remote, as if his + ears had been stopped, and then the hard clapping of a thousand, more or + less, pairs of hands, like a sudden hail-shower passing away. The profound + silence which succeeded recalled him to himself. + </p> + <p> + A tramcar resembling a long glass box wherein people sat with their heads + strongly lighted, ran along swiftly within sixty yards of the spot where + he had been robbed. Then another rustled by, and yet another going the + other way. The audience about the band had broken up, and were entering + the alley in small conversing groups. The Count sat up straight and tried + to think calmly of what had happened to him. The vileness of it took his + breath away again. As far as I can make it out he was disgusted with + himself. I do not mean to say with his behaviour. Indeed, if his + pantomimic rendering of it for my information was to be trusted, it was + simply perfect. No, it was not that. He was not ashamed. He was shocked at + being the selected victim, not of robbery so much as of contempt. His + tranquillity had been wantonly desecrated. His lifelong, kindly nicety of + outlook had been defaced. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, at that stage, before the iron had time to sink deep, he was + able to argue himself into comparative equanimity. As his agitation calmed + down somewhat, he became aware that he was frightfully hungry. Yes, + hungry. The sheer emotion had made him simply ravenous. He left the seat + and, after walking for some time, found himself outside the gardens and + before an arrested tramcar, without knowing very well how he came there. + He got in as if in a dream, by a sort of instinct. Fortunately he found in + his trouser pocket a copper to satisfy the conductor. Then the car + stopped, and as everybody was getting out he got out, too. He recognized + the Piazza San Ferdinando, but apparently it did not occur to him to take + a cab and drive to the hotel. He remained in distress on the Piazza like a + lost dog, thinking vaguely of the best way of getting something to eat at + once. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he remembered his twenty-franc piece. He explained to me that he + had that piece of French gold for something like three years. He used to + carry it about with him as a sort of reserve in case of accident. Anybody + is liable to have his pocket picked—a quite different thing from a + brazen and insulting robbery. + </p> + <p> + The monumental arch of the Galleria Umberto faced him at the top of a + noble flight of stairs. He climbed these without loss of time, and + directed his steps towards the Cafe Umberto. All the tables outside were + occupied by a lot of people who were drinking. But as he wanted something + to eat, he went inside into the cafe, which is divided into aisles by + square pillars set all round with long looking-glasses. The Count sat down + on a red plush bench against one of these pillars, waiting for his + risotto. And his mind reverted to his abominable adventure. + </p> + <p> + He thought of the moody, well-dressed young man, with whom he had + exchanged glances in the crowd around the bandstand, and who, he felt + confident, was the robber. Would he recognize him again? Doubtless. But he + did not want ever to see him again. The best thing was to forget this + humiliating episode. + </p> + <p> + The Count looked round anxiously for the coming of his risotto, and, + behold! to the left against the wall—there sat the young man. He was + alone at a table, with a bottle of some sort of wine or syrup and a carafe + of iced water before him. The smooth olive cheeks, the red lips, the + little jet-black moustache turned up gallantly, the fine black eyes a + little heavy and shaded by long eyelashes, that peculiar expression of + cruel discontent to be seen only in the busts of some Roman emperors—it + was he, no doubt at all. But that was a type. The Count looked away + hastily. The young officer over there reading a paper was like that, too. + Same type. Two young men farther away playing draughts also resembled— + </p> + <p> + The Count lowered his head with the fear in his heart of being + everlastingly haunted by the vision of that young man. He began to eat his + risotto. Presently he heard the young man on his left call the waiter in a + bad-tempered tone. + </p> + <p> + At the call, not only his own waiter, but two other idle waiters belonging + to a quite different row of tables, rushed towards him with obsequious + alacrity, which is not the general characteristic of the waiters in the + Cafe Umberto. The young man muttered something and one of the waiters + walking rapidly to the nearest door called out into the Galleria: + “Pasquale! O! Pasquale!” + </p> + <p> + Everybody knows Pasquale, the shabby old fellow who, shuffling between the + tables, offers for sale cigars, cigarettes, picture postcards, and matches + to the clients of the cafe. He is in many respects an engaging scoundrel. + The Count saw the grey-haired, unshaven ruffian enter the cafe, the glass + case hanging from his neck by a leather strap, and, at a word from the + waiter, make his shuffling way with a sudden spurt to the young man’s + table. The young man was in need of a cigar with which Pasquale served him + fawningly. The old pedlar was going out, when the Count, on a sudden + impulse, beckoned to him. + </p> + <p> + Pasquale approached, the smile of deferential recognition combining oddly + with the cynical searching expression of his eyes. Leaning his case on the + table, he lifted the glass lid without a word. The Count took a box of + cigarettes and urged by a fearful curiosity, asked as casually as he could— + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, Pasquale, who is that young signore sitting over there?” + </p> + <p> + The other bent over his box confidentially. + </p> + <p> + “That, Signor Conde,” he said, beginning to rearrange his wares busily and + without looking up, “that is a young Cavaliere of a very good family from + Bari. He studies in the University here, and is the chief, capo, of an + association of young men—of very nice young men.” + </p> + <p> + He paused, and then, with mingled discretion and pride of knowledge, + murmured the explanatory word “Camorra” and shut down the lid. “A very + powerful Camorra,” he breathed out. “The professors themselves respect it + greatly . . . una lira e cinquanti centesimi, Signor Conde.” + </p> + <p> + Our friend paid with the gold piece. While Pasquale was making up the + change, he observed that the young man, of whom he had heard so much in a + few words, was watching the transaction covertly. After the old vagabond + had withdrawn with a bow, the Count settled with the waiter and sat still. + A numbness, he told me, had come over him. + </p> + <p> + The young man paid, too, got up, and crossed over, apparently for the + purpose of looking at himself in the mirror set in the pillar nearest to + the Count’s seat. He was dressed all in black with a dark green bow tie. + The Count looked round, and was startled by meeting a vicious glance out + of the corners of the other’s eyes. The young Cavaliere from Bari + (according to Pasquale; but Pasquale is, of course, an accomplished liar) + went on arranging his tie, settling his hat before the glass, and meantime + he spoke just loud enough to be heard by the Count. He spoke through his + teeth with the most insulting venom of contempt and gazing straight into + the mirror. + </p> + <p> + “Ah! So you had some gold on you—you old liar—you old birba—you + furfante! But you are not done with me yet.” + </p> + <p> + The fiendishness of his expression vanished like lightning, and he lounged + out of the cafe with a moody, impassive face. + </p> + <p> + The poor Count, after telling me this last episode, fell back trembling in + his chair. His forehead broke into perspiration. There was a wanton + insolence in the spirit of this outrage which appalled even me. What it + was to the Count’s delicacy I won’t attempt to guess. I am sure that if he + had been not too refined to do such a blatantly vulgar thing as dying from + apoplexy in a cafe, he would have had a fatal stroke there and then. All + irony apart, my difficulty was to keep him from seeing the full extent of + my commiseration. He shrank from every excessive sentiment, and my + commiseration was practically unbounded. It did not surprise me to hear + that he had been in bed a week. He had got up to make his arrangements for + leaving Southern Italy for good and all. + </p> + <p> + And the man was convinced that he could not live through a whole year in + any other climate! + </p> + <p> + No argument of mine had any effect. It was not timidity, though he did say + to me once: “You do not know what a Camorra is, my dear sir. I am a marked + man.” He was not afraid of what could be done to him. His delicate + conception of his dignity was defiled by a degrading experience. He + couldn’t stand that. No Japanese gentleman, outraged in his exaggerated + sense of honour, could have gone about his preparations for Hara-kiri with + greater resolution. To go home really amounted to suicide for the poor + Count. + </p> + <p> + There is a saying of Neapolitan patriotism, intended for the information + of foreigners, I presume: “See Naples and then die.” Vedi Napoli e poi + mori. It is a saying of excessive vanity, and everything excessive was + abhorrent to the nice moderation of the poor Count. Yet, as I was seeing + him off at the railway station, I thought he was behaving with singular + fidelity to its conceited spirit. Vedi Napoli! . . . He had seen it! He + had seen it with startling thoroughness—and now he was going to his + grave. He was going to it by the train de luxe of the International + Sleeping Car Company, via Trieste and Vienna. As the four long, sombre + coaches pulled out of the station I raised my hat with the solemn feeling + of paying the last tribute of respect to a funeral cortege. Il Conde’s + profile, much aged already, glided away from me in stony immobility, + behind the lighted pane of glass—Vedi Napoli e poi mori! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF SIX *** + +***** This file should be named 2305-h.htm or 2305-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/2305/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Set of Six + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #2305] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF SIX *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +A SET OF SIX + +By Joseph Conrad + + + +_Les petites marionnettes +Font, font, font, +Trois petits tours +Et puis s'en vont_. +--NURSERY RHYME + + + + +TO MISS M. H. M. CAPES + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + + +THE six stories in this volume are the result of some three or four +years of occasional work. The dates of their writing are far apart, +their origins are various. None of them are connected directly with +personal experiences. In all of them the facts are inherently true, by +which I mean that they are not only possible but that they have actually +happened. For instance, the last story in the volume, the one I call +Pathetic, whose first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an +almost verbatim transcript of the tale told me by a very charming old +gentleman whom I met in Italy. I don't mean to say it is only that. +Anybody can see that it is something more than a verbatim report, +but where he left off and where I began must be left to the acute +discrimination of the reader who may be interested in the problem. +I don't mean to say that the problem is worth the trouble. What I am +certain of, however, is that it is not to be solved, for I am not at +all clear about it myself by this time. All I can say is that the +personality of the narrator was extremely suggestive quite apart from +the story he was telling me. I heard a few years ago that he had died +far away from his beloved Naples where that "abominable adventure" did +really happen to him. + +Thus the genealogy of Il Conde is simple. It is not the case with the +other stories. Various strains contributed to their composition, and the +nature of many of those I have forgotten, not having the habit of making +notes either before or after the fact. I mean the fact of writing a +story. What I remember best about Gaspar Ruiz is that it was written, or +at any rate begun, within a month of finishing Nostromo; but apart +from the locality, and that a pretty wide one (all the South American +Continent), the novel and the story have nothing in common, neither +mood, nor intention and, certainly, not the style. The manner for the +most part is that of General Santierra, and that old warrior, I note +with satisfaction, is very true to himself all through. Looking now +dispassionately at the various ways in which this story could have been +presented I can't honestly think the General superfluous. It is he, an +old man talking of the days of his youth, who characterizes the whole +narrative and gives it an air of actuality which I doubt whether I could +have achieved without his help. In the mere writing his existence +of course was of no help at all, because the whole thing had to be +carefully kept within the frame of his simple mind. But all this is but +a laborious searching of memories. My present feeling is that the story +could not have been told otherwise. The hint for Gaspar Ruiz the man +I found in a book by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., who was for some time, +between the years 1824 and 1828, senior officer of a small British +Squadron on the West Coast of South America. His book published in the +thirties obtained a certain celebrity and I suppose is to be found still +in some libraries. The curious who may be mistrusting my imagination are +referred to that printed document, Vol. II, I forget the page, but it +is somewhere not far from the end. Another document connected with this +story is a letter of a biting and ironic kind from a friend then in +Burma, passing certain strictures upon "the gentleman with the gun on +his back" which I do not intend to make accessible to the public. Yet +the gun episode did really happen, or at least I am bound to believe it +because I remember it, described in an extremely matter-of-fact tone, +in some book I read in my boyhood; and I am not going to discard the +beliefs of my boyhood for anybody on earth. + +The Brute, which is the only sea-story in the volume, is, like Il Conde, +associated with a direct narrative and based on a suggestion gathered on +warm human lips. I will not disclose the real name of the criminal ship +but the first I heard of her homicidal habits was from the late Captain +Blake, commanding a London ship in which I served in 1884 as Second +Officer. Captain Blake was, of all my commanders, the one I remember +with the greatest affection. I have sketched in his personality, without +however mentioning his name, in the first paper of The Mirror of the +Sea. In his young days he had had a personal experience of the brute and +it is perhaps for that reason that I have put the story into the mouth +of a young man and made of it what the reader will see. The existence +of the brute was a fact. The end of the brute as related in the story is +also a fact, well-known at the time though it really happened to +another ship, of great beauty of form and of blameless character, which +certainly deserved a better fate. I have unscrupulously adapted it to +the needs of my story thinking that I had there something in the nature +of poetical justice. I hope that little villainy will not cast a shadow +upon the general honesty of my proceedings as a writer of tales. + +Of The Informer and An Anarchist I will say next to nothing. The +pedigree of these tales is hopelessly complicated and not worth +disentangling at this distance of time. I found them and here they are. +The discriminating reader will guess that I have found them within my +mind; but how they or their elements came in there I have forgotten for +the most part; and for the rest I really don't see why I should give +myself away more than I have done already. + +It remains for me only now to mention The Duel, the longest story in the +book. That story attained the dignity of publication all by itself in a +small illustrated volume, under the title, "The Point of Honour." That +was many years ago. It has been since reinstated in its proper place, +which is the place it occupies in this volume, in all the subsequent +editions of my work. Its pedigree is extremely simple. It springs from a +ten-line paragraph in a small provincial paper published in the South of +France. That paragraph, occasioned by a duel with a fatal ending between +two well-known Parisian personalities, referred for some reason or other +to the "well-known fact" of two officers in Napoleon's Grand Army having +fought a series of duels in the midst of great wars and on some futile +pretext. The pretext was never disclosed. I had therefore to invent it; +and I think that, given the character of the two officers which I had to +invent, too, I have made it sufficiently convincing by the mere force of +its absurdity. The truth is that in my mind the story is nothing but a +serious and even earnest attempt at a bit of historical fiction. I had +heard in my boyhood a good deal of the great Napoleonic legend. I had a +genuine feeling that I would find myself at home in it, and The Duel +is the result of that feeling, or, if the reader prefers, of that +presumption. Personally I have no qualms of conscience about this piece +of work. The story might have been better told of course. All one's work +might have been better done; but this is the sort of reflection a +worker must put aside courageously if he doesn't mean every one of his +conceptions to remain for ever a private vision, an evanescent reverie. +How many of those visions have I seen vanish in my time! This one, +however, has remained, a testimony, if you like, to my courage or a +proof of my rashness. What I care to remember best is the testimony of +some French readers who volunteered the opinion that in those hundred +pages or so I had managed to render "wonderfully" the spirit of the +whole epoch. Exaggeration of kindness no doubt; but even so I hug it +still to my breast, because in truth that is exactly what I was trying +to capture in my small net: the Spirit of the Epoch--never purely +militarist in the long clash of arms, youthful, almost childlike in its +exaltation of sentiment--naively heroic in its faith. + + +1920. J. C. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +GASPAR RUIZ + +THE INFORMER + +THE BRUTE + +AN ANARCHIST + +THE DUEL + +IL CONDE + + + + + +A SET OF SIX + + + + +GASPAR RUIZ + + +I + + +A revolutionary war raises many strange characters out of the obscurity +which is the common lot of humble lives in an undisturbed state of +society. + +Certain individualities grow into fame through their vices and their +virtues, or simply by their actions, which may have a temporary +importance; and then they become forgotten. The names of a few leaders +alone survive the end of armed strife and are further preserved in +history; so that, vanishing from men's active memories, they still exist +in books. + +The name of General Santierra attained that cold paper-and-ink +immortality. He was a South American of good family, and the books +published in his lifetime numbered him amongst the liberators of that +continent from the oppressive rule of Spain. + +That long contest, waged for independence on one side and for dominion +on the other, developed in the course of years and the vicissitudes of +changing fortune the fierceness and inhumanity of a struggle for +life. All feelings of pity and compassion disappeared in the growth of +political hatred. And, as is usual in war, the mass of the people, +who had the least to gain by the issue, suffered most in their obscure +persons and their humble fortunes. + +General Santierra began his service as lieutenant in the patriot army +raised and commanded by the famous San Martin, afterwards conqueror of +Lima and liberator of Peru. A great battle had just been fought on the +banks of the river Bio-Bio. Amongst the prisoners made upon the routed +Royalist troops there was a soldier called Gaspar Ruiz. His powerful +build and his big head rendered him remarkable amongst his +fellow-captives. The personality of the man was unmistakable. Some +months before he had been missed from the ranks of Republican troops +after one of the many skirmishes which preceded the great battle. And +now, having been captured arms in hand amongst Royalists, he could +expect no other fate but to be shot as a deserter. + +Gaspar Ruiz, however, was not a deserter; his mind was hardly active +enough to take a discriminating view of the advantages or perils +of treachery. Why should he change sides? He had really been made a +prisoner, had suffered ill-usage and many privations. Neither side +showed tenderness to its adversaries. There came a day when he was +ordered, together with some other captured rebels, to march in the front +rank of the Royal troops. A musket had been thrust into his hands. +He had taken it. He had marched. He did not want to be killed with +circumstances of peculiar atrocity for refusing to march. He did not +understand heroism but it was his intention to throw his musket away at +the first opportunity. Meantime he had gone on loading and firing, from +fear of having his brains blown out at the first sign of unwillingness, +by some non-commissioned officer of the King of Spain. He tried to set +forth these elementary considerations before the sergeant of the +guard set over him and some twenty other such deserters, who had been +condemned summarily to be shot. + +It was in the quadrangle of the fort at the back of the batteries which +command the roadstead of Valparaiso. The officer who had identified him +had gone on without listening to his protestations. His doom was sealed; +his hands were tied very tightly together behind his back; his body was +sore all over from the many blows with sticks and butts of muskets which +had hurried him along on the painful road from the place of his capture +to the gate of the fort. This was the only kind of systematic attention +the prisoners had received from their escort during a four days' journey +across a scantily watered tract of country. At the crossings of rare +streams they were permitted to quench their thirst by lapping hurriedly +like dogs. In the evening a few scraps of meat were thrown amongst +them as they dropped down dead-beat upon the stony ground of the +halting-place. + +As he stood in the courtyard of the castle in the early morning, after +having been driven hard all night, Gaspar Ruiz's throat was parched, and +his tongue felt very large and dry in his mouth. + +And Gaspar Ruiz, besides being very thirsty, was stirred by a feeling +of sluggish anger, which he could not very well express, as though the +vigour of his spirit were by no means equal to the strength of his body. + +The other prisoners in the batch of the condemned hung their heads, +looking obstinately on the ground. But Gaspar Ruiz kept on repeating: +"What should I desert for to the Royalists? Why should I desert? Tell +me, Estaban!" + +He addressed himself to the sergeant, who happened to belong to the same +part of the country as himself. But the sergeant, after shrugging his +meagre shoulders once, paid no further attention to the deep murmuring +voice at his back. It was indeed strange that Gaspar Ruiz should desert. +His people were in too humble a station to feel much the disadvantages +of any form of government. There was no reason why Gaspar Ruiz should +wish to uphold in his own person the rule of the King of Spain. Neither +had he been anxious to exert himself for its subversion. He had joined +the side of Independence in an extremely reasonable and natural manner. +A band of patriots appeared one morning early, surrounding his father's +ranche, spearing the watch-dogs and ham-stringing a fat cow all in the +twinkling of an eye, to the cries of "Viva la Libertad!" Their officer +discoursed of Liberty with enthusiasm and eloquence after a long and +refreshing sleep. When they left in the evening, taking with them some +of Ruiz, the father's, best horses to replace their own lamed animals, +Gaspar Ruiz went away with them, having been invited pressingly to do so +by the eloquent officer. + +Shortly afterwards a detachment of Royalist troops coming to pacify the +district, burnt the ranche, carried off the remaining horses and +cattle, and having thus deprived the old people of all their worldly +possessions, left them sitting under a bush in the enjoyment of the +inestimable boon of life. + + +II + + +Gaspar Ruiz, condemned to death as a deserter, was not thinking either +of his native place or of his parents, to whom he had been a good son on +account of the mildness of his character and the great strength of his +limbs. The practical advantage of this last was made still more +valuable to his father by his obedient disposition. Gaspar Ruiz had an +acquiescent soul. + +But it was stirred now to a sort of dim revolt by his dislike to die the +death of a traitor. He was not a traitor. He said again to the sergeant: +"You know I did not desert, Estaban. You know I remained behind amongst +the trees with three others to keep the enemy back while the detachment +was running away!" + +Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the time, and unused as +yet to the sanguinary imbecilities of a state of war, had lingered +near by, as if fascinated by the sight of these men who were to be shot +presently--"for an example"--as the Commandante had said. + +The sergeant, without deigning to look at the prisoner, addressed +himself to the young officer with a superior smile. + +"Ten men would not have been enough to make him a prisoner, mi teniente. +Moreover, the other three rejoined the detachment after dark. Why should +he, unwounded and the strongest of them all, have failed to do so?" + +"My strength is as nothing against a mounted man with a lasso," Gaspar +Ruiz protested, eagerly. "He dragged me behind his horse for half a +mile." + +At this excellent reason the sergeant only laughed contemptuously. The +young officer hurried away after the Commandante. + +Presently the adjutant of the castle came by. He was a truculent, +raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. His spluttering voice issued out of +a flat yellow face. The sergeant learned from him that the condemned men +would not be shot till sunset. He begged then to know what he was to do +with them meantime. + +The adjutant looked savagely round the courtyard and, pointing to the +door of a small dungeon-like guardroom, receiving light and air through +one heavily barred window, said: "Drive the scoundrels in there." + +The sergeant, tightening his grip upon the stick he carried in virtue +of his rank, executed this order with alacrity and zeal. He hit Gaspar +Ruiz, whose movements were slow, over his head and shoulders. Gaspar +Ruiz stood still for a moment under the shower of blows, biting his +lip thoughtfully as if absorbed by a perplexing mental process--then +followed the others without haste. The door was locked, and the adjutant +carried off the key. + +By noon the heat of that vaulted place crammed to suffocation had become +unbearable. The prisoners crowded towards the window, begging their +guards for a drop of water; but the soldiers remained lying in indolent +attitudes wherever there was a little shade under a wall, while the +sentry sat with his back against the door smoking a cigarette, and +raising his eyebrows philosophically from time to time. Gaspar Ruiz +had pushed his way to the window with irresistible force. His capacious +chest needed more air than the others; his big face, resting with its +chin on the ledge, pressed close to the bars, seemed to support the +other faces crowding up for breath. From moaned entreaties they had +passed to desperate cries, and the tumultuous howling of those thirsty +men obliged a young officer who was just then crossing the courtyard to +shout in order to make himself heard. + +"Why don't you give some water to these prisoners?" + +The sergeant, with an air of surprised innocence, excused himself by the +remark that all those men were condemned to die in a very few hours. + +Lieutenant Santierra stamped his foot. "They are condemned to death, not +to torture," he shouted. "Give them some water at once." + +Impressed by this appearance of anger, the soldiers bestirred +themselves, and the sentry, snatching up his musket, stood to attention. + +But when a couple of buckets were found and filled from the well, it was +discovered that they could not be passed through the bars, which were +set too close. At the prospect of quenching their thirst, the shrieks of +those trampled down in the struggle to get near the opening became very +heartrending. But when the soldiers who had lifted the buckets towards +the window put them to the ground again helplessly, the yell of +disappointment was still more terrible. + +The soldiers of the army of Independence were not equipped with +canteens. A small tin cup was found, but its approach to the opening +caused such a commotion, such yells of rage and pain in the vague mass +of limbs behind the straining faces at the window, that Lieutenant +Santierra cried out hurriedly, "No, no--you must open the door, +sergeant." + +The sergeant, shrugging his shoulders, explained that he had no right +to open the door even if he had had the key. But he had not the key. +The adjutant of the garrison kept the key. Those men were giving much +unnecessary trouble, since they had to die at sunset in any case. +Why they had not been shot at once early in the morning he could not +understand. + +Lieutenant Santierra kept his back studiously to the window. It was +at his earnest solicitations that the Commandante had delayed the +execution. This favour had been granted to him in consideration of +his distinguished family and of his father's high position amongst the +chiefs of the Republican party. Lieutenant Santierra believed that the +General commanding would visit the fort some time in the afternoon, +and he ingenuously hoped that his naive intercession would induce +that severe man to pardon some, at least, of those criminals. In the +revulsion of his feeling his interference stood revealed now as guilty +and futile meddling. It appeared to him obvious that the general would +never even consent to listen to his petition. He could never save those +men, and he had only made himself responsible for the sufferings added +to the cruelty of their fate. + +"Then go at once and get the key from the adjutant," said Lieutenant +Santierra. + +The sergeant shook his head with a sort of bashful smile, while his eyes +glanced sideways at Gaspar Ruiz's face, motionless and silent, staring +through the bars at the bottom of a heap of other haggard, distorted, +yelling faces. + +His worship the adjutant de Plaza, the sergeant murmured, was having his +siesta; and supposing that he, the sergeant, would be allowed access to +him, the only result he expected would be to have his soul flogged out +of his body for presuming to disturb his worship's repose. He made a +deprecatory movement with his hands, and stood stock-still, looking down +modestly upon his brown toes. + +Lieutenant Santierra glared with indignation, but hesitated. His +handsome oval face, as smooth as a girl's, flushed with the shame of +his perplexity. Its nature humiliated his spirit. His hairless upper lip +trembled; he seemed on the point of either bursting into a fit of rage +or into tears of dismay. + +Fifty years later, General Santierra, the venerable relic of +revolutionary times, was well able to remember the feelings of the +young lieutenant. Since he had given up riding altogether, and found +it difficult to walk beyond the limits of his garden, the general's +greatest delight was to entertain in his house the officers of the +foreign men-of-war visiting the harbour. For Englishmen he had a +preference, as for old companions in arms. English naval men of all +ranks accepted his hospitality with curiosity, because he had known Lord +Cochrane and had taken part, on board the patriot squadron commanded +by that marvellous seaman, in the cutting out and blockading operations +before Callao--an episode of unalloyed glory in the wars of Independence +and of endless honour in the fighting tradition of Englishmen. He was a +fair linguist, this ancient survivor of the Liberating armies. A trick +of smoothing his long white beard whenever he was short of a word in +French or English imparted an air of leisurely dignity to the tone of +his reminiscences. + + +III + + +"Yes, my friends," he used to say to his guests, "what would you have? +A youth of seventeen summers, without worldly experience, and owing +my rank only to the glorious patriotism of my father, may God rest his +soul. I suffered immense humiliation, not so much from the disobedience +of that subordinate, who, after all, was responsible for those +prisoners; but I suffered because, like the boy I was, I myself dreaded +going to the adjutant for the key. I had felt, before, his rough and +cutting tongue. Being quite a common fellow, with no merit except his +savage valour, he made me feel his contempt and dislike from the +first day I joined my battalion in garrison at the fort. It was only +a fortnight before! I would have confronted him sword in hand, but I +shrank from the mocking brutality of his sneers. + +"I don't remember having been so miserable in my life before or since. +The torment of my sensibility was so great that I wished the sergeant to +fall dead at my feet, and the stupid soldiers who stared at me to +turn into corpses; and even those wretches for whom my entreaties had +procured a reprieve I wished dead also, because I could not face them +without shame. A mephitic heat like a whiff of air from hell came out of +that dark place in which they were confined. Those at the window who had +heard what was going on jeered at me in very desperation: one of these +fellows, gone mad no doubt, kept on urging me volubly to order the +soldiers to fire through the window. His insane loquacity made my heart +turn faint. And my feet were like lead. There was no higher officer to +whom I could appeal. I had not even the firmness of spirit to simply go +away. + +"Benumbed by my remorse, I stood with my back to the window. You must +not suppose that all this lasted a long time. How long could it have +been? A minute? If you measured by mental suffering it was like a +hundred years; a longer time than all my life has been since. No, +certainly, it was not so much as a minute. The hoarse screaming of those +miserable wretches died out in their dry throats, and then suddenly a +voice spoke, a deep voice muttering calmly. It called upon me to turn +round. + +"That voice, senores, proceeded from the head of Gaspar Ruiz. Of his +body I could see nothing. Some of his fellow-captives had clambered upon +his back. He was holding them up. His eyes blinked without looking at +me. That and the moving of his lips was all he seemed able to manage in +his overloaded state. And when I turned round, this head, that seemed +more than human size resting on its chin under a multitude of other +heads, asked me whether I really desired to quench the thirst of the +captives. + +"I said, 'Yes, yes!' eagerly, and came up quite close to the window. I +was like a child, and did not know what would happen. I was anxious to +be comforted in my helplessness and remorse. + +"'Have you the authority, Senor teniente, to release my wrists from +their bonds?' Gaspar Ruiz's head asked me. + +"His features expressed no anxiety, no hope; his heavy eyelids blinked +upon his eyes that looked past me straight into the courtyard. + +"As if in an ugly dream, I spoke, stammering: 'What do you mean? And how +can I reach the bonds on your wrists?' + +"'I will try what I can do,' he said; and then that large staring +head moved at last, and all the wild faces piled up in that window +disappeared, tumbling down. He had shaken his load off with one +movement, so strong he was. + +"And he had not only shaken it off, but he got free of the crush and +vanished from my sight. For a moment there was no one at all to be seen +at the window. He had swung about, butting and shouldering, clearing +a space for himself in the only way he could do it with his hands tied +behind his back. + +"Finally, backing to the opening, he pushed out to me between the bars +his wrists, lashed with many turns of rope. His hands, very swollen, +with knotted veins, looked enormous and unwieldy. I saw his bent back. +It was very broad. His voice was like the muttering of a bull. + +"'Cut, Senor teniente. Cut!' + +"I drew my sword, my new unblunted sword that had seen no service as +yet, and severed the many turns of the hide rope. I did this without +knowing the why and the wherefore of my action, but as it were compelled +by my faith in that man. The sergeant made as if to cry out, but +astonishment deprived him of his voice, and he remained standing with +his mouth open as if overtaken by sudden imbecility. + +"I sheathed my sword and faced the soldiers. An air of awestruck +expectation had replaced their usual listless apathy. I heard the voice +of Gaspar Ruiz shouting inside, but the words I could not make out +plainly. I suppose that to see him with his arms free augmented the +influence of his strength: I mean by this, the spiritual influence that +with ignorant people attaches to an exceptional degree of bodily vigour. +In fact, he was no more to be feared than before, on account of the +numbness of his arms and hands, which lasted for some time. + +"The sergeant had recovered his power of speech. 'By all the saints!' +he cried, 'we shall have to get a cavalry man with a lasso to secure him +again, if he is to be led to the place of execution. Nothing less than a +good enlazador on a good horse can subdue him. Your worship was pleased +to perform a very mad thing.' + +"I had nothing to say. I was surprised myself, and I felt a childish +curiosity to see what would happen next. But the sergeant was thinking +of the difficulty of controlling Gaspar Ruiz when the time for making an +example would come. + +"'Or perhaps,' the sergeant pursued, vexedly, 'we shall be obliged to +shoot him down as he dashes out when the door is opened.' He was going +to give further vent to his anxieties as to the proper carrying out +of the sentence; but he interrupted himself with a sudden exclamation, +snatched a musket from a soldier, and stood watchful with his eyes fixed +on the window." + + +IV + + +"Gaspar Ruiz had clambered up on the sill, and sat down there with his +feet against the thickness of the wall and his knees slightly bent. +The window was not quite broad enough for the length of his legs. It +appeared to my crestfallen perception that he meant to keep the window +all to himself. He seemed to be taking up a comfortable position. Nobody +inside dared to approach him now he could strike with his hands. + +"'Por Dios!' I heard the sergeant muttering at my elbow, 'I shall shoot +him through the head now, and get rid of that trouble. He is a condemned +man.' + +"At that I looked at him angrily. 'The general has not confirmed the +sentence,' I said--though I knew well in my heart that these were but +vain words. The sentence required no confirmation. 'You have no right to +shoot him unless he tries to escape,' I added, firmly. + +"'But sangre de Dios!' the sergeant yelled out, bringing his musket up +to the shoulder, 'he is escaping now. Look!' + +"But I, as if that Gaspar Ruiz had cast a spell upon me, struck the +musket upward, and the bullet flew over the roofs somewhere. The +sergeant dashed his arm to the ground and stared. He might have +commanded the soldiers to fire, but he did not. And if he had he would +not have been obeyed, I think, just then. + +"With his feet against the thickness of the wall and his hairy hands +grasping the iron bar, Gaspar sat still. It was an attitude. Nothing +happened for a time. And suddenly it dawned upon us that he was +straightening his bowed back and contracting his arms. His lips were +twisted into a snarl. Next thing we perceived was that the bar of forged +iron was being bent slowly by the mightiness of his pull. The sun +was beating full upon his cramped, unquivering figure. A shower of +sweat-drops burst out of his forehead. Watching the bar grow crooked, I +saw a little blood ooze from under his finger-nails. Then he let go. +For a moment he remained all huddled up, with a hanging head, looking +drowsily into the upturned palms of his mighty hands. Indeed he seemed +to have dozed off. Suddenly he flung himself backwards on the sill, and +setting the soles of his bare feet against the other middle bar, he bent +that one, too, but in the opposite direction from the first. + +"Such was his strength, which in this case relieved my painful feelings. +And the man seemed to have done nothing. Except for the change of +position in order to use his feet, which made us all start by its +swiftness, my recollection is that of immobility. But he had bent the +bars wide apart. And now he could get out if he liked; but he dropped +his legs inwards, and looking over his shoulder beckoned to the +soldiers. 'Hand up the water,' he said. 'I will give them all a drink.' + +"He was obeyed. For a moment I expected man and bucket to disappear, +overwhelmed by the rush of eagerness; I thought they would pull him down +with their teeth. There was a rush, but holding the bucket on his lap he +repulsed the assault of those wretches by the mere swinging of his feet. +They flew backwards at every kick, yelling with pain; and the soldiers +laughed, gazing at the window. + +"They all laughed, holding their sides, except the sergeant, who was +gloomy and morose. He was afraid the prisoners would rise and break +out--which would have been a bad example. But there was no fear of +that, and I stood myself before the window with my drawn sword. When +sufficiently tamed by the strength of Gaspar Ruiz they came up one by +one, stretching their necks and presenting their lips to the edge of the +bucket which the strong man tilted towards them from his knees with +an extraordinary air of charity, gentleness, and compassion. That +benevolent appearance was of course the effect of his care in not +spilling the water and of his attitude as he sat on the sill; for, if a +man lingered with his lips glued to the rim of the bucket after Gaspar +Ruiz had said 'You have had enough,' there would be no tenderness or +mercy in the shove of the foot which would send him groaning and doubled +up far into the interior of the prison, where he would knock down two +or three others before he fell himself. They came up to him again and +again; it looked as if they meant to drink the well dry before going to +their death; but the soldiers were so amused by Gaspar Ruiz's systematic +proceedings that they carried the water up to the window cheerfully. + +"When the adjutant came out after his siesta there was some trouble over +this affair, I can assure you. And the worst of it was that the general +whom we expected never came to the castle that day." + +The guests of General Santierra unanimously expressed their regret that +the man of such strength and patience had not been saved. + +"He was not saved by my interference," said the General. "The prisoners +were led to execution half an hour before sunset. Gaspar Ruiz, contrary +to the sergeant's apprehensions, gave no trouble. There was no necessity +to get a cavalry man with a lasso in order to subdue him, as if he were +a wild bull of the campo. I believe he marched out with his arms free +amongst the others who were bound. I did not see. I was not there. I had +been put under arrest for interfering with the prisoner's guard. About +dusk, sitting dismally in my quarters, I heard three volleys fired, and +thought that I should never hear of Gaspar Ruiz again. He fell with the +others. But we were to hear of him nevertheless, though the sergeant +boasted that as he lay on his face expiring or dead in the heap of the +slain, he had slashed his neck with a sword. He had done this, he said, +to make sure of ridding the world of a dangerous traitor. + +"I confess to you, senores, that I thought of that strong man with a +sort of gratitude, and with some admiration. He had used his strength +honourably. There dwelt, then, in his soul no fierceness corresponding +to the vigour of his body." + + +V + + +Gaspar Ruiz, who could with ease bend apart the heavy iron bars of the +prison, was led out with others to summary execution. "Every bullet has +its billet," runs the proverb. All the merit of proverbs consists in +the concise and picturesque expression. In the surprise of our minds is +found their persuasiveness. In other words, we are struck and convinced +by the shock. + +What surprises us is the form, not the substance. Proverbs are +art--cheap art. As a general rule they are not true; unless indeed they +happen to be mere platitudes, as for instance the proverb, "Half a +loaf is better than no bread," or "A miss is as good as a mile." Some +proverbs are simply imbecile, others are immoral. That one evolved out +of the naive heart of the great Russian people, "Man discharges the +piece, but God carries the bullet," is piously atrocious, and at bitter +variance with the accepted conception of a compassionate God. It would +indeed be an inconsistent occupation for the Guardian of the poor, the +innocent, and the helpless, to carry the bullet, for instance, into the +heart of a father. + +Gaspar Ruiz was childless, he had no wife, he had never been in love. +He had hardly ever spoken to a woman, beyond his mother and the ancient +negress of the household, whose wrinkled skin was the colour of cinders, +and whose lean body was bent double from age. If some bullets from those +muskets fired off at fifteen paces were specifically destined for +the heart of Gaspar Ruiz, they all missed their billet. One, however, +carried away a small piece of his ear, and another a fragment of flesh +from his shoulder. + +A red and unclouded sun setting into a purple ocean looked with a fiery +stare upon the enormous wall of the Cordilleras, worthy witnesses of his +glorious extinction. But it is inconceivable that it should have seen +the ant-like men busy with their absurd and insignificant trials of +killing and dying for reasons that, apart from being generally childish, +were also imperfectly understood. It did light up, however, the backs +of the firing party and the faces of the condemned men. Some of them +had fallen on their knees, others remained standing, a few averted their +heads from the levelled barrels of muskets. Gaspar Ruiz, upright, the +burliest of them all, hung his big shock head. The low sun dazzled him a +little, and he counted himself a dead man already. + +He fell at the first discharge. He fell because he thought he was a dead +man. He struck the ground heavily. The jar of the fall surprised him. +"I am not dead apparently," he thought to himself, when he heard the +execution platoon reloading its arms at the word of command. It was then +that the hope of escape dawned upon him for the first time. He remained +lying stretched out with rigid limbs under the weight of two bodies +collapsed crosswise upon his back. + +By the time the soldiers had fired a third volley into the slightly +stirring heaps of the slain, the sun had gone out of sight, and almost +immediately with the darkening of the ocean dusk fell upon the coasts of +the young Republic. Above the gloom of the lowlands the snowy peaks +of the Cordilleras remained luminous and crimson for a long time. The +soldiers before marching back to the fort sat down to smoke. + +The sergeant with a naked sword in his hand strolled away by himself +along the heap of the dead. He was a humane man, and watched for any +stir or twitch of limb in the merciful idea of plunging the point of his +blade into any body giving the slightest sign of life. But none of the +bodies afforded him an opportunity for the display of this charitable +intention. Not a muscle twitched amongst them, not even the powerful +muscles of Gaspar Ruiz, who, deluged with the blood of his neighbours +and shamming death, strove to appear more lifeless than the others. + +He was lying face down. The sergeant recognized him by his stature, and +being himself a very small man, looked with envy and contempt at the +prostration of so much strength. He had always disliked that particular +soldier. Moved by an obscure animosity, he inflicted a long gash across +the neck of Gaspar Ruiz, with some vague notion of making sure of that +strong man's death, as if a powerful physique were more able to resist +the bullets. For the sergeant had no doubt that Gaspar Ruiz had been +shot through in many places. Then he passed on, and shortly afterwards +marched off with his men, leaving the bodies to the care of crows and +vultures. + +Gaspar Ruiz had restrained a cry, though it had seemed to him that his +head was cut off at a blow; and when darkness came, shaking off the +dead, whose weight had oppressed him, he crawled away over the plain on +his hands and knees. After drinking deeply, like a wounded beast, at +a shallow stream, he assumed an upright posture, and staggered on +light-headed and aimless, as if lost amongst the stars of the clear +night. A small house seemed to rise out of the ground before him. He +stumbled into the porch and struck at the door with his fist. There +was not a gleam of light. Gaspar Ruiz might have thought that the +inhabitants had fled from it, as from many others in the neighbourhood, +had it not been for the shouts of abuse that answered his thumping. In +his feverish and enfeebled state the angry screaming seemed to him part +of a hallucination belonging to the weird, dreamlike feeling of his +unexpected condemnation to death, of the thirst suffered, of the volleys +fired at him within fifteen paces, of his head being cut off at a blow. +"Open the door!" he cried. "Open in the name of God!" + +An infuriated voice from within jeered at him: "Come in, come in. This +house belongs to you. All this land belongs to you. Come and take it." + +"For the love of God," Gaspar Ruiz murmured. + +"Does not all the land belong to you patriots?" the voice on the other +side of the door screamed on. "Are you not a patriot?" + +Gaspar Ruiz did not know. "I am a wounded man," he said, apathetically. + +All became still inside. Gaspar Ruiz lost the hope of being admitted, +and lay down under the porch just outside the door. He was utterly +careless of what was going to happen to him. All his consciousness +seemed to be concentrated in his neck, where he felt a severe pain. His +indifference as to his fate was genuine. The day was breaking when he +awoke from a feverish doze; the door at which he had knocked in the dark +stood wide open now, and a girl, steadying herself with her outspread +arms, leaned over the threshold. Lying on his back, he stared up at her. +Her face was pale and her eyes were very dark; her hair hung down black +as ebony against her white cheeks; her lips were full and red. Beyond +her he saw another head with long grey hair, and a thin old face with a +pair of anxiously clasped hands under the chin. + + +VI + + +"I knew those people by sight," General Santierra would tell his guests +at the dining-table. "I mean the people with whom Gaspar Ruiz found +shelter. The father was an old Spaniard, a man of property ruined by the +revolution. His estates, his house in town, his money, everything he had +in the world had been confiscated by proclamation, for he was a bitter +foe of our independence. From a position of great dignity and influence +on the Viceroy's Council he became of less importance than his own negro +slaves made free by our glorious revolution. He had not even the means +to flee the country, as other Spaniards had managed to do. It may be +that, wandering ruined and houseless, and burdened with nothing but +his life, which was left to him by the clemency of the Provisional +Government, he had simply walked under that broken roof of old tiles. It +was a lonely spot. There did not seem to be even a dog belonging to the +place. But though the roof had holes, as if a cannon-ball or two had +dropped through it, the wooden shutters were thick and tight-closed all +the time. + +"My way took me frequently along the path in front of that miserable +rancho. I rode from the fort to the town almost every evening, to sigh +at the window of a lady I was in love with, then. When one is young, you +understand. . . . She was a good patriot, you may believe. Caballeros, +credit me or not, political feeling ran so high in those days that I +do not believe I could have been fascinated by the charms of a woman of +Royalist opinions. . . ." + +Murmurs of amused incredulity all round the table interrupted the +General; and while they lasted he stroked his white beard gravely. + +"Senores," he protested, "a Royalist was a monster to our overwrought +feelings. I am telling you this in order not to be suspected of the +slightest tenderness towards that old Royalist's daughter. Moreover, +as you know, my affections were engaged elsewhere. But I could not help +noticing her on rare occasions when with the front door open she stood +in the porch. + +"You must know that this old Royalist was as crazy as a man can be. His +political misfortunes, his total downfall and ruin, had disordered his +mind. To show his contempt for what we patriots could do, he affected to +laugh at his imprisonment, at the confiscation of his lands, the burning +of his houses, and at the misery to which he and his womenfolk were +reduced. This habit of laughing had grown upon him, so that he would +begin to laugh and shout directly he caught sight of any stranger. That +was the form of his madness. + +"I, of course, disregarded the noise of that madman with that feeling of +superiority the success of our cause inspired in us Americans. I suppose +I really despised him because he was an old Castilian, a Spaniard born, +and a Royalist. Those were certainly no reasons to scorn a man; but for +centuries Spaniards born had shown their contempt of us Americans, men +as well descended as themselves, simply because we were what they +called colonists. We had been kept in abasement and made to feel our +inferiority in social intercourse. And now it was our turn. It was safe +for us patriots to display the same sentiments; and I being a young +patriot, son of a patriot, despised that old Spaniard, and despising +him I naturally disregarded his abuse, though it was annoying to my +feelings. Others perhaps would not have been so forbearing. + +"He would begin with a great yell--'I see a patriot. Another of them!' +long before I came abreast of the house. The tone of his senseless +revilings, mingled with bursts of laughter, was sometimes piercingly +shrill and sometimes grave. It was all very mad; but I felt it incumbent +upon my dignity to check my horse to a walk without even glancing +towards the house, as if that man's abusive clamour in the porch +were less than the barking of a cur. Always I rode by preserving an +expression of haughty indifference on my face. + +"It was no doubt very dignified; but I should have done better if I +had kept my eyes open. A military man in war time should never consider +himself off duty; and especially so if the war is a revolutionary war, +when the enemy is not at the door, but within your very house. At such +times the heat of passionate convictions passing into hatred, removes +the restraints of honour and humanity from many men and of delicacy and +fear from some women. These last, when once they throw off the timidity +and reserve of their sex, become by the vivacity of their intelligence +and the violence of their merciless resentment more dangerous than so +many armed giants." + +The General's voice rose, but his big hand stroked his white beard twice +with an effect of venerable calmness. "Si, Senores! Women are ready to +rise to the heights of devotion unattainable by us men, or to sink into +the depths of abasement which amazes our masculine prejudices. I am +speaking now of exceptional women, you understand. . . ." + +Here one of the guests observed that he had never met a woman yet who +was not capable of turning out quite exceptional under circumstances +that would engage her feelings strongly. "That sort of superiority in +recklessness they have over us," he concluded, "makes of them the more +interesting half of mankind." + +The General, who bore the interruption with gravity, nodded courteous +assent. "Si. Si. Under circumstances. . . . Precisely. They can do an +infinite deal of mischief sometimes in quite unexpected ways. For who +could have imagined that a young girl, daughter of a ruined Royalist +whose life was held only by the contempt of his enemies, would have had +the power to bring death and devastation upon two flourishing provinces +and cause serious anxiety to the leaders of the revolution in the very +hour of its success!" He paused to let the wonder of it penetrate our +minds. + +"Death and devastation," somebody murmured in surprise: "how shocking!" + +The old General gave a glance in the direction of the murmur and went +on. "Yes. That is, war--calamity. But the means by which she obtained +the power to work this havoc on our southern frontier seem to me, who +have seen her and spoken to her, still more shocking. That particular +thing left on my mind a dreadful amazement which the further experience +of life, of more than fifty years, has done nothing to diminish." He +looked round as if to make sure of our attention, and, in a changed +voice: "I am, as you know, a republican, son of a Liberator," he +declared. "My incomparable mother, God rest her soul, was a Frenchwoman, +the daughter of an ardent republican. As a boy I fought for liberty; +I've always believed in the equality of men; and as to their +brotherhood, that, to my mind, is even more certain. Look at the fierce +animosity they display in their differences. And what in the world do +you know that is more bitterly fierce than brothers' quarrels?" + +All absence of cynicism checked an inclination to smile at this view of +human brotherhood. On the contrary, there was in the tone the melancholy +natural to a man profoundly humane at heart who from duty, from +conviction, and from necessity, had played his part in scenes of +ruthless violence. + +The General had seen much of fratricidal strife. "Certainly. There is no +doubt of their brotherhood," he insisted. "All men are brothers, and +as such know almost too much of each other. But"--and here in the +old patriarchal head, white as silver, the black eyes humorously +twinkled--"if we are all brothers, all the women are not our sisters." + +One of the younger guests was heard murmuring his satisfaction at the +fact. But the General continued, with deliberate earnestness: "They are +so different! The tale of a king who took a beggar-maid for a partner of +his throne may be pretty enough as we men look upon ourselves and upon +love. But that a young girl, famous for her haughty beauty and, only +a short time before, the admired of all at the balls in the Viceroy's +palace, should take by the hand a guasso, a common peasant, is +intolerable to our sentiment of women and their love. It is madness. +Nevertheless it happened. But it must be said that in her case it was +the madness of hate--not of love." + +After presenting this excuse in a spirit of chivalrous justice, the +General remained silent for a time. "I rode past the house every day +almost," he began again, "and this was what was going on within. But how +it was going on no mind of man can conceive. Her desperation must +have been extreme, and Gaspar Ruiz was a docile fellow. He had been an +obedient soldier. His strength was like an enormous stone lying on the +ground, ready to be hurled this way or that by the hand that picks it +up. + +"It is clear that he would tell his story to the people who gave him +the shelter he needed. And he needed assistance badly. His wound was not +dangerous, but his life was forfeited. The old Royalist being wrapped up +in his laughing madness, the two women arranged a hiding-place for the +wounded man in one of the huts amongst the fruit trees at the back of +the house. That hovel, an abundance of clear water while the fever was +on him, and some words of pity were all they could give. I suppose +he had a share of what food there was. And it would be but little: a +handful of roasted corn, perhaps a dish of beans, or a piece of bread +with a few figs. To such misery were those proud and once wealthy people +reduced." + + +VII + + +General Santierra was right in his surmise. Such was the exact nature of +the assistance which Gaspar Ruiz, peasant son of peasants, received +from the Royalist family whose daughter had opened the door of their +miserable refuge to his extreme distress. Her sombre resolution ruled +the madness of her father and the trembling bewilderment of her mother. + +She had asked the strange man on the doorstep, "Who wounded you?" + +"The soldiers, senora," Gaspar Ruiz had answered, in a faint voice. + +"Patriots?" + +"Si." + +"What for?" + +"Deserter," he gasped, leaning against the wall under the scrutiny of +her black eyes. "I was left for dead over there." + +She led him through the house out to a small hut of clay and reeds, lost +in the long grass of the overgrown orchard. He sank on a heap of maize +straw in a corner, and sighed profoundly. + +"No one will look for you here," she said, looking down at him. "Nobody +comes near us. We, too, have been left for dead--here." + +He stirred uneasily on his heap of dirty straw, and the pain in his neck +made him groan deliriously. + +"I shall show Estaban some day that I am alive yet," he mumbled. + +He accepted her assistance in silence, and the many days of pain went +by. Her appearances in the hut brought him relief and became connected +with the feverish dreams of angels which visited his couch; for Gaspar +Ruiz was instructed in the mysteries of his religion, and had even +been taught to read and write a little by the priest of his village. He +waited for her with impatience, and saw her pass out of the dark hut and +disappear in the brilliant sunshine with poignant regret. He discovered +that, while he lay there feeling so very weak, he could, by closing his +eyes, evoke her face with considerable distinctness. And this discovered +faculty charmed the long, solitary hours of his convalescence. Later on, +when he began to regain his strength, he would creep at dusk from his +hut to the house and sit on the step of the garden door. + +In one of the rooms the mad father paced to and fro, muttering to +himself with short, abrupt laughs. In the passage, sitting on a +stool, the mother sighed and moaned. The daughter, in rough threadbare +clothing, and her white haggard face half hidden by a coarse manta, +stood leaning against the side of the door. Gaspar Ruiz, with his elbows +propped on his knees and his head resting in his hands, talked to the +two women in an undertone. + +The common misery of destitution would have made a bitter mockery of a +marked insistence on social differences. Gaspar Ruiz understood this in +his simplicity. From his captivity amongst the Royalists he could give +them news of people they knew. He described their appearance; and when +he related the story of the battle in which he was recaptured the two +women lamented the blow to their cause and the ruin of their secret +hopes. + +He had no feeling either way. But he felt a great devotion for that +young girl. In his desire to appear worthy of her condescension, he +boasted a little of his bodily strength. He had nothing else to boast +of. Because of that quality his comrades treated him with as great a +deference, he explained, as though he had been a sergeant, both in camp +and in battle. + +"I could always get as many as I wanted to follow me anywhere, senorita. +I ought to have been made an officer, because I can read and write." + +Behind him the silent old lady fetched a moaning sigh from time to time; +the distracted father muttered to himself, pacing the sala; and Gaspar +Ruiz would raise his eyes now and then to look at the daughter of these +people. + +He would look at her with curiosity because she was alive, and also with +that feeling of familiarity and awe with which he had contemplated +in churches the inanimate and powerful statues of the saints, whose +protection is invoked in dangers and difficulties. His difficulty was +very great. + +He could not remain hiding in an orchard for ever and ever. He knew also +very well that before he had gone half a day's journey in any direction, +he would be picked up by one of the cavalry patrols scouring the +country, and brought into one or another of the camps where the patriot +army destined for the liberation of Peru was collected. There he +would in the end be recognized as Gaspar Ruiz--the deserter to the +Royalists--and no doubt shot very effectually this time. There did not +seem any place in the world for the innocent Gaspar Ruiz anywhere. +And at this thought his simple soul surrendered itself to gloom and +resentment as black as night. + +They had made him a soldier forcibly. He did not mind being a soldier. +And he had been a good soldier as he had been a good son, because of his +docility and his strength. But now there was no use for either. They had +taken him from his parents, and he could no longer be a soldier--not a +good soldier at any rate. Nobody would listen to his explanations. What +injustice it was! What injustice! + +And in a mournful murmur he would go over the story of his capture and +recapture for the twentieth time. Then, raising his eyes to the silent +girl in the doorway, "Si, senorita," he would say with a deep sigh, +"injustice has made this poor breath in my body quite worthless to me +and to anybody else. And I do not care who robs me of it." + +One evening, as he exhaled thus the plaint of his wounded soul, she +condescended to say that, if she were a man, she would consider no life +worthless which held the possibility of revenge. + +She seemed to be speaking to herself. Her voice was low. He drank in the +gentle, as if dreamy sound with a consciousness of peculiar delight of +something warming his breast like a draught of generous wine. + +"True, Senorita," he said, raising his face up to hers slowly: "there is +Estaban, who must be shown that I am not dead after all." + +The mutterings of the mad father had ceased long before; the sighing +mother had withdrawn somewhere into one of the empty rooms. All was +still within as well as without, in the moonlight bright as day on the +wild orchard full of inky shadows. Gaspar Ruiz saw the dark eyes of Dona +Erminia look down at him. + +"Ah! The sergeant," she muttered, disdainfully. + +"Why! He has wounded me with his sword," he protested, bewildered by the +contempt that seemed to shine livid on her pale face. + +She crushed him with her glance. The power of her will to be understood +was so strong that it kindled in him the intelligence of unexpressed +things. + +"What else did you expect me to do?" he cried, as if suddenly driven to +despair. "Have I the power to do more? Am I a general with an army at my +back?--miserable sinner that I am to be despised by you at last." + + +VIII + + +"Senores," related the General to his guests, "though my thoughts were +of love then, and therefore enchanting, the sight of that house always +affected me disagreeably, especially in the moonlight, when its close +shutters and its air of lonely neglect appeared sinister. Still I went +on using the bridle-path by the ravine, because it was a short cut. +The mad Royalist howled and laughed at me every evening to his complete +satisfaction; but after a time, as if wearied with my indifference, he +ceased to appear in the porch. How they persuaded him to leave off I do +not know. However, with Gaspar Ruiz in the house there would have been +no difficulty in restraining him by force. It was now part of their +policy in there to avoid anything which could provoke me. At least, so I +suppose. + +"Notwithstanding my infatuation with the brightest pair of eyes in +Chile, I noticed the absence of the old man after a week or so. A few +more days passed. I began to think that perhaps these Royalists had gone +away somewhere else. But one evening, as I was hastening towards the +city, I saw again somebody in the porch. It was not the madman; it was +the girl. She stood holding on to one of the wooden columns, tall and +white-faced, her big eyes sunk deep with privation and sorrow. I looked +hard at her, and she met my stare with a strange, inquisitive look. +Then, as I turned my head after riding past, she seemed to gather +courage for the act, and absolutely beckoned me back. + +"I obeyed, senores, almost without thinking, so great was my +astonishment. It was greater still when I heard what she had to say. She +began by thanking me for my forbearance of her father's infirmity, +so that I felt ashamed of myself. I had meant to show disdain, not +forbearance! Every word must have burnt her lips, but she never departed +from a gentle and melancholy dignity which filled me with respect +against my will. Senores, we are no match for women. But I could hardly +believe my ears when she began her tale. Providence, she concluded, +seemed to have preserved the life of that wronged soldier, who now +trusted to my honour as a caballero and to my compassion for his +sufferings. + +"'Wronged man,' I observed, coldly. 'Well, I think so, too: and you have +been harbouring an enemy of your cause.' + +"'He was a poor Christian crying for help at our door in the name of +God, senor,' she answered, simply. + +"I began to admire her. 'Where is he now?' I asked, stiffly. + +"But she would not answer that question. With extreme cunning, and an +almost fiendish delicacy, she managed to remind me of my failure in +saving the lives of the prisoners in the guardroom, without wounding +my pride. She knew, of course, the whole story. Gaspar Ruiz, she said, +entreated me to procure for him a safe-conduct from General San +Martin himself. He had an important communication to make to the +commander-in-chief. + +"Por Dios, senores, she made me swallow all that, pretending to be only +the mouthpiece of that poor man. Overcome by injustice, he expected to +find, she said, as much generosity in me as had been shown to him by the +Royalist family which had given him a refuge. + +"Ha! It was well and nobly said to a youngster like me. I thought her +great. Alas! she was only implacable. + +"In the end I rode away very enthusiastic about the business, without +demanding even to see Gaspar Ruiz, who I was confident was in the house. + +"But on calm reflection I began to see some difficulties which I had not +confidence enough in myself to encounter. It was not easy to approach a +commander-in-chief with such a story. I feared failure. At last I thought +it better to lay the matter before my general-of-division, Robles, a +friend of my family, who had appointed me his aide-de-camp lately. + +"He took it out of my hands at once without any ceremony. + +"'In the house! of course he is in the house,' he said contemptuously. +'You ought to have gone sword in hand inside and demanded his surrender, +instead of chatting with a Royalist girl in the porch. Those people +should have been hunted out of that long ago. Who knows how many spies +they have harboured right in the very midst of our camps? A safe-conduct +from the Commander-in-Chief! The audacity of the fellow! Ha! ha! Now +we shall catch him to-night, and then we shall find out, without any +safe-conduct, what he has got to say, that is so very important. Ha! ha! +ha!' + +"General Robles, peace to his soul, was a short, thick man, with round, +staring eyes, fierce and jovial. Seeing my distress he added: + +"'Come, come, chico. I promise you his life if he does not resist. And +that is not likely. We are not going to break up a good soldier if it +can be helped. I tell you what! I am curious to see your strong man. +Nothing but a general will do for the picaro--well, he shall have a +general to talk to. Ha! ha! I shall go myself to the catching, and you +are coming with me, of course.' + +"And it was done that same night. Early in the evening the house and the +orchard were surrounded quietly. Later on the General and I left a ball +we were attending in town and rode out at an easy gallop. At some little +distance from the house we pulled up. A mounted orderly held our horses. +A low whistle warned the men watching all along the ravine, and we +walked up to the porch softly. The barricaded house in the moonlight +seemed empty. + +"The General knocked at the door. After a time a woman's voice within +asked who was there. My chief nudged me hard. I gasped. + +"'It is I, Lieutenant Santierra,' I stammered out, as if choked. 'Open +the door.' + +"It came open slowly. The girl, holding a thin taper in her hand, seeing +another man with me, began to back away before us slowly, shading the +light with her hand. Her impassive white face looked ghostly. I followed +behind General Robles. Her eyes were fixed on mine. I made a gesture of +helplessness behind my chief's back, trying at the same time to give a +reassuring expression to my face. None of us three uttered a sound. + +"We found ourselves in a room with bare floor and walls. There was a +rough table and a couple of stools in it, nothing else whatever. An old +woman with her grey hair hanging loose wrung her hands when we appeared. +A peal of loud laughter resounded through the empty house, very amazing +and weird. At this the old woman tried to get past us. + +"'Nobody to leave the room,' said General Robles to me. + +"I swung the door to, heard the latch click, and the laughter became +faint in our ears. + +"Before another word could be spoken in that room I was amazed by +hearing the sound of distant thunder. + +"I had carried in with me into the house a vivid impression of a +beautiful clear moonlight night, without a speck of cloud in the sky. I +could not believe my ears. Sent early abroad for my education, I was not +familiar with the most dreaded natural phenomenon of my native land. +I saw, with inexpressible astonishment, a look of terror in my chief's +eyes. Suddenly I felt giddy. The General staggered against me heavily; +the girl seemed to reel in the middle of the room, the taper fell out +of her hand and the light went out; a shrill cry of 'Misericordia!' +from the old woman pierced my ears. In the pitchy darkness I heard the +plaster off the walls falling on the floor. It is a mercy there was no +ceiling. Holding on to the latch of the door, I heard the grinding of +the roof-tiles cease above my head. The shock was over. + +"'Out of the house! The door! Fly, Santierra, fly!' howled the General. +You know, senores, in our country the bravest are not ashamed of the +fear an earthquake strikes into all the senses of man. One never gets +used to it. Repeated experience only augments the mastery of that +nameless terror. + +"It was my first earthquake, and I was the calmest of them all. I +understood that the crash outside was caused by the porch, with its +wooden pillars and tiled roof projection, falling down. The next +shock would destroy the house, maybe. That rumble as of thunder was +approaching again. The General was rushing round the room, to find the +door perhaps. He made a noise as though he were trying to climb the +walls, and I heard him distinctly invoke the names of several saints. +'Out, out, Santierra!' he yelled. + +"The girl's voice was the only one I did not hear. + +"'General,' I cried, I cannot move the door. We must be locked in.' + +"I did not recognize his voice in the shout of malediction and despair +he let out. Senores, I know many men in my country, especially in the +provinces most subject to earthquakes, who will neither eat, sleep, +pray, nor even sit down to cards with closed doors. The danger is not +in the loss of time, but in this--that the movement of the walls may +prevent a door being opened at all. This was what had happened to us. We +were trapped, and we had no help to expect from anybody. There is no man +in my country who will go into a house when the earth trembles. There +never was--except one: Gaspar Ruiz. + +"He had come out of whatever hole he had been hiding in outside, and +had clambered over the timbers of the destroyed porch. Above the awful +subterranean groan of coming destruction I heard a mighty voice shouting +the word 'Erminia!' with the lungs of a giant. An earthquake is a great +leveller of distinctions. I collected all my resolution against the +terror of the scene. 'She is here,' I shouted back. A roar as of a +furious wild beast answered me--while my head swam, my heart sank, and +the sweat of anguish streamed like rain off my brow. + +"He had the strength to pick up one of the heavy posts of the porch. +Holding it under his armpit like a lance, but with both hands, he +charged madly the rocking house with the force of a battering-ram, +bursting open the door and rushing in, headlong, over our prostrate +bodies. I and the General picking ourselves up, bolted out together, +without looking round once till we got across the road. Then, clinging +to each other, we beheld the house change suddenly into a heap of +formless rubbish behind the back of a man, who staggered towards us +bearing the form of a woman clasped in his arms. Her long black hair +hung nearly to his feet. He laid her down reverently on the heaving +earth, and the moonlight shone on her closed eyes. + +"Senores, we mounted with difficulty. Our horses getting up plunged +madly, held by the soldiers who had come running from all sides. Nobody +thought of catching Gaspar Ruiz then. The eyes of men and animals shone +with wild fear. My general approached Gaspar Ruiz, who stood motionless +as a statue above the girl. He let himself be shaken by the shoulder +without detaching his eyes from her face. + +"'Que guape!' shouted the General in his ear. 'You are the bravest man +living. You have saved my life. I am General Robles. Come to my quarters +to-morrow if God gives us the grace to see another day.' + +"He never stirred--as if deaf, without feeling, insensible. + +"We rode away for the town, full of our relations, of our friends, of +whose fate we hardly dared to think. The soldiers ran by the side of +our horses. Everything was forgotten in the immensity of the catastrophe +overtaking a whole country." + +. . . . . . . + +Gaspar Ruiz saw the girl open her eyes. The raising of her eyelids +seemed to recall him from a trance. They were alone; the cries of terror +and distress from homeless people filled the plains of the coast remote +and immense, coming like a whisper into their loneliness. + +She rose swiftly to her feet, darting fearful glances on all sides. +"What is it?" she cried out low, and peering into his face. "Where am +I?" + +He bowed his head sadly, without a word. + +". . . Who are you?" + +He knelt down slowly before her, and touched the hem of her coarse black +baize skirt. "Your slave," he said. + +She caught sight then of the heap of rubbish that had been the house, +all misty in the cloud of dust. "Ah!" she cried, pressing her hand to +her forehead. + +"I carried you out from there," he whispered at her feet. + +"And they?" she asked in a great sob. + +He rose, and taking her by the arms, led her gently towards the +shapeless ruin half overwhelmed by a landslide. "Come and listen," he +said. + +The serene moon saw them clambering over that heap of stones, joists and +tiles, which was a grave. They pressed their ears to the interstices, +listening for the sound of a groan, for a sigh of pain. + +At last he said, "They died swiftly. You are alone." + +She sat down on a piece of broken timber and put one arm across her +face. He waited--then approaching his lips to her ear: "Let us go," he +whispered. + +"Never--never from here," she cried out, flinging her arms above her +head. + +He stooped over her, and her raised arms fell upon his shoulders. He +lifted her up, steadied himself and began to walk, looking straight +before him. + +"What are you doing?" she asked, feebly. + +"I am escaping from my enemies," he said, never once glancing at his +light burden. + +"With me?" she sighed, helplessly. + +"Never without you," he said. "You are my strength." + +He pressed her close to him. His face was grave and his footsteps +steady. The conflagrations bursting out in the ruins of destroyed +villages dotted the plain with red fires; and the sounds of distant +lamentations, the cries of Misericordia! Misericordia! made a desolate +murmur in his ears. He walked on, solemn and collected, as if carrying +something holy, fragile, and precious. + +The earth rocked at times under his feet. + + +IX + + +With movements of mechanical care and an air of abstraction old General +Santierra lighted a long and thick cigar. + +"It was a good many hours before we could send a party back to the +ravine," he said to his guests. "We had found one-third of the town laid +low, the rest shaken up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced to +the same state of distraction by the universal disaster. The affected +cheerfulness of some contrasted with the despair of others. In the +general confusion a number of reckless thieves, without fear of God or +man, became a danger to those who from the downfall of their homes had +managed to save some valuables. Crying 'Misericordia' louder than any at +every tremor, and beating their breast with one hand, these scoundrels +robbed the poor victims with the other, not even stopping short of +murder. + +"General Robles' division was occupied entirely in guarding the +destroyed quarters of the town from the depredations of these inhuman +monsters. Taken up with my duties of orderly officer, it was only in the +morning that I could assure myself of the safety of my own family. My +mother and my sisters had escaped with their lives from that ballroom, +where I had left them early in the evening. I remember those two +beautiful young women--God rest their souls--as if I saw them this +moment, in the garden of our destroyed house, pale but active, assisting +some of our poor neighbours, in their soiled ball-dresses and with the +dust of fallen walls on their hair. As to my mother, she had a stoical +soul in her frail body. Half-covered by a costly shawl, she was lying +on a rustic seat by the side of an ornamental basin whose fountain had +ceased to play for ever on that night. + +"I had hardly had time to embrace them all with transports of joy when +my chief, coming along, dispatched me to the ravine with a few soldiers, +to bring in my strong man, as he called him, and that pale girl. + +"But there was no one for us to bring in. A landslide had covered the +ruins of the house; and it was like a large mound of earth with only the +ends of some timbers visible here and there--nothing more. + +"Thus were the tribulations of the old Royalist couple ended. An +enormous and unconsecrated grave had swallowed them up alive, in their +unhappy obstinacy against the will of a people to be free. And their +daughter was gone. + +"That Gaspar Ruiz had carried her off I understood very well. But as +the case was not foreseen, I had no instructions to pursue them. And +certainly I had no desire to do so. I had grown mistrustful of my +interference. It had never been successful, and had not even appeared +creditable. He was gone. Well, let him go. And he had carried off the +Royalist girl! Nothing better. Vaya con Dios. This was not the time +to bother about a deserter who, justly or unjustly, ought to have been +dead, and a girl for whom it would have been better to have never been +born. + +"So I marched my men back to the town. + +"After a few days, order having been re-established, all the principal +families, including my own, left for Santiago. We had a fine house +there. At the same time the division of Robles was moved to new +cantonments near the capital. This change suited very well the state of +my domestic and amorous feelings. + +"One night, rather late, I was called to my chief. I found General +Robles in his quarters, at ease, with his uniform off, drinking neat +brandy out of a tumbler--as a precaution, he used to say, against the +sleeplessness induced by the bites of mosquitoes. He was a good soldier, +and he taught me the art and practice of war. No doubt God has been +merciful to his soul; for his motives were never other than patriotic, +if his character was irascible. As to the use of mosquito nets, he +considered it effeminate, shameful--unworthy of a soldier. I noticed at +the first glance that his face, already very red, wore an expression of +high good-humour. + +"'Aha! Senor teniente,' he cried, loudly, as I saluted at the door. +'Behold! Your strong man has turned up again.' + +"He extended to me a folded letter, which I saw was superscribed 'To the +Commander-in-Chief of the Republican Armies.' + +"'This,' General Robles went on in his loud voice, 'was thrust by a boy +into the hand of a sentry at the Quartel General, while the fellow stood +there thinking of his girl, no doubt--for before he could gather his +wits together the boy had disappeared amongst the market people, and he +protests he could not recognize him to save his life.' + +"'My chief told me further that the soldier had given the letter to the +sergeant of the guard, and that ultimately it had reached the hands of +our generalissimo. His Excellency had deigned to take cognizance of it +with his own eyes. After that he had referred the matter in confidence +to General Robles. + +"The letter, senores, I cannot now recollect textually. I saw the +signature of Gaspar Ruiz. He was an audacious fellow. He had snatched a +soul for himself out of a cataclysm, remember. And now it was that +soul which had dictated the terms of his letter. Its tone was very +independent. I remember it struck me at the time as noble--dignified. It +was, no doubt, her letter. Now I shudder at the depth of its duplicity. +Gaspar Ruiz was made to complain of the injustice of which he had been +a victim. He invoked his previous record of fidelity and courage. Having +been saved from death by the miraculous interposition of Providence, he +could think of nothing but of retrieving his character. This, he wrote, +he could not hope to do in the ranks as a discredited soldier still +under suspicion. He had the means to give a striking proof of his +fidelity. He had ended by proposing to the General-in-Chief a meeting at +midnight in the middle of the Plaza before the Moneta. The signal would +be to strike fire with flint and steel three times, which was not too +conspicuous and yet distinctive enough for recognition. + +"San Martin, the great Liberator, loved men of audacity and courage. +Besides, he was just and compassionate. I told him as much of the man's +story as I knew, and was ordered to accompany him on the appointed +night. The signals were duly exchanged. It was midnight, and the whole +town was dark and silent. Their two cloaked figures came together in +the centre of the vast Plaza, and, keeping discreetly at a distance, +I listened for an hour or more to the murmur of their voices. Then the +General motioned me to approach; and as I did so I heard San Martin, +who was courteous to gentle and simple alike, offer Gaspar Ruiz the +hospitality of the headquarters for the night. But the soldier refused, +saying that he would be not worthy of that honour till he had done +something. + +"'You cannot have a common deserter for your guest, Excellency,' he +protested with a low laugh, and stepping backwards merged slowly into +the night. + +"The Commander-in-Chief observed to me, as we turned away: 'He had +somebody with him, our friend Ruiz. I saw two figures for a moment. It +was an unobtrusive companion.' + +"I, too, had observed another figure join the vanishing form of Gaspar +Ruiz. It had the appearance of a short fellow in a poncho and a big +hat. And I wondered stupidly who it could be he had dared take into +his confidence. I might have guessed it could be no one but that fatal +girl--alas! + +"Where he kept her concealed I do not know. He had--it was known +afterwards--an uncle, his mother's brother, a small shopkeeper in +Santiago. Perhaps it was there that she found a roof and food. Whatever +she found, it was poor enough to exasperate her pride and keep up her +anger and hate. It is certain she did not accompany him on the feat +he undertook to accomplish first of all. It was nothing less than the +destruction of a store of war material collected secretly by the Spanish +authorities in the south, in a town called Linares. Gaspar Ruiz was +entrusted with a small party only, but they proved themselves worthy of +San Martin's confidence. The season was not propitious. They had to swim +swollen rivers. They seemed, however, to have galloped night and day +out-riding the news of their foray, and holding straight for the town, +a hundred miles into the enemy's country, till at break of day they rode +into it sword in hand, surprising the little garrison. It fled without +making a stand, leaving most of its officers in Gaspar Ruiz' hands. + +"A great explosion of gunpowder ended the conflagration of the magazines +the raiders had set on fire without loss of time. In less than six +hours they were riding away at the same mad speed, without the loss of a +single man. Good as they were, such an exploit is not performed without +a still better leadership. + +"I was dining at the headquarters when Gaspar Ruiz himself brought the +news of his success. And it was a great blow to the Royalist troops. For +a proof he displayed to us the garrison's flag. He took it from under +his poncho and flung it on the table. The man was transfigured; there +was something exulting and menacing in the expression of his face. He +stood behind General San Martin's chair and looked proudly at us all. +He had a round blue cap edged with silver braid on his head, and we all +could see a large white scar on the nape of his sunburnt neck. + +"Somebody asked him what he had done with the captured Spanish officers. + +"He shrugged his shoulders scornfully. 'What a question to ask! In +a partisan war you do not burden yourself with prisoners. I let them +go--and here are their sword-knots.' + +"He flung a bunch of them on the table upon the flag. Then General +Robles, whom I was attending there, spoke up in his loud, thick voice: +'You did! Then, my brave friend, you do not know yet how a war like ours +ought to be conducted. You should have done--this.' And he passed the +edge of his hand across his own throat. + +"Alas, senores! It was only too true that on both sides this contest, in +its nature so heroic, was stained by ferocity. The murmurs that arose +at General Robles' words were by no means unanimous in tone. But the +generous and brave San Martin praised the humane action, and pointed +out to Ruiz a place on his right hand. Then rising with a full glass +he proposed a toast: 'Caballeros and comrades-in-arms, let us drink the +health of Captain Gaspar Ruiz.' And when we had emptied our glasses: +'I intend,' the Commander-in-Chief continued, 'to entrust him with the +guardianship of our southern frontier, while we go afar to liberate our +brethren in Peru. He whom the enemy could not stop from striking a blow +at his very heart will know how to protect the peaceful populations we +leave behind us to pursue our sacred task.' And he embraced the silent +Gaspar Ruiz by his side. + +"Later on, when we all rose from table, I approached the latest officer +of the army with my congratulations. 'And, Captain Ruiz,' I added, +'perhaps you do not mind telling a man who has always believed in +the uprightness of your character what became of Dona Erminia on that +night?' + +"At this friendly question his aspect changed. He looked at me from +under his eyebrows with the heavy, dull glance of a guasso--of a +peasant. 'Senor teniente,' he said, thickly, and as if very much cast +down, 'do not ask me about the senorita, for I prefer not to think about +her at all when I am amongst you." + +"He looked, with a frown, all about the room, full of smoking and +talking officers. Of course I did not insist. + +"These, senores, were the last words I was to hear him utter for a long, +long time. The very next day we embarked for our arduous expedition to +Peru, and we only heard of Gaspar Ruiz' doings in the midst of battles +of our own. He had been appointed military guardian of our southern +province. He raised a partida. But his leniency to the conquered foe +displeased the Civil Governor, who was a formal, uneasy man, full of +suspicions. He forwarded reports against Gaspar Ruiz to the Supreme +Government; one of them being that he had married publicly, with great +pomp, a woman of Royalist tendencies. Quarrels were sure to arise +between these two men of very different character. At last the Civil +Governor began to complain of his inactivity and to hint at treachery, +which, he wrote, would be not surprising in a man of such antecedents. +Gaspar Ruiz heard of it. His rage flamed up, and the woman ever by his +side knew how to feed it with perfidious words. I do not know +whether really the Supreme Government ever did--as he complained +afterwards--send orders for his arrest. It seems certain that the +Civil Governor began to tamper with his officers, and that Gaspar Ruiz +discovered the fact. + +"One evening, when the Governor was giving a tertullia, Gaspar Ruiz, +followed by six men he could trust, appeared riding through the town to +the door of the Government House, and entered the sala armed, his hat on +his head. As the Governor, displeased, advanced to meet him, he seized +the wretched man round the body, carried him off from the midst of the +appalled guests, as though he were a child, and flung him down the outer +steps into the street. An angry hug from Gaspar Ruiz was enough to crush +the life out of a giant; but in addition Gaspar Ruiz' horsemen fired +their pistols at the body of the Governor as it lay motionless at the +bottom of the stairs." + + +X + + +"After this--as he called it--act of justice, Ruiz crossed the Rio +Blanco, followed by the greater part of his band, and entrenched himself +upon a hill. A company of regular troops sent out foolishly against him +was surrounded, and destroyed almost to a man. Other expeditions, though +better organized, were equally unsuccessful. + +"It was during these sanguinary skirmishes that his wife first began to +appear on horseback at his right hand. Rendered proud and self-confident +by his successes, Ruiz no longer charged at the head of his partida, but +presumptuously, like a general directing the movements of an army, +he remained in the rear, well mounted and motionless on an eminence, +sending out his orders. She was seen repeatedly at his side, and for +a long time was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then of a +mysterious white-faced chief, to whom the defeats of our troops were +ascribed. She rode like an Indian woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmed +man's hat and a dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatest +prosperity, this poncho was embroidered in gold, and she wore then, +also, the sword of poor Don Antonio de Leyva. This veteran Chilian +officer, having the misfortune to be surrounded with his small force, +and running short of ammunition, found his death at the hands of the +Arauco Indians, the allies and auxiliaries of Gaspar Ruiz. This was the +fatal affair long remembered afterwards as the 'Massacre of the Island.' +The sword of the unhappy officer was presented to her by Peneleo, the +Araucanian chief; for these Indians, struck by her aspect, the deathly +pallor of her face, which no exposure to the weather seemed to affect, +and her calm indifference under fire, looked upon her as a supernatural +being, or at least as a witch. By this superstition the prestige and +authority of Gaspar Ruiz amongst these ignorant people were greatly +augmented. She must have savoured her vengeance to the full on that day +when she buckled on the sword of Don Antonio de Leyva. It never left her +side, unless she put on her woman's clothes--not that she would or +could ever use it, but she loved to feel it beating upon her thigh as +a perpetual reminder and symbol of the dishonour to the arms of the +Republic. She was insatiable. Moreover, on the path she had led Gaspar +Ruiz upon, there is no stopping. Escaped prisoners--and they were not +many--used to relate how with a few whispered words she could change the +expression of his face and revive his flagging animosity. They told how +after every skirmish, after every raid, after every successful action, +he would ride up to her and look into her face. Its haughty calm was +never relaxed. Her embrace, senores, must have been as cold as the +embrace of a statue. He tried to melt her icy heart in a stream of warm +blood. Some English naval officers who visited him at that time noticed +the strange character of his infatuation." + +At the movement of surprise and curiosity in his audience General +Santierra paused for a moment. + +"Yes--English naval officers," he repeated. "Ruiz had consented to +receive them to arrange for the liberation of some prisoners of your +nationality. In the territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast to +the Cordillera, there was a bay where the ships of that time, after +rounding Cape Horn, used to resort for wood and water. There, decoying +the crew on shore, he captured first the whaling brig Hersalia, and +afterwards made himself master by surprise of two more ships, one +English and one American. + +"It was rumoured at the time that he dreamed of setting up a navy of his +own. But that, of course, was impossible. Still, manning the brig with +part of her own crew, and putting an officer and a good many men of his +own on board, he sent her off to the Spanish Governor of the island of +Chiloe with a report of his exploits, and a demand for assistance in the +war against the rebels. The Governor could not do much for him; but he +sent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of compliments, with a +colonel's commission in the royal forces, and a great Spanish flag. This +standard with much ceremony was hoisted over his house in the heart of +the Arauco country. Surely on that day she may have smiled on her guasso +husband with a less haughty reserve. + +"The senior officer of the English squadron on our coast made +representations to our Government as to these captures. But Gaspar Ruiz +refused to treat with us. Then an English frigate proceeded to the bay, +and her captain, doctor, and two lieutenants travelled inland under a +safe-conduct. They were well received, and spent three days as guests of +the partisan chief. A sort of military barbaric state was kept up at the +residence. It was furnished with the loot of frontier towns. When first +admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife lying down (she was +not in good health then), with Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot of the +couch. His hat was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on the hilt +of his sword. + +"During that first conversation he never removed his big hands from +the sword-hilt, except once, to arrange the coverings about her, with +gentle, careful touches. They noticed that whenever she spoke he would +fix his eyes upon her in a kind of expectant, breathless attention, and +seemingly forget the existence of the world and his own existence, +too. In the course of the farewell banquet, at which she was present +reclining on her couch, he burst forth into complaints of the treatment +he had received. After General San Martin's departure he had been +beset by spies, slandered by civil officials, his services ignored, his +liberty and even his life threatened by the Chilian Government. He got +up from the table, thundered execrations pacing the room wildly, then +sat down on the couch at his wife's feet, his breast heaving, his eyes +fixed on the floor. She reclined on her back, her head on the cushions, +her eyes nearly closed. + +"'And now I am an honoured Spanish officer,' he added in a calm voice. + +"The captain of the English frigate then took the opportunity to inform +him gently that Lima had fallen, and that by the terms of a convention +the Spaniards were withdrawing from the whole continent. + +"Gaspar Ruiz raised his head, and without hesitation, speaking with +suppressed vehemence, declared that if not a single Spanish soldier were +left in the whole of South America he would persist in carrying on the +contest against Chile to the last drop of blood. When he finished that +mad tirade his wife's long white hand was raised, and she just caressed +his knee with the tips of her fingers for a fraction of a second. + +"For the rest of the officers' stay, which did not extend for more than +half an hour after the banquet, that ferocious chieftain of a desperate +partida overflowed with amiability and kindness. He had been hospitable +before, but now it seemed as though he could not do enough for the +comfort and safety of his visitors' journey back to their ship. + +"Nothing, I have been told, could have presented a greater contrast to +his late violence or the habitual taciturn reserve of his manner. Like a +man elated beyond measure by an unexpected happiness, he overflowed with +good-will, amiability, and attentions. He embraced the officers like +brothers, almost with tears in his eyes. The released prisoners were +presented each with a piece of gold. At the last moment, suddenly, he +declared he could do no less than restore to the masters of the merchant +vessels all their private property. This unexpected generosity caused +some delay in the departure of the party, and their first march was very +short. + +"Late in the evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an escort, to their camp +fires, bringing along with him a mule loaded with cases of wine. He had +come, he said, to drink a stirrup cup with his English friends, whom he +would never see again. He was mellow and joyous in his temper. He told +stories of his own exploits, laughed like a boy, borrowed a guitar +from the Englishmen's chief muleteer, and sitting cross-legged on his +superfine poncho spread before the glow of the embers, sang a guasso +love-song in a tender voice. Then his head dropped on his breast, his +hands fell to the ground; the guitar rolled off his knees--and a great +hush fell over the camp after the love-song of the implacable partisan +who had made so many of our people weep for destroyed homes and for +loves cut short. + +"Before anybody could make a sound he sprang up from the ground and +called for his horse. + +"'Adios, my friends!' he cried. 'Go with God. I love you. And tell them +well in Santiago that between Gaspar Ruiz, colonel of the King of Spain, +and the republican carrion-crows of Chile there is war to the last +breath--war! war! war!' + +"With a great yell of 'War! war! war!' which his escort took up, they +rode away, and the sound of hoofs and of voices died out in the distance +between the slopes of the hills. + +"The two young English officers were convinced that Ruiz was mad. How +do you say that?--tile loose--eh? But the doctor, an observant Scotsman +with much shrewdness and philosophy in his character, told me that it +was a very curious case of possession. I met him many years afterwards, +but he remembered the experience very well. He told me, too, that in +his opinion that woman did not lead Gaspar Ruiz into the practice of +sanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the subtle way of +awakening and keeping alive in his simple mind a burning sense of an +irreparable wrong. Maybe, maybe. But I would say that she poured half +of her vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you may pour +intoxication, madness, poison into an empty cup. + +"If he wanted war he got it in earnest when our victorious army began to +return from Peru. Systematic operations were planned against this blot +on the honour and prosperity of our hardly won independence. General +Robles commanded, with his well-known ruthless severity. Savage +reprisals were exercised on both sides and no quarter was given in the +field. Having won my promotion in the Peru campaign, I was a captain on +the staff. Gaspar Ruiz found himself hard pressed; at the same time we +heard by means of a fugitive priest who had been carried off from his +village presbytery and galloped eighty miles into the hills to perform +the christening ceremony, that a daughter was born to them. To celebrate +the event, I suppose, Ruiz executed one or two brilliant forays clear +away at the rear of our forces, and defeated the detachments sent out to +cut off his retreat. General Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy from +rage. He found another cause of insomnia than the bites of mosquitoes; +but against this one, senores, tumblers of raw brandy had no more effect +than so much water. He took to railing and storming at me about my +strong man. And from our impatience to end this inglorious campaign I am +afraid that all we young officers became reckless and apt to take undue +risks on service. + +"Nevertheless, slowly, inch by inch as it were, our columns were closing +upon Gaspar Ruiz, though he had managed to raise all the Araucanian +nation of wild Indians against us. Then a year or more later our +Government became aware through its agents and spies that he had +actually entered into alliance with Carreras, the so-called dictator of +the so-called republic of Mendoza, on the other side of the mountains. +Whether Gaspar Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether he wished +only to secure a safe retreat for his wife and child while he pursued +remorselessly against us his war of surprises and massacres, I cannot +tell. The alliance, however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt to +check our advance from the sea, he retreated with his usual swiftness, +and preparing for another hard and hazardous tussle, began by sending +his wife with the little girl across the Pequena range of mountains, on +the frontier of Mendoza." + + +XI + + +"Now Carreras, under the guise of politics and liberalism, was a +scoundrel of the deepest dye, and the unhappy state of Mendoza was the +prey of thieves, robbers, traitors, and murderers, who formed his party. +He was under a noble exterior a man without heart, pity, honour, or +conscience. He aspired to nothing but tyranny, and though he would have +made use of Gaspar Ruiz for his nefarious designs, yet he soon became +aware that to propitiate the Chilian Government would answer his purpose +better. I blush to say that he made proposals to our Government to +deliver up on certain conditions the wife and child of the man who had +trusted to his honour, and that this offer was accepted. + +"While on her way to Mendoza over the Pequena Pass she was betrayed by +her escort of Carreras' men, and given up to the officer in command of +a Chilian fort on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range. +This atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for as a matter of +fact I was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz' camp when he received the news. I +had been captured during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers +being speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was saved from the same +fate because he recognized my features just in time. No doubt my friends +thought I was dead, and I would not have given much for my life at any +time. But the strong man treated me very well, because, he said, I had +always believed in his innocence and had tried to serve him when he was +a victim of injustice. + +"'And now,' was his speech to me, 'you shall see that I always speak the +truth. You are safe.' + +"I did not think I was very safe when I was called up to go to him one +night. He paced up and down like a wild beast, exclaiming, 'Betrayed! +Betrayed!' + +"He walked up to me clenching his fists. 'I could cut your throat.' + +"'Will that give your wife back to you?' I said as quietly as I could. + +"'And the child!' he yelled out, as if mad. He fell into a chair and +laughed in a frightful, boisterous manner. 'Oh, no, you are safe.' + +"I assured him that his wife's life was safe, too; but I did not say +what I was convinced of--that he would never see her again. He wanted +war to the death, and the war could only end with his death. + +"He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat muttering blankly, 'In +their hands. In their hands.' + +"I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. + +"Suddenly he jumped up. 'What am I doing here?' he cried; and opening +the door, he yelled out orders to saddle and mount. 'What is it?' he +stammered, coming up to me. 'The Pequena fort; a fort of palisades! +Nothing. I would get her back if she were hidden in the very heart of +the mountain.' He amazed me by adding, with an effort: 'I carried her +off in my two arms while the earth trembled. And the child at least is +mine. She at least is mine!' + +"Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for wonder. + +"'You shall go with me,' he said, violently. 'I may want to parley, and +any other messenger from Ruiz, the outlaw, would have his throat cut.' + +"This was true enough. Between him and the rest of incensed mankind +there could be no communication, according to the customs of honourable +warfare. + +"In less than half an hour we were in the saddle, flying wildly through +the night. He had only an escort of twenty men at his quarters, but +would not wait for more. He sent, however, messengers to Peneleo, the +Indian chief then ranging in the foothills, directing him to bring +his warriors to the uplands and meet him at the lake called the Eye of +Water, near whose shores the frontier fort of Pequena was built. + +"We crossed the lowlands with that untired rapidity of movement which +had made Gaspar Ruiz' raids so famous. We followed the lower valleys +up to their precipitous heads. The ride was not without its dangers. +A cornice road on a perpendicular wall of basalt wound itself around a +buttressing rock, and at last we emerged from the gloom of a deep gorge +upon the upland of Pequena. + +"It was a plain of green wiry grass and thin flowering bushes; but high +above our heads patches of snow hung in the folds and crevices of the +great walls of rock. The little lake was as round as a staring eye. The +garrison of the fort were just driving in their small herd of cattle +when we appeared. Then the great wooden gates swung to, and that +four-square enclosure of broad blackened stakes pointed at the top and +barely hiding the grass roofs of the huts inside seemed deserted, empty, +without a single soul. + +"But when summoned to surrender, by a man who at Gaspar Ruiz' order rode +fearlessly forward those inside answered by a volley which rolled him +and his horse over. I heard Ruiz by my side grind his teeth. 'It does +not matter,' he said. 'Now you go.' + +"Torn and faded as its rags were, the vestiges of my uniform were +recognized, and I was allowed to approach within speaking distance; and +then I had to wait, because a voice clamouring through a loophole with +joy and astonishment would not allow me to place a word. It was the +voice of Major Pajol, an old friend. He, like my other comrades, had +thought me killed a long time ago. + +"'Put spurs to your horse, man!' he yelled, in the greatest excitement; +'we will swing the gate open for you.' + +"I let the reins fall out of my hand and shook my head. 'I am on my +honour,' I cried. + +"'To him!' he shouted, with infinite disgust. + +"'He promises you your life.' + +"'Our life is our own. And do you, Santierra, advise us to surrender to +that rastrero?' + +"'No!' I shouted. 'But he wants his wife and child, and he can cut you +off from water.' + +"'Then she would be the first to suffer. You may tell him that. Look +here--this is all nonsense: we shall dash out and capture you.' + +"'You shall not catch me alive,' I said, firmly. + +"'Imbecile!' + +"'For God's sake,' I continued, hastily, 'do not open the gate.' And I +pointed at the multitude of Peneleo's Indians who covered the shores of +the lake. + +"I had never seen so many of these savages together. Their lances +seemed as numerous as stalks of grass. Their hoarse voices made a vast, +inarticulate sound like the murmur of the sea. + +"My friend Pajol was swearing to himself. 'Well, then--go to the devil!' +he shouted, exasperated. But as I swung round he repented, for I heard +him say hurriedly, 'Shoot the fool's horse before he gets away.' + +"He had good marksmen. Two shots rang out, and in the very act +of turning my horse staggered, fell and lay still as if struck by +lightning. I had my feet out of the stirrups and rolled clear of him; +but I did not attempt to rise. Neither dared they rush out to drag me +in. + +"The masses of Indians had begun to move upon the fort. They rode up +in squadrons, trailing their long chusos; then dismounted out of +musket-shot, and, throwing off their fur mantles, advanced naked to the +attack, stamping their feet and shouting in cadence. A sheet of flame +ran three times along the face of the fort without checking their steady +march. They crowded right up to the very stakes, flourishing their broad +knives. But this palisade was not fastened together with hide lashings +in the usual way, but with long iron nails, which they could not cut. +Dismayed at the failure of their usual method of forcing an entrance, +the heathen, who had marched so steadily against the musketry fire, +broke and fled under the volleys of the besieged. + +"Directly they had passed me on their advance I got up and rejoined +Gaspar Ruiz on a low ridge which jutted out upon the plain. The musketry +of his own men had covered the attack, but now at a sign from him a +trumpet sounded the 'Cease fire.' Together we looked in silence at the +hopeless rout of the savages. + +"'It must be a siege, then,' he muttered. And I detected him wringing +his hands stealthily. + +"But what sort of siege could it be? Without any need for me to repeat +my friend Pajol's message, he dared not cut the water off from the +besieged. They had plenty of meat. And, indeed, if they had been short +he would have been too anxious to send food into the stockade had he +been able. But, as a matter of fact, it was we on the plain who were +beginning to feel the pinch of hunger. + +"Peneleo, the Indian chief, sat by our fire folded in his ample mantle +of guanaco skins. He was an athletic savage, with an enormous square +shock head of hair resembling a straw beehive in shape and size, +and with grave, surly, much-lined features. In his broken Spanish he +repeated, growling like a bad-tempered wild beast, that if an opening +ever so small were made in the stockade his men would march in and get +the senora--not otherwise. + +"Gaspar Ruiz, sitting opposite him, kept his eyes fixed on the fort +night and day as it were, in awful silence and immobility. Meantime, by +runners from the lowlands that arrived nearly every day, we heard of the +defeat of one of his lieutenants in the Maipu valley. Scouts sent afar +brought news of a column of infantry advancing through distant passes to +the relief of the fort. They were slow, but we could trace their toilful +progress up the lower valleys. I wondered why Ruiz did not march to +attack and destroy this threatening force, in some wild gorge fit for an +ambuscade, in accordance with his genius for guerilla warfare. But his +genius seemed to have abandoned him to his despair. + +"It was obvious to me that he could not tear himself away from the sight +of the fort. I protest to you, senores, that I was moved almost to +pity by the sight of this powerless strong man sitting on the ridge, +indifferent to sun, to rain, to cold, to wind; with his hands +clasped round his legs and his chin resting on his knees, +gazing--gazing--gazing. + +"And the fort he kept his eyes fastened on was as still and silent as +himself. The garrison gave no sign of life. They did not even answer the +desultory fire directed at the loopholes. + +"One night, as I strolled past him, he, without changing his attitude, +spoke to me unexpectedly. 'I have sent for a gun,' he said. 'I shall +have time to get her back and retreat before your Robles manages to +crawl up here.' + +"He had sent for a gun to the plains. + +"It was long in coming, but at last it came. It was a seven-pounder +field gun. Dismounted and lashed crosswise to two long poles, it had +been carried up the narrow paths between two mules with ease. His wild +cry of exultation at daybreak when he saw the gun escort emerge from the +valley rings in my ears now. + +"But, senores, I have no words to depict his amazement, his fury, his +despair and distraction, when he heard that the animal loaded with the +gun-carriage had, during the last night march, somehow or other tumbled +down a precipice. He broke into menaces of death and torture against the +escort. I kept out of his way all that day, lying behind some bushes, +and wondering what he would do now. Retreat was left for him, but he +could not retreat. + +"I saw below me his artillerist, Jorge, an old Spanish soldier, building +up a sort of structure with heaped-up saddles. The gun, ready loaded, +was lifted on to that, but in the act of firing the whole thing +collapsed and the shot flew high above the stockade. + +"Nothing more was attempted. One of the ammunition mules had been lost, +too, and they had no more than six shots to fire; ample enough to batter +down the gate providing the gun was well laid. This was impossible +without it being properly mounted. There was no time nor means to +construct a carriage. Already every moment I expected to hear Robles' +bugle-calls echo amongst the crags. + +"Peneleo, wandering about uneasily, draped in his skins, sat down for a +moment near me growling his usual tale. + +"'Make an entrada--a hole. If make a hole, bueno. If not make a hole, +then vamos--we must go away.' + +"After sunset I observed with surprise the Indians making preparations +as if for another assault. Their lines stood ranged in the shadows of +the mountains. On the plain in front of the fort gate I saw a group of +men swaying about in the same place. + +"I walked down the ridge disregarded. The moonlight in the clear air +of the uplands was bright as day, but the intense shadows confused my +sight, and I could not make out what they were doing. I heard the voice +of Jorge, the artillerist, say in a queer, doubtful tone, 'It is loaded, +senor.' + +"Then another voice in that group pronounced firmly the words, 'Bring +the riata here.' It was the voice of Gaspar Ruiz. + +"A silence fell, in which the popping shots of the besieged garrison +rang out sharply. They, too, had observed the group. But the distance +was too great and in the spatter of spent musket-balls cutting up the +ground, the group opened, closed, swayed, giving me a glimpse of busy +stooping figures in its midst. I drew nearer, doubting whether this was +a weird vision, a suggestive and insensate dream. + +"A strangely stifled voice commanded, 'Haul the hitches tighter.' + +"'Si, senor,' several other voices answered in tones of awed alacrity. + +"Then the stifled voice said: 'Like this. I must be free to breathe.' + +"Then there was a concerned noise of many men together. 'Help him up, +hombres. Steady! Under the other arm.' + +"That deadened voice ordered: 'Bueno! Stand away from me, men.' + +"I pushed my way through the recoiling circle, and heard once more that +same oppressed voice saying earnestly: 'Forget that I am a living man, +Jorge. Forget me altogether, and think of what you have to do.' + +"'Be without fear, senor. You are nothing to me but a gun-carriage, and +I shall not waste a shot.' + +"I heard the spluttering of a port-fire, and smelt the saltpetre of the +match. I saw suddenly before me a nondescript shape on all fours like +a beast, but with a man's head drooping below a tubular projection over +the nape of the neck, and the gleam of a rounded mass of bronze on its +back. + +"In front of a silent semicircle of men it squatted alone, with Jorge +behind it and a trumpeter motionless, his trumpet in his hand, by its +side. + +"Jorge, bent double, muttered, port-fire in hand: 'An inch to the left, +senor. Too much. So. Now, if you let yourself down a little by letting +your elbows bend, I will . . .' + +"He leaped aside, lowering his port-fire, and a burst of flame darted +out of the muzzle of the gun lashed on the man's back. + +"Then Gaspar Ruiz lowered himself slowly. 'Good shot?' he asked. + +"'Full on, senor.' + +"'Then load again.' + +"He lay there before me on his breast under the darkly glittering bronze +of his monstrous burden, such as no love or strength of man had ever +had to bear in the lamentable history of the world. His arms were spread +out, and he resembled a prostrate penitent on the moonlit ground. + +"Again I saw him raised to his hands and knees and the men stand away +from him, and old Jorge stoop glancing along the gun. + +"'Left a little. Right an inch. Por Dios, senor, stop this trembling. +Where is your strength?' + +"The old gunner's voice was cracked with emotion. He stepped aside, and +quick as lightning brought the spark to the touch-hole. + +"'Excellent!' he cried, tearfully; but Gaspar Ruiz lay for a long time +silent, flattened on the ground. + +"'I am tired,' he murmured at last. 'Will another shot do it?' + +"'Without doubt,' said Jorge, bending down to his ear. + +"'Then--load,' I heard him utter distinctly. 'Trumpeter!' + +"'I am here, senor, ready for your word.' + +"'Blow a blast at this word that shall be heard from one end of Chile to +the other,' he said, in an extraordinarily strong voice. 'And you others +stand ready to cut this accursed riata, for then will be the time for me +to lead you in your rush. Now raise me up, and you, Jorge--be quick with +your aim.' + +"The rattle of musketry from the fort nearly drowned his voice. The +palisade was wreathed in smoke and flame. + +"'Exert your force forward against the recoil, mi amo,' said the old +gunner, shakily. 'Dig your fingers into the ground. So. Now!' + +"A cry of exultation escaped him after the shot. The trumpeter raised +his trumpet nearly to his lips and waited. But no word came from the +prostrate man. I fell on one knee, and heard all he had to say then. + +"'Something broken,' he whispered, lifting his head a little, and +turning his eyes towards me in his hopelessly crushed attitude. + +"'The gate hangs only by the splinters,' yelled Jorge. + +"Gaspar Ruiz tried to speak, but his voice died out in his throat, and I +helped to roll the gun off his broken back. He was insensible. + +"I kept my lips shut, of course. The signal for the Indians to attack +was never given. Instead, the bugle-calls of the relieving force for +which my ears had thirsted so long, burst out, terrifying like the call +of the Last Day to our surprised enemies. + +"A tornado, senores, a real hurricane of stampeded men, wild horses, +mounted Indians, swept over me as I cowered on the ground by the side +of Gaspar Ruiz, still stretched out on his face in the shape of a +cross. Peneleo, galloping for life, jabbed at me with his long chuso in +passing--for the sake of old acquaintance, I suppose. How I escaped the +flying lead is more difficult to explain. Venturing to rise on my knees +too soon some soldiers of the 17th Taltal regiment, in their hurry to +get at something alive, nearly bayoneted me on the spot. They looked +very disappointed, too, when, some officers galloping up drove them away +with the flat of their swords. + +"It was General Robles with his staff. He wanted badly to make some +prisoners. He, too, seemed disappointed for a moment. 'What! Is it you?' +he cried. But he dismounted at once to embrace me, for he was an old +friend of my family. I pointed to the body at our feet, and said only +these two words: + +"'Gaspar Ruiz.' + +"He threw his arms up in astonishment. + +"'Aha! Your strong man! Always to the last with your strong man. No +matter. He saved our lives when the earth trembled enough to make the +bravest faint with fear. I was frightened out of my wits. But he--no! +Que guape! Where's the hero who got the best of him? ha! ha! ha! What +killed him, chico?' + +"'His own strength, General,' I answered." + + +XII + + +"But Gaspar Ruiz breathed yet. I had him carried in his poncho under the +shelter of some bushes on the very ridge from which he had been gazing +so fixedly at the fort while unseen death was hovering already over his +head. + +"Our troops had bivouacked round the fort. Towards daybreak I was not +surprised to hear that I was designated to command the escort of a +prisoner who was to be sent down at once to Santiago. Of course the +prisoner was Gaspar Ruiz' wife. + +"'I have named you out of regard for your feelings,' General Robles +remarked. 'Though the woman really ought to be shot for all the harm she +has done to the Republic.' + +"And as I made a movement of shocked protest, he continued: + +"'Now he is as well as dead, she is of no importance. Nobody will know +what to do with her. However, the Government wants her.' He shrugged his +shoulders. 'I suppose he must have buried large quantities of his loot +in places that she alone knows of.' + +"At dawn I saw her coming up the ridge, guarded by two soldiers, and +carrying her child on her arm. + +"I walked to meet her. + +"'Is he living yet?' she asked, confronting me with that white, +impassive face he used to look at in an adoring way. + +"I bent my head, and led her round a clump of bushes without a word. His +eyes were open. He breathed with difficulty, and uttered her name with a +great effort. + +"'Erminia!' + +"She knelt at his head. The little girl, unconscious of him, and with +her big eyes looking about, began to chatter suddenly, in a joyous, thin +voice. She pointed a tiny finger at the rosy glow of sunrise behind the +black shapes of the peaks. And while that child-talk, incomprehensible +and sweet to the ear, lasted, those two, the dying man and the kneeling +woman, remained silent, looking into each other's eyes, listening to the +frail sound. Then the prattle stopped. The child laid its head against +its mother's breast and was still. + +"'It was for you,' he began. 'Forgive.' His voice failed him. Presently +I heard a mutter and caught the pitiful words: 'Not strong enough.' + +"She looked at him with an extraordinary intensity. He tried to smile, +and in a humble tone, 'Forgive me,' he repeated. 'Leaving you . . .' + +"She bent down, dry-eyed and in a steady voice: 'On all the earth I have +loved nothing but you, Gaspar,' she said. + +"His head made a movement. His eyes revived. 'At last!' he sighed out. +Then, anxiously, 'But is this true . . . is this true?' + +"'As true as that there is no mercy and justice in this world,' she +answered him, passionately. She stooped over his face. He tried to raise +his head, but it fell back, and when she kissed his lips he was already +dead. His glazed eyes stared at the sky, on which pink clouds floated +very high. But I noticed the eyelids of the child, pressed to its +mother's breast, droop and close slowly. She had gone to sleep. + +"The widow of Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed me to lead her away +without shedding a tear. + +"For travelling we had arranged for her a sidesaddle very much like a +chair, with a board swung beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day +she rode without uttering a word, and hardly for one moment turning her +eyes away from the little girl, whom she held on her knees. At our first +camp I saw her during the night walking about, rocking the child in +her arms and gazing down at it by the light of the moon. After we had +started on our second day's march she asked me how soon we should come +to the first village of the inhabited country. + +"I said we should be there about noon. + +"'And will there be women there?' she inquired. + +"I told her that it was a large village. 'There will be men and women +there, senora,' I said, 'whose hearts shall be made glad by the news +that all the unrest and war is over now.' + +"'Yes, it is all over now,' she repeated. Then, after a time: 'Senor +officer, what will your Government do with me?' + +"'I do not know, senora,' I said. 'They will treat you well, no doubt. +We republicans are not savages and take no vengeance on women.' + +"She gave me a look at the word 'republicans' which I imagined full of +undying hate. But an hour or so afterwards, as we drew up to let the +baggage mules go first along a narrow path skirting a precipice, she +looked at me with such a white, troubled face that I felt a great pity +for her. + +"'Senor officer,' she said, 'I am weak, I tremble. It is an insensate +fear.' And indeed her lips did tremble while she tried to smile, +glancing at the beginning of the narrow path which was not so dangerous +after all. 'I am afraid I shall drop the child. Gaspar saved your life, +you remember. . . . Take her from me.' + +"I took the child out of her extended arms. 'Shut your eyes, senora, and +trust to your mule,' I recommended. + +"She did so, and with her pallor and her wasted, thin face she looked +deathlike. At a turn of the path where a great crag of purple porphyry +closes the view of the lowlands, I saw her open her eyes. I rode just +behind her holding the little girl with my right arm. 'The child is all +right,' I cried encouragingly. + +"'Yes,' she answered, faintly; and then, to my intense terror, I saw her +stand up on the foot-rest, staring horribly, and throw herself forward +into the chasm on our right. + +"I cannot describe to you the sudden and abject fear that came over me +at that dreadful sight. It was a dread of the abyss, the dread of the +crags which seemed to nod upon me. My head swam. I pressed the child to +my side and sat my horse as still as a statue. I was speechless and cold +all over. Her mule staggered, sidling close to the rock, and then went +on. My horse only pricked up his ears with a slight snort. My heart +stood still, and from the depths of the precipice the stones rattling in +the bed of the furious stream made me almost insane with their sound. + +"Next moment we were round the turn and on a broad and grassy slope. And +then I yelled. My men came running back to me in great alarm. It seems +that at first I did nothing but shout, 'She has given the child into my +hands! She has given the child into my hands!' The escort thought I had +gone mad." + +General Santierra ceased and got up from the table. "And that is all, +senores," he concluded, with a courteous glance at his rising guests. + +"But what became of the child. General?" we asked. + +"Ah, the child, the child." + +He walked to one of the windows opening on his beautiful garden, the +refuge of his old days. Its fame was great in the land. Keeping us back +with a raised arm, he called out, "Erminia, Erminia!" and waited. Then +his cautioning arm dropped, and we crowded to the windows. + +From a clump of trees a woman had come upon the broad walk bordered +with flowers. We could hear the rustle of her starched petticoats and +observed the ample spread of her old-fashioned black silk skirt. She +looked up, and seeing all these eyes staring at her stopped, frowned, +smiled, shook her finger at the General, who was laughing boisterously, +and drawing the black lace on her head so as to partly conceal her +haughty profile, passed out of our sight, walking with stiff dignity. + +"You have beheld the guardian angel of the old man--and her to whom +you owe all that is seemly and comfortable in my hospitality. Somehow, +senores, though the flame of love has been kindled early in my breast, I +have never married. And because of that perhaps the sparks of the sacred +fire are not yet extinct here." He struck his broad chest. "Still alive, +still alive," he said, with serio-comic emphasis. "But I shall not marry +now. She is General Santierra's adopted daughter and heiress." + +One of our fellow-guests, a young naval officer, described her +afterwards as a "short, stout, old girl of forty or thereabouts." We had +all noticed that her hair was turning grey, and that she had very fine +black eyes. + +"And," General Santierra continued, "neither would she ever hear of +marrying any one. A real calamity! Good, patient, devoted to the old +man. A simple soul. But I would not advise any of you to ask for her +hand, for if she took yours into hers it would be only to crush your +bones. Ah! she does not jest on that subject. And she is the own +daughter of her father, the strong man who perished through his own +strength: the strength of his body, of his simplicity--of his love!" + + + + +AN IRONIC TALE + + + + +THE INFORMER + + +Mr. X came to me, preceded by a letter of introduction from a good +friend of mine in Paris, specifically to see my collection of Chinese +bronzes and porcelain. + +"My friend in Paris is a collector, too. He collects neither porcelain, +nor bronzes, nor pictures, nor medals, nor stamps, nor anything that +could be profitably dispersed under an auctioneer's hammer. He would +reject, with genuine surprise, the name of a collector. Nevertheless, +that's what he is by temperament. He collects acquaintances. It +is delicate work. He brings to it the patience, the passion, the +determination of a true collector of curiosities. His collection does +not contain any royal personages. I don't think he considers them +sufficiently rare and interesting; but, with that exception, he has met +with and talked to everyone worth knowing on any conceivable ground. He +observes them, listens to them, penetrates them, measures them, and puts +the memory away in the galleries of his mind. He has schemed, plotted, +and travelled all over Europe in order to add to his collection of +distinguished personal acquaintances. + +"As he is wealthy, well connected, and unprejudiced, his collection is +pretty complete, including objects (or should I say subjects?) whose +value is unappreciated by the vulgar, and often unknown to popular fame. +Of trevolte of modern times. The world knows him as a revolutionary +writer whose savage irony has laid bare the rottenness of the most +respectable institutions. He has scalped every venerated head, and +has mangled at the stake of his wit every received opinion and every +recognized principle of conduct and policy. Who does not remember his +flaming red revolutionary pamphlets? Their sudden swarmings used to +overwhelm the powers of every Continental police like a plague of +crimson gadflies. But this extreme writer has been also the active +inspirer of secret societies, the mysterious unknown Number One of +desperate conspiracies suspected and unsuspected, matured or baffled. +And the world at large has never had an inkling of that fact! This +accounts for him going about amongst us to this day, a veteran of many +subterranean campaigns, standing aside now, safe within his reputation +of merely the greatest destructive publicist that ever lived." + +Thus wrote my friend, adding that Mr. X was an enlightened connoisseur +of bronzes and china, and asking me to show him my collection. + +X turned up in due course. My treasures are disposed in three large +rooms without carpets and curtains. There is no other furniture than the +etagres and the glass cases whose contents shall be worth a fortune to +my heirs. I allow no fires to be lighted, for fear of accidents, and a +fire-proof door separates them from the rest of the house. + +It was a bitter cold day. We kept on our overcoats and hats. +Middle-sized and spare, his eyes alert in a long, Roman-nosed +countenance, X walked on his neat little feet, with short steps, +and looked at my collection intelligently. I hope I looked at him +intelligently, too. A snow-white moustache and imperial made his +nutbrown complexion appear darker than it really was. In his fur coat +and shiny tall hat that terrible man looked fashionable. I believe he +belonged to a noble family, and could have called himself Vicomte X de +la Z if he chose. We talked nothing but bronzes and porcelain. He was +remarkably appreciative. We parted on cordial terms. + +Where he was staying I don't know. I imagine he must have been a lonely +man. Anarchists, I suppose, have no families--not, at any rate, as we +understand that social relation. Organization into families may answer +to a need of human nature, but in the last instance it is based on law, +and therefore must be something odious and impossible to an anarchist. +But, indeed, I don't understand anarchists. Does a man of that--of +that--persuasion still remain an anarchist when alone, quite alone and +going to bed, for instance? Does he lay his head on the pillow, pull +his bedclothes over him, and go to sleep with the necessity of the +chambardement general, as the French slang has it, of the general +blow-up, always present to his mind? And if so how can he? I am sure +that if such a faith (or such a fanaticism) once mastered my thoughts +I would never be able to compose myself sufficiently to sleep or eat or +perform any of the routine acts of daily life. I would want no wife, no +children; I could have no friends, it seems to me; and as to collecting +bronzes or china, that, I should say, would be quite out of the +question. But I don't know. All I know is that Mr. X took his meals in a +very good restaurant which I frequented also. + +With his head uncovered, the silver top-knot of his brushed-up hair +completed the character of his physiognomy, all bony ridges and sunken +hollows, clothed in a perfect impassiveness of expression. His meagre +brown hands emerging from large white cuffs came and went breaking +bread, pouring wine, and so on, with quiet mechanical precision. +His head and body above the tablecloth had a rigid immobility. This +firebrand, this great agitator, exhibited the least possible amount of +warmth and animation. His voice was rasping, cold, and monotonous in a +low key. He could not be called a talkative personality; but with his +detached calm manner he appeared as ready to keep the conversation going +as to drop it at any moment. + +And his conversation was by no means commonplace. To me, I own, there +was some excitement in talking quietly across a dinner-table with a +man whose venomous pen-stabs had sapped the vitality of at least one +monarchy. That much was a matter of public knowledge. But I knew more. I +knew of him--from my friend--as a certainty what the guardians of social +order in Europe had at most only suspected, or dimly guessed at. + +He had had what I may call his underground life. And as I sat, evening +after evening, facing him at dinner, a curiosity in that direction +would naturally arise in my mind. I am a quiet and peaceable product of +civilization, and know no passion other than the passion for collecting +things which are rare, and must remain exquisite even if approaching to +the monstrous. Some Chinese bronzes are monstrously precious. And here +(out of my friend's collection), here I had before me a kind of rare +monster. It is true that this monster was polished and in a sense even +exquisite. His beautiful unruffled manner was that. But then he was +not of bronze. He was not even Chinese, which would have enabled one +to contemplate him calmly across the gulf of racial difference. He was +alive and European; he had the manner of good society, wore a coat and +hat like mine, and had pretty near the same taste in cooking. It was too +frightful to think of. + +One evening he remarked, casually, in the course of conversation, +"There's no amendment to be got out of mankind except by terror and +violence." + +You can imagine the effect of such a phrase out of such a man's mouth +upon a person like myself, whose whole scheme of life had been based +upon a suave and delicate discrimination of social and artistic values. +Just imagine! Upon me, to whom all sorts and forms of violence appeared +as unreal as the giants, ogres, and seven-headed hydras whose activities +affect, fantastically, the course of legends and fairy-tales! + +I seemed suddenly to hear above the festive bustle and clatter of the +brilliant restaurant the mutter of a hungry and seditious multitude. + +I suppose I am impressionable and imaginative. I had a disturbing +vision of darkness, full of lean jaws and wild eyes, amongst the hundred +electric lights of the place. But somehow this vision made me angry, +too. The sight of that man, so calm, breaking bits of white bread, +exasperated me. And I had the audacity to ask him how it was that the +starving proletariat of Europe to whom he had been preaching revolt and +violence had not been made indignant by his openly luxurious life. "At +all this," I said, pointedly, with a glance round the room and at the +bottle of champagne we generally shared between us at dinner. + +He remained unmoved. + +"Do I feed on their toil and their heart's blood? Am I a speculator or a +capitalist? Did I steal my fortune from a starving people? No! They +know this very well. And they envy me nothing. The miserable mass of the +people is generous to its leaders. What I have acquired has come to +me through my writings; not from the millions of pamphlets distributed +gratis to the hungry and the oppressed, but from the hundreds of +thousands of copies sold to the well-fed bourgeoisie. You know that my +writings were at one time the rage, the fashion--the thing to read with +wonder and horror, to turn your eyes up at my pathos . . . or else, to +laugh in ecstasies at my wit." + +"Yes," I admitted. "I remember, of course; and I confess frankly that I +could never understand that infatuation." + +"Don't you know yet," he said, "that an idle and selfish class loves to +see mischief being made, even if it is made at its own expense? Its own +life being all a matter of pose and gesture, it is unable to realize the +power and the danger of a real movement and of words that have no sham +meaning. It is all fun and sentiment. It is sufficient, for instance, +to point out the attitude of the old French aristocracy towards the +philosophers whose words were preparing the Great Revolution. Even in +England, where you have some common-sense, a demagogue has only to shout +loud enough and long enough to find some backing in the very class he +is shouting at. You, too, like to see mischief being made. The demagogue +carries the amateurs of emotion with him. Amateurism in this, that, and +the other thing is a delightfully easy way of killing time, and feeding +one's own vanity--the silly vanity of being abreast with the ideas of +the day after to-morrow. Just as good and otherwise harmless people will +join you in ecstasies over your collection without having the slightest +notion in what its marvellousness really consists." + +I hung my head. It was a crushing illustration of the sad truth he +advanced. The world is full of such people. And that instance of the +French aristocracy before the Revolution was extremely telling, too. +I could not traverse his statement, though its cynicism--always a +distasteful trait--took off much of its value to my mind. However, I +admit I was impressed. I felt the need to say something which would not +be in the nature of assent and yet would not invite discussion. + +"You don't mean to say," I observed, airily, "that extreme +revolutionists have ever been actively assisted by the infatuation of +such people?" + +"I did not mean exactly that by what I said just now. I generalized. +But since you ask me, I may tell you that such help has been given +to revolutionary activities, more or less consciously, in various +countries. And even in this country." + +"Impossible!" I protested with firmness. "We don't play with fire to +that extent." + +"And yet you can better afford it than others, perhaps. But let me +observe that most women, if not always ready to play with fire, are +generally eager to play with a loose spark or so." + +"Is this a joke?" I asked, smiling. + +"If it is, I am not aware of it," he said, woodenly. "I was thinking of +an instance. Oh! mild enough in a way . . ." + +I became all expectation at this. I had tried many times to approach him +on his underground side, so to speak. The very word had been pronounced +between us. But he had always met me with his impenetrable calm. + +"And at the same time," Mr. X continued, "it will give you a notion +of the difficulties that may arise in what you are pleased to call +underground work. It is sometimes difficult to deal with them. Of course +there is no hierarchy amongst the affiliated. No rigid system." + +My surprise was great, but short-lived. Clearly, amongst extreme +anarchists there could be no hierarchy; nothing in the nature of a +law of precedence. The idea of anarchy ruling among anarchists was +comforting, too. It could not possibly make for efficiency. + +Mr. X startled me by asking, abruptly, "You know Hermione Street?" + +I nodded doubtful assent. Hermione Street has been, within the last +three years, improved out of any man's knowledge. The name exists still, +but not one brick or stone of the old Hermione Street is left now. It +was the old street he meant, for he said: + +"There was a row of two-storied brick houses on the left, with their +backs against the wing of a great public building--you remember. Would +it surprise you very much to hear that one of these houses was for +a time the centre of anarchist propaganda and of what you would call +underground action?" + +"Not at all," I declared. Hermione Street had never been particularly +respectable, as I remembered it. + +"The house was the property of a distinguished government official," he +added, sipping his champagne. + +"Oh, indeed!" I said, this time not believing a word of it. + +"Of course he was not living there," Mr. X continued. "But from ten till +four he sat next door to it, the dear man, in his well-appointed private +room in the wing of the public building I've mentioned. To be strictly +accurate, I must explain that the house in Hermione Street did not +really belong to him. It belonged to his grown-up children--a daughter +and a son. The girl, a fine figure, was by no means vulgarly pretty. +To more personal charm than mere youth could account for, she added +the seductive appearance of enthusiasm, of independence, of courageous +thought. I suppose she put on these appearances as she put on her +picturesque dresses and for the same reason: to assert her individuality +at any cost. You know, women would go to any length almost for such +a purpose. She went to a great length. She had acquired all the +appropriate gestures of revolutionary convictions--the gestures of pity, +of anger, of indignation against the anti-humanitarian vices of the +social class to which she belonged herself. All this sat on her striking +personality as well as her slightly original costumes. Very slightly +original; just enough to mark a protest against the philistinism of the +overfed taskmasters of the poor. Just enough, and no more. It would not +have done to go too far in that direction--you understand. But she was +of age, and nothing stood in the way of her offering her house to the +revolutionary workers." + +"You don't mean it!" I cried. + +"I assure you," he affirmed, "that she made that very practical gesture. +How else could they have got hold of it? The cause is not rich. +And, moreover, there would have been difficulties with any ordinary +house-agent, who would have wanted references and so on. The group she +came in contact with while exploring the poor quarters of the town +(you know the gesture of charity and personal service which was so +fashionable some years ago) accepted with gratitude. The first advantage +was that Hermione Street is, as you know, well away from the suspect +part of the town, specially watched by the police. + +"The ground floor consisted of a little Italian restaurant, of the +flyblown sort. There was no difficulty in buying the proprietor out. A +woman and a man belonging to the group took it on. The man had been a +cook. The comrades could get their meals there, unnoticed amongst +the other customers. This was another advantage. The first floor was +occupied by a shabby Variety Artists' Agency--an agency for performers +in inferior music-halls, you know. A fellow called Bomm, I remember. He +was not disturbed. It was rather favourable than otherwise to have a lot +of foreign-looking people, jugglers, acrobats, singers of both sexes, +and so on, going in and out all day long. The police paid no attention +to new faces, you see. The top floor happened, most conveniently, to +stand empty then." + +X interrupted himself to attack impassively, with measured movements, +a bombe glacee which the waiter had just set down on the table. He +swallowed carefully a few spoonfuls of the iced sweet, and asked me, +"Did you ever hear of Stone's Dried Soup?" + +"Hear of what?" + +"It was," X pursued, evenly, "a comestible article once rather +prominently advertised in the dailies, but which never, somehow, gained +the favour of the public. The enterprise fizzled out, as you say here. +Parcels of their stock could be picked up at auctions at considerably +less than a penny a pound. The group bought some of it, and an agency +for Stone's Dried Soup was started on the top floor. A perfectly +respectable business. The stuff, a yellow powder of extremely +unappetizing aspect, was put up in large square tins, of which six went +to a case. If anybody ever came to give an order, it was, of course, +executed. But the advantage of the powder was this, that things could be +concealed in it very conveniently. Now and then a special case got put +on a van and sent off to be exported abroad under the very nose of the +policeman on duty at the corner. You understand?" + +"I think I do," I said, with an expressive nod at the remnants of the +bombe melting slowly in the dish. + +"Exactly. But the cases were useful in another way, too. In the +basement, or in the cellar at the back, rather, two printing-presses +were established. A lot of revolutionary literature of the most +inflammatory kind was got away from the house in Stone's Dried Soup +cases. The brother of our anarchist young lady found some occupation +there. He wrote articles, helped to set up type and pull off the sheets, +and generally assisted the man in charge, a very able young fellow +called Sevrin. + +"The guiding spirit of that group was a fanatic of social revolution. He +is dead now. He was an engraver and etcher of genius. You must have seen +his work. It is much sought after by certain amateurs now. He began by +being revolutionary in his art, and ended by becoming a revolutionist, +after his wife and child had died in want and misery. He used to say +that the bourgeoisie, the smug, overfed lot, had killed them. That was +his real belief. He still worked at his art and led a double life. He +was tall, gaunt, and swarthy, with a long, brown beard and deep-set +eyes. You must have seen him. His name was Horne." + +At this I was really startled. Of course years ago I used to meet Horne +about. He looked like a powerful, rough gipsy, in an old top hat, with a +red muffler round his throat and buttoned up in a long, shabby overcoat. +He talked of his art with exaltation, and gave one the impression of +being strung up to the verge of insanity. A small group of connoisseurs +appreciated his work. Who would have thought that this man. . . . +Amazing! And yet it was not, after all, so difficult to believe. + +"As you see," X went on, "this group was in a position to pursue +its work of propaganda, and the other kind of work, too, under very +advantageous conditions. They were all resolute, experienced men of +a superior stamp. And yet we became struck at length by the fact that +plans prepared in Hermione Street almost invariably failed." + +"Who were 'we'?" I asked, pointedly. + +"Some of us in Brussels--at the centre," he said, hastily. "Whatever +vigorous action originated in Hermione Street seemed doomed to failure. +Something always happened to baffle the best planned manifestations in +every part of Europe. It was a time of general activity. You must not +imagine that all our failures are of a loud sort, with arrests and +trials. That is not so. Often the police work quietly, almost secretly, +defeating our combinations by clever counter-plotting. No arrests, no +noise, no alarming of the public mind and inflaming the passions. It +is a wise procedure. But at that time the police were too uniformly +successful from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. It was annoying and +began to look dangerous. At last we came to the conclusion that there +must be some untrustworthy elements amongst the London groups. And I +came over to see what could be done quietly. + +"My first step was to call upon our young Lady Amateur of anarchism at +her private house. She received me in a flattering way. I judged that +she knew nothing of the chemical and other operations going on at +the top of the house in Hermione Street. The printing of anarchist +literature was the only 'activity' she seemed to be aware of there. She +was displaying very strikingly the usual signs of severe enthusiasm, +and had already written many sentimental articles with ferocious +conclusions. I could see she was enjoying herself hugely, with all the +gestures and grimaces of deadly earnestness. They suited her big-eyed, +broad-browed face and the good carriage of her shapely head, crowned by +a magnificent lot of brown hair done in an unusual and becoming style. +Her brother was in the room, too, a serious youth, with arched eyebrows +and wearing a red necktie, who struck me as being absolutely in the dark +about everything in the world, including himself. By and by a tall young +man came in. He was clean-shaved with a strong bluish jaw and something +of the air of a taciturn actor or of a fanatical priest: the type with +thick black eyebrows--you know. But he was very presentable indeed. He +shook hands at once vigorously with each of us. The young lady came up +to me and murmured sweetly, 'Comrade Sevrin.' + +"I had never seen him before. He had little to say to us, but sat +down by the side of the girl, and they fell at once into earnest +conversation. She leaned forward in her deep armchair, and took her +nicely rounded chin in her beautiful white hand. He looked attentively +into her eyes. It was the attitude of love-making, serious, intense, as +if on the brink of the grave. I suppose she felt it necessary to +round and complete her assumption of advanced ideas, of revolutionary +lawlessness, by making believe to be in love with an anarchist. And this +one, I repeat, was extremely presentable, notwithstanding his fanatical +black-browed aspect. After a few stolen glances in their direction, I +had no doubt that he was in earnest. As to the lady, her gestures +were unapproachable, better than the very thing itself in the blended +suggestion of dignity, sweetness, condescension, fascination, surrender, +and reserve. She interpreted her conception of what that precise sort +of love-making should be with consummate art. And so far, she, too, no +doubt, was in earnest. Gestures--but so perfect! + +"After I had been left alone with our Lady Amateur I informed her +guardedly of the object of my visit. I hinted at our suspicions. I +wanted to hear what she would have to say, and half expected some +perhaps unconscious revelation. All she said was, 'That's serious,' +looking delightfully concerned and grave. But there was a sparkle in her +eyes which meant plainly, 'How exciting!' After all, she knew little +of anything except of words. Still, she undertook to put me in +communication with Horne, who was not easy to find unless in Hermione +Street, where I did not wish to show myself just then. + +"I met Horne. This was another kind of a fanatic altogether. I exposed +to him the conclusion we in Brussels had arrived at, and pointed out +the significant series of failures. To this he answered with irrelevant +exaltation: + +"'I have something in hand that shall strike terror into the heart of +these gorged brutes.' + +"And then I learned that, by excavating in one of the cellars of the +house, he and some companions had made their way into the vaults under +the great public building I have mentioned before. The blowing up of a +whole wing was a certainty as soon as the materials were ready. + +"I was not so appalled at the stupidity of that move as I might have +been had not the usefulness of our centre in Hermione Street become +already very problematical. In fact, in my opinion it was much more of a +police trap by this time than anything else. + +"What was necessary now was to discover what, or rather who, was wrong, +and I managed at last to get that idea into Horne's head. He glared, +perplexed, his nostrils working as if he were sniffing treachery in the +air. + +"And here comes a piece of work which will no doubt strike you as a sort +of theatrical expedient. And yet what else could have been done? The +problem was to find out the untrustworthy member of the group. But no +suspicion could be fastened on one more than another. To set a watch +upon them all was not very practicable. Besides, that proceeding often +fails. In any case, it takes time, and the danger was pressing. I felt +certain that the premises in Hermione Street would be ultimately raided, +though the police had evidently such confidence in the informer that the +house, for the time being, was not even watched. Horne was positive +on that point. Under the circumstances it was an unfavourable symptom. +Something had to be done quickly. + +"I decided to organize a raid myself upon the group. Do you understand? +A raid of other trusty comrades personating the police. A conspiracy +within a conspiracy. You see the object of it, of course. When +apparently about to be arrested I hoped the informer would betray +himself in some way or other; either by some unguarded act or simply by +his unconcerned demeanour, for instance. Of coarse there was the risk +of complete failure and the no lesser risk of some fatal accident in the +course of resistance, perhaps, or in the efforts at escape. For, as +you will easily see, the Hermione Street group had to be actually and +completely taken unawares, as I was sure they would be by the real +police before very long. The informer was amongst them, and Horne alone +could be let into the secret of my plan. + +"I will not enter into the detail of my preparations. It was not very +easy to arrange, but it was done very well, with a really convincing +effect. The sham police invaded the restaurant, whose shutters were +immediately put up. The surprise was perfect. Most of the Hermione +Street party were found in the second cellar, enlarging the hole +communicating with the vaults of the great public building. At the first +alarm, several comrades bolted through impulsively into the aforesaid +vault, where, of course, had this been a genuine raid, they would have +been hopelessly trapped. We did not bother about them for the moment. +They were harmless enough. The top floor caused considerable anxiety +to Horne and myself. There, surrounded by tins of Stone's Dried Soup, +a comrade, nick-named the Professor (he was an ex-science student) +was engaged in perfecting some new detonators. He was an abstracted, +self-confident, sallow little man, armed with large round spectacles, +and we were afraid that under a mistaken impression he would blow +himself up and wreck the house about our ears. I rushed upstairs and +found him already at the door, on the alert, listening, as he said, to +'suspicious noises down below.' Before I had quite finished explaining +to him what was going on he shrugged his shoulders disdainfully and +turned away to his balances and test-tubes. His was the true spirit +of an extreme revolutionist. Explosives were his faith, his hope, his +weapon, and his shield. He perished a couple of years afterwards in a +secret laboratory through the premature explosion of one of his improved +detonators. + +"Hurrying down again, I found an impressive scene in the gloom of the +big cellar. The man who personated the inspector (he was no stranger +to the part) was speaking harshly, and giving bogus orders to his +bogus subordinates for the removal of his prisoners. Evidently nothing +enlightening had happened so far. Horne, saturnine and swarthy, waited +with folded arms, and his patient, moody expectation had an air of +stoicism well in keeping with the situation. I detected in the shadows +one of the Hermione Street group surreptitiously chewing up and +swallowing a small piece of paper. Some compromising scrap, I suppose; +perhaps just a note of a few names and addresses. He was a true and +faithful 'companion.' But the fund of secret malice which lurks at the +bottom of our sympathies caused me to feel amused at that perfectly +uncalled-for performance. + +"In every other respect the risky experiment, the theatrical coup, if you +like to call it so, seemed to have failed. The deception could not +be kept up much longer; the explanation would bring about a very +embarrassing and even grave situation. The man who had eaten the paper +would be furious. The fellows who had bolted away would be angry, too. + +"To add to my vexation, the door communicating with the other cellar, +where the printing-presses were, flew open, and our young lady +revolutionist appeared, a black silhouette in a close-fitting dress and +a large hat, with the blaze of gas flaring in there at her back. Over +her shoulder I perceived the arched eyebrows and the red necktie of her +brother. + +"The last people in the world I wanted to see then! They had gone that +evening to some amateur concert for the delectation of the poor people, +you know; but she had insisted on leaving early, on purpose to call in +Hermione Street on the way home, under the pretext of having some work +to do. Her usual task was to correct the proofs of the Italian and +French editions of the Alarm Bell and the Firebrand." . . . + +"Heavens!" I murmured. I had been shown once a few copies of these +publications. Nothing, in my opinion, could have been less fit for the +eyes of a young lady. They were the most advanced things of the sort; +advanced, I mean, beyond all bounds of reason and decency. One of them +preached the dissolution of all social and domestic ties; the other +advocated systematic murder. To think of a young girl calmly tracking +printers' errors all along the sort of abominable sentences I remembered +was intolerable to my sentiment of womanhood. Mr. X, after giving me a +glance, pursued steadily. + +"I think, however, that she came mostly to exercise her fascinations +upon Sevrin, and to receive his homage in her queenly and condescending +way. She was aware of both--her power and his homage--and enjoyed them +with, I dare say, complete innocence. We have no ground in expediency +or morals to quarrel with her on that account. Charm in woman and +exceptional intelligence in man are a law unto themselves. Is it not +so?" + +I refrained from expressing my abhorrence of that licentious doctrine +because of my curiosity. + +"But what happened then?" I hastened to ask. + +X went on crumbling slowly a small piece of bread with a careless left +hand. + +"What happened, in effect," he confessed, "is that she saved the +situation." + +"She gave you an opportunity to end your rather sinister farce," I +suggested. + +"Yes," he said, preserving his impassive bearing. "The farce was bound +to end soon. And it ended in a very few minutes. And it ended well. Had +she not come in, it might have ended badly. Her brother, of course, did +not count. They had slipped into the house quietly some time before. The +printing-cellar had an entrance of its own. Not finding any one there, +she sat down to her proofs, expecting Sevrin to return to his work at +any moment. He did not do so. She grew impatient, heard through the door +the sounds of a disturbance in the other cellar and naturally came in to +see what was the matter. + +"Sevrin had been with us. At first he had seemed to me the most amazed +of the whole raided lot. He appeared for an instant as if paralyzed +with astonishment. He stood rooted to the spot. He never moved a limb. A +solitary gas-jet flared near his head; all the other lights had been put +out at the first alarm. And presently, from my dark corner, I observed +on his shaven actor's face an expression of puzzled, vexed watchfulness. +He knitted his heavy eyebrows. The corners of his mouth dropped +scornfully. He was angry. Most likely he had seen through the game, +and I regretted I had not taken him from the first into my complete +confidence. + +"But with the appearance of the girl he became obviously alarmed. It was +plain. I could see it grow. The change of his expression was swift and +startling. And I did not know why. The reason never occurred to me. I +was merely astonished at the extreme alteration of the man's face. Of +course he had not been aware of her presence in the other cellar; but +that did not explain the shock her advent had given him. For a moment he +seemed to have been reduced to imbecility. He opened his mouth as if to +shout, or perhaps only to gasp. At any rate, it was somebody else who +shouted. This somebody else was the heroic comrade whom I had detected +swallowing a piece of paper. With laudable presence of mind he let out a +warning yell. + +"'It's the police! Back! Back! Run back, and bolt the door behind you.' + +"It was an excellent hint; but instead of retreating the girl continued +to advance, followed by her long-faced brother in his knickerbocker suit, +in which he had been singing comic songs for the entertainment of +a joyless proletariat. She advanced not as if she had failed to +understand--the word 'police' has an unmistakable sound--but rather as +if she could not help herself. She did not advance with the free gait +and expanding presence of a distinguished amateur anarchist amongst +poor, struggling professionals, but with slightly raised shoulders, +and her elbows pressed close to her body, as if trying to shrink within +herself. Her eyes were fixed immovably upon Sevrin. Sevrin the man, I +fancy; not Sevrin the anarchist. But she advanced. And that was natural. +For all their assumption of independence, girls of that class are used +to the feeling of being specially protected, as, in fact, they are. This +feeling accounts for nine tenths of their audacious gestures. Her face +had gone completely colourless. Ghastly. Fancy having it brought home to +her so brutally that she was the sort of person who must run away from +the police! I believe she was pale with indignation, mostly, though +there was, of course, also the concern for her intact personality, a +vague dread of some sort of rudeness. And, naturally, she turned to a +man, to the man on whom she had a claim of fascination and homage--the +man who could not conceivably fail her at any juncture." + +"But," I cried, amazed at this analysis, "if it had been serious, real, +I mean--as she thought it was--what could she expect him to do for her?" + +X never moved a muscle of his face. + +"Goodness knows. I imagine that this charming, generous, and independent +creature had never known in her life a single genuine thought; I mean a +single thought detached from small human vanities, or whose source was +not in some conventional perception. All I know is that after advancing +a few steps she extended her hand towards the motionless Sevrin. And +that at least was no gesture. It was a natural movement. As to what +she expected him to do, who can tell? The impossible. But whatever she +expected, it could not have come up, I am safe to say, to what he had +made up his mind to do, even before that entreating hand had appealed to +him so directly. It had not been necessary. From the moment he had seen +her enter that cellar, he had made up his mind to sacrifice his future +usefulness, to throw off the impenetrable, solidly fastened mask it had +been his pride to wear--" + +"What do you mean?" I interrupted, puzzled. "Was it Sevrin, then, who +was--" + +"He was. The most persistent, the most dangerous, the craftiest, the +most systematic of informers. A genius amongst betrayers. Fortunately +for us, he was unique. The man was a fanatic, I have told you. +Fortunately, again, for us, he had fallen in love with the accomplished +and innocent gestures of that girl. An actor in desperate earnest +himself, he must have believed in the absolute value of conventional +signs. As to the grossness of the trap into which he fell, the +explanation must be that two sentiments of such absorbing magnitude +cannot exist simultaneously in one heart. The danger of that other and +unconscious comedian robbed him of his vision, of his perspicacity, of +his judgment. Indeed, it did at first rob him of his self-possession. +But he regained that through the necessity--as it appeared to him +imperiously--to do something at once. To do what? Why, to get her out of +the house as quickly as possible. He was desperately anxious to do that. +I have told you he was terrified. It could not be about himself. He had +been surprised and annoyed at a move quite unforeseen and premature. I +may even say he had been furious. He was accustomed to arrange the +last scene of his betrayals with a deep, subtle art which left his +revolutionist reputation untouched. But it seems clear to me that at +the same time he had resolved to make the best of it, to keep his mask +resolutely on. It was only with the discovery of her being in the house +that everything--the forced calm, the restraint of his fanaticism, the +mask--all came off together in a kind of panic. Why panic, do you ask? +The answer is very simple. He remembered--or, I dare say, he had never +forgotten--the Professor alone at the top of the house, pursuing his +researches, surrounded by tins upon tins of Stone's Dried Soup. There +was enough in some few of them to bury us all where we stood under +a heap of bricks. Sevrin, of course, was aware of that. And we must +believe, also, that he knew the exact character of the man. He had +gauged so many such characters! Or perhaps he only gave the Professor +credit for what he himself was capable of. But, in any case, the effect +was produced. And suddenly he raised his voice in authority. + +"'Get the lady away at once.' + +"It turned out that he was as hoarse as a crow; result, no doubt, of +the intense emotion. It passed off in a moment. But these fateful words +issued forth from his contracted throat in a discordant, ridiculous +croak. They required no answer. The thing was done. However, the man +personating the inspector judged it expedient to say roughly: + +"'She shall go soon enough, together with the rest of you.' + +"These were the last words belonging to the comedy part of this affair. + +"Oblivious of everything and everybody, Sevrin strode towards him and +seized the lapels of his coat. Under his thin bluish cheeks one could +see his jaws working with passion. + +"'You have men posted outside. Get the lady taken home at once. Do you +hear? Now. Before you try to get hold of the man upstairs.' + +"'Oh! There is a man upstairs,' scoffed the other, openly. 'Well, he +shall be brought down in time to see the end of this.' + +"But Sevrin, beside himself, took no heed of the tone. + +"'Who's the imbecile meddler who sent you blundering here? Didn't you +understand your instructions? Don't you know anything? It's incredible. +Here--' + +"He dropped the lapels of the coat and, plunging his hand into his +breast, jerked feverishly at something under his shirt. At last he +produced a small square pocket of soft leather, which must have been +hanging like a scapulary from his neck by the tape whose broken ends +dangled from his fist. + +"'Look inside,' he spluttered, flinging it in the other's face. And +instantly he turned round towards the girl. She stood just behind him, +perfectly still and silent. Her set, white face gave an illusion of +placidity. Only her staring eyes seemed bigger and darker. + +"He spoke rapidly, with nervous assurance. I heard him distinctly +promise her to make everything as clear as daylight presently. But that +was all I caught. He stood close to her, never attempting to touch her +even with the tip of his little finger--and she stared at him stupidly. +For a moment, however, her eyelids descended slowly, pathetically, +and then, with the long black eyelashes lying on her white cheeks, she +looked ready to fall down in a swoon. But she never even swayed where +she stood. He urged her loudly to follow him at once, and walked towards +the door at the bottom of the cellar stairs without looking behind him. +And, as a matter of fact, she did move after him a pace or two. But, +of course, he was not allowed to reach the door. There were angry +exclamations, a short, fierce scuffle. Flung away violently, he came +flying backwards upon her, and fell. She threw out her arms in a gesture +of dismay and stepped aside, just clear of his head, which struck the +ground heavily near her shoe. + +"He grunted with the shock. By the time he had picked himself up, +slowly, dazedly, he was awake to the reality of things. The man into +whose hands he had thrust the leather case had extracted therefrom a +narrow strip of bluish paper. He held it up above his head, and, as +after the scuffle an expectant uneasy stillness reigned once more, he +threw it down disdainfully with the words, 'I think, comrades, that this +proof was hardly necessary.' + +"Quick as thought, the girl stooped after the fluttering slip. Holding +it spread out in both hands, she looked at it; then, without raising her +eyes, opened her fingers slowly and let it fall. + +"I examined that curious document afterwards. It was signed by a very +high personage, and stamped and countersigned by other high officials +in various countries of Europe. In his trade--or shall I say, in his +mission?--that sort of talisman might have been necessary, no doubt. +Even to the police itself--all but the heads--he had been known only as +Sevrin the noted anarchist. + +"He hung his head, biting his lower lip. A change had come over him, +a sort of thoughtful, absorbed calmness. Nevertheless, he panted. His +sides worked visibly, and his nostrils expanded and collapsed in weird +contrast with his sombre aspect of a fanatical monk in a meditative +attitude, but with something, too, in his face of an actor intent upon +the terrible exigencies of his part. Before him Horne declaimed, haggard +and bearded, like an inspired denunciatory prophet from a wilderness. +Two fanatics. They were made to understand each other. Does this +surprise you? I suppose you think that such people would be foaming at +the mouth and snarling at each other?" + +I protested hastily that I was not surprised in the least; that I +thought nothing of the kind; that anarchists in general were simply +inconceivable to me mentally, morally, logically, sentimentally, and +even physically. X received this declaration with his usual woodenness +and went on. + +"Horne had burst out into eloquence. While pouring out scornful +invective, he let tears escape from his eyes and roll down his black +beard unheeded. Sevrin panted quicker and quicker. When he opened his +mouth to speak, everyone hung on his words. + +"'Don't be a fool, Horne,' he began. 'You know very well that I have +done this for none of the reasons you are throwing at me.' And in a +moment he became outwardly as steady as a rock under the other's lurid +stare. 'I have been thwarting, deceiving, and betraying you--from +conviction.' + +"He turned his back on Horne, and addressing the girl, repeated the +words: 'From conviction.' + +"It's extraordinary how cold she looked. I suppose she could not think +of any appropriate gesture. There can have been few precedents indeed +for such a situation. + +"'Clear as daylight,' he added. 'Do you understand what that means? From +conviction.' + +"And still she did not stir. She did not know what to do. But the +luckless wretch was about to give her the opportunity for a beautiful +and correct gesture. + +"'I have felt in me the power to make you share this conviction,' he +protested, ardently. He had forgotten himself; he made a step towards +her--perhaps he stumbled. To me he seemed to be stooping low as if to +touch the hem of her garment. And then the appropriate gesture came. She +snatched her skirt away from his polluting contact and averted her +head with an upward tilt. It was magnificently done, this gesture of +conventionally unstained honour, of an unblemished high-minded amateur. + +"Nothing could have been better. And he seemed to think so, too, for +once more he turned away. But this time he faced no one. He was again +panting frightfully, while he fumbled hurriedly in his waistcoat pocket, +and then raised his hand to his lips. There was something furtive in +this movement, but directly afterwards his bearing changed. His laboured +breathing gave him a resemblance to a man who had just run a desperate +race; but a curious air of detachment, of sudden and profound +indifference, replaced the strain of the striving effort. The race was +over. I did not want to see what would happen next. I was only too well +aware. I tucked the young lady's arm under mine without a word, and made +my way with her to the stairs. + +"Her brother walked behind us. Half-way up the short flight she seemed +unable to lift her feet high enough for the steps, and we had to pull +and push to get her to the top. In the passage she dragged herself +along, hanging on my arm, helplessly bent like an old woman. We issued +into an empty street through a half-open door, staggering like besotted +revellers. At the corner we stopped a four-wheeler, and the ancient +driver looked round from his box with morose scorn at our efforts to get +her in. Twice during the drive I felt her collapse on my shoulder in a +half faint. Facing us, the youth in knickerbockers remained as mute as a +fish, and, till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat more still than I +would have believed it possible. + +"At the door of their drawing-room she left my arm and walked in first, +catching at the chairs and tables. She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted +with the effort, her cloak still hanging from her shoulders, flung +herself into a deep armchair, sideways, her face half buried in a +cushion. The good brother appeared silently before her with a glass of +water. She motioned it away. He drank it himself and walked off to a +distant corner--behind the grand piano, somewhere. All was still in this +room where I had seen, for the first time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist, +captivated and spellbound by the consummate and hereditary grimaces that +in a certain sphere of life take the place of feelings with an excellent +effect. I suppose her thoughts were busy with the same memory. Her +shoulders shook violently. A pure attack of nerves. When it quieted down +she affected firmness, 'What is done to a man of that sort? What will +they do to him?' + +"'Nothing. They can do nothing to him,' I assured her, with perfect +truth. I was pretty certain he had died in less than twenty minutes +from the moment his hand had gone to his lips. For if his fanatical +anti-anarchism went even as far as carrying poison in his pocket, only to +rob his adversaries of legitimate vengeance, I knew he would take care +to provide something that would not fail him when required. + +"She drew an angry breath. There were red spots on her cheeks and a +feverish brilliance in her eyes. + +"'Has ever any one been exposed to such a terrible experience? To think +that he had held my hand! That man!' Her face twitched, she gulped down +a pathetic sob. 'If I ever felt sure of anything, it was of Sevrin's +high-minded motives.' + +"Then she began to weep quietly, which was good for her. Then through +her flood of tears, half resentful, 'What was it he said to me?--"From +conviction!" It seemed a vile mockery. What could he mean by it?' + +"'That, my dear young lady,' I said, gently, 'is more than I or anybody +else can ever explain to you.'" + +Mr. X flicked a crumb off the front of his coat. + +"And that was strictly true as to her. Though Horne, for instance, +understood very well; and so did I, especially after we had been to +Sevrin's lodging in a dismal back street of an intensely respectable +quarter. Horne was known there as a friend, and we had no difficulty in +being admitted, the slatternly maid merely remarking, as she let us in, +that 'Mr Sevrin had not been home that night.' We forced open a couple +of drawers in the way of duty, and found a little useful information. +The most interesting part was his diary; for this man, engaged in such +deadly work, had the weakness to keep a record of the most damnatory +kind. There were his acts and also his thoughts laid bare to us. But the +dead don't mind that. They don't mind anything. + +"'From conviction.' Yes. A vague but ardent humanitarianism had urged +him in his first youth into the bitterest extremity of negation and +revolt. Afterwards his optimism flinched. He doubted and became lost. +You have heard of converted atheists. These turn often into dangerous +fanatics, but the soul remains the same. After he had got acquainted +with the girl, there are to be met in that diary of his very queer +politico-amorous rhapsodies. He took her sovereign grimaces with deadly +seriousness. He longed to convert her. But all this cannot interest you. +For the rest, I don't know if you remember--it is a good many years ago +now--the journalistic sensation of the 'Hermione Street Mystery'; the +finding of a man's body in the cellar of an empty house; the inquest; +some arrests; many surmises--then silence--the usual end for many +obscure martyrs and confessors. The fact is, he was not enough of an +optimist. You must be a savage, tyrannical, pitiless, thick-and-thin +optimist, like Horne, for instance, to make a good social rebel of the +extreme type. + +"He rose from the table. A waiter hurried up with his overcoat; another +held his hat in readiness. + +"But what became of the young lady?" I asked. + +"Do you really want to know?" he said, buttoning himself in his fur coat +carefully. "I confess to the small malice of sending her Sevrin's diary. +She went into retirement; then she went to Florence; then she went into +retreat in a convent. I can't tell where she will go next. What does it +matter? Gestures! Gestures! Mere gestures of her class." + +"He fitted on his glossy high hat with extreme precision, and casting +a rapid glance round the room, full of well-dressed people, innocently +dining, muttered between his teeth: + +"And nothing else! That is why their kind is fated to perish." + +"I never met Mr. X again after that evening. I took to dining at my club. +On my next visit to Paris I found my friend all impatience to hear of +the effect produced on me by this rare item of his collection. I +told him all the story, and he beamed on me with the pride of his +distinguished specimen. + +"'Isn't X well worth knowing?' he bubbled over in great delight. 'He's +unique, amazing, absolutely terrific.' + +"His enthusiasm grated upon my finer feelings. I told him curtly that the +man's cynicism was simply abominable. + +"'Oh, abominable! abominable!' assented my friend, effusively. 'And then, +you know, he likes to have his little joke sometimes,' he added in a +confidential tone. + +"I fail to understand the connection of this last remark. I have been +utterly unable to discover where in all this the joke comes in." + + + + +AN INDIGNANT TALE + + +THE BRUTE + + +Dodging in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged a smile and a +glance with Miss Blank in the bar of the Three Crows. This exchange was +effected with extreme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still +alive, Miss Blank must be something over sixty now. How time passes! + +Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the partition of glass and +varnished wood, Miss Blank was good enough to say, encouragingly: + +"Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with another gentleman +I've never seen before." + +I moved towards the parlour door. A voice discoursing on the other side +(it was but a matchboard partition), rose so loudly that the concluding +words became quite plain in all their atrocity. + +"That fellow Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, and a good job, too!" + +This inhuman sentiment, since there was nothing profane or improper +in it, failed to do as much as to check the slight yawn Miss Blank +was achieving behind her hand. And she remained gazing fixedly at the +window-panes, which streamed with rain. + +As I opened the parlour door the same voice went on in the same cruel +strain: + +"I was glad when I heard she got the knock from somebody at last. Sorry +enough for poor Wilmot, though. That man and I used to be chums at one +time. Of course that was the end of him. A clear case if there ever was +one. No way out of it. None at all." + +The voice belonged to the gentleman Miss Blank had never seen before. He +straddled his long legs on the hearthrug. Jermyn, leaning forward, +held his pocket-handkerchief spread out before the grate. He looked back +dismally over his shoulder, and as I slipped behind one of the +little wooden tables, I nodded to him. On the other side of the fire, +imposingly calm and large, sat Mr. Stonor, jammed tight into a capacious +Windsor armchair. There was nothing small about him but his short, white +side-whiskers. Yards and yards of extra superfine blue cloth (made up +into an overcoat) reposed on a chair by his side. And he must just have +brought some liner from sea, because another chair was smothered under +his black waterproof, ample as a pall, and made of three-fold oiled +silk, double-stitched throughout. A man's hand-bag of the usual size +looked like a child's toy on the floor near his feet. + +I did not nod to him. He was too big to be nodded to in that parlour. +He was a senior Trinity pilot and condescended to take his turn in the +cutter only during the summer months. He had been many times in charge +of royal yachts in and out of Port Victoria. Besides, it's no use +nodding to a monument. And he was like one. He didn't speak, he didn't +budge. He just sat there, holding his handsome old head up, immovable, +and almost bigger than life. It was extremely fine. Mr. Stonor's +presence reduced poor old Jermyn to a mere shabby wisp of a man, and +made the talkative stranger in tweeds on the hearthrug look absurdly +boyish. The latter must have been a few years over thirty, and was +certainly not the sort of individual that gets abashed at the sound +of his own voice, because gathering me in, as it were, by a friendly +glance, he kept it going without a check. + +"I was glad of it," he repeated, emphatically. "You may be surprised at +it, but then you haven't gone through the experience I've had of her. +I can tell you, it was something to remember. Of course, I got off scot +free myself--as you can see. She did her best to break up my pluck for +me tho'. She jolly near drove as fine a fellow as ever lived into a +madhouse. What do you say to that--eh?" + +Not an eyelid twitched in Mr. Stonor's enormous face. Monumental! The +speaker looked straight into my eyes. + +"It used to make me sick to think of her going about the world murdering +people." + +Jermyn approached the handkerchief a little nearer to the grate and +groaned. It was simply a habit he had. + +"I've seen her once," he declared, with mournful indifference. "She had +a house--" + +The stranger in tweeds turned to stare down at him, surprised. + +"She had three houses," he corrected, authoritatively. But Jermyn was +not to be contradicted. + +"She had a house, I say," he repeated, with dismal obstinacy. "A great, +big, ugly, white thing. You could see it from miles away--sticking up." + +"So you could," assented the other readily. "It was old Colchester's +notion, though he was always threatening to give her up. He couldn't +stand her racket any more, he declared; it was too much of a good +thing for him; he would wash his hands of her, if he never got hold of +another--and so on. I daresay he would have chucked her, only--it may +surprise you--his missus wouldn't hear of it. Funny, eh? But with women, +you never know how they will take a thing, and Mrs. Colchester, with her +moustaches and big eyebrows, set up for being as strong-minded as they +make them. She used to walk about in a brown silk dress, with a great +gold cable flopping about her bosom. You should have heard her snapping +out: 'Rubbish!' or 'Stuff and nonsense!' I daresay she knew when she was +well off. They had no children, and had never set up a home anywhere. +When in England she just made shift to hang out anyhow in some cheap +hotel or boarding-house. I daresay she liked to get back to the comforts +she was used to. She knew very well she couldn't gain by any change. +And, moreover, Colchester, though a first-rate man, was not what you +may call in his first youth, and, perhaps, she may have thought that he +wouldn't be able to get hold of another (as he used to say) so easily. +Anyhow, for one reason or another, it was 'Rubbish' and 'Stuff and +nonsense' for the good lady. I overheard once young Mr. Apse himself say +to her confidentially: 'I assure you, Mrs. Colchester, I am beginning to +feel quite unhappy about the name she's getting for herself.' 'Oh,' says +she, with her deep little hoarse laugh, 'if one took notice of all the +silly talk,' and she showed Apse all her ugly false teeth at once. 'It +would take more than that to make me lose my confidence in her, I assure +you,' says she." + +At this point, without any change of facial expression, Mr. Stonor +emitted a short, sardonic laugh. It was very impressive, but I didn't +see the fun. I looked from one to another. The stranger on the hearthrug +had an ugly smile. + +"And Mr. Apse shook both Mrs. Colchester's hands, he was so pleased to +hear a good word said for their favourite. All these Apses, young +and old you know, were perfectly infatuated with that abominable, +dangerous--" + +"I beg your pardon," I interrupted, for he seemed to be addressing +himself exclusively to me; "but who on earth are you talking about?" + +"I am talking of the Apse family," he answered, courteously. + +I nearly let out a damn at this. But just then the respected Miss Blank +put her head in, and said that the cab was at the door, if Mr. Stonor +wanted to catch the eleven three up. + +At once the senior pilot arose in his mighty bulk and began to struggle +into his coat, with awe-inspiring upheavals. The stranger and I hurried +impulsively to his assistance, and directly we laid our hands on him he +became perfectly quiescent. We had to raise our arms very high, and +to make efforts. It was like caparisoning a docile elephant. With a +"Thanks, gentlemen," he dived under and squeezed himself through the +door in a great hurry. + +We smiled at each other in a friendly way. + +"I wonder how he manages to hoist himself up a ship's side-ladder," +said the man in tweeds; and poor Jermyn, who was a mere North Sea +pilot, without official status or recognition of any sort, pilot only by +courtesy, groaned. + +"He makes eight hundred a year." + +"Are you a sailor?" I asked the stranger, who had gone back to his +position on the rug. + +"I used to be till a couple of years ago, when I got married," answered +this communicative individual. "I even went to sea first in that very +ship we were speaking of when you came in." + +"What ship?" I asked, puzzled. "I never heard you mention a ship." + +"I've just told you her name, my dear sir," he replied. "The Apse +Family. Surely you've heard of the great firm of Apse & Sons, +shipowners. They had a pretty big fleet. There was the Lucy Apse, and +the Harold Apse, and Anne, John, Malcolm, Clara, Juliet, and so +on--no end of Apses. Every brother, sister, aunt, cousin, wife--and +grandmother, too, for all I know--of the firm had a ship named after +them. Good, solid, old-fashioned craft they were, too, built to carry +and to last. None of your new-fangled, labour-saving appliances in +them, but plenty of men and plenty of good salt beef and hard tack put +aboard--and off you go to fight your way out and home again." + +The miserable Jermyn made a sound of approval, which sounded like a +groan of pain. Those were the ships for him. He pointed out in doleful +tones that you couldn't say to labour-saving appliances: "Jump lively +now, my hearties." No labour-saving appliance would go aloft on a dirty +night with the sands under your lee. + +"No," assented the stranger, with a wink at me. "The Apses didn't +believe in them either, apparently. They treated their people well--as +people don't get treated nowadays, and they were awfully proud of their +ships. Nothing ever happened to them. This last one, the Apse Family, +was to be like the others, only she was to be still stronger, still +safer, still more roomy and comfortable. I believe they meant her +to last for ever. They had her built composite--iron, teak-wood, and +greenheart, and her scantling was something fabulous. If ever an order +was given for a ship in a spirit of pride this one was. Everything of +the best. The commodore captain of the employ was to command her, and +they planned the accommodation for him like a house on shore under +a big, tall poop that went nearly to the mainmast. No wonder Mrs. +Colchester wouldn't let the old man give her up. Why, it was the best +home she ever had in all her married days. She had a nerve, that woman. + +"The fuss that was made while that ship was building! Let's have this a +little stronger, and that a little heavier; and hadn't that other thing +better be changed for something a little thicker. The builders entered +into the spirit of the game, and there she was, growing into the +clumsiest, heaviest ship of her size right before all their eyes, +without anybody becoming aware of it somehow. She was to be 2,000 +tons register, or a little over; no less on any account. But see what +happens. When they came to measure her she turned out 1,999 tons and +a fraction. General consternation! And they say old Mr. Apse was so +annoyed when they told him that he took to his bed and died. The old +gentleman had retired from the firm twenty-five years before, and +was ninety-six years old if a day, so his death wasn't, perhaps, so +surprising. Still Mr. Lucian Apse was convinced that his father would +have lived to a hundred. So we may put him at the head of the list. Next +comes the poor devil of a shipwright that brute caught and squashed as +she went off the ways. They called it the launch of a ship, but I've +heard people say that, from the wailing and yelling and scrambling out +of the way, it was more like letting a devil loose upon the river. +She snapped all her checks like pack-thread, and went for the tugs in +attendance like a fury. Before anybody could see what she was up to she +sent one of them to the bottom, and laid up another for three months' +repairs. One of her cables parted, and then, suddenly--you couldn't tell +why--she let herself be brought up with the other as quiet as a lamb. + +"That's how she was. You could never be sure what she would be up to +next. There are ships difficult to handle, but generally you can depend +on them behaving rationally. With that ship, whatever you did with her +you never knew how it would end. She was a wicked beast. Or, perhaps, +she was only just insane." + +He uttered this supposition in so earnest a tone that I could not +refrain from smiling. He left off biting his lower lip to apostrophize +me. + +"Eh! Why not? Why couldn't there be something in her build, in her lines +corresponding to--What's madness? Only something just a tiny bit wrong +in the make of your brain. Why shouldn't there be a mad ship--I mean mad +in a ship-like way, so that under no circumstances could you be sure she +would do what any other sensible ship would naturally do for you. There +are ships that steer wildly, and ships that can't be quite trusted +always to stay; others want careful watching when running in a gale; +and, again, there may be a ship that will make heavy weather of it in +every little blow. But then you expect her to be always so. You take it +as part of her character, as a ship, just as you take account of a +man's peculiarities of temper when you deal with him. But with her you +couldn't. She was unaccountable. If she wasn't mad, then she was the +most evil-minded, underhand, savage brute that ever went afloat. I've +seen her run in a heavy gale beautifully for two days, and on the third +broach to twice in the same afternoon. The first time she flung the +helmsman clean over the wheel, but as she didn't quite manage to kill +him she had another try about three hours afterwards. She swamped +herself fore and aft, burst all the canvas we had set, scared all hands +into a panic, and even frightened Mrs. Colchester down there in these +beautiful stern cabins that she was so proud of. When we mustered the +crew there was one man missing. Swept overboard, of course, without +being either seen or heard, poor devil! and I only wonder more of us +didn't go. + +"Always something like that. Always. I heard an old mate tell Captain +Colchester once that it had come to this with him, that he was afraid to +open his mouth to give any sort of order. She was as much of a terror +in harbour as at sea. You could never be certain what would hold her. On +the slightest provocation she would start snapping ropes, cables, wire +hawsers, like carrots. She was heavy, clumsy, unhandy--but that does not +quite explain that power for mischief she had. You know, somehow, when I +think of her I can't help remembering what we hear of incurable lunatics +breaking loose now and then." + +He looked at me inquisitively. But, of course, I couldn't admit that a +ship could be mad. + +"In the ports where she was known," he went on,' "they dreaded the sight +of her. She thought nothing of knocking away twenty feet or so of solid +stone facing off a quay or wiping off the end of a wooden wharf. She +must have lost miles of chain and hundreds of tons of anchors in her +time. When she fell aboard some poor unoffending ship it was the +very devil of a job to haul her off again. And she never got hurt +herself--just a few scratches or so, perhaps. They had wanted to have +her strong. And so she was. Strong enough to ram Polar ice with. And as +she began so she went on. From the day she was launched she never let +a year pass without murdering somebody. I think the owners got very +worried about it. But they were a stiff-necked generation all these +Apses; they wouldn't admit there could be anything wrong with the Apse +Family. They wouldn't even change her name. 'Stuff and nonsense,' as +Mrs. Colchester used to say. They ought at least to have shut her up +for life in some dry dock or other, away up the river, and never let her +smell salt water again. I assure you, my dear sir, that she invariably +did kill someone every voyage she made. It was perfectly well-known. She +got a name for it, far and wide." + +I expressed my surprise that a ship with such a deadly reputation could +ever get a crew. + +"Then, you don't know what sailors are, my dear sir. Let me just show +you by an instance. One day in dock at home, while loafing on the +forecastle head, I noticed two respectable salts come along, one a +middle-aged, competent, steady man, evidently, the other a smart, +youngish chap. They read the name on the bows and stopped to look at +her. Says the elder man: 'Apse Family. That's the sanguinary female dog' +(I'm putting it in that way) 'of a ship, Jack, that kills a man every +voyage. I wouldn't sign in her--not for Joe, I wouldn't.' And the other +says: 'If she were mine, I'd have her towed on the mud and set on fire, +blame if I wouldn't.' Then the first man chimes in: 'Much do they care! +Men are cheap, God knows.' The younger one spat in the water alongside. +'They won't have me--not for double wages.' + +"They hung about for some time and then walked up the dock. Half an +hour later I saw them both on our deck looking about for the mate, and +apparently very anxious to be taken on. And they were." + +"How do you account for this?" I asked. + +"What would you say?" he retorted. "Recklessness! The vanity of +boasting in the evening to all their chums: 'We've just shipped in +that there Apse Family. Blow her. She ain't going to scare us.' Sheer +sailorlike perversity! A sort of curiosity. Well--a little of all that, +no doubt. I put the question to them in the course of the voyage. The +answer of the elderly chap was: + +"'A man can die but once.' The younger assured me in a mocking tone that +he wanted to see 'how she would do it this time.' But I tell you what; +there was a sort of fascination about the brute." + +Jermyn, who seemed to have seen every ship in the world, broke in +sulkily: + +"I saw her once out of this very window towing up the river; a great +black ugly thing, going along like a big hearse." + +"Something sinister about her looks, wasn't there?" said the man in +tweeds, looking down at old Jermyn with a friendly eye. "I always had +a sort of horror of her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more +than fourteen, the very first day--nay, hour--I joined her. Father came +up to see me off, and was to go down to Gravesend with us. I was his +second boy to go to sea. My big brother was already an officer then. We. +got on board about eleven in the morning, and found the ship ready to +drop out of the basin, stern first. She had not moved three times her +own length when, at a little pluck the tug gave her to enter the dock +gates, she made one of her rampaging starts, and put such a weight on +the check rope--a new six-inch hawser--that forward there they had no +chance to ease it round in time, and it parted. I saw the broken end fly +up high in the air, and the next moment that brute brought her quarter +against the pier-head with a jar that staggered everybody about her +decks. She didn't hurt herself. Not she! But one of the boys the +mate had sent aloft on the mizzen to do something, came down on the +poop-deck--thump--right in front of me. He was not much older than +myself. We had been grinning at each other only a few minutes before. He +must have been handling himself carelessly, not expecting to get such a +jerk. I heard his startled cry--Oh!--in a high treble as he felt himself +going, and looked up in time to see him go limp all over as he fell. +Ough! Poor father was remarkably white about the gills when we shook +hands in Gravesend. 'Are you all right?' he says, looking hard at me. +'Yes, father.' 'Quite sure?' 'Yes, father.' 'Well, then good-bye, my +boy.' He told me afterwards that for half a word he would have carried +me off home with him there and then. I am the baby of the family--you +know," added the man in tweeds, stroking his moustache with an ingenuous +smile. + +I acknowledged this interesting communication by a sympathetic murmur. +He waved his hand carelessly. + +"This might have utterly spoiled a chap's nerve for going aloft, you +know--utterly. He fell within two feet of me, cracking his head on a +mooring-bitt. Never moved. Stone dead. Nice looking little fellow, he +was. I had just been thinking we would be great chums. However, that +wasn't yet the worst that brute of a ship could do. I served in her +three years of my time, and then I got transferred to the Lucy Apse, for +a year. The sailmaker we had in the Apse Family turned up there, too, +and I remember him saying to me one evening, after we had been a week at +sea: Isn't she a meek little ship?' No wonder we thought the Lucy Apse +a dear, meek, little ship after getting clear of that big, rampaging +savage brute. It was like heaven. Her officers seemed to me the +restfullest lot of men on earth. To me who had known no ship but the +Apse Family, the Lucy was like a sort of magic craft that did what you +wanted her to do of her own accord. One evening we got caught aback +pretty sharply from right ahead. In about ten minutes we had her full +again, sheets aft, tacks down, decks cleared, and the officer of the +watch leaning against the weather rail peacefully. It seemed simply +marvellous to me. The other would have stuck for half-an-hour in irons, +rolling her decks full of water, knocking the men about--spars cracking, +braces snapping, yards taking charge, and a confounded scare going on +aft because of her beastly rudder, which she had a way of flapping about +fit to raise your hair on end. I couldn't get over my wonder for days. + +"Well, I finished my last year of apprenticeship in that jolly little +ship--she wasn't so little either, but after that other heavy devil she +seemed but a plaything to handle. I finished my time and passed; and +then just as I was thinking of having three weeks of real good time on +shore I got at breakfast a letter asking me the earliest day I could +be ready to join the Apse Family as third mate. I gave my plate a shove +that shot it into the middle of the table; dad looked up over his paper; +mother raised her hands in astonishment, and I went out bare-headed into +our bit of garden, where I walked round and round for an hour. + +"When I came in again mother was out of the dining-room, and dad +had shifted berth into his big armchair. The letter was lying on the +mantelpiece. + +"'It's very creditable to you to get the offer, and very kind of them to +make it,' he said. 'And I see also that Charles has been appointed chief +mate of that ship for one voyage.' + +"There was, over leaf, a P.S. to that effect in Mr. Apse's own +handwriting, which I had overlooked. Charley was my big brother. + +"I don't like very much to have two of my boys together in one ship,' +father goes on, in his deliberate, solemn way. 'And I may tell you that +I would not mind writing Mr. Apse a letter to that effect.' + +"Dear old dad! He was a wonderful father. What would you have done? The +mere notion of going back (and as an officer, too), to be worried and +bothered, and kept on the jump night and day by that brute, made me feel +sick. But she wasn't a ship you could afford to fight shy of. Besides, +the most genuine excuse could not be given without mortally offending +Apse & Sons. The firm, and I believe the whole family down to the old +unmarried aunts in Lancashire, had grown desperately touchy about that +accursed ship's character. This was the case for answering 'Ready now' +from your very death-bed if you wished to die in their good graces. And +that's precisely what I did answer--by wire, to have it over and done +with at once. + +"The prospect of being shipmates with my big brother cheered me up +considerably, though it made me a bit anxious, too. Ever since I +remember myself as a little chap he had been very good to me, and I +looked upon him as the finest fellow in the world. And so he was. No +better officer ever walked the deck of a merchant ship. And that's a +fact. He was a fine, strong, upstanding, sun-tanned, young fellow, with +his brown hair curling a little, and an eye like a hawk. He was just +splendid. We hadn't seen each other for many years, and even this time, +though he had been in England three weeks already, he hadn't showed up +at home yet, but had spent his spare time in Surrey somewhere making +up to Maggie Colchester, old Captain Colchester's niece. Her father, a +great friend of dad's, was in the sugar-broking business, and Charley +made a sort of second home of their house. I wondered what my big +brother would think of me. There was a sort of sternness about Charley's +face which never left it, not even when he was larking in his rather +wild fashion. + +"He received me with a great shout of laughter. He seemed to think +my joining as an officer the greatest joke in the world. There was a +difference of ten years between us, and I suppose he remembered me +best in pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first went to sea. It +surprised me to find how boisterous he could be. + +"'Now we shall see what you are made of,' he cried. And he held me off +by the shoulders, and punched my ribs, and hustled me into his berth. +'Sit down, Ned. I am glad of the chance of having you with me. I'll put +the finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing you're worth the +trouble. And, first of all, get it well into your head that we are +not going to let this brute kill anybody this voyage. We'll stop her +racket.' + +"I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He talked grimly of the +ship, and how we must be careful and never allow this ugly beast to +catch us napping with any of her damned tricks. + +"He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship for the use of the +Apse Family; then changing his tone, he began to talk at large, rattling +off the wildest, funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. +I could see very well he was a bit above himself with high spirits. It +couldn't be because of my coming. Not to that extent. But, of course, +I wouldn't have dreamt of asking what was the matter. I had a proper +respect for my big brother, I can tell you. But it was all made plain +enough a day or two afterwards, when I heard that Miss Maggie Colchester +was coming for the voyage. Uncle was giving her a sea-trip for the +benefit of her health. + +"I don't know what could have been wrong with her health. She had a +beautiful colour, and a deuce of a lot of fair hair. She didn't care a +rap for wind, or rain, or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. +She was a blue-eyed, jolly girl of the very best sort, but the way she +cheeked my big brother used to frighten me. I always expected it to end +in an awful row. However, nothing decisive happened till after we had +been in Sydney for a week. One day, in the men's dinner hour, Charley +sticks his head into my cabin. I was stretched out on my back on the +settee, smoking in peace. + +"'Come ashore with me, Ned,' he says, in his curt way. + +"I jumped up, of course, and away after him down the gangway and +up George Street. He strode along like a giant, and I at his elbow, +panting. It was confoundedly hot. 'Where on earth are you rushing me to, +Charley?' I made bold to ask. + +"'Here,' he says. + +"'Here' was a jeweller's shop. I couldn't imagine what he could want +there. It seemed a sort of mad freak. He thrusts under my nose three +rings, which looked very tiny on his big, brown palm, growling out-- + +"'For Maggie! Which?' + +"I got a kind of scare at this. I couldn't make a sound, but I pointed +at the one that sparkled white and blue. He put it in his waistcoat +pocket, paid for it with a lot of sovereigns, and bolted out. When +we got on board I was quite out of breath. 'Shake hands, old chap,' I +gasped out. He gave me a thump on the back. 'Give what orders you like +to the boatswain when the hands turn-to,' says he; 'I am off duty this +afternoon.' + +"Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but presently he came out +of the cabin with Maggie, and these two went over the gangway publicly, +before all hands, going for a walk together on that awful, blazing hot +day, with clouds of dust flying about. They came back after a few hours +looking very staid, but didn't seem to have the slightest idea where +they had been. Anyway, that's the answer they both made to Mrs. +Colchester's question at tea-time. + +"And didn't she turn on Charley, with her voice like an old night +cabman's! 'Rubbish. Don't know where you've been! Stuff and nonsense. +You've walked the girl off her legs. Don't do it again.' + +"It's surprising how meek Charley could be with that old woman. Only +on one occasion he whispered to me, 'I'm jolly glad she isn't Maggie's +aunt, except by marriage. That's no sort of relationship.' But I think +he let Maggie have too much of her own way. She was hopping all over +that ship in her yachting skirt and a red tam o' shanter like a bright +bird on a dead black tree. The old salts used to grin to themselves when +they saw her coming along, and offered to teach her knots or splices. I +believe she liked the men, for Charley's sake, I suppose. + +"As you may imagine, the fiendish propensities of that cursed ship were +never spoken of on board. Not in the cabin, at any rate. Only once +on the homeward passage Charley said, incautiously, something about +bringing all her crew home this time. Captain Colchester began to look +uncomfortable at once, and that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at +Charley as though he had said something indecent. I was quite confounded +myself; as to Maggie, she sat completely mystified, opening her blue +eyes very wide. Of course, before she was a day older she wormed it all +out of me. She was a very difficult person to lie to. + +"'How awful,' she said, quite solemn. 'So many poor fellows. I am glad +the voyage is nearly over. I won't have a moment's peace about Charley +now.' + +"I assured her Charley was all right. It took more than that ship knew +to get over a seaman like Charley. And she agreed with me. + +"Next day we got the tug off Dungeness; and when the tow-rope was fast +Charley rubbed his hands and said to me in an undertone-- + +"'We've baffled her, Ned.' + +"'Looks like it,' I said, with a grin at him. It was beautiful weather, +and the sea as smooth as a millpond. We went up the river without a +shadow of trouble except once, when off Hole Haven, the brute took a +sudden sheer and nearly had a barge anchored just clear of the fairway. +But I was aft, looking after the steering, and she did not catch me +napping that time. Charley came up on the poop, looking very concerned. +'Close shave,' says he. + +"'Never mind, Charley,' I answered, cheerily. 'You've tamed her.' + +"We were to tow right up to the dock. The river pilot boarded us below +Gravesend, and the first words I heard him say were: 'You may just as +well take your port anchor inboard at once, Mr. Mate.' + +"This had been done when I went forward. I saw Maggie on the forecastle +head enjoying the bustle and I begged her to go aft, but she took no +notice of me, of course. Then Charley, who was very busy with the head +gear, caught sight of her and shouted in his biggest voice: 'Get off +the forecastle head, Maggie. You're in the way here.' For all answer +she made a funny face at him, and I saw poor Charley turn away, hiding +a smile. She was flushed with the excitement of getting home again, and +her blue eyes seemed to snap electric sparks as she looked at the river. +A collier brig had gone round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop +her engines in a hurry to avoid running into her. + +"In a moment, as is usually the case, all the shipping in the reach +seemed to get into a hopeless tangle. A schooner and a ketch got up a +small collision all to themselves right in the middle of the river. +It was exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained stopped. Any +other ship than that brute could have been coaxed to keep straight for a +couple of minutes--but not she! Her head fell off at once, and she began +to drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed a cluster of +coasters at anchor within a quarter of a mile of us, and I thought I +had better speak to the pilot. 'If you let her get amongst that lot,' +I said, quietly, 'she will grind some of them to bits before we get her +out again.' + +"'Don't I know her!' cries he, stamping his foot in a perfect fury. And +he out with his whistle to make that bothered tug get the ship's head +up again as quick as possible. He blew like mad, waving his arm to port, +and presently we could see that the tug's engines had been set going +ahead. Her paddles churned the water, but it was as if she had been +trying to tow a rock--she couldn't get an inch out of that ship. Again +the pilot blew his whistle, and waved his arm to port. We could see the +tug's paddles turning faster and faster away, broad on our bow. + +"For a moment tug and ship hung motionless in a crowd of moving +shipping, and then the terrific strain that evil, stony-hearted brute +would always put on everything, tore the towing-chock clean out. The +tow-rope surged over, snapping the iron stanchions of the head-rail one +after another as if they had been sticks of sealing-wax. It was only +then I noticed that in order to have a better view over our heads, +Maggie had stepped upon the port anchor as it lay flat on the forecastle +deck. + +"It had been lowered properly into its hardwood beds, but there had been +no time to take a turn with it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, +for going into dock; but I could see directly that the tow-rope would +sweep under the fluke in another second. My heart flew up right into +my throat, but not before I had time to yell out: 'Jump clear of that +anchor!' + +"But I hadn't time to shriek out her name. I don't suppose she heard me +at all. The first touch of the hawser against the fluke threw her down; +she was up on her feet again quick as lightning, but she was up on the +wrong side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and then that anchor, +tipping over, rose up like something alive; its great, rough iron arm +caught Maggie round the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a dreadful +hug, and flung itself with her over and down in a terrific clang of +iron, followed by heavy ringing blows that shook the ship from stem to +stern--because the ring stopper held!" + +"How horrible!" I exclaimed. + +"I used to dream for years afterwards of anchors catching hold of +girls," said the man in tweeds, a little wildly. He shuddered. "With a +most pitiful howl Charley was over after her almost on the instant. But, +Lord! he didn't see as much as a gleam of her red tam o' shanter in the +water. Nothing! nothing whatever! In a moment there were half-a-dozen +boats around us, and he got pulled into one. I, with the boatswain and +the carpenter, let go the other anchor in a hurry and brought the +ship up somehow. The pilot had gone silly. He walked up and down the +forecastle head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: 'Killing +women, now! Killing women, now!' Not another word could you get out of +him. + +"Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch; and peering upon the river I +heard a low, mournful hail, 'Ship, ahoy!' Two Gravesend watermen came +alongside. They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the ship's +side, holding on to the ladder without a word. I saw in the patch of +light a lot of loose, fair hair down there." + +He shuddered again. + +"After the tide turned poor Maggie's body had floated clear of one of +them big mooring buoys," he explained. "I crept aft, feeling half-dead, +and managed to send a rocket up--to let the other searchers know, on +the river. And then I slunk away forward like a cur, and spent the night +sitting on the heel of the bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out +of Charley's way." + +"Poor fellow!" I murmured. + +"Yes. Poor fellow," he repeated, musingly. "That brute wouldn't let +him--not even him--cheat her of her prey. But he made her fast in dock +next morning. He did. We hadn't exchanged a word--not a single look for +that matter. I didn't want to look at him. When the last rope was fast +he put his hands to his head and stood gazing down at his feet as if +trying to remember something. The men waited on the main deck for +the words that end the voyage. Perhaps that is what he was trying to +remember. I spoke for him. 'That'll do, men.' + +"I never saw a crew leave a ship so quietly. They sneaked over the rail +one after another, taking care not to bang their sea chests too heavily. +They looked our way, but not one had the stomach to come up and offer to +shake hands with the mate as is usual. + +"I followed him all over the empty ship to and fro, here and there, with +no living soul about but the two of us, because the old ship-keeper +had locked himself up in the galley--both doors. Suddenly poor Charley +mutters, in a crazy voice: 'I'm done here,' and strides down the gangway +with me at his heels, up the dock, out at the gate, on towards Tower +Hill. He used to take rooms with a decent old landlady in America +Square, to be near his work. + +"All at once he stops short, turns round, and comes back straight at +me. 'Ned,' says he, I am going home.' I had the good luck to sight a +four-wheeler and got him in just in time. His legs were beginning to +give way. In our hall he fell down on a chair, and I'll never forget +father's and mother's amazed, perfectly still faces as they stood over +him. They couldn't understand what had happened to him till I blubbered +out, 'Maggie got drowned, yesterday, in the river.' + +"Mother let out a little cry. Father looks from him to me, and from me +to him, as if comparing our faces--for, upon my soul, Charley did not +resemble himself at all. Nobody moved; and the poor fellow raises his +big brown hands slowly to his throat, and with one single tug rips +everything open--collar, shirt, waistcoat--a perfect wreck and ruin of +a man. Father and I got him upstairs somehow, and mother pretty nearly +killed herself nursing him through a brain fever." + +The man in tweeds nodded at me significantly. + +"Ah! there was nothing that could be done with that brute. She had a +devil in her." + +"Where's your brother?" I asked, expecting to hear he was dead. But he +was commanding a smart steamer on the China coast, and never came home +now. + +Jermyn fetched a heavy sigh, and the handkerchief being now sufficiently +dry, put it up tenderly to his red and lamentable nose. + +"She was a ravening beast," the man in tweeds started again. "Old +Colchester put his foot down and resigned. And would you believe it? +Apse & Sons wrote to ask whether he wouldn't reconsider his decision! +Anything to save the good name of the Apse Family.' Old Colchester went +to the office then and said that he would take charge again but only to +sail her out into the North Sea and scuttle her there. He was nearly off +his chump. He used to be darkish iron-grey, but his hair went snow-white +in a fortnight. And Mr. Lucian Apse (they had known each other as young +men) pretended not to notice it. Eh? Here's infatuation if you like! +Here's pride for you! + +"They jumped at the first man they could get to take her, for fear of +the scandal of the Apse Family not being able to find a skipper. He was +a festive soul, I believe, but he stuck to her grim and hard. Wilmot was +his second mate. A harum-scarum fellow, and pretending to a great scorn +for all the girls. The fact is he was really timid. But let only one of +them do as much as lift her little finger in encouragement, and there +was nothing that could hold the beggar. As apprentice, once, he deserted +abroad after a petticoat, and would have gone to the dogs then, if his +skipper hadn't taken the trouble to find him and lug him by the ears out +of some house of perdition or other. + +"It was said that one of the firm had been heard once to express a hope +that this brute of a ship would get lost soon. I can hardly credit the +tale, unless it might have been Mr. Alfred Apse, whom the family didn't +think much of. They had him in the office, but he was considered a +bad egg altogether, always flying off to race meetings and coming home +drunk. You would have thought that a ship so full of deadly tricks would +run herself ashore some day out of sheer cussedness. But not she! She +was going to last for ever. She had a nose to keep off the bottom." + +Jermyn made a grunt of approval. + +"A ship after a pilot's own heart, eh?" jeered the man in tweeds. "Well, +Wilmot managed it. He was the man for it, but even he, perhaps, couldn't +have done the trick without the green-eyed governess, or nurse, or +whatever she was to the children of Mr. and Mrs. Pamphilius. + +"Those people were passengers in her from Port Adelaide to the +Cape. Well, the ship went out and anchored outside for the day. The +skipper--hospitable soul--had a lot of guests from town to a farewell +lunch--as usual with him. It was five in the evening before the last +shore boat left the side, and the weather looked ugly and dark in the +gulf. There was no reason for him to get under way. However, as he had +told everybody he was going that day, he imagined it was proper to do so +anyhow. But as he had no mind after all these festivities to tackle the +straits in the dark, with a scant wind, he gave orders to keep the ship +under lower topsails and foresail as close as she would lie, dodging +along the land till the morning. Then he sought his virtuous couch. +The mate was on deck, having his face washed very clean with hard rain +squalls. Wilmot relieved him at midnight. + +"The Apse Family had, as you observed, a house on her poop . . ." + +"A big, ugly white thing, sticking up," Jermyn murmured, sadly, at the +fire. + +"That's it: a companion for the cabin stairs and a sort of chart-room +combined. The rain drove in gusts on the sleepy Wilmot. The ship was +then surging slowly to the southward, close hauled, with the coast +within three miles or so to windward. There was nothing to look out for +in that part of the gulf, and Wilmot went round to dodge the squalls +under the lee of that chart-room, whose door on that side was open. The +night was black, like a barrel of coal-tar. And then he heard a woman's +voice whispering to him. + +"That confounded green-eyed girl of the Pamphilius people had put the +kids to bed a long time ago, of course, but it seems couldn't get to +sleep herself. She heard eight bells struck, and the chief mate come +below to turn in. She waited a bit, then got into her dressing-gown and +stole across the empty saloon and up the stairs into the chart-room. She +sat down on the settee near the open door to cool herself, I daresay. + +"I suppose when she whispered to Wilmot it was as if somebody had struck +a match in the fellow's brain. I don't know how it was they had got so +very thick. I fancy he had met her ashore a few times before. I couldn't +make it out, because, when telling the story, Wilmot would break off to +swear something awful at every second word. We had met on the quay in +Sydney, and he had an apron of sacking up to his chin, a big whip in his +hand. A wagon-driver. Glad to do anything not to starve. That's what he +had come down to. + +"However, there he was, with his head inside the door, on the girl's +shoulder as likely as not--officer of the watch! The helmsman, on giving +his evidence afterwards, said that he shouted several times that the +binnacle lamp had gone out. It didn't matter to him, because his orders +were to 'sail her close.' 'I thought it funny,' he said, 'that the ship +should keep on falling off in squalls, but I luffed her up every time +as close as I was able. It was so dark I couldn't see my hand before my +face, and the rain came in bucketfuls on my head.' + +"The truth was that at every squall the wind hauled aft a little, till +gradually the ship came to be heading straight for the coast, without a +single soul in her being aware of it. Wilmot himself confessed that he +had not been near the standard compass for an hour. He might well have +confessed! The first thing he knew was the man on the look-out shouting +blue murder forward there. + +"He tore his neck free, he says, and yelled back at him: 'What do you +say?' + +"'I think I hear breakers ahead, sir,' howled the man, and came rushing +aft with the rest of the watch, in the 'awfullest blinding deluge that +ever fell from the sky,' Wilmot says. For a second or so he was so +scared and bewildered that he could not remember on which side of the +gulf the ship was. He wasn't a good officer, but he was a seaman all +the same. He pulled himself together in a second, and the right orders +sprang to his lips without thinking. They were to hard up with the helm +and shiver the main and mizzen-topsails. + +"It seems that the sails actually fluttered. He couldn't see them, but +he heard them rattling and banging above his head. 'No use! She was too +slow in going off,' he went on, his dirty face twitching, and the damn'd +carter's whip shaking in his hand. 'She seemed to stick fast.' And then +the flutter of the canvas above his head ceased. At this critical moment +the wind hauled aft again with a gust, filling the sails and sending the +ship with a great way upon the rocks on her lee bow. She had overreached +herself in her last little game. Her time had come--the hour, the man, +the black night, the treacherous gust of wind--the right woman to put +an end to her. The brute deserved nothing better. Strange are the +instruments of Providence. There's a sort of poetical justice--" + +The man in tweeds looked hard at me. + +"The first ledge she went over stripped the false keel off her. Rip! The +skipper, rushing out of his berth, found a crazy woman, in a red flannel +dressing-gown, flying round and round the cuddy, screeching like a +cockatoo. + +"The next bump knocked her clean under the cabin table. It also started +the stern-post and carried away the rudder, and then that brute ran up a +shelving, rocky shore, tearing her bottom out, till she stopped short, +and the foremast dropped over the bows like a gangway." + +"Anybody lost?" I asked. + +"No one, unless that fellow, Wilmot," answered the gentleman, unknown +to Miss Blank, looking round for his cap. "And his case was worse than +drowning for a man. Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn't come +on till next day, dead from the West, and broke up that brute in a +surprisingly short time. It was as though she had been rotten at heart." +. . . He changed his tone, "Rain left off? I must get my bike and rush +home to dinner. I live in Herne Bay--came out for a spin this morning." + +He nodded at me in a friendly way, and went out with a swagger. + +"Do you know who he is, Jermyn?" I asked. + +The North Sea pilot shook his head, dismally. "Fancy losing a ship in +that silly fashion! Oh, dear! oh dear!" he groaned in lugubrious tones, +spreading his damp handkerchief again like a curtain before the glowing +grate. + +On going out I exchanged a glance and a smile (strictly proper) with the +respectable Miss Blank, barmaid of the Three Crows. + + + + + +A DESPERATE TALE + + + +AN ANARCHIST + +That year I spent the best two months of the dry season on one of +the estates--in fact, on the principal cattle estate--of a famous +meat-extract manufacturing company. + +B.O.S. Bos. You have seen the three magic letters on the advertisement +pages of magazines and newspapers, in the windows of provision +merchants, and on calendars for next year you receive by post in the +month of November. They scatter pamphlets also, written in a sickly +enthusiastic style and in several languages, giving statistics of +slaughter and bloodshed enough to make a Turk turn faint. The "art" +illustrating that "literature" represents in vivid and shining colours +a large and enraged black bull stamping upon a yellow snake writhing +in emerald-green grass, with a cobalt-blue sky for a background. It +is atrocious and it is an allegory. The snake symbolizes disease, +weakness--perhaps mere hunger, which last is the chronic disease of the +majority of mankind. Of course everybody knows the B. O. S. Ltd., with +its unrivalled products: Vinobos, Jellybos, and the latest unequalled +perfection, Tribos, whose nourishment is offered to you not only highly +concentrated, but already half digested. Such apparently is the love +that Limited Company bears to its fellowmen--even as the love of the +father and mother penguin for their hungry fledglings. + +Of course the capital of a country must be productively employed. I +have nothing to say against the company. But being myself animated by +feelings of affection towards my fellow-men, I am saddened by the +modern system of advertising. Whatever evidence it offers of enterprise, +ingenuity, impudence, and resource in certain individuals, it proves to +my mind the wide prevalence of that form of mental degradation which is +called gullibility. + +In various parts of the civilized and uncivilized world I have had to +swallow B. O. S. with more or less benefit to myself, though without +great pleasure. Prepared with hot water and abundantly peppered to bring +out the taste, this extract is not really unpalatable. But I have never +swallowed its advertisements. Perhaps they have not gone far enough. As +far as I can remember they make no promise of everlasting youth to the +users of B. O. S., nor yet have they claimed the power of raising the +dead for their estimable products. Why this austere reserve, I wonder? +But I don't think they would have had me even on these terms. Whatever +form of mental degradation I may (being but human) be suffering from, it +is not the popular form. I am not gullible. + +I have been at some pains to bring out distinctly this statement about +myself in view of the story which follows. I have checked the facts as +far as possible. I have turned up the files of French newspapers, and I +have also talked with the officer who commands the military guard on +the Ile Royale, when in the course of my travels I reached Cayenne. I +believe the story to be in the main true. It is the sort of story that +no man, I think, would ever invent about himself, for it is neither +grandiose nor flattering, nor yet funny enough to gratify a perverted +vanity. + +It concerns the engineer of the steam-launch belonging to the Maranon +cattle estate of the B. O. S. Co., Ltd. This estate is also an +island--an island as big as a small province, lying in the estuary of a +great South American river. It is wild and not beautiful, but the grass +growing on its low plains seems to possess exceptionally nourishing +and flavouring qualities. It resounds with the lowing of innumerable +herds--a deep and distressing sound under the open sky, rising like +a monstrous protest of prisoners condemned to death. On the mainland, +across twenty miles of discoloured muddy water, there stands a city +whose name, let us say, is Horta. + +But the most interesting characteristic of this island (which seems like +a sort of penal settlement for condemned cattle) consists in its being +the only known habitat of an extremely rare and gorgeous butterfly. +The species is even more rare than it is beautiful, which is not saying +little. I have already alluded to my travels. I travelled at that time, +but strictly for myself and with a moderation unknown in our days of +round-the-world tickets. I even travelled with a purpose. As a matter of +fact, I am--"Ha, ha, ha!--a desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" + +This was the tone in which Mr. Harry Gee, the manager of the cattle +station, alluded to my pursuits. He seemed to consider me the greatest +absurdity in the world. On the other hand, the B. O. S. Co., Ltd., +represented to him the acme of the nineteenth century's achievement. I +believe that he slept in his leggings and spurs. His days he spent in +the saddle flying over the plains, followed by a train of half-wild +horsemen, who called him Don Enrique, and who had no definite idea of +the B. O. S. Co., Ltd., which paid their wages. He was an excellent +manager, but I don't see why, when we met at meals, he should have +thumped me on the back, with loud, derisive inquiries: "How's the deadly +sport to-day? Butterflies going strong? Ha, ha, ha!"--especially as he +charged me two dollars per diem for the hospitality of the B. O. S. Co., +Ltd., (capital L1,500,000, fully paid up), in whose balance-sheet for +that year those monies are no doubt included. "I don't think I can +make it anything less in justice to my company," he had remarked, with +extreme gravity, when I was arranging with him the terms of my stay on +the island. + +His chaff would have been harmless enough if intimacy of intercourse +in the absence of all friendly feeling were not a thing detestable in +itself. Moreover, his facetiousness was not very amusing. It consisted +in the wearisome repetition of descriptive phrases applied to people +with a burst of laughter. "Desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" was +one sample of his peculiar wit which he himself enjoyed so much. And in +the same vein of exquisite humour he called my attention to the engineer +of the steam-launch, one day, as we strolled on the path by the side of +the creek. + +The man's head and shoulders emerged above the deck, over which were +scattered various tools of his trade and a few pieces of machinery. He +was doing some repairs to the engines. At the sound of our footsteps +he raised anxiously a grimy face with a pointed chin and a tiny fair +moustache. What could be seen of his delicate features under the black +smudges appeared to me wasted and livid in the greenish shade of the +enormous tree spreading its foliage over the launch moored close to the +bank. + +To my great surprise, Harry Gee addressed him as "Crocodile," in +that half-jeering, half-bullying tone which is characteristic of +self-satisfaction in his delectable kind: + +"How does the work get on, Crocodile?" + +I should have said before that the amiable Harry had picked up French +of a sort somewhere--in some colony or other--and that he pronounced +it with a disagreeable forced precision as though he meant to guy the +language. The man in the launch answered him quickly in a pleasant +voice. His eyes had a liquid softness and his teeth flashed dazzlingly +white between his thin, drooping lips. The manager turned to me, very +cheerful and loud, explaining: + +"I call him Crocodile because he lives half in, half out of the creek. +Amphibious--see? There's nothing else amphibious living on the island +except crocodiles; so he must belong to the species--eh? But in reality +he's nothing less than un citoyen anarchiste de Barcelone." + +"A citizen anarchist from Barcelona?" I repeated, stupidly, looking down +at the man. He had turned to his work in the engine-well of the launch +and presented his bowed back to us. In that attitude I heard him +protest, very audibly: + +"I do not even know Spanish." + +"Hey? What? You dare to deny you come from over there?" the accomplished +manager was down on him truculently. + +At this the man straightened himself up, dropping a spanner he had been +using, and faced us; but he trembled in all his limbs. + +"I deny nothing, nothing, nothing!" he said, excitedly. + +He picked up the spanner and went to work again without paying any +further attention to us. After looking at him for a minute or so, we +went away. + +"Is he really an anarchist?" I asked, when out of ear-shot. + +"I don't care a hang what he is," answered the humorous official of the +B. O. S. Co. "I gave him the name because it suited me to label him in +that way, It's good for the company." + +"For the company!" I exclaimed, stopping short. + +"Aha!" he triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug face and straddling his +thin, long legs. "That surprises you. I am bound to do my best for my +company. They have enormous expenses. Why--our agent in Horta tells me +they spend fifty thousand pounds every year in advertising all over the +world! One can't be too economical in working the show. Well, just you +listen. When I took charge here the estate had no steam-launch. I asked +for one, and kept on asking by every mail till I got it; but the man +they sent out with it chucked his job at the end of two months, leaving +the launch moored at the pontoon in Horta. Got a better screw at a +sawmill up the river--blast him! And ever since it has been the same +thing. Any Scotch or Yankee vagabond that likes to call himself a +mechanic out here gets eighteen pounds a month, and the next you know +he's cleared out, after smashing something as likely as not. I give you +my word that some of the objects I've had for engine-drivers couldn't +tell the boiler from the funnel. But this fellow understands his trade, +and I don't mean him to clear out. See?" + +And he struck me lightly on the chest for emphasis. Disregarding his +peculiarities of manner, I wanted to know what all this had to do with +the man being an anarchist. + +"Come!" jeered the manager. "If you saw suddenly a barefooted, unkempt +chap slinking amongst the bushes on the sea face of the island, and at +the same time observed less than a mile from the beach, a small schooner +full of niggers hauling off in a hurry, you wouldn't think the man fell +there from the sky, would you? And it could be nothing else but either +that or Cayenne. I've got my wits about me. Directly I sighted this +queer game I said to myself--'Escaped Convict.' I was as certain of +it as I am of seeing you standing here this minute. So I spurred on +straight at him. He stood his ground for a bit on a sand hillock crying +out: 'Monsieur! Monsieur! Arretez!' then at the last moment broke and +ran for life. Says I to myself, 'I'll tame you before I'm done with +you.' So without a single word I kept on, heading him off here and +there. I rounded him up towards the shore, and at last I had him +corralled on a spit, his heels in the water and nothing but sea and sky +at his back, with my horse pawing the sand and shaking his head within a +yard of him. + +"He folded his arms on his breast then and stuck his chin up in a +sort of desperate way; but I wasn't to be impressed by the beggar's +posturing. + +"Says I, 'You're a runaway convict.' + +"When he heard French, his chin went down and his face changed. + +"'I deny nothing,' says he, panting yet, for I had kept him skipping +about in front of my horse pretty smartly. I asked him what he was doing +there. He had got his breath by then, and explained that he had meant to +make his way to a farm which he understood (from the schooner's people, +I suppose) was to be found in the neighbourhood. At that I laughed +aloud and he got uneasy. Had he been deceived? Was there no farm within +walking distance? + +"I laughed more and more. He was on foot, and of course the first bunch +of cattle he came across would have stamped him to rags under their +hoofs. A dismounted man caught on the feeding-grounds hasn't got the +ghost of a chance. + +"'My coming upon you like this has certainly saved your life,' I +said. He remarked that perhaps it was so; but that for his part he had +imagined I had wanted to kill him under the hoofs of my horse. I assured +him that nothing would have been easier had I meant it. And then we came +to a sort of dead stop. For the life of me I didn't know what to do with +this convict, unless I chucked him into the sea. It occurred to me to +ask him what he had been transported for. He hung his head. + +"'What is it?' says I. 'Theft, murder, rape, or what?' I wanted to hear +what he would have to say for himself, though of course I expected it +would be some sort of lie. But all he said was-- + +"'Make it what you like. I deny nothing. It is no good denying +anything.' + +"I looked him over carefully and a thought struck me. + +"'They've got anarchists there, too,' I said. 'Perhaps you're one of +them.' + +"'I deny nothing whatever, monsieur,' he repeats. + +"This answer made me think that perhaps he was not an anarchist. I +believe those damned lunatics are rather proud of themselves. If he had +been one, he would have probably confessed straight out. + +"'What were you before you became a convict?' + +"'Ouvrier,' he says. 'And a good workman, too.' + +"At that I began to think he must be an anarchist, after all. That's the +class they come mostly from, isn't it? I hate the cowardly bomb-throwing +brutes. I almost made up my mind to turn my horse short round and leave +him to starve or drown where he was, whichever he liked best. As to +crossing the island to bother me again, the cattle would see to that. I +don't know what induced me to ask-- + +"'What sort of workman?' + +"I didn't care a hang whether he answered me or not. But when he said +at once, 'Mecanicien, monsieur,' I nearly jumped out of the saddle with +excitement. The launch had been lying disabled and idle in the creek for +three weeks. My duty to the company was clear. He noticed my start, +too, and there we were for a minute or so staring at each other as if +bewitched. + +"'Get up on my horse behind me,' I told him. 'You shall put my +steam-launch to rights.'" + + +These are the words in which the worthy manager of the Maranon estate +related to me the coming of the supposed anarchist. He meant to keep +him--out of a sense of duty to the company--and the name he had given +him would prevent the fellow from obtaining employment anywhere in +Horta. The vaqueros of the estate, when they went on leave, spread it +all over the town. They did not know what an anarchist was, nor yet what +Barcelona meant. They called him Anarchisto de Barcelona, as if it were +his Christian name and surname. But the people in town had been reading +in their papers about the anarchists in Europe and were very much +impressed. Over the jocular addition of "de Barcelona" Mr. Harry +Gee chuckled with immense satisfaction. "That breed is particularly +murderous, isn't it? It makes the sawmills crowd still more afraid of +having anything to do with him--see?" he exulted, candidly. "I hold him +by that name better than if I had him chained up by the leg to the deck +of the steam-launch. + +"And mark," he added, after a pause, "he does not deny it. I am not +wronging him in any way. He is a convict of some sort, anyhow." + +"But I suppose you pay him some wages, don't you?" I asked. + +"Wages! What does he want with money here? He gets his food from +my kitchen and his clothing from the store. Of course I'll give him +something at the end of the year, but you don't think I'd employ a +convict and give him the same money I would give an honest man? I am +looking after the interests of my company first and last." + +I admitted that, for a company spending fifty thousand pounds every +year in advertising, the strictest economy was obviously necessary. The +manager of the Maranon Estancia grunted approvingly. + +"And I'll tell you what," he continued: "if I were certain he's an +anarchist and he had the cheek to ask me for money, I would give him +the toe of my boot. However, let him have the benefit of the doubt. I +am perfectly willing to take it that he has done nothing worse than +to stick a knife into somebody--with extenuating circumstances--French +fashion, don't you know. But that subversive sanguinary rot of doing +away with all law and order in the world makes my blood boil. It's +simply cutting the ground from under the feet of every decent, +respectable, hard-working person. I tell you that the consciences of +people who have them, like you or I, must be protected in some way; or +else the first low scoundrel that came along would in every respect be +just as good as myself. Wouldn't he, now? And that's absurd!" + +He glared at me. I nodded slightly and murmured that doubtless there was +much subtle truth in his view. + + +The principal truth discoverable in the views of Paul the engineer was +that a little thing may bring about the undoing of a man. + +"_Il ne faut pas beaucoup pour perdre un homme_," he said to me, +thoughtfully, one evening. + +I report this reflection in French, since the man was of Paris, not of +Barcelona at all. At the Maranon he lived apart from the station, in +a small shed with a metal roof and straw walls, which he called +mon atelier. He had a work-bench there. They had given him several +horse-blankets and a saddle--not that he ever had occasion to ride, but +because no other bedding was used by the working-hands, who were all +vaqueros--cattlemen. And on this horseman's gear, like a son of the +plains, he used to sleep amongst the tools of his trade, in a litter +of rusty scrap-iron, with a portable forge at his head, under the +work-bench sustaining his grimy mosquito-net. + +Now and then I would bring him a few candle ends saved from the scant +supply of the manager's house. He was very thankful for these. He did +not like to lie awake in the dark, he confessed. He complained that +sleep fled from him. "Le sommeil me fuit," he declared, with his +habitual air of subdued stoicism, which made him sympathetic and +touching. I made it clear to him that I did not attach undue importance +to the fact of his having been a convict. + +Thus it came about that one evening he was led to talk about himself. +As one of the bits of candle on the edge of the bench burned down to the +end, he hastened to light another. + +He had done his military service in a provincial garrison and returned +to Paris to follow his trade. It was a well-paid one. He told me with +some pride that in a short time he was earning no less than ten francs a +day. He was thinking of setting up for himself by and by and of getting +married. + +Here he sighed deeply and paused. Then with a return to his stoical +note: + +"It seems I did not know enough about myself." + +On his twenty-fifth birthday two of his friends in the repairing shop +where he worked proposed to stand him a dinner. He was immensely touched +by this attention. + +"I was a steady man," he remarked, "but I am not less sociable than any +other body." + +The entertainment came off in a little cafe on the Boulevard de la +Chapelle. At dinner they drank some special wine. It was excellent. +Everything was excellent; and the world--in his own words--seemed a very +good place to live in. He had good prospects, some little money laid by, +and the affection of two excellent friends. He offered to pay for all +the drinks after dinner, which was only proper on his part. + +They drank more wine; they drank liqueurs, cognac, beer, then more +liqueurs and more cognac. Two strangers sitting at the next table looked +at him, he said, with so much friendliness, that he invited them to join +the party. + +He had never drunk so much in his life. His elation was extreme, and so +pleasurable that whenever it flagged he hastened to order more drinks. + +"It seemed to me," he said, in his quiet tone and looking on the ground +in the gloomy shed full of shadows, "that I was on the point of just +attaining a great and wonderful felicity. Another drink, I felt, would +do it. The others were holding out well with me, glass for glass." + +But an extraordinary thing happened. At something the strangers said his +elation fell. Gloomy ideas--des idees noires--rushed into his head. All +the world outside the cafe; appeared to him as a dismal evil place where +a multitude of poor wretches had to work and slave to the sole end +that a few individuals should ride in carriages and live riotously in +palaces. He became ashamed of his happiness. The pity of mankind's cruel +lot wrung his heart. In a voice choked with sorrow he tried to express +these sentiments. He thinks he wept and swore in turns. + +The two new acquaintances hastened to applaud his humane indignation. +Yes. The amount of injustice in the world was indeed scandalous. There +was only one way of dealing with the rotten state of society. Demolish +the whole sacree boutique. Blow up the whole iniquitous show. + +Their heads hovered over the table. They whispered to him eloquently; I +don't think they quite expected the result. He was extremely drunk--mad +drunk. With a howl of rage he leaped suddenly upon the table. Kicking +over the bottles and glasses, he yelled: "Vive l'anarchie! Death to the +capitalists!" He yelled this again and again. All round him broken glass +was falling, chairs were being swung in the air, people were taking each +other by the throat. The police dashed in. He hit, bit, scratched and +struggled, till something crashed down upon his head. . . . + +He came to himself in a police cell, locked up on a charge of assault, +seditious cries, and anarchist propaganda. + +He looked at me fixedly with his liquid, shining eyes, that seemed very +big in the dim light. + +"That was bad. But even then I might have got off somehow, perhaps," he +said, slowly. + +I doubt it. But whatever chance he had was done away with by a young +socialist lawyer who volunteered to undertake his defence. In vain he +assured him that he was no anarchist; that he was a quiet, respectable +mechanic, only too anxious to work ten hours per day at his trade. He +was represented at the trial as the victim of society and his drunken +shoutings as the expression of infinite suffering. The young lawyer had +his way to make, and this case was just what he wanted for a start. The +speech for the defence was pronounced magnificent. + +The poor fellow paused, swallowed, and brought out the statement: + +"I got the maximum penalty applicable to a first offence." + +I made an appropriate murmur. He hung his head and folded his arms. + +"When they let me out of prison," he began, gently, "I made tracks, of +course, for my old workshop. My patron had a particular liking for me +before; but when he saw me he turned green with fright and showed me the +door with a shaking hand." + +While he stood in the street, uneasy and disconcerted, he was accosted +by a middle-aged man who introduced himself as an engineer's fitter, +too. "I know who you are," he said. "I have attended your trial. You are +a good comrade and your ideas are sound. But the devil of it is that you +won't be able to get work anywhere now. These bourgeois'll conspire to +starve you. That's their way. Expect no mercy from the rich." + +To be spoken to so kindly in the street had comforted him very much. His +seemed to be the sort of nature needing support and sympathy. The idea +of not being able to find work had knocked him over completely. If his +patron, who knew him so well for a quiet, orderly, competent workman, +would have nothing to do with him now--then surely nobody else would. +That was clear. The police, keeping their eye on him, would hasten to +warn every employer inclined to give him a chance. He felt suddenly very +helpless, alarmed and idle; and he followed the middle-aged man to the +estaminet round the corner where he met some other good companions. They +assured him that he would not be allowed to starve, work or no work. +They had drinks all round to the discomfiture of all employers of labour +and to the destruction of society. + +He sat biting his lower lip. + +"That is, monsieur, how I became a compagnon," he said. The hand he +passed over his forehead was trembling. "All the same, there's something +wrong in a world where a man can get lost for a glass more or less." + +He never looked up, though I could see he was getting excited under his +dejection. He slapped the bench with his open palm. + +"No!" he cried. "It was an impossible existence! Watched by the police, +watched by the comrades, I did not belong to myself any more! Why, I +could not even go to draw a few francs from my savings-bank without a +comrade hanging about the door to see that I didn't bolt! And most of +them were neither more nor less than housebreakers. The intelligent, I +mean. They robbed the rich; they were only getting back their own, they +said. When I had had some drink I believed them. There were also the +fools and the mad. Des exaltes--quoi! When I was drunk I loved them. +When I got more drink I was angry with the world. That was the best +time. I found refuge from misery in rage. But one can't be always +drunk--n'est-ce pas, monsieur? And when I was sober I was afraid to +break away. They would have stuck me like a pig." + +He folded his arms again and raised his sharp chin with a bitter smile. + +"By and by they told me it was time to go to work. The work was to rob +a bank. Afterwards a bomb would be thrown to wreck the place. My +beginner's part would be to keep watch in a street at the back and to +take care of a black bag with the bomb inside till it was wanted. After +the meeting at which the affair was arranged a trusty comrade did not +leave me an inch. I had not dared to protest; I was afraid of being +done away with quietly in that room; only, as we were walking together I +wondered whether it would not be better for me to throw myself suddenly +into the Seine. But while I was turning it over in my mind we had +crossed the bridge, and afterwards I had not the opportunity." + +In the light of the candle end, with his sharp features, fluffy little +moustache, and oval face, he looked at times delicately and gaily young, +and then appeared quite old, decrepit, full of sorrow, pressing his +folded arms to his breast. + +As he remained silent I felt bound to ask: + +"Well! And how did it end?" + +"Deportation to Cayenne," he answered. + +He seemed to think that somebody had given the plot away. As he was +keeping watch in the back street, bag in hand, he was set upon by the +police. "These imbeciles," had knocked him down without noticing what he +had in his hand. He wondered how the bomb failed to explode as he fell. +But it didn't explode. + +"I tried to tell my story in court," he continued. "The president was +amused. There were in the audience some idiots who laughed." + +I expressed the hope that some of his companions had been caught, too. +He shuddered slightly before he told me that there were two--Simon, +called also Biscuit, the middle-aged fitter who spoke to him in the +street, and a fellow of the name of Mafile, one of the sympathetic +strangers who had applauded his sentiments and consoled his humanitarian +sorrows when he got drunk in the cafe. + +"Yes," he went on, with an effort, "I had the advantage of their company +over there on St. Joseph's Island, amongst some eighty or ninety other +convicts. We were all classed as dangerous." + +St. Joseph's Island is the prettiest of the Iles de Salut. It is +rocky and green, with shallow ravines, bushes, thickets, groves of +mango-trees, and many feathery palms. Six warders armed with revolvers +and carbines are in charge of the convicts kept there. + +An eight-oared galley keeps up the communication in the daytime, across +a channel a quarter of a mile wide, with the Ile Royale, where there is +a military post. She makes the first trip at six in the morning. At four +in the afternoon her service is over, and she is then hauled up into +a little dock on the Ile Royale and a sentry put over her and a few +smaller boats. From that time till next morning the island of St. Joseph +remains cut off from the rest of the world, with the warders patrolling +in turn the path from the warders' house to the convict huts, and a +multitude of sharks patrolling the waters all round. + +Under these circumstances the convicts planned a mutiny. Such a thing +had never been known in the penitentiary's history before. But their +plan was not without some possibility of success. The warders were to be +taken by surprise and murdered during the night. Their arms would +enable the convicts to shoot down the people in the galley as she came +alongside in the morning. The galley once in their possession, other +boats were to be captured, and the whole company was to row away up the +coast. + +At dusk the two warders on duty mustered the convicts as usual. Then +they proceeded to inspect the huts to ascertain that everything was +in order. In the second they entered they were set upon and absolutely +smothered under the numbers of their assailants. The twilight faded +rapidly. It was a new moon; and a heavy black squall gathering over +the coast increased the profound darkness of the night. The convicts +assembled in the open space, deliberating upon the next step to be +taken, argued amongst themselves in low voices. + +"You took part in all this?" I asked. + +"No. I knew what was going to be done, of course. But why should I +kill these warders? I had nothing against them. But I was afraid of the +others. Whatever happened, I could not escape from them. I sat alone +on the stump of a tree with my head in my hands, sick at heart at the +thought of a freedom that could be nothing but a mockery to me. Suddenly +I was startled to perceive the shape of a man on the path near by. He +stood perfectly still, then his form became effaced in the night. It +must have been the chief warder coming to see what had become of his +two men. No one noticed him. The convicts kept on quarrelling over +their plans. The leaders could not get themselves obeyed. The fierce +whispering of that dark mass of men was very horrible. + +"At last they divided into two parties and moved off. When they had +passed me I rose, weary and hopeless. The path to the warders' house was +dark and silent, but on each side the bushes rustled slightly. Presently +I saw a faint thread of light before me. The chief warder, followed by +his three men, was approaching cautiously. But he had failed to close +his dark lantern properly. The convicts had seen that faint gleam, too. +There was an awful savage yell, a turmoil on the dark path, shots fired, +blows, groans: and with the sound of smashed bushes, the shouts of the +pursuers and the screams of the pursued, the man-hunt, the warder-hunt, +passed by me into the interior of the island. I was alone. And I assure +you, monsieur, I was indifferent to everything. After standing still +for a while, I walked on along the path till I kicked something hard. I +stooped and picked up a warder's revolver. I felt with my fingers +that it was loaded in five chambers. In the gusts of wind I heard the +convicts calling to each other far away, and then a roll of thunder +would cover the soughing and rustling of the trees. Suddenly, a big +light ran across my path very low along the ground. And it showed a +woman's skirt with the edge of an apron. + +"I knew that the person who carried it must be the wife of the head +warder. They had forgotten all about her, it seems. A shot rang out in +the interior of the island, and she cried out to herself as she ran. She +passed on. I followed, and presently I saw her again. She was pulling +at the cord of the big bell which hangs at the end of the landing-pier, +with one hand, and with the other she was swinging the heavy lantern to +and fro. This is the agreed signal for the Ile Royale should assistance +be required at night. The wind carried the sound away from our island +and the light she swung was hidden on the shore side by the few trees +that grow near the warders' house. + +"I came up quite close to her from behind. She went on without stopping, +without looking aside, as though she had been all alone on the island. +A brave woman, monsieur. I put the revolver inside the breast of my blue +blouse and waited. A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder destroyed +both the sound and the light of the signal for an instant, but she never +faltered, pulling at the cord and swinging the lantern as regularly as a +machine. She was a comely woman of thirty--no more. I thought to myself, +'All that's no good on a night like this.' And I made up my mind that +if a body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier--which was sure to +happen soon--I would shoot her through the head before I shot myself. I +knew the 'comrades' well. This idea of mine gave me quite an interest +in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of remaining stupidly exposed on +the pier, I retreated a little way and crouched behind a bush. I did not +intend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be prevented perhaps +from rendering a supreme service to at least one human creature before I +died myself. + +"But we must believe the signal was seen, for the galley from Ile Royale +came over in an astonishingly short time. The woman kept right on till +the light of her lantern flashed upon the officer in command and the +bayonets of the soldiers in the boat. Then she sat down and began to +cry. + +"She didn't need me any more. I did not budge. Some soldiers were only +in their shirt-sleeves, others without boots, just as the call to arms +had found them. They passed by my bush at the double. The galley had +been sent away for more; and the woman sat all alone crying at the end +of the pier, with the lantern standing on the ground near her. + +"Then suddenly I saw in the light at the end of the pier the red +pantaloons of two more men. I was overcome with astonishment. They, +too, started off at a run. Their tunics flapped unbuttoned and they were +bare-headed. One of them panted out to the other, 'Straight on, straight +on!' + +"Where on earth did they spring from, I wondered. Slowly I walked down +the short pier. I saw the woman's form shaken by sobs and heard her +moaning more and more distinctly, 'Oh, my man! my poor man! my poor +man!' I stole on quietly. She could neither hear nor see anything. She +had thrown her apron over her head and was rocking herself to and fro in +her grief. But I remarked a small boat fastened to the end of the pier. + +"Those two men--they looked like sous-officiers--must have come in it, +after being too late, I suppose, for the galley. It is incredible that +they should have thus broken the regulations from a sense of duty. And +it was a stupid thing to do. I could not believe my eyes in the very +moment I was stepping into that boat. + +"I pulled along the shore slowly. A black cloud hung over the Iles de +Salut. I heard firing, shouts. Another hunt had begun--the convict-hunt. +The oars were too long to pull comfortably. I managed them with +difficulty, though the boat herself was light. But when I got round to +the other side of the island the squall broke in rain and wind. I was +unable to make head against it. I let the boat drift ashore and secured +her. + +"I knew the spot. There was a tumbledown old hovel standing near the +water. Cowering in there I heard through the noises of the wind and the +falling downpour some people tearing through the bushes. They came out +on the strand. Soldiers perhaps. A flash of lightning threw everything +near me into violent relief. Two convicts! + +"And directly an amazed voice exclaimed. 'It's a miracle!' It was the +voice of Simon, otherwise Biscuit. + +"And another voice growled, 'What's a miracle?' + +"'Why, there's a boat lying here!' + +"'You must be mad, Simon! But there is, after all. . . . A boat.' + +"They seemed awed into complete silence. The other man was Mafile. He +spoke again, cautiously. + +"'It is fastened up. There must be somebody here.' + +"I spoke to them from within the hovel: 'I am here.' + +"They came in then, and soon gave me to understand that the boat was +theirs, not mine. 'There are two of us,' said Mafile, 'against you +alone.' + +"I got out into the open to keep clear of them for fear of getting a +treacherous blow on the head. I could have shot them both where they +stood. But I said nothing. I kept down the laughter rising in my throat. +I made myself very humble and begged to be allowed to go. They consulted +in low tones about my fate, while with my hand on the revolver in the +bosom of my blouse I had their lives in my power. I let them live. I +meant them to pull that boat. I represented to them with abject humility +that I understood the management of a boat, and that, being three to +pull, we could get a rest in turns. That decided them at last. It was +time. A little more and I would have gone into screaming fits at the +drollness of it." + +At this point his excitement broke out. He jumped off the bench and +gesticulated. The great shadows of his arms darting over roof and walls +made the shed appear too small to contain his agitation. + +"I deny nothing," he burst out. "I was elated, monsieur. I tasted a +sort of felicity. But I kept very quiet. I took my turns at pulling +all through the night. We made for the open sea, putting our trust in +a passing ship. It was a foolhardy action. I persuaded them to it. When +the sun rose the immensity of water was calm, and the Iles de Salut +appeared only like dark specks from the top of each swell. I was +steering then. Mafile, who was pulling bow, let out an oath and said, +'We must rest.' + +"The time to laugh had come at last. And I took my fill of it, I can +tell you. I held my sides and rolled in my seat, they had such startled +faces. 'What's got into him, the animal?' cries Mafile. + +"And Simon, who was nearest to me, says over his shoulder to him, 'Devil +take me if I don't think he's gone mad!' + +"Then I produced the revolver. Aha! In a moment they both got the +stoniest eyes you can imagine. Ha, ha! They were frightened. But +they pulled. Oh, yes, they pulled all day, sometimes looking wild and +sometimes looking faint. I lost nothing of it because I had to keep my +eyes on them all the time, or else--crack!--they would have been on top +of me in a second. I rested my revolver hand on my knee all ready and +steered with the other. Their faces began to blister. Sky and sea +seemed on fire round us and the sea steamed in the sun. The boat made a +sizzling sound as she went through the water. Sometimes Mafile foamed +at the mouth and sometimes he groaned. But he pulled. He dared not stop. +His eyes became blood-shot all over, and he had bitten his lower lip to +pieces. Simon was as hoarse as a crow. + +"'Comrade--' he begins. + +"'There are no comrades here. I am your patron.' + +"'Patron, then,' he says, 'in the name of humanity let us rest.' + +"I let them. There was a little rainwater washing about the bottom of +the boat. I permitted them to snatch some of it in the hollow of their +palms. But as I gave the command, 'En route!' I caught them exchanging +significant glances. They thought I would have to go to sleep sometime! +Aha! But I did not want to go to sleep. I was more awake than ever. It +is they who went to sleep as they pulled, tumbling off the thwarts head +over heels suddenly, one after another. I let them lie. All the stars +were out. It was a quiet world. The sun rose. Another day. Allez! En +route! + +"They pulled badly. Their eyes rolled about and their tongues hung out. +In the middle of the forenoon Mafile croaks out: 'Let us make a rush at +him, Simon. I would just as soon be shot at once as to die of thirst, +hunger, and fatigue at the oar.' + +"But while he spoke he pulled; and Simon kept on pulling too. It made +me smile. Ah! They loved their life these two, in this evil world of +theirs, just as I used to love my life, too, before they spoiled it for +me with their phrases. I let them go on to the point of exhaustion, and +only then I pointed at the sails of a ship on the horizon. + +"Aha! You should have seen them revive and buckle to their work! For +I kept them at it to pull right across that ship's path. They were +changed. The sort of pity I had felt for them left me. They looked +more like themselves every minute. They looked at me with the glances I +remembered so well. They were happy. They smiled. + +"'Well,' says Simon, 'the energy of that youngster has saved our lives. +If he hadn't made us, we could never have pulled so far out into the +track of ships. Comrade, I forgive you. I admire you.' + +"And Mafile growls from forward: 'We owe you a famous debt of gratitude, +comrade. You are cut out for a chief.' + +"Comrade! Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! And they, such men as these +two, had made it accursed. I looked at them. I remembered their lies, +their promises, their menaces, and all my days of misery. Why could they +not have left me alone after I came out of prison? I looked at them and +thought that while they lived I could never be free. Never. Neither I +nor others like me with warm hearts and weak heads. For I know I have +not a strong head, monsieur. A black rage came upon me--the rage of +extreme intoxication--but not against the injustice of society. Oh, no! + +"'I must be free!' I cried, furiously. + +"'Vive la liberte!" yells that ruffian Mafile. 'Mort aux bourgeois who +send us to Cayenne! They shall soon know that we are free.' + +"The sky, the sea, the whole horizon, seemed to turn red, blood red all +round the boat. My temples were beating so loud that I wondered they +did not hear. How is it that they did not? How is it they did not +understand? + +"I heard Simon ask, 'Have we not pulled far enough out now?' + +"'Yes. Far enough,' I said. I was sorry for him; it was the other I +hated. He hauled in his oar with a loud sigh, and as he was raising his +hand to wipe his forehead with the air of a man who has done his work, +I pulled the trigger of my revolver and shot him like this off the knee, +right through the heart. + +"He tumbled down, with his head hanging over the side of the boat. I did +not give him a second glance. The other cried out piercingly. Only one +shriek of horror. Then all was still. + +"He slipped off the thwart on to his knees and raised his clasped hands +before his face in an attitude of supplication. 'Mercy,' he whispered, +faintly. 'Mercy for me!--comrade.' + +"'Ah, comrade,' I said, in a low tone. 'Yes, comrade, of course. Well, +then, shout Vive l'anarchie.' + +"He flung up his arms, his face up to the sky and his mouth wide open in +a great yell of despair. 'Vive l'anarchie! Vive--' + +"He collapsed all in a heap, with a bullet through his head. + +"I flung them both overboard. I threw away the revolver, too. Then I sat +down quietly. I was free at last! At last. I did not even look towards +the ship; I did not care; indeed, I think I must have gone to sleep, +because all of a sudden there were shouts and I found the ship almost +on top of me. They hauled me on board and secured the boat astern. They +were all blacks, except the captain, who was a mulatto. He alone knew a +few words of French. I could not find out where they were going nor who +they were. They gave me something to eat every day; but I did not like +the way they used to discuss me in their language. Perhaps they were +deliberating about throwing me overboard in order to keep possession of +the boat. How do I know? As we were passing this island I asked whether +it was inhabited. I understood from the mulatto that there was a house +on it. A farm, I fancied, they meant. So I asked them to put me ashore +on the beach and keep the boat for their trouble. This, I imagine, was +just what they wanted. The rest you know." + +After pronouncing these words he lost suddenly all control over himself. +He paced to and fro rapidly, till at last he broke into a run; his arms +went like a windmill and his ejaculations became very much like raving. +The burden of them was that he "denied nothing, nothing!" I could only +let him go on, and sat out of his way, repeating, "Calmez vous, calmez +vous," at intervals, till his agitation exhausted itself. + +I must confess, too, that I remained there long after he had crawled +under his mosquito-net. He had entreated me not to leave him; so, as +one sits up with a nervous child, I sat up with him--in the name of +humanity--till he fell asleep. + +On the whole, my idea is that he was much more of an anarchist than he +confessed to me or to himself; and that, the special features of his +case apart, he was very much like many other anarchists. Warm heart and +weak head--that is the word of the riddle; and it is a fact that the +bitterest contradictions and the deadliest conflicts of the world are +carried on in every individual breast capable of feeling and passion. + +From personal inquiry I can vouch that the story of the convict mutiny +was in every particular as stated by him. + +When I got back to Horta from Cayenne and saw the "Anarchist" again, he +did not look well. He was more worn, still more frail, and very livid +indeed under the grimy smudges of his calling. Evidently the meat of the +company's main herd (in its unconcentrated form) did not agree with him +at all. + +It was on the pontoon in Horta that we met; and I tried to induce him to +leave the launch moored where she was and follow me to Europe there and +then. It would have been delightful to think of the excellent manager's +surprise and disgust at the poor fellow's escape. But he refused with +unconquerable obstinacy. + +"Surely you don't mean to live always here!" I cried. He shook his head. + +"I shall die here," he said. Then added moodily, "Away from them." + +Sometimes I think of him lying open-eyed on his horseman's gear in the +low shed full of tools and scraps of iron--the anarchist slave of the +Maranon estate, waiting with resignation for that sleep which "fled" +from him, as he used to say, in such an unaccountable manner. + + + + +A MILITARY TALE + + +THE DUEL + +I + +Napoleon I., whose career had the quality of a duel against the whole +of Europe, disliked duelling between the officers of his army. The great +military emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect for +tradition. + +Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a legend in the army, +runs through the epic of imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration +of their fellows, two officers, like insane artists trying to gild +refined gold or paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the +years of universal carnage. They were officers of cavalry, and their +connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which carries men +into battle seems particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to +imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line, +for example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose +valour necessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or +engineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is +simply unthinkable. + +The names of the two officers were Feraud and D'Hubert, and they were +both lieutenants in a regiment of hussars, but not in the same regiment. + +Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieut. D'Hubert had the good +fortune to be attached to the person of the general commanding the +division, as officier d'ordonnance. It was in Strasbourg, and in this +agreeable and important garrison they were enjoying greatly a short +interval of peace. They were enjoying it, though both intensely warlike, +because it was a sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a +military heart and undamaging to military prestige, inasmuch that no one +believed in its sincerity or duration. + +Under those historical circumstances, so favourable to the proper +appreciation of military leisure, Lieut. D'Hubert, one fine afternoon, +made his way along a quiet street of a cheerful suburb towards Lieut. +Feraud's quarters, which were in a private house with a garden at the +back, belonging to an old maiden lady. + +His knock at the door was answered instantly by a young maid in Alsatian +costume. Her fresh complexion and her long eyelashes, lowered demurely +at the sight of the tall officer, caused Lieut. D'Hubert, who was +accessible to esthetic impressions, to relax the cold, severe gravity of +his face. At the same time he observed that the girl had over her arm a +pair of hussar's breeches, blue with a red stripe. + +"Lieut. Feraud in?" he inquired, benevolently. + +"Oh, no, sir! He went out at six this morning." + +The pretty maid tried to close the door. Lieut. D'Hubert, opposing this +move with gentle firmness, stepped into the ante-room, jingling his +spurs. + +"Come, my dear! You don't mean to say he has not been home since six +o'clock this morning?" + +Saying these words, Lieut. D'Hubert opened without ceremony the door +of a room so comfortably and neatly ordered that only from internal +evidence in the shape of boots, uniforms, and military accoutrements did +he acquire the conviction that it was Lieut. Feraud's room. And he saw +also that Lieut. Feraud was not at home. The truthful maid had followed +him, and raised her candid eyes to his face. + +"H'm!" said Lieut. D'Hubert, greatly disappointed, for he had already +visited all the haunts where a lieutenant of hussars could be found of a +fine afternoon. "So he's out? And do you happen to know, my dear, why he +went out at six this morning?" + +"No," she answered, readily. "He came home late last night, and snored. +I heard him when I got up at five. Then he dressed himself in his oldest +uniform and went out. Service, I suppose." + +"Service? Not a bit of it!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. "Learn, my angel, +that he went out thus early to fight a duel with a civilian." + +She heard this news without a quiver of her dark eyelashes. It was +very obvious that the actions of Lieut. Feraud were generally above +criticism. She only looked up for a moment in mute surprise, and Lieut. +D'Hubert concluded from this absence of emotion that she must have seen +Lieut. Feraud since the morning. He looked around the room. + +"Come!" he insisted, with confidential familiarity. "He's perhaps +somewhere in the house now?" + +She shook her head. + +"So much the worse for him!" continued Lieut. D'Hubert, in a tone of +anxious conviction. "But he has been home this morning." + +This time the pretty maid nodded slightly. + +"He has!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. "And went out again? What for? Couldn't +he keep quietly indoors! What a lunatic! My dear girl--" + +Lieut. D'Hubert's natural kindness of disposition and strong sense of +comradeship helped his powers of observation. He changed his tone to a +most insinuating softness, and, gazing at the hussar's breeches hanging +over the arm of the girl, he appealed to the interest she took in Lieut. +Feraud's comfort and happiness. He was pressing and persuasive. He used +his eyes, which were kind and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety +to get hold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut. Feraud's own good, +seemed so genuine that at last it overcame the girl's unwillingness to +speak. Unluckily she had not much to tell. Lieut. Feraud had returned +home shortly before ten, had walked straight into his room, and had +thrown himself on his bed to resume his slumbers. She had heard him +snore rather louder than before far into the afternoon. Then he got up, +put on his best uniform, and went out. That was all she knew. + +She raised her eyes, and Lieut. D'Hubert stared into them incredulously. + +"It's incredible. Gone parading the town in his best uniform! My dear +child, don't you know he ran that civilian through this morning? Clean +through, as you spit a hare." + +The pretty maid heard the gruesome intelligence without any signs of +distress. But she pressed her lips together thoughtfully. + +"He isn't parading the town," she remarked in a low tone. "Far from it." + +"The civilian's family is making an awful row," continued Lieut. +D'Hubert, pursuing his train of thought. "And the general is very angry. +It's one of the best families in the town. Feraud ought to have kept +close at least--" + +"What will the general do to him?" inquired the girl, anxiously. + +"He won't have his head cut off, to be sure," grumbled Lieut. D'Hubert. +"His conduct is positively indecent. He's making no end of trouble for +himself by this sort of bravado." + +"But he isn't parading the town," the maid insisted in a shy murmur. + +"Why, yes! Now I think of it, I haven't seen him anywhere about. What on +earth has he done with himself?" + +"He's gone to pay a call," suggested the maid, after a moment of +silence. + +Lieut. D'Hubert started. + +"A call! Do you mean a call on a lady? The cheek of the man! And how do +you know this, my dear?" + +Without concealing her woman's scorn for the denseness of the masculine +mind, the pretty maid reminded him that Lieut. Feraud had arrayed +himself in his best uniform before going out. He had also put on his +newest dolman, she added, in a tone as if this conversation were getting +on her nerves, and turned away brusquely. + +Lieut. D'Hubert, without questioning the accuracy of the deduction, did +not see that it advanced him much on his official quest. For his quest +after Lieut. Feraud had an official character. He did not know any of +the women this fellow, who had run a man through in the morning, was +likely to visit in the afternoon. The two young men knew each other but +slightly. He bit his gloved finger in perplexity. + +"Call!" he exclaimed. "Call on the devil!" + +The girl, with her back to him, and folding the hussars breeches on a +chair, protested with a vexed little laugh: + +"Oh, dear, no! On Madame de Lionne." + +Lieut. D'Hubert whistled softly. Madame de Lionne was the wife of a high +official who had a well-known salon and some pretensions to sensibility +and elegance. The husband was a civilian, and old; but the society of +the salon was young and military. Lieut. D'Hubert had whistled, not +because the idea of pursuing Lieut. Feraud into that very salon was +disagreeable to him, but because, having arrived in Strasbourg only +lately, he had not had the time as yet to get an introduction to +Madame de Lionne. And what was that swashbuckler Feraud doing there, he +wondered. He did not seem the sort of man who-- + +"Are you certain of what you say?" asked Lieut. D'Hubert. + +The girl was perfectly certain. Without turning round to look at him, +she explained that the coachman of their next door neighbours knew the +maitre-d'hotel of Madame de Lionne. In this way she had her information. +And she was perfectly certain. In giving this assurance she sighed. +Lieut. Feraud called there nearly every afternoon, she added. + +"Ah, bah!" exclaimed D'Hubert, ironically. His opinion of Madame de +Lionne went down several degrees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him +specially worthy of attention on the part of a woman with a reputation +for sensibility and elegance. But there was no saying. At bottom they +were all alike--very practical rather than idealistic. Lieut. D'Hubert, +however, did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations. + +"By thunder!" he reflected aloud. "The general goes there sometimes. If +he happens to find the fellow making eyes at the lady there will be the +devil to pay! Our general is not a very accommodating person, I can tell +you." + +"Go quickly, then! Don't stand here now I've told you where he is!" +cried the girl, colouring to the eyes. + +"Thanks, my dear! I don't know what I would have done without you." + +After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, which at first was +repulsed violently, and then submitted to with a sudden and still more +repellent indifference, Lieut. D'Hubert took his departure. + +He clanked and jingled along the streets with a martial swagger. To +run a comrade to earth in a drawing-room where he was not known did +not trouble him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His position as +officier d'ordonnance of the general added to his assurance. Moreover, +now that he knew where to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a +service matter. + +Madame de Lionne's house had an excellent appearance. A man in livery, +opening the door of a large drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his +name and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. The ladies +wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of feathers; their bodies +sheathed in clinging white gowns, from the armpits to the tips of the +low satin shoes, looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare +necks and arms. The men who talked with them, on the contrary, were +arrayed heavily in multi-coloured garments with collars up to their ears +and thick sashes round their waists. Lieut. D'Hubert made his unabashed +way across the room and, bowing low before a sylph-like form reclining +on a couch, offered his apologies for this intrusion, which nothing +could excuse but the extreme urgency of the service order he had to +communicate to his comrade Feraud. He proposed to himself to return +presently in a more regular manner and beg forgiveness for interrupting +the interesting conversation . . . + +A bare arm was extended towards him with gracious nonchalance even +before he had finished speaking. He pressed the hand respectfully to his +lips, and made the mental remark that it was bony. Madame de Lionne was +a blonde, with too fine a skin and a long face. + +"C'est ca!" she said, with an ethereal smile, disclosing a set of large +teeth. "Come this evening to plead for your forgiveness." + +"I will not fail, madame." + +Meantime, Lieut. Feraud, splendid in his new dolman and the extremely +polished boots of his calling, sat on a chair within a foot of the +couch, one hand resting on his thigh, the other twirling his moustache +to a point. At a significant glance from D'Hubert he rose without +alacrity, and followed him into the recess of a window. + +"What is it you want with me?" he asked, with astonishing indifference. +Lieut. D'Hubert could not imagine that in the innocence of his heart and +simplicity of his conscience Lieut. Feraud took a view of his duel in +which neither remorse nor yet a rational apprehension of consequences +had any place. Though he had no clear recollection how the quarrel had +originated (it was begun in an establishment where beer and wine are +drunk late at night), he had not the slightest doubt of being himself +the outraged party. He had had two experienced friends for his seconds. +Everything had been done according to the rules governing that sort of +adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the purpose of someone +being at least hurt, if not killed outright. The civilian got hurt. +That also was in order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectly tranquil; but Lieut. +D'Hubert took it for affectation, and spoke with a certain vivacity. + +"I am directed by the general to give you the order to go at once to +your quarters, and remain there under close arrest." + +It was now the turn of Lieut. Feraud to be astonished. "What the devil +are you telling me there?" he murmured, faintly, and fell into such +profound wonder that he could only follow mechanically the motions of +Lieut. D'Hubert. The two officers, one tall, with an interesting face +and a moustache the colour of ripe corn, the other, short and sturdy, +with a hooked nose and a thick crop of black curly hair, approached the +mistress of the house to take their leave. Madame de Lionne, a woman +of eclectic taste, smiled upon these armed young men with impartial +sensibility and an equal share of interest. Madame de Lionne took her +delight in the infinite variety of the human species. All the other eyes +in the drawing-room followed the departing officers; and when they had +gone out one or two men, who had already heard of the duel, imparted the +information to the sylph-like ladies, who received it with faint shrieks +of humane concern. + +Meantime, the two hussars walked side by side, Lieut. Feraud trying to +master the hidden reason of things which in this instance eluded the +grasp of his intellect, Lieut. D'Hubert feeling annoyed at the part he +had to play, because the general's instructions were that he should see +personally that Lieut. Feraud carried out his orders to the letter, and +at once. + +"The chief seems to know this animal," he thought, eyeing his companion, +whose round face, the round eyes, and even the twisted-up jet black +little moustache seemed animated by a mental exasperation against the +incomprehensible. And aloud he observed rather reproachfully, "The +general is in a devilish fury with you!" + +Lieut. Feraud stopped short on the edge of the pavement, and cried in +accents of unmistakable sincerity, "What on earth for?" The innocence of +the fiery Gascon soul was depicted in the manner in which he seized his +head in both hands as if to prevent it bursting with perplexity. + +"For the duel," said Lieut. D'Hubert, curtly. He was annoyed greatly by +this sort of perverse fooling. + +"The duel! The . . ." + + +Lieut. Feraud passed from one paroxysm of astonishment into another. +He dropped his hands and walked on slowly, trying to reconcile this +information with the state of his own feelings. It was impossible. He +burst out indignantly, "Was I to let that sauerkraut-eating civilian +wipe his boots on the uniform of the 7th Hussars?" + +Lieut. D'Hubert could not remain altogether unmoved by that simple +sentiment. This little fellow was a lunatic, he thought to himself, but +there was something in what he said. + +"Of course, I don't know how far you were justified," he began, +soothingly. "And the general himself may not be exactly informed. Those +people have been deafening him with their lamentations." + +"Ah! the general is not exactly informed," mumbled Lieut. Feraud, +walking faster and faster as his choler at the injustice of his fate +began to rise. "He is not exactly . . . And he orders me under close +arrest, with God knows what afterwards!" + +"Don't excite yourself like this," remonstrated the other. "Your +adversary's people are very influential, you know, and it looks bad +enough on the face of it. The general had to take notice of their +complaint at once. I don't think he means to be over-severe with you. +It's the best thing for you to be kept out of sight for a while." + +"I am very much obliged to the general," muttered Lieut. Feraud through +his teeth. "And perhaps you would say I ought to be grateful to you, +too, for the trouble you have taken to hunt me up in the drawing-room of +a lady who--" + +"Frankly," interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, with an innocent laugh, "I think +you ought to be. I had no end of trouble to find out where you were. +It wasn't exactly the place for you to disport yourself in under the +circumstances. If the general had caught you there making eyes at the +goddess of the temple . . . oh, my word! . . . He hates to be bothered +with complaints against his officers, you know. And it looked uncommonly +like sheer bravado." + +The two officers had arrived now at the street door of Lieut. Feraud's +lodgings. The latter turned towards his companion. "Lieut. D'Hubert," he +said, "I have something to say to you, which can't be said very well in +the street. You can't refuse to come up." + +The pretty maid had opened the door. Lieut. Feraud brushed past her +brusquely, and she raised her scared and questioning eyes to Lieut. +D'Hubert, who could do nothing but shrug his shoulders slightly as he +followed with marked reluctance. + +In his room Lieut. Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung his new dolman on +the bed, and, folding his arms across his chest, turned to the other +hussar. + +"Do you imagine I am a man to submit tamely to injustice?" he inquired, +in a boisterous voice. + +"Oh, do be reasonable!" remonstrated Lieut. D'Hubert. + +"I am reasonable! I am perfectly reasonable!" retorted the other +with ominous restraint. "I can't call the general to account for his +behaviour, but you are going to answer me for yours." + +"I can't listen to this nonsense," murmured Lieut. D'Hubert, making a +slightly contemptuous grimace. + +"You call this nonsense? It seems to me a perfectly plain statement. +Unless you don't understand French." + +"What on earth do you mean?" + +"I mean," screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, "to cut off your ears to +teach you to disturb me with the general's orders when I am talking to a +lady!" + +A profound silence followed this mad declaration; and through the open +window Lieut. D'Hubert heard the little birds singing sanely in the +garden. He said, preserving his calm, "Why! If you take that tone, +of course I shall hold myself at your disposition whenever you are at +liberty to attend to this affair; but I don't think you will cut my ears +off." + +"I am going to attend to it at once," declared Lieut. Feraud, with +extreme truculence. "If you are thinking of displaying your airs and +graces to-night in Madame de Lionne's salon you are very much mistaken." + +"Really!" said Lieut. D'Hubert, who was beginning to feel irritated, +"you are an impracticable sort of fellow. The general's orders to +me were to put you under arrest, not to carve you into small pieces. +Good-morning!" And turning his back on the little Gascon, who, always +sober in his potations, was as though born intoxicated with the sunshine +of his vine-ripening country, the Northman, who could drink hard on +occasion, but was born sober under the watery skies of Picardy, made for +the door. Hearing, however, the unmistakable sound behind his back of a +sword drawn from the scabbard, he had no option but to stop. + +"Devil take this mad Southerner!" he thought, spinning round and +surveying with composure the warlike posture of Lieut. Feraud, with a +bare sword in his hand. + +"At once!--at once!" stuttered Feraud, beside himself. + +"You had my answer," said the other, keeping his temper very well. + +At first he had been only vexed, and somewhat amused; but now his face +got clouded. He was asking himself seriously how he could manage to +get away. It was impossible to run from a man with a sword, and as +to fighting him, it seemed completely out of the question. He waited +awhile, then said exactly what was in his heart. + +"Drop this! I won't fight with you. I won't be made ridiculous." + +"Ah, you won't?" hissed the Gascon. "I suppose you prefer to be made +infamous. Do you hear what I say? . . . Infamous! Infamous! Infamous!" +he shrieked, rising and falling on his toes and getting very red in the +face. + +Lieut. D'Hubert, on the contrary, became very pale at the sound of the +unsavoury word for a moment, then flushed pink to the roots of his +fair hair. "But you can't go out to fight; you are under arrest, you +lunatic!" he objected, with angry scorn. + +"There's the garden: it's big enough to lay out your long carcass in," +spluttered the other with such ardour that somehow the anger of the +cooler man subsided. + +"This is perfectly absurd," he said, glad enough to think he had found a +way out of it for the moment. "We shall never get any of our comrades to +serve as seconds. It's preposterous." + +"Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don't want any seconds. Don't you worry +about any seconds. I shall send word to your friends to come and bury +you when I am done. And if you want any witnesses, I'll send word to the +old girl to put her head out of a window at the back. Stay! There's the +gardener. He'll do. He's as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes in his +head. Come along! I will teach you, my staff officer, that the carrying +about of a general's orders is not always child's play." + +While thus discoursing he had unbuckled his empty scabbard. He sent it +flying under the bed, and, lowering the point of the sword, brushed past +the perplexed Lieut. D'Hubert, exclaiming, "Follow me!" Directly he had +flung open the door a faint shriek was heard and the pretty maid, who +had been listening at the keyhole, staggered away, putting the backs +of her hands over her eyes. Feraud did not seem to see her, but she ran +after him and seized his left arm. He shook her off, and then she rushed +towards Lieut. D'Hubert and clawed at the sleeve of his uniform. + +"Wretched man!" she sobbed. "Is this what you wanted to find him for?" + +"Let me go," entreated Lieut. D'Hubert, trying to disengage +himself gently. "It's like being in a madhouse," he protested, with +exasperation. "Do let me go! I won't do him any harm." + +A fiendish laugh from Lieut. Feraud commented that assurance. "Come +along!" he shouted, with a stamp of his foot. + +And Lieut. D'Hubert did follow. He could do nothing else. Yet in +vindication of his sanity it must be recorded that as he passed through +the ante-room the notion of opening the street door and bolting out +presented itself to this brave youth, only of course to be instantly +dismissed, for he felt sure that the other would pursue him without +shame or compunction. And the prospect of an officer of hussars being +chased along the street by another officer of hussars with a naked sword +could not be for a moment entertained. Therefore he followed into the +garden. Behind them the girl tottered out, too. With ashy lips and wild, +scared eyes, she surrendered herself to a dreadful curiosity. She had +also the notion of rushing if need be between Lieut. Feraud and death. + +The deaf gardener, utterly unconscious of approaching footsteps, went +on watering his flowers till Lieut. Feraud thumped him on the back. +Beholding suddenly an enraged man flourishing a big sabre, the old chap +trembling in all his limbs dropped the watering-pot. At once Lieut. +Feraud kicked it away with great animosity, and, seizing the gardener +by the throat, backed him against a tree. He held him there, shouting in +his ear, "Stay here, and look on! You understand? You've got to look on! +Don't dare budge from the spot!" + +Lieut. D'Hubert came slowly down the walk, unclasping his dolman with +unconcealed disgust. Even then, with his hand already on the hilt of his +sword, he hesitated to draw till a roar, "En garde, fichtre! What do you +think you came here for?" and the rush of his adversary forced him to +put himself as quickly as possible in a posture of defence. + +The clash of arms filled that prim garden, which hitherto had known no +more warlike sound than the click of clipping shears; and presently the +upper part of an old lady's body was projected out of a window upstairs. +She tossed her arms above her white cap, scolding in a cracked voice. +The gardener remained glued to the tree, his toothless mouth open in +idiotic astonishment, and a little farther up the path the pretty girl, +as if spellbound to a small grass plot, ran a few steps this way and +that, wringing her hands and muttering crazily. She did not rush between +the combatants: the onslaughts of Lieut. Feraud were so fierce that +her heart failed her. Lieut. D'Hubert, his faculties concentrated upon +defence, needed all his skill and science of the sword to stop the +rushes of his adversary. Twice already he had to break ground. It +bothered him to feel his foothold made insecure by the round, dry gravel +of the path rolling under the hard soles of his boots. This was most +unsuitable ground, he thought, keeping a watchful, narrowed gaze, shaded +by long eyelashes, upon the fiery stare of his thick-set adversary. This +absurd affair would ruin his reputation of a sensible, well-behaved, +promising young officer. It would damage, at any rate, his immediate +prospects, and lose him the good-will of his general. These worldly +preoccupations were no doubt misplaced in view of the solemnity of the +moment. A duel, whether regarded as a ceremony in the cult of honour, or +even when reduced in its moral essence to a form of manly sport, demands +a perfect singleness of intention, a homicidal austerity of mood. On +the other hand, this vivid concern for his future had not a bad effect +inasmuch as it began to rouse the anger of Lieut. D'Hubert. Some seventy +seconds had elapsed since they had crossed blades, and Lieut. D'Hubert +had to break ground again in order to avoid impaling his reckless +adversary like a beetle for a cabinet of specimens. The result was that +misapprehending the motive, Lieut. Feraud with a triumphant sort of +snarl pressed his attack. + +"This enraged animal will have me against the wall directly," thought +Lieut. D'Hubert. He imagined himself much closer to the house than +he was, and he dared not turn his head; it seemed to him that he was +keeping his adversary off with his eyes rather more than with his point. +Lieut. Feraud crouched and bounded with a fierce tigerish agility fit to +trouble the stoutest heart. But what was more appalling than the fury +of a wild beast, accomplishing in all innocence of heart a natural +function, was the fixity of savage purpose man alone is capable of +displaying. Lieut. D 'Hubert in the midst of his worldly preoccupations +perceived it at last. It was an absurd and damaging affair to be drawn +into, but whatever silly intention the fellow had started with, it was +clear enough that by this time he meant to kill--nothing less. He meant +it with an intensity of will utterly beyond the inferior faculties of a +tiger. + +As is the case with constitutionally brave men, the full view of +the danger interested Lieut. D'Hubert. And directly he got properly +interested, the length of his arm and the coolness of his head told +in his favour. It was the turn of Lieut. Feraud to recoil, with a +bloodcurdling grunt of baffled rage. He made a swift feint, and then +rushed straight forward. + +"Ah! you would, would you?" Lieut. D'Hubert exclaimed, mentally. The +combat had lasted nearly two minutes, time enough for any man to get +embittered, apart from the merits of the quarrel. And all at once it +was over. Trying to close breast to breast under his adversary's guard +Lieut. Feraud received a slash on his shortened arm. He did not feel +it in the least, but it checked his rush, and his feet slipping on +the gravel he fell backwards with great violence. The shock jarred his +boiling brain into the perfect quietude of insensibility. Simultaneously +with his fall the pretty servant-girl shrieked; but the old maiden lady +at the window ceased her scolding, and began to cross herself piously. + +Beholding his adversary stretched out perfectly still, his face to the +sky, Lieut. D'Hubert thought he had killed him outright. The impression +of having slashed hard enough to cut his man clean in two abode with him +for a while in an exaggerated memory of the right good-will he had +put into the blow. He dropped on his knees hastily by the side of the +prostrate body. Discovering that not even the arm was severed, a slight +sense of disappointment mingled with the feeling of relief. The fellow +deserved the worst. But truly he did not want the death of that sinner. +The affair was ugly enough as it stood, and Lieut. D'Hubert addressed +himself at once to the task of stopping the bleeding. In this task it +was his fate to be ridiculously impeded by the pretty maid. Rending the +air with screams of horror, she attacked him from behind and, twining +her fingers in his hair, tugged back at his head. Why she should +choose to hinder him at this precise moment he could not in the least +understand. He did not try. It was all like a very wicked and harassing +dream. Twice to save himself from being pulled over he had to rise and +fling her off. He did this stoically, without a word, kneeling down +again at once to go on with his work. But the third time, his work being +done, he seized her and held her arms pinned to her body. Her cap was +half off, her face was red, her eyes blazed with crazy boldness. He +looked mildly into them while she called him a wretch, a traitor, and a +murderer many times in succession. This did not annoy him so much as the +conviction that she had managed to scratch his face abundantly. Ridicule +would be added to the scandal of the story. He imagined the adorned tale +making its way through the garrison of the town, through the whole army +on the frontier, with every possible distortion of motive and sentiment +and circumstance, spreading a doubt upon the sanity of his conduct and +the distinction of his taste even to the very ears of his honourable +family. It was all very well for that fellow Feraud, who had no +connections, no family to speak of, and no quality but courage, which, +anyhow, was a matter of course, and possessed by every single trooper +in the whole mass of French cavalry. Still holding down the arms of the +girl in a strong grip, Lieut. D'Hubert glanced over his shoulder. Lieut. +Feraud had opened his eyes. He did not move. Like a man just waking from +a deep sleep he stared without any expression at the evening sky. + +Lieut. D'Hubert's urgent shouts to the old gardener produced no +effect--not so much as to make him shut his toothless mouth. Then +he remembered that the man was stone deaf. All that time the girl +struggled, not with maidenly coyness, but like a pretty, dumb fury, +kicking his shins now and then. He continued to hold her as if in a +vice, his instinct telling him that were he to let her go she would fly +at his eyes. But he was greatly humiliated by his position. At last she +gave up. She was more exhausted than appeased, he feared. Nevertheless, +he attempted to get out of this wicked dream by way of negotiation. + +"Listen to me," he said, as calmly as he could. "Will you promise to run +for a surgeon if I let you go?" + +With real affliction he heard her declare that she would do nothing of +the kind. On the contrary, her sobbed out intention was to remain in the +garden, and fight tooth and nail for the protection of the vanquished +man. This was shocking. + +"My dear child!" he cried in despair, "is it possible that you think +me capable of murdering a wounded adversary? Is it. . . . Be quiet, you +little wild cat, you!" + +They struggled. A thick, drowsy voice said behind him, "What are you +after with that girl?" + +Lieut. Feraud had raised himself on his good arm. He was looking +sleepily at his other arm, at the mess of blood on his uniform, at a +small red pool on the ground, at his sabre lying a foot away on the +path. Then he laid himself down gently again to think it all out, as far +as a thundering headache would permit of mental operations. + +Lieut. D'Hubert released the girl who crouched at once by the side of +the other lieutenant. The shades of night were falling on the little +trim garden with this touching group, whence proceeded low murmurs +of sorrow and compassion, with other feeble sounds of a different +character, as if an imperfectly awake invalid were trying to swear. +Lieut. D'Hubert went away. + +He passed through the silent house, and congratulated himself upon the +dusk concealing his gory hands and scratched face from the passers-by. +But this story could by no means be concealed. He dreaded the discredit +and ridicule above everything, and was painfully aware of sneaking +through the back streets in the manner of a murderer. Presently the +sounds of a flute coming out of the open window of a lighted upstairs +room in a modest house interrupted his dismal reflections. It was being +played with a persevering virtuosity, and through the fioritures of the +tune one could hear the regular thumping of the foot beating time on the +floor. + +Lieut. D'Hubert shouted a name, which was that of an army surgeon whom +he knew fairly well. The sounds of the flute ceased, and the musician +appeared at the window, his instrument still in his hand, peering into +the street. + +"Who calls? You, D'Hubert? What brings you this way?" + +He did not like to be disturbed at the hour when he was playing the +flute. He was a man whose hair had turned grey already in the thankless +task of tying up wounds on battlefields where others reaped advancement +and glory. + +"I want you to go at once and see Feraud. You know Lieut. Feraud? He +lives down the second street. It's but a step from here." + +"What's the matter with him?" + +"Wounded." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Sure!" cried D'Hubert. "I come from there." + +"That's amusing," said the elderly surgeon. Amusing was his favourite +word; but the expression of his face when he pronounced it never +corresponded. He was a stolid man. "Come in," he added. "I'll get ready +in a moment." + +"Thanks! I will. I want to wash my hands in your room." + +Lieut. D'Hubert found the surgeon occupied in unscrewing his flute, and +packing the pieces methodically in a case. He turned his head. + +"Water there--in the corner. Your hands do want washing." + +"I've stopped the bleeding," said Lieut. D'Hubert. "But you had better +make haste. It's rather more than ten minutes ago, you know." + +The surgeon did not hurry his movements. + +"What's the matter? Dressing came off? That's amusing. I've been at work +in the hospital all day but I've been told this morning by somebody that +he had come off without a scratch." + +"Not the same duel probably," growled moodily Lieut. D'Hubert, wiping +his hands on a coarse towel. + +"Not the same. . . . What? Another. It would take the very devil to +make me go out twice in one day." The surgeon looked narrowly at Lieut. +D'Hubert. "How did you come by that scratched face? Both sides, too--and +symmetrical. It's amusing." + +"Very!" snarled Lieut. D'Hubert. "And you will find his slashed arm +amusing, too. It will keep both of you amused for quite a long time." + +The doctor was mystified and impressed by the brusque bitterness of +Lieut. D'Hubert's tone. They left the house together, and in the street +he was still more mystified by his conduct. + +"Aren't you coming with me?" he asked. + +"No," said Lieut. D'Hubert. "You can find the house by yourself. The +front door will be standing open very likely." + +"All right. Where's his room?" + +"Ground floor. But you had better go right through and look in the +garden first." + +This astonishing piece of information made the surgeon go off without +further parley. Lieut. D'Hubert regained his quarters nursing a hot and +uneasy indignation. He dreaded the chaff of his comrades almost as much +as the anger of his superiors. The truth was confoundedly grotesque and +embarrassing, even putting aside the irregularity of the combat itself, +which made it come abominably near a criminal offence. Like all +men without much imagination, a faculty which helps the process of +reflective thought, Lieut. D'Hubert became frightfully harassed by the +obvious aspects of his predicament. He was certainly glad that he had +not killed Lieut. Feraud outside all rules, and without the regular +witnesses proper to such a transaction. Uncommonly glad. At the same +time he felt as though he would have liked to wring his neck for him +without ceremony. + +He was still under the sway of these contradictory sentiments when the +surgeon amateur of the flute came to see him. More than three days had +elapsed. Lieut. D'Hubert was no longer officier d'ordonnance to the +general commanding the division. He had been sent back to his regiment. +And he was resuming his connection with the soldiers' military family by +being shut up in close confinement, not at his own quarters in town, but +in a room in the barracks. Owing to the gravity of the incident, he was +forbidden to see any one. He did not know what had happened, what was +being said, or what was being thought. The arrival of the surgeon was a +most unexpected thing to the worried captive. The amateur of the flute +began by explaining that he was there only by a special favour of the +colonel. + +"I represented to him that it would be only fair to let you have some +authentic news of your adversary," he continued. "You'll be glad to hear +he's getting better fast." + +Lieut. D'Hubert's face exhibited no conventional signs of gladness. He +continued to walk the floor of the dusty bare room. + +"Take this chair, doctor," he mumbled. + +The doctor sat down. + +"This affair is variously appreciated--in town and in the army. In fact, +the diversity of opinions is amusing." + +"Is it!" mumbled Lieut. D'Hubert, tramping steadily from wall to wall. +But within himself he marvelled that there could be two opinions on the +matter. The surgeon continued. + +"Of course, as the real facts are not known--" + +"I should have thought," interrupted D'Hubert, "that the fellow would +have put you in possession of facts." + +"He said something," admitted the other, "the first time I saw him. And, +by the by, I did find him in the garden. The thump on the back of his +head had made him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather +reticent than otherwise." + +"Didn't think he would have the grace to be ashamed!" mumbled D'Hubert, +resuming his pacing while the doctor murmured, "It's very amusing. +Ashamed! Shame was not exactly his frame of mind. However, you may look +at the matter otherwise." + +"What are you talking about? What matter?" asked D'Hubert, with a +sidelong look at the heavy-faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden +chair. + +"Whatever it is," said the surgeon a little impatiently, "I don't want +to pronounce any opinion on your conduct--" + +"By heavens, you had better not!" burst out D'Hubert. + +"There!--there! Don't be so quick in flourishing the sword. It doesn't +pay in the long run. Understand once for all that I would not carve any +of you youngsters except with the tools of my trade. But my advice +is good. If you go on like this you will make for yourself an ugly +reputation." + +"Go on like what?" demanded Lieut. D'Hubert, stopping short, quite +startled. "I!--I!--make for myself a reputation. . . . What do you +imagine?" + +"I told you I don't wish to judge of the rights and wrongs of this +incident. It's not my business. Nevertheless--" + +"What on earth has he been telling you?" interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, in +a sort of awed scare. + +"I told you already, that at first, when I picked him up in the garden, +he was incoherent. Afterwards he was naturally reticent. But I gather at +least that he could not help himself." + +"He couldn't?" shouted Lieut. D'Hubert in a great voice. Then, lowering +his tone impressively, "And what about me? Could I help myself?" + +The surgeon stood up. His thoughts were running upon the flute, his +constant companion with a consoling voice. In the vicinity of field +ambulances, after twenty-four hours' hard work, he had been known to +trouble with its sweet sounds the horrible stillness of battlefields, +given over to silence and the dead. The solacing hour of his daily life +was approaching, and in peace time he held on to the minutes as a miser +to his hoard. + +"Of course!--of course!" he said, perfunctorily. "You would think so. +It's amusing. However, being perfectly neutral and friendly to you both, +I have consented to deliver his message to you. Say that I am humouring +an invalid if you like. He wants you to know that this affair is by +no means at an end. He intends to send you his seconds directly he has +regained his strength--providing, of course, the army is not in the +field at that time." + +"He intends, does he? Why, certainly," spluttered Lieut. D'Hubert in a +passion. + +The secret of his exasperation was not apparent to the visitor; but this +passion confirmed the surgeon in the belief which was gaining ground +outside that some very serious difference had arisen between these two +young men, something serious enough to wear an air of mystery, some +fact of the utmost gravity. To settle their urgent difference about that +fact, those two young men had risked being broken and disgraced at the +outset almost of their career. The surgeon feared that the forthcoming +inquiry would fail to satisfy the public curiosity. They would not take +the public into their confidence as to that something which had passed +between them of a nature so outrageous as to make them face a charge of +murder--neither more nor less. But what could it be? + +The surgeon was not very curious by temperament; but that question +haunting his mind caused him twice that evening to hold the instrument +off his lips and sit silent for a whole minute--right in the middle of a +tune--trying to form a plausible conjecture. + + +II + + +He succeeded in this object no better than the rest of the garrison and +the whole of society. The two young officers, of no especial consequence +till then, became distinguished by the universal curiosity as to the +origin of their quarrel. Madame de Lionne's salon was the centre +of ingenious surmises; that lady herself was for a time assailed by +inquiries as being the last person known to have spoken to these unhappy +and reckless young men before they went out together from her house to +a savage encounter with swords, at dusk, in a private garden. She +protested she had not observed anything unusual in their demeanour. +Lieut. Feraud had been visibly annoyed at being called away. That was +natural enough; no man likes to be disturbed in a conversation with a +lady famed for her elegance and sensibility. But in truth the subject +bored Madame de Lionne, since her personality could by no stretch of +reckless gossip be connected with this affair. And it irritated her to +hear it advanced that there might have been some woman in the case. This +irritation arose, not from her elegance or sensibility, but from a more +instinctive side of her nature. It became so great at last that she +peremptorily forbade the subject to be mentioned under her roof. Near +her couch the prohibition was obeyed, but farther off in the salon +the pall of the imposed silence continued to be lifted more or less. A +personage with a long, pale face, resembling the countenance of a +sheep, opined, shaking his head, that it was a quarrel of long standing +envenomed by time. It was objected to him that the men themselves were +too young for such a theory. They belonged also to different and distant +parts of France. There were other physical impossibilities, too. A +sub-commissary of the Intendence, an agreeable and cultivated bachelor +in kerseymere breeches, Hessian boots, and a blue coat embroidered with +silver lace, who affected to believe in the transmigration of souls, +suggested that the two had met perhaps in some previous existence. +The feud was in the forgotten past. It might have been something quite +inconceivable in the present state of their being; but their souls +remembered the animosity, and manifested an instinctive antagonism. He +developed this theme jocularly. Yet the affair was so absurd from the +worldly, the military, the honourable, or the prudential point of view, +that this weird explanation seemed rather more reasonable than any +other. + +The two officers had confided nothing definite to any one. Humiliation +at having been worsted arms in hand, and an uneasy feeling of having +been involved in a scrape by the injustice of fate, kept Lieut. Feraud +savagely dumb. He mistrusted the sympathy of mankind. That would, of +course, go to that dandified staff officer. Lying in bed, he raved aloud +to the pretty maid who administered to his needs with devotion, and +listened to his horrible imprecations with alarm. That Lieut. D'Hubert +should be made to "pay for it," seemed to her just and natural. Her +principal care was that Lieut. Feraud should not excite himself. He +appeared so wholly admirable and fascinating to the humility of her +heart that her only concern was to see him get well quickly, even if it +were only to resume his visits to Madame de Lionne's salon. + +Lieut. D'Hubert kept silent for the immediate reason that there was no +one, except a stupid young soldier servant, to speak to. Further, he +was aware that the episode, so grave professionally, had its comic +side. When reflecting upon it, he still felt that he would like to wring +Lieut. Feraud's neck for him. But this formula was figurative rather +than precise, and expressed more a state of mind than an actual physical +impulse. At the same time, there was in that young man a feeling of +comradeship and kindness which made him unwilling to make the position +of Lieut. Feraud worse than it was. He did not want to talk at large +about this wretched affair. At the inquiry he would have, of course, to +speak the truth in self-defence. This prospect vexed him. + +But no inquiry took place. The army took the field instead. Lieut. +D'Hubert, liberated without remark, took up his regimental duties; and +Lieut. Feraud, his arm just out of the sling, rode unquestioned with his +squadron to complete his convalescence in the smoke of battlefields and +the fresh air of night bivouacs. This bracing treatment suited him so +well, that at the first rumour of an armistice being signed he could +turn without misgivings to the thoughts of his private warfare. + +This time it was to be regular warfare. He sent two friends to Lieut. +D'Hubert, whose regiment was stationed only a few miles away. Those +friends had asked no questions of their principal. "I owe him one, that +pretty staff officer," he had said, grimly, and they went away quite +contentedly on their mission. Lieut. D'Hubert had no difficulty in +finding two friends equally discreet and devoted to their principal. +"There's a crazy fellow to whom I must give a lesson," he had declared +curtly; and they asked for no better reasons. + +On these grounds an encounter with duelling-swords was arranged one +early morning in a convenient field. At the third set-to Lieut. D'Hubert +found himself lying on his back on the dewy grass with a hole in his +side. A serene sun rising over a landscape of meadows and woods hung on +his left. A surgeon--not the flute player, but another--was bending over +him, feeling around the wound. + +"Narrow squeak. But it will be nothing," he pronounced. + +Lieut. D'Hubert heard these words with pleasure. One of his seconds, +sitting on the wet grass, and sustaining his head on his lap, said, "The +fortune of war, mon pauvre vieux. What will you have? You had better +make it up like two good fellows. Do!" + +"You don't know what you ask," murmured Lieut. D'Hubert, in a feeble +voice. "However, if he . . ." + +In another part of the meadow the seconds of Lieut. Feraud were urging +him to go over and shake hands with his adversary. + +"You have paid him off now--que diable. It's the proper thing to do. +This D'Hubert is a decent fellow." + +"I know the decency of these generals' pets," muttered Lieut. Feraud +through his teeth, and the sombre expression of his face discouraged +further efforts at reconciliation. The seconds, bowing from a distance, +took their men off the field. In the afternoon Lieut. D'Hubert, very +popular as a good comrade uniting great bravery with a frank and equable +temper, had many visitors. It was remarked that Lieut. Feraud did not, +as is customary, show himself much abroad to receive the felicitations +of his friends. They would not have failed him, because he, too, was +liked for the exuberance of his southern nature and the simplicity of +his character. In all the places where officers were in the habit of +assembling at the end of the day the duel of the morning was talked over +from every point of view. Though Lieut. D'Hubert had got worsted this +time, his sword play was commended. No one could deny that it was very +close, very scientific. It was even whispered that if he got touched it +was because he wished to spare his adversary. But by many the vigour and +dash of Lieut. Feraud's attack were pronounced irresistible. + +The merits of the two officers as combatants were frankly discussed; but +their attitude to each other after the duel was criticised lightly and +with caution. It was irreconcilable, and that was to be regretted. But +after all they knew best what the care of their honour dictated. It was +not a matter for their comrades to pry into over-much. As to the origin +of the quarrel, the general impression was that it dated from the time +they were holding garrison in Strasbourg. The musical surgeon shook his +head at that. It went much farther back, he thought. + +"Why, of course! You must know the whole story," cried several voices, +eager with curiosity. "What was it?" + +He raised his eyes from his glass deliberately. "Even if I knew ever so +well, you can't expect me to tell you, since both the principals choose +to say nothing." + +He got up and went out, leaving the sense of mystery behind him. He +could not stay any longer, because the witching hour of flute-playing +was drawing near. + +After he had gone a very young officer observed solemnly, "Obviously, +his lips are sealed!" + +Nobody questioned the high correctness of that remark. Somehow it added +to the impressiveness of the affair. Several older officers of both +regiments, prompted by nothing but sheer kindness and love of harmony, +proposed to form a Court of Honour, to which the two young men would +leave the task of their reconciliation. Unfortunately they began by +approaching Lieut. Feraud, on the assumption that, having just scored +heavily, he would be found placable and disposed to moderation. + +The reasoning was sound enough. Nevertheless, the move turned out +unfortunate. In that relaxation of moral fibre, which is brought about +by the ease of soothed vanity, Lieut. Feraud had condescended in the +secret of his heart to review the case, and even had come to doubt not +the justice of his cause, but the absolute sagacity of his conduct. This +being so, he was disinclined to talk about it. The suggestion of the +regimental wise men put him in a difficult position. He was disgusted at +it, and this disgust, by a paradoxical logic, reawakened his animosity +against Lieut. D'Hubert. Was he to be pestered with this fellow for +ever--the fellow who had an infernal knack of getting round people +somehow? And yet it was difficult to refuse point blank that mediation +sanctioned by the code of honour. + +He met the difficulty by an attitude of grim reserve. He twisted his +moustache and used vague words. His case was perfectly clear. He was +not ashamed to state it before a proper Court of Honour, neither was he +afraid to defend it on the ground. He did not see any reason to jump at +the suggestion before ascertaining how his adversary was likely to take +it. + +Later in the day, his exasperation growing upon him, he was heard in a +public place saying sardonically, "that it would be the very luckiest +thing for Lieut. D'Hubert, because the next time of meeting he need not +hope to get off with the mere trifle of three weeks in bed." + +This boastful phrase might have been prompted by the most profound +Machiavellism. Southern natures often hide, under the outward +impulsiveness of action and speech, a certain amount of astuteness. + +Lieut. Feraud, mistrusting the justice of men, by no means desired +a Court of Honour; and the above words, according so well with his +temperament, had also the merit of serving his turn. Whether meant so or +not, they found their way in less than four-and-twenty hours into Lieut. +D'Hubert's bedroom. In consequence Lieut. D'Hubert, sitting propped +up with pillows, received the overtures made to him next day by +the statement that the affair was of a nature which could not bear +discussion. + +The pale face of the wounded officer, his weak voice which he had yet to +use cautiously, and the courteous dignity of his tone had a great effect +on his hearers. Reported outside all this did more for deepening the +mystery than the vapourings of Lieut. Feraud. This last was greatly +relieved at the issue. He began to enjoy the state of general wonder, +and was pleased to add to it by assuming an attitude of fierce +discretion. + +The colonel of Lieut. D'Hubert's regiment was a grey-haired, +weather-beaten warrior, who took a simple view of his responsibilities. +"I can't," he said to himself, "let the best of my subalterns get +damaged like this for nothing. I must get to the bottom of this affair +privately. He must speak out if the devil were in it. The colonel should +be more than a father to these youngsters." And indeed he loved all his +men with as much affection as a father of a large family can feel +for every individual member of it. If human beings by an oversight of +Providence came into the world as mere civilians, they were born again +into a regiment as infants are born into a family, and it was that +military birth alone which counted. + +At the sight of Lieut. D'Hubert standing before him very bleached +and hollow-eyed the heart of the old warrior felt a pang of genuine +compassion. All his affection for the regiment--that body of men which +he held in his hand to launch forward and draw back, who ministered to +his pride and commanded all his thoughts--seemed centred for a moment on +the person of the most promising subaltern. He cleared his throat in +a threatening manner, and frowned terribly. "You must understand," he +began, "that I don't care a rap for the life of a single man in the +regiment. I would send the eight hundred and forty-three of you men and +horses galloping into the pit of perdition with no more compunction than +I would kill a fly!" + +"Yes, Colonel. You would be riding at our head," said Lieut. D'Hubert +with a wan smile. + +The colonel, who felt the need of being very diplomatic, fairly roared +at this. "I want you to know, Lieut. D'Hubert, that I could stand aside +and see you all riding to Hades if need be. I am a man to do even that +if the good of the service and my duty to my country required it from +me. But that's unthinkable, so don't you even hint at such a thing." He +glared awfully, but his tone softened. "There's some milk yet about that +moustache of yours, my boy. You don't know what a man like me is capable +of. I would hide behind a haystack if . . . Don't grin at me, sir! How +dare you? If this were not a private conversation I would . . . Look +here! I am responsible for the proper expenditure of lives under my +command for the glory of our country and the honour of the regiment. Do +you understand that? Well, then, what the devil do you mean by letting +yourself be spitted like this by that fellow of the 7th Hussars? It's +simply disgraceful!" + +Lieut. D'Hubert felt vexed beyond measure. His shoulders moved slightly. +He made no other answer. He could not ignore his responsibility. + +The colonel veiled his glance and lowered his voice still more. "It's +deplorable!" he murmured. And again he changed his tone. "Come!" he went +on, persuasively, but with that note of authority which dwells in the +throat of a good leader of men, "this affair must be settled. I desire +to be told plainly what it is all about. I demand, as your best friend, +to know." + +The compelling power of authority, the persuasive influence of kindness, +affected powerfully a man just risen from a bed of sickness. Lieut. +D'Hubert's hand, which grasped the knob of a stick, trembled +slightly. But his northern temperament, sentimental yet cautious and +clear-sighted, too, in its idealistic way, checked his impulse to make a +clean breast of the whole deadly absurdity. According to the precept +of transcendental wisdom, he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth +before he spoke. He made then only a speech of thanks. + +The colonel listened, interested at first, then looked mystified. At +last he frowned. "You hesitate?--mille tonnerres! Haven't I told you +that I will condescend to argue with you--as a friend?" + +"Yes, Colonel!" answered Lieut. D'Hubert, gently. "But I am afraid +that after you have heard me out as a friend you will take action as my +superior officer." + +The attentive colonel snapped his jaws. "Well, what of that?" he said, +frankly. "Is it so damnably disgraceful?" + +"It is not," negatived Lieut. D'Hubert, in a faint but firm voice. + +"Of course, I shall act for the good of the service. Nothing can prevent +me doing that. What do you think I want to be told for?" + +"I know it is not from idle curiosity," protested Lieut. D'Hubert. "I +know you will act wisely. But what about the good fame of the regiment?" + +"It cannot be affected by any youthful folly of a lieutenant," said the +colonel, severely. + +"No. It cannot be. But it can be by evil tongues. It will be said that +a lieutenant of the 4th Hussars, afraid of meeting his adversary, is +hiding behind his colonel. And that would be worse than hiding behind +a haystack--for the good of the service. I cannot afford to do that, +Colonel." + +"Nobody would dare to say anything of the kind," began the colonel very +fiercely, but ended the phrase on an uncertain note. The bravery of +Lieut. D'Hubert was well known. But the colonel was well aware that +the duelling courage, the single combat courage, is rightly or wrongly +supposed to be courage of a special sort. And it was eminently +necessary that an officer of his regiment should possess every kind of +courage--and prove it, too. The colonel stuck out his lower lip, and +looked far away with a peculiar glazed stare. This was the expression of +his perplexity--an expression practically unknown to his regiment; for +perplexity is a sentiment which is incompatible with the rank of colonel +of cavalry. The colonel himself was overcome by the unpleasant +novelty of the sensation. As he was not accustomed to think except on +professional matters connected with the welfare of men and horses, and +the proper use thereof on the field of glory, his intellectual efforts +degenerated into mere mental repetitions of profane language. "Mille +tonnerres! . . . Sacre nom de nom . . ." he thought. + +Lieut. D'Hubert coughed painfully, and added in a weary voice: "There +will be plenty of evil tongues to say that I've been cowed. And I +am sure you will not expect me to pass that over. I may find myself +suddenly with a dozen duels on my hands instead of this one affair." + +The direct simplicity of this argument came home to the colonel's +understanding. He looked at his subordinate fixedly. "Sit down, +Lieutenant!" he said, gruffly. "This is the very devil of a . . . Sit +down!" + +"Mon Colonel," D'Hubert began again, "I am not afraid of evil tongues. +There's a way of silencing them. But there's my peace of mind, too. +I wouldn't be able to shake off the notion that I've ruined a brother +officer. Whatever action you take, it is bound to go farther. The +inquiry has been dropped--let it rest now. It would have been absolutely +fatal to Feraud." + +"Hey! What! Did he behave so badly?" + +"Yes. It was pretty bad," muttered Lieut. D'Hubert. Being still very +weak, he felt a disposition to cry. + +As the other man did not belong to his own regiment the colonel had no +difficulty in believing this. He began to pace up and down the room. He +was a good chief, a man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human +in other ways, too, and this became apparent because he was not capable +of artifice. + +"The very devil, Lieutenant," he blurted out, in the innocence of his +heart, "is that I have declared my intention to get to the bottom of +this affair. And when a colonel says something . . . you see . . ." + +Lieut. D'Hubert broke in earnestly: "Let me entreat you, Colonel, to be +satisfied with taking my word of honour that I was put into a damnable +position where I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent +with my dignity as a man and an officer. . . . After all, Colonel, this +fact is the very bottom of this affair. Here you've got it. The rest is +mere detail. . . ." + +The colonel stopped short. The reputation of Lieut. D'Hubert for good +sense and good temper weighed in the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, +open as the day. Always correct in his behaviour. One had to trust him. +The colonel repressed manfully an immense curiosity. "H'm! You affirm +that as a man and an officer. . . . No option? Eh?" + +"As an officer--an officer of the 4th Hussars, too," insisted Lieut. +D'Hubert, "I had not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel." + +"Yes. But still I don't see why, to one's colonel. . . . A colonel is a +father--que diable!" + +Lieut. D'Hubert ought not to have been allowed out as yet. He was +becoming aware of his physical insufficiency with humiliation and +despair. But the morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at +the same time he felt with dismay his eyes filling with water. This +trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear fell down the thin, pale cheek +of Lieut. D'Hubert. + +The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin +drop. "This is some silly woman story--is it not?" + +Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the truth, which is +not a beautiful shape living in a well, but a shy bird best caught by +stratagem. This was the last move of the colonel's diplomacy. He saw the +truth shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D'Hubert raising his +weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme protest. + +"Not a woman affair--eh?" growled the colonel, staring hard. "I don't +ask you who or where. All I want to know is whether there is a woman in +it?" + +Lieut. D'Hubert's arms dropped, and his weak voice was pathetically +broken. + +"Nothing of the kind, mon Colonel." + +"On your honour?" insisted the old warrior. + +"On my honour." + +"Very well," said the colonel, thoughtfully, and bit his lip. The +arguments of Lieut. D'Hubert, helped by his liking for the man, had +convinced him. On the other hand, it was highly improper that his +intervention, of which he had made no secret, should produce no visible +effect. He kept Lieut. D'Hubert a few minutes longer, and dismissed him +kindly. + +"Take a few days more in bed. Lieutenant. What the devil does the +surgeon mean by reporting you fit for duty?" + +On coming out of the colonel's quarters, Lieut. D'Hubert said nothing to +the friend who was waiting outside to take him home. He said nothing to +anybody. Lieut. D'Hubert made no confidences. But on the evening of that +day the colonel, strolling under the elms growing near his quarters, in +the company of his second in command, opened his lips. + +"I've got to the bottom of this affair," he remarked. The +lieut.-colonel, a dry, brown chip of a man with short side-whiskers, +pricked up his ears at that without letting a sign of curiosity escape +him. + +"It's no trifle," added the colonel, oracularly. The other waited for a +long while before he murmured: + +"Indeed, sir!" + +"No trifle," repeated the colonel, looking straight before him. "I've, +however, forbidden D'Hubert either to send to or receive a challenge +from Feraud for the next twelve months." + +He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige a colonel should +have. The result of it was to give an official seal to the mystery +surrounding this deadly quarrel. Lieut. D'Hubert repelled by an +impassive silence all attempts to worm the truth out of him. Lieut. +Feraud, secretly uneasy at first, regained his assurance as time went +on. He disguised his ignorance of the meaning of the imposed truce by +slight sardonic laughs, as though he were amused by what he intended to +keep to himself. "But what will you do?" his chums used to ask him. He +contented himself by replying "Qui vivra verra" with a little truculent +air. And everybody admired his discretion. + +Before the end of the truce Lieut. D'Hubert got his troop. The promotion +was well earned, but somehow no one seemed to expect the event. When +Lieut. Feraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered +through his teeth, "Is that so?" At once he unhooked his sabre from a +peg near the door, buckled it on carefully, and left the company without +another word. He walked home with measured steps, struck a light with +his flint and steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then snatching an +unlucky glass tumbler off the mantelpiece he dashed it violently on the +floor. + +Now that D'Hubert was an officer of superior rank there could be no +question of a duel. Neither of them could send or receive a challenge +without rendering himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be +thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days now had experienced no +real desire to meet Lieut. D'Hubert arms in hand, chafed again at the +systematic injustice of fate. "Does he think he will escape me in that +way?" he thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an intrigue, a +conspiracy, a cowardly manoeuvre. That colonel knew what he was doing. +He had hastened to recommend his favourite for a step. It was outrageous +that a man should be able to avoid the consequences of his acts in such +a dark and tortuous manner. + +Of a happy-go-lucky disposition, of a temperament more pugnacious than +military, Lieut. Feraud had been content to give and receive blows for +sheer love of armed strife, and without much thought of advancement; but +now an urgent desire to get on sprang up in his breast. This fighter by +vocation resolved in his mind to seize showy occasions and to court the +favourable opinion of his chiefs like a mere worldling. He knew he was +as brave as any one, and never doubted his personal charm. Nevertheless, +neither the bravery nor the charm seemed to work very swiftly. Lieut. +Feraud's engaging, careless truculence of a beau sabreur underwent a +change. He began to make bitter allusions to "clever fellows who stick +at nothing to get on." The army was full of them, he would say; you had +only to look round. But all the time he had in view one person only, his +adversary, D'Hubert. Once he confided to an appreciative friend: "You +see, I don't know how to fawn on the right sort of people. It isn't in +my character." + +He did not get his step till a week after Austerlitz. The Light Cavalry +of the Grand Army had its hands very full of interesting work for a +little while. Directly the pressure of professional occupation had been +eased Captain Feraud took measures to arrange a meeting without loss of +time. "I know my bird," he observed, grimly. "If I don't look sharp he +will take care to get himself promoted over the heads of a dozen better +men than himself. He's got the knack for that sort of thing." + +This duel was fought in Silesia. If not fought to a finish, it was, at +any rate, fought to a standstill. The weapon was the cavalry sabre, and +the skill, the science, the vigour, and the determination displayed by +the adversaries compelled the admiration of the beholders. It became +the subject of talk on both shores of the Danube, and as far as the +garrisons of Gratz and Laybach. They crossed blades seven times. Both +had many cuts which bled profusely. Both refused to have the combat +stopped, time after time, with what appeared the most deadly animosity. +This appearance was caused on the part of Captain D'Hubert by a rational +desire to be done once for all with this worry; on the part of Captain +Feraud by a tremendous exaltation of his pugnacious instincts and the +incitement of wounded vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in +rags, covered with gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away +forcibly by their marvelling and horrified seconds. Later on, besieged +by comrades avid of details, these gentlemen declared that they could +not have allowed that sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked +whether the quarrel was settled this time, they gave it out as their +conviction that it was a difference which could only be settled by one +of the parties remaining lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread +from army corps to army corps, and penetrated at last to the smallest +detachments of the troops cantoned between the Rhine and the Save. In +the cafes in Vienna it was generally estimated, from details to hand, +that the adversaries would be able to meet again in three weeks' time +on the outside. Something really transcendent in the way of duelling was +expected. + +These expectations were brought to naught by the necessities of the +service which separated the two officers. No official notice had been +taken of their quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not +to be meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, or rather their +duelling propensities, must have stood somewhat in the way of their +advancement, because they were still captains when they came together +again during the war with Prussia. Detached north after Jena, with +the army commanded by Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they +entered Lubeck together. + +It was only after the occupation of that town that Captain Feraud found +leisure to consider his future conduct in view of the fact that Captain +D'Hubert had been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the +marshal. He considered it a great part of a night, and in the morning +summoned two sympathetic friends. + +"I've been thinking it over calmly," he said, gazing at them with +blood-shot, tired eyes. "I see that I must get rid of that intriguing +personage. Here he's managed to sneak on to the personal staff of the +marshal. It's a direct provocation to me. I can't tolerate a situation +in which I am exposed any day to receive an order through him. And God +knows what order, too! That sort of thing has happened once before--and +that's once too often. He understands this perfectly, never fear. I +can't tell you any more. Now you know what it is you have to do." + +This encounter took place outside the town of Lubeck, on very open +ground, selected with special care in deference to the general sentiment +of the cavalry division belonging to the army corps, that this time +the two officers should meet on horseback. After all, this duel was a +cavalry affair, and to persist in fighting on foot would look like a +slight on one's own arm of the service. The seconds, startled by the +unusual nature of the suggestion, hastened to refer to their principals. +Captain Feraud jumped at it with alacrity. For some obscure reason, +depending, no doubt, on his psychology, he imagined himself invincible +on horseback. All alone within the four walls of his room he rubbed his +hands and muttered triumphantly, "Aha! my pretty staff officer, I've got +you now." + +Captain D'Hubert on his side, after staring hard for a considerable +time at his friends, shrugged his shoulders slightly. This affair had +hopelessly and unreasonably complicated his existence for him. One +absurdity more or less in the development did not matter--all absurdity +was distasteful to him; but, urbane as ever, he produced a faintly +ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, "It certainly will do away +to some extent with the monotony of the thing." + +When left alone, he sat down at a table and took his head into his +hands. He had not spared himself of late and the marshal had been +working all his aides-decamp particularly hard. The last three weeks of +campaigning in horrible weather had affected his health. When over-tired +he suffered from a stitch in his wounded side, and that uncomfortable +sensation always depressed him. "It's that brute's doing, too," he +thought bitterly. + +The day before he had received a letter from home, announcing that his +only sister was going to be married. He reflected that from the time she +was nineteen and he twenty-six, when he went away to garrison life in +Strasbourg, he had had but two short glimpses of her. They had been +great friends and confidants; and now she was going to be given away to +a man whom he did not know--a very worthy fellow no doubt, but not half +good enough for her. He would never see his old Leonie again. She had +a capable little head, and plenty of tact; she would know how to manage +the fellow, to be sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness but +he felt ousted from the first place in her thoughts which had been his +ever since the girl could speak. A melancholy regret of the days of +his childhood settled upon Captain D'Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the +Prince of Ponte Corvo. + +He threw aside the letter of congratulation he had begun to write as in +duty bound, but without enthusiasm. He took a fresh piece of paper, and +traced on it the words: "This is my last will and testament." Looking at +these words he gave himself up to unpleasant reflection; a presentiment +that he would never see the scenes of his childhood weighed down the +equable spirits of Captain D'Hubert. He jumped up, pushing his chair +back, yawned elaborately in sign that he didn't care anything for +presentiments, and throwing himself on the bed went to sleep. During the +night he shivered from time to time without waking up. In the morning he +rode out of town between his two seconds, talking of indifferent things, +and looking right and left with apparent detachment into the heavy +morning mists shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He +leaped a ditch, and saw the forms of many mounted men moving in the fog. +"We are to fight before a gallery, it seems," he muttered to himself, +bitterly. + +His seconds were rather concerned at the state of the atmosphere, but +presently a pale, sickly sun struggled out of the low vapours, and +Captain D'Hubert made out, in the distance, three horsemen riding a +little apart from the others. It was Captain Feraud and his seconds. He +drew his sabre, and assured himself that it was properly fastened to his +wrist. And now the seconds, who had been standing in close group with +the heads of their horses together, separated at an easy canter, leaving +a large, clear field between him and his adversary. Captain D'Hubert +looked at the pale sun, at the dismal fields, and the imbecility of the +impending fight filled him with desolation. From a distant part of +the field a stentorian voice shouted commands at proper intervals: Au +pas--Au trot--Charrrgez! . . . Presentiments of death don't come to +a man for nothing, he thought at the very moment he put spurs to his +horse. + +And therefore he was more than surprised when, at the very first set-to, +Captain Feraud laid himself open to a cut over the forehead, which +blinding him with blood, ended the combat almost before it had fairly +begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain D'Hubert, leaving his enemy +swearing horribly and reeling in the saddle between his two appalled +friends, leaped the ditch again into the road and trotted home with his +two seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy issue of that +encounter. In the evening Captain D'Hubert finished the congratulatory +letter on his sister's marriage. + +He finished it late. It was a long letter. Captain D'Hubert gave reins +to his fancy. He told his sister that he would feel rather lonely after +this great change in her life; but then the day would come for him, too, +to get married. In fact, he was thinking already of the time when there +would be no one left to fight with in Europe and the epoch of wars would +be over. "I expect then," he wrote, "to be within measurable distance +of a marshal's baton, and you will be an experienced married woman. You +shall look out a wife for me. I will be, probably, bald by then, and a +little blase. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and with +a large fortune, which should help me to close my glorious career in the +splendour befitting my exalted rank." He ended with the information +that he had just given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow who +imagined he had a grievance against him. "But if you, in the depths of +your province," he continued, "ever hear it said that your brother is of +a quarrelsome disposition, don't you believe it on any account. There +is no saying what gossip from the army may reach your innocent ears. +Whatever you hear you may rest assured that your ever-loving brother is +not a duellist." Then Captain D'Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of +paper headed with the words "This is my last will and testament," and +threw it in the fire with a great laugh at himself. He didn't care +a snap for what that lunatic could do. He had suddenly acquired the +conviction that his adversary was utterly powerless to affect his life +in any sort of way; except, perhaps, in the way of putting a special +excitement into the delightful, gay intervals between the campaigns. + +From this on there were, however, to be no peaceful intervals in the +career of Captain D'Hubert. He saw the fields of Eylau and Friedland, +marched and countermarched in the snow, in the mud, in the dust of +Polish plains, picking up distinction and advancement on all the roads +of North-eastern Europe. Meantime, Captain Feraud, despatched southwards +with his regiment, made unsatisfactory war in Spain. It was only when +the preparations for the Russian campaign began that he was ordered +north again. He left the country of mantillas and oranges without +regret. + +The first signs of a not unbecoming baldness added to the lofty aspect +of Colonel D'Hubert's forehead. This feature was no longer white and +smooth as in the days of his youth; the kindly open glance of his blue +eyes had grown a little hard as if from much peering through the smoke +of battles. The ebony crop on Colonel Feraud's head, coarse and crinkly +like a cap of horsehair, showed many silver threads about the temples. A +detestable warfare of ambushes and inglorious surprises had not improved +his temper. The beak-like curve of his nose was unpleasantly set off +by a deep fold on each side of his mouth. The round orbits of his eyes +radiated wrinkles. More than ever he recalled an irritable and staring +bird--something like a cross between a parrot and an owl. He was still +extremely outspoken in his dislike of "intriguing fellows." He seized +every opportunity to state that he did not pick up his rank in the +ante-rooms of marshals. The unlucky persons, civil or military, who, +with an intention of being pleasant, begged Colonel Feraud to tell them +how he came by that very apparent scar on the forehead, were astonished +to find themselves snubbed in various ways, some of which were simply +rude and others mysteriously sardonic. Young officers were warned kindly +by their more experienced comrades not to stare openly at the colonel's +scar. But indeed an officer need have been very young in his profession +not to have heard the legendary tale of that duel originating in a +mysterious, unforgivable offence. + + +III + + +The retreat from Moscow submerged all private feelings in a sea of +disaster and misery. Colonels without regiments, D'Hubert and Feraud +carried the musket in the ranks of the so-called sacred battalion--a +battalion recruited from officers of all arms who had no longer any +troops to lead. + +In that battalion promoted colonels did duty as sergeants; the generals +captained the companies; a marshal of France, Prince of the Empire, +commanded the whole. All had provided themselves with muskets picked +up on the road, and with cartridges taken from the dead. In the general +destruction of the bonds of discipline and duty holding together the +companies, the battalions, the regiments, the brigades, and divisions +of an armed host, this body of men put its pride in preserving some +semblance of order and formation. The only stragglers were those who +fell out to give up to the frost their exhausted souls. They plodded +on, and their passage did not disturb the mortal silence of the plains, +shining with the livid light of snows under a sky the colour of +ashes. Whirlwinds ran along the fields, broke against the dark column, +enveloped it in a turmoil of flying icicles, and subsided, disclosing it +creeping on its tragic way without the swing and rhythm of the military +pace. It struggled onwards, the men exchanging neither words nor looks; +whole ranks marched touching elbow, day after day and never raising +their eyes from the ground, as if lost in despairing reflections. In the +dumb, black forests of pines the cracking of overloaded branches was the +only sound they heard. Often from daybreak to dusk no one spoke in the +whole column. It was like a macabre march of struggling corpses towards +a distant grave. Only an alarm of Cossacks could restore to their eyes a +semblance of martial resolution. The battalion faced about and deployed, +or formed square under the endless fluttering of snowflakes. A cloud of +horsemen with fur caps on their heads, levelled long lances, and yelled +"Hurrah! Hurrah!" around their menacing immobility whence, with muffled +detonations, hundreds of dark red flames darted through the air thick +with falling snow. In a very few moments the horsemen would disappear, +as if carried off yelling in the gale, and the sacred battalion standing +still, alone in the blizzard, heard only the howling of the wind, whose +blasts searched their very hearts. Then, with a cry or two of "Vive +l'Empereur!" it would resume its march, leaving behind a few lifeless +bodies lying huddled up, tiny black specks on the white immensity of the +snows. + +Though often marching in the ranks, or skirmishing in the woods side +by side, the two officers ignored each other; this not so much from +inimical intention as from a very real indifference. All their store of +moral energy was expended in resisting the terrific enmity of nature and +the crushing sense of irretrievable disaster. To the last they counted +among the most active, the least demoralized of the battalion; their +vigorous vitality invested them both with the appearance of an heroic +pair in the eyes of their comrades. And they never exchanged more than +a casual word or two, except one day, when skirmishing in front of the +battalion against a worrying attack of cavalry, they found themselves +cut off in the woods by a small party of Cossacks. A score of +fur-capped, hairy horsemen rode to and fro, brandishing their lances +in ominous silence; but the two officers had no mind to lay down their +arms, and Colonel Feraud suddenly spoke up in a hoarse, growling voice, +bringing his firelock to the shoulder. "You take the nearest brute, +Colonel D'Hubert; I'll settle the next one. I am a better shot than you +are." + +Colonel D'Hubert nodded over his levelled musket. Their shoulders were +pressed against the trunk of a large tree; on their front enormous +snowdrifts protected them from a direct charge. Two carefully aimed +shots rang out in the frosty air, two Cossacks reeled in their saddles. +The rest, not thinking the game good enough, closed round their wounded +comrades and galloped away out of range. The two officers managed to +rejoin their battalion halted for the night. During that afternoon they +had leaned upon each other more than once, and towards the end, Colonel +D'Hubert, whose long legs gave him an advantage in walking through +soft snow, peremptorily took the musket of Colonel Feraud from him and +carried it on his shoulder, using his own as a staff. + +On the outskirts of a village half buried in the snow an old wooden +barn burned with a clear and an immense flame. The sacred battalion +of skeletons, muffled in rags, crowded greedily the windward side, +stretching hundreds of numbed, bony hands to the blaze. Nobody had +noted their approach. Before entering the circle of light playing on the +sunken, glassy-eyed, starved faces, Colonel D'Hubert spoke in his turn: + +"Here's your musket, Colonel Feraud. I can walk better than you." + +Colonel Feraud nodded, and pushed on towards the warmth of the fierce +flames. Colonel D'Hubert was more deliberate, but not the less bent on +getting a place in the front rank. Those they shouldered aside tried +to greet with a faint cheer the reappearance of the two indomitable +companions in activity and endurance. Those manly qualities had never +perhaps received a higher tribute than this feeble acclamation. + +This is the faithful record of speeches exchanged during the retreat +from Moscow by Colonels Feraud and D'Hubert. Colonel Feraud's +taciturnity was the outcome of concentrated rage. Short, hairy, black +faced, with layers of grime and the thick sprouting of a wiry beard, +a frost-bitten hand wrapped up in filthy rags carried in a sling, he +accused fate of unparalleled perfidy towards the sublime Man of Destiny. +Colonel D'Hubert, his long moustaches pendent in icicles on each side of +his cracked blue lips, his eyelids inflamed with the glare of snows, the +principal part of his costume consisting of a sheepskin coat looted +with difficulty from the frozen corpse of a camp follower found in an +abandoned cart, took a more thoughtful view of events. His regularly +handsome features, now reduced to mere bony lines and fleshless hollows, +looked out of a woman's black velvet hood, over which was rammed +forcibly a cocked hat picked up under the wheels of an empty army +fourgon, which must have contained at one time some general officer's +luggage. The sheepskin coat being short for a man of his inches ended +very high up, and the skin of his legs, blue with the cold, showed +through the tatters of his nether garments. This under the circumstances +provoked neither jeers nor pity. No one cared how the next man felt or +looked. Colonel D'Hubert himself, hardened to exposure, suffered mainly +in his self-respect from the lamentable indecency of his costume. A +thoughtless person may think that with a whole host of inanimate bodies +bestrewing the path of retreat there could not have been much difficulty +in supplying the deficiency. But to loot a pair of breeches from a +frozen corpse is not so easy as it may appear to a mere theorist. It +requires time and labour. You must remain behind while your companions +march on. Colonel D'Hubert had his scruples as to falling out. Once he +had stepped aside he could not be sure of ever rejoining his battalion; +and the ghastly intimacy of a wrestling match with the frozen dead +opposing the unyielding rigidity of iron to your violence was repugnant +to the delicacy of his feelings. Luckily, one day, grubbing in a mound +of snow between the huts of a village in the hope of finding there a +frozen potato or some vegetable garbage he could put between his long +and shaky teeth, Colonel D'Hubert uncovered a couple of mats of the +sort Russian peasants use to line the sides of their carts with. These, +beaten free of frozen snow, bent about his elegant person and fastened +solidly round his waist, made a bell-shaped nether garment, a sort of +stiff petticoat, which rendered Colonel D'Hubert a perfectly decent, but +a much more noticeable figure than before. + +Thus accoutred, he continued to retreat, never doubting of his personal +escape, but full of other misgivings. The early buoyancy of his belief +in the future was destroyed. If the road of glory led through such +unforeseen passages, he asked himself--for he was reflective--whether +the guide was altogether trustworthy. It was a patriotic sadness, not +unmingled with some personal concern, and quite unlike the unreasoning +indignation against men and things nursed by Colonel Feraud. Recruiting +his strength in a little German town for three weeks, Colonel D'Hubert +was surprised to discover within himself a love of repose. His returning +vigour was strangely pacific in its aspirations. He meditated silently +upon this bizarre change of mood. No doubt many of his brother officers +of field rank went through the same moral experience. But these were +not the times to talk of it. In one of his letters home Colonel D'Hubert +wrote, "All your plans, my dear Leonie, for marrying me to the charming +girl you have discovered in your neighbourhood, seem farther off than +ever. Peace is not yet. Europe wants another lesson. It will be a hard +task for us, but it shall be done, because the Emperor is invincible." + +Thus wrote Colonel D 'Hubert from Pomerania to his married sister +Leonie, settled in the south of France. And so far the sentiments +expressed would not have been disowned by Colonel Feraud, who wrote +no letters to anybody, whose father had been in life an illiterate +blacksmith, who had no sister or brother, and whom no one desired +ardently to pair off for a life of peace with a charming young girl. +But Colonel D 'Hubert's letter contained also some philosophical +generalities upon the uncertainty of all personal hopes, when bound up +entirely with the prestigious fortune of one incomparably great it is +true, yet still remaining but a man in his greatness. This view would +have appeared rank heresy to Colonel Feraud. Some melancholy forebodings +of a military kind, expressed cautiously, would have been pronounced as +nothing short of high treason by Colonel Feraud. But Leonie, the sister +of Colonel D'Hubert, read them with profound satisfaction, and, folding +the letter thoughtfully, remarked to herself that "Armand was likely to +prove eventually a sensible fellow." Since her marriage into a Southern +family she had become a convinced believer in the return of the +legitimate king. Hopeful and anxious she offered prayers night and +morning, and burnt candles in churches for the safety and prosperity of +her brother. + +She had every reason to suppose that her prayers were heard. Colonel +D'Hubert passed through Lutzen, Bautzen, and Leipsic losing no limb, and +acquiring additional reputation. Adapting his conduct to the needs of +that desperate time, he had never voiced his misgivings. He concealed +them under a cheerful courtesy of such pleasant character that people +were inclined to ask themselves with wonder whether Colonel D'Hubert +was aware of any disasters. Not only his manners, but even his glances +remained untroubled. The steady amenity of his blue eyes disconcerted +all grumblers, and made despair itself pause. + +This bearing was remarked favourably by the Emperor himself; for Colonel +D'Hubert, attached now to the Major-General's staff, came on several +occasions under the imperial eye. But it exasperated the higher strung +nature of Colonel Feraud. Passing through Magdeburg on service, +this last allowed himself, while seated gloomily at dinner with the +Commandant de Place, to say of his life-long adversary: "This man does +not love the Emperor," and his words were received by the other guests +in profound silence. Colonel Feraud, troubled in his conscience at +the atrocity of the aspersion, felt the need to back it up by a good +argument. "I ought to know him," he cried, adding some oaths. "One +studies one's adversary. I have met him on the ground half a dozen +times, as all the army knows. What more do you want? If that isn't +opportunity enough for any fool to size up his man, may the devil take +me if I can tell what is." And he looked around the table, obstinate and +sombre. + +Later on in Paris, while extremely busy reorganizing his regiment, +Colonel Feraud learned that Colonel D'Hubert had been made a general. He +glared at his informant incredulously, then folded his arms and turned +away muttering, "Nothing surprises me on the part of that man." + +And aloud he added, speaking over his shoulder, "You would oblige me +greatly by telling General D'Hubert at the first opportunity that his +advancement saves him for a time from a pretty hot encounter. I was only +waiting for him to turn up here." + +The other officer remonstrated. + +"Could you think of it, Colonel Feraud, at this time, when every life +should be consecrated to the glory and safety of France?" + +But the strain of unhappiness caused by military reverses had spoiled +Colonel Feraud's character. Like many other men, he was rendered wicked +by misfortune. + +"I cannot consider General D'Hubert's existence of any account either +for the glory or safety of France," he snapped viciously. "You don't +pretend, perhaps, to know him better than I do--I who have met him half +a dozen times on the ground--do you?" + +His interlocutor, a young man, was silenced. Colonel Feraud walked up +and down the room. + +"This is not the time to mince matters," he said. "I can't believe that +that man ever loved the Emperor. He picked up his general's stars under +the boots of Marshal Berthier. Very well. I'll get mine in another +fashion, and then we shall settle this business which has been dragging +on too long." + +General D'Hubert, informed indirectly of Colonel Feraud's attitude, made +a gesture as if to put aside an importunate person. His thoughts were +solicited by graver cares. He had had no time to go and see his family. +His sister, whose royalist hopes were rising higher every day, though +proud of her brother, regretted his recent advancement in a measure, +because it put on him a prominent mark of the usurper's favour, which +later on could have an adverse influence upon his career. He wrote +to her that no one but an inveterate enemy could say he had got his +promotion by favour. As to his career, he assured her that he looked no +farther forward into the future than the next battlefield. + +Beginning the campaign of France in this dogged spirit, General D'Hubert +was wounded on the second day of the battle under Laon. While being +carried off the field he heard that Colonel Feraud, promoted this moment +to general, had been sent to replace him at the head of his brigade. +He cursed his luck impulsively, not being able at the first glance to +discern all the advantages of a nasty wound. And yet it was by this +heroic method that Providence was shaping his future. Travelling slowly +south to his sister's country home under the care of a trusty old +servant, General D'Hubert was spared the humiliating contacts and the +perplexities of conduct which assailed the men of Napoleonic empire at +the moment of its downfall. Lying in his bed, with the windows of his +room open wide to the sunshine of Provence, he perceived the undisguised +aspect of the blessing conveyed by that jagged fragment of a Prussian +shell, which, killing his horse and ripping open his thigh, saved him +from an active conflict with his conscience. After the last fourteen +years spent sword in hand in the saddle, and with the sense of his duty +done to the very end, General D'Hubert found resignation an easy virtue. +His sister was delighted with his reasonableness. "I leave myself +altogether in your hands, my dear Leonie," he had said to her. + +He was still laid up when, the credit of his brother-in-law's family +being exerted on his behalf, he received from the royal government not +only the confirmation of his rank, but the assurance of being retained +on the active list. To this was added an unlimited convalescent leave. +The unfavourable opinion entertained of him in Bonapartist circles, +though it rested on nothing more solid than the unsupported +pronouncement of General Feraud, was directly responsible for General +D'Hubert's retention on the active list. As to General Feraud, his rank +was confirmed, too. It was more than he dared to expect; but Marshal +Soult, then Minister of War to the restored king, was partial to +officers who had served in Spain. Only not even the marshal's protection +could secure for him active employment. He remained irreconcilable, +idle, and sinister. He sought in obscure restaurants the company of +other half-pay officers who cherished dingy but glorious old tricolour +cockades in their breast-pockets, and buttoned with the forbidden eagle +buttons their shabby uniforms, declaring themselves too poor to afford +the expense of the prescribed change. + +The triumphant return from Elba, an historical fact as marvellous and +incredible as the exploits of some mythological demi-god, found General +D'Hubert still quite unable to sit a horse. Neither could he walk very +well. These disabilities, which Madame Leonie accounted most lucky, +helped to keep her brother out of all possible mischief. His frame +of mind at that time, she noted with dismay, became very far from +reasonable. This general officer, still menaced by the loss of a limb, +was discovered one night in the stables of the chateau by a groom, +who, seeing a light, raised an alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying +half-buried in the straw of the litter, and the general was hopping on +one leg in a loose box around a snorting horse he was trying to saddle. +Such were the effects of imperial magic upon a calm temperament and +a pondered mind. Beset in the light of stable lanterns, by the tears, +entreaties, indignation, remonstrances and reproaches of his family, he +got out of the difficult situation by fainting away there and then in +the arms of his nearest relatives, and was carried off to bed. Before he +got out of it again, the second reign of Napoleon, the Hundred Days of +feverish agitation and supreme effort, passed away like a terrifying +dream. The tragic year 1815, begun in the trouble and unrest of +consciences, was ending in vengeful proscriptions. + +How General Feraud escaped the clutches of the Special Commission and +the last offices of a firing squad he never knew himself. It was partly +due to the subordinate position he was assigned during the Hundred Days. +The Emperor had never given him active command, but had kept him busy +at the cavalry depot in Paris, mounting and despatching hastily drilled +troopers into the field. Considering this task as unworthy of his +abilities, he had discharged it with no offensively noticeable zeal; but +for the greater part he was saved from the excesses of Royalist reaction +by the interference of General D'Hubert. + +This last, still on convalescent leave, but able now to travel, had been +despatched by his sister to Paris to present himself to his legitimate +sovereign. As no one in the capital could possibly know anything of the +episode in the stable he was received there with distinction. Military +to the very bottom of his soul, the prospect of rising in his profession +consoled him from finding himself the butt of Bonapartist malevolence, +which pursued him with a persistence he could not account for. All the +rancour of that embittered and persecuted party pointed to him as the +man who had never loved the Emperor--a sort of monster essentially worse +than a mere betrayer. + +General D'Hubert shrugged his shoulders without anger at this ferocious +prejudice. Rejected by his old friends, and mistrusting profoundly the +advances of Royalist society, the young and handsome general (he was +barely forty) adopted a manner of cold, punctilious courtesy, which +at the merest shadow of an intended slight passed easily into harsh +haughtiness. Thus prepared, General D'Hubert went about his affairs in +Paris feeling inwardly very happy with the peculiar uplifting happiness +of a man very much in love. The charming girl looked out by his sister +had come upon the scene, and had conquered him in the thorough manner +in which a young girl by merely existing in his sight can make a man of +forty her own. They were going to be married as soon as General D'Hubert +had obtained his official nomination to a promised command. + +One afternoon, sitting on the terrasse of the Cafe Tortoni, General +D'Hubert learned from the conversation of two strangers occupying +a table near his own, that General Feraud, included in the batch of +superior officers arrested after the second return of the king, was in +danger of passing before the Special Commission. Living all his spare +moments, as is frequently the case with expectant lovers, a day in +advance of reality, and in a state of bestarred hallucination, it +required nothing less than the name of his perpetual antagonist +pronounced in a loud voice to call the youngest of Napoleon's generals +away from the mental contemplation of his betrothed. He looked round. +The strangers wore civilian clothes. Lean and weather-beaten, lolling +back in their chairs, they scowled at people with moody and defiant +abstraction from under their hats pulled low over their eyes. It was not +difficult to recognize them for two of the compulsorily retired officers +of the Old Guard. As from bravado or carelessness they chose to speak in +loud tones, General D'Hubert, who saw no reason why he should change his +seat, heard every word. They did not seem to be the personal friends of +General Feraud. His name came up amongst others. Hearing it repeated, +General D'Hubert's tender anticipations of a domestic future adorned +with a woman's grace were traversed by the harsh regret of his warlike +past, of that one long, intoxicating clash of arms, unique in the +magnitude of its glory and disaster--the marvellous work and the special +possession of his own generation. He felt an irrational tenderness +towards his old adversary and appreciated emotionally the murderous +absurdity their encounter had introduced into his life. It was like an +additional pinch of spice in a hot dish. He remembered the flavour with +sudden melancholy. He would never taste it again. It was all over. "I +fancy it was being left lying in the garden that had exasperated him so +against me from the first," he thought, indulgently. + + +The two strangers at the next table had fallen silent after the third +mention of General Feraud's name. Presently the elder of the two, +speaking again in a bitter tone, affirmed that General Feraud's account +was settled. And why? Simply because he was not like some bigwigs who +loved only themselves. The Royalists knew they could never make anything +of him. He loved The Other too well. + +The Other was the Man of St. Helena. The two officers nodded and touched +glasses before they drank to an impossible return. Then the same who +had spoken before, remarked with a sardonic laugh, "His adversary showed +more cleverness." + +"What adversary?" asked the younger, as if puzzled. + +"Don't you know? They were two hussars. At each promotion they fought a +duel. Haven't you heard of the duel going on ever since 1801?" + +The other had heard of the duel, of course. Now he understood the +allusion. General Baron D'Hubert would be able now to enjoy his fat +king's favour in peace. + +"Much good may it do to him," mumbled the elder. "They were both brave +men. I never saw this D'Hubert--a sort of intriguing dandy, I am told. +But I can well believe what I've heard Feraud say of him--that he never +loved the Emperor." + +They rose and went away. + +General D'Hubert experienced the horror of a somnambulist who wakes +up from a complacent dream of activity to find himself walking on a +quagmire. A profound disgust of the ground on which he was making his +way overcame him. Even the image of the charming girl was swept from +his view in the flood of moral distress. Everything he had ever been +or hoped to be would taste of bitter ignominy unless he could manage to +save General Feraud from the fate which threatened so many braves. Under +the impulse of this almost morbid need to attend to the safety of his +adversary, General D'Hubert worked so well with hands and feet (as the +French saying is), that in less than twenty-four hours he found means of +obtaining an extraordinary private audience from the Minister of Police. + +General Baron D'Hubert was shown in suddenly without preliminaries. In +the dusk of the Minister's cabinet, behind the forms of writing-desk, +chairs, and tables, between two bunches of wax candles blazing in +sconces, he beheld a figure in a gorgeous coat posturing before a tall +mirror. The old conventionnel Fouche, Senator of the Empire, traitor +to every man, to every principle and motive of human conduct. Duke of +Otranto, and the wily artizan of the second Restoration, was trying +the fit of a court suit in which his young and accomplished fiancee had +declared her intention to have his portrait painted on porcelain. It was +a caprice, a charming fancy which the first Minister of Police of the +second Restoration was anxious to gratify. For that man, often compared +in wiliness of conduct to a fox, but whose ethical side could be +worthily symbolized by nothing less emphatic than a skunk, was as much +possessed by his love as General D'Hubert himself. + +Startled to be discovered thus by the blunder of a servant, he met this +little vexation with the characteristic impudence which had served +his turn so well in the endless intrigues of his self-seeking career. +Without altering his attitude a hair's-breadth, one leg in a silk +stocking advanced, his head twisted over his left shoulder, he +called out calmly, "This way, General. Pray approach. Well? I am all +attention." + +While General D'Hubert, ill at ease as if one of his own little +weaknesses had been exposed, presented his request as shortly as +possible, the Duke of Otranto went on feeling the fit of his collar, +settling the lapels before the glass, and buckling his back in an effort +to behold the set of the gold embroidered coat-skirts behind. His still +face, his attentive eyes, could not have expressed a more complete +interest in those matters if he had been alone. + +"Exclude from the operations of the Special Court a certain Feraud, +Gabriel Florian, General of brigade of the promotion of 1814?" he +repeated, in a slightly wondering tone, and then turned away from the +glass. "Why exclude him precisely?" + + +"I am surprised that your Excellency, so competent in the evaluation of +men of his time, should have thought worth while to have that name put +down on the list." + +"A rabid Bonapartist!" + +"So is every grenadier and every trooper of the army, as your Excellency +well knows. And the individuality of General Feraud can have no more +weight than that of any casual grenadier. He is a man of no mental +grasp, of no capacity whatever. It is inconceivable that he should ever +have any influence." + +"He has a well-hung tongue, though," interjected Fouche. + +"Noisy, I admit, but not dangerous." + +"I will not dispute with you. I know next to nothing of him. Hardly his +name, in fact." + +"And yet your Excellency has the presidency of the Commission charged +by the king to point out those who were to be tried," said General +D'Hubert, with an emphasis which did not miss the minister's ear. + +"Yes, General," he said, walking away into the dark part of the vast +room, and throwing himself into a deep armchair that swallowed him up, +all but the soft gleam of gold embroideries and the pallid patch of the +face--"yes, General. Take this chair there." + +General D'Hubert sat down. + +"Yes, General," continued the arch-master in the arts of intrigue +and betrayals, whose duplicity, as if at times intolerable to his +self-knowledge, found relief in bursts of cynical openness. "I did +hurry on the formation of the proscribing Commission, and I took its +presidency. And do you know why? Simply from fear that if I did not +take it quickly into my hands my own name would head the list of the +proscribed. Such are the times in which we live. But I am minister of +the king yet, and I ask you plainly why I should take the name of this +obscure Feraud off the list? You wonder how his name got there! Is it +possible that you should know men so little? My dear General, at the +very first sitting of the Commission names poured on us like rain off +the roof of the Tuileries. Names! We had our choice of thousands. How do +you know that the name of this Feraud, whose life or death don't matter +to France, does not keep out some other name?" + +The voice out of the armchair stopped. Opposite General D'Hubert sat +still, shadowy and silent. Only his sabre clinked slightly. The voice in +the armchair began again. "And we must try to satisfy the exigencies +of the Allied Sovereigns, too. The Prince de Talleyrand told me only +yesterday that Nesselrode had informed him officially of His Majesty the +Emperor Alexander's dissatisfaction at the small number of examples the +Government of the king intends to make--especially amongst military men. +I tell you this confidentially." + +"Upon my word!" broke out General D'Hubert, speaking through his teeth, +"if your Excellency deigns to favour me with any more confidential +information I don't know what I will do. It's enough to break one's +sword over one's knee, and fling the pieces. . . ." + +"What government you imagined yourself to be serving?" interrupted the +minister, sharply. + +After a short pause the crestfallen voice of General D'Hubert answered, +"The Government of France." + +"That's paying your conscience off with mere words, General. The truth +is that you are serving a government of returned exiles, of men who have +been without country for twenty years. Of men also who have just got +over a very bad and humiliating fright. . . . Have no illusions on that +score." + +The Duke of Otranto ceased. He had relieved himself, and had attained +his object of stripping some self-respect off that man who had +inconveniently discovered him posturing in a gold-embroidered court +costume before a mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot in the army; it +occurred to him that it would be inconvenient if a well-disposed general +officer, received in audience on the recommendation of one of the +Princes, were to do something rashly scandalous directly after a private +interview with the minister. In a changed tone he put a question to the +point: "Your relation--this Feraud?" + +"No. No relation at all." + +"Intimate friend?" + +"Intimate . . . yes. There is between us an intimate connection of a +nature which makes it a point of honour with me to try . . ." + +The minister rang a bell without waiting for the end of the phrase. +When the servant had gone out, after bringing in a pair of heavy silver +candelabra for the writing-desk, the Duke of Otranto rose, his breast +glistening all over with gold in the strong light, and taking a piece of +paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand ostentatiously while he said +with persuasive gentleness: "You must not speak of breaking your sword +across your knee, General. Perhaps you would never get another. The +Emperor will not return this time. . . . Diable d'homme! There was just +a moment, here in Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me. +It looked as though he were ready to begin all over again. Luckily one +never does begin all over again, really. You must not think of breaking +your sword, General." + +General D'Hubert, looking on the ground, moved slightly his hand in a +hopeless gesture of renunciation. The Minister of Police turned his eyes +away from him, and scanned deliberately the paper he had been holding up +all the time. + +"There are only twenty general officers selected to be made an example +of. Twenty. A round number. And let's see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he's there. +Gabriel Florian. Parfaitement. That's your man. Well, there will be only +nineteen examples made now." + +General D'Hubert stood up feeling as though he had gone through an +infectious illness. "I must beg your Excellency to keep my interference +a profound secret. I attach the greatest importance to his never +learning . . ." + +"Who is going to inform him, I should like to know?" said Fouche, +raising his eyes curiously to General D'Hubert's tense, set face. "Take +one of these pens, and run it through the name yourself. This is the +only list in existence. If you are careful to take up enough ink no one +will be able to tell what was the name struck out. But, par exemple, I +am not responsible for what Clarke will do with him afterwards. If he +persists in being rabid he will be ordered by the Minister of War to +reside in some provincial town under the supervision of the police." + +A few days later General D'Hubert was saying to his sister, after the +first greetings had been got over: "Ah, my dear Leonie! it seemed to me +I couldn't get away from Paris quick enough." + +"Effect of love," she suggested, with a malicious smile. + +"And horror," added General D'Hubert, with profound seriousness. "I have +nearly died there of . . . of nausea." + +His face was contracted with disgust. And as his sister looked at him +attentively he continued, "I have had to see Fouche. I have had an +audience. I have been in his cabinet. There remains with one, who had +the misfortune to breathe the air of the same room with that man, a +sense of diminished dignity, an uneasy feeling of being not so clean, +after all, as one hoped one was. . . . But you can't understand." + +She nodded quickly several times. She understood very well, on the +contrary. She knew her brother thoroughly, and liked him as he was. +Moreover, the scorn and loathing of mankind were the lot of the Jacobin +Fouche, who, exploiting for his own advantage every weakness, every +virtue, every generous illusion of mankind, made dupes of his whole +generation, and died obscurely as Duke of Otranto. + +"My dear Armand," she said, compassionately, "what could you want from +that man?" + +"Nothing less than a life," answered General D'Hubert. "And I've got +it. It had to be done. But I feel yet as if I could never forgive the +necessity to the man I had to save." + +General Feraud, totally unable (as is the case with most of us) to +comprehend what was happening to him, received the Minister of War's +order to proceed at once to a small town of Central France with feelings +whose natural expression consisted in a fierce rolling of the eye and +savage grinding of the teeth. The passing away of the state of war, +the only condition of society he had ever known, the horrible view of a +world at peace, frightened him. He went away to his little town firmly +convinced that this could not last. There he was informed of his +retirement from the army, and that his pension (calculated on the +scale of a colonel's rank) was made dependent on the correctness of his +conduct, and on the good reports of the police. No longer in the army! +He felt suddenly strange to the earth, like a disembodied spirit. It +was impossible to exist. But at first he reacted from sheer incredulity. +This could not be. He waited for thunder, earthquakes, natural +cataclysms; but nothing happened. The leaden weight of an irremediable +idleness descended upon General Feraud, who having no resources within +himself sank into a state of awe-inspiring hebetude. He haunted the +streets of the little town, gazing before him with lacklustre eyes, +disregarding the hats raised on his passage; and people, nudging each +other as he went by, whispered, "That's poor General Feraud. His heart +is broken. Behold how he loved the Emperor." + +The other living wreckage of Napoleonic tempest clustered round General +Feraud with infinite respect. He, himself, imagined his soul to be +crushed by grief. He suffered from quickly succeeding impulses to weep, +to howl, to bite his fists till blood came, to spend days on his bed +with his head thrust under the pillow; but these arose from sheer ennui, +from the anguish of an immense, indescribable, inconceivable boredom. +His mental inability to grasp the hopeless nature of his case as a whole +saved him from suicide. He never even thought of it once. He thought +of nothing. But his appetite abandoned him, and the difficulty he +experienced to express the overwhelming nature of his feelings (the most +furious swearing could do no justice to it) induced gradually a habit of +silence--a sort of death to a southern temperament. + +Great, therefore, was the sensation amongst the anciens militaires +frequenting a certain little cafe; full of flies when one stuffy +afternoon "that poor General Feraud" let out suddenly a volley of +formidable curses. + +He had been sitting quietly in his own privileged corner looking through +the Paris gazettes with just as much interest as a condemned man on the +eve of execution could be expected to show in the news of the day. "I'll +find out presently that I am alive yet," he declared, in a dogmatic +tone. "However, this is a private affair. An old affair of honour. Bah! +Our honour does not matter. Here we are driven off with a split ear like +a lot of cast troop horses--good only for a knacker's yard. But it +would be like striking a blow for the Emperor. . . . Messieurs, I shall +require the assistance of two of you." + +Every man moved forward. General Feraud, deeply touched by this +demonstration, called with visible emotion upon the one-eyed veteran +cuirassier and the officer of the Chasseurs a Cheval who had left the +tip of his nose in Russia. He excused his choice to the others. + +"A cavalry affair this--you know." + +He was answered with a varied chorus of "Parfaitement, mon General +. . . . C'est juste. . . . Parbleu, c'est connu. . . ." Everybody was +satisfied. The three left the cafe together, followed by cries of "Bonne +chance." + +Outside they linked arms, the general in the middle. The three rusty +cocked hats worn en bataille with a sinister forward slant barred the +narrow street nearly right across. The overheated little town of grey +stones and red tiles was drowsing away its provincial afternoon under +a blue sky. The loud blows of a cooper hooping a cask reverberated +regularly between the houses. The general dragged his left foot a little +in the shade of the walls. + +"This damned winter of 1813 has got into my bones for good. Never +mind. We must take pistols, that's all. A little lumbago. We must have +pistols. He's game for my bag. My eyes are as keen as ever. You should +have seen me in Russia picking off the dodging Cossacks with a beastly +old infantry musket. I have a natural gift for firearms." + +In this strain General Feraud ran on, holding up his head, with owlish +eyes and rapacious beak. A mere fighter all his life, a cavalry man, a +sabreur, he conceived war with the utmost simplicity, as, in the main, a +massed lot of personal contests, a sort of gregarious duelling. And here +he had in hand a war of his own. He revived. The shadow of peace +passed away from him like the shadow of death. It was the marvellous +resurrection of the named Feraud, Gabriel Florian, engage volontaire +of 1793, General of 1814, buried without ceremony by means of a service +order signed by the War Minister of the Second Restoration. + + +IV + + +No man succeeds in everything he undertakes. In that sense we are all +failures. The great point is not to fail in ordering and sustaining the +effort of our life. In this matter vanity is what leads us astray. It +hurries us into situations from which we must come out damaged; whereas +pride is our safeguard, by the reserve it imposes on the choice of our +endeavour as much as by the virtue of its sustaining power. + +General D'Hubert was proud and reserved. He had not been damaged by his +casual love affairs, successful or otherwise. In his war-scarred body +his heart at forty remained unscratched. Entering with reserve into his +sister's matrimonial plans, he had felt himself falling irremediably in +love as one falls off a roof. He was too proud to be frightened. Indeed, +the sensation was too delightful to be alarming. + +The inexperience of a man of forty is a much more serious thing than +the inexperience of a youth of twenty, for it is not helped out by the +rashness of hot blood. The girl was mysterious, as young girls are +by the mere effect of their guarded ingenuity; and to him the +mysteriousness of that young girl appeared exceptional and fascinating. +But there was nothing mysterious about the arrangements of the match +which Madame Leonie had promoted. There was nothing peculiar, either. It +was a very appropriate match, commending itself extremely to the young +lady's mother (the father was dead) and tolerable to the young lady's +uncle--an old emigre lately returned from Germany, and pervading, cane +in hand, a lean ghost of the ancien regime, the garden walks of the +young lady's ancestral home. + +General D'Hubert was not the man to be satisfied merely with the woman +and the fortune--when it came to the point. His pride (and pride aims +always at true success) would be satisfied with nothing short of love. +But as true pride excludes vanity, he could not imagine any reason why +this mysterious creature with deep and brilliant eyes of a violet colour +should have any feeling for him warmer than indifference. The young lady +(her name was Adele) baffled every attempt at a clear understanding on +that point. It is true that the attempts were clumsy and made timidly, +because by then General D'Hubert had become acutely aware of the number +of his years, of his wounds, of his many moral imperfections, of his +secret unworthiness--and had incidentally learned by experience the +meaning of the word funk. As far as he could make out she seemed to +imply that, with an unbounded confidence in her mother's affection and +sagacity, she felt no unsurmountable dislike for the person of General +D'Hubert; and that this was quite sufficient for a well-brought-up young +lady to begin married life upon. This view hurt and tormented the pride +of General D'Hubert. And yet he asked himself, with a sort of sweet +despair, what more could he expect? She had a quiet and luminous +forehead. Her violet eyes laughed while the lines of her lips and chin +remained composed in admirable gravity. All this was set off by such +a glorious mass of fair hair, by a complexion so marvellous, by such +a grace of expression, that General D'Hubert really never found the +opportunity to examine with sufficient detachment the lofty exigencies +of his pride. In fact, he became shy of that line of inquiry since it +had led once or twice to a crisis of solitary passion in which it was +borne upon him that he loved her enough to kill her rather than lose +her. From such passages, not unknown to men of forty, he would come out +broken, exhausted, remorseful, a little dismayed. He derived, however, +considerable comfort from the quietist practice of sitting now and then +half the night by an open window and meditating upon the wonder of +her existence, like a believer lost in the mystic contemplation of his +faith. + +It must not be supposed that all these variations of his inward state +were made manifest to the world. General D 'Hubert found no difficulty +in appearing wreathed in smiles. Because, in fact, he was very happy. +He followed the established rules of his condition, sending over flowers +(from his sister's garden and hot-houses) early every morning, and a +little later following himself to lunch with his intended, her mother, +and her emigre uncle. The middle of the day was spent in strolling or +sitting in the shade. A watchful deference, trembling on the verge of +tenderness was the note of their intercourse on his side--with a playful +turn of the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole being +caused by her inaccessible nearness. Late in the afternoon General D +'Hubert walked home between the fields of vines, sometimes intensely +miserable, sometimes supremely happy, sometimes pensively sad; but +always feeling a special intensity of existence, that elation common to +artists, poets, and lovers--to men haunted by a great passion, a noble +thought, or a new vision of plastic beauty. + +The outward world at that time did not exist with any special +distinctness for General D'Hubert. One evening, however, crossing a +ridge from which he could see both houses, General D'Hubert became aware +of two figures far down the road. The day had been divine. The festal +decoration of the inflamed sky lent a gentle glow to the sober tints +of the southern land. The grey rocks, the brown fields, the purple, +undulating distances harmonized in luminous accord, exhaled already +the scents of the evening. The two figures down the road presented +themselves like two rigid and wooden silhouettes all black on the ribbon +of white dust. General D'Hubert made out the long, straight, military +capotes buttoned closely right up to the black stocks, the cocked hats, +the lean, carven, brown countenances--old soldiers--vieilles moustaches! +The taller of the two had a black patch over one eye; the other's hard, +dry countenance presented some bizarre, disquieting peculiarity, which +on nearer approach proved to be the absence of the tip of the nose. +Lifting their hands with one movement to salute the slightly lame +civilian walking with a thick stick, they inquired for the house where +the General Baron D'Hubert lived, and what was the best way to get +speech with him quietly. + +"If you think this quiet enough," said General D'Hubert, looking round +at the vine-fields, framed in purple lines, and dominated by the nest of +grey and drab walls of a village clustering around the top of a conical +hill, so that the blunt church tower seemed but the shape of a crowning +rock--"if you think this spot quiet enough, you can speak to him +at once. And I beg you, comrades, to speak openly, with perfect +confidence." + +They stepped back at this, and raised again their hands to their +hats with marked ceremoniousness. Then the one with the chipped nose, +speaking for both, remarked that the matter was confidential enough, and +to be arranged discreetly. Their general quarters were established in +that village over there, where the infernal clodhoppers--damn their +false, Royalist hearts!--looked remarkably cross-eyed at three +unassuming military men. For the present he should only ask for the name +of General D'Hubert's friends. + +"What friends?" said the astonished General D'Hubert, completely off the +track. "I am staying with my brother-in-law over there." + +"Well, he will do for one," said the chipped veteran. + +"We're the friends of General Feraud," interjected the other, who had +kept silent till then, only glowering with his one eye at the man who +had never loved the Emperor. That was something to look at. For even +the gold-laced Judases who had sold him to the English, the marshals +and princes, had loved him at some time or other. But this man had never +loved the Emperor. General Feraud had said so distinctly. + +General D'Hubert felt an inward blow in his chest. For an infinitesimal +fraction of a second it was as if the spinning of the earth had become +perceptible with an awful, slight rustle in the eternal stillness +of space. But this noise of blood in his ears passed off at once. +Involuntarily he murmured, "Feraud! I had forgotten his existence." + +"He's existing at present, very uncomfortably, it is true, in the +infamous inn of that nest of savages up there," said the one-eyed +cuirassier, drily. "We arrived in your parts an hour ago on post horses. +He's awaiting our return with impatience. There is hurry, you know. +The General has broken the ministerial order to obtain from you the +satisfaction he's entitled to by the laws of honour, and naturally he's +anxious to have it all over before the gendarmerie gets on his scent." + +The other elucidated the idea a little further. "Get back on the +quiet--you understand? Phitt! No one the wiser. We have broken out, too. +Your friend the king would be glad to cut off our scurvy pittances at +the first chance. It's a risk. But honour before everything." + +General D'Hubert had recovered his powers of speech. "So you come here +like this along the road to invite me to a throat-cutting match with +that--that . . ." A laughing sort of rage took possession of him. "Ha! +ha! ha! ha!" + +His fists on his hips, he roared without restraint, while they stood +before him lank and straight, as though they had been shot up with a +snap through a trap door in the ground. Only four-and-twenty months ago +the masters of Europe, they had already the air of antique ghosts, +they seemed less substantial in their faded coats than their own +narrow shadows falling so black across the white road: the military +and grotesque shadows of twenty years of war and conquests. They had an +outlandish appearance of two imperturbable bonzes of the religion of +the sword. And General D'Hubert, also one of the ex-masters of Europe, +laughed at these serious phantoms standing in his way. + +Said one, indicating the laughing General with a jerk of the head: "A +merry companion, that." + +"There are some of us that haven't smiled from the day The Other went +away," remarked his comrade. + +A violent impulse to set upon and beat those unsubstantial wraiths to +the ground frightened General D'Hubert. He ceased laughing suddenly. +His desire now was to get rid of them, to get them away from his sight +quickly before he lost control of himself. He wondered at the fury +he felt rising in his breast. But he had no time to look into that +peculiarity just then. + +"I understand your wish to be done with me as quickly as possible. Don't +let us waste time in empty ceremonies. Do you see that wood there at the +foot of that slope? Yes, the wood of pines. Let us meet there to-morrow +at sunrise. I will bring with me my sword or my pistols, or both if you +like." + +The seconds of General Feraud looked at each other. + +"Pistols, General," said the cuirassier. + +"So be it. Au revoir--to-morrow morning. Till then let me advise you to +keep close if you don't want the gendarmerie making inquiries about you +before it gets dark. Strangers are rare in this part of the country." + +They saluted in silence. General D'Hubert, turning his back on their +retreating forms, stood still in the middle of the road for a long time, +biting his lower lip and looking on the ground. Then he began to walk +straight before him, thus retracing his steps till he found himself +before the park gate of his intended's house. Dusk had fallen. +Motionless he stared through the bars at the front of the house, +gleaming clear beyond the thickets and trees. Footsteps scrunched on +the gravel, and presently a tall stooping shape emerged from the lateral +alley following the inner side of the park wall. + +Le Chevalier de Valmassigue, uncle of the adorable Adele, ex-brigadier +in the army of the Princes, bookbinder in Altona, afterwards shoemaker +(with a great reputation for elegance in the fit of ladies' shoes) in +another small German town, wore silk stockings on his lean shanks, low +shoes with silver buckles, a brocaded waistcoat. A long-skirted coat, +a la francaise, covered loosely his thin, bowed back. A small +three-cornered hat rested on a lot of powdered hair, tied in a queue. + +"Monsieur le Chevalier," called General D'Hubert, softly. + +"What? You here again, mon ami? Have you forgotten something?" + +"By heavens! that's just it. I have forgotten something. I am come to +tell you of it. No--outside. Behind this wall. It's too ghastly a thing +to be let in at all where she lives." + +The Chevalier came out at once with that benevolent resignation some +old people display towards the fugue of youth. Older by a quarter of a +century than General D'Hubert, he looked upon him in the secret of +his heart as a rather troublesome youngster in love. He had heard his +enigmatical words very well, but attached no undue importance to what a +mere man of forty so hard hit was likely to do or say. The turn of mind +of the generation of Frenchmen grown up during the years of his exile +was almost unintelligible to him. Their sentiments appeared to him +unduly violent, lacking fineness and measure, their language needlessly +exaggerated. He joined calmly the General on the road, and they made a +few steps in silence, the General trying to master his agitation, and +get proper control of his voice. + +"It is perfectly true; I forgot something. I forgot till half an hour +ago that I had an urgent affair of honour on my hands. It's incredible, +but it is so!" + +All was still for a moment. Then in the profound evening silence of the +countryside the clear, aged voice of the Chevalier was heard trembling +slightly: "Monsieur! That's an indignity." + +It was his first thought. The girl born during his exile, the posthumous +daughter of his poor brother murdered by a band of Jacobins, had grown +since his return very dear to his old heart, which had been starving on +mere memories of affection for so many years. "It is an inconceivable +thing, I say! A man settles such affairs before he thinks of asking for +a young girl's hand. Why! If you had forgotten for ten days longer, you +would have been married before your memory returned to you. In my time +men did not forget such things--nor yet what is due to the feelings +of an innocent young woman. If I did not respect them myself, I would +qualify your conduct in a way which you would not like." + +General D'Hubert relieved himself frankly by a groan. "Don't let that +consideration prevent you. You run no risk of offending her mortally." + +But the old man paid no attention to this lover's nonsense. It's +doubtful whether he even heard. "What is it?" he asked. "What's the +nature of . . . ?" "Call it a youthful folly, Monsieur le Chevalier. An +inconceivable, incredible result of . . ." He stopped short. "He will +never believe the story," he thought. "He will only think I am taking +him for a fool, and get offended." General D'Hubert spoke up again: +"Yes, originating in youthful folly, it has become . . ." + +The Chevalier interrupted: "Well, then it must be arranged." + +"Arranged?" + +"Yes, no matter at what cost to your amour propre. You should have +remembered you were engaged. You forgot that, too, I suppose. And then +you go and forget your quarrel. It's the most hopeless exhibition of +levity I ever heard of." + +"Good heavens, Monsieur! You don't imagine I have been picking up this +quarrel last time I was in Paris, or anything of the sort, do you?" + +"Eh! What matters the precise date of your insane conduct," exclaimed +the Chevalier, testily. "The principal thing is to arrange it." + +Noticing General D'Hubert getting restive and trying to place a word, +the old emigre raised his hand, and added with dignity, "I've been a +soldier, too. I would never dare suggest a doubtful step to the man +whose name my niece is to bear. I tell you that entre galants hommes an +affair can always be arranged." + +"But saperiotte, Monsieur le Chevalier, it's fifteen or sixteen years +ago. I was a lieutenant of hussars then." + +The old Chevalier seemed confounded by the vehemently despairing tone of +this information. "You were a lieutenant of hussars sixteen years ago," +he mumbled in a dazed manner. + +"Why, yes! You did not suppose I was made a general in my cradle like a +royal prince." + +In the deepening purple twilight of the fields spread with vine leaves, +backed by a low band of sombre crimson in the west, the voice of the old +ex-officer in the army of the Princes sounded collected, punctiliously +civil. + +"Do I dream? Is this a pleasantry? Or am I to understand that you have +been hatching an affair of honour for sixteen years?" + +"It has clung to me for that length of time. That is my precise meaning. +The quarrel itself is not to be explained easily. We met on the ground +several times during that time, of course." + +"What manners! What horrible perversion of manliness! Nothing can +account for such inhumanity but the sanguinary madness of the Revolution +which has tainted a whole generation," mused the returned emigre in a +low tone. "Who's your adversary?" he asked a little louder. + +"My adversary? His name is Feraud." + +Shadowy in his tricorne and old-fashioned clothes, like a bowed, thin +ghost of the ancien regime, the Chevalier voiced a ghostly memory. "I +can remember the feud about little Sophie Derval, between Monsieur de +Brissac, Captain in the Bodyguards, and d'Anjorrant (not the pock-marked +one, the other--the Beau d'Anjorrant, as they called him). They met +three times in eighteen months in a most gallant manner. It was the +fault of that little Sophie, too, who would keep on playing . . ." + +"This is nothing of the kind," interrupted General D'Hubert. He laughed +a little sardonically. "Not at all so simple," he added. "Nor yet half +so reasonable," he finished, inaudibly, between his teeth, and ground +them with rage. + +After this sound nothing troubled the silence for a long time, till the +Chevalier asked, without animation: "What is he--this Feraud?" + +"Lieutenant of hussars, too--I mean, he's a general. A Gascon. Son of a +blacksmith, I believe." + +"There! I thought so. That Bonaparte had a special predilection for the +canaille. I don't mean this for you, D'Hubert. You are one of us, though +you have served this usurper, who . . ." + +"Let's leave him out of this," broke in General D'Hubert. + +The Chevalier shrugged his peaked shoulders. "Feraud of sorts. Offspring +of a blacksmith and some village troll. See what comes of mixing +yourself up with that sort of people." + +"You have made shoes yourself, Chevalier." + +"Yes. But I am not the son of a shoemaker. Neither are you, Monsieur +D'Hubert. You and I have something that your Bonaparte's princes, dukes, +and marshals have not, because there's no power on earth that could give +it to them," retorted the emigre, with the rising animation of a man who +has got hold of a hopeful argument. "Those people don't exist--all these +Ferauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A va-nu-pieds disguised into a general +by a Corsican adventurer masquerading as an emperor. There is no earthly +reason for a D'Hubert to s'encanailler by a duel with a person of that +sort. You can make your excuses to him perfectly well. And if the manant +takes into his head to decline them, you may simply refuse to meet him." + +"You say I may do that?" + +"I do. With the clearest conscience." + +"Monsieur le Chevalier! To what do you think you have returned from your +emigration?" + +This was said in such a startling tone that the old man raised sharply +his bowed head, glimmering silvery white under the points of the little +tricorne. For a time he made no sound. + +"God knows!" he said at last, pointing with a slow and grave gesture at +a tall roadside cross mounted on a block of stone, and stretching its +arms of forged iron all black against the darkening red band in the +sky--"God knows! If it were not for this emblem, which I remember seeing +on this spot as a child, I would wonder to what we who remained faithful +to God and our king have returned. The very voices of the people have +changed." + +"Yes, it is a changed France," said General D'Hubert. He seemed to have +regained his calm. His tone was slightly ironic. "Therefore I cannot +take your advice. Besides, how is one to refuse to be bitten by a dog +that means to bite? It's impracticable. Take my word for it--Feraud +isn't a man to be stayed by apologies or refusals. But there are +other ways. I could, for instance, send a messenger with a word to +the brigadier of the gendarmerie in Senlac. He and his two friends are +liable to arrest on my simple order. It would make some talk in the +army, both the organized and the disbanded--especially the disbanded. +All canaille! All once upon a time the companions in arms of Armand +D'Hubert. But what need a D'Hubert care what people that don't exist may +think? Or, better still, I might get my brother-in-law to send for the +mayor of the village and give him a hint. No more would be needed to get +the three 'brigands' set upon with flails and pitchforks and hunted into +some nice, deep, wet ditch--and nobody the wiser! It has been done only +ten miles from here to three poor devils of the disbanded Red Lancers +of the Guard going to their homes. What says your conscience, Chevalier? +Can a D'Hubert do that thing to three men who do not exist?" + +A few stars had come out on the blue obscurity, clear as crystal, of the +sky. The dry, thin voice of the Chevalier spoke harshly: "Why are you +telling me all this?" + +The General seized the withered old hand with a strong grip. "Because +I owe you my fullest confidence. Who could tell Adele but you? You +understand why I dare not trust my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. +Chevalier! I have been so near doing these things that I tremble yet. +You don't know how terrible this duel appears to me. And there's no +escape from it." + +He murmured after a pause, "It's a fatality," dropped the Chevalier's +passive hand, and said in his ordinary conversational voice, "I shall +have to go without seconds. If it is my lot to remain on the ground, you +at least will know all that can be made known of this affair." + +The shadowy ghost of the ancien regime seemed to have become more bowed +during the conversation. "How am I to keep an indifferent face this +evening before these two women?" he groaned. "General! I find it very +difficult to forgive you." + +General D 'Hubert made no answer. + +"Is your cause good, at least?" + +"I am innocent." + +This time he seized the Chevalier's ghostly arm above the elbow, and +gave it a mighty squeeze. "I must kill him!" he hissed, and opening his +hand strode away down the road. + +The delicate attentions of his adoring sister had secured for the +General perfect liberty of movement in the house where he was a guest. +He had even his own entrance through a small door in one corner of +the orangery. Thus he was not exposed that evening to the necessity +of dissembling his agitation before the calm ignorance of the other +inmates. He was glad of it. It seemed to him that if he had to open his +lips he would break out into horrible and aimless imprecations, start +breaking furniture, smashing china and glass. From the moment he opened +the private door and while ascending the twenty-eight steps of a winding +staircase, giving access to the corridor on which his room opened, he +went through a horrible and humiliating scene in which an infuriated +madman with blood-shot eyes and a foaming mouth played inconceivable +havoc with everything inanimate that may be found in a well-appointed +dining-room. When he opened the door of his apartment the fit was over, +and his bodily fatigue was so great that he had to catch at the backs +of the chairs while crossing the room to reach a low and broad divan +on which he let himself fall heavily. His moral prostration was still +greater. That brutality of feeling which he had known only when +charging the enemy, sabre in hand, amazed this man of forty, who did not +recognize in it the instinctive fury of his menaced passion. But in +his mental and bodily exhaustion this passion got cleared, distilled, +refined into a sentiment of melancholy despair at having, perhaps, to +die before he had taught this beautiful girl to love him. + +That night, General D'Hubert stretched out on his back with his hands +over his eyes, or lying on his breast with his face buried in a +cushion, made the full pilgrimage of emotions. Nauseating disgust at +the absurdity of the situation, doubt of his own fitness to conduct his +existence, and mistrust of his best sentiments (for what the devil did +he want to go to Fouche for?)--he knew them all in turn. "I am an +idiot, neither more nor less," he thought--"A sensitive idiot. Because +I overheard two men talking in a cafe. . . . I am an idiot afraid of +lies--whereas in life it is only truth that matters." + +Several times he got up and, walking in his socks in order not to be +heard by anybody downstairs, drank all the water he could find in the +dark. And he tasted the torments of jealousy, too. She would marry +somebody else. His very soul writhed. The tenacity of that Feraud, +the awful persistence of that imbecile brute, came to him with the +tremendous force of a relentless destiny. General D'Hubert trembled as +he put down the empty water ewer. "He will have me," he thought. General +D'Hubert was tasting every emotion that life has to give. He had in +his dry mouth the faint sickly flavour of fear, not the excusable fear +before a young girl's candid and amused glance, but the fear of death +and the honourable man's fear of cowardice. + +But if true courage consists in going out to meet an odious danger from +which our body, soul, and heart recoil together, General D'Hubert had +the opportunity to practise it for the first time in his life. He had +charged exultingly at batteries and at infantry squares, and ridden with +messages through a hail of bullets without thinking anything about +it. His business now was to sneak out unheard, at break of day, to +an obscure and revolting death. General D'Hubert never hesitated. He +carried two pistols in a leather bag which he slung over his shoulder. +Before he had crossed the garden his mouth was dry again. He picked two +oranges. It was only after shutting the gate after him that he felt a +slight faintness. + +He staggered on, disregarding it, and after going a few yards regained +the command of his legs. In the colourless and pellucid dawn the wood +of pines detached its columns of trunks and its dark green canopy very +clearly against the rocks of the grey hillside. He kept his eyes fixed +on it steadily, and sucked at an orange as he walked. That temperamental +good-humoured coolness in the face of danger which had made him an +officer liked by his men and appreciated by his superiors was gradually +asserting itself. It was like going into battle. Arriving at the edge of +the wood he sat down on a boulder, holding the other orange in his hand, +and reproached himself for coming so ridiculously early on the ground. +Before very long, however, he heard the swishing of bushes, footsteps +on the hard ground, and the sounds of a disjointed, loud conversation. A +voice somewhere behind him said boastfully, "He's game for my bag." + +He thought to himself, "Here they are. What's this about game? Are they +talking of me?" And becoming aware of the other orange in his hand, he +thought further, "These are very good oranges. Leonie's own tree. I may +just as well eat this orange now instead of flinging it away." + +Emerging from a wilderness of rocks and bushes, General Feraud and his +seconds discovered General D'Hubert engaged in peeling the orange. They +stood still, waiting till he looked up. Then the seconds raised their +hats, while General Feraud, putting his hands behind his back, walked +aside a little way. + +"I am compelled to ask one of you, messieurs, to act for me. I have +brought no friends. Will you?" + +The one-eyed cuirassier said judicially, "That cannot be refused." + +The other veteran remarked, "It's awkward all the same." + +"Owing to the state of the people's minds in this part of the country +there was no one I could trust safely with the object of your presence +here," explained General D'Hubert, urbanely. + +They saluted, looked round, and remarked both together: + +"Poor ground." + +"It's unfit." + +"Why bother about ground, measurements, and so on? Let us simplify +matters. Load the two pairs of pistols. I will take those of General +Feraud, and let him take mine. Or, better still, let us take a mixed +pair. One of each pair. Then let us go into the wood and shoot at sight, +while you remain outside. We did not come here for ceremonies, but for +war--war to the death. Any ground is good enough for that. If I fall, +you must leave me where I lie and clear out. It wouldn't be healthy for +you to be found hanging about here after that." + +It appeared after a short parley that General Feraud was willing to +accept these conditions. While the seconds were loading the pistols, +he could be heard whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with perfect +contentment. He flung off his coat briskly, and General D 'Hubert took +off his own and folded it carefully on a stone. + +"Suppose you take your principal to the other side of the wood and let +him enter exactly in ten minutes from now," suggested General D'Hubert, +calmly, but feeling as if he were giving directions for his own +execution. This, however, was his last moment of weakness. "Wait. Let us +compare watches first." + +He pulled out his own. The officer with the chipped nose went over to +borrow the watch of General Feraud. They bent their heads over them for +a time. + +"That's it. At four minutes to six by yours. Seven to by mine." + +It was the cuirassier who remained by the side of General D'Hubert, +keeping his one eye fixed immovably on the white face of the watch he +held in the palm of his hand. He opened his mouth, waiting for the beat +of the last second long before he snapped out the word, "Avancez." + +General D'Hubert moved on, passing from the glaring sunshine of the +Provencal morning into the cool and aromatic shade of the pines. The +ground was clear between the reddish trunks, whose multitude, leaning at +slightly different angles, confused his eye at first. It was like going +into battle. The commanding quality of confidence in himself woke up in +his breast. He was all to his affair. The problem was how to kill the +adversary. Nothing short of that would free him from this imbecile +nightmare. "It's no use wounding that brute," thought General D'Hubert. +He was known as a resourceful officer. His comrades years ago used also +to call him The Strategist. And it was a fact that he could think in +the presence of the enemy. Whereas Feraud had been always a mere +fighter--but a dead shot, unluckily. + +"I must draw his fire at the greatest possible range," said General +D'Hubert to himself. + +At that moment he saw something white moving far off between the +trees--the shirt of his adversary. He stepped out at once between the +trunks, exposing himself freely; then, quick as lightning, leaped +back. It had been a risky move but it succeeded in its object. Almost +simultaneously with the pop of a shot a small piece of bark chipped off +by the bullet stung his ear painfully. + +General Feraud, with one shot expended, was getting cautious. Peeping +round the tree, General D'Hubert could not see him at all. This +ignorance of the foe's whereabouts carried with it a sense of +insecurity. General D'Hubert felt himself abominably exposed on his +flank and rear. Again something white fluttered in his sight. Ha! The +enemy was still on his front, then. He had feared a turning movement. +But apparently General Feraud was not thinking of it. General D'Hubert +saw him pass without special haste from one tree to another in the +straight line of approach. With great firmness of mind General D'Hubert +stayed his hand. Too far yet. He knew he was no marksman. His must be a +waiting game--to kill. + +Wishing to take advantage of the greater thickness of the trunk, he sank +down to the ground. Extended at full length, head on to his enemy, he +had his person completely protected. Exposing himself would not do now, +because the other was too near by this time. A conviction that Feraud +would presently do something rash was like balm to General D'Hubert's +soul. But to keep his chin raised off the ground was irksome, and not +much use either. He peeped round, exposing a fraction of his head with +dread, but really with little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact, did +not expect to see anything of him so far down as that. General D'Hubert +caught a fleeting view of General Feraud shifting trees again with +deliberate caution. "He despises my shooting," he thought, displaying +that insight into the mind of his antagonist which is of such great help +in winning battles. He was confirmed in his tactics of immobility. "If +I could only watch my rear as well as my front!" he thought anxiously, +longing for the impossible. + +It required some force of character to lay his pistols down; but, on a +sudden impulse, General D'Hubert did this very gently--one on each side +of him. In the army he had been looked upon as a bit of a dandy because +he used to shave and put on a clean shirt on the days of battle. As +a matter of fact, he had always been very careful of his personal +appearance. In a man of nearly forty, in love with a young and charming +girl, this praiseworthy self-respect may run to such little weaknesses +as, for instance, being provided with an elegant little leather +folding-case containing a small ivory comb, and fitted with a piece of +looking-glass on the outside. General D'Hubert, his hands being free, +felt in his breeches' pockets for that implement of innocent vanity +excusable in the possessor of long, silky moustaches. He drew it out, +and then with the utmost coolness and promptitude turned himself over +on his back. In this new attitude, his head a little raised, holding the +little looking-glass just clear of his tree, he squinted into it with +his left eye, while the right kept a direct watch on the rear of his +position. Thus was proved Napoleon's saying, that "for a French soldier, +the word impossible does not exist." He had the right tree nearly +filling the field of his little mirror. + +"If he moves from behind it," he reflected with satisfaction, "I am +bound to see his legs. But in any case he can't come upon me unawares." + +And sure enough he saw the boots of General Feraud flash in and out, +eclipsing for an instant everything else reflected in the little mirror. +He shifted its position accordingly. But having to form his judgment of +the change from that indirect view he did not realize that now his feet +and a portion of his legs were in plain sight of General Feraud. + +General Feraud had been getting gradually impressed by the amazing +cleverness with which his enemy was keeping cover. He had spotted the +right tree with bloodthirsty precision. He was absolutely certain of it. +And yet he had not been able to glimpse as much as the tip of an ear. As +he had been looking for it at the height of about five feet ten inches +from the ground it was no great wonder--but it seemed very wonderful to +General Feraud. + +The first view of these feet and legs determined a rush of blood to his +head. He literally staggered behind his tree, and had to steady himself +against it with his hand. The other was lying on the ground, then! On +the ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed! What could it mean? . . . The +notion that he had knocked over his adversary at the first shot entered +then General Feraud's head. Once there it grew with every second of +attentive gazing, overshadowing every other supposition--irresistible, +triumphant, ferocious. + +"What an ass I was to think I could have missed him," he muttered to +himself. "He was exposed en plein--the fool!--for quite a couple of +seconds." + +General Feraud gazed at the motionless limbs, the last vestiges of +surprise fading before an unbounded admiration of his own deadly skill +with the pistol. + +"Turned up his toes! By the god of war, that was a shot!" he exulted +mentally. "Got it through the head, no doubt, just where I aimed, +staggered behind that tree, rolled over on his back, and died." + +And he stared! He stared, forgetting to move, almost awed, almost +sorry. But for nothing in the world would he have had it undone. Such a +shot!--such a shot! Rolled over on his back and died! + +For it was this helpless position, lying on the back, that shouted its +direct evidence at General Feraud! It never occurred to him that +it might have been deliberately assumed by a living man. It was +inconceivable. It was beyond the range of sane supposition. There was no +possibility to guess the reason for it. And it must be said, too, that +General D'Hubert's turned-up feet looked thoroughly dead. General Feraud +expanded his lungs for a stentorian shout to his seconds, but, from what +he felt to be an excessive scrupulousness, refrained for a while. + +"I will just go and see first whether he breathes yet," he mumbled +to himself, leaving carelessly the shelter of his tree. This move was +immediately perceived by the resourceful General D'Hubert. He concluded +it to be another shift, but when he lost the boots out of the field of +the mirror he became uneasy. General Feraud had only stepped a little +out of the line, but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him +walking up with perfect unconcern. General D'Hubert, beginning to wonder +at what had become of the other, was taken unawares so completely that +the first warning of danger consisted in the long, early-morning shadow +of his enemy falling aslant on his outstretched legs. He had not even +heard a footfall on the soft ground between the trees! + +It was too much even for his coolness. He jumped up thoughtlessly, +leaving the pistols on the ground. The irresistible instinct of an +average man (unless totally paralyzed by discomfiture) would have been +to stoop for his weapons, exposing himself to the risk of being shot +down in that position. Instinct, of course, is irreflective. It is its +very definition. But it may be an inquiry worth pursuing whether +in reflective mankind the mechanical promptings of instinct are not +affected by the customary mode of thought. In his young days, Armand +D'Hubert, the reflective, promising officer, had emitted the opinion +that in warfare one should "never cast back on the lines of a mistake." +This idea, defended and developed in many discussions, had settled into +one of the stock notions of his brain, had become a part of his mental +individuality. Whether it had gone so inconceivably deep as to affect +the dictates of his instinct, or simply because, as he himself declared +afterwards, he was "too scared to remember the confounded pistols," the +fact is that General D'Hubert never attempted to stoop for them. Instead +of going back on his mistake, he seized the rough trunk with both hands, +and swung himself behind it with such impetuosity that, going right +round in the very flash and report of the pistol-shot, he reappeared on +the other side of the tree face to face with General Feraud. This last, +completely unstrung by such a show of agility on the part of a dead man, +was trembling yet. A very faint mist of smoke hung before his face which +had an extraordinary aspect, as if the lower jaw had come unhinged. + +"Not missed!" he croaked, hoarsely, from the depths of a dry throat. + +This sinister sound loosened the spell that had fallen on General +D'Hubert's senses. "Yes, missed--a bout portant," he heard himself +saying, almost before he had recovered the full command of his +faculties. The revulsion of feeling was accompanied by a gust of +homicidal fury, resuming in its violence the accumulated resentment of +a lifetime. For years General D 'Hubert had been exasperated and +humiliated by an atrocious absurdity imposed upon him by this man's +savage caprice. Besides, General D'Hubert had been in this last instance +too unwilling to confront death for the reaction of his anguish not to +take the shape of a desire to kill. "And I have my two shots to fire +yet," he added, pitilessly. + +General Feraud snapped-to his teeth, and his face assumed an irate, +undaunted expression. "Go on!" he said, grimly. + +These would have been his last words if General D'Hubert had been +holding the pistols in his hands. But the pistols were lying on the +ground at the foot of a pine. General D'Hubert had the second of leisure +necessary to remember that he had dreaded death not as a man, but as a +lover; not as a danger, but as a rival; not as a foe to life, but as an +obstacle to marriage. And behold! there was the rival defeated!--utterly +defeated, crushed, done for! + +He picked up the weapons mechanically, and, instead of firing them into +General Feraud's breast, he gave expression to the thoughts uppermost in +his mind, "You will fight no more duels now." + +His tone of leisurely, ineffable satisfaction was too much for General +Feraud's stoicism. "Don't dawdle, then, damn you for a cold-blooded +staff-coxcomb!" he roared out, suddenly, out of an impassive face held +erect on a rigidly still body. + +General D'Hubert uncocked the pistols carefully. This proceeding was +observed with mixed feelings by the other general. "You missed me +twice," the victor said, coolly, shifting both pistols to one hand; "the +last time within a foot or so. By every rule of single combat your life +belongs to me. That does not mean that I want to take it now." + +"I have no use for your forbearance," muttered General Feraud, gloomily. + +"Allow me to point out that this is no concern of mine," said General +D'Hubert, whose every word was dictated by a consummate delicacy of +feeling. In anger he could have killed that man, but in cold blood he +recoiled from humiliating by a show of generosity this unreasonable +being--a fellow-soldier of the Grande Armee, a companion in the wonders +and terrors of the great military epic. "You don't set up the pretension +of dictating to me what I am to do with what's my own." + +General Feraud looked startled, and the other continued, "You've forced +me on a point of honour to keep my life at your disposal, as it were, +for fifteen years. Very well. Now that the matter is decided to my +advantage, I am going to do what I like with your life on the same +principle. You shall keep it at my disposal as long as I choose. Neither +more nor less. You are on your honour till I say the word." + +"I am! But, sacrebleu! This is an absurd position for a General of the +Empire to be placed in!" cried General Feraud, in accents of profound +and dismayed conviction. "It amounts to sitting all the rest of my +life with a loaded pistol in a drawer waiting for your word. It's--it's +idiotic; I shall be an object of--of--derision." + +"Absurd?--idiotic? Do you think so?" queried General D'Hubert with sly +gravity. "Perhaps. But I don't see how that can be helped. However, I +am not likely to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need ever know +anything about it. Just as no one to this day, I believe, knows the +origin of our quarrel. . . . Not a word more," he added, hastily. +"I can't really discuss this question with a man who, as far as I am +concerned, does not exist." + +When the two duellists came out into the open, General Feraud walking a +little behind, and rather with the air of walking in a trance, the two +seconds hurried towards them, each from his station at the edge of the +wood. General D'Hubert addressed them, speaking loud and distinctly, +"Messieurs, I make it a point of declaring to you solemnly, in the +presence of General Feraud, that our difference is at last settled for +good. You may inform all the world of that fact." + +"A reconciliation, after all!" they exclaimed together. + +"Reconciliation? Not that exactly. It is something much more binding. Is +it not so, General?" + +General Feraud only lowered his head in sign of assent. The two veterans +looked at each other. Later in the day, when they found themselves alone +out of their moody friend's earshot, the cuirassier remarked suddenly, +"Generally speaking, I can see with my one eye as far as most people; +but this beats me. He won't say anything." + +"In this affair of honour I understand there has been from first to last +always something that no one in the army could quite make out," declared +the chasseur with the imperfect nose. "In mystery it began, in mystery +it went on, in mystery it is to end, apparently." + +General D'Hubert walked home with long, hasty strides, by no means +uplifted by a sense of triumph. He had conquered, yet it did not seem +to him that he had gained very much by his conquest. The night before +he had grudged the risk of his life which appeared to him magnificent, +worthy of preservation as an opportunity to win a girl's love. He had +known moments when, by a marvellous illusion, this love seemed to +be already his, and his threatened life a still more magnificent +opportunity of devotion. Now that his life was safe it had suddenly lost +its special magnificence. It had acquired instead a specially alarming +aspect as a snare for the exposure of unworthiness. As to the marvellous +illusion of conquered love that had visited him for a moment in the +agitated watches of the night, which might have been his last on earth, +he comprehended now its true nature. It had been merely a paroxysm of +delirious conceit. Thus to this man, sobered by the victorious issue +of a duel, life appeared robbed of its charm, simply because it was no +longer menaced. + +Approaching the house from the back, through the orchard and the kitchen +garden, he could not notice the agitation which reigned in front. He +never met a single soul. Only while walking softly along the corridor, +he became aware that the house was awake and more noisy than usual. +Names of servants were being called out down below in a confused noise +of coming and going. With some concern he noticed that the door of his +own room stood ajar, though the shutters had not been opened yet. He +had hoped that his early excursion would have passed unperceived. He +expected to find some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering +through the usual cracks enabled him to see lying on the low divan +something bulky, which had the appearance of two women clasped in each +other's arms. Tearful and desolate murmurs issued mysteriously from that +appearance. General D'Hubert pulled open the nearest pair of shutters +violently. One of the women then jumped up. It was his sister. She stood +for a moment with her hair hanging down and her arms raised straight up +above her head, and then flung herself with a stifled cry into his arms. +He returned her embrace, trying at the same time to disengage himself +from it. The other woman had not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to +cling closer to the divan, hiding her face in the cushions. Her hair was +also loose; it was admirably fair. General D'Hubert recognized it with +staggering emotion. Mademoiselle de Valmassigue! Adele! In distress! + +He became greatly alarmed, and got rid of his sister's hug definitely. +Madame Leonie then extended her shapely bare arm out of her peignoir, +pointing dramatically at the divan. "This poor, terrified child has +rushed here from home, on foot, two miles--running all the way." + +"What on earth has happened?" asked General D'Hubert in a low, agitated +voice. + +But Madame Leonie was speaking loudly. "She rang the great bell at +the gate and roused all the household--we were all asleep yet. You may +imagine what a terrible shock. . . . Adele, my dear child, sit up." + +General D'Hubert's expression was not that of a man who "imagines" with +facility. He did, however, fish out of the chaos of surmises the notion +that his prospective mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only to +dismiss it at once. He could not conceive the nature of the event or the +catastrophe which would induce Mademoiselle de Valmassigue, living in a +house full of servants, to bring the news over the fields herself, two +miles, running all the way. + +"But why are you in this room?" he whispered, full of awe. + +"Of course, I ran up to see, and this child . . . I did not notice it +. . . she followed me. It's that absurd Chevalier," went on Madame +Leonie, looking towards the divan. . . . "Her hair is all come down. You +may imagine she did not stop to call her maid to dress it before she +started. . . Adele, my dear, sit up. . . . He blurted it all out to her +at half-past five in the morning. She woke up early and opened her +shutters to breathe the fresh air, and saw him sitting collapsed on a +garden bench at the end of the great alley. At that hour--you may +imagine! And the evening before he had declared himself indisposed. She +hurried on some clothes and flew down to him. One would be anxious for +less. He loves her, but not very intelligently. He had been up all +night, fully dressed, the poor old man, perfectly exhausted. He wasn't +in a state to invent a plausible story. . . . What a confidant you chose +there! My husband was furious. He said, 'We can't interfere now.' So we +sat down to wait. It was awful. And this poor child running with her +hair loose over here publicly! She has been seen by some people in the +fields. She has roused the whole household, too. It's awkward for her. +Luckily you are to be married next week. . . . Adele, sit up. He has +come home on his own legs. . . . We expected to see you coming on a +stretcher, perhaps--what do I know? Go and see if the carriage is ready. +I must take this child home at once. It isn't proper for her to stay +here a minute longer." + +General D'Hubert did not move. It was as though he had heard nothing. +Madame Leonie changed her mind. "I will go and see myself," she cried. +"I want also my cloak.--Adele--" she began, but did not add "sit up." +She went out saying, in a very loud and cheerful tone: "I leave the door +open." + +General D'Hubert made a movement towards the divan, but then Adele +sat up, and that checked him dead. He thought, "I haven't washed this +morning. I must look like an old tramp. There's earth on the back of my +coat and pine-needles in my hair." It occurred to him that the situation +required a good deal of circumspection on his part. + +"I am greatly concerned, mademoiselle," he began, vaguely, and abandoned +that line. She was sitting up on the divan with her cheeks +unusually pink and her hair, brilliantly fair, falling all over her +shoulders--which was a very novel sight to the general. He walked away +up the room, and looking out of the window for safety said, "I fear you +must think I behaved like a madman," in accents of sincere despair. Then +he spun round, and noticed that she had followed him with her eyes. They +were not cast down on meeting his glance. And the expression of her face +was novel to him also. It was, one might have said, reversed. Those eyes +looked at him with grave thoughtfulness, while the exquisite lines of +her mouth seemed to suggest a restrained smile. This change made her +transcendental beauty much less mysterious, much more accessible to a +man's comprehension. An amazing ease of mind came to the general--and +even some ease of manner. He walked down the room with as much +pleasurable excitement as he would have found in walking up to a battery +vomiting death, fire, and smoke; then stood looking down with smiling +eyes at the girl whose marriage with him (next week) had been so +carefully arranged by the wise, the good, the admirable Leonie. + +"Ah! mademoiselle," he said, in a tone of courtly regret, "if only I +could be certain that you did not come here this morning, two miles, +running all the way, merely from affection for your mother!" + +He waited for an answer imperturbable but inwardly elated. It came in a +demure murmur, eyelashes lowered with fascinating effect. "You must not +be mechant as well as mad." + +And then General D'Hubert made an aggressive movement towards the divan +which nothing could check. That piece of furniture was not exactly in +the line of the open door. But Madame Leonie, coming back wrapped up in +a light cloak and carrying a lace shawl on her arm for Adele to hide her +incriminating hair under, had a swift impression of her brother getting +up from his knees. + +"Come along, my dear child," she cried from the doorway. + +The general, now himself again in the fullest sense, showed the +readiness of a resourceful cavalry officer and the peremptoriness of a +leader of men. "You don't expect her to walk to the carriage," he said, +indignantly. "She isn't fit. I shall carry her downstairs." + +This he did slowly, followed by his awed and respectful sister; but he +rushed back like a whirlwind to wash off all the signs of the night of +anguish and the morning of war, and to put on the festive garments of a +conqueror before hurrying over to the other house. Had it not been for +that, General D 'Hubert felt capable of mounting a horse and pursuing +his late adversary in order simply to embrace him from excess of +happiness. "I owe it all to this stupid brute," he thought. "He has made +plain in a morning what might have taken me years to find out--for I +am a timid fool. No self-confidence whatever. Perfect coward. And the +Chevalier! Delightful old man!" General D'Hubert longed to embrace him +also. + +The Chevalier was in bed. For several days he was very unwell. The men +of the Empire and the post-revolution young ladies were too much for +him. He got up the day before the wedding, and, being curious by nature, +took his niece aside for a quiet talk. He advised her to find out from +her husband the true story of the affair of honour, whose claim, so +imperative and so persistent, had led her to within an ace of tragedy. +"It is right that his wife should be told. And next month or so will be +your time to learn from him anything you want to know, my dear child." + +Later on, when the married couple came on a visit to the mother of the +bride, Madame la Generale D'Hubert communicated to her beloved old uncle +the true story she had obtained without any difficulty from her husband. + +The Chevalier listened with deep attention to the end, took a pinch +of snuff, flicked the grains of tobacco from the frilled front of his +shirt, and asked, calmly, "And that's all it was?" + +"Yes, uncle," replied Madame la Generale, opening her pretty eyes very +wide. "Isn't it funny? C'est insense--to think what men are capable of!" + +"H'm!" commented the old emigre. "It depends what sort of men. That +Bonaparte's soldiers were savages. It is insense. As a wife, my dear, +you must believe implicitly what your husband says." + +But to Leonie's husband the Chevalier confided his true opinion. +"If that's the tale the fellow made up for his wife, and during the +honeymoon, too, you may depend on it that no one will ever know now the +secret of this affair." + +Considerably later still, General D'Hubert judged the time come, and the +opportunity propitious to write a letter to General Feraud. This letter +began by disclaiming all animosity. "I've never," wrote the General +Baron D'Hubert, "wished for your death during all the time of our +deplorable quarrel. Allow me," he continued, "to give you back in +all form your forfeited life. It is proper that we two, who have been +partners in so much military glory, should be friendly to each other +publicly." + +The same letter contained also an item of domestic information. It was +in reference to this last that General Feraud answered from a little +village on the banks of the Garonne, in the following words: + +"If one of your boy's names had been Napoleon--or Joseph--or even +Joachim, I could congratulate you on the event with a better heart. As +you have thought proper to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand, +I am confirmed in my conviction that you never loved the Emperor. The +thought of that sublime hero chained to a rock in the middle of a savage +ocean makes life of so little value that I would receive with positive +joy your instructions to blow my brains out. From suicide I consider +myself in honour debarred. But I keep a loaded pistol in my drawer." + +Madame la Generale D'Hubert lifted up her hands in despair after +perusing that answer. + +"You see? He won't be reconciled," said her husband. "He must never, by +any chance, be allowed to guess where the money comes from. It wouldn't +do. He couldn't bear it." + +"You are a brave homme, Armand," said Madame la Generale, appreciatively. + +"My dear, I had the right to blow his brains out; but as I didn't, +we can't let him starve. He has lost his pension and he is utterly +incapable of doing anything in the world for himself. We must take +care of him, secretly, to the end of his days. Don't I owe him the +most ecstatic moment of my life? . . . Ha! ha! ha! Over the fields, two +miles, running all the way! I couldn't believe my ears! . . . But for +his stupid ferocity, it would have taken me years to find you out. It's +extraordinary how in one way or another this man has managed to fasten +himself on my deeper feelings." + + + + +A PATHETIC TALE + + +IL CONDE + +"Vedi Napoli e poi mori." + + +The first time we got into conversation was in the National Museum +in Naples, in the rooms on the ground floor containing the famous +collection of bronzes from Herculaneum and Pompeii: that marvellous +legacy of antique art whose delicate perfection has been preserved for +us by the catastrophic fury of a volcano. + +He addressed me first, over the celebrated Resting Hermes which we had +been looking at side by side. He said the right things about that wholly +admirable piece. Nothing profound. His taste was natural rather than +cultivated. He had obviously seen many fine things in his life +and appreciated them: but he had no jargon of a dilettante or the +connoisseur. A hateful tribe. He spoke like a fairly intelligent man of +the world, a perfectly unaffected gentleman. + +We had known each other by sight for some few days past. Staying in the +same hotel--good, but not extravagantly up to date--I had noticed him +in the vestibule going in and out. I judged he was an old and valued +client. The bow of the hotel-keeper was cordial in its deference, and +he acknowledged it with familiar courtesy. For the servants he was Il +Conde. There was some squabble over a man's parasol--yellow silk with +white lining sort of thing--the waiters had discovered abandoned outside +the dining-room door. Our gold-laced door-keeper recognized it and I +heard him directing one of the lift boys to run after Il Conde with it. +Perhaps he was the only Count staying in the hotel, or perhaps he had +the distinction of being the Count par excellence, conferred upon him +because of his tried fidelity to the house. + +Having conversed at the Museo--(and by the by he had expressed his +dislike of the busts and statues of Roman emperors in the gallery of +marbles: their faces were too vigorous, too pronounced for him)--having +conversed already in the morning I did not think I was intruding when in +the evening, finding the dining-room very full, I proposed to share his +little table. Judging by the quiet urbanity of his consent he did not +think so either. His smile was very attractive. + +He dined in an evening waistcoat and a "smoking" (he called it so) with +a black tie. All this of very good cut, not new--just as these things +should be. He was, morning or evening, very correct in his dress. I have +no doubt that his whole existence had been correct, well ordered and +conventional, undisturbed by startling events. His white hair brushed +upwards off a lofty forehead gave him the air of an idealist, of an +imaginative man. His white moustache, heavy but carefully trimmed and +arranged, was not unpleasantly tinted a golden yellow in the middle. The +faint scent of some very good perfume, and of good cigars (that last +an odour quite remarkable to come upon in Italy) reached me across the +table. It was in his eyes that his age showed most. They were a little +weary with creased eyelids. He must have been sixty or a couple of years +more. And he was communicative. I would not go so far as to call it +garrulous--but distinctly communicative. + +He had tried various climates, of Abbazia, of the Riviera, of other +places, too, he told me, but the only one which suited him was the +climate of the Gulf of Naples. The ancient Romans, who, he pointed out +to me, were men expert in the art of living, knew very well what they +were doing when they built their villas on these shores, in Baiae, in +Vico, in Capri. They came down to this seaside in search of health, +bringing with them their trains of mimes and flute-players to amuse +their leisure. He thought it extremely probable that the Romans of +the higher classes were specially predisposed to painful rheumatic +affections. + +This was the only personal opinion I heard him express. It was based +on no special erudition. He knew no more of the Romans than an average +informed man of the world is expected to know. He argued from personal +experience. He had suffered himself from a painful and dangerous +rheumatic affection till he found relief in this particular spot of +Southern Europe. + +This was three years ago, and ever since he had taken up his quarters +on the shores of the gulf, either in one of the hotels in Sorrento or +hiring a small villa in Capri. He had a piano, a few books: picked +up transient acquaintances of a day, week, or month in the stream of +travellers from all Europe. One can imagine him going out for his +walks in the streets and lanes, becoming known to beggars, shopkeepers, +children, country people; talking amiably over the walls to the +contadini--and coming back to his rooms or his villa to sit before the +piano, with his white hair brushed up and his thick orderly moustache, +"to make a little music for myself." And, of course, for a change +there was Naples near by--life, movement, animation, opera. A little +amusement, as he said, is necessary for health. Mimes and flute-players, +in fact. Only unlike the magnates of ancient Rome, he had no affairs +of the city to call him away from these moderate delights. He had no +affairs at all. Probably he had never had any grave affairs to attend +to in his life. It was a kindly existence, with its joys and sorrows +regulated by the course of Nature--marriages, births, deaths--ruled by +the prescribed usages of good society and protected by the State. + +He was a widower; but in the months of July and August he ventured to +cross the Alps for six weeks on a visit to his married daughter. He +told me her name. It was that of a very aristocratic family. She had +a castle--in Bohemia, I think. This is as near as I ever came to +ascertaining his nationality. His own name, strangely enough, he never +mentioned. Perhaps he thought I had seen it on the published list. Truth +to say, I never looked. At any rate, he was a good European--he spoke +four languages to my certain knowledge--and a man of fortune. Not +of great fortune evidently and appropriately. I imagine that to be +extremely rich would have appeared to him improper, outre--too blatant +altogether. And obviously, too, the fortune was not of his making. The +making of a fortune cannot be achieved without some roughness. It is +a matter of temperament. His nature was too kindly for strife. In the +course of conversation he mentioned his estate quite by the way, in +reference to that painful and alarming rheumatic affection. One year, +staying incautiously beyond the Alps as late as the middle of September, +he had been laid up for three months in that lonely country house +with no one but his valet and the caretaking couple to attend to him. +Because, as he expressed it, he "kept no establishment there." He +had only gone for a couple of days to confer with his land agent. He +promised himself never to be so imprudent in the future. The first weeks +of September would find him on the shores of his beloved gulf. + +Sometimes in travelling one comes upon such lonely men, whose only +business is to wait for the unavoidable. Deaths and marriages have made +a solitude round them, and one really cannot blame their endeavours to +make the waiting as easy as possible. As he remarked to me, "At my time +of life freedom from physical pain is a very important matter." + +It must not be imagined that he was a wearisome hypochondriac. He was +really much too well-bred to be a nuisance. He had an eye for the +small weaknesses of humanity. But it was a good-natured eye. He made +a restful, easy, pleasant companion for the hours between dinner and +bedtime. We spent three evenings together, and then I had to leave +Naples in a hurry to look after a friend who had fallen seriously ill +in Taormina. Having nothing to do, Il Conde came to see me off at the +station. I was somewhat upset, and his idleness was always ready to take +a kindly form. He was by no means an indolent man. + +He went along the train peering into the carriages for a good seat for +me, and then remained talking cheerily from below. He declared he would +miss me that evening very much and announced his intention of going +after dinner to listen to the band in the public garden, the Villa +Nazionale. He would amuse himself by hearing excellent music and looking +at the best society. There would be a lot of people, as usual. + +I seem to see him yet--his raised face with a friendly smile under the +thick moustaches, and his kind, fatigued eyes. As the train began to +move, he addressed me in two languages: first in French, saying, +"Bon voyage"; then, in his very good, somewhat emphatic +English, encouragingly, because he could see my concern: "All +will--be--well--yet!" + +My friend's illness having taken a decidedly favourable turn, I returned +to Naples on the tenth day. I cannot say I had given much thought to Il +Conde during my absence, but entering the dining-room I looked for him +in his habitual place. I had an idea he might have gone back to Sorrento +to his piano and his books and his fishing. He was great friends with +all the boatmen, and fished a good deal with lines from a boat. But I +made out his white head in the crowd of heads, and even from a distance +noticed something unusual in his attitude. Instead of sitting erect, +gazing all round with alert urbanity, he drooped over his plate. I stood +opposite him for some time before he looked up, a little wildly, if such +a strong word can be used in connection with his correct appearance. + +"Ah, my dear sir! Is it you?" he greeted me. "I hope all is well." + +He was very nice about my friend. Indeed, he was always nice, with the +niceness of people whose hearts are genuinely humane. But this time it +cost him an effort. His attempts at general conversation broke down into +dullness. It occurred to me he might have been indisposed. But before I +could frame the inquiry he muttered: + +"You find me here very sad." + +"I am sorry for that," I said. "You haven't had bad news, I hope?" + +It was very kind of me to take an interest. No. It was not that. No +bad news, thank God. And he became very still as if holding his +breath. Then, leaning forward a little, and in an odd tone of awed +embarrassment, he took me into his confidence. + +"The truth is that I have had a very--a very--how shall I +say?--abominable adventure happen to me." + +The energy of the epithet was sufficiently startling in that man of +moderate feelings and toned-down vocabulary. The word unpleasant I +should have thought would have fitted amply the worst experience likely +to befall a man of his stamp. And an adventure, too. Incredible! But +it is in human nature to believe the worst; and I confess I eyed him +stealthily, wondering what he had been up to. In a moment, however, +my unworthy suspicions vanished. There was a fundamental refinement of +nature about the man which made me dismiss all idea of some more or less +disreputable scrape. + +"It is very serious. Very serious." He went on, nervously. "I will tell +you after dinner, if you will allow me." + +I expressed my perfect acquiescence by a little bow, nothing more. +I wished him to understand that I was not likely to hold him to that +offer, if he thought better of it later on. We talked of indifferent +things, but with a sense of difficulty quite unlike our former easy, +gossipy intercourse. The hand raising a piece of bread to his lips, I +noticed, trembled slightly. This symptom, in regard to my reading of the +man, was no less than startling. + +In the smoking-room he did not hang back at all. Directly we had taken +our usual seats he leaned sideways over the arm of his chair and looked +straight into my eyes earnestly. + +"You remember," he began, "that day you went away? I told you then I +would go to the Villa Nazionale to hear some music in the evening." + +I remembered. His handsome old face, so fresh for his age, unmarked by +any trying experience, appeared haggard for an instant. It was like the +passing of a shadow. Returning his steadfast gaze, I took a sip of my +black coffee. He was systematically minute in his narrative, simply in +order, I think, not to let his excitement get the better of him. + +After leaving the railway station, he had an ice, and read the paper in +a cafe. Then he went back to the hotel, dressed for dinner, and dined +with a good appetite. After dinner he lingered in the hall (there were +chairs and tables there) smoking his cigar; talked to the little girl +of the Primo Tenore of the San Carlo theatre, and exchanged a few words +with that "amiable lady," the wife of the Primo Tenore. There was no +performance that evening, and these people were going to the Villa also. +They went out of the hotel. Very well. + +At the moment of following their example--it was half-past nine +already--he remembered he had a rather large sum of money in his +pocket-book. He entered, therefore, the office and deposited the greater +part of it with the book-keeper of the hotel. This done, he took a +carozella and drove to the seashore. He got out of the cab and entered +the Villa on foot from the Largo di Vittoria end. + +He stared at me very hard. And I understood then how really +impressionable he was. Every small fact and event of that evening stood +out in his memory as if endowed with mystic significance. If he did not +mention to me the colour of the pony which drew the carozella, and the +aspect of the man who drove, it was a mere oversight arising from his +agitation, which he repressed manfully. + +He had then entered the Villa Nazionale from the Largo di Vittoria end. +The Villa Nazionale is a public pleasure-ground laid out in grass plots, +bushes, and flower-beds between the houses of the Riviera di Chiaja and +the waters of the bay. Alleys of trees, more or less parallel, stretch +its whole length--which is considerable. On the Riviera di Chiaja side +the electric tramcars run close to the railings. Between the garden and +the sea is the fashionable drive, a broad road bordered by a low wall, +beyond which the Mediterranean splashes with gentle murmurs when the +weather is fine. + +As life goes on late at night in Naples, the broad drive was all astir +with a brilliant swarm of carriage lamps moving in pairs, some creeping +slowly, others running rapidly under the thin, motionless line of +electric lamps defining the shore. And a brilliant swarm of stars hung +above the land humming with voices, piled up with houses, glittering +with lights--and over the silent flat shadows of the sea. + +The gardens themselves are not very well lit. Our friend went forward in +the warm gloom, his eyes fixed upon a distant luminous region extending +nearly across the whole width of the Villa, as if the air had glowed +there with its own cold, bluish, and dazzling light. This magic spot, +behind the black trunks of trees and masses of inky foliage, breathed +out sweet sounds mingled with bursts of brassy roar, sudden clashes of +metal, and grave, vibrating thuds. + +As he walked on, all these noises combined together into a piece of +elaborate music whose harmonious phrases came persuasively through a +great disorderly murmur of voices and shuffling of feet on the gravel of +that open space. An enormous crowd immersed in the electric light, as +if in a bath of some radiant and tenuous fluid shed upon their heads by +luminous globes, drifted in its hundreds round the band. Hundreds +more sat on chairs in more or less concentric circles, receiving +unflinchingly the great waves of sonority that ebbed out into the +darkness. The Count penetrated the throng, drifted with it in tranquil +enjoyment, listening and looking at the faces. All people of good +society: mothers with their daughters, parents and children, young men +and young women all talking, smiling, nodding to each other. Very many +pretty faces, and very many pretty toilettes. There was, of course, a +quantity of diverse types: showy old fellows with white moustaches, fat +men, thin men, officers in uniform; but what predominated, he told +me, was the South Italian type of young man, with a colourless, clear +complexion, red lips, jet-black little moustache and liquid black eyes +so wonderfully effective in leering or scowling. + +Withdrawing from the throng, the Count shared a little table in front +of the cafe with a young man of just such a type. Our friend had some +lemonade. The young man was sitting moodily before an empty glass. +He looked up once, and then looked down again. He also tilted his hat +forward. Like this-- + +The Count made the gesture of a man pulling his hat down over his brow, +and went on: + +"I think to myself: he is sad; something is wrong with him; young men +have their troubles. I take no notice of him, of course. I pay for my +lemonade, and go away." + +Strolling about in the neighbourhood of the band, the Count thinks he +saw twice that young man wandering alone in the crowd. Once their eyes +met. It must have been the same young man, but there were so many there +of that type that he could not be certain. Moreover, he was not very +much concerned except in so far that he had been struck by the marked, +peevish discontent of that face. + +Presently, tired of the feeling of confinement one experiences in a +crowd, the Count edged away from the band. An alley, very sombre by +contrast, presented itself invitingly with its promise of solitude +and coolness. He entered it, walking slowly on till the sound of the +orchestra became distinctly deadened. Then he walked back and turned +about once more. He did this several times before he noticed that there +was somebody occupying one of the benches. + +The spot being midway between two lamp-posts the light was faint. + +The man lolled back in the corner of the seat, his legs stretched out, +his arms folded and his head drooping on his breast. He never stirred, +as though he had fallen asleep there, but when the Count passed by next +time he had changed his attitude. He sat leaning forward. His elbows +were propped on his knees, and his hands were rolling a cigarette. He +never looked up from that occupation. + +The Count continued his stroll away from the band. He returned slowly, +he said. I can imagine him enjoying to the full, but with his usual +tranquillity, the balminess of this southern night and the sounds of +music softened delightfully by the distance. + +Presently, he approached for the third time the man on the garden seat, +still leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. It was a dejected +pose. In the semi-obscurity of the alley his high shirt collar and his +cuffs made small patches of vivid whiteness. The Count said that he had +noticed him getting up brusquely as if to walk away, but almost before +he was aware of it the man stood before him asking in a low, gentle tone +whether the signore would have the kindness to oblige him with a light. + +The Count answered this request by a polite "Certainly," and dropped his +hands with the intention of exploring both pockets of his trousers for +the matches. + +"I dropped my hands," he said, "but I never put them in my pockets. I +felt a pressure there--" + +He put the tip of his finger on a spot close under his breastbone, +the very spot of the human body where a Japanese gentleman begins the +operations of the Harakiri, which is a form of suicide following +upon dishonour, upon an intolerable outrage to the delicacy of one's +feelings. + +"I glance down," the Count continued in an awestruck voice, "and what do +I see? A knife! A long knife--" + +"You don't mean to say," I exclaimed, amazed, "that you have been held +up like this in the Villa at half-past ten o'clock, within a stone's +throw of a thousand people!" + +He nodded several times, staring at me with all his might. + +"The clarionet," he declared, solemnly, "was finishing his solo, and I +assure you I could hear every note. Then the band crashed fortissimo, +and that creature rolled its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me +with the greatest ferocity, 'Be silent! No noise or--'" + +I could not get over my astonishment. + +"What sort of knife was it?" I asked, stupidly. + +"A long blade. A stiletto--perhaps a kitchen knife. A long narrow blade. +It gleamed. And his eyes gleamed. His white teeth, too. I could see +them. He was very ferocious. I thought to myself: 'If I hit him he +will kill me.' How could I fight with him? He had the knife and I had +nothing. I am nearly seventy, you know, and that was a young man. I +seemed even to recognize him. The moody young man of the cafe. The young +man I met in the crowd. But I could not tell. There are so many like him +in this country." + +The distress of that moment was reflected in his face. I should think +that physically he must have been paralyzed by surprise. His thoughts, +however, remained extremely active. They ranged over every alarming +possibility. The idea of setting up a vigorous shouting for help +occurred to him, too. But he did nothing of the kind, and the reason why +he refrained gave me a good opinion of his mental self-possession. He +saw in a flash that nothing prevented the other from shouting, too. + +"That young man might in an instant have thrown away his knife and +pretended I was the aggressor. Why not? He might have said I attacked +him. Why not? It was one incredible story against another! He might +have said anything--bring some dishonouring charge against me--what do +I know? By his dress he was no common robber. He seemed to belong to the +better classes. What could I say? He was an Italian--I am a foreigner. +Of course, I have my passport, and there is our consul--but to be +arrested, dragged at night to the police office like a criminal!" + +He shuddered. It was in his character to shrink from scandal, much more +than from mere death. And certainly for many people this would have +always remained--considering certain peculiarities of Neapolitan +manners--a deucedly queer story. The Count was no fool. His belief in +the respectable placidity of life having received this rude shock, he +thought that now anything might happen. But also a notion came into his +head that this young man was perhaps merely an infuriated lunatic. + +This was for me the first hint of his attitude towards this adventure. +In his exaggerated delicacy of sentiment he felt that nobody's +self-esteem need be affected by what a madman may choose to do to +one. It became apparent, however, that the Count was to be denied that +consolation. He enlarged upon the abominably savage way in which that +young man rolled his glistening eyes and gnashed his white teeth. The +band was going now through a slow movement of solemn braying by all the +trombones, with deliberately repeated bangs of the big drum. + +"But what did you do?" I asked, greatly excited. + +"Nothing," answered the Count. "I let my hands hang down very still. I +told him quietly I did not intend making a noise. He snarled like a dog, +then said in an ordinary voice: + +"'Vostro portofolio.'" + +"So I naturally," continued the Count--and from this point acted the +whole thing in pantomime. Holding me with his eyes, he went through +all the motions of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out +a pocket-book, and handing it over. But that young man, still bearing +steadily on the knife, refused to touch it. + +He directed the Count to take the money out himself, received it into +his left hand, motioned the pocketbook to be returned to the pocket, +all this being done to the sweet thrilling of flutes and clarionets +sustained by the emotional drone of the hautboys. And the "young man," +as the Count called him, said: "This seems very little." + +"It was, indeed, only 340 or 360 lire," the Count pursued. "I had left +my money in the hotel, as you know. I told him this was all I had on me. +He shook his head impatiently and said: + +"'Vostro orologio.'" + +The Count gave me the dumb show of pulling out his watch, detaching it. +But, as it happened, the valuable gold half-chronometer he possessed had +been left at a watch-maker's for cleaning. He wore that evening (on a +leather guard) the Waterbury fifty-franc thing he used to take with him +on his fishing expeditions. Perceiving the nature of this booty, the +well-dressed robber made a contemptuous clicking sound with his tongue +like this, "Tse-Ah!" and waved it away hastily. Then, as the Count +was returning the disdained object to his pocket, he demanded with a +threateningly increased pressure of the knife on the epigastrium, by way +of reminder: + +"'Vostri anelli.'" + +"One of the rings," went on the Count, "was given me many years ago by +my wife; the other is the signet ring of my father. I said, 'No. That +you shall not have!'" + +Here the Count reproduced the gesture corresponding to that declaration +by clapping one hand upon the other, and pressing both thus against his +chest. It was touching in its resignation. "That you shall not have," +he repeated, firmly, and closed his eyes, fully expecting--I don't know +whether I am right in recording that such an unpleasant word had passed +his lips--fully expecting to feel himself being--I really hesitate to +say--being disembowelled by the push of the long, sharp blade resting +murderously against the pit of his stomach--the very seat, in all human +beings, of anguishing sensations. + +Great waves of harmony went on flowing from the band. + +Suddenly the Count felt the nightmarish pressure removed from the +sensitive spot. He opened his eyes. He was alone. He had heard nothing. +It is probable that "the young man" had departed, with light steps, +some time before, but the sense of the horrid pressure had lingered even +after the knife had gone. A feeling of weakness came over him. He had +just time to stagger to the garden seat. He felt as though he had held +his breath for a long time. He sat all in a heap, panting with the shock +of the reaction. + +The band was executing, with immense bravura, the complicated finale. It +ended with a tremendous crash. He heard it unreal and remote, as if his +ears had been stopped, and then the hard clapping of a thousand, more +or less, pairs of hands, like a sudden hail-shower passing away. The +profound silence which succeeded recalled him to himself. + +A tramcar resembling a long glass box wherein people sat with their +heads strongly lighted, ran along swiftly within sixty yards of the spot +where he had been robbed. Then another rustled by, and yet another +going the other way. The audience about the band had broken up, and were +entering the alley in small conversing groups. The Count sat up straight +and tried to think calmly of what had happened to him. The vileness +of it took his breath away again. As far as I can make it out he was +disgusted with himself. I do not mean to say with his behaviour. Indeed, +if his pantomimic rendering of it for my information was to be trusted, +it was simply perfect. No, it was not that. He was not ashamed. He +was shocked at being the selected victim, not of robbery so much as of +contempt. His tranquillity had been wantonly desecrated. His lifelong, +kindly nicety of outlook had been defaced. + +Nevertheless, at that stage, before the iron had time to sink deep, he +was able to argue himself into comparative equanimity. As his agitation +calmed down somewhat, he became aware that he was frightfully hungry. +Yes, hungry. The sheer emotion had made him simply ravenous. He left the +seat and, after walking for some time, found himself outside the gardens +and before an arrested tramcar, without knowing very well how he came +there. He got in as if in a dream, by a sort of instinct. Fortunately he +found in his trouser pocket a copper to satisfy the conductor. Then +the car stopped, and as everybody was getting out he got out, too. He +recognized the Piazza San Ferdinando, but apparently it did not occur to +him to take a cab and drive to the hotel. He remained in distress on +the Piazza like a lost dog, thinking vaguely of the best way of getting +something to eat at once. + +Suddenly he remembered his twenty-franc piece. He explained to me that +he had that piece of French gold for something like three years. He used +to carry it about with him as a sort of reserve in case of accident. +Anybody is liable to have his pocket picked--a quite different thing +from a brazen and insulting robbery. + +The monumental arch of the Galleria Umberto faced him at the top of +a noble flight of stairs. He climbed these without loss of time, and +directed his steps towards the Cafe Umberto. All the tables outside +were occupied by a lot of people who were drinking. But as he wanted +something to eat, he went inside into the cafe, which is divided into +aisles by square pillars set all round with long looking-glasses. +The Count sat down on a red plush bench against one of these pillars, +waiting for his risotto. And his mind reverted to his abominable +adventure. + +He thought of the moody, well-dressed young man, with whom he had +exchanged glances in the crowd around the bandstand, and who, he felt +confident, was the robber. Would he recognize him again? Doubtless. But +he did not want ever to see him again. The best thing was to forget this +humiliating episode. + +The Count looked round anxiously for the coming of his risotto, and, +behold! to the left against the wall--there sat the young man. He was +alone at a table, with a bottle of some sort of wine or syrup and a +carafe of iced water before him. The smooth olive cheeks, the red lips, +the little jet-black moustache turned up gallantly, the fine black eyes +a little heavy and shaded by long eyelashes, that peculiar expression of +cruel discontent to be seen only in the busts of some Roman emperors--it +was he, no doubt at all. But that was a type. The Count looked away +hastily. The young officer over there reading a paper was like that, +too. Same type. Two young men farther away playing draughts also +resembled-- + +The Count lowered his head with the fear in his heart of being +everlastingly haunted by the vision of that young man. He began to +eat his risotto. Presently he heard the young man on his left call the +waiter in a bad-tempered tone. + +At the call, not only his own waiter, but two other idle waiters +belonging to a quite different row of tables, rushed towards him with +obsequious alacrity, which is not the general characteristic of the +waiters in the Cafe Umberto. The young man muttered something and one +of the waiters walking rapidly to the nearest door called out into the +Galleria: "Pasquale! O! Pasquale!" + +Everybody knows Pasquale, the shabby old fellow who, shuffling between +the tables, offers for sale cigars, cigarettes, picture postcards, and +matches to the clients of the cafe. He is in many respects an engaging +scoundrel. The Count saw the grey-haired, unshaven ruffian enter the +cafe, the glass case hanging from his neck by a leather strap, and, at a +word from the waiter, make his shuffling way with a sudden spurt to +the young man's table. The young man was in need of a cigar with which +Pasquale served him fawningly. The old pedlar was going out, when the +Count, on a sudden impulse, beckoned to him. + +Pasquale approached, the smile of deferential recognition combining +oddly with the cynical searching expression of his eyes. Leaning his +case on the table, he lifted the glass lid without a word. The Count +took a box of cigarettes and urged by a fearful curiosity, asked as +casually as he could-- + +"Tell me, Pasquale, who is that young signore sitting over there?" + +The other bent over his box confidentially. + +"That, Signor Conde," he said, beginning to rearrange his wares busily +and without looking up, "that is a young Cavaliere of a very good family +from Bari. He studies in the University here, and is the chief, capo, of +an association of young men--of very nice young men." + +He paused, and then, with mingled discretion and pride of knowledge, +murmured the explanatory word "Camorra" and shut down the lid. "A very +powerful Camorra," he breathed out. "The professors themselves respect +it greatly . . . una lira e cinquanti centesimi, Signor Conde." + +Our friend paid with the gold piece. While Pasquale was making up the +change, he observed that the young man, of whom he had heard so much +in a few words, was watching the transaction covertly. After the old +vagabond had withdrawn with a bow, the Count settled with the waiter and +sat still. A numbness, he told me, had come over him. + +The young man paid, too, got up, and crossed over, apparently for the +purpose of looking at himself in the mirror set in the pillar nearest to +the Count's seat. He was dressed all in black with a dark green bow tie. +The Count looked round, and was startled by meeting a vicious glance +out of the corners of the other's eyes. The young Cavaliere from Bari +(according to Pasquale; but Pasquale is, of course, an accomplished +liar) went on arranging his tie, settling his hat before the glass, and +meantime he spoke just loud enough to be heard by the Count. He spoke +through his teeth with the most insulting venom of contempt and gazing +straight into the mirror. + +"Ah! So you had some gold on you--you old liar--you old birba--you +furfante! But you are not done with me yet." + +The fiendishness of his expression vanished like lightning, and he +lounged out of the cafe with a moody, impassive face. + +The poor Count, after telling me this last episode, fell back trembling +in his chair. His forehead broke into perspiration. There was a wanton +insolence in the spirit of this outrage which appalled even me. What it +was to the Count's delicacy I won't attempt to guess. I am sure that if +he had been not too refined to do such a blatantly vulgar thing as dying +from apoplexy in a cafe, he would have had a fatal stroke there and +then. All irony apart, my difficulty was to keep him from seeing +the full extent of my commiseration. He shrank from every excessive +sentiment, and my commiseration was practically unbounded. It did not +surprise me to hear that he had been in bed a week. He had got up to +make his arrangements for leaving Southern Italy for good and all. + +And the man was convinced that he could not live through a whole year in +any other climate! + +No argument of mine had any effect. It was not timidity, though he did +say to me once: "You do not know what a Camorra is, my dear sir. I am +a marked man." He was not afraid of what could be done to him. +His delicate conception of his dignity was defiled by a degrading +experience. He couldn't stand that. No Japanese gentleman, outraged in +his exaggerated sense of honour, could have gone about his preparations +for Hara-kiri with greater resolution. To go home really amounted to +suicide for the poor Count. + +There is a saying of Neapolitan patriotism, intended for the information +of foreigners, I presume: "See Naples and then die." Vedi Napoli e poi +mori. It is a saying of excessive vanity, and everything excessive was +abhorrent to the nice moderation of the poor Count. Yet, as I was seeing +him off at the railway station, I thought he was behaving with singular +fidelity to its conceited spirit. Vedi Napoli! . . . He had seen it! +He had seen it with startling thoroughness--and now he was going to +his grave. He was going to it by the train de luxe of the International +Sleeping Car Company, via Trieste and Vienna. As the four long, sombre +coaches pulled out of the station I raised my hat with the solemn +feeling of paying the last tribute of respect to a funeral cortege. +Il Conde's profile, much aged already, glided away from me in stony +immobility, behind the lighted pane of glass--Vedi Napoli e poi mori! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SET OF SIX *** + +***** This file should be named 2305.txt or 2305.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/2305/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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"'<i>Vostri anelli</i>.'" + + +A SET OF SIX + +BY +JOSEPH CONRAD + + + +Les petites marionnettes + Font, font, font, +Trois petits tours + Et puis s'en vont. +- NURSERY RHYME + + + + +TO +MISS M. H. M. CAPES + +[page intentionally blank] + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + + +THE six stories in this volume are the result of some +three or four years of occasional work. The dates of +their writing are far apart, their origins are various. +None of them are connected directly with personal ex- +periences. In all of them the facts are inherently +true, by which I mean that they are not only possible +but that they have actually happened. For instance, +the last story in the volume, the one I call Pathetic, +whose first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an +almost verbatim transcript of the tale told me by a very +charming old gentleman whom I met in Italy. I don't +mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is +something more than a verbatim report, but where he +left off and where I began must be left to the acute dis- +crimination of the reader who may be interested in the +problem. I don't mean to say that the problem is +worth the trouble. What I am certain of, however, +is that it is not to be solved, for I am not at all clear +about it myself by this time. All I can say is that the +personality of the narrator was extremely suggestive +quite apart from the story he was telling me. I heard +a few years ago that he had died far away from his be- +loved Naples where that "abominable adventure" did +really happen to him. + +Thus the genealogy of Il Conde is simple. It is +not the case with the other stories. Various strains +contributed to their composition, and the nature of +many of those I have forgotten, not having the habit of +making notes either before or after the fact. I mean +the fact of writing a story. What I remember best +about Gaspar Ruiz is that it was written, or at any rate +begun, within a month of finishing Nostromo; but +apart from the locality, and that a pretty wide one (all +the South American Continent), the novel and the +story have nothing in common, neither mood, nor in- +tention and, certainly, not the style. The manner for +the most part is that of General Santierra, and that +old warrior, I note with satisfaction, is very true to +himself all through. Looking now dispassionately at +the various ways in which this story could have been +presented I can't honestly think the General super- +fluous. It is he, an old man talking of the days of his +youth, who characterizes the whole narrative and +gives it an air of actuality which I doubt whether I +could have achieved without his help. In the mere +writing his existence of course was of no help at all, +because the whole thing had to be carefully kept within +the frame of his simple mind. But all this is but a +laborious searching of memories. My present feeling +is that the story could not have been told otherwise. +The hint for Gaspar Ruiz the man I found in a book +by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., who was for some time, +between the years 1824 and 1828, senior officer of a +small British Squadron on the West Coast of South +America. His book published in the thirties obtained a +certain celebrity and I suppose is to be found still in +some libraries. The curious who may be mistrusting +my imagination are referred to that printed document, +Vol. II, I forget the page, but it is somewhere not far +from the end. Another document connected with this +story is a letter of a biting and ironic kind from a friend +then in Burma, passing certain strictures upon "the +gentleman with the gun on his back" which I do not +intend to make accessible to the public. Yet the gun +episode did really happen, or at least I am bound to +believe it because I remember it, described in an ex- +tremely matter-of-fact tone, in some book I read in my +boyhood; and I am not going to discard the beliefs of +my boyhood for anybody on earth. + +The Brute, which is the only sea-story in the volume, +is, like Il Conde, associated with a direct narrative and +based on a suggestion gathered on warm human lips. +I will not disclose the real name of the criminal ship +but the first I heard of her homicidal habits was from +the late Captain Blake, commanding a London ship +in which I served in 1884 as Second Officer. Captain +Blake was, of all my commanders, the one I remember +with the greatest affection. I have sketched in his +personality, without however mentioning his name, +in the first paper of The Mirror of the Sea. In his +young days he had had a personal experience of the +brute and it is perhaps for that reason that I have put +the story into the mouth of a young man and made of it +what the reader will see. The existence of the brute +was a fact. The end of the brute as related in the story +is also a fact, well-known at the time though it really +happened to another ship, of great beauty of form and +of blameless character, which certainly deserved a +better fate. I have unscrupulously adapted it to the +needs of my story thinking that I had there something +in the nature of poetical justice. I hope that little +villainy will not cast a shadow upon the general honesty +of my proceedings as a writer of tales. + +Of The Informer and An Anarchist I will say next +to nothing. The pedigree of these tales is hopelessly +complicated and not worth disentangling at this dis- +tance of time. I found them and here they are. The +discriminating reader will guess that I have found them +within my mind; but how they or their elements came +in there I have forgotten for the most part; and for the +rest I really don't see why I should give myself away +more than I have done already. + +It remains for me only now to mention The Duel, the +longest story in the book. That story attained the +dignity of publication all by itself in a small illustrated +volume, under the title, "The Point of Honour." That +was many years ago. It has been since reinstated in +its proper place, which is the place it occupies in this +volume, in all the subsequent editions of my work. +Its pedigree is extremely simple. It springs from a +ten-line paragraph in a small provincial paper published +in the South of France. That paragraph, occasioned +by a duel with a fatal ending between two well-known +Parisian personalities, referred for some reason or other +to the "well-known fact" of two officers in Napoleon's +Grand Army having fought a series of duels in the +midst of great wars and on some futile pretext. The +pretext was never disclosed. I had therefore to invent +it; and I think that, given the character of the two offi- +cers which I had to invent, too, I have made it suffi- +ciently convincing by the mere force of its absurdity. +The truth is that in my mind the story is nothing but a +serious and even earnest attempt at a bit of historical +fiction. I had heard in my boyhood a good deal of the +great Napoleonic legend. I had a genuine feeling that +I would find myself at home in it, and The Duel is the +result of that feeling, or, if the reader prefers, of that +presumption. Personally I have no qualms of con- +science about this piece of work. The story might +have been better told of course. All one's work might +have been better done; but this is the sort of reflection +a worker must put aside courageously if he doesn't +mean every one of his conceptions to remain for ever a +private vision, an evanescent reverie. How many of +those visions have I seen vanish in my time! This one, +however, has remained, a testimony, if you like, to my +courage or a proof of my rashness. What I care to re- +member best is the testimony of some French readers +who volunteered the opinion that in those hundred +pages or so I had managed to render "wonderfully" +the spirit of the whole epoch. Exaggeration of kind- +ness no doubt; but even so I hug it still to my breast, +because in truth that is exactly what I was trying to cap- +ture in my small net: the Spirit of the Epoch -- never +purely militarist in the long clash of arms, youthful, +almost childlike in its exaltation of sentiment -- naively +heroic in its faith. + + +1920. J. C. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +GASPAR RUIZ + +THE INFORMER + +THE BRUTE + +AN ANARCHIST + +THE DUEL + +IL CONDE + + + + + +A SET OF SIX + + + + + +A SET OF SIX + +GASPAR RUIZ + +I + + +A REVOLUTIONARY war raises many strange charac- +ters out of the obscurity which is the common lot of +humble lives in an undisturbed state of society. + +Certain individualities grow into fame through their +vices and their virtues, or simply by their actions, which +may have a temporary importance; and then they +become forgotten. The names of a few leaders alone +survive the end of armed strife and are further pre- +served in history; so that, vanishing from men's active +memories, they still exist in books. + +The name of General Santierra attained that cold +paper-and-ink immortality. He was a South American +of good family, and the books published in his lifetime +numbered him amongst the liberators of that continent +from the oppressive rule of Spain. + +That long contest, waged for independence on one +side and for dominion on the other, developed in the +course of years and the vicissitudes of changing fortune +the fierceness and inhumanity of a struggle for life. All +feelings of pity and compassion disappeared in the +growth of political hatred. And, as is usual in war, the +mass of the people, who had the least to gain by the +issue, suffered most in their obscure persons and their +humble fortunes. + +General Santierra began his service as lieutenant in +the patriot army raised and commanded by the famous +San Martin, afterwards conqueror of Lima and liberator +of Peru. A great battle had just been fought on the +banks of the river Bio-Bio. Amongst the prisoners +made upon the routed Royalist troops there was a +soldier called Gaspar Ruiz. His powerful build and his +big head rendered him remarkable amongst his fellow- +captives. The personality of the man was unmistak- +able. Some months before he had been missed from +the ranks of Republican troops after one of the many +skirmishes which preceded the great battle. And now, +having been captured arms in hand amongst Royalists, +he could expect no other fate but to be shot as a deserter. + +Gaspar Ruiz, however, was not a deserter; his mind +was hardly active enough to take a discriminating view +of the advantages or perils of treachery. Why should +he change sides? He had really been made a prisoner, +had suffered ill-usage and many privations. Neither +side showed tenderness to its adversaries. There came +a day when he was ordered, together with some other +captured rebels, to march in the front rank of the Royal +troops. A musket had been thrust into his hands. +He had taken it. He had marched. He did not want +to be killed with circumstances of peculiar atrocity for +refusing to march. He did not understand heroism +but it was his intention to throw his musket away at +the first opportunity. Meantime he had gone on load- +ing and firing, from fear of having his brains blown out +at the first sign of unwillingness, by some non- +commissioned officer of the King of Spain. He tried to +set forth these elementary considerations before the +sergeant of the guard set over him and some twenty +other such deserters, who had been condemned sum- +marily to be shot. + +It was in the quadrangle of the fort at the back of +the batteries which command the roadstead of Val- +paraiso. The officer who had identified him had gone +on without listening to his protestations. His doom +was sealed; his hands were tied very tightly together +behind his back; his body was sore all over from the +many blows with sticks and butts of muskets which had +hurried him along on the painful road from the place of +his capture to the gate of the fort. This was the only +kind of systematic attention the prisoners had received +from their escort during a four days' journey across a +scantily watered tract of country. At the crossings of +rare streams they were permitted to quench their thirst +by lapping hurriedly like dogs. In the evening a few +scraps of meat were thrown amongst them as they +dropped down dead-beat upon the stony ground of the +halting-place. + +As he stood in the courtyard of the castle in the +early morning, after having been driven hard all night, +Gaspar Ruiz's throat was parched, and his tongue felt +very large and dry in his mouth. + +And Gaspar Ruiz, besides being very thirsty, was +stirred by a feeling of sluggish anger, which he could +not very well express, as though the vigour of his spirit +were by no means equal to the strength of his body. + +The other prisoners in the batch of the condemned +hung their heads, looking obstinately on the ground. +But Gaspar Ruiz kept on repeating: "What should I +desert for to the Royalists? Why should I desert? +Tell me, Estaban!" + +He addressed himself to the sergeant, who happened +to belong to the same part of the country as himself. +But the sergeant, after shrugging his meagre shoulders +once, paid no further attention to the deep murmuring +voice at his back. It was indeed strange that Gaspar +Ruiz should desert. His people were in too humble +a station to feel much the disadvantages of any form +of government. There was no reason why Gaspar Ruiz +should wish to uphold in his own person the rule of +the King of Spain. Neither had he been anxious to +exert himself for its subversion. He had joined the +side of Independence in an extremely reasonable and +natural manner. A band of patriots appeared one +morning early, surrounding his father's ranche, spearing +the watch-dogs and hamstringing a fat cow all in the +twinkling of an eye, to the cries of "Viva la Libertad!" +Their officer discoursed of Liberty with enthusiasm and +eloquence after a long and refreshing sleep. When +they left in the evening, taking with them some of +Ruiz, the father's, best horses to replace their own +lamed animals, Gaspar Ruiz went away with them, +having been invited pressingly to do so by the eloquent +officer. + +Shortly afterwards a detachment of Royalist troops +coming to pacify the district, burnt the ranche, carried +off the remaining horses and cattle, and having thus +deprived the old people of all their worldly possessions, +left them sitting under a bush in the enjoyment of the +inestimable boon of life. + + +II + + +GASPAR RUIZ, condemned to death as a deserter, +was not thinking either of his native place or of his +parents, to whom he had been a good son on account +of the mildness of his character and the great strength +of his limbs. The practical advantage of this last +was made still more valuable to his father by his +obedient disposition. Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent +soul. + +But it was stirred now to a sort of dim revolt by +his dislike to die the death of a traitor. He was not a +traitor. He said again to the sergeant: "You know +I did not desert, Estaban. You know I remained +behind amongst the trees with three others to keep +the enemy back while the detachment was running +away!" + +Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the +time, and unused as yet to the sanguinary imbecilities +of a state of war, had lingered near by, as if fascinated +by the sight of these men who were to be shot pres- +ently -- "for an example" -- as the Commandante had +said. + +The sergeant, without deigning to look at the +prisoner, addressed himself to the young officer with +a superior smile. + +"Ten men would not have been enough to make +him a prisoner, mi teniente. Moreover, the other three +rejoined the detachment after dark. Why should he, +unwounded and the strongest of them all, have failed to +do so?" + +"My strength is as nothing against a mounted man +with a lasso," Gaspar Ruiz protested, eagerly. "He +dragged me behind his horse for half a mile." + +At this excellent reason the sergeant only laughed +contemptuously. The young officer hurried away after +the Commandante. + +Presently the adjutant of the castle came by. He +was a truculent, raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. +His spluttering voice issued out of a flat yellow face. +The sergeant learned from him that the condemned +men would not be shot till sunset. He begged then +to know what he was to do with them meantime. + +The adjutant looked savagely round the courtyard +and, pointing to the door of a small dungeon-like +guardroom, receiving light and air through one heavily +barred window, said: "Drive the scoundrels in there." + +The sergeant, tightening his grip upon the stick he +carried in virtue of his rank, executed this order with +alacrity and zeal. He hit Gaspar Ruiz, whose move- +ments were slow, over his head and shoulders. Gaspar +Ruiz stood still for a moment under the shower of +blows, biting his lip thoughtfully as if absorbed by a +perplexing mental process -- then followed the others +without haste. The door was locked, and the adjutant +carried off the key. + +By noon the heat of that vaulted place crammed +to suffocation had become unbearable. The prisoners +crowded towards the window, begging their guards for +a drop of water; but the soldiers remained lying in +indolent attitudes wherever there was a little shade +under a wall, while the sentry sat with his back against +the door smoking a cigarette, and raising his eyebrows +philosophically from time to time. Gaspar Ruiz had +pushed his way to the window with irresistible force. +His capacious chest needed more air than the others; +his big face, resting with its chin on the ledge, pressed +close to the bars, seemed to support the other faces +crowding up for breath. From moaned entreaties they +had passed to desperate cries, and the tumultuous howl- +ing of those thirsty men obliged a young officer who +was just then crossing the courtyard to shout in order +to make himself heard. + +"Why don't you give some water to these prisoners?" + +The sergeant, with an air of surprised innocence, +excused himself by the remark that all those men were +condemned to die in a very few hours. + +Lieutenant Santierra stamped his foot. "They are +condemned to death, not to torture," he shouted. +"Give them some water at once." + +Impressed by this appearance of anger, the soldiers +bestirred themselves, and the sentry, snatching up his +musket, stood to attention. + +But when a couple of buckets were found and filled +from the well, it was discovered that they could not be +passed through the bars, which were set too close. At +the prospect of quenching their thirst, the shrieks of +those trampled down in the struggle to get near the +opening became very heartrending. But when the +soldiers who had lifted the buckets towards the window +put them to the ground again helplessly, the yell of dis- +appointment was still more terrible. + +The soldiers of the army of Independence were not +equipped with canteens. A small tin cup was found, +but its approach to the opening caused such a com- +motion, such yells of rage and pain in the vague mass +of limbs behind the straining faces at the window, that +Lieutenant Santierra cried out hurriedly, "No, no -- you +must open the door, sergeant." + +The sergeant, shrugging his shoulders, explained +that he had no right to open the door even if he had +had the key. But he had not the key. The adjutant +of the garrison kept the key. Those men were giving +much unnecessary trouble, since they had to die at sun- +set in any case. Why they had not been shot at once +early in the morning he could not understand. + +Lieutenant Santierra kept his back studiously to the +window. It was at his earnest solicitations that the +Commandante had delayed the execution. This favour +had been granted to him in consideration of his dis- +tinguished family and of his father's high position +amongst the chiefs of the Republican party. Lieutenant +Santierra believed that the General commanding would +visit the fort some time in the afternoon, and he ingenu- +ously hoped that his naive intercession would induce +that severe man to pardon some, at least, of those crim- +inals. In the revulsion of his feeling his interference +stood revealed now as guilty and futile meddling. It ap- +peared to him obvious that the general would never even +consent to listen to his petition. He could never save +those men, and he had only made himself responsible for +the sufferings added to the cruelty of their fate. + +"Then go at once and get the key from the adjutant," +said Lieutenant Santierra. + +The sergeant shook his head with a sort of bashful +smile, while his eyes glanced sideways at Gaspar Ruiz's +face, motionless and silent, staring through the bars at +the bottom of a heap of other haggard, distorted, yelling +faces. + +His worship the adjutant de Plaza, the sergeant +murmured, was having his siesta; and supposing that +he, the sergeant, would be allowed access to him, the +only result he expected would be to have his soul +flogged out of his body for presuming to disturb his +worship's repose. He made a deprecatory movement +with his hands, and stood stock-still, looking down +modestly upon his brown toes. + +Lieutenant Santierra glared with indignation, but +hesitated. His handsome oval face, as smooth as a +girl's, flushed with the shame of his perplexity. Its +nature humiliated his spirit. His hairless upper lip +trembled; he seemed on the point of either bursting +into a fit of rage or into tears of dismay. + +Fifty years later, General Santierra, the venerable +relic of revolutionary times, was well able to remem- +ber the feelings of the young lieutenant. Since he +had given up riding altogether, and found it difficult +to walk beyond the limits of his garden, the general's +greatest delight was to entertain in his house the +officers of the foreign men-of-war visiting the harbour. +For Englishmen he had a preference, as for old com- +panions in arms. English naval men of all ranks +accepted his hospitality with curiosity, because he had +known Lord Cochrane and had taken part, on board the +patriot squadron commanded by that marvellous sea- +man, in the cutting out and blockading operations be- +fore Callao -- an episode of unalloyed glory in the wars +of Independence and of endless honour in the fighting +tradition of Englishmen. He was a fair linguist, this +ancient survivor of the Liberating armies. A trick of +smoothing his long white beard whenever he was short +of a word in French or English imparted an air of +leisurely dignity to the tone of his reminiscences. + + +III + + +"YES, my friends," he used to say to his guests, +"what would you have? A youth of seventeen sum- +mers, without worldly experience, and owing my +rank only to the glorious patriotism of my father, may +God rest his soul. I suffered immense humiliation, +not so much from the disobedience of that subordinate, +who, after all, was responsible for those prisoners; but +I suffered because, like the boy I was, I myself dreaded +going to the adjutant for the key. I had felt, before, +his rough and cutting tongue. Being quite a common +fellow, with no merit except his savage valour, he made +me feel his contempt and dislike from the first day I +joined my battalion in garrison at the fort. It was only +a fortnight before! I would have confronted him sword +in hand, but I shrank from the mocking brutality of his +sneers. + +"I don't remember having been so miserable in my +life before or since. The torment of my sensibility +was so great that I wished the sergeant to fall dead at +my feet, and the stupid soldiers who stared at me to +turn into corpses; and even those wretches for whom +my entreaties had procured a reprieve I wished dead +also, because I could not face them without shame. A +mephitic heat like a whiff of air from hell came out of +that dark place in which they were confined. Those at +the window who had heard what was going on jeered at +me in very desperation: one of these fellows, gone mad +no doubt, kept on urging me volubly to order the soldiers +to fire through the window. His insane loquacity made +my heart turn faint. And my feet were like lead. There +was no higher officer to whom I could appeal. I had +not even the firmness of spirit to simply go away. + +"Benumbed by my remorse, I stood with my back +to the window. You must not suppose that all this +lasted a long time. How long could it have been? A +minute? If you measured by mental suffering it was +like a hundred years; a longer time than all my life has +been since. No, certainly, it was not so much as a +minute. The hoarse screaming of those miserable +wretches died out in their dry throats, and then sud- +denly a voice spoke, a deep voice muttering calmly. +It called upon me to turn round. + +"That voice, senores, proceeded from the head of +Gaspar Ruiz. Of his body I could see nothing. Some +of his fellow-captives had clambered upon his back. +He was holding them up. His eyes blinked without +looking at me. That and the moving of his lips was +all he seemed able to manage in his overloaded state. +And when I turned round, this head, that seemed more +than human size resting on its chin under a multitude +of other heads, asked me whether I really desired to +quench the thirst of the captives. + +"I said, 'Yes, yes!' eagerly, and came up quite +close to the window. I was like a child, and did not +know what would happen. I was anxious to be com- +forted in my helplessness and remorse. + +"'Have you the authority, Senor teniente, to re- +lease my wrists from their bonds?' Gaspar Ruiz's +head asked me. + +"His features expressed no anxiety, no hope; his +heavy eyelids blinked upon his eyes that looked past +me straight into the courtyard. + +"As if in an ugly dream, I spoke, stammering: +'What do you mean? And how can I reach the bonds +on your wrists?' + +"'I will try what I can do,' he said; and then that +large staring head moved at last, and all the wild faces +piled up in that window disappeared, tumbling down. +He had shaken his load off with one movement, so +strong he was. + +"And he had not only shaken it off, but he got free +of the crush and vanished from my sight. For a +moment there was no one at all to be seen at the +window. He had swung about, butting and shoulder- +ing, clearing a space for himself in the only way he could +do it with his hands tied behind his back. + +"Finally, backing to the opening, he pushed out to +me between the bars his wrists, lashed with many turns +of rope. His hands, very swollen, with knotted veins, +looked enormous and unwieldy. I saw his bent back. +It was very broad. His voice was like the muttering +of a bull. + +"'Cut, Senor teniente. Cut!' + +"I drew my sword, my new unblunted sword that +had seen no service as yet, and severed the many turns +of the hide rope. I did this without knowing the why +and the wherefore of my action, but as it were com- +pelled by my faith in that man. The sergeant made as +if to cry out, but astonishment deprived him of his +voice, and he remained standing with his mouth open +as if overtaken by sudden imbecility. + +"I sheathed my sword and faced the soldiers. An +air of awestruck expectation had replaced their usual list- +less apathy. I heard the voice of Gaspar Ruiz shouting +inside, but the words I could not make out plainly. I +suppose that to see him with his arms free augmented +the influence of his strength: I mean by this, the spiritual +influence that with ignorant people attaches to an excep- +tional degree of bodily vigour. In fact, he was no more +to be feared than before, on account of the numbness of +his arms and hands, which lasted for some time. + +"The sergeant had recovered his power of speech. +'By all the saints!' he cried, 'we shall have to get a +cavalry man with a lasso to secure him again, if he is +to be led to the place of execution. Nothing less than +a good enlazador on a good horse can subdue him. +Your worship was pleased to perform a very mad thing.' + +"I had nothing to say. I was surprised myself, +and I felt a childish curiosity to see what would hap- +pen next. But the sergeant was thinking of the diffi- +culty of controlling Gaspar Ruiz when the time for +making an example would come. + +"'Or perhaps,' the sergeant pursued, vexedly, 'we +shall be obliged to shoot him down as he dashes out +when the door is opened.' He was going to give +further vent to his anxieties as to the proper carrying +out of the sentence; but he interrupted himself with a +sudden exclamation, snatched a musket from a soldier, +and stood watchful with his eyes fixed on the window. + + +IV + + +"GASPAR RUIZ had clambered up on the sill, and sat +down there with his feet against the thickness of the +wall and his knees slightly bent. The window was +not quite broad enough for the length of his legs. +It appeared to my crestfallen perception that he +meant to keep the window all to himself. He seemed +to be taking up a comfortable position. Nobody inside +dared to approach him now he could strike with his +hands. + +"'Por Dios!' I heard the sergeant muttering at my +elbow, 'I shall shoot him through the head now, and +get rid of that trouble. He is a condemned man.' + +"At that I looked at him angrily. 'The general +has not confirmed the sentence,' I said -- though I knew +well in my heart that these were but vain words. The +sentence required no confirmation. 'You have no +right to shoot him unless he tries to escape,' I added, +firmly. + +"'But sangre de Dios!' the sergeant yelled out, +bringing his musket up to the shoulder, 'he is escaping +now. Look!' + +"But I, as if that Gaspar Ruiz had cast a spell +upon me, struck the musket upward, and the bullet +flew over the roofs somewhere. The sergeant dashed +his arm to the ground and stared. He might have +commanded the soldiers to fire, but he did not. And +if he had he would not have been obeyed, I think, just +then. + +"With his feet against the thickness of the wall +and his hairy hands grasping the iron bar, Gaspar +sat still. It was an attitude. Nothing happened for a +time. And suddenly it dawned upon us that he was +straightening his bowed back and contracting his arms. +His lips were twisted into a snarl. Next thing we per- +ceived was that the bar of forged iron was being bent +slowly by the mightiness of his pull. The sun was +beating full upon his cramped, unquivering figure. A +shower of sweat-drops burst out of his forehead. +Watching the bar grow crooked, I saw a little blood +ooze from under his finger-nails. Then he let go. For +a moment he remained all huddled up, with a hanging +head, looking drowsily into the upturned palms of his +mighty hands. Indeed he seemed to have dozed off. +Suddenly he flung himself backwards on the sill, and +setting the soles of his bare feet against the other +middle bar, he bent that one, too, but in the opposite +direction from the first. + +"Such was his strength, which in this case relieved +my painful feelings. And the man seemed to have +done nothing. Except for the change of position in +order to use his feet, which made us all start by its +swiftness, my recollection is that of immobility. But +he had bent the bars wide apart. And now he could +get out if he liked; but he dropped his legs inwards, +and looking over his shoulder beckoned to the soldiers. +'Hand up the water,' he said. 'I will give them all a +drink.' + +"He was obeyed. For a moment I expected man +and bucket to disappear, overwhelmed by the rush of +eagerness; I thought they would pull him down with +their teeth. There was a rush, but holding the bucket +on his lap he repulsed the assault of those wretches by +the mere swinging of his feet. They flew backwards at +every kick, yelling with pain; and the soldiers laughed, +gazing at the window. + +"They all laughed, holding their sides, except the +sergeant, who was gloomy and morose. He was afraid +the prisoners would rise and break out -- which would +have been a bad example. But there was no fear of +that, and I stood myself before the window with my +drawn sword. When sufficiently tamed by the strength +of Gaspar Ruiz they came up one by one, stretching +their necks and presenting their lips to the edge of the +bucket which the strong man tilted towards them from +his knees with an extraordinary air of charity, gentleness, +and compassion. That benevolent appearance was of +course the effect of his care in not spilling the water +and of his attitude as he sat on the sill; for, if a man +lingered with his lips glued to the rim of the bucket +after Gaspar Ruiz had said 'You have had enough,' +there would be no tenderness or mercy in the shove of +the foot which would send him groaning and doubled +up far into the interior of the prison, where he would +knock down two or three others before he fell himself. +They came up to him again and again; it looked as if +they meant to drink the well dry before going to their +death; but the soldiers were so amused by Gaspar +Ruiz's systematic proceedings that they carried the +water up to the window cheerfully. + +"When the adjutant came out after his siesta there +was some trouble over this affair, I can assure you. +And the worst of it was that the general whom we +expected never came to the castle that day." + +The guests of General Santierra unanimously ex- +pressed their regret that the man of such strength +and patience had not been saved. + +"He was not saved by my interference," said the +General. "The prisoners were led to execution half an +hour before sunset. Gaspar Ruiz, contrary to the +sergeant's apprehensions, gave no trouble. There was no +necessity to get a cavalry man with a lasso in order to +subdue him, as if he were a wild bull of the campo. I +believe he marched out with his arms free amongst the +others who were bound. I did not see. I was not there. +I had been put under arrest for interfering with the +prisoner's guard. About dusk, sitting dismally in my +quarters, I heard three volleys fired, and thought that I +should never hear of Gaspar Ruiz again. He fell with +the others. But we were to hear of him nevertheless, +though the sergeant boasted that as he lay on his face +expiring or dead in the heap of the slain, he had slashed +his neck with a sword. He had done this, he said, to +make sure of ridding the world of a dangerous traitor. + +"I confess to you, senores, that I thought of that +strong man with a sort of gratitude, and with some +admiration. He had used his strength honourably. +There dwelt, then, in his soul no fierceness correspond- +ing to the vigour of his body." + + +V + + +GASPAR RUIZ, who could with ease bend apart the +heavy iron bars of the prison, was led out with others +to summary execution. "Every bullet has its billet," +runs the proverb. All the merit of proverbs consists +in the concise and picturesque expression. In the +surprise of our minds is found their persuasiveness. In +other words, we are struck and convinced by the shock. + +What surprises us is the form, not the substance. +Proverbs are art -- cheap art. As a general rule they +are not true; unless indeed they happen to be mere +platitudes, as for instance the proverb, "Half a loaf is +better than no bread," or "A miss is as good as a mile." +Some proverbs are simply imbecile, others are immoral. +That one evolved out of the naive heart of the great +Russian people, "Man discharges the piece, but God +carries the bullet," is piously atrocious, and at bitter +variance with the accepted conception of a compassion- +ate God. It would indeed be an inconsistent occupa- +tion for the Guardian of the poor, the innocent, and the +helpless, to carry the bullet, for instance, into the heart +of a father. + +Gaspar Ruiz was childless, he had no wife, he had +never been in love. He had hardly ever spoken to a +woman, beyond his mother and the ancient negress of +the household, whose wrinkled skin was the colour of +cinders, and whose lean body was bent double from age. +If some bullets from those muskets fired off at fifteen +paces were specifically destined for the heart of Gaspar +Ruiz, they all missed their billet. One, however, +carried away a small piece of his ear, and another a +fragment of flesh from his shoulder. + +A red and unclouded sun setting into a purple ocean +looked with a fiery stare upon the enormous wall +of the Cordilleras, worthy witnesses of his glorious +extinction. But it is inconceivable that it should have +seen the ant-like men busy with their absurd and +insignificant trials of killing and dying for reasons that, +apart from being generally childish, were also im- +perfectly understood. It did light up, however, the +backs of the firing party and the faces of the condemned +men. Some of them had fallen on their knees, others +remained standing, a few averted their heads from the +levelled barrels of muskets. Gaspar Ruiz, upright, the +burliest of them all, hung his big shock head. The low +sun dazzled him a little, and he counted himself a dead +man already. + +He fell at the first discharge. He fell because he +thought he was a dead man. He struck the ground +heavily. The jar of the fall surprised him. "I am not +dead apparently," he thought to himself, when he heard +the execution platoon reloading its arms at the word of +command. It was then that the hope of escape dawned +upon him for the first time. He remained lying +stretched out with rigid limbs under the weight of two +bodies collapsed crosswise upon his back. + +By the time the soldiers had fired a third volley +into the slightly stirring heaps of the slain, the sun had +gone out of sight, and almost immediately with the +darkening of the ocean dusk fell upon the coasts of the +young Republic. Above the gloom of the lowlands the +snowy peaks of the Cordilleras remained luminous and +crimson for a long time. The soldiers before marching +back to the fort sat down to smoke. + +The sergeant with a naked sword in his hand strolled +away by himself along the heap of the dead. He was +a humane man, and watched for any stir or twitch of +limb in the merciful idea of plunging the point of his +blade into any body giving the slightest sign of life. +But none of the bodies afforded him an opportunity for +the display of this charitable intention. Not a muscle +twitched amongst them, not even the powerful muscles +of Gaspar Ruiz, who, deluged with the blood of his +neighbours and shamming death, strove to appear more +lifeless than the others. + +He was lying face down. The sergeant recognized +him by his stature, and being himself a very small man, +looked with envy and contempt at the prostration of so +much strength. He had always disliked that particular +soldier. Moved by an obscure animosity, he inflicted a +long gash across the neck of Gaspar Ruiz, with some +vague notion of making sure of that strong man's death, +as if a powerful physique were more able to resist the +bullets. For the sergeant had no doubt that Gaspar +Ruiz had been shot through in many places. Then he +passed on, and shortly afterwards marched off with his +men, leaving the bodies to the care of crows and +vultures. + +Gaspar Ruiz had restrained a cry, though it had +seemed to him that his head was cut off at a blow; and +when darkness came, shaking off the dead, whose weight +had oppressed him, he crawled away over the plain on +his hands and knees. After drinking deeply, like a +wounded beast, at a shallow stream, he assumed an +upright posture, and staggered on light-headed and +aimless, as if lost amongst the stars of the clear night. +A small house seemed to rise out of the ground before +him. He stumbled into the porch and struck at the +door with his fist. There was not a gleam of light. +Gaspar Ruiz might have thought that the inhabitants +had fled from it, as from many others in the neigh- +bourhood, had it not been for the shouts of abuse that +answered his thumping. In his feverish and enfeebled +state the angry screaming seemed to him part of a +hallucination belonging to the weird, dreamlike feeling +of his unexpected condemnation to death, of the thirst +suffered, of the volleys fired at him within fifteen paces, +of his head being cut off at a blow. "Open the door!" +he cried. "Open in the name of God!" + +An infuriated voice from within jeered at him: +"Come in, come in. This house belongs to you. All +this land belongs to you. Come and take it." + +"For the love of God," Gaspar Ruiz murmured. + +"Does not all the land belong to you patriots?" +the voice on the other side of the door screamed on. +"Are you not a patriot?" + +Gaspar Ruiz did not know. "I am a wounded man," +he said, apathetically. + +All became still inside. Gaspar Ruiz lost the hope of +being admitted, and lay down under the porch just +outside the door. He was utterly careless of what +was going to happen to him. All his consciousness +seemed to be concentrated in his neck, where he felt a +severe pain. His indifference as to his fate was genuine. +The day was breaking when he awoke from a feverish +doze; the door at which he had knocked in the dark +stood wide open now, and a girl, steadying herself +with her outspread arms, leaned over the threshold. +Lying on his back, he stared up at her. Her face was +pale and her eyes were very dark; her hair hung down +black as ebony against her white cheeks; her lips were +full and red. Beyond her he saw another head with +long grey hair, and a thin old face with a pair of +anxiously clasped hands under the chin. + + +VI + + +"I KNEW those people by sight," General Santierra +would tell his guests at the dining-table. "I mean +the people with whom Gaspar Ruiz found shelter. +The father was an old Spaniard, a man of property +ruined by the revolution. His estates, his house in +town, his money, everything he had in the world had +been confiscated by proclamation, for he was a bitter foe +of our independence. From a position of great dignity +and influence on the Viceroy's Council he became of +less importance than his own negro slaves made free +by our glorious revolution. He had not even the means +to flee the country, as other Spaniards had managed to +do. It may be that, wandering ruined and houseless, +and burdened with nothing but his life, which was left +to him by the clemency of the Provisional Government, +he had simply walked under that broken roof of old +tiles. It was a lonely spot. There did not seem to be +even a dog belonging to the place. But though the roof +had holes, as if a cannon-ball or two had dropped +through it, the wooden shutters were thick and tight- +closed all the time. + +"My way took me frequently along the path in +front of that miserable rancho. I rode from the fort to +the town almost every evening, to sigh at the window +of a lady I was in love with, then. When one is young, +you understand. . . . She was a good patriot, you +may believe. Caballeros, credit me or not, political +feeling ran so high in those days that I do not believe +I could have been fascinated by the charms of a woman +of Royalist opinions. . . ." + +Murmurs of amused incredulity all round the table +interrupted the General; and while they lasted he +stroked his white beard gravely. + +"Senores," he protested, "a Royalist was a monster +to our overwrought feelings. I am telling you this in +order not to be suspected of the slightest tenderness +towards that old Royalist's daughter. Moreover, as you +know, my affections were engaged elsewhere. But I +could not help noticing her on rare occasions when with +the front door open she stood in the porch. + +"You must know that this old Royalist was as crazy +as a man can be. His political misfortunes, his total +downfall and ruin, had disordered his mind. To show +his contempt for what we patriots could do, he affected +to laugh at his imprisonment, at the confiscation of his +lands, the burning of his houses, and at the misery +to which he and his womenfolk were reduced. This +habit of laughing had grown upon him, so that he +would begin to laugh and shout directly he caught +sight of any stranger. That was the form of his +madness. + +"I, of course, disregarded the noise of that madman +with that feeling of superiority the success of our cause +inspired in us Americans. I suppose I really despised +him because he was an old Castilian, a Spaniard born, +and a Royalist. Those were certainly no reasons to +scorn a man; but for centuries Spaniards born had +shown their contempt of us Americans, men as well +descended as themselves, simply because we were what +they called colonists. We had been kept in abasement +and made to feel our inferiority in social intercourse. +And now it was our turn. It was safe for us patriots +to display the same sentiments; and I being a young +patriot, son of a patriot, despised that old Spaniard, and +despising him I naturally disregarded his abuse, though +it was annoying to my feelings. Others perhaps would +not have been so forbearing. + +"He would begin with a great yell -- 'I see a patriot. +Another of them!' long before I came abreast of +the house. The tone of his senseless revilings, mingled +with bursts of laughter, was sometimes piercingly shrill +and sometimes grave. It was all very mad; but I +felt it incumbent upon my dignity to check my +horse to a walk without even glancing towards the +house, as if that man's abusive clamour in the porch +were less than the barking of a cur. Always I rode by +preserving an expression of haughty indifference on my +face. + +"It was no doubt very dignified; but I should have +done better if I had kept my eyes open. A military +man in war time should never consider himself off +duty; and especially so if the war is a revolutionary +war, when the enemy is not at the door, but within +your very house. At such times the heat of passionate +convictions passing into hatred, removes the re- +straints of honour and humanity from many men and +of delicacy and fear from some women. These last, +when once they throw off the timidity and reserve of +their sex, become by the vivacity of their intelligence +and the violence of their merciless resentment more +dangerous than so many armed giants." + +The General's voice rose, but his big hand stroked +his white beard twice with an effect of venerable calm- +ness. "Si, Senores! Women are ready to rise to the +heights of devotion unattainable by us men, or to sink +into the depths of abasement which amazes our mas- +culine prejudices. I am speaking now of exceptional +women, you understand. . . ." + +Here one of the guests observed that he had never +met a woman yet who was not capable of turning out +quite exceptional under circumstances that would en- +gage her feelings strongly. "That sort of superiority +in recklessness they have over us," he concluded, +"makes of them the more interesting half of man- +kind." + +The General, who bore the interruption with gravity, +nodded courteous assent. "Si. Si. Under circum- +stances. . . . Precisely. They can do an infinite +deal of mischief sometimes in quite unexpected ways. +For who could have imagined that a young girl, daughter +of a ruined Royalist whose life was held only by the +contempt of his enemies, would have had the power +to bring death and devastation upon two flourishing +provinces and cause serious anxiety to the leaders +of the revolution in the very hour of its success!" +He paused to let the wonder of it penetrate our +minds. + +"Death and devastation," somebody murmured in +surprise: "how shocking!" + +The old General gave a glance in the direction of +the murmur and went on. "Yes. That is, war -- +calamity. But the means by which she obtained the +power to work this havoc on our southern frontier seem +to me, who have seen her and spoken to her, still more +shocking. That particular thing left on my mind a +dreadful amazement which the further experience of life, +of more than fifty years, has done nothing to diminish." +He looked round as if to make sure of our attention, +and, in a changed voice: "I am, as you know, a re- +publican, son of a Liberator," he declared. "My in- +comparable mother, God rest her soul, was a French- +woman, the daughter of an ardent republican. As a +boy I fought for liberty; I've always believed in the +equality of men; and as to their brotherhood, that, to +my mind, is even more certain. Look at the fierce +animosity they display in their differences. And what +in the world do you know that is more bitterly fierce +than brothers' quarrels?" + +All absence of cynicism checked an inclination to +smile at this view of human brotherhood. On the +contrary, there was in the tone the melancholy natural +to a man profoundly humane at heart who from duty, +from conviction, and from necessity, had played his +part in scenes of ruthless violence. + +The General had seen much of fratricidal strife. +"Certainly. There is no doubt of their brotherhood," +he insisted. "All men are brothers, and as such know +almost too much of each other. But" -- and here in +the old patriarchal head, white as silver, the black eyes +humorously twinkled -- "if we are all brothers, all the +women are not our sisters." + +One of the younger guests was heard murmuring +his satisfaction at the fact. But the General continued, +with deliberate earnestness: "They are so different! +The tale of a king who took a beggar-maid for a partner +of his throne may be pretty enough as we men look upon +ourselves and upon love. But that a young girl, +famous for her haughty beauty and, only a short time +before, the admired of all at the balls in the Viceroy's +palace, should take by the hand a guasso, a common +peasant, is intolerable to our sentiment of women and +their love. It is madness. Nevertheless it happened. +But it must be said that in her case it was the madness +of hate -- not of love." + +After presenting this excuse in a spirit of chivalrous +justice, the General remained silent for a time. "I +rode past the house every day almost," he began again, +"and this was what was going on within. But how it +was going on no mind of man can conceive. Her +desperation must have been extreme, and Gaspar Ruiz +was a docile fellow. He had been an obedient soldier. +His strength was like an enormous stone lying on the +ground, ready to be hurled this way or that by the hand +that picks it up. + +"It is clear that he would tell his story to the people +who gave him the shelter he needed. And he needed +assistance badly. His wound was not dangerous, but +his life was forfeited. The old Royalist being wrapped +up in his laughing madness, the two women arranged a +hiding-place for the wounded man in one of the huts +amongst the fruit trees at the back of the house. That +hovel, an abundance of clear water while the fever +was on him, and some words of pity were all they could +give. I suppose he had a share of what food there was. +And it would be but little: a handful of roasted corn, +perhaps a dish of beans, or a piece of bread with a few +figs. To such misery were those proud and once +wealthy people reduced." + + +VII + + +GENERAL SANTIERRA was right in his surmise. Such +was the exact nature of the assistance which Gaspar +Ruiz, peasant son of peasants, received from the +Royalist family whose daughter had opened the door of +their miserable refuge to his extreme distress. Her +sombre resolution ruled the madness of her father and +the trembling bewilderment of her mother. + +She had asked the strange man on the doorstep, +"Who wounded you?" + +"The soldiers, senora," Gaspar Ruiz had answered, +in a faint voice. + +"Patriots?" + +"Si." + +"What for?" + +"Deserter," he gasped, leaning against the wall +under the scrutiny of her black eyes. "I was left for +dead over there." + +She led him through the house out to a small hut of +clay and reeds, lost in the long grass of the overgrown +orchard. He sank on a heap of maize straw in a corner, +and sighed profoundly. + +"No one will look for you here," she said, looking +down at him. "Nobody comes near us. We, too, have +been left for dead -- here." + +He stirred uneasily on his heap of dirty straw, and +the pain in his neck made him groan deliriously. + +"I shall show Estaban some day that I am alive yet," +he mumbled. + +He accepted her assistance in silence, and the many +days of pain went by. Her appearances in the hut +brought him relief and became connected with the +feverish dreams of angels which visited his couch; +for Gaspar Ruiz was instructed in the mysteries of his +religion, and had even been taught to read and write a +little by the priest of his village. He waited for her +with impatience, and saw her pass out of the dark hut +and disappear in the brilliant sunshine with poignant +regret. He discovered that, while he lay there feeling +so very weak, he could, by closing his eyes, evoke her +face with considerable distinctness. And this discovered +faculty charmed the long, solitary hours of his convales- +cence. Later on, when he began to regain his strength, +he would creep at dusk from his hut to the house and +sit on the step of the garden door. + +In one of the rooms the mad father paced to and +fro, muttering to himself with short, abrupt laughs. In +the passage, sitting on a stool, the mother sighed and +moaned. The daughter, in rough threadbare clothing, +and her white haggard face half hidden by a coarse +manta, stood leaning against the side of the door. +Gaspar Ruiz, with his elbows propped on his knees and +his head resting in his hands, talked to the two women +in an undertone. + +The common misery of destitution would have made +a bitter mockery of a marked insistence on social differ- +ences. Gaspar Ruiz understood this in his simplicity. +From his captivity amongst the Royalists he could give +them news of people they knew. He described their +appearance; and when he related the story of the battle +in which he was recaptured the two women lamented the +blow to their cause and the ruin of their secret hopes. + +He had no feeling either way. But he felt a great +devotion for that young girl. In his desire to appear +worthy of her condescension, he boasted a little of his +bodily strength. He had nothing else to boast of. +Because of that quality his comrades treated him with +as great a deference, he explained, as though he had +been a sergeant, both in camp and in battle. + +"I could always get as many as I wanted to follow +me anywhere, senorita. I ought to have been made an +officer, because I can read and write." + +Behind him the silent old lady fetched a moaning +sigh from time to time; the distracted father muttered +to himself, pacing the sala; and Gaspar Ruiz would +raise his eyes now and then to look at the daughter of +these people. + +He would look at her with curiosity because she was +alive, and also with that feeling of familiarity and awe +with which he had contemplated in churches the +inanimate and powerful statues of the saints, whose +protection is invoked in dangers and difficulties. His +difficulty was very great. + +He could not remain hiding in an orchard for ever +and ever. He knew also very well that before he had +gone half a day's journey in any direction, he would be +picked up by one of the cavalry patrols scouring the +country, and brought into one or another of the camps +where the patriot army destined for the liberation of +Peru was collected. There he would in the end be +recognized as Gaspar Ruiz -- the deserter to the Royal- +ists -- and no doubt shot very effectually this time. +There did not seem any place in the world for the +innocent Gaspar Ruiz anywhere. And at this thought +his simple soul surrendered itself to gloom and re- +sentment as black as night. + +They had made him a soldier forcibly. He did not +mind being a soldier. And he had been a good soldier +as he had been a good son, because of his docility and +his strength. But now there was no use for either. +They had taken him from his parents, and he could no +longer be a soldier -- not a good soldier at any rate. +Nobody would listen to his explanations. What in- +justice it was! What injustice! + +And in a mournful murmur he would go over the +story of his capture and recapture for the twentieth +time. Then, raising his eyes to the silent girl in the +doorway, "Si, senorita," he would say with a deep sigh, +"injustice has made this poor breath in my body quite +worthless to me and to anybody else. And I do not +care who robs me of it." + +One evening, as he exhaled thus the plaint of his +wounded soul, she condescended to say that, if she were +a man, she would consider no life worthless which held +the possibility of revenge. + +She seemed to be speaking to herself. Her voice +was low. He drank in the gentle, as if dreamy sound +with a consciousness of peculiar delight of something +warming his breast like a draught of generous wine. + +"True, Senorita," he said, raising his face up to hers +slowly: "there is Estaban, who must be shown that I +am not dead after all." + +The mutterings of the mad father had ceased long +before; the sighing mother had withdrawn somewhere +into one of the empty rooms. All was still within as +well as without, in the moonlight bright as day on the +wild orchard full of inky shadows. Gaspar Ruiz saw +the dark eyes of Dona Erminia look down at him. + +"Ah! The sergeant," she muttered, disdainfully. + +"Why! He has wounded me with his sword," he +protested, bewildered by the contempt that seemed to +shine livid on her pale face. + +She crushed him with her glance. The power of her +will to be understood was so strong that it kindled in +him the intelligence of unexpressed things. + +"What else did you expect me to do?" he cried, as +if suddenly driven to despair. "Have I the power to do +more? Am I a general with an army at my back? -- +miserable sinner that I am to be despised by you at +last." + + +VIII + + +"SEnORES," related the General to his guests, +"though my thoughts were of love then, and therefore +enchanting, the sight of that house always affected me +disagreeably, especially in the moonlight, when its +close shutters and its air of lonely neglect appeared +sinister. Still I went on using the bridle-path by the +ravine, because it was a short cut. The mad Royalist +howled and laughed at me every evening to his complete +satisfaction; but after a time, as if wearied with my +indifference, he ceased to appear in the porch. How +they persuaded him to leave off I do not know. How- +ever, with Gaspar Ruiz in the house there would have +been no difficulty in restraining him by force. It was +now part of their policy in there to avoid anything +which could provoke me. At least, so I suppose. + +"Notwithstanding my infatuation with the brightest +pair of eyes in Chile, I noticed the absence of the old +man after a week or so. A few more days passed. I +began to think that perhaps these Royalists had gone +away somewhere else. But one evening, as I was +hastening towards the city, I saw again somebody in the +porch. It was not the madman; it was the girl. She +stood holding on to one of the wooden columns, tall and +white-faced, her big eyes sunk deep with privation and +sorrow. I looked hard at her, and she met my stare +with a strange, inquisitive look. Then, as I turned +my head after riding past, she seemed to gather courage +for the act, and absolutely beckoned me back. + +"I obeyed, senores, almost without thinking, so great +was my astonishment. It was greater still when I heard +what she had to say. She began by thanking me for +my forbearance of her father's infirmity, so that I felt +ashamed of myself. I had meant to show disdain, not +forbearance! Every word must have burnt her lips, +but she never departed from a gentle and melancholy +dignity which filled me with respect against my will. +Senores, we are no match for women. But I could +hardly believe my ears when she began her tale. Provi- +dence, she concluded, seemed to have preserved the +life of that wronged soldier, who now trusted to my +honour as a caballero and to my compassion for his +sufferings. + +"'Wronged man,' I observed, coldly. 'Well, I think +so, too: and you have been harbouring an enemy of +your cause.' + +"'He was a poor Christian crying for help at our +door in the name of God, senor,' she answered, simply. + +"I began to admire her. 'Where is he now?' I +asked, stiffly. + +"But she would not answer that question. With +extreme cunning, and an almost fiendish delicacy, she +managed to remind me of my failure in saving the lives +of the prisoners in the guardroom, without wounding +my pride. She knew, of course, the whole story. +Gaspar Ruiz, she said, entreated me to procure for him +a safe-conduct from General San Martin himself. He +had an important communication to make to the com- +mander-in-chief. + +"Por Dios, senores, she made me swallow all that, +pretending to be only the mouthpiece of that poor man. +Overcome by injustice, he expected to find, she said, as +much generosity in me as had been shown to him by +the Royalist family which had given him a refuge. + +"Ha! It was well and nobly said to a youngster +like me. I thought her great. Alas! she was only +implacable. + +"In the end I rode away very enthusiastic about the +business, without demanding even to see Gaspar Ruiz, +who I was confident was in the house. + +"But on calm reflection I began to see some dif- +ficulties which I had not confidence enough in myself to +encounter. It was not easy to approach a commander- +in-chief with such a story. I feared failure. At last I +thought it better to lay the matter before my general- +of-division, Robles, a friend of my family, who had +appointed me his aide-de-camp lately. + +"He took it out of my hands at once without any +ceremony. + +"'In the house! of course he is in the house,' he said +contemptuously. 'You ought to have gone sword in +hand inside and demanded his surrender, instead of +chatting with a Royalist girl in the porch. Those +people should have been hunted out of that long ago. +Who knows how many spies they have harboured right +in the very midst of our camps? A safe-conduct from +the Commander-in-Chief! The audacity of the fellow! +Ha! ha! Now we shall catch him to-night, and then +we shall find out, without any safe-conduct, what +he has got to say, that is so very important. Ha! +ha! ha!' + +"General Robles, peace to his soul, was a short, thick +man, with round, staring eyes, fierce and jovial. Seeing +my distress he added: + +"'Come, come, chico. I promise you his life if he +does not resist. And that is not likely. We are not +going to break up a good soldier if it can be helped. I +tell you what! I am curious to see your strong man. +Nothing but a general will do for the picaro -- well, he +shall have a general to talk to. Ha! ha! I shall go +myself to the catching, and you are coming with me, of +course.' + +"And it was done that same night. Early in the +evening the house and the orchard were surrounded +quietly. Later on the General and I left a ball we were +attending in town and rode out at an easy gallop. At +some little distance from the house we pulled up. A +mounted orderly held our horses. A low whistle +warned the men watching all along the ravine, and we +walked up to the porch softly. The barricaded house +in the moonlight seemed empty. + +"The General knocked at the door. After a time a +woman's voice within asked who was there. My chief +nudged me hard. I gasped. + +"'It is I, Lieutenant Santierra,' I stammered out, as +if choked. 'Open the door.' + +"It came open slowly. The girl, holding a thin +taper in her hand, seeing another man with me, began +to back away before us slowly, shading the light with +her hand. Her impassive white face looked ghostly. I +followed behind General Robles. Her eyes were fixed +on mine. I made a gesture of helplessness behind my +chief's back, trying at the same time to give a reassur- +ing expression to my face. None of us three uttered +a sound. + +"We found ourselves in a room with bare floor and +walls. There was a rough table and a couple of stools +in it, nothing else whatever. An old woman with her +grey hair hanging loose wrung her hands when we +appeared. A peal of loud laughter resounded through +the empty house, very amazing and weird. At this the +old woman tried to get past us. + +"'Nobody to leave the room,' said General Robles +to me. + +"I swung the door to, heard the latch click, and +the laughter became faint in our ears. + +"Before another word could be spoken in that +room I was amazed by hearing the sound of distant +thunder. + +"I had carried in with me into the house a vivid im- +pression of a beautiful clear moonlight night, without a +speck of cloud in the sky. I could not believe my ears. +Sent early abroad for my education, I was not familiar +with the most dreaded natural phenomenon of my +native land. I saw, with inexpressible astonishment, a +look of terror in my chief's eyes. Suddenly I felt giddy. +The General staggered against me heavily; the girl +seemed to reel in the middle of the room, the taper fell +out of her hand and the light went out; a shrill cry of +'Misericordia!' from the old woman pierced my ears. +In the pitchy darkness I heard the plaster off the walls +falling on the floor. It is a mercy there was no ceiling. +Holding on to the latch of the door, I heard the grinding +of the roof-tiles cease above my head. The shock was +over. + +"'Out of the house! The door! Fly, Santierra, fly!' +howled the General. You know, senores, in our country +the bravest are not ashamed of the fear an earthquake +strikes into all the senses of man. One never gets used +to it. Repeated experience only augments the mastery +of that nameless terror. + +"It was my first earthquake, and I was the calmest of +them all. I understood that the crash outside was +caused by the porch, with its wooden pillars and tiled +roof projection, falling down. The next shock would +destroy the house, maybe. That rumble as of thunder +was approaching again. The General was rushing +round the room, to find the door perhaps. He made a +noise as though he were trying to climb the walls, and I +heard him distinctly invoke the names of several saints. +'Out, out, Santierra!' he yelled. + +"The girl's voice was the only one I did not hear. + +"'General,' I cried, I cannot move the door. We +must be locked in.' + +"I did not recognize his voice in the shout of male- +diction and despair he let out. Senores, I know many +men in my country, especially in the provinces most +subject to earthquakes, who will neither eat, sleep, pray, +nor even sit down to cards with closed doors. The dan- +ger is not in the loss of time, but in this -- that the +movement of the walls may prevent a door being opened +at all. This was what had happened to us. We were +trapped, and we had no help to expect from anybody. +There is no man in my country who will go into a house +when the earth trembles. There never was -- except +one: Gaspar Ruiz. + +"He had come out of whatever hole he had been +hiding in outside, and had clambered over the timbers of +the destroyed porch. Above the awful subterranean +groan of coming destruction I heard a mighty voice +shouting the word 'Erminia!' with the lungs of a giant. +An earthquake is a great leveller of distinctions. I +collected all my resolution against the terror of the +scene. 'She is here,' I shouted back. A roar as of a +furious wild beast answered me -- while my head swam, +my heart sank, and the sweat of anguish streamed like +rain off my brow. + +"He had the strength to pick up one of the heavy +posts of the porch. Holding it under his armpit like a +lance, but with both hands, he charged madly the rock- +ing house with the force of a battering-ram, bursting +open the door and rushing in, headlong, over our pros- +trate bodies. I and the General picking ourselves up, +bolted out together, without looking round once till we +got across the road. Then, clinging to each other, we +beheld the house change suddenly into a heap of form- +less rubbish behind the back of a man, who staggered +towards us bearing the form of a woman clasped in his +arms. Her long black hair hung nearly to his feet. He +laid her down reverently on the heaving earth, and the +moonlight shone on her closed eyes. + +"Senores, we mounted with difficulty. Our horses +getting up plunged madly, held by the soldiers who had +come running from all sides. Nobody thought of catch- +ing Gaspar Ruiz then. The eyes of men and animals +shone with wild fear. My general approached Gaspar +Ruiz, who stood motionless as a statue above the girl. +He let himself be shaken by the shoulder without +detaching his eyes from her face. + +"'Que guape!' shouted the General in his ear. 'You +are the bravest man living. You have saved my life. +I am General Robles. Come to my quarters to-morrow +if God gives us the grace to see another day.' + +"He never stirred -- as if deaf, without feeling, in- +sensible. + +"We rode away for the town, full of our relations, of +our friends, of whose fate we hardly dared to think. +The soldiers ran by the side of our horses. Everything +was forgotten in the immensity of the catastrophe over- +taking a whole country." + +. . . . . . . + +Gaspar Ruiz saw the girl open her eyes. The raising +of her eyelids seemed to recall him from a trance. They +were alone; the cries of terror and distress from homeless +people filled the plains of the coast remote and immense, +coming like a whisper into their loneliness. + +She rose swiftly to her feet, darting fearful glances +on all sides. "What is it?" she cried out low, and peer- +ing into his face. "Where am I?" + +He bowed his head sadly, without a word. + +". . . Who are you?" + +He knelt down slowly before her, and touched the +hem of her coarse black baize skirt. "Your slave," he +said. + +She caught sight then of the heap of rubbish that +had been the house, all misty in the cloud of dust. +"Ah!" she cried, pressing her hand to her forehead. + +"I carried you out from there," he whispered at her +feet. + +"And they?" she asked in a great sob. + +He rose, and taking her by the arms, led her gently +towards the shapeless ruin half overwhelmed by a land- +slide. "Come and listen," he said. + +The serene moon saw them clambering over that +heap of stones, joists and tiles, which was a grave. +They pressed their ears to the interstices, listening for +the sound of a groan, for a sigh of pain. + +At last he said, "They died swiftly. You are alone." + +She sat down on a piece of broken timber and put +one arm across her face. He waited -- then approaching +his lips to her ear: "Let us go," he whispered. + +"Never -- never from here," she cried out, flinging her +arms above her head. + +He stooped over her, and her raised arms fell upon +his shoulders. He lifted her up, steadied himself and +began to walk, looking straight before him. + +"What are you doing?" she asked, feebly. + +"I am escaping from my enemies," he said, never +once glancing at his light burden. + +"With me?" she sighed, helplessly. + +"Never without you," he said. "You are my +strength." + +He pressed her close to him. His face was grave +and his footsteps steady. The conflagrations bursting +out in the ruins of destroyed villages dotted the plain +with red fires; and the sounds of distant lamentations, +the cries of Misericordia! Misericordia! made a desolate +murmur in his ears. He walked on, solemn and col- +lected, as if carrying something holy, fragile, and +precious. + +The earth rocked at times under his feet. + + +IX + + +WITH movements of mechanical care and an air of +abstraction old General Santierra lighted a long and +thick cigar. + +"It was a good many hours before we could send a +party back to the ravine," he said to his guests. "We +had found one-third of the town laid low, the rest +shaken up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced +to the same state of distraction by the universal disaster. +The affected cheerfulness of some contrasted with the +despair of others. In the general confusion a number of +reckless thieves, without fear of God or man, became a +danger to those who from the downfall of their homes +had managed to save some valuables. Crying 'Miseri- +cordia' louder than any at every tremor, and beating +their breast with one hand, these scoundrels robbed the +poor victims with the other, not even stopping short of +murder. + +"General Robles' division was occupied entirely in +guarding the destroyed quarters of the town from the +depredations of these inhuman monsters. Taken up +with my duties of orderly officer, it was only in the +morning that I could assure myself of the safety of my +own family. My mother and my sisters had escaped +with their lives from that ballroom, where I had left +them early in the evening. I remember those two +beautiful young women -- God rest their souls -- as if I +saw them this moment, in the garden of our destroyed +house, pale but active, assisting some of our poor neigh- +bours, in their soiled ball-dresses and with the dust of +fallen walls on their hair. As to my mother, she had a +stoical soul in her frail body. Half-covered by a costly +shawl, she was lying on a rustic seat by the side of an +ornamental basin whose fountain had ceased to play for +ever on that night. + +"I had hardly had time to embrace them all with +transports of joy when my chief, coming along, dis- +patched me to the ravine with a few soldiers, to bring in +my strong man, as he called him, and that pale girl. + +"But there was no one for us to bring in. A land- +slide had covered the ruins of the house; and it was +like a large mound of earth with only the ends of some +timbers visible here and there -- nothing more. + +"Thus were the tribulations of the old Royalist couple +ended. An enormous and unconsecrated grave had +swallowed them up alive, in their unhappy obstinacy +against the will of a people to be free. And their +daughter was gone. + +"That Gaspar Ruiz had carried her off I understood +very well. But as the case was not foreseen, I had no +instructions to pursue them. And certainly I had no +desire to do so. I had grown mistrustful of my inter- +ference. It had never been successful, and had not even +appeared creditable. He was gone. Well, let him go. +And he had carried off the Royalist girl! Nothing +better. Vaya con Dios. This was not the time to +bother about a deserter who, justly or unjustly, ought to +have been dead, and a girl for whom it would have been +better to have never been born. + +"So I marched my men back to the town. + +"After a few days, order having been re-established, +all the principal families, including my own, left for +Santiago. We had a fine house there. At the same +time the division of Robles was moved to new canton- +ments near the capital. This change suited very well +the state of my domestic and amorous feelings. + +"One night, rather late, I was called to my chief. I +found General Robles in his quarters, at ease, with his +uniform off, drinking neat brandy out of a tumbler -- +as a precaution, he used to say, against the sleepless- +ness induced by the bites of mosquitoes. He was a good +soldier, and he taught me the art and practice of war. +No doubt God has been merciful to his soul; for his mo- +tives were never other than patriotic, if his character +was irascible. As to the use of mosquito nets, he consid- +ered it effeminate, shameful -- unworthy of a soldier. +"I noticed at the first glance that his face, already +very red, wore an expression of high good-humour. + +"'Aha! Senor teniente,' he cried, loudly, as I saluted +at the door. 'Behold! Your strong man has turned +up again.' + +"He extended to me a folded letter, which I saw was +superscribed 'To the Commander-in-Chief of the Re- +publican Armies.' + +"'This,' General Robles went on in his loud voice, +'was thrust by a boy into the hand of a sentry at the +Quartel General, while the fellow stood there thinking of +his girl, no doubt -- for before he could gather his wits +together the boy had disappeared amongst the market +people, and he protests he could not recognize him to +save his life.' + +"'My chief told me further that the soldier had given +the letter to the sergeant of the guard, and that ulti- +mately it had reached the hands of our generalissimo. +His Excellency had deigned to take cognizance of it +with his own eyes. After that he had referred the +matter in confidence to General Robles. + +"The letter, senores, I cannot now recollect textually. +I saw the signature of Gaspar Ruiz. He was an auda- +cious fellow. He had snatched a soul for himself out of +a cataclysm, remember. And now it was that soul +which had dictated the terms of his letter. Its tone +was very independent. I remember it struck me at +the time as noble -- dignified. It was, no doubt, her +letter. Now I shudder at the depth of its duplicity. +Gaspar Ruiz was made to complain of the injustice +of which he had been a victim. He invoked his previ- +ous record of fidelity and courage. Having been saved +from death by the miraculous interposition of Provi- +dence, he could think of nothing but of retrieving his +character. This, he wrote, he could not hope to do +in the ranks as a discredited soldier still under suspicion. +He had the means to give a striking proof of his fidelity. +He had ended by proposing to the General-in-Chief +a meeting at midnight in the middle of the Plaza be- +fore the Moneta. The signal would be to strike fire +with flint and steel three times, which was not too con- +spicuous and yet distinctive enough for recognition. + +"San Martin, the great Liberator, loved men of +audacity and courage. Besides, he was just and com- +passionate. I told him as much of the man's story as I +knew, and was ordered to accompany him on the ap- +pointed night. The signals were duly exchanged. It +was midnight, and the whole town was dark and silent. +Their two cloaked figures came together in the centre of +the vast Plaza, and, keeping discreetly at a distance, I +listened for an hour or more to the murmur of their +voices. Then the General motioned me to approach; +and as I did so I heard San Martin, who was courteous +to gentle and simple alike, offer Gaspar Ruiz the hospi- +tality of the headquarters for the night. But the sol- +dier refused, saying that he would be not worthy of that +honour till he had done something. + +"'You cannot have a common deserter for your +guest, Excellency,' he protested with a low laugh, and +stepping backwards merged slowly into the night. + +"The Commander-in-Chief observed to me, as we +turned away: 'He had somebody with him, our friend +Ruiz. I saw two figures for a moment. It was an un- +obtrusive companion.' + +"I, too, had observed another figure join the vanishing +form of Gaspar Ruiz. It had the appearance of a short +fellow in a poncho and a big hat. And I wondered +stupidly who it could be he had dared take into his con- +fidence. I might have guessed it could be no one but +that fatal girl -- alas! + +"Where he kept her concealed I do not know. He +had -- it was known afterwards -- an uncle, his mother's +brother, a small shopkeeper in Santiago. Perhaps it +was there that she found a roof and food. Whatever she +found, it was poor enough to exasperate her pride and +keep up her anger and hate. It is certain she did not +accompany him on the feat he undertook to accomplish +first of all. It was nothing less than the destruction of a +store of war material collected secretly by the Spanish au- +thorities in the south, in a town called Linares. Gaspar +Ruiz was entrusted with a small party only, but they +proved themselves worthy of San Martin's confidence. +The season was not propitious. They had to swim +swollen rivers. They seemed, however, to have gal- +loped night and day out-riding the news of their foray, +and holding straight for the town, a hundred miles +into the enemy's country, till at break of day they rode +into it sword in hand, surprising the little garrison. +It fled without making a stand, leaving most of its +officers in Gaspar Ruiz' hands. + +"A great explosion of gunpowder ended the con- +flagration of the magazines the raiders had set on fire +without loss of time. In less than six hours they were +riding away at the same mad speed, without the loss of +a single man. Good as they were, such an exploit is +not performed without a still better leadership. + +"I was dining at the headquarters when Gaspar +Ruiz himself brought the news of his success. And it +was a great blow to the Royalist troops. For a proof he +displayed to us the garrison's flag. He took it from +under his poncho and flung it on the table. The man +was transfigured; there was something exulting and +menacing in the expression of his face. He stood +behind General San Martin's chair and looked proudly +at us all. He had a round blue cap edged with silver +braid on his head, and we all could see a large white +scar on the nape of his sunburnt neck. + +"Somebody asked him what he had done with the +captured Spanish officers. + +"He shrugged his shoulders scornfully. 'What a +question to ask! In a partisan war you do not burden +yourself with prisoners. I let them go -- and here are +their sword-knots.' + +"He flung a bunch of them on the table upon the +flag. Then General Robles, whom I was attending there, +spoke up in his loud, thick voice: 'You did! Then, my +brave friend, you do not know yet how a war like ours +ought to be conducted. You should have done -- this.' +And he passed the edge of his hand across his own +throat. + +"Alas, senores! It was only too true that on both +sides this contest, in its nature so heroic, was stained by +ferocity. The murmurs that arose at General Robles' +words were by no means unanimous in tone. But the +generous and brave San Martin praised the humane +action, and pointed out to Ruiz a place on his right +hand. Then rising with a full glass he proposed a +toast: 'Caballeros and comrades-in-arms, let us drink +the health of Captain Gaspar Ruiz.' And when we had +emptied our glasses: 'I intend,' the Commander-in- +Chief continued, 'to entrust him with the guardianship +of our southern frontier, while we go afar to liberate our +brethren in Peru. He whom the enemy could not stop +from striking a blow at his very heart will know how +to protect the peaceful populations we leave behind us +to pursue our sacred task.' And he embraced the silent +Gaspar Ruiz by his side. + +"Later on, when we all rose from table, I approached +the latest officer of the army with my congratulations. +'And, Captain Ruiz,' I added, 'perhaps you do not mind +telling a man who has always believed in the upright- +ness of your character what became of Dona Erminia on +that night?' + +"At this friendly question his aspect changed. He +looked at me from under his eyebrows with the heavy, +dull glance of a guasso -- of a peasant. 'Senor teniente,' +he said, thickly, and as if very much cast down, 'do not +ask me about the senorita, for I prefer not to think +about her at all when I am amongst you." + +"He looked, with a frown, all about the room, full of +smoking and talking officers. Of course I did not +insist. + +"These, senores, were the last words I was to hear him +utter for a long, long time. The very next day we em- +barked for our arduous expedition to Peru, and we only +heard of Gaspar Ruiz' doings in the midst of battles of +our own. He had been appointed military guardian of +our southern province. He raised a partida. But his +leniency to the conquered foe displeased the Civil +Governor, who was a formal, uneasy man, full of +suspicions. He forwarded reports against Gaspar Ruiz +to the Supreme Government; one of them being that +he had married publicly, with great pomp, a woman of +Royalist tendencies. Quarrels were sure to arise be- +tween these two men of very different character. At last +the Civil Governor began to complain of his inactivity +and to hint at treachery, which, he wrote, would be not +surprising in a man of such antecedents. Gaspar Ruiz +heard of it. His rage flamed up, and the woman ever +by his side knew how to feed it with perfidious words. +I do not know whether really the Supreme Government +ever did -- as he complained afterwards -- send orders for +his arrest. It seems certain that the Civil Governor +began to tamper with his officers, and that Gaspar Ruiz +discovered the fact. + +"One evening, when the Governor was giving a +tertullia, Gaspar Ruiz, followed by six men he could +trust, appeared riding through the town to the door of +the Government House, and entered the sala armed, his +hat on his head. As the Governor, displeased, ad- +vanced to meet him, he seized the wretched man round +the body, carried him off from the midst of the appalled +guests, as though he were a child, and flung him down +the outer steps into the street. An angry hug from +Gaspar Ruiz was enough to crush the life out of a giant; +but in addition Gaspar Ruiz' horsemen fired their +pistols at the body of the Governor as it lay motionless +at the bottom of the stairs. + + +X + + +"AFTER this -- as he called it -- act of justice, Ruiz +crossed the Rio Blanco, followed by the greater part +of his band, and entrenched himself upon a hill. A +company of regular troops sent out foolishly against +him was surrounded, and destroyed almost to a man. +Other expeditions, though better organized, were +equally unsuccessful. + +"It was during these sanguinary skirmishes that his +wife first began to appear on horseback at his right +hand. Rendered proud and self-confident by his suc- +cesses, Ruiz no longer charged at the head of his partida, +but presumptuously, like a general directing the move- +ments of an army, he remained in the rear, well mounted +and motionless on an eminence, sending out his orders. +She was seen repeatedly at his side, and for a long time +was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then +of a mysterious white-faced chief, to whom the defeats +of our troops were ascribed. She rode like an Indian +woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmed man's hat and +a dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatest +prosperity, this poncho was embroidered in gold, and +she wore then, also, the sword of poor Don Antonio de +Leyva. This veteran Chilian officer, having the mis- +fortune to be surrounded with his small force, and +running short of ammunition, found his death at the +hands of the Arauco Indians, the allies and auxiliaries +of Gaspar Ruiz. This was the fatal affair long remem- +bered afterwards as the 'Massacre of the Island.' The +sword of the unhappy officer was presented to her by +Peneleo, the Araucanian chief; for these Indians, struck +by her aspect, the deathly pallor of her face, which no +exposure to the weather seemed to affect, and her calm +indifference under fire, looked upon her as a supernat- +ural being, or at least as a witch. By this superstition +the prestige and authority of Gaspar Ruiz amongst +these ignorant people were greatly augmented. She +must have savoured her vengeance to the full on that +day when she buckled on the sword of Don Antonio +de Leyva. It never left her side, unless she put on her +woman's clothes -- not that she would or could ever use +it, but she loved to feel it beating upon her thigh as a +perpetual reminder and symbol of the dishonour to the +arms of the Republic. She was insatiable. Moreover, +on the path she had led Gaspar Ruiz upon, there is no +stopping. Escaped prisoners -- and they were not many +-- used to relate how with a few whispered words she +could change the expression of his face and revive his +flagging animosity. They told how after every skirm- +ish, after every raid, after every successful action, he +would ride up to her and look into her face. Its +haughty calm was never relaxed. Her embrace, +senores, must have been as cold as the embrace of a +statue. He tried to melt her icy heart in a stream of +warm blood. Some English naval officers who visited +him at that time noticed the strange character of his +infatuation." + +At the movement of surprise and curiosity in his +audience General Santierra paused for a moment. + +"Yes -- English naval officers," he repeated. "Ruiz +had consented to receive them to arrange for the libera- +tion of some prisoners of your nationality. In the +territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast to the +Cordillera, there was a bay where the ships of that time, +after rounding Cape Horn, used to resort for wood and +water. There, decoying the crew on shore, he captured +first the whaling brig Hersalia, and afterwards made +himself master by surprise of two more ships, one +English and one American. + +"It was rumoured at the time that he dreamed of +setting up a navy of his own. But that, of course, was +impossible. Still, manning the brig with part of her +own crew, and putting an officer and a good many men +of his own on board, he sent her off to the Spanish +Governor of the island of Chiloe with a report of his +exploits, and a demand for assistance in the war against +the rebels. The Governor could not do much for him; +but he sent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of +compliments, with a colonel's commission in the royal +forces, and a great Spanish flag. This standard with +much ceremony was hoisted over his house in the heart +of the Arauco country. Surely on that day she may +have smiled on her guasso husband with a less haughty +reserve. + +"The senior officer of the English squadron on our +coast made representations to our Government as to +these captures. But Gaspar Ruiz refused to treat with +us. Then an English frigate proceeded to the bay, and +her captain, doctor, and two lieutenants travelled inland +under a safe-conduct. They were well received, and +spent three days as guests of the partisan chief. A sort +of military barbaric state was kept up at the residence. +It was furnished with the loot of frontier towns. When +first admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife +lying down (she was not in good health then), with +Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot of the couch. His hat +was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on the +hilt of his sword. + +"During that first conversation he never removed his +big hands from the sword-hilt, except once, to arrange +the coverings about her, with gentle, careful touches. +They noticed that whenever she spoke he would fix his +eyes upon her in a kind of expectant, breathless atten- +tion, and seemingly forget the existence of the world and +his own existence, too. In the course of the farewell +banquet, at which she was present reclining on her couch, +he burst forth into complaints of the treatment he had +received. After General San Martin's departure he had +been beset by spies, slandered by civil officials, his +services ignored, his liberty and even his life threatened +by the Chilian Government. He got up from the table, +thundered execrations pacing the room wildly, then sat +down on the couch at his wife's feet, his breast heaving, +his eyes fixed on the floor. She reclined on her back, +her head on the cushions, her eyes nearly closed. + +"'And now I am an honoured Spanish officer,' he +added in a calm voice. + +"The captain of the English frigate then took the +opportunity to inform him gently that Lima had fallen, +and that by the terms of a convention the Spaniards +were withdrawing from the whole continent. + +"Gaspar Ruiz raised his head, and without hesitation, +speaking with suppressed vehemence, declared that if +not a single Spanish soldier were left in the whole of +South America he would persist in carrying on the con- +test against Chile to the last drop of blood. When he +finished that mad tirade his wife's long white hand was +raised, and she just caressed his knee with the tips of +her fingers for a fraction of a second. + +"For the rest of the officers' stay, which did not +extend for more than half an hour after the banquet, +that ferocious chieftain of a desperate partida over- +flowed with amiability and kindness. He had been +hospitable before, but now it seemed as though he could +not do enough for the comfort and safety of his visitors' +journey back to their ship. + +"Nothing, I have been told, could have presented a +greater contrast to his late violence or the habitual +taciturn reserve of his manner. Like a man elated +beyond measure by an unexpected happiness, he over- +flowed with good-will, amiability, and attentions. He +embraced the officers like brothers, almost with tears in +his eyes. The released prisoners were presented each +with a piece of gold. At the last moment, suddenly, he +declared he could do no less than restore to the masters +of the merchant vessels all their private property. This +unexpected generosity caused some delay in the depar- +ture of the party, and their first march was very short. + +"Late in the evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an +escort, to their camp fires, bringing along with him a +mule loaded with cases of wine. He had come, he said, +to drink a stirrup cup with his English friends, whom he +would never see again. He was mellow and joyous in his +temper. He told stories of his own exploits, laughed like +a boy, borrowed a guitar from the Englishmen's chief +muleteer, and sitting cross-legged on his superfine pon- +cho spread before the glow of the embers, sang a guasso +love-song in a tender voice. Then his head dropped on +his breast, his hands fell to the ground; the guitar +rolled off his knees -- and a great hush fell over the camp +after the love-song of the implacable partisan who had +made so many of our people weep for destroyed homes +and for loves cut short. + +"Before anybody could make a sound he sprang up +from the ground and called for his horse. + +"'Adios, my friends!' he cried. 'Go with God. I +love you. And tell them well in Santiago that between +Gaspar Ruiz, colonel of the King of Spain, and the +republican carrion-crows of Chile there is war to the last +breath -- war! war! war!' + +"With a great yell of 'War! war! war!' which his +escort took up, they rode away, and the sound of +hoofs and of voices died out in the distance between the +slopes of the hills. + +"The two young English officers were convinced that +Ruiz was mad. How do you say that? -- tile loose -- eh? +But the doctor, an observant Scotsman with much +shrewdness and philosophy in his character, told me +that it was a very curious case of possession. I met him +many years afterwards, but he remembered the experi- +ence very well. He told me, too, that in his opinion that +woman did not lead Gaspar Ruiz into the practice of +sanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the +subtle way of awakening and keeping alive in his simple +mind a burning sense of an irreparable wrong. Maybe, +maybe. But I would say that she poured half of her +vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you +may pour intoxication, madness, poison into an empty +cup. + +"If he wanted war he got it in earnest when our +victorious army began to return from Peru. Systematic +operations were planned against this blot on the honour +and prosperity of our hardly won independence. Gen- +eral Robles commanded, with his well-known ruthless +severity. Savage reprisals were exercised on both sides +and no quarter was given in the field. Having won my +promotion in the Peru campaign, I was a captain on the +staff. Gaspar Ruiz found himself hard pressed; at the +same time we heard by means of a fugitive priest +who had been carried off from his village presbytery +and galloped eighty miles into the hills to perform the +christening ceremony, that a daughter was born to them. +To celebrate the event, I suppose, Ruiz executed one or +two brilliant forays clear away at the rear of our forces, +and defeated the detachments sent out to cut off his +retreat. General Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy +from rage. He found another cause of insomnia than +the bites of mosquitoes; but against this one, senores, +tumblers of raw brandy had no more effect than so +much water. He took to railing and storming at me +about my strong man. And from our impatience to end +this inglorious campaign I am afraid that all we young +officers became reckless and apt to take undue risks on +service. + +"Nevertheless, slowly, inch by inch as it were, our +columns were closing upon Gaspar Ruiz, though he had +managed to raise all the Araucanian nation of wild +Indians against us. Then a year or more later our +Government became aware through its agents and spies +that he had actually entered into alliance with Car- +reras, the so-called dictator of the so-called republic of +Mendoza, on the other side of the mountains. Whether +Gaspar Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether +he wished only to secure a safe retreat for his wife and +child while he pursued remorselessly against us his war +of surprises and massacres, I cannot tell. The alliance, +however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt to +check our advance from the sea, he retreated with +his usual swiftness, and preparing for another hard +and hazardous tussle, began by sending his wife with +the little girl across the Pequena range of mountains, +on the frontier of Mendoza. + + +XI + + +"Now Carreras, under the guise of politics and +liberalism, was a scoundrel of the deepest dye, and +the unhappy state of Mendoza was the prey of thieves, +robbers, traitors, and murderers, who formed his party. +He was under a noble exterior a man without heart, +pity, honour, or conscience. He aspired to nothing +but tyranny, and though he would have made use of +Gaspar Ruiz for his nefarious designs, yet he soon +became aware that to propitiate the Chilian Govern- +ment would answer his purpose better. I blush to say +that he made proposals to our Government to deliver +up on certain conditions the wife and child of the man +who had trusted to his honour, and that this offer was +accepted. + +"While on her way to Mendoza over the Pequena +Pass she was betrayed by her escort of Carreras' men, +and given up to the officer in command of a Chilian fort +on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range. +This atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for +as a matter of fact I was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz' +camp when he received the news. I had been captured +during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers +being speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was +saved from the same fate because he recognized my +features just in time. No doubt my friends thought I +was dead, and I would not have given much for my life +at any time. But the strong man treated me very well, +because, he said, I had always believed in his innocence +and had tried to serve him when he was a victim of +injustice. + +"'And now,' was his speech to me, 'you shall see +that I always speak the truth. You are safe.' + +"I did not think I was very safe when I was called +up to go to him one night. He paced up and down like +a wild beast, exclaiming, 'Betrayed! Betrayed!' + +"He walked up to me clenching his fists. 'I could +cut your throat.' + +"'Will that give your wife back to you?' I said as +quietly as I could. + +"'And the child!' he yelled out, as if mad. He fell +into a chair and laughed in a frightful, boisterous +manner. 'Oh, no, you are safe.' + +"I assured him that his wife's life was safe, too; but +I did not say what I was convinced of -- that he would +never see her again. He wanted war to the death, and +the war could only end with his death. + +"He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat +muttering blankly, 'In their hands. In their hands.' + +"I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. + +"Suddenly he jumped up. 'What am I doing +here?' he cried; and opening the door, he yelled out +orders to saddle and mount. 'What is it?' he stam- +mered, coming up to me. 'The Pequena fort; a +fort of palisades! Nothing. I would get her back +if she were hidden in the very heart of the moun- +tain.' He amazed me by adding, with an effort: "I +carried her off in my two arms while the earth +trembled. And the child at least is mine. She at +least is mine!' + +"Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for +wonder. + +"'You shall go with me,' he said, violently. 'I may +want to parley, and any other messenger from Ruiz, the +outlaw, would have his throat cut.' + +"This was true enough. Between him and the rest +of incensed mankind there could be no communication, +according to the customs of honourable warfare. + +"In less than half an hour we were in the saddle, +flying wildly through the night. He had only an escort +of twenty men at his quarters, but would not wait for +more. He sent, however, messengers to Peneleo, the +Indian chief then ranging in the foothills, directing him +to bring his warriors to the uplands and meet him at the +lake called the Eye of Water, near whose shores the +frontier fort of Pequena was built. + +"We crossed the lowlands with that untired rapidity +of movement which had made Gaspar Ruiz' raids so +famous. We followed the lower valleys up to their +precipitous heads. The ride was not without its dan- +gers. A cornice road on a perpendicular wall of +basalt wound itself around a buttressing rock, and at +last we emerged from the gloom of a deep gorge upon +the upland of Pequena. + +"It was a plain of green wiry grass and thin flower- +ing bushes; but high above our heads patches of snow +hung in the folds and crevices of the great walls of rock. +The little lake was as round as a staring eye. The garri- +son of the fort were just driving in their small herd of +cattle when we appeared. Then the great wooden +gates swung to, and that four-square enclosure of broad +blackened stakes pointed at the top and barely hiding +the grass roofs of the huts inside seemed deserted, +empty, without a single soul. + +"But when summoned to surrender, by a man +who at Gaspar Ruiz' order rode fearlessly forward +those inside answered by a volley which rolled him and +his horse over. I heard Ruiz by my side grind his +teeth. 'It does not matter,' he said. 'Now you go.' + +"Torn and faded as its rags were, the vestiges of my +uniform were recognized, and I was allowed to approach +within speaking distance; and then I had to wait, +because a voice clamouring through a loophole with joy +and astonishment would not allow me to place a word. +It was the voice of Major Pajol, an old friend. He, like +my other comrades, had thought me killed a long +time ago. + +"'Put spurs to your horse, man!' he yelled, in the +greatest excitement; 'we will swing the gate open for +you.' + +"I let the reins fall out of my hand and shook my +head. 'I am on my honour,' I cried. + +"'To him!' he shouted, with infinite disgust. + +"'He promises you your life.' + +"'Our life is our own. And do you, Santierra, +advise us to surrender to that rastrero?' + +"'No!' I shouted. 'But he wants his wife and +child, and he can cut you off from water.' + +"'Then she would be the first to suffer. You may +tell him that. Look here -- this is all nonsense: we +shall dash out and capture you.' + +"'You shall not catch me alive,' I said, firmly. + +"'Imbecile!' + +"'For God's sake,' I continued, hastily, 'do not open +the gate.' And I pointed at the multitude of Peneleo's +Indians who covered the shores of the lake. + +"I had never seen so many of these savages to- +gether. Their lances seemed as numerous as stalks of +grass. Their hoarse voices made a vast, inarticulate +sound like the murmur of the sea. + +"My friend Pajol was swearing to himself. 'Well, +then -- go to the devil!' he shouted, exasperated. But +as I swung round he repented, for I heard him say +hurriedly, 'Shoot the fool's horse before he gets away.' + +"He had good marksmen. Two shots rang out, and +in the very act of turning my horse staggered, fell +and lay still as if struck by lightning. I had my feet +out of the stirrups and rolled clear of him; but I did +not attempt to rise. Neither dared they rush out to +drag me in. + +"The masses of Indians had begun to move upon the +fort. They rode up in squadrons, trailing their long +chusos; then dismounted out of musket-shot, and, throw- +ing off their fur mantles, advanced naked to the attack, +stamping their feet and shouting in cadence. A sheet of +flame ran three times along the face of the fort without +checking their steady march. They crowded right +up to the very stakes, flourishing their broad knives. +But this palisade was not fastened together with +hide lashings in the usual way, but with long iron +nails, which they could not cut. Dismayed at the +failure of their usual method of forcing an entrance, +the heathen, who had marched so steadily against the +musketry fire, broke and fled under the volleys of the +besieged. + +"Directly they had passed me on their advance I +got up and rejoined Gaspar Ruiz on a low ridge which +jutted out upon the plain. The musketry of his own +men had covered the attack, but now at a sign from +him a trumpet sounded the 'Cease fire.' Together +we looked in silence at the hopeless rout of the savages. + +"'It must be a siege, then,' he muttered. And I +detected him wringing his hands stealthily. + +"But what sort of siege could it be? Without any +need for me to repeat my friend Pajol's message, he +dared not cut the water off from the besieged. They +had plenty of meat. And, indeed, if they had been short +he would have been too anxious to send food into the +stockade had he been able. But, as a matter of fact, it +was we on the plain who were beginning to feel the +pinch of hunger. + +"Peneleo, the Indian chief, sat by our fire folded in +his ample mantle of guanaco skins. He was an athletic +savage, with an enormous square shock head of hair +resembling a straw beehive in shape and size, and with +grave, surly, much-lined features. In his broken Span- +ish he repeated, growling like a bad-tempered wild +beast, that if an opening ever so small were made in the +stockade his men would march in and get the senora -- +not otherwise. + +"Gaspar Ruiz, sitting opposite him, kept his eyes +fixed on the fort night and day as it were, in awful si- +lence and immobility. Meantime, by runners from +the lowlands that arrived nearly every day, we heard of +the defeat of one of his lieutenants in the Maipu valley. +Scouts sent afar brought news of a column of infantry +advancing through distant passes to the relief of the +fort. They were slow, but we could trace their toilful +progress up the lower valleys. I wondered why Ruiz +did not march to attack and destroy this threat- +ening force, in some wild gorge fit for an ambuscade, +in accordance with his genius for guerilla warfare. +But his genius seemed to have abandoned him to his +despair. + +"It was obvious to me that he could not tear himself +away from the sight of the fort. I protest to you, +senores, that I was moved almost to pity by the sight of +this powerless strong man sitting on the ridge, indiffer- +ent to sun, to rain, to cold, to wind; with his hands +clasped round his legs and his chin resting on his knees, +gazing -- gazing -- gazing. + +"And the fort he kept his eyes fastened on was as +still and silent as himself. The garrison gave no sign of +life. They did not even answer the desultory fire +directed at the loopholes. + +"One night, as I strolled past him, he, without +changing his attitude, spoke to me unexpectedly. 'I +have sent for a gun,' he said. 'I shall have time to get +her back and retreat before your Robles manages to +crawl up here.' + +"He had sent for a gun to the plains. + +"It was long in coming, but at last it came. It was +a seven-pounder field gun. Dismounted and lashed +crosswise to two long poles, it had been carried up the +narrow paths between two mules with ease. His +wild cry of exultation at daybreak when he saw the +gun escort emerge from the valley rings in my ears +now. + +"But, senores, I have no words to depict his amaze- +ment, his fury, his despair and distraction, when he +heard that the animal loaded with the gun-carriage had, +during the last night march, somehow or other tumbled +down a precipice. He broke into menaces of death and +torture against the escort. I kept out of his way all +that day, lying behind some bushes, and wondering +what he would do now. Retreat was left for him, but +he could not retreat. + +"I saw below me his artillerist, Jorge, an old Spanish +soldier, building up a sort of structure with heaped-up +saddles. The gun, ready loaded, was lifted on to that, +but in the act of firing the whole thing collapsed and +the shot flew high above the stockade. + +"Nothing more was attempted. One of the ammuni- +tion mules had been lost, too, and they had no more than +six shots to fire; ample enough to batter down the gate +providing the gun was well laid. This was impossible +without it being properly mounted. There was no time +nor means to construct a carriage. Already every +moment I expected to hear Robles' bugle-calls echo +amongst the crags. + +"Peneleo, wandering about uneasily, draped in his +skins, sat down for a moment near me growling his usual +tale. + +"'Make an entrada -- a hole. If make a hole, bueno. +If not make a hole, then vamos -- we must go away.' + +"After sunset I observed with surprise the Indians +making preparations as if for another assault. Their +lines stood ranged in the shadows of the mountains. +On the plain in front of the fort gate I saw a group +of men swaying about in the same place. + +"I walked down the ridge disregarded. The moon- +light in the clear air of the uplands was bright as day, +but the intense shadows confused my sight, and I could +not make out what they were doing. I heard the voice +of Jorge, the artillerist, say in a queer, doubtful tone, +'It is loaded, senor.' + +"Then another voice in that group pronounced firmly +the words, 'Bring the riata here.' It was the voice of +Gaspar Ruiz. + +"A silence fell, in which the popping shots of the +besieged garrison rang out sharply. They, too, had +observed the group. But the distance was too great +and in the spatter of spent musket-balls cutting up the +ground, the group opened, closed, swayed, giving me +a glimpse of busy stooping figures in its midst. I +drew nearer, doubting whether this was a weird vision, +a suggestive and insensate dream. + +"A strangely stifled voice commanded, 'Haul the +hitches tighter.' + + +"'Si, senor,' several other voices answered in tones of +awed alacrity. + +"Then the stifled voice said: 'Like this. I must +be free to breathe.' + +"Then there was a concerned noise of many men +together. 'Help him up, hombres. Steady! Under the +other arm.' + +"That deadened voice ordered: 'Bueno! Stand away +from me, men.' + +"I pushed my way through the recoiling circle, and +heard once more that same oppressed voice saying +earnestly: 'Forget that I am a living man, Jorge. +Forget me altogether, and think of what you have to +do.' + +"'Be without fear, senor. You are nothing to me +but a gun-carriage, and I shall not waste a shot.' + +"I heard the spluttering of a port-fire, and smelt the +saltpetre of the match. I saw suddenly before me a +nondescript shape on all fours like a beast, but with a +man's head drooping below a tubular projection over the +nape of the neck, and the gleam of a rounded mass of +bronze on its back. + +"In front of a silent semicircle of men it squatted +alone, with Jorge behind it and a trumpeter motionless, +his trumpet in his hand, by its side. + +"Jorge, bent double, muttered, port-fire in hand: +'An inch to the left, senor. Too much. So. Now, if +you let yourself down a little by letting your elbows +bend, I will . . .' + +"He leaped aside, lowering his port-fire, and a burst +of flame darted out of the muzzle of the gun lashed +on the man's back. + +"Then Gaspar Ruiz lowered himself slowly. 'Good +shot?' he asked. + +"'Full on, senor.' + +"'Then load again.' + +"He lay there before me on his breast under the +darkly glittering bronze of his monstrous burden, such +as no love or strength of man had ever had to bear in +the lamentable history of the world. His arms were +spread out, and he resembled a prostrate penitent on +the moonlit ground. + +"Again I saw him raised to his hands and knees +and the men stand away from him, and old Jorge stoop +glancing along the gun. + +'"Left a little. Right an inch. Por Dios, senor, +stop this trembling. Where is your strength?' + +"The old gunner's voice was cracked with emotion. +He stepped aside, and quick as lightning brought the +spark to the touch-hole. + +"'Excellent!' he cried, tearfully; but Gaspar Ruiz +lay for a long time silent, flattened on the ground. + +"'I am tired,' he murmured at last. 'Will another +shot do it?' + +"'Without doubt,' said Jorge, bending down to his +ear. + +"'Then -- load,' I heard him utter distinctly. +'Trumpeter!' + +"'I am here, senor, ready for your word.' + +"'Blow a blast at this word that shall be heard +from one end of Chile to the other,' he said, in an +extraordinarily strong voice. 'And you others stand +ready to cut this accursed riata, for then will be the +time for me to lead you in your rush. Now raise +me up, and you, Jorge -- be quick with your aim.' + +"The rattle of musketry from the fort nearly drowned +his voice. The palisade was wreathed in smoke and +flame. + +"'Exert your force forward against the recoil, mi +amo,' said the old gunner, shakily. 'Dig your fingers +into the ground. So. Now!' + +"A cry of exultation escaped him after the shot. +The trumpeter raised his trumpet nearly to his lips +and waited. But no word came from the prostrate +man. I fell on one knee, and heard all he had to say +then. + +"'Something broken,' he whispered, lifting his head +a little, and turning his eyes towards me in his hope- +lessly crushed attitude. + +"'The gate hangs only by the splinters,' yelled Jorge. + +"Gaspar Ruiz tried to speak, but his voice died out +in his throat, and I helped to roll the gun off his broken +back. He was insensible. + +"I kept my lips shut, of course. The signal for the +Indians to attack was never given. Instead, the bugle- +calls of the relieving force for which my ears had thirsted +so long, burst out, terrifying like the call of the Last Day +to our surprised enemies. + +"A tornado, senores, a real hurricane of stampeded +men, wild horses, mounted Indians, swept over me as I +cowered on the ground by the side of Gaspar Ruiz, still +stretched out on his face in the shape of a cross. Pe- +neleo, galloping for life, jabbed at me with his long +chuso in passing -- for the sake of old acquaintance, I +suppose. How I escaped the flying lead is more difficult +to explain. Venturing to rise on my knees too soon +some soldiers of the 17th Taltal regiment, in their hurry +to get at something alive, nearly bayoneted me on the +spot. They looked very disappointed, too, when, some +officers galloping up drove them away with the flat of +their swords. + +"It was General Robles with his staff. He wanted +badly to make some prisoners. He, too, seemed dis- +appointed for a moment. 'What! Is it you?' he cried. +But he dismounted at once to embrace me, for he was +an old friend of my family. I pointed to the body at +our feet, and said only these two words: + +"'Gaspar Ruiz.' + +"He threw his arms up in astonishment. + +"'Aha! Your strong man! Always to the last +with your strong man. No matter. He saved our lives +when the earth trembled enough to make the bravest +faint with fear. I was frightened out of my wits. But +he -- no! Que guape! Where's the hero who got the +best of him? ha! ha! ha! What killed him, chico?' + +"'His own strength, General,' I answered. + + +XII + + +"BUT Gaspar Ruiz breathed yet. I had him carried +in his poncho under the shelter of some bushes on the +very ridge from which he had been gazing so fixedly +at the fort while unseen death was hovering already +over his head. + +"Our troops had bivouacked round the fort. Towards +daybreak I was not surprised to hear that I was desig- +nated to command the escort of a prisoner who was to +be sent down at once to Santiago. Of course the +prisoner was Gaspar Ruiz' wife. + +"'I have named you out of regard for your feelings,' +General Robles remarked. 'Though the woman really +ought to be shot for all the harm she has done to the +Republic.' + +"And as I made a movement of shocked protest, he +continued: + +"'Now he is as well as dead, she is of no importance. +Nobody will know what to do with her. However, +the Government wants her.' He shrugged his shoulders. +'I suppose he must have buried large quantities of his +loot in places that she alone knows of.' + +"At dawn I saw her coming up the ridge, guarded by +two soldiers, and carrying her child on her arm. + +"I walked to meet her. + +"'Is he living yet?' she asked, confronting me with +that white, impassive face he used to look at in an ador- +ing way. + +"I bent my head, and led her round a clump of +bushes without a word. His eyes were open. He +breathed with difficulty, and uttered her name with a +great effort. + +"'Erminia!' + +"She knelt at his head. The little girl, unconscious +of him, and with her big eyes looking about, began to +chatter suddenly, in a joyous, thin voice. She pointed +a tiny finger at the rosy glow of sunrise behind the black +shapes of the peaks. And while that child-talk, incom- +prehensible and sweet to the ear, lasted, those two, +the dying man and the kneeling woman, remained +silent, looking into each other's eyes, listening to the +frail sound. Then the prattle stopped. The child +laid its head against its mother's breast and was +still. + +"'It was for you,' he began. 'Forgive.' His voice +failed him. Presently I heard a mutter and caught +the pitiful words: 'Not strong enough.' + +"She looked at him with an extraordinary intensity. +He tried to smile, and in a humble tone, 'Forgive me,' +he repeated. 'Leaving you . . .' + +"She bent down, dry-eyed and in a steady voice: +'On all the earth I have loved nothing but you, Gaspar,' +she said. + +"His head made a movement. His eyes revived. +'At last!' he sighed out. Then, anxiously, 'But is this +true . . . is this true?' + +'"As true as that there is no mercy and justice in +this world,' she answered him, passionately. She stooped +over his face. He tried to raise his head, but it fell +back, and when she kissed his lips he was already dead. +His glazed eyes stared at the sky, on which pink clouds +floated very high. But I noticed the eyelids of the child, +pressed to its mother's breast, droop and close slowly. +She had gone to sleep. + +"The widow of Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed +me to lead her away without shedding a tear. + +"For travelling we had arranged for her a side- +saddle very much like a chair, with a board swung +beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day she rode +without uttering a word, and hardly for one moment +turning her eyes away from the little girl, whom she +held on her knees. At our first camp I saw her during +the night walking about, rocking the child in her arms +and gazing down at it by the light of the moon. After +we had started on our second day's march she asked +me how soon we should come to the first village of +the inhabited country. + +"I said we should be there about noon. + +"'And will there be women there?' she inquired. + +"I told her that it was a large village. 'There will +be men and women there, senora,' I said, 'whose hearts +shall be made glad by the news that all the unrest and +war is over now.' + + +"'Yes, it is all over now,' she repeated. Then, after +a time: 'Senor officer, what will your Government do +with me?' + +"'I do not know, senora,' I said. 'They will treat +you well, no doubt. We republicans are not savages +and take no vengeance on women.' + +"She gave me a look at the word 'republicans' which +I imagined full of undying hate. But an hour or so +afterwards, as we drew up to let the baggage mules go +first along a narrow path skirting a precipice, she looked +at me with such a white, troubled face that I felt a great +pity for her. + +"'Senor officer,' she said, 'I am weak, I tremble. It +is an insensate fear.' And indeed her lips did tremble +while she tried to smile, glancing at the beginning of the +narrow path which was not so dangerous after all. 'I am +afraid I shall drop the child. Gaspar saved your life, +you remember. . . . Take her from me.' + +"I took the child out of her extended arms. 'Shut +your eyes, senora, and trust to your mule,' I recom- +mended. + +"She did so, and with her pallor and her wasted, +thin face she looked deathlike. At a turn of the +path where a great crag of purple porphyry closes the +view of the lowlands, I saw her open her eyes. I +rode just behind her holding the little girl with my +right arm. 'The child is all right,' I cried encourag- +ingly. + +"'Yes,' she answered, faintly; and then, to my +intense terror, I saw her stand up on the foot-rest, +staring horribly, and throw herself forward into the +chasm on our right. + +"I cannot describe to you the sudden and abject +fear that came over me at that dreadful sight. It was +a dread of the abyss, the dread of the crags which +seemed to nod upon me. My head swam. I pressed +the child to my side and sat my horse as still as a +statue. I was speechless and cold all over. Her mule +staggered, sidling close to the rock, and then went +on. My horse only pricked up his ears with a slight +snort. My heart stood still, and from the depths +of the precipice the stones rattling in the bed of +the furious stream made me almost insane with their +sound. + +"Next moment we were round the turn and on +a broad and grassy slope. And then I yelled. My +men came running back to me in great alarm. It +seems that at first I did nothing but shout, 'She has +given the child into my hands! She has given the +child into my hands!' The escort thought I had gone +mad." + +General Santierra ceased and got up from the table. +"And that is all, senores," he concluded, with a courte- +ous glance at his rising guests. + +"But what became of the child. General?" we asked. + +"Ah, the child, the child." + +He walked to one of the windows opening on his +beautiful garden, the refuge of his old days. Its fame +was great in the land. Keeping us back with a raised +arm, he called out, "Erminia, Erminia!" and waited. +Then his cautioning arm dropped, and we crowded to +the windows. + +From a clump of trees a woman had come upon the +broad walk bordered with flowers. We could hear the +rustle of her starched petticoats and observed the +ample spread of her old-fashioned black silk skirt. She +looked up, and seeing all these eyes staring at her +stopped, frowned, smiled, shook her finger at the Gen- +eral, who was laughing boisterously, and drawing the +black lace on her head so as to partly conceal her +haughty profile, passed out of our sight, walking with +stiff dignity. + +"You have beheld the guardian angel of the old man +-- and her to whom you owe all that is seemly and +comfortable in my hospitality. Somehow, senores, +though the flame of love has been kindled early in my +breast, I have never married. And because of that +perhaps the sparks of the sacred fire are not yet ex- +tinct here." He struck his broad chest. "Still alive, +still alive," he said, with serio-comic emphasis. "But +I shall not marry now. She is General Santierra's +adopted daughter and heiress." + +One of our fellow-guests, a young naval officer, +described her afterwards as a "short, stout, old girl of +forty or thereabouts." We had all noticed that her hair +was turning grey, and that she had very fine black eyes. + +"And," General Santierra continued, "neither would +she ever hear of marrying any one. A real calamity! +Good, patient, devoted to the old man. A simple soul. +But I would not advise any of you to ask for her hand, +for if she took yours into hers it would be only to +crush your bones. Ah! she does not jest on that +subject. And she is the own daughter of her father, +the strong man who perished through his own strength: +the strength of his body, of his simplicity -- of his love!" + + + +AN IRONIC TALE + + + + +THE INFORMER + + +MR. X came to me, preceded by a letter of intro- +duction from a good friend of mine in Paris, spe- +cifically to see my collection of Chinese bronzes and +porcelain. + +My friend in Paris is a collector, too. He collects +neither porcelain, nor bronzes, nor pictures, nor medals, +nor stamps, nor anything that could be profitably dis- +persed under an auctioneer's hammer. He would reject, +with genuine surprise, the name of a collector. Never- +theless, that's what he is by temperament. He collects +acquaintances. It is delicate work. He brings to it the +patience, the passion, the determination of a true col- +lector of curiosities. His collection does not contain +any royal personages. I don't think he considers them +sufficiently rare and interesting; but, with that excep- +tion, he has met with and talked to everyone worth +knowing on any conceivable ground. He observes +them, listens to them, penetrates them, measures them, +and puts the memory away in the galleries of his mind. +He has schemed, plotted, and travelled all over Europe +in order to add to his collection of distinguished personal +acquaintances. + +As he is wealthy, well connected, and unprejudiced, +his collection is pretty complete, including objects (or +should I say subjects?) whose value is unappreciated by +the vulgar, and often unknown to popular fame. Of +trevolte) of modern times. The world knows him as a +revolutionary writer whose savage irony has laid bare +the rottenness of the most respectable institutions. He +has scalped every venerated head, and has mangled +at the stake of his wit every received opinion and every +recognized principle of conduct and policy. Who does +not remember his flaming red revolutionary pamph- +lets? Their sudden swarmings used to overwhelm the +powers of every Continental police like a plague of +crimson gadflies. But this extreme writer has been +also the active inspirer of secret societies, the mysterious +unknown Number One of desperate conspiracies sus- +pected and unsuspected, matured or baffled. And the +world at large has never had an inkling of that fact! +This accounts for him going about amongst us to this +day, a veteran of many subterranean campaigns, stand- +ing aside now, safe within his reputation of merely the +greatest destructive publicist that ever lived." + +Thus wrote my friend, adding that Mr. X was an en- +lightened connoisseur of bronzes and china, and asking +me to show him my collection. + +X turned up in due course. My treasures are dis- +posed in three large rooms without carpets and curtains. +There is no other furniture than the etagres and the +glass cases whose contents shall be worth a fortune to +my heirs. I allow no fires to be lighted, for fear of +accidents, and a fire-proof door separates them from +the rest of the house. + +It was a bitter cold day. We kept on our overcoats +and hats. Middle-sized and spare, his eyes alert in a +long, Roman-nosed countenance, X walked on his neat +little feet, with short steps, and looked at my collection +intelligently. I hope I looked at him intelligently, too. +A snow-white moustache and imperial made his nut- +brown complexion appear darker than it really was. In +his fur coat and shiny tall hat that terrible man looked +fashionable. I believe he belonged to a noble family, +and could have called himself Vicomte X de la Z if he +chose. We talked nothing but bronzes and porcelain. +He was remarkably appreciative. We parted on cordial +terms. + +Where he was staying I don't know. I imagine he +must have been a lonely man. Anarchists, I suppose, +have no families -- not, at any rate, as we understand +that social relation. Organization into families may +answer to a need of human nature, but in the last in- +stance it is based on law, and therefore must be some- +thing odious and impossible to an anarchist. But, in- +deed, I don't understand anarchists. Does a man of +that -- of that -- persuasion still remain an anarchist +when alone, quite alone and going to bed, for instance? +Does he lay his head on the pillow, pull his bedclothes +over him, and go to sleep with the necessity of the +chambardement general, as the French slang has it, of the +general blow-up, always present to his mind? And if so +how can he? I am sure that if such a faith (or such a +fanaticism) once mastered my thoughts I would never +be able to compose myself sufficiently to sleep or eat or +perform any of the routine acts of daily life. I would +want no wife, no children; I could have no friends, it +seems to me; and as to collecting bronzes or china, that, +I should say, would be quite out of the question. But +I don't know. All I know is that Mr. X took his meals +in a very good restaurant which I frequented also. + +With his head uncovered, the silver top-knot of his +brushed-up hair completed the character of his physi- +ognomy, all bony ridges and sunken hollows, clothed in +a perfect impassiveness of expression. His meagre +brown hands emerging from large white cuffs came and +went breaking bread, pouring wine, and so on, with +quiet mechanical precision. His head and body above +the tablecloth had a rigid immobility. This firebrand, +this great agitator, exhibited the least possible amount +of warmth and animation. His voice was rasping, cold, +and monotonous in a low key. He could not be called a +talkative personality; but with his detached calm +manner he appeared as ready to keep the conversation +going as to drop it at any moment. + +And his conversation was by no means common- +place. To me, I own, there was some excitement in +talking quietly across a dinner-table with a man +whose venomous pen-stabs had sapped the vitality of at +least one monarchy. That much was a matter of +public knowledge. But I knew more. I knew of him -- +from my friend -- as a certainty what the guardians of +social order in Europe had at most only suspected, or +dimly guessed at. + +He had had what I may call his underground life. +And as I sat, evening after evening, facing him at +dinner, a curiosity in that direction would naturally +arise in my mind. I am a quiet and peaceable product +of civilization, and know no passion other than the +passion for collecting things which are rare, and must +remain exquisite even if approaching to the monstrous. +Some Chinese bronzes are monstrously precious. And +here (out of my friend's collection), here I had before me +a kind of rare monster. It is true that this monster +was polished and in a sense even exquisite. His beauti- +ful unruffled manner was that. But then he was not of +bronze. He was not even Chinese, which would have +enabled one to contemplate him calmly across the gulf +of racial difference. He was alive and European; he +had the manner of good society, wore a coat and hat +like mine, and had pretty near the same taste in cook- +ing. It was too frightful to think of. + +One evening he remarked, casually, in the course of +conversation, "There's no amendment to be got out of +mankind except by terror and violence." + +You can imagine the effect of such a phrase out of +such a man's mouth upon a person like myself, whose +whole scheme of life had been based upon a suave and +delicate discrimination of social and artistic values. +Just imagine! Upon me, to whom all sorts and forms +of violence appeared as unreal as the giants, ogres, and +seven-headed hydras whose activities affect, fantasti- +cally, the course of legends and fairy-tales! + +I seemed suddenly to hear above the festive bustle +and clatter of the brilliant restaurant the mutter of a +hungry and seditious multitude. + +I suppose I am impressionable and imaginative. I +had a disturbing vision of darkness, full of lean jaws and +wild eyes, amongst the hundred electric lights of the +place. But somehow this vision made me angry, too. +The sight of that man, so calm, breaking bits of white +bread, exasperated me. And I had the audacity to ask +him how it was that the starving proletariat of Europe +to whom he had been preaching revolt and violence had +not been made indignant by his openly luxurious life. +"At all this," I said, pointedly, with a glance round the +room and at the bottle of champagne we generally +shared between us at dinner. + +He remained unmoved. + +"Do I feed on their toil and their heart's blood? +Am I a speculator or a capitalist? Did I steal my +fortune from a starving people? No! They know this +very well. And they envy me nothing. The miserable +mass of the people is generous to its leaders. What I +have acquired has come to me through my writings; not +from the millions of pamphlets distributed gratis to the +hungry and the oppressed, but from the hundreds of +thousands of copies sold to the well-fed bourgeoisie. You +know that my writings were at one time the rage, the +fashion -- the thing to read with wonder and horror, +to turn your eyes up at my pathos . . . or else, +to laugh in ecstasies at my wit." + +"Yes," I admitted. "I remember, of course; and I +confess frankly that I could never understand that +infatuation." + +"Don't you know yet," he said, "that an idle and +selfish class loves to see mischief being made, even if +it is made at its own expense? Its own life being all a +matter of pose and gesture, it is unable to realize the +power and the danger of a real movement and of words +that have no sham meaning. It is all fun and senti- +ment. It is sufficient, for instance, to point out the +attitude of the old French aristocracy towards the +philosophers whose words were preparing the Great +Revolution. Even in England, where you have some +common-sense, a demagogue has only to shout loud +enough and long enough to find some backing in the +very class he is shouting at. You, too, like to see mis- +chief being made. The demagogue carries the amateurs +of emotion with him. Amateurism in this, that, and +the other thing is a delightfully easy way of killing +time, and feeding one's own vanity -- the silly vanity of +being abreast with the ideas of the day after to-morrow. +Just as good and otherwise harmless people will join you +in ecstasies over your collection without having the +slightest notion in what its marvellousness really con- +sists." + +I hung my head. It was a crushing illustration of +the sad truth he advanced. The world is full of such +people. And that instance of the French aristocracy +before the Revolution was extremely telling, too. I +could not traverse his statement, though its cynicism +-- always a distasteful trait -- took off much of its value +to my mind. However, I admit I was impressed. I +felt the need to say something which would not be in +the nature of assent and yet would not invite discussion. + +"You don't mean to say," I observed, airily, "that +extreme revolutionists have ever been actively assisted +by the infatuation of such people?" + +"I did not mean exactly that by what I said just +now. I generalized. But since you ask me, I may tell +you that such help has been given to revolutionary +activities, more or less consciously, in various countries. +And even in this country." + +"Impossible!" I protested with firmness. "We +don't play with fire to that extent." + +"And yet you can better afford it than others, +perhaps. But let me observe that most women, if not +always ready to play with fire, are generally eager to +play with a loose spark or so." + +"Is this a joke?" I asked, smiling. + +"If it is, I am not aware of it," he said, woodenly. +"I was thinking of an instance. Oh! mild enough in a +way . . ." + +I became all expectation at this. I had tried many +times to approach him on his underground side, so to +speak. The very word had been pronounced between +us. But he had always met me with his impenetrable +calm. + +"And at the same time," Mr. X continued, "it will +give you a notion of the difficulties that may arise in +what you are pleased to call underground work. It is +sometimes difficult to deal with them. Of course there +is no hierarchy amongst the affiliated. No rigid +system." + +My surprise was great, but short-lived. Clearly, +amongst extreme anarchists there could be no hier- +archy; nothing in the nature of a law of precedence. +The idea of anarchy ruling among anarchists was +comforting, too. It could not possibly make for +efficiency. + +Mr. X startled me by asking, abruptly, "You know +Hermione Street?" + +I nodded doubtful assent. Hermione Street has +been, within the last three years, improved out of any +man's knowledge. The name exists still, but not one +brick or stone of the old Hermione Street is left now. +It was the old street he meant, for he said: + +"There was a row of two-storied brick houses on the +left, with their backs against the wing of a great public +building -- you remember. Would it surprise you very +much to hear that one of these houses was for a time +the centre of anarchist propaganda and of what you +would call underground action?" + +"Not at all," I declared. Hermione Street had +never been particularly respectable, as I remembered it. + +"The house was the property of a distinguished +government official," he added, sipping his champagne. + +"Oh, indeed!" I said, this time not believing a word +of it. + +"Of course he was not living there," Mr. X continued. +"But from ten till four he sat next door to it, the dear +man, in his well-appointed private room in the wing of +the public building I've mentioned. To be strictly +accurate, I must explain that the house in Hermione +Street did not really belong to him. It belonged to +his grown-up children -- a daughter and a son. The +girl, a fine figure, was by no means vulgarly pretty. To +more personal charm than mere youth could account +for, she added the seductive appearance of enthusiasm, +of independence, of courageous thought. I suppose she +put on these appearances as she put on her picturesque +dresses and for the same reason: to assert her individu- +ality at any cost. You know, women would go to any +length almost for such a purpose. She went to a great +length. She had acquired all the appropriate gestures of +revolutionary convictions -- the gestures of pity, of +anger, of indignation against the anti-humanitarian +vices of the social class to which she belonged herself. +All this sat on her striking personality as well as her +slightly original costumes. Very slightly original; just +enough to mark a protest against the philistinism of the +overfed taskmasters of the poor. Just enough, and no +more. It would not have done to go too far in that +direction -- you understand. But she was of age, and +nothing stood in the way of her offering her house to the +revolutionary workers." + +"You don't mean it!" I cried. + +"I assure you," he affirmed, "that she made that very +practical gesture. How else could they have got hold +of it? The cause is not rich. And, moreover, there +would have been difficulties with any ordinary house- +agent, who would have wanted references and so on. +The group she came in contact with while exploring +the poor quarters of the town (you know the gesture of +charity and personal service which was so fashionable +some years ago) accepted with gratitude. The first +advantage was that Hermione Street is, as you know, +well away from the suspect part of the town, specially +watched by the police. + +"The ground floor consisted of a little Italian restau- +rant, of the flyblown sort. There was no difficulty +in buying the proprietor out. A woman and a man +belonging to the group took it on. The man had been +a cook. The comrades could get their meals there, +unnoticed amongst the other customers. This was +another advantage. The first floor was occupied by a +shabby Variety Artists' Agency -- an agency for per- +formers in inferior music-halls, you know. A fellow- +called Bomm, I remember. He was not disturbed. It +was rather favourable than otherwise to have a lot of +foreign-looking people, jugglers, acrobats, singers of +both sexes, and so on, going in and out all day long. +The police paid no attention to new faces, you see. The +top floor happened, most conveniently, to stand empty +then." + +X interrupted himself to attack impassively, with +measured movements, a bombe glacee which the +waiter had just set down on the table. He swallowed +carefully a few spoonfuls of the iced sweet, and asked +me, "Did you ever hear of Stone's Dried Soup?" + +"Hear of what?" + +"It was," X pursued, evenly, "a comestible article +once rather prominently advertised in the dailies, but +which never, somehow, gained the favour of the public. +The enterprise fizzled out, as you say here. Parcels of +their stock could be picked up at auctions at consider- +ably less than a penny a pound. The group bought +some of it, and an agency for Stone's Dried Soup was +started on the top floor. A perfectly respectable busi- +ness. The stuff, a yellow powder of extremely unappe- +tizing aspect, was put up in large square tins, of which +six went to a case. If anybody ever came to give an +order, it was, of course, executed. But the advantage +of the powder was this, that things could be concealed in +it very conveniently. Now and then a special case got +put on a van and sent off to be exported abroad under +the very nose of the policeman on duty at the corner. +You understand?" + +"I think I do," I said, with an expressive nod at the +remnants of the bombe melting slowly in the dish. + +"Exactly. But the cases were useful in another +way, too. In the basement, or in the cellar at the back, +rather, two printing-presses were established. A lot of +revolutionary literature of the most inflammatory kind +was got away from the house in Stone's Dried Soup +cases. The brother of our anarchist young lady found +some occupation there. He wrote articles, helped to +set up type and pull off the sheets, and generally as- +sisted the man in charge, a very able young fellow called +Sevrin. + +"The guiding spirit of that group was a fanatic of +social revolution. He is dead now. He was an +engraver and etcher of genius. You must have seen his +work. It is much sought after by certain amateurs +now. He began by being revolutionary in his art, and +ended by becoming a revolutionist, after his wife and +child had died in want and misery. He used to say that +the bourgeoisie, the smug, overfed lot, had killed them. +That was his real belief. He still worked at his art and +led a double life. He was tall, gaunt, and swarthy, with +a long, brown beard and deep-set eyes. You must have +seen him. His name was Horne." + +At this I was really startled. Of course years ago I +used to meet Horne about. He looked like a powerful, +rough gipsy, in an old top hat, with a red muffler round +his throat and buttoned up in a long, shabby overcoat. +He talked of his art with exaltation, and gave one the +impression of being strung up to the verge of insanity. +A small group of connoisseurs appreciated his work. +Who would have thought that this man. . . . +Amazing! And yet it was not, after all, so difficult to +believe. + +"As you see," X went on, "this group was in a posi- +tion to pursue its work of propaganda, and the other +kind of work, too, under very advantageous conditions. +They were all resolute, experienced men of a superior +stamp. And yet we became struck at length by the +fact that plans prepared in Hermione Street almost +invariably failed." + +"Who were 'we'?" I asked, pointedly. + +"Some of us in Brussels -- at the centre," he said, +hastily. "Whatever vigorous action originated in +Hermione Street seemed doomed to failure. Something +always happened to baffle the best planned manifesta- +tions in every part of Europe. It was a time of general +activity. You must not imagine that all our failures +are of a loud sort, with arrests and trials. That is not +so. Often the police work quietly, almost secretly, +defeating our combinations by clever counter-plotting. +No arrests, no noise, no alarming of the public mind +and inflaming the passions. It is a wise procedure. +But at that time the police were too uniformly successful +from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. It was annoying +and began to look dangerous. At last we came to the +conclusion that there must be some untrustworthy +elements amongst the London groups. And I came +over to see what could be done quietly. + +"My first step was to call upon our young Lady +Amateur of anarchism at her private house. She re- +ceived me in a flattering way. I judged that she knew +nothing of the chemical and other operations going on +at the top of the house in Hermione Street. The print- +ing of anarchist literature was the only 'activity' she +seemed to be aware of there. She was displaying very +strikingly the usual signs of severe enthusiasm, and had +already written many sentimental articles with ferocious +conclusions. I could see she was enjoying herself +hugely, with all the gestures and grimaces of deadly +earnestness. They suited her big-eyed, broad-browed +face and the good carriage of her shapely head, crowned +by a magnificent lot of brown hair done in an unusual +and becoming style. Her brother was in the room, too, +a serious youth, with arched eyebrows and wearing a red +necktie, who struck me as being absolutely in the dark +about everything in the world, including himself. By +and by a tall young man came in. He was clean-shaved +with a strong bluish jaw and something of the air of a +taciturn actor or of a fanatical priest: the type with +thick black eyebrows -- you know. But he was very pre- +sentable indeed. He shook hands at once vigorously +with each of us. The young lady came up to me and +murmured sweetly, 'Comrade Sevrin.' + +"I had never seen him before. He had little to say +to us, but sat down by the side of the girl, and they fell +at once into earnest conversation. She leaned forward +in her deep armchair, and took her nicely rounded chin +in her beautiful white hand. He looked attentively into +her eyes. It was the attitude of love-making, serious, +intense, as if on the brink of the grave. I suppose she +felt it necessary to round and complete her assumption +of advanced ideas, of revolutionary lawlessness, by +making believe to be in love with an anarchist. And +this one, I repeat, was extremely presentable, notwith- +standing his fanatical black-browed aspect. After a +few stolen glances in their direction, I had no doubt that +he was in earnest. As to the lady, her gestures were +unapproachable, better than the very thing itself in the +blended suggestion of dignity, sweetness, condescension, +fascination, surrender, and reserve. She interpreted +her conception of what that precise sort of love-making +should be with consummate art. And so far, she, too, +no doubt, was in earnest. Gestures -- but so perfect! + +"After I had been left alone with our Lady Amateur +I informed her guardedly of the object of my visit. I +hinted at our suspicions. I wanted to hear what she +would have to say, and half expected some perhaps un- +conscious revelation. All she said was, 'That's serious,' +looking delightfully concerned and grave. But there +was a sparkle in her eyes which meant plainly, 'How +exciting!' After all, she knew little of anything except +of words. Still, she undertook to put me in com- +munication with Horne, who was not easy to find unless +in Hermione Street, where I did not wish to show myself +just then. + +"I met Horne. This was another kind of a fanatic +altogether. I exposed to him the conclusion we in +Brussels had arrived at, and pointed out the significant +series of failures. To this he answered with irrelevant +exaltation: + +"'I have something in hand that shall strike terror +into the heart of these gorged brutes.' + +"And then I learned that, by excavating in one of +the cellars of the house, he and some companions had +made their way into the vaults under the great public +building I have mentioned before. The blowing up of a +whole wing was a certainty as soon as the materials were +ready. + +"I was not so appalled at the stupidity of that move +as I might have been had not the usefulness of our +centre in Hermione Street become already very prob- +lematical. In fact, in my opinion it was much more +of a police trap by this time than anything else. + +"What was necessary now was to discover what, or +rather who, was wrong, and I managed at last to get +that idea into Horne's head. He glared, perplexed, his +nostrils working as if he were sniffing treachery in the +air. + +"And here comes a piece of work which will no doubt +strike you as a sort of theatrical expedient. And yet +what else could have been done? The problem was +to find out the untrustworthy member of the group. +But no suspicion could be fastened on one more than +another. To set a watch upon them all was not very +practicable. Besides, that proceeding often fails. In +any case, it takes time, and the danger was pressing. I +felt certain that the premises in Hermione Street would +be ultimately raided, though the police had evidently +such confidence in the informer that the house, for the +time being, was not even watched. Horne was positive +on that point. Under the circumstances it was an +unfavourable symptom. Something had to be done +quickly. + +"I decided to organize a raid myself upon the group. +Do you understand? A raid of other trusty comrades +personating the police. A conspiracy within a con- +spiracy. You see the object of it, of course. When +apparently about to be arrested I hoped the informer +would betray himself in some way or other; either by +some unguarded act or simply by his unconcerned de- +meanour, for instance. Of coarse there was the risk of +complete failure and the no lesser risk of some fatal +accident in the course of resistance, perhaps, or in the +efforts at escape. For, as you will easily see, the Her- +mione Street group had to be actually and completely +taken unawares, as I was sure they would be by the real +police before very long. The informer was amongst +them, and Horne alone could be let into the secret of +my plan. + +"I will not enter into the detail of my preparations. +It was not very easy to arrange, but it was done very +well, with a really convincing effect. The sham police +invaded the restaurant, whose shutters were immedi- +ately put up. The surprise was perfect. Most of the +Hermione Street party were found in the second cellar, +enlarging the hole communicating with the vaults +of the great public building. At the first alarm, several +comrades bolted through impulsively into the aforesaid +vault, where, of course, had this been a genuine raid, +they would have been hopelessly trapped. We did not +bother about them for the moment. They were harm- +less enough. The top floor caused considerable anxiety +to Horne and myself. There, surrounded by tins of +Stone's Dried Soup, a comrade, nick-named the Pro- +fessor (he was an ex-science student) was engaged in +perfecting some new detonators. He was an ab- +stracted, self-confident, sallow little man, armed with +large round spectacles, and we were afraid that under a +mistaken impression he would blow himself up and +wreck the house about our ears. I rushed upstairs and +found him already at the door, on the alert, listening, as +he said, to 'suspicious noises down below.' Before I +had quite finished explaining to him what was going on +he shrugged his shoulders disdainfully and turned away +to his balances and test-tubes. His was the true spirit +of an extreme revolutionist. Explosives were his faith, +his hope, his weapon, and his shield. He perished +a couple of years afterwards in a secret laboratory +through the premature explosion of one of his improved +detonators. + +"Hurrying down again, I found an impressive scene +in the gloom of the big cellar. The man who personated +the inspector (he was no stranger to the part) was +speaking harshly, and giving bogus orders to his bogus +subordinates for the removal of his prisoners. Evi- +dently nothing enlightening had happened so far. +Horne, saturnine and swarthy, waited with folded arms, +and his patient, moody expectation had an air of stoi- +cism well in keeping with the situation. I detected in +the shadows one of the Hermione Street group surrep- +titiously chewing up and swallowing a small piece of +paper. Some compromising scrap, I suppose; perhaps +just a note of a few names and addresses. He was a +true and faithful 'companion.' But the fund of secret +malice which lurks at the bottom of our sympathies +caused me to feel amused at that perfectly uncalled- +for performance. + +In every other respect the risky experiment, the +theatrical coup, if you like to call it so, seemed to have +failed. The deception could not be kept up much +longer; the explanation would bring about a very +embarrassing and even grave situation. The man who +had eaten the paper would be furious. The fellows who +had bolted away would be angry, too. + +"To add to my vexation, the door communicating +with the other cellar, where the printing-presses were, +flew open, and our young lady revolutionist appeared, +a black silhouette in a close-fitting dress and a large +hat, with the blaze of gas flaring in there at her back. +Over her shoulder I perceived the arched eyebrows and +the red necktie of her brother. + +"The last people in the world I wanted to see then! +They had gone that evening to some amateur concert +for the delectation of the poor people, you know; but +she had insisted on leaving early, on purpose to call in +Hermione Street on the way home, under the pretext of +having some work to do. Her usual task was to correct +the proofs of the Italian and French editions of the +Alarm Bell and the Firebrand." . . . + +"Heavens!" I murmured. I had been shown once a +few copies of these publications. Nothing, in my +opinion, could have been less fit for the eyes of a young +lady. They were the most advanced things of the sort; +advanced, I mean, beyond all bounds of reason and +decency. One of them preached the dissolution of all +social and domestic ties; the other advocated systematic +murder. To think of a young girl calmly tracking +printers' errors all along the sort of abominable sen- +tences I remembered was intolerable to my sentiment +of womanhood. Mr. X, after giving me a glance, +pursued steadily. + +"I think, however, that she came mostly to exercise +her fascinations upon Sevrin, and to receive his homage +in her queenly and condescending way. She was aware +of both -- her power and his homage -- and enjoyed them +with, I dare say, complete innocence. We have no +ground in expediency or morals to quarrel with her on +that account. Charm in woman and exceptional +intelligence in man are a law unto themselves. Is it +not so?" + +I refrained from expressing my abhorrence of that +licentious doctrine because of my curiosity. + +"But what happened then?" I hastened to ask. + +X went on crumbling slowly a small piece of bread +with a careless left hand. + +"What happened, in effect," he confessed, "is that +she saved the situation." + +"She gave you an opportunity to end your rather +sinister farce," I suggested. + +"Yes," he said, preserving his impassive bearing. +" The farce was bound to end soon. And it ended in a +very few minutes. And it ended well. Had she not +come in, it might have ended badly. Her brother, of +course, did not count. They had slipped into the +house quietly some time before. The printing-cellar +had an entrance of its own. Not finding any one +there, she sat down to her proofs, expecting Sevrin to +return to his work at any moment. He did not do so. +She grew impatient, heard through the door the sounds +of a disturbance in the other cellar and naturally came +in to see what was the matter. + +Sevrin had been with us. At first he had seemed +to me the most amazed of the whole raided lot. He +appeared for an instant as if paralyzed with astonish- +ment. He stood rooted to the spot. He never moved +a limb. A solitary gas-jet flared near his head; all +the other lights had been put out at the first alarm. +And presently, from my dark corner, I observed on his +shaven actor's face an expression of puzzled, vexed +watchfulness. He knitted his heavy eyebrows. The +corners of his mouth dropped scornfully. He was +angry. Most likely he had seen through the game, and +I regretted I had not taken him from the first into my +complete confidence. + +"But with the appearance of the girl he became +obviously alarmed. It was plain. I could see it +grow. The change of his expression was swift and +startling. And I did not know why. The reason +never occurred to me. I was merely astonished at the +extreme alteration of the man's face. Of course he had +not been aware of her presence in the other cellar; but +that did not explain the shock her advent had given him. +For a moment he seemed to have been reduced to +imbecility. He opened his mouth as if to shout, or +perhaps only to gasp. At any rate, it was somebody +else who shouted. This somebody else was the heroic +comrade whom I had detected swallowing a piece of +paper. With laudable presence of mind he let out a +warning yell. + +"'It's the police! Back! Back! Run back, and +bolt the door behind you.' + +"It was an excellent hint; but instead of retreating +the girl continued to advance, followed by her long- +faced brother in his knickerbocker suit, in which he had +been singing comic songs for the entertainment of a +joyless proletariat. She advanced not as if she had +failed to understand -- the word 'police' has an un- +mistakable sound -- but rather as if she could not help +herself. She did not advance with the free gait and +expanding presence of a distinguished amateur anarchist +amongst poor, struggling professionals, but with +slightly raised shoulders, and her elbows pressed +close to her body, as if trying to shrink within herself. +Her eyes were fixed immovably upon Sevrin. Sevrin +the man, I fancy; not Sevrin the anarchist. But she +advanced. And that was natural. For all their +assumption of independence, girls of that class are used +to the feeling of being specially protected, as, in fact, +they are. This feeling accounts for nine tenths of +their audacious gestures. Her face had gone com- +pletely colourless. Ghastly. Fancy having it brought +home to her so brutally that she was the sort of person +who must run away from the police! I believe she was +pale with indignation, mostly, though there was, of +course, also the concern for her intact personality, a +vague dread of some sort of rudeness. And, naturally, +she turned to a man, to the man on whom she had a +claim of fascination and homage -- the man who could +not conceivably fail her at any juncture." + +"But," I cried, amazed at this analysis, "if it had +been serious, real, I mean -- as she thought it was -- what +could she expect him to do for her?" + +X never moved a muscle of his face. + +"Goodness knows. I imagine that this charming, +generous, and independent creature had never known +in her life a single genuine thought; I mean a single +thought detached from small human vanities, or whose +source was not in some conventional perception. All I +know is that after advancing a few steps she extended +her hand towards the motionless Sevrin. And that at +least was no gesture. It was a natural movement. As +to what she expected him to do, who can tell? The +impossible. But whatever she expected, it could not +have come up, I am safe to say, to what he had made +up his mind to do, even before that entreating hand had +appealed to him so directly. It had not been necessary. +From the moment he had seen her enter that cellar, he +had made up his mind to sacrifice his future usefulness, +to throw off the impenetrable, solidly fastened mask it +had been his pride to wear --" + +"What do you mean?" I interrupted, puzzled. +"Was it Sevrin, then, who was --" + +"He was. The most persistent, the most dangerous, +the craftiest, the most systematic of informers. A +genius amongst betrayers. Fortunately for us, he was +unique. The man was a fanatic, I have told you. +Fortunately, again, for us, he had fallen in love with the +accomplished and innocent gestures of that girl. An +actor in desperate earnest himself, he must have be- +lieved in the absolute value of conventional signs. As +to the grossness of the trap into which he fell, the +explanation must be that two sentiments of such ab- +sorbing magnitude cannot exist simultaneously in one +heart. The danger of that other and unconscious +comedian robbed him of his vision, of his perspicacity, +of his judgment. Indeed, it did at first rob him of his +self-possession. But he regained that through the +necessity -- as it appeared to him imperiously -- to do +something at once. To do what? Why, to get her +out of the house as quickly as possible. He was +desperately anxious to do that. I have told you he +was terrified. It could not be about himself. He had +been surprised and annoyed at a move quite unforeseen +and premature. I may even say he had been furious. +He was accustomed to arrange the last scene of his +betrayals with a deep, subtle art which left his revolu- +tionist reputation untouched. But it seems clear to +me that at the same time he had resolved to make the +best of it, to keep his mask resolutely on. It was only +with the discovery of her being in the house that every- +thing -- the forced calm, the restraint of his fanaticism, +the mask -- all came off together in a kind of panic. +Why panic, do you ask? The answer is very simple. +He remembered -- or, I dare say, he had never forgotten +-- the Professor alone at the top of the house, pursuing +his researches, surrounded by tins upon tins of Stone's +Dried Soup. There was enough in some few of them to +bury us all where we stood under a heap of bricks. +Sevrin, of course, was aware of that. And we must +believe, also, that he knew the exact character of the +man. He had gauged so many such characters! Or +perhaps he only gave the Professor credit for what he +himself was capable of. But, in any case, the effect +was produced. And suddenly he raised his voice in +authority. + +"'Get the lady away at once.' + +"It turned out that he was as hoarse as a crow; +result, no doubt, of the intense emotion. It passed off +in a moment. But these fateful words issued forth from +his contracted throat in a discordant, ridiculous croak. +They required no answer. The thing was done. How- +ever, the man personating the inspector judged it ex- +pedient to say roughly: + +"'She shall go soon enough, together with the rest of +you.' + +"These were the last words belonging to the comedy +part of this affair. + +"Oblivious of everything and everybody, Sevrin +strode towards him and seized the lapels of his coat. +Under his thin bluish cheeks one could see his jaws +working with passion. + +"'You have men posted outside. Get the lady taken +home at once. Do you hear? Now. Before you try to +get hold of the man upstairs.' + +"'Oh! There is a man upstairs,' scoffed the other, +openly. 'Well, he shall be brought down in time to see +the end of this.' + +"But Sevrin, beside himself, took no heed of the +tone. + +'"Who's the imbecile meddler who sent you blunder- +ing here? Didn't you understand your instructions? +Don't you know anything? It's incredible. Here --' + +"He dropped the lapels of the coat and, plunging +his hand into his breast, jerked feverishly at some- +thing under his shirt. At last he produced a small +square pocket of soft leather, which must have been +hanging like a scapulary from his neck by the tape +whose broken ends dangled from his fist. + +"'Look inside,' he spluttered, flinging it in the other's +face. And instantly he turned round towards the girl. +She stood just behind him, perfectly still and silent. +Her set, white face gave an illusion of placidity. Only +her staring eyes seemed bigger and darker. + +"He spoke rapidly, with nervous assurance. I heard +him distinctly promise her to make everything as clear +as daylight presently. But that was all I caught. He +stood close to her, never attempting to touch her even +with the tip of his little finger -- and she stared at him +stupidly. For a moment, however, her eyelids de- +scended slowly, pathetically, and then, with the +long black eyelashes lying on her white cheeks, she +looked ready to fall down in a swoon. But she never +even swayed where she stood. He urged her loudly to +follow him at once, and walked towards the door at the +bottom of the cellar stairs without looking behind him. +And, as a matter of fact, she did move after him a pace +or two. But, of course, he was not allowed to reach the +door. There were angry exclamations, a short, fierce +scuffle. Flung away violently, he came flying back- +wards upon her, and fell. She threw out her arms in a +gesture of dismay and stepped aside, just clear of his +head, which struck the ground heavily near her shoe. + +"He grunted with the shock. By the time he had +picked himself up, slowly, dazedly, he was awake to the +reality of things. The man into whose hands he had +thrust the leather case had extracted therefrom a +narrow strip of bluish paper. He held it up above his +head, and, as after the scuffle an expectant uneasy still- +ness reigned once more, he threw it down disdainfully +with the words, 'I think, comrades, that this proof was +hardly necessary.' + +"Quick as thought, the girl stooped after the flutter- +ing slip. Holding it spread out in both hands, she +looked at it; then, without raising her eyes, opened her +fingers slowly and let it fall. + +"I examined that curious document afterwards. It +was signed by a very high personage, and stamped and +countersigned by other high officials in various countries +of Europe. In his trade -- or shall I say, in his mission? +-- that sort of talisman might have been necessary, no +doubt. Even to the police itself -- all but the heads -- +he had been known only as Sevrin the noted anarchist. + +"He hung his head, biting his lower lip. A change +had come over him, a sort of thoughtful, absorbed calm- +ness. Nevertheless, he panted. His sides worked visi- +bly, and his nostrils expanded and collapsed in weird +contrast with his sombre aspect of a fanatical monk in a +meditative attitude, but with something, too, in his +face of an actor intent upon the terrible exigencies of his +part. Before him Horne declaimed, haggard and +bearded, like an inspired denunciatory prophet from a +wilderness. Two fanatics. They were made to under- +stand each other. Does this surprise you? I sup- +pose you think that such people would be foaming at the +mouth and snarling at each other?" + +I protested hastily that I was not surprised in the +least; that I thought nothing of the kind; that anarchists +in general were simply inconceivable to me mentally, +morally, logically, sentimentally, and even physically. +X received this declaration with his usual woodenness +and went on. + +"Horne had burst out into eloquence. While pour- +ing out scornful invective, he let tears escape from his +eyes and roll down his black beard unheeded. Sevrin +panted quicker and quicker. When he opened his +mouth to speak, everyone hung on his words. + +"'Don't be a fool, Horne,' he began. 'You know +very well that I have done this for none of the reasons +you are throwing at me.' And in a moment he became +outwardly as steady as a rock under the other's lurid +stare. 'I have been thwarting, deceiving, and betraying +you -- from conviction.' + +"He turned his back on Horne, and addressing the +girl, repeated the words: 'From conviction.' + +"It's extraordinary how cold she looked. I suppose +she could not think of any appropriate gesture. There +can have been few precedents indeed for such a situ- +ation. + +"'Clear as daylight,' he added. 'Do you understand +what that means? From conviction.' + +"And still she did not stir. She did not know what +to do. But the luckless wretch was about to give +her the opportunity for a beautiful and correct gesture. + +"'I have felt in me the power to make you share +this conviction,' he protested, ardently. He had for- +gotten himself; he made a step towards her -- perhaps +he stumbled. To me he seemed to be stooping low as +if to touch the hem of her garment. And then the +appropriate gesture came. She snatched her skirt +away from his polluting contact and averted her head +with an upward tilt. It was magnificently done, this +gesture of conventionally unstained honour, of an un- +blemished high-minded amateur. + +"Nothing could have been better. And he seemed +to think so, too, for once more he turned away. But +this time he faced no one. He was again panting fright- +fully, while he fumbled hurriedly in his waistcoat +pocket, and then raised his hand to his lips. There was +something furtive in this movement, but directly after- +wards his bearing changed. His laboured breathing +gave him a resemblance to a man who had just run a +desperate race; but a curious air of detachment, of sud- +den and profound indifference, replaced the strain of the +striving effort. The race was over. I did not want to +see what would happen next. I was only too well +aware. I tucked the young lady's arm under mine +without a word, and made my way with her to the +stairs. + +"Her brother walked behind us. Half-way up the +short flight she seemed unable to lift her feet high +enough for the steps, and we had to pull and push to get +her to the top. In the passage she dragged herself +along, hanging on my arm, helplessly bent like an old +woman. We issued into an empty street through a +half-open door, staggering like besotted revellers. At +the corner we stopped a four-wheeler, and the ancient +driver looked round from his box with morose scorn at +our efforts to get her in. Twice during the drive I felt +her collapse on my shoulder in a half faint. Facing us, +the youth in knickerbockers remained as mute as a +fish, and, till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat +more still than I would have believed it possible. + +"At the door of their drawing-room she left my arm +and walked in first, catching at the chairs and tables. +She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted with the effort, +her cloak still hanging from her shoulders, flung her- +self into a deep armchair, sideways, her face half +buried in a cushion. The good brother appeared +silently before her with a glass of water. She motioned +it away. He drank it himself and walked off to a dis- +tant corner -- behind the grand piano, somewhere. All +was still in this room where I had seen, for the first +time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist, captivated and spell- +bound by the consummate and hereditary grimaces +that in a certain sphere of life take the place of feelings +with an excellent effect. I suppose her thoughts were +busy with the same memory. Her shoulders shook +violently. A pure attack of nerves. When it quieted +down she affected firmness, 'What is done to a man of +that sort? What will they do to him?' + +"'Nothing. They can do nothing to him,' I assured +her, with perfect truth. I was pretty certain he had +died in less than twenty minutes from the moment his +hand had gone to his lips. For if his fanatical anti- +anarchism went even as far as carrying poison in his +pocket, only to rob his adversaries of legitimate ven- +geance, I knew he would take care to provide something +that would not fail him when required. + +"She drew an angry breath. There were red spots +on her cheeks and a feverish brilliance in her eyes. + +"'Has ever any one been exposed to such a terrible +experience? To think that he had held my hand! +That man!' Her face twitched, she gulped down a +pathetic sob. 'If I ever felt sure of anything, it was of +Sevrin's high-minded motives.' + +"Then she began to weep quietly, which was good +for her. Then through her flood of tears, half resentful, +'What was it he said to me? -- "From conviction!" +It seemed a vile mockery. What could he mean by +it?' + +"'That, my dear young lady,' I said, gently, 'is more +than I or anybody else can ever explain to you.'" + +Mr. X flicked a crumb off the front of his coat. + +"And that was strictly true as to her. Though +Horne, for instance, understood very well; and so did I, +especially after we had been to Sevrin's lodging in a +dismal back street of an intensely respectable quarter. +Horne was known there as a friend, and we had no +difficulty in being admitted, the slatternly maid merely +remarking, as she let us in, that 'Mr Sevrin had not been +home that night.' We forced open a couple of drawers +in the way of duty, and found a little useful information. +The most interesting part was his diary; for this man, +engaged in such deadly work, had the weakness to keep +a record of the most damnatory kind. There were his +acts and also his thoughts laid bare to us. But the dead +don't mind that. They don't mind anything. + +"'From conviction.' Yes. A vague but ardent +humanitarianism had urged him in his first youth into +the bitterest extremity of negation and revolt. After- +wards his optimism flinched. He doubted and became +lost. You have heard of converted atheists. These +turn often into dangerous fanatics, but the soul remains +the same. After he had got acquainted with the girl, +there are to be met in that diary of his very queer +politico-amorous rhapsodies. He took her sovereign +grimaces with deadly seriousness. He longed to con- +vert her. But all this cannot interest you. For the +rest, I don't know if you remember -- it is a good many +years ago now -- the journalistic sensation of the 'Hermi- +one Street Mystery'; the finding of a man's body in the +cellar of an empty house; the inquest; some arrests; +many surmises -- then silence -- the usual end for many +obscure martyrs and confessors. The fact is, he was +not enough of an optimist. You must be a savage, +tyrannical, pitiless, thick-and-thin optimist, like Horne, +for instance, to make a good social rebel of the extreme +type. + +He rose from the table. A waiter hurried up with +his overcoat; another held his hat in readiness. + +"But what became of the young lady?" I asked. + +"Do you really want to know?" he said, buttoning +himself in his fur coat carefully. "I confess to the small +malice of sending her Sevrin's diary. She went into +retirement; then she went to Florence; then she went +into retreat in a convent. I can't tell where she will +go next. What does it matter? Gestures! Gestures! +Mere gestures of her class." + +He fitted on his glossy high hat with extreme pre- +cision, and casting a rapid glance round the room, full +of well-dressed people, innocently dining, muttered +between his teeth: + +"And nothing else! That is why their kind is fated +to perish." + +I never met Mr. X again after that evening. I took +to dining at my club. On my next visit to Paris I found +my friend all impatience to hear of the effect produced +on me by this rare item of his collection. I told him all +the story, and he beamed on me with the pride of his +distinguished specimen. + +"Isn't X well worth knowing?" he bubbled over +in great delight. "He's unique, amazing, absolutely +terrific." + +His enthusiasm grated upon my finer feelings. I +told him curtly that the man's cynicism was simply +abominable. + +"Oh, abominable! abominable!" assented my friend, +effusively. "And then, you know, he likes to have his +little joke sometimes," he added in a confidential tone. + +I fail to understand the connection of this last re- +mark. I have been utterly unable to discover where in +all this the joke comes in. + + +AN INDIGNANT TALE + + +THE BRUTE + + +DODGING in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged +a smile and a glance with Miss Blank in the bar of the +Three Crows. This exchange was effected with ex- +treme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still +alive, Miss Blank must be something over sixty now. +How time passes! + +Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the parti- +tion of glass and varnished wood, Miss Blank was good +enough to say, encouragingly: + +"Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with +another gentleman I've never seen before." + +I moved towards the parlour door. A voice dis- +coursing on the other side (it was but a matchboard +partition), rose so loudly that the concluding words +became quite plain in all their atrocity. + +"That fellow Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, +and a good job, too!" + +This inhuman sentiment, since there was nothing +profane or improper in it, failed to do as much as to +check the slight yawn Miss Blank was achieving behind +her hand. And she remained gazing fixedly at the +window-panes, which streamed with rain. + +As I opened the parlour door the same voice went on +in the same cruel strain: + +"I was glad when I heard she got the knock from +somebody at last. Sorry enough for poor Wilmot, +though. That man and I used to be chums at one +time. Of course that was the end of him. A clear +case if there ever was one. No way out of it. None +at all." + +The voice belonged to the gentleman Miss Blank had +never seen before. He straddled his long legs on the +hearthrug. Jermyn, leaning forward, held his pocket- +handkerchief spread out before the grate. He looked +back dismally over his shoulder, and as I slipped behind +one of the little wooden tables, I nodded to him. On +the other side of the fire, imposingly calm and large, +sat Mr. Stonor, jammed tight into a capacious Windsor +armchair. There was nothing small about him but +his short, white side-whiskers. Yards and yards of +extra superfine blue cloth (made up into an overcoat) +reposed on a chair by his side. And he must just +have brought some liner from sea, because another +chair was smothered under his black waterproof, +ample as a pall, and made of three-fold oiled silk, +double-stitched throughout. A man's hand-bag of the +usual size looked like a child's toy on the floor near +his feet. + +I did not nod to him. He was too big to be nodded +to in that parlour. He was a senior Trinity pilot and +condescended to take his turn in the cutter only during +the summer months. He had been many times in +charge of royal yachts in and out of Port Victoria. +Besides, it's no use nodding to a monument. And he +was like one. He didn't speak, he didn't budge. He +just sat there, holding his handsome old head up, +immovable, and almost bigger than life. It was ex- +tremely fine. Mr. Stonor's presence reduced poor old +Jermyn to a mere shabby wisp of a man, and made the +talkative stranger in tweeds on the hearthrug look +absurdly boyish. The latter must have been a few +years over thirty, and was certainly not the sort of +individual that gets abashed at the sound of his own +voice, because gathering me in, as it were, by a friendly +glance, he kept it going without a check. + +"I was glad of it," he repeated, emphatically. "You +may be surprised at it, but then you haven't gone +through the experience I've had of her. I can tell you, +it was something to remember. Of course, I got off scot +free myself -- as you can see. She did her best to break +up my pluck for me tho'. She jolly near drove as fine a +fellow as ever lived into a madhouse. What do you say +to that -- eh?" + +Not an eyelid twitched in Mr. Stonor's enormous face. +Monumental! The speaker looked straight into my +eyes. + +"It used to make me sick to think of her going +about the world murdering people." + +Jermyn approached the handkerchief a little nearer +to the grate and groaned. It was simply a habit he had. + +"I've seen her once," he declared, with mournful in- +difference. "She had a house --" + +The stranger in tweeds turned to stare down at him, +surprised. + +"She had three houses," he corrected, authoritatively. +But Jermyn was not to be contradicted. + +"She had a house, I say," he repeated, with dismal +obstinacy. "A great, big, ugly, white thing. You could +see it from miles away -- sticking up." + +"So you could," assented the other readily. "It was +old Colchester's notion, though he was always threaten- +ing to give her up. He couldn't stand her racket any +more, he declared; it was too much of a good thing for +him; he would wash his hands of her, if he never got +hold of another -- and so on. I daresay he would have +chucked her, only -- it may surprise you -- his missus +wouldn't hear of it. Funny, eh? But with women, +you never know how they will take a thing, and Mrs. +Colchester, with her moustaches and big eyebrows, set +up for being as strong-minded as they make them. She +used to walk about in a brown silk dress, with a great +gold cable flopping about her bosom. You should have +heard her snapping out: 'Rubbish!' or 'Stuff and non- +sense!' I daresay she knew when she was well off. +They had no children, and had never set up a home any- +where. When in England she just made shift to hang +out anyhow in some cheap hotel or boarding-house. I +daresay she liked to get back to the comforts she was +used to. She knew very well she couldn't gain by any +change. And, moreover, Colchester, though a first- +rate man, was not what you may call in his first youth, +and, perhaps, she may have thought that he wouldn't +be able to get hold of another (as he used to say) so +easily. Anyhow, for one reason or another, it was +'Rubbish' and 'Stuff and nonsense' for the good lady. +I overheard once young Mr. Apse himself say to her +confidentially: 'I assure you, Mrs. Colchester, I am +beginning to feel quite unhappy about the name she's +getting for herself.' 'Oh,' says she, with her deep little +hoarse laugh, 'if one took notice of all the silly talk,' +and she showed Apse all her ugly false teeth at once. +'It would take more than that to make me lose my +confidence in her, I assure you,' says she." + +At this point, without any change of facial expression, +Mr. Stonor emitted a short, sardonic laugh. It was +very impressive, but I didn't see the fun. I looked from +one to another. The stranger on the hearthrug had an +ugly smile. + +"And Mr. Apse shook both Mrs. Colchester's hands, +he was so pleased to hear a good word said for their +favourite. All these Apses, young and old you know, +were perfectly infatuated with that abominable, dan- +gerous --" + +"I beg your pardon," I interrupted, for he seemed +to be addressing himself exclusively to me; "but who +on earth are you talking about?" + +"I am talking of the Apse family," he answered, +courteously. + +I nearly let out a damn at this. But just then the +respected Miss Blank put her head in, and said that the +cab was at the door, if Mr. Stonor wanted to catch the +eleven three up. + +At once the senior pilot arose in his mighty bulk and +began to struggle into his coat, with awe-inspiring up- +heavals. The stranger and I hurried impulsively to his +assistance, and directly we laid our hands on him he +became perfectly quiescent. We had to raise our arms +very high, and to make efforts. It was like caparisoning +a docile elephant. With a "Thanks, gentlemen," he +dived under and squeezed himself through the door in a +great hurry. + +We smiled at each other in a friendly way. + +"I wonder how he manages to hoist himself up a +ship's side-ladder," said the man in tweeds; and poor +Jermyn, who was a mere North Sea pilot, without official +status or recognition of any sort, pilot only by courtesy, +groaned. + +"He makes eight hundred a year." + +"Are you a sailor?" I asked the stranger, who had +gone back to his position on the rug. + +"I used to be till a couple of years ago, when I got +married," answered this communicative individual. "I +even went to sea first in that very ship we were speak- +ing of when you came in." + +"What ship?" I asked, puzzled. "I never heard +you mention a ship." + +"I've just told you her name, my dear sir," he replied. +"The Apse Family. Surely you've heard of the great +firm of Apse & Sons, shipowners. They had a pretty +big fleet. There was the Lucy Apse, and the Harold +Apse, and Anne, John, Malcolm, Clara, Juliet, and so on +-- no end of Apses. Every brother, sister, aunt, cousin, +wife -- and grandmother, too, for all I know -- of the firm +had a ship named after them. Good, solid, old-fashioned +craft they were, too, built to carry and to last. None +of your new-fangled, labour-saving appliances in them, +but plenty of men and plenty of good salt beef and hard +tack put aboard -- and off you go to fight your way out +and home again." + +The miserable Jermyn made a sound of approval, +which sounded like a groan of pain. Those were the +ships for him. He pointed out in doleful tones that +you couldn't say to labour-saving appliances: "Jump +lively now, my hearties." No labour-saving appliance +would go aloft on a dirty night with the sands under +your lee. + +"No," assented the stranger, with a wink at me. +"The Apses didn't believe in them either, apparently. +They treated their people well -- as people don't get +treated nowadays, and they were awfully proud of their +ships. Nothing ever happened to them. This last one, +the Apse Family, was to be like the others, only she was +to be still stronger, still safer, still more roomy and com- +fortable. I believe they meant her to last for ever. +They had her built composite -- iron, teak-wood, and +greenheart, and her scantling was something fabulous. +If ever an order was given for a ship in a spirit of pride +this one was. Everything of the best. The commodore +captain of the employ was to command her, and they +planned the accommodation for him like a house on +shore under a big, tall poop that went nearly to the +mainmast. No wonder Mrs. Colchester wouldn't let +the old man give her up. Why, it was the best home +she ever had in all her married days. She had a nerve, +that woman. + +"The fuss that was made while that ship was build- +ing! Let's have this a little stronger, and that a little +heavier; and hadn't that other thing better be changed +for something a little thicker. The builders entered +into the spirit of the game, and there she was, growing +into the clumsiest, heaviest ship of her size right before +all their eyes, without anybody becoming aware of it +somehow. She was to be 2,000 tons register, or a little +over; no less on any account. But see what happens. +When they came to measure her she turned out 1,999 +tons and a fraction. General consternation! And they +say old Mr. Apse was so annoyed when they told him +that he took to his bed and died. The old gentleman +had retired from the firm twenty-five years before, and +was ninety-six years old if a day, so his death wasn't, +perhaps, so surprising. Still Mr. Lucian Apse was con- +vinced that his father would have lived to a hundred. +So we may put him at the head of the list. Next +comes the poor devil of a shipwright that brute caught +and squashed as she went off the ways. They called +it the launch of a ship, but I've heard people say that, +from the wailing and yelling and scrambling out of the +way, it was more like letting a devil loose upon the +river. She snapped all her checks like pack-thread, and +went for the tugs in attendance like a fury. Before +anybody could see what she was up to she sent one +of them to the bottom, and laid up another for three +months' repairs. One of her cables parted, and then, +suddenly -- you couldn't tell why -- she let herself be +brought up with the other as quiet as a lamb. + +"That's how she was. You could never be sure +what she would be up to next. There are ships difficult +to handle, but generally you can depend on them behav- +ing rationally. With that ship, whatever you did with +her you never knew how it would end. She was +a wicked beast. Or, perhaps, she was only just in- +sane." + +He uttered this supposition in so earnest a tone that +I could not refrain from smiling. He left off biting his +lower lip to apostrophize me. + +"Eh! Why not? Why couldn't there be something +in her build, in her lines corresponding to -- What's +madness? Only something just a tiny bit wrong in the +make of your brain. Why shouldn't there be a mad +ship -- I mean mad in a ship-like way, so that under no +circumstances could you be sure she would do what any +other sensible ship would naturally do for you. There +are ships that steer wildly, and ships that can't be quite +trusted always to stay; others want careful watching +when running in a gale; and, again, there may be +a ship that will make heavy weather of it in every +little blow. But then you expect her to be always +so. You take it as part of her character, as a ship, +just as you take account of a man's peculiarities of +temper when you deal with him. But with her you +couldn't. She was unaccountable. If she wasn't mad, +then she was the most evil-minded, underhand, savage +brute that ever went afloat. I've seen her run in a heavy +gale beautifully for two days, and on the third broach +to twice in the same afternoon. The first time she +flung the helmsman clean over the wheel, but as she +didn't quite manage to kill him she had another try +about three hours afterwards. She swamped herself +fore and aft, burst all the canvas we had set, scared all +hands into a panic, and even frightened Mrs. Colchester +down there in these beautiful stern cabins that she was +so proud of. When we mustered the crew there was +one man missing. Swept overboard, of course, without +being either seen or heard, poor devil! and I only wonder +more of us didn't go. + +"Always something like that. Always. I heard an +old mate tell Captain Colchester once that it had come +to this with him, that he was afraid to open his mouth +to give any sort of order. She was as much of a terror +in harbour as at sea. You could never be certain what +would hold her. On the slightest provocation she would +start snapping ropes, cables, wire hawsers, like carrots. +She was heavy, clumsy, unhandy -- but that does not +quite explain that power for mischief she had. You +know, somehow, when I think of her I can't help re- +membering what we hear of incurable lunatics breaking +loose now and then." + +He looked at me inquisitively. But, of course, +I couldn't admit that a ship could be mad. + +"In the ports where she was known," he went on,' +"they dreaded the sight of her. She thought nothing of +knocking away twenty feet or so of solid stone facing off +a quay or wiping off the end of a wooden wharf. She +must have lost miles of chain and hundreds of tons of +anchors in her time. When she fell aboard some poor +unoffending ship it was the very devil of a job to haul her +off again. And she never got hurt herself -- just a few +scratches or so, perhaps. They had wanted to have +her strong. And so she was. Strong enough to ram +Polar ice with. And as she began so she went on. +From the day she was launched she never let a year pass +without murdering somebody. I think the owners got +very worried about it. But they were a stiff-necked +generation all these Apses; they wouldn't admit there +could be anything wrong with the Apse Family. They +wouldn't even change her name. 'Stuff and nonsense,' +as Mrs. Colchester used to say. They ought at least to +have shut her up for life in some dry dock or other, away +up the river, and never let her smell salt water again. I +assure you, my dear sir, that she invariably did kill +someone every voyage she made. It was perfectly +well-known. She got a name for it, far and wide." + +I expressed my surprise that a ship with such a +deadly reputation could ever get a crew. + +"Then, you don't know what sailors are, my dear sir. +Let me just show you by an instance. One day in dock +at home, while loafing on the forecastle head, I noticed +two respectable salts come along, one a middle-aged, +competent, steady man, evidently, the other a smart, +youngish chap. They read the name on the bows and +stopped to look at her. Says the elder man: 'Apse +Family. That's the sanguinary female dog' (I'm +putting it in that way) 'of a ship, Jack, that kills a +man every voyage. I wouldn't sign in her -- not for +Joe, I wouldn't.' And the other says: 'If she were +mine, I'd have her towed on the mud and set on fire, +blamme if I wouldn't.' Then the first man chimes in: +'Much do they care! Men are cheap, God knows.' +The younger one spat in the water alongside. 'They +won't have me -- not for double wages.' + +"They hung about for some time and then walked up +the dock. Half an hour later I saw them both on our +deck looking about for the mate, and apparently very +anxious to be taken on. And they were." + +"How do you account for this?" I asked. + +"What would you say?" he retorted. "Reckless- +ness ! The vanity of boasting in the evening to all their +chums: 'We've just shipped in that there Apse Family. +Blow her. She ain't going to scare us.' Sheer sailor- +like perversity! A sort of curiosity. Well -- a little of +all that, no doubt. I put the question to them in the +course of the voyage. The answer of the elderly chap +was: + +"'A man can die but once.' The younger assured +me in a mocking tone that he wanted to see 'how she +would do it this time.' But I tell you what; there was +a sort of fascination about the brute." + +Jermyn, who seemed to have seen every ship in the +world, broke in sulkily: + +"I saw her once out of this very window towing up +the river; a great black ugly thing, going along like a +big hearse." + +"Something sinister about her looks, wasn't there?" +said the man in tweeds, looking down at old Jermyn +with a friendly eye. "I always had a sort of horror of +her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more +than fourteen, the very first day -- nay, hour -- I joined +her. Father came up to see me off, and was to go down +to Gravesend with us. I was his second boy to go to +sea. My big brother was already an officer then. We. +got on board about eleven in the morning, and found the +ship ready to drop out of the basin, stern first. She +had not moved three times her own length when, at +a little pluck the tug gave her to enter the dock gates, +she made one of her rampaging starts, and put such +a weight on the check rope -- a new six-inch hawser +-- that forward there they had no chance to ease it +round in time, and it parted. I saw the broken end +fly up high in the air, and the next moment that brute +brought her quarter against the pier-head with a jar +that staggered everybody about her decks. She didn't +hurt herself. Not she! But one of the boys the mate +had sent aloft on the mizzen to do something, came +down on the poop-deck -- thump -- right in front of me. +He was not much older than myself. We had been +grinning at each other only a few minutes before. He +must have been handling himself carelessly, not expect- +ing to get such a jerk. I heard his startled cry -- Oh! -- +in a high treble as he felt himself going, and looked up +in time to see him go limp all over as he fell. Ough! +Poor father was remarkably white about the gills when +we shook hands in Gravesend. 'Are you all right?' he +says, looking hard at me. 'Yes, father.' 'Quite sure?' +'Yes, father.' 'Well, then good-bye, my boy.' He told +me afterwards that for half a word he would have carried +me off home with him there and then. I am the baby +of the family -- you know," added the man in tweeds, +stroking his moustache with an ingenuous smile. + +I acknowledged this interesting communication by a +sympathetic murmur. He waved his hand carelessly. + +"This might have utterly spoiled a chap's nerve for +going aloft, you know -- utterly. He fell within two +feet of me, cracking his head on a mooring-bitt. Never +moved. Stone dead. Nice looking little fellow, he was. +I had just been thinking we would be great chums. +However, that wasn't yet the worst that brute of a ship +could do. I served in her three years of my time, and +then I got transferred to the Lucy Apse, for a year. The +sailmaker we had in the Apse Family turned up there, +too, and I remember him saying to me one evening, after +we had been a week at sea: Isn't she a meek little +ship?' No wonder we thought the Lucy Apse a dear, +meek, little ship after getting clear of that big, rampag- +ing savage brute. It was like heaven. Her officers +seemed to me the restfullest lot of men on earth. To me +who had known no ship but the Apse Family, the Lucy +was like a sort of magic craft that did what you wanted +her to do of her own accord. One evening we got +caught aback pretty sharply from right ahead. In about +ten minutes we had her full again, sheets aft, tacks down, +decks cleared, and the officer of the watch leaning +against the weather rail peacefully. It seemed simply +marvellous to me. The other would have stuck for half- +an-hour in irons, rolling her decks full of water, knock- +ing the men about -- spars cracking, braces snapping, +yards taking charge, and a confounded scare going on +aft because of her beastly rudder, which she had a way +of flapping about fit to raise your hair on end. I could- +n't get over my wonder for days. + +"Well, I finished my last year of apprenticeship in +that jolly little ship -- she wasn't so little either, but +after that other heavy devil she seemed but a plaything +to handle. I finished my time and passed; and then +just as I was thinking of having three weeks of real +good time on shore I got at breakfast a letter asking me +the earliest day I could be ready to join the Apse Family +as third mate. I gave my plate a shove that shot it +into the middle of the table; dad looked up over his +paper; mother raised her hands in astonishment, and I +went out bare-headed into our bit of garden, where I +walked round and round for an hour. + +"When I came in again mother was out of the +dining-room, and dad had shifted berth into his big +armchair. The letter was lying on the mantelpiece. + +"'It's very creditable to you to get the offer, and +very kind of them to make it,' he said. 'And I see also +that Charles has been appointed chief mate of that ship +for one voyage.' + +"There was, over leaf, a P.S. to that effect in Mr. +Apse's own handwriting, which I had overlooked. +Charley was my big brother. + +"I don't like very much to have two of my boys +together in one ship,' father goes on, in his deliberate, +solemn way. 'And I may tell you that I would not +mind writing Mr. Apse a letter to that effect.' + +"Dear old dad! He was a wonderful father. What +would you have done? The mere notion of going back +(and as an officer, too), to be worried and bothered, +and kept on the jump night and day by that brute, made +me feel sick. But she wasn't a ship you could afford to +fight shy of. Besides, the most genuine excuse could +not be given without mortally offending Apse & Sons. +The firm, and I believe the whole family down to the +old unmarried aunts in Lancashire, had grown desper- +ately touchy about that accursed ship's character. This +was the case for answering 'Ready now' from your +very death-bed if you wished to die in their good graces. +And that's precisely what I did answer -- by wire, to +have it over and done with at once. + +"The prospect of being shipmates with my big brother +cheered me up considerably, though it made me a bit +anxious, too. Ever since I remember myself as a little +chap he had been very good to me, and I looked upon +him as the finest fellow in the world. And so he was. +No better officer ever walked the deck of a merchant +ship. And that's a fact. He was a fine, strong, up- +standing, sun-tanned, young fellow, with his brown hair +curling a little, and an eye like a hawk. He was just +splendid. We hadn't seen each other for many years, +and even this time, though he had been in England +three weeks already, he hadn't showed up at home yet, +but had spent his spare time in Surrey somewhere mak- +ing up to Maggie Colchester, old Captain Colchester's +niece. Her father, a great friend of dad's, was in the +sugar-broking business, and Charley made a sort of +second home of their house. I wondered what my big +brother would think of me. There was a sort of stern- +ness about Charley's face which never left it, not even +when he was larking in his rather wild fashion. + +"He received me with a great shout of laughter. +He seemed to think my joining as an officer the greatest +joke in the world. There was a difference of ten years +between us, and I suppose he remembered me best in +pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first went to sea. +It surprised me to find how boisterous he could be. + +"'Now we shall see what you are made of,' he cried. +And he held me off by the shoulders, and punched my +ribs, and hustled me into his berth. 'Sit down, Ned. I +am glad of the chance of having you with me. I'll put +the finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing +you're worth the trouble. And, first of all, get it well +into your head that we are not going to let this brute +kill anybody this voyage. We'll stop her racket.' + +"I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He +talked grimly of the ship, and how we must be careful +and never allow this ugly beast to catch us napping +with any of her damned tricks. + +"He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship +for the use of the Apse Family; then changing his tone, +he began to talk at large, rattling off the wildest, +funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. I +could see very well he was a bit above himself with high +spirits. It couldn't be because of my coming. Not to +that extent. But, of course, I wouldn't have dreamt of +asking what was the matter. I had a proper respect +for my big brother, I can tell you. But it was all made +plain enough a day or two afterwards, when I heard +that Miss Maggie Colchester was coming for the voy- +age. Uncle was giving her a sea-trip for the benefit of +her health. + +"I don't know what could have been wrong with her +health. She had a beautiful colour, and a deuce of a +lot of fair hair. She didn't care a rap for wind, or rain, +or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. She was a +blue-eyed, jolly girl of the very best sort, but the way +she cheeked my big brother used to frighten me. I +always expected it to end in an awful row. However, +nothing decisive happened till after we had been in +Sydney for a week. One day, in the men's dinner hour, +Charley sticks his head into my cabin. I was stretched +out on my back on the settee, smoking in peace. + +"'Come ashore with me, Ned,' he says, in his curt +way. + +"I jumped up, of course, and away after him down +the gangway and up George Street. He strode along +like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting. It was con- +foundedly hot. 'Where on earth are you rushing me +to, Charley?' I made bold to ask. + +"'Here,' he says. + +"'Here' was a jeweller's shop. I couldn't imagine +what he could want there. It seemed a sort of mad +freak. He thrusts under my nose three rings, which +looked very tiny on his big, brown palm, growling out -- + +"'For Maggie! Which?' + +"I got a kind of scare at this. I couldn't make a +sound, but I pointed at the one that sparkled white and +blue. He put it in his waistcoat pocket, paid for it with +a lot of sovereigns, and bolted out. When we got on +board I was quite out of breath. 'Shake hands, old +chap,' I gasped out. He gave me a thump on the back. +'Give what orders you like to the boatswain when the +hands turn-to,' says he; 'I am off duty this afternoon.' + +"Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but +presently he came out of the cabin with Maggie, and +these two went over the gangway publicly, before all +hands, going for a walk together on that awful, blazing +hot day, with clouds of dust flying about. They came +back after a few hours looking very staid, but didn't +seem to have the slightest idea where they had been. +Anyway, that's the answer they both made to Mrs. +Colchester's question at tea-time. + +"And didn't she turn on Charley, with her voice +like an old night cabman's! 'Rubbish. Don't know +where you've been! Stuff and nonsense. You've +walked the girl off her legs. Don't do it again.' + +"It's surprising how meek Charley could be with +that old woman. Only on one occasion he whispered to +me, 'I'm jolly glad she isn't Maggie's aunt, except by +marriage. That's no sort of relationship.' But I +think he let Maggie have too much of her own way. +She was hopping all over that ship in her yachting skirt +and a red tam o' shanter like a bright bird on a dead +black tree. The old salts used to grin to themselves +when they saw her coming along, and offered to teach +her knots or splices. I believe she liked the men, for +Charley's sake, I suppose. + +"As you may imagine, the fiendish propensities of +that cursed ship were never spoken of on board. Not +in the cabin, at any rate. Only once on the home- +ward passage Charley said, incautiously, something +about bringing all her crew home this time. Captain +Colchester began to look uncomfortable at once, and +that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as +though he had said something indecent. I was quite +confounded myself; as to Maggie, she sat completely +mystified, opening her blue eyes very wide. Of course, +before she was a day older she wormed it all out of me. +She was a very difficult person to lie to. + +"'How awful,' she said, quite solemn. 'So many +poor fellows. I am glad the voyage is nearly over. I +won't have a moment's peace about Charley now.' + +"I assured her Charley was all right. It took more +than that ship knew to get over a seaman like Charley. +And she agreed with me. + +"Next day we got the tug off Dungeness; and when +the tow-rope was fast Charley rubbed his hands and +said to me in an undertone -- + +"'We've baffled her, Ned.' + +'"Looks like it,' I said, with a grin at him. It was +beautiful weather, and the sea as smooth as a millpond. +We went up the river without a shadow of trouble +except once, when off Hole Haven, the brute took a +sudden sheer and nearly had a barge anchored just clear +of the fairway. But I was aft, looking after the steer- +ing, and she did not catch me napping that time. +Charley came up on the poop, looking very concerned. +'Close shave,' says he. + +"'Never mind, Charley,' I answered, cheerily. +'You've tamed her.' + +"We were to tow right up to the dock. The river +pilot boarded us below Gravesend, and the first words +I heard him say were: 'You may just as well take your +port anchor inboard at once, Mr. Mate.' + +"This had been done when I went forward. I saw +Maggie on the forecastle head enjoying the bustle +and I begged her to go aft, but she took no notice of me, +of course. Then Charley, who was very busy with the +head gear, caught sight of her and shouted in his biggest +voice: 'Get off the forecastle head, Maggie. You're in +the way here.' For all answer she made a funny face at +him, and I saw poor Charley turn away, hiding a smile. +She was flushed with the excitement of getting home +again, and her blue eyes seemed to snap electric sparks +as she looked at the river. A collier brig had gone +round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop her +engines in a hurry to avoid running into her. + +"In a moment, as is usually the case, all the shipping +in the reach seemed to get into a hopeless tangle. A +schooner and a ketch got up a small collision all to +themselves right in the middle of the river. It was +exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained +stopped. Any other ship than that brute could have +been coaxed to keep straight for a couple of minutes -- +but not she! Her head fell off at once, and she began +to drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed +a cluster of coasters at anchor within a quarter of a mile +of us, and I thought I had better speak to the pilot. +'If you let her get amongst that lot,' I said, quietly, 'she +will grind some of them to bits before we get her out +again.' + +"'Don't I know her!' cries he, stamping his foot +in a perfect fury. And he out with his whistle to +make that bothered tug get the ship's head up again +as quick as possible. He blew like mad, waving his +arm to port, and presently we could see that the tug's +engines had been set going ahead. Her paddles +churned the water, but it was as if she had been trying +to tow a rock -- she couldn't get an inch out of that ship. +Again the pilot blew his whistle, and waved his arm to +port. We could see the tug's paddles turning faster and +faster away, broad on our bow. + +"For a moment tug and ship hung motionless in a +crowd of moving shipping, and then the terrific strain +that evil, stony-hearted brute would always put on +everything, tore the towing-chock clean out. The +tow-rope surged over, snapping the iron stanchions of +the head-rail one after another as if they had been +sticks of sealing-wax. It was only then I noticed that +in order to have a better view over our heads, Maggie +had stepped upon the port anchor as it lay flat on the +forecastle deck. + +"It had been lowered properly into its hardwood +beds, but there had been no time to take a turn with +it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, for going +into dock; but I could see directly that the tow-rope +would sweep under the fluke in another second. My +heart flew up right into my throat, but not before I had +time to yell out: 'Jump clear of that anchor!' + +"But I hadn't time to shriek out her name. I don't +suppose she heard me at all. The first touch of the +hawser against the fluke threw her down; she was up +on her feet again quick as lightning, but she was up on +the wrong side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and +then that anchor, tipping over, rose up like something +alive; its great, rough iron arm caught Maggie round +the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a dreadful +hug, and flung itself with her over and down in a +terrific clang of iron, followed by heavy ringing blows +that shook the ship from stem to stern -- because the +ring stopper held!" + +"How horrible!" I exclaimed. + +"I used to dream for years afterwards of anchors +catching hold of girls," said the man in tweeds, a +little wildly. He shuddered. "With a most pitiful +howl Charley was over after her almost on the instant. +But, Lord! he didn't see as much as a gleam of her red +tam o' shanter in the water. Nothing! nothing what- +ever! In a moment there were half-a-dozen boats +around us, and he got pulled into one. I, with the +boatswain and the carpenter, let go the other anchor in +a hurry and brought the ship up somehow. The pilot +had gone silly. He walked up and down the forecastle +head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: +'Killing women, now! Killing women, now!' Not +another word could you get out of him. + +"Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch; and peering +upon the river I heard a low, mournful hail, 'Ship, +ahoy!' Two Gravesend watermen came alongside. +They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the +ship's side, holding on to the ladder without a word. I +saw in the patch of light a lot of loose, fair hair down +there." + +He shuddered again. + +"After the tide turned poor Maggie's body had +floated clear of one of them big mooring buoys," he +explained. "I crept aft, feeling half-dead, and managed +to send a rocket up -- to let the other searchers know, +on the river. And then I slunk away forward like +a cur, and spent the night sitting on the heel of the +bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out of Charley's +way." + +"Poor fellow!" I murmured. + +"Yes. Poor fellow," he repeated, musingly. "That +brute wouldn't let him -- not even him -- cheat her of +her prey. But he made her fast in dock next morning. +He did. We hadn't exchanged a word -- not a single +look for that matter. I didn't want to look at him. +When the last rope was fast he put his hands to his +head and stood gazing down at his feet as if trying to +remember something. The men waited on the main +deck for the words that end the voyage. Perhaps that +is what he was trying to remember. I spoke for him. +'That'll do, men.' + +"I never saw a crew leave a ship so quietly. They +sneaked over the rail one after another, taking care not +to bang their sea chests too heavily. They looked our +way, but not one had the stomach to come up and offer +to shake hands with the mate as is usual. + +"I followed him all over the empty ship to and fro, +here and there, with no living soul about but the two of +us, because the old ship-keeper had locked himself up +in the galley -- both doors. Suddenly poor Charley +mutters, in a crazy voice: 'I'm done here,' and strides +down the gangway with me at his heels, up the dock, +out at the gate, on towards Tower Hill. He used to +take rooms with a decent old landlady in America +Square, to be near his work. + +"All at once he stops short, turns round, and comes +back straight at me. 'Ned,' says he, I am going home.' +I had the good luck to sight a four-wheeler and got him +in just in time. His legs were beginning to give way. +In our hall he fell down on a chair, and I'll never forget +father's and mother's amazed, perfectly still faces as +they stood over him. They couldn't understand what +had happened to him till I blubbered out, 'Maggie got +drowned, yesterday, in the river.' + +"Mother let out a little cry. Father looks from him +to me, and from me to him, as if comparing our faces -- +for, upon my soul, Charley did not resemble himself at +all. Nobody moved; and the poor fellow raises his big +brown hands slowly to his throat, and with one single +tug rips everything open -- collar, shirt, waistcoat -- a +perfect wreck and ruin of a man. Father and I got him +upstairs somehow, and mother pretty nearly killed her- +self nursing him through a brain fever." + +The man in tweeds nodded at me significantly. + +"Ah! there was nothing that could be done with that +brute. She had a devil in her." + +"Where's your brother?" I asked, expecting to +hear he was dead. But he was commanding a smart +steamer on the China coast, and never came home now. + +Jermyn fetched a heavy sigh, and the handkerchief +being now sufficiently dry, put it up tenderly to his red +and lamentable nose. + +"She was a ravening beast," the man in tweeds +started again. "Old Colchester put his foot down and +resigned. And would you believe it? Apse & Sons +wrote to ask whether he wouldn't reconsider his de- +cision! Anything to save the good name of the Apse +Family.' Old Colchester went to the office then and +said that he would take charge again but only to sail her +out into the North Sea and scuttle her there. He was +nearly off his chump. He used to be darkish iron-grey, +but his hair went snow-white in a fortnight. And Mr. +Lucian Apse (they had known each other as young men) +pretended not to notice it. Eh? Here's infatuation +if you like! Here's pride for you! + +"They jumped at the first man they could get to +take her, for fear of the scandal of the Apse Family not +being able to find a skipper. He was a festive soul, I +believe, but he stuck to her grim and hard. Wilmot +was his second mate. A harum-scarum fellow, and +pretending to a great scorn for all the girls. The fact is +he was really timid. But let only one of them do as +much as lift her little finger in encouragement, and there +was nothing that could hold the beggar. As apprentice, +once, he deserted abroad after a petticoat, and would +have gone to the dogs then, if his skipper hadn't taken +the trouble to find him and lug him by the ears out of +some house of perdition or other. + +"It was said that one of the firm had been heard once +to express a hope that this brute of a ship would get +lost soon. I can hardly credit the tale, unless it might +have been Mr. Alfred Apse, whom the family didn't +think much of. They had him in the office, but he was +considered a bad egg altogether, always flying off to +race meetings and coming home drunk. You would +have thought that a ship so full of deadly tricks would +run herself ashore some day out of sheer cussedness. +But not she! She was going to last for ever. She had +a nose to keep off the bottom." + +Jermyn made a grunt of approval. + +"A ship after a pilot's own heart, eh?" jeered the +man in tweeds. "Well, Wilmot managed it. He was +the man for it, but even he, perhaps, couldn't have done +the trick without the green-eyed governess, or nurse, or +whatever she was to the children of Mr. and Mrs. +Pamphilius. + +"Those people were passengers in her from Port +Adelaide to the Cape. Well, the ship went out and +anchored outside for the day. The skipper -- hospitable +soul -- had a lot of guests from town to a farewell lunch -- +as usual with him. It was five in the evening before +the last shore boat left the side, and the weather looked +ugly and dark in the gulf. There was no reason for him +to get under way. However, as he had told everybody +he was going that day, he imagined it was proper to do +so anyhow. But as he had no mind after all these +festivities to tackle the straits in the dark, with a scant +wind, he gave orders to keep the ship under lower +topsails and foresail as close as she would lie, dodging +along the land till the morning. Then he sought his +virtuous couch. The mate was on deck, having his +face washed very clean with hard rain squalls. Wilmot +relieved him at midnight. + +"The Apse Family had, as you observed, a house on +her poop . . ." + +"A big, ugly white thing, sticking up," Jermyn mur- +mured, sadly, at the fire. + +"That's it: a companion for the cabin stairs and a +sort of chart-room combined. The rain drove in gusts +on the sleepy Wilmot. The ship was then surging +slowly to the southward, close hauled, with the coast +within three miles or so to windward. There was noth- +ing to look out for in that part of the gulf, and Wilmot +went round to dodge the squalls under the lee of that +chart-room, whose door on that side was open. The +night was black, like a barrel of coal-tar. And then +he heard a woman's voice whispering to him. + +"That confounded green-eyed girl of the Pamphilius +people had put the kids to bed a long time ago, of +course, but it seems couldn't get to sleep herself. She +heard eight bells struck, and the chief mate come below +to turn in. She waited a bit, then got into her dressing- +gown and stole across the empty saloon and up the +stairs into the chart-room. She sat down on the settee +near the open door to cool herself, I daresay. + +"I suppose when she whispered to Wilmot it was as +if somebody had struck a match in the fellow's brain. +I don't know how it was they had got so very thick. +I fancy he had met her ashore a few times before. I +couldn't make it out, because, when telling the story, +Wilmot would break off to swear something awful at +every second word. We had met on the quay in Sydney, +and he had an apron of sacking up to his chin, a big +whip in his hand. A wagon-driver. Glad to do any- +thing not to starve. That's what he had come down to. + +"However, there he was, with his head inside the +door, on the girl's shoulder as likely as not -- officer of +the watch! The helmsman, on giving his evidence +afterwards, said that he shouted several times that the +binnacle lamp had gone out. It didn't matter to him, +because his orders were to 'sail her close.' 'I thought +it funny,' he said, 'that the ship should keep on falling +off in squalls, but I luffed her up every time as close +as I was able. It was so dark I couldn't see my hand +before my face, and the rain came in bucketfuls on my +head.' + +"The truth was that at every squall the wind hauled +aft a little, till gradually the ship came to be heading +straight for the coast, without a single soul in her being +aware of it. Wilmot himself confessed that he had not +been near the standard compass for an hour. He might +well have confessed! The first thing he knew was the +man on the look-out shouting blue murder forward +there. + +"He tore his neck free, he says, and yelled back at +him: 'What do you say?' + +"'I think I hear breakers ahead, sir,' howled the man, +and came rushing aft with the rest of the watch, in the +'awfullest blinding deluge that ever fell from the sky,' +Wilmot says. For a second or so he was so scared and +bewildered that he could not remember on which side of +the gulf the ship was. He wasn't a good officer, but he +was a seaman all the same. He pulled himself together +in a second, and the right orders sprang to his lips +without thinking. They were to hard up with the helm +and shiver the main and mizzen-topsails. + +"It seems that the sails actually fluttered. He +couldn't see them, but he heard them rattling and bang- +ing above his head. 'No use! She was too slow in +going off,' he went on, his dirty face twitching, and the +damn'd carter's whip shaking in his hand. 'She seemed +to stick fast.' And then the flutter of the canvas above +his head ceased. At this critical moment the wind +hauled aft again with a gust, filling the sails and send- +ing the ship with a great way upon the rocks on her +lee bow. She had overreached herself in her last little +game. Her time had come -- the hour, the man, the +black night, the treacherous gust of wind -- the right +woman to put an end to her. The brute deserved +nothing better. Strange are the instruments of Provi- +dence. There's a sort of poetical justice --" + +The man in tweeds looked hard at me. + +"The first ledge she went over stripped the false keel +off her. Rip! The skipper, rushing out of his berth, +found a crazy woman, in a red flannel dressing-gown, +flying round and round the cuddy, screeching like a +cockatoo. + +"The next bump knocked her clean under the cabin +table. It also started the stern-post and carried away +the rudder, and then that brute ran up a shelving, +rocky shore, tearing her bottom out, till she stopped. +short, and the foremast dropped over the bows like a +gangway." + +"Anybody lost?" I asked. + +"No one, unless that fellow, Wilmot," answered the +gentleman, unknown to Miss Blank, looking round for +his cap. "And his case was worse than drowning for a +man. Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn't +come on till next day, dead from the West, and broke up +that brute in a surprisingly short time. It was as +though she had been rotten at heart." . . . He +changed his tone, "Rain left off? I must get my bike +and rush home to dinner. I live in Herne Bay -- came +out for a spin this morning." + +He nodded at me in a friendly way, and went out +with a swagger. + +"Do you know who he is, Jermyn?" I asked. + +The North Sea pilot shook his head, dismally. +"Fancy losing a ship in that silly fashion! Oh, dear! +oh dear!" he groaned in lugubrious tones, spreading +his damp handkerchief again like a curtain before the +glowing grate. + +On going out I exchanged a glance and a smile +(strictly proper) with the respectable Miss Blank, bar- +maid of the Three Crows. + + + + + +A DESPERATE TALE + + + +AN ANARCHIST + +THAT year I spent the best two months of the dry +season on one of the estates -- in fact, on the principal +cattle estate -- of a famous meat-extract manufacturing +company. + +B.O.S. Bos. You have seen the three magic letters +on the advertisement pages of magazines and news- +papers, in the windows of provision merchants, and on +calendars for next year you receive by post in the month +of November. They scatter pamphlets also, written in +a sickly enthusiastic style and in several languages, +giving statistics of slaughter and bloodshed enough +to make a Turk turn faint. The "art" illustrating that +"literature" represents in vivid and shining colours a +large and enraged black bull stamping upon a yellow +snake writhing in emerald-green grass, with a cobalt- +blue sky for a background. It is atrocious and it is an +allegory. The snake symbolizes disease, weakness -- +perhaps mere hunger, which last is the chronic disease +of the majority of mankind. Of course everybody +knows the B. 0. S. Ltd., with its unrivalled products: +Vinobos, Jellybos, and the latest unequalled perfection, +Tribos, whose nourishment is offered to you not only +highly concentrated, but already half digested. Such +apparently is the love that Limited Company bears to +its fellowmen -- even as the love of the father and mother +penguin for their hungry fledglings. + + Of course the capital of a country must be pro- +ductively employed. I have nothing to say against the +company. But being myself animated by feelings of +affection towards my fellow-men, I am saddened by the +modern system of advertising. Whatever evidence it +offers of enterprise, ingenuity, impudence, and resource +in certain individuals, it proves to my mind the wide +prevalence of that form of mental degradation which is +called gullibility. + +In various parts of the civilized and uncivilized world +I have had to swallow B. 0. S. with more or less benefit +to myself, though without great pleasure. Prepared +with hot water and abundantly peppered to bring out +the taste, this extract is not really unpalatable. But I +have never swallowed its advertisements. Perhaps +they have not gone far enough. As far as I can re- +member they make no promise of everlasting youth to +the users of B. 0. S., nor yet have they claimed the +power of raising the dead for their estimable products. +Why this austere reserve, I wonder? But I don't think +they would have had me even on these terms. What- +ever form of mental degradation I may (being but hu- +man) be suffering from, it is not the popular form. I +am not gullible. + +I have been at some pains to bring out distinctly this +statement about myself in view of the story which +follows. I have checked the facts as far as possible. +I have turned up the files of French newspapers, and I +have also talked with the officer who commands the +military guard on the Ile Royale, when in the course of +my travels I reached Cayenne. I believe the story to be +in the main true. It is the sort of story that no man, I +think, would ever invent about himself, for it is neither +grandiose nor flattering, nor yet funny enough to +gratify a perverted vanity. + +It concerns the engineer of the steam-launch belong- +ing to the Maranon cattle estate of the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd. +This estate is also an island -- an island as big as a small +province, lying in the estuary of a great South American +river. It is wild and not beautiful, but the grass grow- +ing on its low plains seems to possess exceptionally +nourishing and flavouring qualities. It resounds with +the lowing of innumerable herds -- a deep and distress- +ing sound under the open sky, rising like a monstrous +protest of prisoners condemned to death. On the +mainland, across twenty miles of discoloured muddy +water, there stands a city whose name, let us say, is +Horta. + +But the most interesting characteristic of this island +(which seems like a sort of penal settlement for con- +demned cattle) consists in its being the only known +habitat of an extremely rare and gorgeous butterfly. +The species is even more rare than it is beautiful, which +is not saying little. I have already alluded to my +travels. I travelled at that time, but strictly for my- +self and with a moderation unknown in our days of +round-the-world tickets. I even travelled with a pur- +pose. As a matter of fact, I am -- "Ha, ha, ha! -- a +desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" + +This was the tone in which Mr. Harry Gee, the +manager of the cattle station, alluded to my pursuits. +He seemed to consider me the greatest absurdity in the +world. On the other hand, the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., +represented to him the acme of the nineteenth century's +achievement. I believe that he slept in his leggings and +spurs. His days he spent in the saddle flying over the +plains, followed by a train of half-wild horsemen, who +called him Don Enrique, and who had no definite idea of +the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., which paid their wages. He was +an excellent manager, but I don't see why, when we met +at meals, he should have thumped me on the back, with +loud, derisive inquiries: "How's the deadly sport +to-day? Butterflies going strong? Ha, ha, ha!" -- +especially as he charged me two dollars per diem for the +hospitality of the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., (capital L1,500,000, +fully paid up), in whose balance-sheet for that year +those monies are no doubt included. "I don't think I +can make it anything less in justice to my company," +he had remarked, with extreme gravity, when I was +arranging with him the terms of my stay on the island. + +His chaff would have been harmless enough if +intimacy of intercourse in the absence of all friendly +feeling were not a thing detestable in itself. Moreover, +his facetiousness was not very amusing. It consisted +in the wearisome repetition of descriptive phrases +applied to people with a burst of laughter. "Desperate +butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" was one sample of his +peculiar wit which he himself enjoyed so much. And in +the same vein of exquisite humour he called my at- +tention to the engineer of the steam-launch, one day, as +we strolled on the path by the side of the creek. + +The man's head and shoulders emerged above the +deck, over which were scattered various tools of his +trade and a few pieces of machinery. He was doing +some repairs to the engines. At the sound of our foot- +steps he raised anxiously a grimy face with a pointed +chin and a tiny fair moustache. What could be seen of +his delicate features under the black smudges appeared +to me wasted and livid in the greenish shade of the +enormous tree spreading its foliage over the launch +moored close to the bank. + +To my great surprise, Harry Gee addressed him as +"Crocodile," in that half-jeering, half-bullying tone +which is characteristic of self-satisfaction in his delect- +able kind: + +"How does the work get on, Crocodile?" + +I should have said before that the amiable Harry had +picked up French of a sort somewhere -- in some colony +or other -- and that he pronounced it with a disagreeable +forced precision as though he meant to guy the lan- +guage. The man in the launch answered him quickly in +a pleasant voice. His eyes had a liquid softness and +his teeth flashed dazzlingly white between his thin, +drooping lips. The manager turned to me, very cheer- +ful and loud, explaining: + +"I call him Crocodile because he lives half in, half +out of the creek. Amphibious -- see? There's nothing +else amphibious living on the island except crocodiles; +so he must belong to the species -- eh? But in reality +he's nothing less than un citoyen anarchiste de Bar- +celone." + +"A citizen anarchist from Barcelona?" I repeated, +stupidly, looking down at the man. He had turned to +his work in the engine-well of the launch and presented +his bowed back to us. In that attitude I heard him +protest, very audibly: + +"I do not even know Spanish." + +"Hey? What? You dare to deny you come from +over there?" the accomplished manager was down on +him truculently. + +At this the man straightened himself up, dropping a +spanner he had been using, and faced us; but he trem- +bled in all his limbs. + +"I deny nothing, nothing, nothing!" he said, ex- +citedly. + +He picked up the spanner and went to work again +without paying any further attention to us. After +looking at him for a minute or so, we went away. + +"Is he really an anarchist?" I asked, when out of +ear-shot. + +"I don't care a hang what he is," answered the +humorous official of the B. 0. S. Co. "I gave him the +name because it suited me to label him in that way, +It's good for the company." + +"For the company!" I exclaimed, stopping short. + +"Aha!" he triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug +face and straddling his thin, long legs. "That sur- +prises you. I am bound to do my best for my company. +They have enormous expenses. Why -- our agent in +Horta tells me they spend fifty thousand pounds every +year in advertising all over the world! One can't be +too economical in working the show. Well, just you +listen. When I took charge here the estate had no +steam-launch. I asked for one, and kept on asking +by every mail till I got it; but the man they sent out +with it chucked his job at the end of two months, leav- +ing the launch moored at the pontoon in Horta. Got a +better screw at a sawmill up the river -- blast him! And +ever since it has been the same thing. Any Scotch or +Yankee vagabond that likes to call himself a mechanic +out here gets eighteen pounds a month, and the next +you know he's cleared out, after smashing something +as likely as not. I give you my word that some of the +objects I've had for engine-drivers couldn't tell the +boiler from the funnel. But this fellow understands his +trade, and I don't mean him to clear out. See?" + +And he struck me lightly on the chest for emphasis. +Disregarding his peculiarities of manner, I wanted to +know what all this had to do with the man being an +anarchist. + +"Come!" jeered the manager. "If you saw suddenly +a barefooted, unkempt chap slinking amongst the +bushes on the sea face of the island, and at the same +time observed less than a mile from the beach, a small +schooner full of niggers hauling off in a hurry, you +wouldn't think the man fell there from the sky, would +you? And it could be nothing else but either that or +Cayenne. I've got my wits about me. Directly I +sighted this queer game I said to myself -- 'Escaped +Convict.' I was as certain of it as I am of seeing you +standing here this minute. So I spurred on straight at +him. He stood his ground for a bit on a sand hillock +crying out: 'Monsieur! Monsieur! Arretez!' then at +the last moment broke and ran for life. Says I to +myself, 'I'll tame you before I'm done with you.' So +without a single word I kept on, heading him off here +and there. I rounded him up towards the shore, and at +last I had him corralled on a spit, his heels in the water +and nothing but sea and sky at his back, with my horse +pawing the sand and shaking his head within a yard +of him. + +"He folded his arms on his breast then and stuck his +chin up in a sort of desperate way; but I wasn't to be +impressed by the beggar's posturing. + +"Says I, 'You're a runaway convict.' + +"When he heard French, his chin went down and +his face changed. + +"'I deny nothing,' says he, panting yet, for I had +kept him skipping about in front of my horse pretty +smartly. I asked him what he was doing there. He +had got his breath by then, and explained that he had +meant to make his way to a farm which he understood +(from the schooner's people, I suppose) was to be found +in the neighbourhood. At that I laughed aloud and he +got uneasy. Had he been deceived? Was there no +farm within walking distance? + +"I laughed more and more. He was on foot, and of +course the first bunch of cattle he came across would +have stamped him to rags under their hoofs. A dis- +mounted man caught on the feeding-grounds hasn't got +the ghost of a chance. + +"'My coming upon you like this has certainly saved +your life,' I said. He remarked that perhaps it was so; +but that for his part he had imagined I had wanted to +kill him under the hoofs of my horse. I assured him +that nothing would have been easier had I meant it. +And then we came to a sort of dead stop. For the life +of me I didn't know what to do with this convict, unless +I chucked him into the sea. It occurred to me to ask +him what he had been transported for. He hung his +head. + +"'What is it?' says I. 'Theft, murder, rape, or +what?' I wanted to hear what he would have to say +for himself, though of course I expected it would be some +sort of lie. But all he said was -- + +"'Make it what you like. I deny nothing. It is no +good denying anything.' + +"I looked him over carefully and a thought struck +me. + +"'They've got anarchists there, too,' I said. 'Per- +haps you're one of them.' + +"'I deny nothing whatever, monsieur,' he repeats. + +"This answer made me think that perhaps he was not +an anarchist. I believe those damned lunatics are +rather proud of themselves. If he had been one, he +would have probably confessed straight out. + +"'What were you before you became a convict?' + +"'Ouvrier,' he says. 'And a good workman, too.' + +"At that I began to think he must be an anarchist, +after all. That's the class they come mostly from, isn't +it? I hate the cowardly bomb-throwing brutes. I +almost made up my mind to turn my horse short round +and leave him to starve or drown where he was, which- +ever he liked best. As to crossing the island to bother +me again, the cattle would see to that. I don't know +what induced me to ask -- + +"'What sort of workman?' + +"I didn't care a hang whether he answered me or +not. But when he said at once, 'Mecanicien, monsieur,' +I nearly jumped out of the saddle with excitement. The +launch had been lying disabled and idle in the creek for +three weeks. My duty to the company was clear. He +noticed my start, too, and there we were for a minute or +so staring at each other as if bewitched. + +"'Get up on my horse behind me,' I told him. 'You +shall put my steam-launch to rights.'" + + +These are the words in which the worthy manager +of the Maranon estate related to me the coming of the +supposed anarchist. He meant to keep him -- out of a +sense of duty to the company -- and the name he had +given him would prevent the fellow from obtaining +employment anywhere in Horta. The vaqueros of the +estate, when they went on leave, spread it all over the +town. They did not know what an anarchist was, nor +yet what Barcelona meant. They called him Anarchisto +de Barcelona, as if it were his Christian name and sur- +name. But the people in town had been reading in +their papers about the anarchists in Europe and were +very much impressed. Over the jocular addition of +"de Barcelona" Mr. Harry Gee chuckled with immense +satisfaction. "That breed is particularly murderous, +isn't it? It makes the sawmills crowd still more afraid +of having anything to do with him -- see?" he exulted, +candidly. "I hold him by that name better than if I +had him chained up by the leg to the deck of the steam- +launch. + +"And mark," he added, after a pause, "he does not +deny it. I am not wronging him in any way. He is a +convict of some sort, anyhow." + +"But I suppose you pay him some wages, don't you?" +I asked. + +"Wages! What does he want with money here? +He gets his food from my kitchen and his clothing from +the store. Of course I'll give him something at the end +of the year, but you don't think I'd employ a convict +and give him the same money I would give an honest +man? I am looking after the interests of my company +first and last." + +I admitted that, for a company spending fifty +thousand pounds every year in advertising, the strictest +economy was obviously necessary. The manager of +the Maranon Estancia grunted approvingly. + +"And I'll tell you what," he continued: "if I were +certain he's an anarchist and he had the cheek to ask me +for money, I would give him the toe of my boot. How- +ever, let him have the benefit of the doubt. I am per- +fectly willing to take it that he has done nothing worse +than to stick a knife into somebody -- with extenuating +circumstances -- French fashion, don't you know. But +that subversive sanguinary rot of doing away with all +law and order in the world makes my blood boil. It's +simply cutting the ground from under the feet of every +decent, respectable, hard-working person. I tell you +that the consciences of people who have them, like you +or I, must be protected in some way; or else the first +low scoundrel that came along would in every respect be +just as good as myself. Wouldn't he, now? And that's +absurd!" + +He glared at me. I nodded slightly and murmured +that doubtless there was much subtle truth in his view. + + +The principal truth discoverable in the views of Paul +the engineer was that a little thing may bring about the +undoing of a man. + +"Il ne faut pas beaucoup pour perdre un homme," he +said to me, thoughtfully, one evening. + + report this reflection in French, since the man was +of Paris, not of Barcelona at all. At the Maranon he +lived apart from the station, in a small shed with a metal +roof and straw walls, which he called mon atelier. He +had a work-bench there. They had given him several +horse-blankets and a saddle -- not that he ever had +occasion to ride, but because no other bedding was +used by the working-hands, who were all vaqueros -- +cattlemen. And on this horseman's gear, like a son of +the plains, he used to sleep amongst the tools of his +trade, in a litter of rusty scrap-iron, with a portable +forge at his head, under the work-bench sustaining his +grimy mosquito-net. + +Now and then I would bring him a few candle ends +saved from the scant supply of the manager's house. +He was very thankful for these. He did not like to lie +awake in the dark, he confessed. He complained that +sleep fled from him. "Le sommeil me fuit," he declared, +with his habitual air of subdued stoicism, which made +him sympathetic and touching. I made it clear to him +that I did not attach undue importance to the fact of his +having been a convict. + +Thus it came about that one evening he was led to +talk about himself. As one of the bits of candle on the +edge of the bench burned down to the end, he hastened +to light another. + +He had done his military service in a provincial +garrison and returned to Paris to follow his trade. It +was a well-paid one. He told me with some pride that +in a short time he was earning no less than ten francs a +day. He was thinking of setting up for himself by +and by and of getting married. + +Here he sighed deeply and paused. Then with a +return to his stoical note: + +"It seems I did not know enough about myself." + +On his twenty-fifth birthday two of his friends in the +repairing shop where he worked proposed to stand him +a dinner. He was immensely touched by this attention. + +"I was a steady man," he remarked, "but I am not +less sociable than any other body." + +The entertainment came off in a little cafe on the +Boulevard de la Chapelle. At dinner they drank some +special wine. It was excellent. Everything was excel- +lent; and the world -- in his own words -- seemed a very +good place to live in. He had good prospects, some +little money laid by, and the affection of two excellent +friends. He offered to pay for all the drinks after +dinner, which was only proper on his part. + +They drank more wine; they drank liqueurs, cognac, +beer, then more liqueurs and more cognac. Two +strangers sitting at the next table looked at him, he said, +with so much friendliness, that he invited them to join +the party. + +He had never drunk so much in his life. His elation +was extreme, and so pleasurable that whenever it +flagged he hastened to order more drinks. + +"It seemed to me," he said, in his quiet tone and +looking on the ground in the gloomy shed full of shad- +ows, "that I was on the point of just attaining a great +and wonderful felicity. Another drink, I felt, would do +it. The others were holding out well with me, glass for +glass." + +But an extraordinary thing happened. At something +the strangers said his elation fell. Gloomy ideas-- des +idees noires -- rushed into his head. All the world out- +side the cafe; appeared to him as a dismal evil place +where a multitude of poor wretches had to work and +slave to the sole end that a few individuals should ride in +carriages and live riotously in palaces. He became +ashamed of his happiness. The pity of mankind's cruel +lot wrung his heart. In a voice choked with sorrow he +tried to express these sentiments. He thinks he wept +and swore in turns. + +The two new acquaintances hastened to applaud his +humane indignation. Yes. The amount of injustice +in the world was indeed scandalous. There was only +one way of dealing with the rotten state of society. +Demolish the whole sacree boutique. Blow up the whole +iniquitous show. + +Their heads hovered over the table. They whis- +pered to him eloquently; I don't think they quite +expected the result. He was extremely drunk -- mad +drunk. With a howl of rage he leaped suddenly upon +the table. Kicking over the bottles and glasses, he +yelled: "Vive l'anarchie! Death to the capitalists!" +He yelled this again and again. All round him broken +glass was falling, chairs were being swung in the air, +people were taking each other by the throat. The +police dashed in. He hit, bit, scratched and struggled, +till something crashed down upon his head. . . . + +He came to himself in a police cell, locked up on +a charge of assault, seditious cries, and anarchist +propaganda. + +He looked at me fixedly with his liquid, shining +eyes, that seemed very big in the dim light. + +"That was bad. But even then I might have got off +somehow, perhaps," he said, slowly. + +I doubt it. But whatever chance he had was done +away with by a young socialist lawyer who volunteered +to undertake his defence. In vain he assured him that +he was no anarchist; that he was a quiet, respectable +mechanic, only too anxious to work ten hours per day at +his trade. He was represented at the trial as the victim +of society and his drunken shoutings as the expression +of infinite suffering. The young lawyer had his way to +make, and this case was just what he wanted for a +start. The speech for the defence was pronounced +magnificent. + +The poor fellow paused, swallowed, and brought out +the statement: + +"I got the maximum penalty applicable to a first +offence." + +I made an appropriate murmur. He hung his head +and folded his arms. + +"When they let me out of prison," he began, gently, +"I made tracks, of course, for my old workshop. My +patron had a particular liking for me before; but when +he saw me he turned green with fright and showed me +the door with a shaking hand." + +While he stood in the street, uneasy and discon- +certed, he was accosted by a middle-aged man who +introduced himself as an engineer's fitter, too. "I know +who you are," he said. "I have attended your trial. +You are a good comrade and your ideas are sound. +But the devil of it is that you won't be able to get work +anywhere now. These bourgeois'll conspire to starve +you. That's their way. Expect no mercy from the +rich." + +To be spoken to so kindly in the street had com- +forted him very much. His seemed to be the sort of +nature needing support and sympathy. The idea of +not being able to find work had knocked him over +completely. If his patron, who knew him so well for a +quiet, orderly, competent workman, would have noth- +ing to do with him now -- then surely nobody else would. +That was clear. The police, keeping their eye on him, +would hasten to warn every employer inclined to give +him a chance. He felt suddenly very helpless, alarmed +and idle; and he followed the middle-aged man to the +estaminet round the corner where he met some other +good companions. They assured him that he would +not be allowed to starve, work or no work. They had +drinks all round to the discomfiture of all employers of +labour and to the destruction of society. + +He sat biting his lower lip. + +"That is, monsieur, how I became a compagnon," he +said. The hand he passed over his forehead was +trembling. "All the same, there's something wrong in +a world where a man can get lost for a glass more or +less." + +He never looked up, though I could see he was +getting excited under his dejection. He slapped the +bench with his open palm. + +"No!" he cried. "It was an impossible existence! +Watched by the police, watched by the comrades, I +did not belong to myself any more! Why, I could not +even go to draw a few francs from my savings-bank +without a comrade hanging about the door to see that +I didn't bolt! And most of them were neither more +nor less than housebreakers. The intelligent, I mean. +They robbed the rich; they were only getting back +their own, they said. When I had had some drink I +believed them. There were also the fools and the mad. +Des exaltes -- quoi! When I was drunk I loved them. +When I got more drink I was angry with the world. +That was the best time. I found refuge from misery in +rage. But one can't be always drunk -- n'est-ce pas, +monsieur? And when I was sober I was afraid to break +away. They would have stuck me like a pig." + +He folded his arms again and raised his sharp chin +with a bitter smile. + +"By and by they told me it was time to go to work. +The work was to rob a bank. Afterwards a bomb +would be thrown to wreck the place. My beginner's +part would be to keep watch in a street at the back and +to take care of a black bag with the bomb inside till it +was wanted. After the meeting at which the affair was +arranged a trusty comrade did not leave me an inch. +I had not dared to protest; I was afraid of being done +away with quietly in that room; only, as we were +walking together I wondered whether it would not +be better for me to throw myself suddenly into the +Seine. But while I was turning it over in my mind +we had crossed the bridge, and afterwards I had not +the opportunity." + +In the light of the candle end, with his sharp features, +fluffy little moustache, and oval face, he looked at +times delicately and gaily young, and then appeared +quite old, decrepit, full of sorrow, pressing his folded +arms to his breast. + +As he remained silent I felt bound to ask: + +"Well! And how did it end?" + +"Deportation to Cayenne," he answered. + +He seemed to think that somebody had given the +plot away. As he was keeping watch in the back +street, bag in hand, he was set upon by the police. +"These imbeciles," had knocked him down without +noticing what he had in his hand. He wondered how the +bomb failed to explode as he fell. But it didn't explode. + +"I tried to tell my story in court," he continued. +"The president was amused. There were in the +audience some idiots who laughed." + +I expressed the hope that some of his companions +had been caught, too. He shuddered slightly before he +told me that there were two -- Simon, called also Biscuit, +the middle-aged fitter who spoke to him in the street, +and a fellow of the name of Mafile, one of the sym- +pathetic strangers who had applauded his sentiments +and consoled his humanitarian sorrows when he got +drunk in the cafe. + +"Yes," he went on, with an effort, "I had the ad- +vantage of their company over there on St. Joseph's +Island, amongst some eighty or ninety other convicts. +We were all classed as dangerous." + +St. Joseph's Island is the prettiest of the Iles de +Salut. It is rocky and green, with shallow ravines, +bushes, thickets, groves of mango-trees, and many +feathery palms. Six warders armed with revolvers and +carbines are in charge of the convicts kept there. + +An eight-oared galley keeps up the communication +in the daytime, across a channel a quarter of a mile +wide, with the Ile Royale, where there is a military post. +She makes the first trip at six in the morning. At four +in the afternoon her service is over, and she is then +hauled up into a little dock on the Ile Royale and a +sentry put over her and a few smaller boats. From that +time till next morning the island of St. Joseph remains +cut off from the rest of the world, with the warders +patrolling in turn the path from the warders' house to +the convict huts, and a multitude of sharks patrolling +the waters all round. + +Under these circumstances the convicts planned a +mutiny. Such a thing had never been known in the +penitentiary's history before. But their plan was not +without some possibility of success. The warders were +to be taken by surprise and murdered during the night. +Their arms would enable the convicts to shoot down +the people in the galley as she came alongside in the +morning. The galley once in their possession, other +boats were to be captured, and the whole company was +to row away up the coast. + +At dusk the two warders on duty mustered the con- +victs as usual. Then they proceeded to inspect the +huts to ascertain that everything was in order. In the +second they entered they were set upon and absolutely +smothered under the numbers of their assailants. The +twilight faded rapidly. It was a new moon; and a heavy +black squall gathering over the coast increased the pro- +found darkness of the night. The convicts assembled in +the open space, deliberating upon the next step to be +taken, argued amongst themselves in low voices. + +"You took part in all this?" I asked. + +"No. I knew what was going to be done, of course. +But why should I kill these warders? I had nothing +against them. But I was afraid of the others. What- +ever happened, I could not escape from them. I sat +alone on the stump of a tree with my head in my hands, +sick at heart at the thought of a freedom that could be +nothing but a mockery to me. Suddenly I was startled +to perceive the shape of a man on the path near by. +He stood perfectly still, then his form became effaced in +the night. It must have been the chief warder coming +to see what had become of his two men. No one +noticed him. The convicts kept on quarrelling over +their plans. The leaders could not get themselves +obeyed. The fierce whispering of that dark mass of +men was very horrible. + +"At last they divided into two parties and moved off. +When they had passed me I rose, weary and hopeless. +The path to the warders' house was dark and silent, +but on each side the bushes rustled slightly. Presently +I saw a faint thread of light before me. The chief +warder, followed by his three men, was approaching +cautiously. But he had failed to close his dark lantern +properly. The convicts had seen that faint gleam, too. +There was an awful savage yell, a turmoil on the dark +path, shots fired, blows, groans: and with the sound of +smashed bushes, the shouts of the pursuers and the +screams of the pursued, the man-hunt, the warder-hunt, +passed by me into the interior of the island. I was +alone. And I assure you, monsieur, I was indifferent +to everything. After standing still for a while, I walked +on along the path till I kicked something hard. I +stooped and picked up a warder's revolver. I felt with +my fingers that it was loaded in five chambers. In +the gusts of wind I heard the convicts calling to each +other far away, and then a roll of thunder would cover +the soughing and rustling of the trees. Suddenly, a big +light ran across my path very low along the ground. +And it showed a woman's skirt with the edge of an +apron. + +"I knew that the person who carried it must be the +wife of the head warder. They had forgotten all about +her, it seems. A shot rang out in the interior of the +island, and she cried out to herself as she ran. She +passed on. I followed, and presently I saw her again. +She was pulling at the cord of the big bell which hangs +at the end of the landing-pier, with one hand, and with +the other she was swinging the heavy lantern to and +fro. This is the agreed signal for the Ile Royale should +assistance be required at night. The wind carried the +sound away from our island and the light she swung +was hidden on the shore side by the few trees that grow +near the warders' house. + +"I came up quite close to her from behind. She +went on without stopping, without looking aside, as +though she had been all alone on the island. A brave +woman, monsieur. I put the revolver inside the breast +of my blue blouse and waited. A flash of lightning and +a clap of thunder destroyed both the sound and the +light of the signal for an instant, but she never faltered, +pulling at the cord and swinging the lantern as regularly +as a machine. She was a comely woman of thirty -- no +more. I thought to myself, 'All that's no good on a +night like this.' And I made up my mind that if a +body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier -- +which was sure to happen soon -- I would shoot her +through the head before I shot myself. I knew the +'comrades' well. This idea of mine gave me quite an. +interest in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of re- +maining stupidly exposed on the pier, I retreated a +little way and crouched behind a bush. I did not in- +tend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be +prevented perhaps from rendering a supreme service +to at least one human creature before I died myself. + +"But we must believe the signal was seen, for the +galley from Ile Royale came over in an astonishingly +short time. The woman kept right on till the light of +her lantern flashed upon the officer in command and +the bayonets of the soldiers in the boat. Then she sat +down and began to cry. + +"She didn't need me any more. I did not budge. +Some soldiers were only in their shirt-sleeves, others +without boots, just as the call to arms had found them. +They passed by my bush at the double. The galley had +been sent away for more; and the woman sat all alone +crying at the end of the pier, with the lantern standing +on the ground near her. + +"Then suddenly I saw in the light at the end of the +pier the red pantaloons of two more men. I was over- +come with astonishment. They, too, started off at a +run. Their tunics flapped unbuttoned and they were +bare-headed. One of them panted out to the other, +'Straight on, straight on!' + +"Where on earth did they spring from, I wondered. +Slowly I walked down the short pier. I saw the +woman's form shaken by sobs and heard her moaning +more and more distinctly, 'Oh, my man! my poor man! +my poor man!' I stole on quietly. She could neither +hear nor see anything. She had thrown her apron over +her head and was rocking herself to and fro in her grief. +But I remarked a small boat fastened to the end of the +pier. + +"Those two men -- they looked like sous-officiers -- +must have come in it, after being too late, I suppose, for +the galley. It is incredible that they should have thus +broken the regulations from a sense of duty. And it +was a stupid thing to do. I could not believe my eyes +in the very moment I was stepping into that boat. + +"I pulled along the shore slowly. A black cloud +hung over the Iles de Salut. I heard firing, shouts. +Another hunt had begun -- the convict-hunt. The +oars were too long to pull comfortably. I managed +them with difficulty, though the boat herself was light. +But when I got round to the other side of the island the +squall broke in rain and wind. I was unable to make +head against it. I let the boat drift ashore and secured +her. + +"I knew the spot. There was a tumbledown old +hovel standing near the water. Cowering in there I +heard through the noises of the wind and the falling +downpour some people tearing through the bushes. +They came out on the strand. Soldiers perhaps. A +flash of lightning threw everything near me into violent +relief. Two convicts! + +"And directly an amazed voice exclaimed. 'It's a +miracle!' It was the voice of Simon, otherwise Biscuit. + +"And another voice growled, 'What's a miracle?' + +"'Why, there's a boat lying here!' + +"'You must be mad, Simon! But there is, after all. +. . . A boat.' + +"They seemed awed into complete silence. The +other man was Mafile. He spoke again, cautiously. + +"'It is fastened up. There must be somebody here.' + +"I spoke to them from within the hovel: 'I am here.' + +"They came in then, and soon gave me to understand +that the boat was theirs, not mine. 'There are two of +us,' said Mafile, 'against you alone.' + +"I got out into the open to keep clear of them for +fear of getting a treacherous blow on the head. I could +have shot them both where they stood. But I said +nothing. I kept down the laughter rising in my throat. +I made myself very humble and begged to be allowed to +go. They consulted in low tones about my fate, while +with my hand on the revolver in the bosom of my blouse +I had their lives in my power. I let them live. I +meant them to pull that boat. I represented to them +with abject humility that I understood the management +of a boat, and that, being three to pull, we could get a +rest in turns. That decided them at last. It was time. +A little more and I would have gone into screaming fits +at the drollness of it." + +At this point his excitement broke out. He jumped +off the bench and gesticulated. The great shadows of +his arms darting over roof and walls made the shed +appear too small to contain his agitation. + +"I deny nothing," he burst out. "I was elated, +monsieur. I tasted a sort of felicity. But I kept very +quiet. I took my turns at pulling all through the +night. We made for the open sea, putting our trust in a +passing ship. It was a foolhardy action. I persuaded +them to it. When the sun rose the immensity of water +was calm, and the Iles de Salut appeared only like dark +specks from the top of each swell. I was steering then. +Mafile, who was pulling bow, let out an oath and said, +'We must rest.' + +'The time to laugh had come at last. And I took +my fill of it, I can tell you. I held my sides and rolled +in my seat, they had such startled faces. 'What's got +into him, the animal?' cries Mafile. + +"And Simon, who was nearest to me, says over his +shoulder to him, 'Devil take me if I don't think he's +gone mad!' + +"Then I produced the revolver. Aha! In a mo- +ment they both got the stoniest eyes you can imagine. +Ha, ha! They were frightened. But they pulled. +Oh, yes, they pulled all day, sometimes looking wild and +sometimes looking faint. I lost nothing of it because I +had to keep my eyes on them all the time, or else -- +crack! -- they would have been on top of me in a second. +I rested my revolver hand on my knee all ready and +steered with the other. Their faces began to blister. +Sky and sea seemed on fire round us and the sea steamed +in the sun. The boat made a sizzling sound as she went +through the water. Sometimes Mafile foamed at the +mouth and sometimes he groaned. But he pulled. He +dared not stop. His eyes became blood-shot all over, +and he had bitten his lower lip to pieces. Simon was as +hoarse as a crow. + +"'Comrade --' he begins. + +'"There are no comrades here. I am your pa- +tron.' + +"'Patron, then,' he says, 'in the name of humanity +let us rest.' + +"I let them. There was a little rainwater washing +about the bottom of the boat. I permitted them to +snatch some of it in the hollow of their palms. But as I +gave the command, 'En route!' I caught them exchang- +ing significant glances. They thought I would have to +go to sleep sometime! Aha! But I did not want to go +to sleep. I was more awake than ever. It is they who +went to sleep as they pulled, tumbling off the thwarts +head over heels suddenly, one after another. I let them +lie. All the stars were out. It was a quiet world. The +sun rose. Another day. Allez! En route! +"They pulled badly. Their eyes rolled about and +their tongues hung out. In the middle of the forenoon +Mafile croaks out: 'Let us make a rush at him, Simon. +I would just as soon be shot at once as to die of thirst, +hunger, and fatigue at the oar.' + +"But while he spoke he pulled; and Simon kept on +pulling too. It made me smile. Ah! They loved +their life these two, in this evil world of theirs, just +as I used to love my life, too, before they spoiled it +for me with their phrases. I let them go on to the +point of exhaustion, and only then I pointed at the +sails of a ship on the horizon. + +"Aha! You should have seen them revive and +buckle to their work! For I kept them at it to pull +right across that ship's path. They were changed. +The sort of pity I had felt for them left me. They +looked more like themselves every minute. They +looked at me with the glances I remembered so well. +They were happy. They smiled. + +"'Well,' says Simon, 'the energy of that youngster +has saved our lives. If he hadn't made us, we could +never have pulled so far out into the track of ships. +Comrade, I forgive you. I admire you.' + +"And Mafile growls from forward: 'We owe you a +famous debt of gratitude, comrade. You are cut out +for a chief.' + +"Comrade! Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! +And they, such men as these two, had made it accursed. +I looked at them. I remembered their lies, their +promises, their menaces, and all my days of misery. +Why could they not have left me alone after I came out +of prison? I looked at them and thought that while +they lived I could never be free. Never. Neither I nor +others like me with warm hearts and weak heads. For +I know I have not a strong head, monsieur. A black +rage came upon me -- the rage of extreme intoxication -- +but not against the injustice of society. Oh, no! + +"'I must be free!' I cried, furiously. + +"'Vive la liberte!" yells that ruffian Mafile. 'Mort +aux bourgeois who send us to Cayenne! They shall +soon know that we are free.' + +"The sky, the sea, the whole horizon, seemed to turn +red, blood red all round the boat. My temples were +beating so loud that I wondered they did not hear. +How is it that they did not? How is it they did not +understand? + +"I heard Simon ask, 'Have we not pulled far enough +out now?' + + +"'Yes. Far enough,' I said. I was sorry for him; +it was the other I hated. He hauled in his oar with a +loud sigh, and as he was raising his hand to wipe his +forehead with the air of a man who has done his work, I +pulled the trigger of my revolver and shot him like this +off the knee, right through the heart. + +"He tumbled down, with his head hanging over the +side of the boat. I did not give him a second glance. +The other cried out piercingly. Only one shriek of +horror. Then all was still. + +"He slipped off the thwart on to his knees and raised +his clasped hands before his face in an attitude of suppli- +cation. 'Mercy,' he whispered, faintly. 'Mercy for +me! -- comrade.' + +"'Ah, comrade,' I said, in a low tone. 'Yes, comrade, +of course. Well, then, shout Vive l'anarchie.' + +"He flung up his arms, his face up to the sky and +his mouth wide open in a great yell of despair. 'Vive +l'anarchie! Vive --' + +"He collapsed all in a heap, with a bullet through +his head. + +"I flung them both overboard. I threw away the +revolver, too. Then I sat down quietly. I was free at +last! At last. I did not even look towards the ship; +I did not care; indeed, I think I must have gone to +sleep, because all of a sudden there were shouts and I +found the ship almost on top of me. They hauled me +on board and secured the boat astern. They were all +blacks, except the captain, who was a mulatto. He +alone knew a few words of French. I could not find +out where they were going nor who they were. They +gave me something to eat every day; but I did not like +the way they used to discuss me in their language. +Perhaps they were deliberating about throwing me over- +board in order to keep possession of the boat. How do +I know? As we were passing this island I asked +whether it was inhabited. I understood from the +mulatto that there was a house on it. A farm, I +fancied, they meant. So I asked them to put me ashore +on the beach and keep the boat for their trouble. This, +I imagine, was just what they wanted. The rest you +know." + +After pronouncing these words he lost suddenly all +control over himself. He paced to and fro rapidly, till +at last he broke into a run; his arms went like a windmill +and his ejaculations became very much like raving. +The burden of them was that he "denied nothing, +nothing!" I could only let him go on, and sat out of his +way, repeating, "Calmez vous, calmez vous," at intervals, +till his agitation exhausted itself. + +I must confess, too, that I remained there long after +he had crawled under his mosquito-net. He had en- +treated me not to leave him; so, as one sits up with a +nervous child, I sat up with him -- in the name of +humanity -- till he fell asleep. + +On the whole, my idea is that he was much more of +an anarchist than he confessed to me or to himself; and +that, the special features of his case apart, he was very +much like many other anarchists. Warm heart and +weak head -- that is the word of the riddle; and it is a +fact that the bitterest contradictions and the deadliest +conflicts of the world are carried on in every individual +breast capable of feeling and passion. + +From personal inquiry I can vouch that the story of +the convict mutiny was in every particular as stated by +him. + +When I got back to Horta from Cayenne and saw +the "Anarchist" again, he did not look well. He was +more worn, still more frail, and very livid indeed under +the grimy smudges of his calling. Evidently the meat +of the company's main herd (in its unconcentrated +form) did not agree with him at all. + +It was on the pontoon in Horta that we met; and I +tried to induce him to leave the launch moored where +she was and follow me to Europe there and then. It +would have been delightful to think of the excellent +manager's surprise and disgust at the poor fellow's +escape. But he refused with unconquerable obstinacy. + +"Surely you don't mean to live always here!" I +cried. He shook his head. + +"I shall die here," he said. Then added moodily, +"Away from them." + +Sometimes I think of him lying open-eyed on his +horseman's gear in the low shed full of tools and scraps +of iron -- the anarchist slave of the Maranon estate, +waiting with resignation for that sleep which "fled" +from him, as he used to say, in such an unaccountable +manner. + + + + +A MILITARY TALE + + +THE DUEL + +I + +NAPOLEON I., whose career had the quality of a +duel against the whole of Europe, disliked duelling +between the officers of his army. The great military +emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect +for tradition. + +Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a +legend in the army, runs through the epic of imperial +wars. To the surprise and admiration of their fellows, +two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined gold +or paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the +years of universal carnage. They were officers of +cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited but +fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems +particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to +imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry +of the line, for example, whose fantasy is tamed by +much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily +must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or +engineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of +mathematics, it is simply unthinkable. + +The names of the two officers were Feraud and +D'Hubert, and they were both lieutenants in a regiment +of hussars, but not in the same regiment. + +Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieut. +D'Hubert had the good fortune to be attached to the +person of the general commanding the division, as +officier d'ordonnance. It was in Strasbourg, and in this +agreeable and important garrison they were enjoying +greatly a short interval of peace. They were enjoying +it, though both intensely warlike, because it was a +sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a +military heart and undamaging to military prestige, +inasmuch that no one believed in its sincerity or +duration. + +Under those historical circumstances, so favourable +to the proper appreciation of military leisure, Lieut. +D'Hubert, one fine afternoon, made his way along a +quiet street of a cheerful suburb towards Lieut. Feraud's +quarters, which were in a private house with a garden +at the back, belonging to an old maiden lady. + +His knock at the door was answered instantly by a +young maid in Alsatian costume. Her fresh complexion +and her long eyelashes, lowered demurely at the sight +of the tall officer, caused Lieut. D'Hubert, who was +accessible to esthetic impressions, to relax the cold, +severe gravity of his face. At the same time he ob- +served that the girl had over her arm a pair of hussar's +breeches, blue with a red stripe. + +"Lieut. Feraud in?" he inquired, benevolently. + +"Oh, no, sir! He went out at six this morning." + +The pretty maid tried to close the door. Lieut. +D'Hubert, opposing this move with gentle firmness, +stepped into the ante-room, jingling his spurs. + +"Come, my dear! You don't mean to say he has +not been home since six o'clock this morning?" + +Saying these words, Lieut. D'Hubert opened with- +out ceremony the door of a room so comfortably and +neatly ordered that only from internal evidence in the +shape of boots, uniforms, and military accoutrements +did he acquire the conviction that it was Lieut. Feraud's +room. And he saw also that Lieut. Feraud was not at +home. The truthful maid had followed him, and raised +her candid eyes to his face. + +"H'm!" said Lieut. D'Hubert, greatly disappointed, +for he had already visited all the haunts where a lieu- +tenant of hussars could be found of a fine afternoon. +"So he's out? And do you happen to know, my dear, +why he went out at six this morning?" + +"No," she answered, readily. "He came home late +last night, and snored. I heard him when I got up at +five. Then he dressed himself in his oldest uniform and +went out. Service, I suppose." + +"Service? Not a bit of it!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. +"Learn, my angel, that he went out thus early to fight a +duel with a civilian." + +She heard this news without a quiver of her dark +eyelashes. It was very obvious that the actions of +Lieut. Feraud were generally above criticism. She only +looked up for a moment in mute surprise, and Lieut. +D'Hubert concluded from this absence of emotion that +she must have seen Lieut. Feraud since the morning. +He looked around the room. + +"Come!" he insisted, with confidential familiarity. +"He's perhaps somewhere in the house now?" + +She shook her head. + +"So much the worse for him!" continued Lieut. +D'Hubert, in a tone of anxious conviction. "But he +has been home this morning." + +This time the pretty maid nodded slightly. + +"He has!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. "And went out +again? What for? Couldn't he keep quietly indoors! +What a lunatic! My dear girl --" + +Lieut. D'Hubert's natural kindness of disposition +and strong sense of comradeship helped his powers of +observation. He changed his tone to a most insinuating +softness, and, gazing at the hussar's breeches hanging +over the arm of the girl, he appealed to the interest she +took in Lieut. Feraud's comfort and happiness. He +was pressing and persuasive. He used his eyes, which +were kind and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety +to get hold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut. Feraud's +own good, seemed so genuine that at last it overcame +the girl's unwillingness to speak. Unluckily she had +not much to tell. Lieut. Feraud had returned home +shortly before ten, had walked straight into his room, +and had thrown himself on his bed to resume his +slumbers. She had heard him snore rather louder than +before far into the afternoon. Then he got up, put on +his best uniform, and went out. That was all she knew. + +She raised her eyes, and Lieut. D'Hubert stared into +them incredulously. + +"It's incredible. Gone parading the town in his +best uniform! My dear child, don't you know he ran +that civilian through this morning? Clean through, as +you spit a hare." + +The pretty maid heard the gruesome intelligence +without any signs of distress. But she pressed her lips +together thoughtfully. + +"He isn't parading the town," she remarked in a low +tone. "Far from it." + +"The civilian's family is making an awful row," +continued Lieut. D'Hubert, pursuing his train of +thought. "And the general is very angry. It's one +of the best families in the town. Feraud ought to have +kept close at least --" + +"What will the general do to him?" inquired the girl, +anxiously. + +"He won't have his head cut off, to be sure," grum- +bled Lieut. D'Hubert. "His conduct is positively in- +decent. He's making no end of trouble for himself by +this sort of bravado." + +"But he isn't parading the town," the maid insisted +in a shy murmur. + +"Why, yes! Now I think of it, I haven't seen him +anywhere about. What on earth has he done with +himself?" + +"He's gone to pay a call," suggested the maid, after +a moment of silence. + +Lieut. D'Hubert started. + +"A call! Do you mean a call on a lady? The cheek +of the man! And how do you know this, my dear?" + +Without concealing her woman's scorn for the dense- +ness of the masculine mind, the pretty maid reminded +him that Lieut. Feraud had arrayed himself in his best +uniform before going out. He had also put on his +newest dolman, she added, in a tone as if this conver- +sation were getting on her nerves, and turned away +brusquely. + +Lieut. D'Hubert, without questioning the accuracy +of the deduction, did not see that it advanced him much +on his official quest. For his quest after Lieut. Feraud +had an official character. He did not know any of the +women this fellow, who had run a man through in the +morning, was likely to visit in the afternoon. The two +young men knew each other but slightly. He bit his +gloved finger in perplexity. + +"Call!" he exclaimed. "Call on the devil!" + +The girl, with her back to him, and folding the +hussars breeches on a chair, protested with a vexed +little laugh: + +"Oh, dear, no! On Madame de Lionne." + +Lieut. D'Hubert whistled softly. Madame de Lionne +was the wife of a high official who had a well-known +salon and some pretensions to sensibility and elegance. +The husband was a civilian, and old; but the society of +the salon was young and military. Lieut. D'Hubert +had whistled, not because the idea of pursuing Lieut. +Feraud into that very salon was disagreeable to him, but +because, having arrived in Strasbourg only lately, he +had not had the time as yet to get an introduction to +Madame de Lionne. And what was that swashbuckler +Feraud doing there, he wondered. He did not seem the +sort of man who -- + +"Are you certain of what you say?" asked Lieut. +D'Hubert. + +The girl was perfectly certain. Without turning +round to look at him, she explained that the coachman +of their next door neighbours knew the maitre-d'hotel +of Madame de Lionne. In this way she had her in- +formation. And she was perfectly certain. In giving +this assurance she sighed. Lieut. Feraud called there +nearly every afternoon, she added. + +"Ah, bah!" exclaimed D'Hubert, ironically. His +opinion of Madame de Lionne went down several de- +grees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him specially +worthy of attention on the part of a woman with a repu- +tation for sensibility and elegance. But there was no +saying. At bottom they were all alike -- very practi- +cal rather than idealistic. Lieut. D'Hubert, however, +did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations. + +"By thunder!" he reflected aloud. "The general +goes there sometimes. If he happens to find the fellow +making eyes at the lady there will be the devil to pay! +Our general is not a very accommodating person, I can +tell you." + +"Go quickly, then! Don't stand here now I've told +you where he is!" cried the girl, colouring to the eyes. + +"Thanks, my dear! I don't know what I would +have done without you." + +After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, +which at first was repulsed violently, and then sub- +mitted to with a sudden and still more repellent in- +difference, Lieut. D'Hubert took his departure. + +He clanked and jingled along the streets with a +martial swagger. To run a comrade to earth in a +drawing-room where he was not known did not trouble +him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His +position as officier d'ordonnance of the general added +to his assurance. Moreover, now that he knew where +to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a ser- +vice matter. + +Madame de Lionne's house had an excellent appear- +ance. A man in livery, opening the door of a large +drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his name +and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. +The ladies wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of +feathers; their bodies sheathed in clinging white gowns, +from the armpits to the tips of the low satin shoes, +looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare +necks and arms. The men who talked with them, on +the contrary, were arrayed heavily in multi-coloured +garments with collars up to their ears and thick sashes +round their waists. Lieut. D'Hubert made his un- +abashed way across the room and, bowing low before a +sylph-like form reclining on a couch, offered his +apologies for this intrusion, which nothing could excuse +but the extreme urgency of the service order he had to +communicate to his comrade Feraud. He proposed to +himself to return presently in a more regular manner +and beg forgiveness for interrupting the interesting +conversation . . . + +A bare arm was extended towards him with gracious +nonchalance even before he had finished speaking. He +pressed the hand respectfully to his lips, and made the +mental remark that it was bony. Madame de Lionne +was a blonde, with too fine a skin and a long face. + +"C'est ca!" she said, with an ethereal smile, disclosing +a set of large teeth. "Come this evening to plead for +your forgiveness." + +"I will not fail, madame." + +Meantime, Lieut. Feraud, splendid in his new dolman +and the extremely polished boots of his calling, sat on a +chair within a foot of the couch, one hand resting on his +thigh, the other twirling his moustache to a point. At +a significant glance from D'Hubert he rose without +alacrity, and followed him into the recess of a window. + +"What is it you want with me?" he asked, with +astonishing indifference. Lieut. D'Hubert could not +imagine that in the innocence of his heart and simplicity +of his conscience Lieut. Feraud took a view of his duel +in which neither remorse nor yet a rational apprehension +of consequences had any place. Though he had no +clear recollection how the quarrel had originated (it was +begun in an establishment where beer and wine are +drunk late at night), he had not the slightest doubt of +being himself the outraged party. He had had two +experienced friends for his seconds. Everything had +been done according to the rules governing that sort of +adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the +purpose of someone being at least hurt, if not killed +outright. The civilian got hurt. That also was in +order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectly tranquil; but +Lieut. D'Hubert took it for affectation, and spoke with +a certain vivacity. + +"I am directed by the general to give you the order +to go at once to your quarters, and remain there under +close arrest." + +It was now the turn of Lieut. Feraud to be aston- +ished. "What the devil are you telling me there?" he +murmured, faintly, and fell into such profound wonder +that he could only follow mechanically the motions of +Lieut. D'Hubert. The two officers, one tall, with an +interesting face and a moustache the colour of ripe corn, +the other, short and sturdy, with a hooked nose and a +thick crop of black curly hair, approached the mistress +of the house to take their leave. Madame de Lionne, +a woman of eclectic taste, smiled upon these armed +young men with impartial sensibility and an equal share +of interest. Madame de Lionne took her delight in the +infinite variety of the human species. All the other +eyes in the drawing-room followed the departing +officers; and when they had gone out one or two men, +who had already heard of the duel, imparted the in- +formation to the sylph-like ladies, who received it with +faint shrieks of humane concern. + +Meantime, the two hussars walked side by side, Lieut. +Feraud trying to master the hidden reason of things +which in this instance eluded the grasp of his intellect, +Lieut. D'Hubert feeling annoyed at the part he had to +play, because the general's instructions were that he +should see personally that Lieut. Feraud carried out his +orders to the letter, and at once. + +"The chief seems to know this animal," he thought, +eyeing his companion, whose round face, the round +eyes, and even the twisted-up jet black little moustache +seemed animated by a mental exasperation against the +incomprehensible. And aloud he observed rather re- +proachfully, "The general is in a devilish fury with you!" + +Lieut. Feraud stopped short on the edge of the pave- +ment, and cried in accents of unmistakable sincerity, +"What on earth for?" The innocence of the fiery +Gascon soul was depicted in the manner in which he +seized his head in both hands as if to prevent it bursting +with perplexity. + +"For the duel," said Lieut. D'Hubert, curtly. He +was annoyed greatly by this sort of perverse fooling. + +"The duel! The . . ." + + +Lieut. Feraud passed from one paroxysm of astonish- +ment into another. He dropped his hands and walked +on slowly, trying to reconcile this information with the +state of his own feelings. It was impossible. He burst +out indignantly, "Was I to let that sauerkraut-eating +civilian wipe his boots on the uniform of the 7th Hus- +sars?" + +Lieut. D'Hubert could not remain altogether un- +moved by that simple sentiment. This little fellow was +a lunatic, he thought to himself, but there was some- +thing in what he said. + +"Of course, I don't know how far you were justified," +he began, soothingly. "And the general himself may +not be exactly informed. Those people have been +deafening him with their lamentations." + +"Ah! the general is not exactly informed," mumbled +Lieut. Feraud, walking faster and faster as his choler at +the injustice of his fate began to rise. "He is not +exactly . . . And he orders me under close arrest, +with God knows what afterwards!" + +"Don't excite yourself like this," remonstrated the +other. "Your adversary's people are very influential, +you know, and it looks bad enough on the face of it. +The general had to take notice of their complaint at +once. I don't think he means to be over-severe with +you. It's the best thing for you to be kept out of sight +for a while." + +"I am very much obliged to the general," muttered +Lieut. Feraud through his teeth. "And perhaps you +would say I ought to be grateful to you, too, for the +trouble you have taken to hunt me up in the drawing- +room of a lady who --" + +"Frankly," interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, with an +innocent laugh, "I think you ought to be. I had no +end of trouble to find out where you were. It wasn't +exactly the place for you to disport yourself in under +the circumstances. If the general had caught you +there making eyes at the goddess of the temple . . . +oh, my word! . . . He hates to be bothered with +complaints against his officers, you know. And it +looked uncommonly like sheer bravado." + +The two officers had arrived now at the street door of +Lieut. Feraud's lodgings. The latter turned towards +his companion. "Lieut. D'Hubert," he said, "I have +something to say to you, which can't be said very well +in the street. You can't refuse to come up." + +The pretty maid had opened the door. Lieut. +Feraud brushed past her brusquely, and she raised her +scared and questioning eyes to Lieut. D'Hubert, who +could do nothing but shrug his shoulders slightly as he +followed with marked reluctance. + +In his room Lieut. Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung +his new dolman on the bed, and, folding his arms across +his chest, turned to the other hussar. + +"Do you imagine I am a man to submit tamely to +injustice?" he inquired, in a boisterous voice. + +"Oh, do be reasonable!" remonstrated Lieut. D'Hu- +bert. + +"I am reasonable! I am perfectly reasonable!" +retorted the other with ominous restraint. "I can't +call the general to account for his behaviour, but you are +going to answer me for yours." + +"I can't listen to this nonsense," murmured Lieut. +D'Hubert, making a slightly contemptuous grimace. + +"You call this nonsense? It seems to me a per- +fectly plain statement. Unless you don't understand +French." + +"What on earth do you mean?" + +"I mean," screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, "to cut +off your ears to teach you to disturb me with the +general's orders when I am talking to a lady!" + +A profound silence followed this mad declaration; +and through the open window Lieut. D'Hubert heard +the little birds singing sanely in the garden. He said, +preserving his calm, "Why! If you take that tone, of +course I shall hold myself at your disposition whenever +you are at liberty to attend to this affair; but I don't +think you will cut my ears off." + +"I am going to attend to it at once," declared Lieut. +Feraud, with extreme truculence. "If you are thinking +of displaying your airs and graces to-night in Madame +de Lionne's salon you are very much mistaken." + +"Really!" said Lieut. D'Hubert, who was beginning +to feel irritated, "you are an impracticable sort of +fellow. The general's orders to me were to put you +under arrest, not to carve you into small pieces. Good- +morning!" And turning his back on the little Gascon, +who, always sober in his potations, was as though born +intoxicated with the sunshine of his vine-ripening coun- +try, the Northman, who could drink hard on occasion, +but was born sober under the watery skies of Picardy, +made for the door. Hearing, however, the unmistak- +able sound behind his back of a sword drawn from the +scabbard, he had no option but to stop. + +"Devil take this mad Southerner!" he thought, spin- +ning round and surveying with composure the warlike +posture of Lieut. Feraud, with a bare sword in his hand. + +"At once! -- at once!" stuttered Feraud, beside himself. + +"You had my answer," said the other, keeping his +temper very well. + +At first he had been only vexed, and somewhat +amused; but now his face got clouded. He was asking +himself seriously how he could manage to get away. +It was impossible to run from a man with a sword, and +as to fighting him, it seemed completely out of the +question. He waited awhile, then said exactly what +was in his heart. + +"Drop this! I won't fight with you. I won't be +made ridiculous." + +"Ah, you won't?" hissed the Gascon. "I suppose +you prefer to be made infamous. Do you hear what I +say? . . . Infamous! Infamous! Infamous!" he +shrieked, rising and falling on his toes and getting very +red in the face. + +Lieut. D'Hubert, on the contrary, became very pale at +the sound of the unsavoury word for a moment, then +flushed pink to the roots of his fair hair. "But you +can't go out to fight; you are under arrest, you lunatic!" +he objected, with angry scorn. + +"There's the garden: it's big enough to lay out your +long carcass in," spluttered the other with such ardour +that somehow the anger of the cooler man subsided. + +"This is perfectly absurd," he said, glad enough to +think he had found a way out of it for the moment. +"We shall never get any of our comrades to serve as +seconds. It's preposterous." + +"Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don't want +any seconds. Don't you worry about any seconds. I +shall send word to your friends to come and bury you +when I am done. And if you want any witnesses, +I'll send word to the old girl to put her head out of +a window at the back. Stay! There's the gardener. +He'll do. He's as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes +in his head. Come along! I will teach you, my staff +officer, that the carrying about of a general's orders is +not always child's play." + +While thus discoursing he had unbuckled his empty +scabbard. He sent it flying under the bed, and, lower- +ing the point of the sword, brushed past the perplexed +Lieut. D'Hubert, exclaiming, "Follow me!" Directly +he had flung open the door a faint shriek was heard and +the pretty maid, who had been listening at the keyhole, +staggered away, putting the backs of her hands over her +eyes. Feraud did not seem to see her, but she ran after +him and seized his left arm. He shook her off, and +then she rushed towards Lieut. D'Hubert and clawed +at the sleeve of his uniform. + +"Wretched man!" she sobbed. "Is this what you +wanted to find him for?" + +"Let me go," entreated Lieut. D'Hubert, trying to +disengage himself gently. "It's like being in a mad- +house," he protested, with exasperation. "Do let me +go! I won't do him any harm." + +A fiendish laugh from Lieut. Feraud commented that +assurance. "Come along!" he shouted, with a stamp of +his foot. + +And Lieut. D'Hubert did follow. He could do noth- +ing else. Yet in vindication of his sanity it must be +recorded that as he passed through the ante-room the +notion of opening the street door and bolting out pre- +sented itself to this brave youth, only of course to be +instantly dismissed, for he felt sure that the other would +pursue him without shame or compunction. And the +prospect of an officer of hussars being chased along the +street by another officer of hussars with a naked sword +could not be for a moment entertained. Therefore +he followed into the garden. Behind them the girl +tottered out, too. With ashy lips and wild, scared +eyes, she surrendered herself to a dreadful curiosity. +She had also the notion of rushing if need be between +Lieut. Feraud and death. + +The deaf gardener, utterly unconscious of approach- +ing footsteps, went on watering his flowers till Lieut. +Feraud thumped him on the back. Beholding suddenly +an enraged man flourishing a big sabre, the old chap +trembling in all his limbs dropped the watering-pot. At +once Lieut. Feraud kicked it away with great animosity, +and, seizing the gardener by the throat, backed him +against a tree. He held him there, shouting in his ear, +"Stay here, and look on! You understand? You've +got to look on! Don't dare budge from the spot!" + +Lieut. D'Hubert came slowly down the walk, un- +clasping his dolman with unconcealed disgust. Even +then, with his hand already on the hilt of his sword, he +hesitated to draw till a roar, "En garde, fichtre! What +do you think you came here for?" and the rush of his +adversary forced him to put himself as quickly as pos- +sible in a posture of defence. + +The clash of arms filled that prim garden, which +hitherto had known no more warlike sound than the +click of clipping shears; and presently the upper part of +an old lady's body was projected out of a window up- +stairs. She tossed her arms above her white cap, +scolding in a cracked voice. The gardener remained +glued to the tree, his toothless mouth open in idiotic +astonishment, and a little farther up the path the pretty +girl, as if spellbound to a small grass plot, ran a few +steps this way and that, wringing her hands and mutter- +ing crazily. She did not rush between the combatants: +the onslaughts of Lieut. Feraud were so fierce that her +heart failed her. Lieut. D'Hubert, his faculties concen- +trated upon defence, needed all his skill and science of +the sword to stop the rushes of his adversary. Twice +already he had to break ground. It bothered him to +feel his foothold made insecure by the round, dry gravel +of the path rolling under the hard soles of his boots. +This was most unsuitable ground, he thought, keeping +a watchful, narrowed gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, +upon the fiery stare of his thick-set adversary. This +absurd affair would ruin his reputation of a sensible, +well-behaved, promising young officer. It would +damage, at any rate, his immediate prospects, and lose +him the good-will of his general. These worldly pre- +occupations were no doubt misplaced in view of the +solemnity of the moment. A duel, whether regarded as +a ceremony in the cult of honour, or even when reduced +in its moral essence to a form of manly sport, demands a +perfect singleness of intention, a homicidal austerity of +mood. On the other hand, this vivid concern for his +future had not a bad effect inasmuch as it began to +rouse the anger of Lieut. D'Hubert. Some seventy +seconds had elapsed since they had crossed blades, and +Lieut. D'Hubert had to break ground again in order to +avoid impaling his reckless adversary like a beetle for a +cabinet of specimens. The result was that misappre- +hending the motive, Lieut. Feraud with a triumphant +sort of snarl pressed his attack. + +"This enraged animal will have me against the wall +directly," thought Lieut. D'Hubert. He imagined him- +self much closer to the house than he was, and he dared +not turn his head; it seemed to him that he was keeping +his adversary off with his eyes rather more than with his +point. Lieut. Feraud crouched and bounded with a +fierce tigerish agility fit to trouble the stoutest heart. +But what was more appalling than the fury of a wild +beast, accomplishing in all innocence of heart a natural +function, was the fixity of savage purpose man alone is +capable of displaying. Lieut. D 'Hubert in the midst of +his worldly preoccupations perceived it at last. It was +an absurd and damaging affair to be drawn into, but +whatever silly intention the fellow had started with, it +was clear enough that by this time he meant to kill -- +nothing less. He meant it with an intensity of will +utterly beyond the inferior faculties of a tiger. + +As is the case with constitutionally brave men, the +full view of the danger interested Lieut. D'Hubert. +And directly he got properly interested, the length of his +arm and the coolness of his head told in his favour. It +was the turn of Lieut. Feraud to recoil, with a blood- +curdling grunt of baffled rage. He made a swift feint, +and then rushed straight forward. + +"Ah! you would, would you?" Lieut. D'Hubert +exclaimed, mentally. The combat had lasted nearly +two minutes, time enough for any man to get em- +bittered, apart from the merits of the quarrel. And +all at once it was over. Trying to close breast to breast +under his adversary's guard Lieut. Feraud received a +slash on his shortened arm. He did not feel it in the +least, but it checked his rush, and his feet slipping on +the gravel he fell backwards with great violence. The +shock jarred his boiling brain into the perfect quietude +of insensibility. Simultaneously with his fall the pretty +servant-girl shrieked; but the old maiden lady at the +window ceased her scolding, and began to cross her- +self piously. + +Beholding his adversary stretched out perfectly still, +his face to the sky, Lieut. D'Hubert thought he had +killed him outright. The impression of having slashed +hard enough to cut his man clean in two abode with +him for a while in an exaggerated memory of the right +good-will he had put into the blow. He dropped on +his knees hastily by the side of the prostrate body. +Discovering that not even the arm was severed, a +slight sense of disappointment mingled with the feeling +of relief. The fellow deserved the worst. But truly he +did not want the death of that sinner. The affair was +ugly enough as it stood, and Lieut. D'Hubert addressed +himself at once to the task of stopping the bleeding. In +this task it was his fate to be ridiculously impeded by +the pretty maid. Rending the air with screams of +horror, she attacked him from behind and, twining her +fingers in his hair, tugged back at his head. Why she +should choose to hinder him at this precise moment +he could not in the least understand. He did not try. +It was all like a very wicked and harassing dream. +Twice to save himself from being pulled over he had to +rise and fling her off. He did this stoically, without a +word, kneeling down again at once to go on with his +work. But the third time, his work being done, he +seized her and held her arms pinned to her body. Her +cap was half off, her face was red, her eyes blazed with +crazy boldness. He looked mildly into them while she +called him a wretch, a traitor, and a murderer many +times in succession. This did not annoy him so much as +the conviction that she had managed to scratch his face +abundantly. Ridicule would be added to the scandal of +the story. He imagined the adorned tale making its +way through the garrison of the town, through the whole +army on the frontier, with every possible distortion of +motive and sentiment and circumstance, spreading a +doubt upon the sanity of his conduct and the distinction +of his taste even to the very ears of his honourable +family. It was all very well for that fellow Feraud, who +had no connections, no family to speak of, and no +quality but courage, which, anyhow, was a matter of +course, and possessed by every single trooper in the +whole mass of French cavalry. Still holding down the +arms of the girl in a strong grip, Lieut. D'Hubert +glanced over his shoulder. Lieut. Feraud had opened +his eyes. He did not move. Like a man just waking +from a deep sleep he stared without any expression at +the evening sky. + +Lieut. D'Hubert's urgent shouts to the old gardener +produced no effect -- not so much as to make him shut +his toothless mouth. Then he remembered that the +man was stone deaf. All that time the girl struggled, +not with maidenly coyness, but like a pretty, dumb fury, +kicking his shins now and then. He continued to hold +her as if in a vice, his instinct telling him that were he +to let her go she would fly at his eyes. But he was +greatly humiliated by his position. At last she gave up. +She was more exhausted than appeased, he feared. +Nevertheless, he attempted to get out of this wicked +dream by way of negotiation. + +"Listen to me," he said, as calmly as he could. +"Will you promise to run for a surgeon if I let you go?" + +With real affliction he heard her declare that she +would do nothing of the kind. On the contrary, her +sobbed out intention was to remain in the garden, and +fight tooth and nail for the protection of the vanquished +man. This was shocking. + +"My dear child!" he cried in despair, "is it possible +that you think me capable of murdering a wounded +adversary? Is it. . . . Be quiet, you little wild +cat, you!" + +They struggled. A thick, drowsy voice said behind +him, "What are you after with that girl?" + +Lieut. Feraud had raised himself on his good arm. +He was looking sleepily at his other arm, at the mess of +blood on his uniform, at a small red pool on the ground, +at his sabre lying a foot away on the path. Then he +laid himself down gently again to think it all out, as +far as a thundering headache would permit of mental +operations. + +Lieut. D'Hubert released the girl who crouched at +once by the side of the other lieutenant. The shades +of night were falling on the little trim garden with this +touching group, whence proceeded low murmurs of +sorrow and compassion, with other feeble sounds of a +different character, as if an imperfectly awake invalid +were trying to swear. Lieut. D'Hubert went away. + +He passed through the silent house, and congratu- +lated himself upon the dusk concealing his gory hands +and scratched face from the passers-by. But this story +could by no means be concealed. He dreaded the +discredit and ridicule above everything, and was pain- +fully aware of sneaking through the back streets in +the manner of a murderer. Presently the sounds of +a flute coming out of the open window of a lighted +upstairs room in a modest house interrupted his dismal +reflections. It was being played with a persevering +virtuosity, and through the fioritures of the tune one +could hear the regular thumping of the foot beating +time on the floor. + +Lieut. D'Hubert shouted a name, which was that of +an army surgeon whom he knew fairly well. The +sounds of the flute ceased, and the musician appeared at +the window, his instrument still in his hand, peering into +the street. + +"Who calls? You, D'Hubert? What brings you +this way?" + +He did not like to be disturbed at the hour when he +was playing the flute. He was a man whose hair had +turned grey already in the thankless task of tying up +wounds on battlefields where others reaped advance- +ment and glory. + +"I want you to go at once and see Feraud. You +know Lieut. Feraud? He lives down the second street. +It's but a step from here." + +"What's the matter with him?" + +"Wounded." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Sure!" cried D'Hubert. "I come from there." + +"That's amusing," said the elderly surgeon. Amus- +ing was his favourite word; but the expression of his +face when he pronounced it never corresponded. He +was a stolid man. "Come in," he added. "I'll get +ready in a moment." + +"Thanks! I will. I want to wash my hands in +your room." + +Lieut. D'Hubert found the surgeon occupied in un- +screwing his flute, and packing the pieces methodically +in a case. He turned his head. + +"Water there -- in the corner. Your hands do want +washing." + +"I've stopped the bleeding," said Lieut. D'Hubert. +"But you had better make haste. It's rather more +than ten minutes ago, you know." + +The surgeon did not hurry his movements. + +"What's the matter? Dressing came off? That's +amusing. I've been at work in the hospital all day +but I've been told this morning by somebody that he +had come off without a scratch." + +"Not the same duel probably," growled moodily +Lieut. D'Hubert, wiping his hands on a coarse towel. + +"Not the same. . . . What? Another. It +would take the very devil to make me go out twice in +one day." The surgeon looked narrowly at Lieut. +D'Hubert. "How did you come by that scratched +face? Both sides, too -- and symmetrical. It's amus- +ing." + +"Very!" snarled Lieut. D'Hubert. "And you will +find his slashed arm amusing, too. It will keep both of +you amused for quite a long time." + +The doctor was mystified and impressed by the +brusque bitterness of Lieut. D'Hubert's tone. They +left the house together, and in the street he was still +more mystified by his conduct. + +"Aren't you coming with me?" he asked. + +"No," said Lieut. D'Hubert. "You can find the +house by yourself. The front door will be standing +open very likely." + +"All right. Where's his room?" + +"Ground floor. But you had better go right through +and look in the garden first." + +This astonishing piece of information made the +surgeon go off without further parley. Lieut. D'Hu- +bert regained his quarters nursing a hot and uneasy +indignation. He dreaded the chaff of his comrades al- +most as much as the anger of his superiors. The truth +was confoundedly grotesque and embarrassing, even +putting aside the irregularity of the combat itself, which +made it come abominably near a criminal offence. Like +all men without much imagination, a faculty which +helps the process of reflective thought, Lieut. D'Hubert +became frightfully harassed by the obvious aspects of +his predicament. He was certainly glad that he had not +killed Lieut. Feraud outside all rules, and without the +regular witnesses proper to such a transaction. Un- +commonly glad. At the same time he felt as though he +would have liked to wring his neck for him without +ceremony. + +He was still under the sway of these contradictory +sentiments when the surgeon amateur of the flute came +to see him. More than three days had elapsed. Lieut. +D'Hubert was no longer officier d'ordonnance to the +general commanding the division. He had been sent +back to his regiment. And he was resuming his con- +nection with the soldiers' military family by being shut +up in close confinement, not at his own quarters in town, +but in a room in the barracks. Owing to the gravity of +the incident, he was forbidden to see any one. He +did not know what had happened, what was being +said, or what was being thought. The arrival of the +surgeon was a most unexpected thing to the worried +captive. The amateur of the flute began by explaining +that he was there only by a special favour of the colonel. + +"I represented to him that it would be only fair to let +you have some authentic news of your adversary," he +continued. "You'll be glad to hear he's getting better +fast." + +Lieut. D'Hubert's face exhibited no conventional +signs of gladness. He continued to walk the floor of +the dusty bare room. + +"Take this chair, doctor," he mumbled. + +The doctor sat down. + +"This affair is variously appreciated -- in town and in +the army. In fact, the diversity of opinions is amus- +ing." + +"Is it!" mumbled Lieut. D'Hubert, tramping steadily +from wall to wall. But within himself he marvelled +that there could be two opinions on the matter. The +surgeon continued. + +"Of course, as the real facts are not known --" + +"I should have thought," interrupted D'Hubert, "that +the fellow would have put you in possession of facts." + +"He said something," admitted the other, "the first +time I saw him. And, by the by, I did find him in the +garden. The thump on the back of his head had made +him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather +reticent than otherwise." + +"Didn't think he would have the grace to be +ashamed!" mumbled D'Hubert, resuming his pacing +while the doctor murmured, "It's very amusing. +Ashamed! Shame was not exactly his frame of mind. +However, you may look at the matter otherwise." + +"What are you talking about? What matter?" +asked D'Hubert, with a sidelong look at the heavy- +faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden chair. + +"Whatever it is," said the surgeon a little im- +patiently, "I don't want to pronounce any opinion on +your conduct --" + +"By heavens, you had better not!" burst out D'Hu- +bert. + +"There! -- there! Don't be so quick in flourishing +the sword. It doesn't pay in the long run. Under- +stand once for all that I would not carve any of you +youngsters except with the tools of my trade. But my +advice is good. If you go on like this you will make for +yourself an ugly reputation." + +"Go on like what?" demanded Lieut. D'Hubert, +stopping short, quite startled. "I! -- I! -- make for my- +self a reputation. . . . What do you imagine?" + +"I told you I don't wish to judge of the rights and +wrongs of this incident. It's not my business. Never- +theless --" + +"What on earth has he been telling you?" interrupted +Lieut. D'Hubert, in a sort of awed scare. + +"I told you already, that at first, when I picked him +up in the garden, he was incoherent. Afterwards he +was naturally reticent. But I gather at least that he +could not help himself." + +"He couldn't?" shouted Lieut. D'Hubert in a great +voice. Then, lowering his tone impressively, "And +what about me? Could I help myself?" + +The surgeon stood up. His thoughts were running +upon the flute, his constant companion with a consoling +voice. In the vicinity of field ambulances, after twenty- +four hours' hard work, he had been known to trouble +with its sweet sounds the horrible stillness of battle- +fields, given over to silence and the dead. The solacing +hour of his daily life was approaching, and in peace time +he held on to the minutes as a miser to his hoard. + +"Of course! -- of course!" he said, perfunctorily. +"You would think so. It's amusing. However, being +perfectly neutral and friendly to you both, I have con- +sented to deliver his message to you. Say that I am +humouring an invalid if you like. He wants you to +know that this affair is by no means at an end. He +intends to send you his seconds directly he has regained +his strength -- providing, of course, the army is not in +the field at that time." + +"He intends, does he? Why, certainly," spluttered +Lieut. D'Hubert in a passion. + +The secret of his exasperation was not apparent to +the visitor; but this passion confirmed the surgeon in +the belief which was gaining ground outside that some +very serious difference had arisen between these two +young men, something serious enough to wear an air of +mystery, some fact of the utmost gravity. To settle +their urgent difference about that fact, those two young +men had risked being broken and disgraced at the out- +set almost of their career. The surgeon feared that the +forthcoming inquiry would fail to satisfy the public +curiosity. They would not take the public into their +confidence as to that something which had passed +between them of a nature so outrageous as to make +them face a charge of murder -- neither more nor less. +But what could it be? + +The surgeon was not very curious by temperament; +but that question haunting his mind caused him twice +that evening to hold the instrument off his lips and +sit silent for a whole minute -- right in the middle of a +tune -- trying to form a plausible conjecture. + + +II + + +He succeeded in this object no better than the rest +of the garrison and the whole of society. The two +young officers, of no especial consequence till then, be- +came distinguished by the universal curiosity as to the +origin of their quarrel. Madame de Lionne's salon was +the centre of ingenious surmises; that lady herself was +for a time assailed by inquiries as being the last person +known to have spoken to these unhappy and reckless +young men before they went out together from her +house to a savage encounter with swords, at dusk, in a +private garden. She protested she had not observed +anything unusual in their demeanour. Lieut. Feraud +had been visibly annoyed at being called away. That +was natural enough; no man likes to be disturbed in a +conversation with a lady famed for her elegance and +sensibility. But in truth the subject bored Madame +de Lionne, since her personality could by no stretch of +reckless gossip be connected with this affair. And it +irritated her to hear it advanced that there might have +been some woman in the case. This irritation arose, +not from her elegance or sensibility, but from a more +instinctive side of her nature. It became so great at +last that she peremptorily forbade the subject to be +mentioned under her roof. Near her couch the pro- +hibition was obeyed, but farther off in the salon the pall +of the imposed silence continued to be lifted more or +less. A personage with a long, pale face, resembling +the countenance of a sheep, opined, shaking his head, +that it was a quarrel of long standing envenomed by +time. It was objected to him that the men themselves +were too young for such a theory. They belonged also +to different and distant parts of France. There were +other physical impossibilities, too. A sub-commissary +of the Intendence, an agreeable and cultivated bachelor +in kerseymere breeches, Hessian boots, and a blue coat +embroidered with silver lace, who affected to believe in +the transmigration of souls, suggested that the two had +met perhaps in some previous existence. The feud was +in the forgotten past. It might have been something +quite inconceivable in the present state of their being; +but their souls remembered the animosity, and mani- +fested an instinctive antagonism. He developed this +theme jocularly. Yet the affair was so absurd from the +worldly, the military, the honourable, or the prudential +point of view, that this weird explanation seemed +rather more reasonable than any other. + +The two officers had confided nothing definite to +any one. Humiliation at having been worsted arms +in hand, and an uneasy feeling of having been involved +in a scrape by the injustice of fate, kept Lieut. Feraud +savagely dumb. He mistrusted the sympathy of man- +kind. That would, of course, go to that dandified +staff officer. Lying in bed, he raved aloud to the pretty +maid who administered to his needs with devotion, and +listened to his horrible imprecations with alarm. That +Lieut. D'Hubert should be made to "pay for it," seemed +to her just and natural. Her principal care was that +Lieut. Feraud should not excite himself. He appeared +so wholly admirable and fascinating to the humility of +her heart that her only concern was to see him get well +quickly, even if it were only to resume his visits to +Madame de Lionne's salon. + +Lieut. D'Hubert kept silent for the immediate reason +that there was no one, except a stupid young soldier +servant, to speak to. Further, he was aware that the +episode, so grave professionally, had its comic side. +When reflecting upon it, he still felt that he would like +to wring Lieut. Feraud's neck for him. But this formula +was figurative rather than precise, and expressed more +a state of mind than an actual physical impulse. At +the same time, there was in that young man a feeling of +comradeship and kindness which made him unwilling to +make the position of Lieut. Feraud worse than it was. +He did not want to talk at large about this wretched +affair. At the inquiry he would have, of course, to speak +the truth in self-defence. This prospect vexed him. + +But no inquiry took place. The army took the field +instead. Lieut. D'Hubert, liberated without remark, +took up his regimental duties; and Lieut. Feraud, his +arm just out of the sling, rode unquestioned with his +squadron to complete his convalescence in the smoke of +battlefields and the fresh air of night bivouacs. This +bracing treatment suited him so well, that at the first +rumour of an armistice being signed he could turn with- +out misgivings to the thoughts of his private warfare. + +This time it was to be regular warfare. He sent +two friends to Lieut. D'Hubert, whose regiment was +stationed only a few miles away. Those friends had +asked no questions of their principal. "I owe him one, +that pretty staff officer," he had said, grimly, and they +went away quite contentedly on their mission. Lieut. +D'Hubert had no difficulty in finding two friends +equally discreet and devoted to their principal. +"There's a crazy fellow to whom I must give a lesson," +he had declared curtly; and they asked for no better +reasons. + +On these grounds an encounter with duelling-swords +was arranged one early morning in a convenient field. +At the third set-to Lieut. D'Hubert found himself lying +on his back on the dewy grass with a hole in his side. +A serene sun rising over a landscape of meadows and +woods hung on his left. A surgeon -- not the flute +player, but another -- was bending over him, feeling +around the wound. + +"Narrow squeak. But it will be nothing," he pro- +nounced. + +Lieut. D'Hubert heard these words with pleasure. +One of his seconds, sitting on the wet grass, and sus- +taining his head on his lap, said, "The fortune of war, +mon pauvre vieux. What will you have? You had better +make it up like two good fellows. Do!" + +"You don't know what you ask," murmured Lieut. +D'Hubert, in a feeble voice. "However, if he . . ." + +In another part of the meadow the seconds of Lieut. +Feraud were urging him to go over and shake hands +with his adversary. + +"You have paid him off now -- que diable. It's the +proper thing to do. This D'Hubert is a decent fellow." + +"I know the decency of these generals' pets," +muttered Lieut. Feraud through his teeth, and the +sombre expression of his face discouraged further +efforts at reconciliation. The seconds, bowing from a +distance, took their men off the field. In the afternoon +Lieut. D'Hubert, very popular as a good comrade +uniting great bravery with a frank and equable temper, +had many visitors. It was remarked that Lieut. +Feraud did not, as is customary, show himself much +abroad to receive the felicitations of his friends. They +would not have failed him, because he, too, was liked for +the exuberance of his southern nature and the sim- +plicity of his character. In all the places where officers +were in the habit of assembling at the end of the day the +duel of the morning was talked over from every point +of view. Though Lieut. D'Hubert had got worsted +this time, his sword play was commended. No one +could deny that it was very close, very scientific. It +was even whispered that if he got touched it was be- +cause he wished to spare his adversary. But by many +the vigour and dash of Lieut. Feraud's attack were pro- +nounced irresistible. + +The merits of the two officers as combatants were +frankly discussed; but their attitude to each other after +the duel was criticised lightly and with caution. It +was irreconcilable, and that was to be regretted. But +after all they knew best what the care of their honour +dictated. It was not a matter for their comrades +to pry into over-much. As to the origin of the quarrel, +the general impression was that it dated from the time +they were holding garrison in Strasbourg. The musical +surgeon shook his head at that. It went much farther +back, he thought. + +"Why, of course! You must know the whole story," +cried several voices, eager with curiosity. "What +was it?" + +He raised his eyes from his glass deliberately. "Even +if I knew ever so well, you can't expect me to tell you, +since both the principals choose to say nothing." + +He got up and went out, leaving the sense of mystery +behind him. He could not stay any longer, because the +witching hour of flute-playing was drawing near. + +After he had gone a very young officer observed +solemnly, "Obviously, his lips are sealed!" + +Nobody questioned the high correctness of that +remark. Somehow it added to the impressiveness of +the affair. Several older officers of both regiments, +prompted by nothing but sheer kindness and love of +harmony, proposed to form a Court of Honour, to +which the two young men would leave the task of their +reconciliation. Unfortunately they began by approach- +ing Lieut. Feraud, on the assumption that, having just +scored heavily, he would be found placable and disposed +to moderation. + +The reasoning was sound enough. Nevertheless, the +move turned out unfortunate. In that relaxation of +moral fibre, which is brought about by the ease of +soothed vanity, Lieut. Feraud had condescended in the +secret of his heart to review the case, and even had come +to doubt not the justice of his cause, but the absolute +sagacity of his conduct. This being so, he was dis- +inclined to talk about it. The suggestion of the regi- +mental wise men put him in a difficult position. He +was disgusted at it, and this disgust, by a paradoxical +logic, reawakened his animosity against Lieut. D'Hu- +bert. Was he to be pestered with this fellow for ever -- +the fellow who had an infernal knack of getting round +people somehow? And yet it was difficult to refuse +point blank that mediation sanctioned by the code of +honour. + +He met the difficulty by an attitude of grim reserve. +He twisted his moustache and used vague words. His +case was perfectly clear. He was not ashamed to +state it before a proper Court of Honour, neither was +he afraid to defend it on the ground. He did not see +any reason to jump at the suggestion before ascertain- +ing how his adversary was likely to take it. + +Later in the day, his exasperation growing upon him, +he was heard in a public place saying sardonically, "that +it would be the very luckiest thing for Lieut. D'Hubert, +because the next time of meeting he need not hope to +get off with the mere trifle of three weeks in bed." + +This boastful phrase might have been prompted by +the most profound Machiavellism. Southern natures +often hide, under the outward impulsiveness of action +and speech, a certain amount of astuteness. + +Lieut. Feraud, mistrusting the justice of men, by no +means desired a Court of Honour; and the above words, +according so well with his temperament, had also the +merit of serving his turn. Whether meant so or not, +they found their way in less than four-and-twenty hours +into Lieut. D'Hubert's bedroom. In consequence +Lieut. D'Hubert, sitting propped up with pillows, re- +ceived the overtures made to him next day by the state- +ment that the affair was of a nature which could not +bear discussion. + +The pale face of the wounded officer, his weak voice +which he had yet to use cautiously, and the courteous +dignity of his tone had a great effect on his hearers. +Reported outside all this did more for deepening the +mystery than the vapourings of Lieut. Feraud. This +last was greatly relieved at the issue. He began to +enjoy the state of general wonder, and was pleased to +add to it by assuming an attitude of fierce discretion. + +The colonel of Lieut. D'Hubert's regiment was a +grey-haired, weather-beaten warrior, who took a simple +view of his responsibilities. "I can't," he said to him- +self, "let the best of my subalterns get damaged like this +for nothing. I must get to the bottom of this affair +privately. He must speak out if the devil were in it. +The colonel should be more than a father to these +youngsters." And indeed he loved all his men with as +much affection as a father of a large family can feel for +every individual member of it. If human beings by an +oversight of Providence came into the world as mere +civilians, they were born again into a regiment as in- +fants are born into a family, and it was that military +birth alone which counted. + +At the sight of Lieut. D'Hubert standing before him +very bleached and hollow-eyed the heart of the old +warrior felt a pang of genuine compassion. All his +affection for the regiment -- that body of men which he +held in his hand to launch forward and draw back, who +ministered to his pride and commanded all his thoughts +-- seemed centred for a moment on the person of the +most promising subaltern. He cleared his throat in a +threatening manner, and frowned terribly. "You must +understand," he began, "that I don't care a rap for the +life of a single man in the regiment. I would send the +eight hundred and forty-three of you men and horses +galloping into the pit of perdition with no more com- +punction than I would kill a fly!" + +"Yes, Colonel. You would be riding at our head," +said Lieut. D'Hubert with a wan smile. + +The colonel, who felt the need of being very diplo- +matic, fairly roared at this. "I want you to know, +Lieut. D'Hubert, that I could stand aside and see you +all riding to Hades if need be. I am a man to do even +that if the good of the service and my duty to my +country required it from me. But that's unthinkable, +so don't you even hint at such a thing." He glared +awfully, but his tone softened. "There's some milk +yet about that moustache of yours, my boy. You don't +know what a man like me is capable of. I would hide +behind a haystack if . . . Don't grin at me, sir! +How dare you? If this were not a private conversation +I would . . . Look here! I am responsible for the +proper expenditure of lives under my command for the +glory of our country and the honour of the regiment. +Do you understand that? Well, then, what the devil do +you mean by letting yourself be spitted like this by that +fellow of the 7th Hussars? It's simply disgraceful!" + +Lieut. D'Hubert felt vexed beyond measure. His +shoulders moved slightly. He made no other answer. +He could not ignore his responsibility. + +The colonel veiled his glance and lowered his voice +still more. "It's deplorable!" he murmured. And +again he changed his tone. "Come!" he went on, +persuasively, but with that note of authority which +dwells in the throat of a good leader of men, "this affair +must be settled. I desire to be told plainly what it is +all about. I demand, as your best friend, to know." + +The compelling power of authority, the persuasive +influence of kindness, affected powerfully a man just +risen from a bed of sickness. Lieut. D'Hubert's hand, +which grasped the knob of a stick, trembled slightly. +But his northern temperament, sentimental yet cautious +and clear-sighted, too, in its idealistic way, checked his +impulse to make a clean breast of the whole deadly +absurdity. According to the precept of transcendental +wisdom, he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth +before he spoke. He made then only a speech of +thanks. + +The colonel listened, interested at first, then looked +mystified. At last he frowned. "You hesitate? -- +mille tonnerres! Haven't I told you that I will con- +descend to argue with you -- as a friend?" + +"Yes, Colonel!" answered Lieut. D'Hubert, gently. +"But I am afraid that after you have heard me out as a +friend you will take action as my superior officer." + +The attentive colonel snapped his jaws. "Well, +what of that?" he said, frankly. "Is it so damnably +disgraceful?" + +"It is not," negatived Lieut. D'Hubert, in a faint but +firm voice. + +"Of course, I shall act for the good of the service. +Nothing can prevent me doing that. What do you +think I want to be told for?" + +"I know it is not from idle curiosity," protested +Lieut. D'Hubert. "I know you will act wisely. But +what about the good fame of the regiment?" + +"It cannot be affected by any youthful folly of a +lieutenant," said the colonel, severely. + +"No. It cannot be. But it can be by evil tongues. +It will be said that a lieutenant of the 4th Hussars, +afraid of meeting his adversary, is hiding behind his +colonel. And that would be worse than hiding behind +a haystack -- for the good of the service. I cannot +afford to do that, Colonel." + +"Nobody would dare to say anything of the kind," +began the colonel very fiercely, but ended the phrase on +an uncertain note. The bravery of Lieut. D'Hubert +was well known. But the colonel was well aware that +the duelling courage, the single combat courage, is +rightly or wrongly supposed to be courage of a special +sort. And it was eminently necessary that an officer of +his regiment should possess every kind of courage -- and +prove it, too. The colonel stuck out his lower lip, and +looked far away with a peculiar glazed stare. This was +the expression of his perplexity -- an expression practi- +cally unknown to his regiment; for perplexity is a senti- +ment which is incompatible with the rank of colonel of +cavalry. The colonel himself was overcome by the +unpleasant novelty of the sensation. As he was not +accustomed to think except on professional matters +connected with the welfare of men and horses, and the +proper use thereof on the field of glory, his intellectual +efforts degenerated into mere mental repetitions of pro- +fane language. "Mille tonnerres! . . . Sacre nom +de nom . . ." he thought. + +Lieut. D'Hubert coughed painfully, and added in a +weary voice: "There will be plenty of evil tongues to +say that I've been cowed. And I am sure you will not +expect me to pass that over. I may find myself +suddenly with a dozen duels on my hands instead of +this one affair." + +The direct simplicity of this argument came home to +the colonel's understanding. He looked at his subordi- +nate fixedly. "Sit down, Lieutenant!" he said, gruffly. +"This is the very devil of a . . . Sit down!" + +"Mon Colonel," D'Hubert began again, "I am not +afraid of evil tongues. There's a way of silencing them. +But there's my peace of mind, too. I wouldn't be able +to shake off the notion that I've ruined a brother officer. +Whatever action you take, it is bound to go farther. +The inquiry has been dropped -- let it rest now. It +would have been absolutely fatal to Feraud." + +"Hey! What! Did he behave so badly?" + +"Yes. It was pretty bad," muttered Lieut. D'Hubert. +Being still very weak, he felt a disposition to cry. + +As the other man did not belong to his own regiment +the colonel had no difficulty in believing this. He began +to pace up and down the room. He was a good chief, a +man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human +in other ways, too, and this became apparent because he +was not capable of artifice. + +"The very devil, Lieutenant," he blurted out, in the +innocence of his heart, "is that I have declared my in- +tention to get to the bottom of this affair. And when a +colonel says something . . . you see . . ." + +Lieut. D'Hubert broke in earnestly: "Let me en- +treat you, Colonel, to be satisfied with taking my word +of honour that I was put into a damnable position where +I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent +with my dignity as a man and an officer. . . . After +all, Colonel, this fact is the very bottom of this affair. +Here you've got it. The rest is mere detail. . . ." + +The colonel stopped short. The reputation of Lieut. +D'Hubert for good sense and good temper weighed in +the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, open as the +day. Always correct in his behaviour. One had to +trust him. The colonel repressed manfully an im- +mense curiosity. "H'm! You affirm that as a man +and an officer. . . . No option? Eh?" + +"As an officer -- an officer of the 4th Hussars, too," +insisted Lieut. D'Hubert, "I had not. And that is the +bottom of the affair, Colonel." + +"Yes. But still I don't see why, to one's colonel. . . . +A colonel is a father -- que diable!" + +Lieut. D'Hubert ought not to have been allowed out +as yet. He was becoming aware of his physical in- +sufficiency with humiliation and despair. But the +morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at +the same time he felt with dismay his eyes filling with +water. This trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear +fell down the thin, pale cheek of Lieut. D'Hubert. + +The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You +could have heard a pin drop. "This is some silly +woman story -- is it not?" + +Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the +truth, which is not a beautiful shape living in a well, but +a shy bird best caught by stratagem. This was the last +move of the colonel's diplomacy. He saw the truth +shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D'Hubert +raising his weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme +protest. + +"Not a woman affair -- eh?" growled the colonel, +staring hard. "I don't ask you who or where. All I +want to know is whether there is a woman in it?" + +Lieut. D'Hubert's arms dropped, and his weak voice +was pathetically broken. + +"Nothing of the kind, mon Colonel." + +"On your honour?" insisted the old warrior. + +"On my honour." + +"Very well," said the colonel, thoughtfully, and bit +his lip. The arguments of Lieut. D'Hubert, helped by +his liking for the man, had convinced him. On the +other hand, it was highly improper that his intervention, +of which he had made no secret, should produce no +visible effect. He kept Lieut. D'Hubert a few minutes +longer, and dismissed him kindly. + +"Take a few days more in bed. Lieutenant. What +the devil does the surgeon mean by reporting you fit for +duty?" + +On coming out of the colonel's quarters, Lieut. +D'Hubert said nothing to the friend who was waiting +outside to take him home. He said nothing to anybody. +Lieut. D'Hubert made no confidences. But on the +evening of that day the colonel, strolling under the elms +growing near his quarters, in the company of his second +in command, opened his lips. + +"I've got to the bottom of this affair," he remarked. +The lieut.-colonel, a dry, brown chip of a man with +short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears at that without +letting a sign of curiosity escape him. + +"It's no trifle," added the colonel, oracularly. The +other waited for a long while before he murmured: + +"Indeed, sir!" + +"No trifle," repeated the colonel, looking straight +before him. "I've, however, forbidden D'Hubert either +to send to or receive a challenge from Feraud for the +next twelve months." + +He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige +a colonel should have. The result of it was to give an +official seal to the mystery surrounding this deadly +quarrel. Lieut. D'Hubert repelled by an impassive +silence all attempts to worm the truth out of him. Lieut. +Feraud, secretly uneasy at first, regained his assurance +as time went on. He disguised his ignorance of the +meaning of the imposed truce by slight sardonic laughs, +as though he were amused by what he intended to keep +to himself. "But what will you do?" his chums used +to ask him. He contented himself by replying "Qui +vivra verra" with a little truculent air. And everybody +admired his discretion. + +Before the end of the truce Lieut. D'Hubert got his +troop. The promotion was well earned, but somehow +no one seemed to expect the event. When Lieut. +Feraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered +through his teeth, "Is that so?" At once he unhooked +his sabre from a peg near the door, buckled it on care- +fully, and left the company without another word. He +walked home with measured steps, struck a light with +his flint and steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then +snatching an unlucky glass tumbler off the mantelpiece +he dashed it violently on the floor. + +Now that D'Hubert was an officer of superior rank +there could be no question of a duel. Neither of them +could send or receive a challenge without rendering +himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be +thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days now had +experienced no real desire to meet Lieut. D'Hubert arms +in hand, chafed again at the systematic injustice of fate. +"Does he think he will escape me in that way?" he +thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an +intrigue, a conspiracy, a cowardly manoeuvre. That +colonel knew what he was doing. He had hastened to +recommend his favourite for a step. It was outrageous +that a man should be able to avoid the consequences of +his acts in such a dark and tortuous manner. + +Of a happy-go-lucky disposition, of a temperament +more pugnacious than military, Lieut. Feraud had been +content to give and receive blows for sheer love of +armed strife, and without much thought of advance- +ment; but now an urgent desire to get on sprang up in +his breast. This fighter by vocation resolved in his +mind to seize showy occasions and to court the favour- +able opinion of his chiefs like a mere worldling. He +knew he was as brave as any one, and never doubted his +personal charm. Nevertheless, neither the bravery nor +the charm seemed to work very swiftly. Lieut. Feraud's +engaging, careless truculence of a beau sabreur under- +went a change. He began to make bitter allusions to +"clever fellows who stick at nothing to get on." The +army was full of them, he would say; you had only to +look round. But all the time he had in view one person +only, his adversary, D'Hubert. Once he confided to an +appreciative friend: "You see, I don't know how to +fawn on the right sort of people. It isn't in my charac- +ter." + +He did not get his step till a week after Austerlitz. +The Light Cavalry of the Grand Army had its hands +very full of interesting work for a little while. Directly +the pressure of professional occupation had been eased +Captain Feraud took measures to arrange a meeting +without loss of time. "I know my bird," he observed, +grimly. "If I don't look sharp he will take care to +get himself promoted over the heads of a dozen better +men than himself. He's got the knack for that sort of +thing." + +This duel was fought in Silesia. If not fought +to a finish, it was, at any rate, fought to a standstill. +The weapon was the cavalry sabre, and the skill, the +science, the vigour, and the determination displayed by +the adversaries compelled the admiration of the be- +holders. It became the subject of talk on both shores +of the Danube, and as far as the garrisons of Gratz and +Laybach. They crossed blades seven times. Both had +many cuts which bled profusely. Both refused to have +the combat stopped, time after time, with what ap- +peared the most deadly animosity. This appearance was +caused on the part of Captain D'Hubert by a rational +desire to be done once for all with this worry; on the +part of Captain Feraud by a tremendous exaltation of +his pugnacious instincts and the incitement of wounded +vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in rags, covered +with gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away +forcibly by their marvelling and horrified seconds. +Later on, besieged by comrades avid of details, these +gentlemen declared that they could not have allowed +that sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked +whether the quarrel was settled this time, they gave it +out as their conviction that it was a difference which +could only be settled by one of the parties remaining +lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread from army +corps to army corps, and penetrated at last to the +smallest detachments of the troops cantoned be- +tween the Rhine and the Save. In the cafes in Vienna +it was generally estimated, from details to hand, +that the adversaries would be able to meet again in +three weeks' time on the outside. Something really +transcendent in the way of duelling was expected. + +These expectations were brought to naught by the +necessities of the service which separated the two +officers. No official notice had been taken of their +quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not +to be meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, +or rather their duelling propensities, must have stood +somewhat in the way of their advancement, because +they were still captains when they came together again +during the war with Prussia. Detached north after +Jena, with the army commanded by Marshal Berna- +dotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they entered Lubeck +together. + +It was only after the occupation of that town that +Captain Feraud found leisure to consider his future con- +duct in view of the fact that Captain D'Hubert had +been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the +marshal. He considered it a great part of a night, and +in the morning summoned two sympathetic friends. + +"I've been thinking it over calmly," he said, gazing +at them with blood-shot, tired eyes. "I see that I must +get rid of that intriguing personage. Here he's managed +to sneak on to the personal staff of the marshal. It's a +direct provocation to me. I can't tolerate a situation in +which I am exposed any day to receive an order through +him. And God knows what order, too! That sort of +thing has happened once before -- and that's once too +often. He understands this perfectly, never fear. I +can't tell you any more. Now you know what it is you +have to do." + +This encounter took place outside the town of +Lubeck, on very open ground, selected with special +care in deference to the general sentiment of the cavalry +division belonging to the army corps, that this time the +two officers should meet on horseback. After all, this +duel was a cavalry affair, and to persist in fighting on +foot would look like a slight on one's own arm of the +service. The seconds, startled by the unusual nature of +the suggestion, hastened to refer to their principals. +Captain Feraud jumped at it with alacrity. For some +obscure reason, depending, no doubt, on his psychology, +he imagined himself invincible on horseback. All alone +within the four walls of his room he rubbed his hands +and muttered triumphantly, "Aha! my pretty staff +officer, I've got you now." + +Captain D'Hubert on his side, after staring hard for +a considerable time at his friends, shrugged his shoulders +slightly. This affair had hopelessly and unreasonably +complicated his existence for him. One absurdity more +or less in the development did not matter -- all absurdity +was distasteful to him; but, urbane as ever, he produced +a faintly ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, "It +certainly will do away to some extent with the monot- +ony of the thing." + +When left alone, he sat down at a table and took his +head into his hands. He had not spared himself of late +and the marshal had been working all his aides-de- +camp particularly hard. The last three weeks of +campaigning in horrible weather had affected his health. +When over-tired he suffered from a stitch in his +wounded side, and that uncomfortable sensation always +depressed him. "It's that brute's doing, too," he +thought bitterly. + +The day before he had received a letter from home, +announcing that his only sister was going to be married. +He reflected that from the time she was nineteen and he +twenty-six, when he went away to garrison life in Stras- +bourg, he had had but two short glimpses of her. They +had been great friends and confidants; and now she was +going to be given away to a man whom he did not know +-- a very worthy fellow no doubt, but not half good +enough for her. He would never see his old Leonie +again. She had a capable little head, and plenty of +tact; she would know how to manage the fellow, to be +sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness +but he felt ousted from the first place in her thoughts +which had been his ever since the girl could speak. A +melancholy regret of the days of his childhood settled +upon Captain D'Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the +Prince of Ponte Corvo. + +He threw aside the letter of congratulation he had +begun to write as in duty bound, but without enthusi- +asm. He took a fresh piece of paper, and traced on it +the words: "This is my last will and testament." Look- +ing at these words he gave himself up to unpleasant re- +flection; a presentiment that he would never see the +scenes of his childhood weighed down the equable +spirits of Captain D'Hubert. He jumped up, pushing +his chair back, yawned elaborately in sign that he didn't +care anything for presentiments, and throwing himself +on the bed went to sleep. During the night he shivered +from time to time without waking up. In the morning +he rode out of town between his two seconds, talking of +indifferent things, and looking right and left with ap- +parent detachment into the heavy morning mists +shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He +leaped a ditch, and saw the forms of many mounted men +moving in the fog. "We are to fight before a gallery, it +seems," he muttered to himself, bitterly. + +His seconds were rather concerned at the state of +the atmosphere, but presently a pale, sickly sun +struggled out of the low vapours, and Captain D'Hubert +made out, in the distance, three horsemen riding a little +apart from the others. It was Captain Feraud and +his seconds. He drew his sabre, and assured himself +that it was properly fastened to his wrist. And now the +seconds, who had been standing in close group with +the heads of their horses together, separated at an easy +canter, leaving a large, clear field between him and his +adversary. Captain D'Hubert looked at the pale sun, +at the dismal fields, and the imbecility of the impending +fight filled him with desolation. From a distant part of +the field a stentorian voice shouted commands at proper +intervals: Au pas -- Au trot -- Charrrgez! . . . Pre- +sentiments of death don't come to a man for nothing, he +thought at the very moment he put spurs to his horse. + +And therefore he was more than surprised when, at +the very first set-to, Captain Feraud laid himself open +to a cut over the forehead, which blinding him with +blood, ended the combat almost before it had fairly +begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain D'Hubert, +leaving his enemy swearing horribly and reeling in the +saddle between his two appalled friends, leaped the +ditch again into the road and trotted home with his two +seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy +issue of that encounter. In the evening Captain +D'Hubert finished the congratulatory letter on his +sister's marriage. + +He finished it late. It was a long letter. Captain +D'Hubert gave reins to his fancy. He told his sister +that he would feel rather lonely after this great change +in her life; but then the day would come for him, too, to +get married. In fact, he was thinking already of the +time when there would be no one left to fight with in +Europe and the epoch of wars would be over. "I +expect then," he wrote, "to be within measurable dis- +tance of a marshal's baton, and you will be an ex- +perienced married woman. You shall look out a wife for +me. I will be, probably, bald by then, and a little +blase. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and +with a large fortune, which should help me to close my +glorious career in the splendour befitting my exalted +rank." He ended with the information that he had +just given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow +who imagined he had a grievance against him. "But +if you, in the depths of your province," he continued, +"ever hear it said that your brother is of a quarrelsome +disposition, don't you believe it on any account. There +is no saying what gossip from the army may reach your +innocent ears. Whatever you hear you may rest assured +that your ever-loving brother is not a duellist." Then +Captain D'Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of paper +headed with the words "This is my last will and testa- +ment," and threw it in the fire with a great laugh at +himself. He didn't care a snap for what that lunatic +could do. He had suddenly acquired the conviction +that his adversary was utterly powerless to affect his +life in any sort of way; except, perhaps, in the way of +putting a special excitement into the delightful, gay +intervals between the campaigns. + +From this on there were, however, to be no peaceful +intervals in the career of Captain D'Hubert. He saw +the fields of Eylau and Friedland, marched and counter- +marched in the snow, in the mud, in the dust of Polish +plains, picking up distinction and advancement on all +the roads of North-eastern Europe. Meantime, Cap- +tain Feraud, despatched southwards with his regiment, +made unsatisfactory war in Spain. It was only when +the preparations for the Russian campaign began that +he was ordered north again. He left the country of +mantillas and oranges without regret. + +The first signs of a not unbecoming baldness added +to the lofty aspect of Colonel D'Hubert's forehead. +This feature was no longer white and smooth as in the +days of his youth; the kindly open glance of his blue +eyes had grown a little hard as if from much peering +through the smoke of battles. The ebony crop on +Colonel Feraud's head, coarse and crinkly like a cap of +horsehair, showed many silver threads about the +temples. A detestable warfare of ambushes and in- +glorious surprises had not improved his temper. The +beak-like curve of his nose was unpleasantly set off by a +deep fold on each side of his mouth. The round orbits +of his eyes radiated wrinkles. More than ever he re- +called an irritable and staring bird -- something like a +cross between a parrot and an owl. He was still ex- +tremely outspoken in his dislike of "intriguing fellows." +He seized every opportunity to state that he did not +pick up his rank in the ante-rooms of marshals. The +unlucky persons, civil or military, who, with an in- +tention of being pleasant, begged Colonel Feraud to tell +them how he came by that very apparent scar on the +forehead, were astonished to find themselves snubbed +in various ways, some of which were simply rude and +others mysteriously sardonic. Young officers were +warned kindly by their more experienced comrades not +to stare openly at the colonel's scar. But indeed an +officer need have been very young in his profession not +to have heard the legendary tale of that duel originating +in a mysterious, unforgivable offence. + + +III + + +The retreat from Moscow submerged all private +feelings in a sea of disaster and misery. Colonels +without regiments, D'Hubert and Feraud carried the +musket in the ranks of the so-called sacred battalion -- a +battalion recruited from officers of all arms who had no +longer any troops to lead. + +In that battalion promoted colonels did duty as +sergeants; the generals captained the companies; a +marshal of France, Prince of the Empire, commanded +the whole. All had provided themselves with muskets +picked up on the road, and with cartridges taken from +the dead. In the general destruction of the bonds of +discipline and duty holding together the companies, the +battalions, the regiments, the brigades, and divisions of +an armed host, this body of men put its pride in pre- +serving some semblance of order and formation. The +only stragglers were those who fell out to give up to the +frost their exhausted souls. They plodded on, and +their passage did not disturb the mortal silence of the +plains, shining with the livid light of snows under a sky +the colour of ashes. Whirlwinds ran along the fields, +broke against the dark column, enveloped it in a tur- +moil of flying icicles, and subsided, disclosing it creeping +on its tragic way without the swing and rhythm of +the military pace. It struggled onwards, the men ex- +changing neither words nor looks; whole ranks marched +touching elbow, day after day and never raising their +eyes from the ground, as if lost in despairing reflections. +In the dumb, black forests of pines the cracking of over- +loaded branches was the only sound they heard. Often +from daybreak to dusk no one spoke in the whole +column. It was like a macabre march of struggling +corpses towards a distant grave. Only an alarm of +Cossacks could restore to their eyes a semblance of +martial resolution. The battalion faced about and +deployed, or formed square under the endless fluttering +of snowflakes. A cloud of horsemen with fur caps on +their heads, levelled long lances, and yelled "Hurrah! +Hurrah!" around their menacing immobility whence, +with muffled detonations, hundreds of dark red flames +darted through the air thick with falling snow. In a +very few moments the horsemen would disappear, as +if carried off yelling in the gale, and the sacred battalion +standing still, alone in the blizzard, heard only the +howling of the wind, whose blasts searched their very +hearts. Then, with a cry or two of "Vive l'Empereur!" +it would resume its march, leaving behind a few life- +less bodies lying huddled up, tiny black specks on the +white immensity of the snows. + +Though often marching in the ranks, or skirmishing +in the woods side by side, the two officers ignored each +other; this not so much from inimical intention as from +a very real indifference. All their store of moral energy +was expended in resisting the terrific enmity of nature +and the crushing sense of irretrievable disaster. To the +last they counted among the most active, the least +demoralized of the battalion; their vigorous vitality +invested them both with the appearance of an heroic +pair in the eyes of their comrades. And they never +exchanged more than a casual word or two, except one +day, when skirmishing in front of the battalion against +a worrying attack of cavalry, they found themselves cut +off in the woods by a small party of Cossacks. A score +of fur-capped, hairy horsemen rode to and fro, brandish- +ing their lances in ominous silence; but the two officers +had no mind to lay down their arms, and Colonel +Feraud suddenly spoke up in a hoarse, growling voice, +bringing his firelock to the shoulder. "You take the +nearest brute, Colonel D'Hubert; I'll settle the next +one. I am a better shot than you are." + +Colonel D'Hubert nodded over his levelled musket. +Their shoulders were pressed against the trunk of a +large tree; on their front enormous snowdrifts protected +them from a direct charge. Two carefully aimed shots +rang out in the frosty air, two Cossacks reeled in their +saddles. The rest, not thinking the game good enough, +closed round their wounded comrades and galloped +away out of range. The two officers managed to rejoin +their battalion halted for the night. During that after- +noon they had leaned upon each other more than once, +and towards the end, Colonel D'Hubert, whose long legs +gave him an advantage in walking through soft snow, +peremptorily took the musket of Colonel Feraud from +him and carried it on his shoulder, using his own as a +staff. + +On the outskirts of a village half buried in the snow +an old wooden barn burned with a clear and an im- +mense flame. The sacred battalion of skeletons, +muffled in rags, crowded greedily the windward side, +stretching hundreds of numbed, bony hands to the +blaze. Nobody had noted their approach. Before +entering the circle of light playing on the sunken, glassy- +eyed, starved faces, Colonel D'Hubert spoke in his turn: + +"Here's your musket, Colonel Feraud. I can walk +better than you." + +Colonel Feraud nodded, and pushed on towards the +warmth of the fierce flames. Colonel D'Hubert was +more deliberate, but not the less bent on getting a place +in the front rank. Those they shouldered aside tried to +greet with a faint cheer the reappearance of the two +indomitable companions in activity and endurance. +Those manly qualities had never perhaps received a +higher tribute than this feeble acclamation. + +This is the faithful record of speeches exchanged +during the retreat from Moscow by Colonels Feraud and +D'Hubert. Colonel Feraud's taciturnity was the out- +come of concentrated rage. Short, hairy, black faced, +with layers of grime and the thick sprouting of a wiry +beard, a frost-bitten hand wrapped up in filthy rags +carried in a sling, he accused fate of unparalleled +perfidy towards the sublime Man of Destiny. Colonel +D'Hubert, his long moustaches pendent in icicles on +each side of his cracked blue lips, his eyelids inflamed +with the glare of snows, the principal part of his costume +consisting of a sheepskin coat looted with difficulty +from the frozen corpse of a camp follower found in an +abandoned cart, took a more thoughtful view of events. +His regularly handsome features, now reduced to mere +bony lines and fleshless hollows, looked out of a woman's +black velvet hood, over which was rammed forcibly a +cocked hat picked up under the wheels of an empty +army fourgon, which must have contained at one time +some general officer's luggage. The sheepskin coat +being short for a man of his inches ended very high up, +and the skin of his legs, blue with the cold, showed +through the tatters of his nether garments. This +under the circumstances provoked neither jeers nor +pity. No one cared how the next man felt or looked. +Colonel D'Hubert himself, hardened to exposure, suf- +fered mainly in his self-respect from the lamentable in- +decency of his costume. A thoughtless person may +think that with a whole host of inanimate bodies be- +strewing the path of retreat there could not have been +much difficulty in supplying the deficiency. But to +loot a pair of breeches from a frozen corpse is not so easy +as it may appear to a mere theorist. It requires time +and labour. You must remain behind while your +companions march on. Colonel D'Hubert had his +scruples as to falling out. Once he had stepped aside +he could not be sure of ever rejoining his battalion; and +the ghastly intimacy of a wrestling match with the +frozen dead opposing the unyielding rigidity of iron to +your violence was repugnant to the delicacy of his +feelings. Luckily, one day, grubbing in a mound of +snow between the huts of a village in the hope of +finding there a frozen potato or some vegetable garbage +he could put between his long and shaky teeth, Colonel +D'Hubert uncovered a couple of mats of the sort +Russian peasants use to line the sides of their carts with. +These, beaten free of frozen snow, bent about his +elegant person and fastened solidly round his waist, +made a bell-shaped nether garment, a sort of stiff petti- +coat, which rendered Colonel D'Hubert a perfectly +decent, but a much more noticeable figure than before. + +Thus accoutred, he continued to retreat, never doubt- +ing of his personal escape, but full of other misgivings. +The early buoyancy of his belief in the future was +destroyed. If the road of glory led through such unfore- +seen passages, he asked himself -- for he was reflective -- +whether the guide was altogether trustworthy. It was +a patriotic sadness, not unmingled with some personal +concern, and quite unlike the unreasoning indignation +against men and things nursed by Colonel Feraud. +Recruiting his strength in a little German town for three +weeks, Colonel D'Hubert was surprised to discover +within himself a love of repose. His returning vigour +was strangely pacific in its aspirations. He meditated +silently upon this bizarre change of mood. No doubt +many of his brother officers of field rank went through +the same moral experience. But these were not the +times to talk of it. In one of his letters home Colonel +D'Hubert wrote, "All your plans, my dear Leonie, for +marrying me to the charming girl you have discovered +in your neighbourhood, seem farther off than ever. +Peace is not yet. Europe wants another lesson. It +will be a hard task for us, but it shall be done, because +the Emperor is invincible." + +Thus wrote Colonel D 'Hubert from Pomerania to +his married sister Leonie, settled in the south of France. +And so far the sentiments expressed would not have +been disowned by Colonel Feraud, who wrote no letters +to anybody, whose father had been in life an illiterate +blacksmith, who had no sister or brother, and whom no +one desired ardently to pair off for a life of peace with a +charming young girl. But Colonel D 'Hubert's letter +contained also some philosophical generalities upon the +uncertainty of all personal hopes, when bound up +entirely with the prestigious fortune of one incompar- +ably great it is true, yet still remaining but a man in +his greatness. This view would have appeared rank +heresy to Colonel Feraud. Some melancholy fore- +bodings of a military kind, expressed cautiously, would +have been pronounced as nothing short of high treason +by Colonel Feraud. But Leonie, the sister of Colonel +D'Hubert, read them with profound satisfaction, and, +folding the letter thoughtfully, remarked to herself that +"Armand was likely to prove eventually a sensible +fellow." Since her marriage into a Southern family she +had become a convinced believer in the return of the +legitimate king. Hopeful and anxious she offered +prayers night and morning, and burnt candles in +churches for the safety and prosperity of her brother. + +She had every reason to suppose that her prayers +were heard. Colonel D'Hubert passed through Lutzen, +Bautzen, and Leipsic losing no limb, and acquiring +additional reputation. Adapting his conduct to the +needs of that desperate time, he had never voiced his +misgivings. He concealed them under a cheerful +courtesy of such pleasant character that people were +inclined to ask themselves with wonder whether Colonel +D'Hubert was aware of any disasters. Not only his +manners, but even his glances remained untroubled. +The steady amenity of his blue eyes disconcerted all +grumblers, and made despair itself pause. + +This bearing was remarked favourably by the +Emperor himself; for Colonel D'Hubert, attached now +to the Major-General's staff, came on several occasions +under the imperial eye. But it exasperated the higher +strung nature of Colonel Feraud. Passing through +Magdeburg on service, this last allowed himself, while +seated gloomily at dinner with the Commandant de +Place, to say of his life-long adversary: "This man does +not love the Emperor," and his words were received by +the other guests in profound silence. Colonel Feraud, +troubled in his conscience at the atrocity of the asper- +sion, felt the need to back it up by a good argument. +"I ought to know him," he cried, adding some oaths. +"One studies one's adversary. I have met him on the +ground half a dozen times, as all the army knows. +What more do you want? If that isn't opportunity +enough for any fool to size up his man, may the devil +take me if I can tell what is." And he looked around +the table, obstinate and sombre. + +Later on in Paris, while extremely busy reorganizing +his regiment, Colonel Feraud learned that Colonel +D'Hubert had been made a general. He glared at his +informant incredulously, then folded his arms and +turned away muttering, "Nothing surprises me on the +part of that man." + +And aloud he added, speaking over his shoulder, +"You would oblige me greatly by telling General +D'Hubert at the first opportunity that his advancement +saves him for a time from a pretty hot encounter. I +was only waiting for him to turn up here." + +The other officer remonstrated. + +"Could you think of it, Colonel Feraud, at this time, +when every life should be consecrated to the glory and +safety of France?" + +But the strain of unhappiness caused by military re- +verses had spoiled Colonel Feraud's character. Like +many other men, he was rendered wicked by misfortune. + +"I cannot consider General D'Hubert's existence of +any account either for the glory or safety of France," +he snapped viciously. "You don't pretend, perhaps, to +know him better than I do -- I who have met him half a +dozen times on the ground -- do you?" + +His interlocutor, a young man, was silenced. Colonel +Feraud walked up and down the room. + +"This is not the time to mince matters," he said. "I +can't believe that that man ever loved the Emperor. +He picked up his general's stars under the boots of +Marshal Berthier. Very well. I'll get mine in another +fashion, and then we shall settle this business which has +been dragging on too long." + +General D'Hubert, informed indirectly of Colonel +Feraud's attitude, made a gesture as if to put aside an +importunate person. His thoughts were solicited by +graver cares. He had had no time to go and see his +family. His sister, whose royalist hopes were rising +higher every day, though proud of her brother, re- +gretted his recent advancement in a measure, because it +put on him a prominent mark of the usurper's favour, +which later on could have an adverse influence upon his +career. He wrote to her that no one but an inveterate +enemy could say he had got his promotion by favour. +As to his career, he assured her that he looked no farther +forward into the future than the next battlefield. + +Beginning the campaign of France in this dogged +spirit, General D'Hubert was wounded on the second +day of the battle under Laon. While being carried off +the field he heard that Colonel Feraud, promoted this +moment to general, had been sent to replace him at the +head of his brigade. He cursed his luck impulsively, +not being able at the first glance to discern all the ad- +vantages of a nasty wound. And yet it was by this +heroic method that Providence was shaping his future. +Travelling slowly south to his sister's country home +under the care of a trusty old servant, General D'Hu- +bert was spared the humiliating contacts and the per- +plexities of conduct which assailed the men of Napole- +onic empire at the moment of its downfall. Lying in +his bed, with the windows of his room open wide to the +sunshine of Provence, he perceived the undisguised +aspect of the blessing conveyed by that jagged frag- +ment of a Prussian shell, which, killing his horse and +ripping open his thigh, saved him from an active con- +flict with his conscience. After the last fourteen years +spent sword in hand in the saddle, and with the sense of +his duty done to the very end, General D'Hubert found +resignation an easy virtue. His sister was delighted +with his reasonableness. "I leave myself altogether in +your hands, my dear Leonie," he had said to her. + +He was still laid up when, the credit of his brother- +in-law's family being exerted on his behalf, he received +from the royal government not only the confirmation of +his rank, but the assurance of being retained on the +active list. To this was added an unlimited conva- +lescent leave. The unfavourable opinion entertained +of him in Bonapartist circles, though it rested on noth- +ing more solid than the unsupported pronouncement of +General Feraud, was directly responsible for General +D'Hubert's retention on the active list. As to General +Feraud, his rank was confirmed, too. It was more than +he dared to expect; but Marshal Soult, then Minister +of War to the restored king, was partial to officers who +had served in Spain. Only not even the marshal's +protection could secure for him active employment. +He remained irreconcilable, idle, and sinister. He +sought in obscure restaurants the company of other +half-pay officers who cherished dingy but glorious old +tricolour cockades in their breast-pockets, and buttoned +with the forbidden eagle buttons their shabby uniforms, +declaring themselves too poor to afford the expense of +the prescribed change. + +The triumphant return from Elba, an historical fact +as marvellous and incredible as the exploits of some +mythological demi-god, found General D'Hubert still +quite unable to sit a horse. Neither could he walk +very well. These disabilities, which Madame Leonie +accounted most lucky, helped to keep her brother out of +all possible mischief. His frame of mind at that time, +she noted with dismay, became very far from reason- +able. This general officer, still menaced by the loss of +a limb, was discovered one night in the stables of the +chateau by a groom, who, seeing a light, raised an +alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying half-buried in +the straw of the litter, and the general was hopping on +one leg in a loose box around a snorting horse he was +trying to saddle. Such were the effects of imperial +magic upon a calm temperament and a pondered mind. +Beset in the light of stable lanterns, by the tears, en- +treaties, indignation, remonstrances and reproaches +of his family, he got out of the difficult situation by +fainting away there and then in the arms of his nearest +relatives, and was carried off to bed. Before he got +out of it again, the second reign of Napoleon, the +Hundred Days of feverish agitation and supreme +effort, passed away like a terrifying dream. The +tragic year 1815, begun in the trouble and unrest of +consciences, was ending in vengeful proscriptions. + +How General Feraud escaped the clutches of the +Special Commission and the last offices of a firing squad +he never knew himself. It was partly due to the +subordinate position he was assigned during the Hun- +dred Days. The Emperor had never given him active +command, but had kept him busy at the cavalry +depot in Paris, mounting and despatching hastily +drilled troopers into the field. Considering this task +as unworthy of his abilities, he had discharged it with +no offensively noticeable zeal; but for the greater part +he was saved from the excesses of Royalist reaction by +the interference of General D'Hubert. + +This last, still on convalescent leave, but able now to +travel, had been despatched by his sister to Paris to +present himself to his legitimate sovereign. As no one +in the capital could possibly know anything of the +episode in the stable he was received there with distinc- +tion. Military to the very bottom of his soul, the pros- +pect of rising in his profession consoled him from +finding himself the butt of Bonapartist malevolence, +which pursued him with a persistence he could not +account for. All the rancour of that embittered and +persecuted party pointed to him as the man who had +never loved the Emperor -- a sort of monster essentially +worse than a mere betrayer. + +General D'Hubert shrugged his shoulders without +anger at this ferocious prejudice. Rejected by his old +friends, and mistrusting profoundly the advances of +Royalist society, the young and handsome general (he +was barely forty) adopted a manner of cold, punctilious +courtesy, which at the merest shadow of an intended +slight passed easily into harsh haughtiness. Thus pre- +pared, General D'Hubert went about his affairs in Paris +feeling inwardly very happy with the peculiar up- +lifting happiness of a man very much in love. The +charming girl looked out by his sister had come upon +the scene, and had conquered him in the thorough +manner in which a young girl by merely existing in his +sight can make a man of forty her own. They were go- +ing to be married as soon as General D'Hubert had +obtained his official nomination to a promised com- +mand. + +One afternoon, sitting on the terrasse of the Cafe +Tortoni, General D'Hubert learned from the con- +versation of two strangers occupying a table near his +own, that General Feraud, included in the batch of +superior officers arrested after the second return of the +king, was in danger of passing before the Special Com- +mission. Living all his spare moments, as is frequently +the case with expectant lovers, a day in advance of +reality, and in a state of bestarred hallucination, it +required nothing less than the name of his perpetual +antagonist pronounced in a loud voice to call the +youngest of Napoleon's generals away from the +mental contemplation of his betrothed. He looked +round. The strangers wore civilian clothes. Lean and +weather-beaten, lolling back in their chairs, they +scowled at people with moody and defiant abstraction +from under their hats pulled low over their eyes. It +was not difficult to recognize them for two of the +compulsorily retired officers of the Old Guard. As +from bravado or carelessness they chose to speak in loud +tones, General D'Hubert, who saw no reason why he +should change his seat, heard every word. They did +not seem to be the personal friends of General Feraud. +His name came up amongst others. Hearing it +repeated, General D'Hubert's tender anticipations of a +domestic future adorned with a woman's grace were +traversed by the harsh regret of his warlike past, of +that one long, intoxicating clash of arms, unique in the +magnitude of its glory and disaster -- the marvellous +work and the special possession of his own generation. +He felt an irrational tenderness towards his old adver- +sary and appreciated emotionally the murderous ab- +surdity their encounter had introduced into his life. It +was like an additional pinch of spice in a hot dish. He +remembered the flavour with sudden melancholy. He +would never taste it again. It was all over. "I fancy it +was being left lying in the garden that had exasperated +him so against me from the first," he thought, indul- +gently. + + +The two strangers at the next table had fallen silent +after the third mention of General Feraud's name. Pres- +ently the elder of the two, speaking again in a bitter +tone, affirmed that General Feraud's account was set- +tled. And why? Simply because he was not like some +bigwigs who loved only themselves. The Royalists +knew they could never make anything of him. He +loved The Other too well. + +The Other was the Man of St. Helena. The two +officers nodded and touched glasses before they drank +to an impossible return. Then the same who had +spoken before, remarked with a sardonic laugh, "His +adversary showed more cleverness." + +"What adversary?" asked the younger, as if puzzled. + +"Don't you know? They were two hussars. At +each promotion they fought a duel. Haven't you heard +of the duel going on ever since 1801?" + +The other had heard of the duel, of course. Now he +understood the allusion. General Baron D'Hubert +would be able now to enjoy his fat king's favour in +peace. + +"Much good may it do to him," mumbled the elder. +"They were both brave men. I never saw this D'Hu- +bert -- a sort of intriguing dandy, I am told. But I can +well believe what I've heard Feraud say of him -- that +he never loved the Emperor." + +They rose and went away. + +General D'Hubert experienced the horror of a som- +nambulist who wakes up from a complacent dream of +activity to find himself walking on a quagmire. A +profound disgust of the ground on which he was making +his way overcame him. Even the image of the charm- +ing girl was swept from his view in the flood of moral +distress. Everything he had ever been or hoped to be +would taste of bitter ignominy unless he could manage +to save General Feraud from the fate which threatened +so many braves. Under the impulse of this almost +morbid need to attend to the safety of his adversary, +General D'Hubert worked so well with hands and feet +(as the French saying is), that in less than twenty-four +hours he found means of obtaining an extraordinary +private audience from the Minister of Police. + +General Baron D'Hubert was shown in suddenly +without preliminaries. In the dusk of the Minister's +cabinet, behind the forms of writing-desk, chairs, and +tables, between two bunches of wax candles blazing in +sconces, he beheld a figure in a gorgeous coat posturing +before a tall mirror. The old conventionnel Fouche;, +Senator of the Empire, traitor to every man, to every +principle and motive of human conduct. Duke of Otran- +to, and the wily artizan of the second Restoration, was +trying the fit of a court suit in which his young and +accomplished fiancee had declared her intention to have +his portrait painted on porcelain. It was a caprice, a +charming fancy which the first Minister of Police of the +second Restoration was anxious to gratify. For that +man, often compared in wiliness of conduct to a fox, +but whose ethical side could be worthily symbolized +by nothing less emphatic than a skunk, was as much +possessed by his love as General D'Hubert himself. + +Startled to be discovered thus by the blunder of a +servant, he met this little vexation with the characteris- +tic impudence which had served his turn so well in the +endless intrigues of his self-seeking career. Without +altering his attitude a hair's-breadth, one leg in a silk +stocking advanced, his head twisted over his left +shoulder, he called out calmly, "This way, General. +Pray approach. Well? I am all attention." + +While General D'Hubert, ill at ease as if one of his +own little weaknesses had been exposed, presented his +request as shortly as possible, the Duke of Otranto went +on feeling the fit of his collar, settling the lapels before +the glass, and buckling his back in an effort to behold +the set of the gold embroidered coat-skirts behind. His +still face, his attentive eyes, could not have expressed a +more complete interest in those matters if he had been +alone. + +"Exclude from the operations of the Special Court +a certain Feraud, Gabriel Florian, General of brigade +of the promotion of 1814?" he repeated, in a slightly +wondering tone, and then turned away from the glass. +"Why exclude him precisely?" + + +"I am surprised that your Excellency, so competent +in the evaluation of men of his time, should have +thought worth while to have that name put down on +the list." + +"A rabid Bonapartist!" + +"So is every grenadier and every trooper of the army, +as your Excellency well knows. And the individuality +of General Feraud can have no more weight than that +of any casual grenadier. He is a man of no mental +grasp, of no capacity whatever. It is inconceivable +that he should ever have any influence." + +"He has a well-hung tongue, though," interjected +Fouche. + +"Noisy, I admit, but not dangerous." + +"I will not dispute with you. I know next to noth- +ing of him. Hardly his name, in fact." + +"And yet your Excellency has the presidency of the +Commission charged by the king to point out those who +were to be tried," said General D'Hubert, with an +emphasis which did not miss the minister's ear. + +"Yes, General," he said, walking away into the dark +part of the vast room, and throwing himself into a deep +armchair that swallowed him up, all but the soft gleam +of gold embroideries and the pallid patch of the face -- +"yes, General. Take this chair there." + +General D'Hubert sat down. + +"Yes, General," continued the arch-master in the +arts of intrigue and betrayals, whose duplicity, as if at +times intolerable to his self-knowledge, found relief in +bursts of cynical openness. "I did hurry on the forma- +tion of the proscribing Commission, and I took its presi- +dency. And do you know why? Simply from fear +that if I did not take it quickly into my hands my own +name would head the list of the proscribed. Such are +the times in which we live. But I am minister of the +king yet, and I ask you plainly why I should take the +name of this obscure Feraud off the list? You wonder +how his name got there! Is it possible that you should +know men so little? My dear General, at the very +first sitting of the Commission names poured on us like +rain off the roof of the Tuileries. Names! We had our +choice of thousands. How do you know that the name +of this Feraud, whose life or death don't matter to +France, does not keep out some other name?" + +The voice out of the armchair stopped. Opposite +General D'Hubert sat still, shadowy and silent. Only +his sabre clinked slightly. The voice in the armchair +began again. "And we must try to satisfy the exigencies +of the Allied Sovereigns, too. The Prince de Talleyrand +told me only yesterday that Nesselrode had informed +him officially of His Majesty the Emperor Alexander's +dissatisfaction at the small number of examples the +Government of the king intends to make -- especially +amongst military men. I tell you this confidentially." + +"Upon my word!" broke out General D'Hubert, +speaking through his teeth, "if your Excellency deigns +to favour me with any more confidential information I +don't know what I will do. It's enough to break one's +sword over one's knee, and fling the pieces. . . ." + +"What government you imagined yourself to be +serving?" interrupted the minister, sharply. + +After a short pause the crestfallen voice of General +D'Hubert answered, "The Government of France." + +"That's paying your conscience off with mere words, +General. The truth is that you are serving a govern- +ment of returned exiles, of men who have been without +country for twenty years. Of men also who have just +got over a very bad and humiliating fright. . . . +Have no illusions on that score." + +The Duke of Otranto ceased. He had relieved him- +self, and had attained his object of stripping some self- +respect off that man who had inconveniently discovered +him posturing in a gold-embroidered court costume +before a mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot in the +army; it occurred to him that it would be inconvenient +if a well-disposed general officer, received in audience +on the recommendation of one of the Princes, were to +do something rashly scandalous directly after a pri- +vate interview with the minister. In a changed tone +he put a question to the point: "Your relation -- this +Feraud?" + +"No. No relation at all." + +"Intimate friend?" + +"Intimate . . . yes. There is between us an +intimate connection of a nature which makes it a point +of honour with me to try . . ." + +The minister rang a bell without waiting for the end +of the phrase. When the servant had gone out, after +bringing in a pair of heavy silver candelabra for the +writing-desk, the Duke of Otranto rose, his breast glis- +tening all over with gold in the strong light, and taking a +piece of paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand osten- +tatiously while he said with persuasive gentleness: +"You must not speak of breaking your sword across +your knee, General. Perhaps you would never get +another. The Emperor will not return this time. . . . +Diable d'homme! There was just a moment, here in +Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me. +It looked as though he were ready to begin all over +again. Luckily one never does begin all over again, +really. You must not think of breaking your sword, +General." + +General D'Hubert, looking on the ground, moved +slightly his hand in a hopeless gesture of renunciation. +The Minister of Police turned his eyes away from him, +and scanned deliberately the paper he had been holding +up all the time. + +"There are only twenty general officers selected to +be made an example of. Twenty. A round number. +And let's see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he's there. Ga- +briel Florian. Parfaitement. That's your man. Well, +there will be only nineteen examples made now." + +General D'Hubert stood up feeling as though he had +gone through an infectious illness. "I must beg your +Excellency to keep my interference a profound secret. +I attach the greatest importance to his never learn- +ing . . ." + +"Who is going to inform him, I should like to know?" +said Fouche, raising his eyes curiously to General +D'Hubert's tense, set face. "Take one of these pens, +and run it through the name yourself. This is the +only list in existence. If you are careful to take up +enough ink no one will be able to tell what was the +name struck out. But, par exemple, I am not responsi- +ble for what Clarke will do with him afterwards. If he +persists in being rabid he will be ordered by the Minister +of War to reside in some provincial town under the +supervision of the police." + +A few days later General D'Hubert was saying to his +sister, after the first greetings had been got over: "Ah, +my dear Leonie! it seemed to me I couldn't get away +from Paris quick enough." + +"Effect of love," she suggested, with a malicious +smile. + +"And horror," added General D'Hubert, with pro- +found seriousness. "I have nearly died there of . . . +of nausea." + +His face was contracted with disgust. And as his +sister looked at him attentively he continued, "I have +had to see Fouche. I have had an audience. I have +been in his cabinet. There remains with one, who had +the misfortune to breathe the air of the same room with +that man, a sense of diminished dignity, an uneasy feel- +ing of being not so clean, after all, as one hoped one +was. . . . But you can't understand." + +She nodded quickly several times. She understood +very well, on the contrary. She knew her brother +thoroughly, and liked him as he was. Moreover, the +scorn and loathing of mankind were the lot of the +Jacobin Fouche, who, exploiting for his own advantage +every weakness, every virtue, every generous illusion of +mankind, made dupes of his whole generation, and died +obscurely as Duke of Otranto. + +"My dear Armand," she said, compassionately, "what +could you want from that man?" + +"Nothing less than a life," answered General +D'Hubert. "And I've got it. It had to be done. But +I feel yet as if I could never forgive the necessity to the +man I had to save." + +General Feraud, totally unable (as is the case with +most of us) to comprehend what was happening to him, +received the Minister of War's order to proceed at once +to a small town of Central France with feelings whose +natural expression consisted in a fierce rolling of the eye +and savage grinding of the teeth. The passing away of +the state of war, the only condition of society he had +ever known, the horrible view of a world at peace, +frightened him. He went away to his little town firmly +convinced that this could not last. There he was in- +formed of his retirement from the army, and that his +pension (calculated on the scale of a colonel's rank) was +made dependent on the correctness of his conduct, and +on the good reports of the police. No longer in the +army! He felt suddenly strange to the earth, like a +disembodied spirit. It was impossible to exist. But +at first he reacted from sheer incredulity. This could +not be. He waited for thunder, earthquakes, natural +cataclysms; but nothing happened. The leaden weight +of an irremediable idleness descended upon General +Feraud, who having no resources within himself sank +into a state of awe-inspiring hebetude. He haunted the +streets of the little town, gazing before him with lack- +lustre eyes, disregarding the hats raised on his passage; +and people, nudging each other as he went by, whispered, +"That's poor General Feraud. His heart is broken. +Behold how he loved the Emperor." + +The other living wreckage of Napoleonic tempest +clustered round General Feraud with infinite respect. +He, himself, imagined his soul to be crushed by grief. +He suffered from quickly succeeding impulses to weep, +to howl, to bite his fists till blood came, to spend days on +his bed with his head thrust under the pillow; but these +arose from sheer ennui, from the anguish of an immense, +indescribable, inconceivable boredom. His mental in- +ability to grasp the hopeless nature of his case as a +whole saved him from suicide. He never even thought +of it once. He thought of nothing. But his appetite +abandoned him, and the difficulty he experienced to +express the overwhelming nature of his feelings (the +most furious swearing could do no justice to it) induced +gradually a habit of silence -- a sort of death to a +southern temperament. + +Great, therefore, was the sensation amongst the an- +ciens militaires frequenting a certain little cafe; full of flies +when one stuffy afternoon "that poor General Feraud" +let out suddenly a volley of formidable curses. + +He had been sitting quietly in his own privileged +corner looking through the Paris gazettes with just as +much interest as a condemned man on the eve of exe- +cution could be expected to show in the news of the day. +Aill find out presently that I am alive yet," he declared, +in a dogmatic tone. "However, this is a private affair. +An old affair of honour. Bah! Our honour does not +matter. Here we are driven off with a split ear like a +lot of cast troop horses -- good only for a knacker's +yard. But it would be like striking a blow for the +Emperor. . . . Messieurs, I shall require the assis- +tance of two of you." + +Every man moved forward. General Feraud, deeply +touched by this demonstration, called with visible +emotion upon the one-eyed veteran cuirassier and the +officer of the Chasseurs a Cheval who had left the tip of +his nose in Russia. He excused his choice to the others. + +"A cavalry affair this -- you know." + +He was answered with a varied chorus of "Parfaite- +ment, mon General. . . . C'est juste. . . . Par- +bleu, c'est connu. . . ." Everybody was satisfied. +The three left the cafe together, followed by cries of +"Bonne chance." + +Outside they linked arms, the general in the middle. +The three rusty cocked hats worn en bataille with a +sinister forward slant barred the narrow street nearly +right across. The overheated little town of grey stones +and red tiles was drowsing away its provincial afternoon +under a blue sky. The loud blows of a cooper hooping +a cask reverberated regularly between the houses. The +general dragged his left foot a little in the shade of the +walls. + +"This damned winter of 1813 has got into my bones +for good. Never mind. We must take pistols, that's +all. A little lumbago. We must have pistols. He's +game for my bag. My eyes are as keen as ever. You +should have seen me in Russia picking off the dodging +Cossacks with a beastly old infantry musket. I have a +natural gift for firearms." + +In this strain General Feraud ran on, holding up his +head, with owlish eyes and rapacious beak. A mere +fighter all his life, a cavalry man, a sabreur, he conceived +war with the utmost simplicity, as, in the main, a massed +lot of personal contests, a sort of gregarious duelling. +And here he had in hand a war of his own. He revived. +The shadow of peace passed away from him like the +shadow of death. It was the marvellous resurrection of +the named Feraud, Gabriel Florian, engage volontaire +of 1793, General of 1814, buried without ceremony by +means of a service order signed by the War Minister +of the Second Restoration. + + +IV + + +No man succeeds in everything he undertakes. In +that sense we are all failures. The great point is not +to fail in ordering and sustaining the effort of our life. +In this matter vanity is what leads us astray. It hurries +us into situations from which we must come out dam- +aged; whereas pride is our safeguard, by the reserve it +imposes on the choice of our endeavour as much as by +the virtue of its sustaining power. + +General D'Hubert was proud and reserved. He had +not been damaged by his casual love affairs, successful +or otherwise. In his war-scarred body his heart at forty +remained unscratched. Entering with reserve into his +sister's matrimonial plans, he had felt himself falling +irremediably in love as one falls off a roof. He was too +proud to be frightened. Indeed, the sensation was too +delightful to be alarming. + +The inexperience of a man of forty is a much more +serious thing than the inexperience of a youth of twenty, +for it is not helped out by the rashness of hot blood. +The girl was mysterious, as young girls are by the +mere effect of their guarded ingenuity; and to him the +mysteriousness of that young girl appeared exceptional +and fascinating. But there was nothing mysterious +about the arrangements of the match which Madame +Leonie had promoted. There was nothing peculiar, +either. It was a very appropriate match, commending +itself extremely to the young lady's mother (the father +was dead) and tolerable to the young lady's uncle -- an +old emigre lately returned from Germany, and pervad- +ing, cane in hand, a lean ghost of the ancien regime, the +garden walks of the young lady's ancestral home. + +General D'Hubert was not the man to be satisfied +merely with the woman and the fortune -- when it came +to the point. His pride (and pride aims always at true +success) would be satisfied with nothing short of love. +But as true pride excludes vanity, he could not imagine +any reason why this mysterious creature with deep and +brilliant eyes of a violet colour should have any feeling +for him warmer than indifference. The young lady (her +name was Adele) baffled every attempt at a clear under- +standing on that point. It is true that the attempts +were clumsy and made timidly, because by then General +D'Hubert had become acutely aware of the number of +his years, of his wounds, of his many moral imperfec- +tions, of his secret unworthiness -- and had incidentally +learned by experience the meaning of the word funk. +As far as he could make out she seemed to imply that, +with an unbounded confidence in her mother's affection +and sagacity, she felt no unsurmountable dislike for the +person of General D'Hubert; and that this was quite +sufficient for a well-brought-up young lady to begin +married life upon. This view hurt and tormented the +pride of General D'Hubert. And yet he asked himself, +with a sort of sweet despair, what more could he expect? +She had a quiet and luminous forehead. Her violet eyes +laughed while the lines of her lips and chin remained +composed in admirable gravity. All this was set off by +such a glorious mass of fair hair, by a complexion so +marvellous, by such a grace of expression, that General +D'Hubert really never found the opportunity to examine +with sufficient detachment the lofty exigencies of his +pride. In fact, he became shy of that line of inquiry +since it had led once or twice to a crisis of solitary pas- +sion in which it was borne upon him that he loved her +enough to kill her rather than lose her. From such +passages, not unknown to men of forty, he would come +out broken, exhausted, remorseful, a little dismayed. +He derived, however, considerable comfort from the +quietist practice of sitting now and then half the night +by an open window and meditating upon the wonder +of her existence, like a believer lost in the mystic con- +templation of his faith. + +It must not be supposed that all these variations of +his inward state were made manifest to the world. +General D 'Hubert found no difficulty in appearing +wreathed in smiles. Because, in fact, he was very +happy. He followed the established rules of his condi- +tion, sending over flowers (from his sister's garden and +hot-houses) early every morning, and a little later fol- +lowing himself to lunch with his intended, her mother, +and her emigre uncle. The middle of the day was spent +in strolling or sitting in the shade. A watchful defer- +ence, trembling on the verge of tenderness was the note +of their intercourse on his side -- with a playful turn of +the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole +being caused by her inaccessible nearness. Late in the +afternoon General D 'Hubert walked home between the +fields of vines, sometimes intensely miserable, some- +times supremely happy, sometimes pensively sad; but +always feeling a special intensity of existence, that ela- +tion common to artists, poets, and lovers -- to men +haunted by a great passion, a noble thought, or a new +vision of plastic beauty. + +The outward world at that time did not exist with +any special distinctness for General D'Hubert. One +evening, however, crossing a ridge from which he could +see both houses, General D'Hubert became aware of two +figures far down the road. The day had been divine. +The festal decoration of the inflamed sky lent a gentle +glow to the sober tints of the southern land. The grey +rocks, the brown fields, the purple, undulating distances +harmonized in luminous accord, exhaled already the +scents of the evening. The two figures down the road +presented themselves like two rigid and wooden sil- +houettes all black on the ribbon of white dust. General +D'Hubert made out the long, straight, military capotes +buttoned closely right up to the black stocks, the cocked +hats, the lean, carven, brown countenances -- old soldiers +-- vieilles moustaches! The taller of the two had a +black patch over one eye; the other's hard, dry coun- +tenance presented some bizarre, disquieting peculiarity, +which on nearer approach proved to be the absence of +the tip of the nose. Lifting their hands with one move- +ment to salute the slightly lame civilian walking with a +thick stick, they inquired for the house where the Gen- +eral Baron D'Hubert lived, and what was the best way +to get speech with him quietly. + +"If you think this quiet enough," said General +D'Hubert, looking round at the vine-fields, framed in +purple lines, and dominated by the nest of grey and +drab walls of a village clustering around the top of a +conical hill, so that the blunt church tower seemed but +the shape of a crowning rock -- "if you think this spot +quiet enough, you can speak to him at once. And I +beg you, comrades, to speak openly, with perfect con- +fidence." + +They stepped back at this, and raised again their +hands to their hats with marked ceremoniousness. +Then the one with the chipped nose, speaking for both, +remarked that the matter was confidential enough, and +to be arranged discreetly. Their general quarters were +established in that village over there, where the infernal +clodhoppers -- damn their false, Royalist hearts! -- looked +remarkably cross-eyed at three unassuming military +men. For the present he should only ask for the name +of General D'Hubert's friends. + +"What friends?" said the astonished General D'Hu- +bert, completely off the track. "I am staying with my +brother-in-law over there." + +"Well, he will do for one," said the chipped veteran. + +"We're the friends of General Feraud," interjected +the other, who had kept silent till then, only glowering +with his one eye at the man who had never loved the +Emperor. That was something to look at. For even +the gold-laced Judases who had sold him to the English, +the marshals and princes, had loved him at some time or +other. But this man had never loved the Emperor. +General Feraud had said so distinctly. + +General D'Hubert felt an inward blow in his chest. +For an infinitesimal fraction of a second it was as if +the spinning of the earth had become perceptible with +an awful, slight rustle in the eternal stillness of space. +But this noise of blood in his ears passed off at once. +Involuntarily he murmured, "Feraud! I had forgotten +his existence." + +"He's existing at present, very uncomfortably, it is +true, in the infamous inn of that nest of savages up +there," said the one-eyed cuirassier, drily. "We arrived +in your parts an hour ago on post horses. He's awaiting +our return with impatience. There is hurry, you know. +The General has broken the ministerial order to obtain +from you the satisfaction he's entitled to by the laws of +honour, and naturally he's anxious to have it all over +before the gendarmerie gets on his scent." + +The other elucidated the idea a little further. "Get +back on the quiet -- you understand? Phitt! No one +the wiser. We have broken out, too. Your friend the +king would be glad to cut off our scurvy pittances at the +first chance. It's a risk. But honour before every- +thing." + +General D'Hubert had recovered his powers of +speech. "So you come here like this along the road +to invite me to a throat-cutting match with that -- +that . . ." A laughing sort of rage took possession +of him. "Ha! ha! ha! ha!" + +His fists on his hips, he roared without restraint, while +they stood before him lank and straight, as though they +had been shot up with a snap through a trap door in the +ground. Only four-and-twenty months ago the mas- +ters of Europe, they had already the air of antique +ghosts, they seemed less substantial in their faded coats +than their own narrow shadows falling so black across +the white road: the military and grotesque shadows of +twenty years of war and conquests. They had an out- +landish appearance of two imperturbable bonzes of the +religion of the sword. And General D'Hubert, also one +of the ex-masters of Europe, laughed at these serious +phantoms standing in his way. + +Said one, indicating the laughing General with a jerk +of the head: "A merry companion, that." + +"There are some of us that haven't smiled from the +day The Other went away," remarked his comrade. + +A violent impulse to set upon and beat those unsub- +stantial wraiths to the ground frightened General +D'Hubert. He ceased laughing suddenly. His desire +now was to get rid of them, to get them away from his +sight quickly before he lost control of himself. He +wondered at the fury he felt rising in his breast. But +he had no time to look into that peculiarity just then. + +"I understand your wish to be done with me as +quickly as possible. Don't let us waste time in empty +ceremonies. Do you see that wood there at the foot of +that slope? Yes, the wood of pines. Let us meet there +to-morrow at sunrise. I will bring with me my sword +or my pistols, or both if you like." + +The seconds of General Feraud looked at each other. + +"Pistols, General," said the cuirassier. + +"So be it. Au revoir -- to-morrow morning. Till +then let me advise you to keep close if you don't want +the gendarmerie making inquiries about you before it +gets dark. Strangers are rare in this part of the coun- +try." + +They saluted in silence. General D'Hubert, turning +his back on their retreating forms, stood still in the +middle of the road for a long time, biting his lower lip +and looking on the ground. Then he began to walk +straight before him, thus retracing his steps till he found +himself before the park gate of his intended's house. +Dusk had fallen. Motionless he stared through the +bars at the front of the house, gleaming clear beyond the +thickets and trees. Footsteps scrunched on the gravel, +and presently a tall stooping shape emerged from the +lateral alley following the inner side of the park wall. + +Le Chevalier de Valmassigue, uncle of the adorable +Adele, ex-brigadier in the army of the Princes, book- +binder in Altona, afterwards shoemaker (with a great +reputation for elegance in the fit of ladies' shoes) in +another small German town, wore silk stockings on his +lean shanks, low shoes with silver buckles, a brocaded +waistcoat. A long-skirted coat, a la francaise, covered +loosely his thin, bowed back. A small three-cornered +hat rested on a lot of powdered hair, tied in a queue. + +"Monsieur le Chevalier," called General D'Hubert, +softly. + +"What? You here again, mon ami? Have you +forgotten something?" + +"By heavens! that's just it. I have forgotten some- +thing. I am come to tell you of it. No -- outside. +Behind this wall. It's too ghastly a thing to be let in +at all where she lives." + +The Chevalier came out at once with that benevolent +resignation some old people display towards the fugue +of youth. Older by a quarter of a century than General +D'Hubert, he looked upon him in the secret of his heart +as a rather troublesome youngster in love. He had +heard his enigmatical words very well, but attached no +undue importance to what a mere man of forty so hard +hit was likely to do or say. The turn of mind of the +generation of Frenchmen grown up during the years of +his exile was almost unintelligible to him. Their senti- +ments appeared to him unduly violent, lacking fineness +and measure, their language needlessly exaggerated. +He joined calmly the General on the road, and they +made a few steps in silence, the General trying to master +his agitation, and get proper control of his voice. + +"It is perfectly true; I forgot something. I forgot +till half an hour ago that I had an urgent affair of honour +on my hands. It's incredible, but it is so!" + +All was still for a moment. Then in the profound +evening silence of the countryside the clear, aged voice +of the Chevalier was heard trembling slightly: "Mon- +sieur! That's an indignity." + +It was his first thought. The girl born during his +exile, the posthumous daughter of his poor brother mur- +dered by a band of Jacobins, had grown since his return +very dear to his old heart, which had been starving on +mere memories of affection for so many years. "It is +an inconceivable thing, I say! A man settles such af- +fairs before he thinks of asking for a young girl's hand. +Why! If you had forgotten for ten days longer, you +would have been married before your memory returned +to you. In my time men did not forget such things -- +nor yet what is due to the feelings of an innocent young +woman. If I did not respect them myself, I would +qualify your conduct in a way which you would not +like." + +General D'Hubert relieved himself frankly by a +groan. "Don't let that consideration prevent you. +You run no risk of offending her mortally." + +But the old man paid no attention to this lover's +nonsense. It's doubtful whether he even heard. +"What is it? "he asked. "What's the nature of . . . ?" + "Call it a youthful folly, Monsieur le Chevalier. An +inconceivable, incredible result of . . ." He stopped +short. "He will never believe the story," he thought. +"He will only think I am taking him for a fool, and get +offended." General D'Hubert spoke up again: "Yes, +originating in youthful folly, it has become . . ." + +The Chevalier interrupted: "Well, then it must be +arranged." + +"Arranged?" + +"Yes, no matter at what cost to your amour propre. +You should have remembered you were engaged. You +forgot that, too, I suppose. And then you go and forget +your quarrel. It's the most hopeless exhibition of levity +I ever heard of." + +"Good heavens, Monsieur! You don't imagine I +have been picking up this quarrel last time I was in +Paris, or anything of the sort, do you?" + +"Eh! What matters the precise date of your insane +conduct," exclaimed the Chevalier, testily. "The prin- +cipal thing is to arrange it." + +Noticing General D'Hubert getting restive and try- +ing to place a word, the old emigre raised his hand, and +added with dignity, "I've been a soldier, too. I would +never dare suggest a doubtful step to the man whose +name my niece is to bear. I tell you that entre galants +hommes an affair can always be arranged." + +"But saperiotte, Monsieur le Chevalier, it's fifteen or +sixteen years ago. I was a lieutenant of hussars then." + +The old Chevalier seemed confounded by the vehe- +mently despairing tone of this information. "You +were a lieutenant of hussars sixteen years ago," he mum- +bled in a dazed manner. + +"Why, yes! You did not suppose I was made a +general in my cradle like a royal prince." + +In the deepening purple twilight of the fields spread +with vine leaves, backed by a low band of sombre crim- +son in the west, the voice of the old ex-officer in the army +of the Princes sounded collected, punctiliously civil. + +"Do I dream? Is this a pleasantry? Or am I to +understand that you have been hatching an affair of +honour for sixteen years?" + +"It has clung to me for that length of time. That is +my precise meaning. The quarrel itself is not to be +explained easily. We met on the ground several times +during that time, of course." + +"What manners! What horrible perversion of man- +liness! Nothing can account for such inhumanity but +the sanguinary madness of the Revolution which has +tainted a whole generation," mused the returned emigre +in a low tone. "Who's your adversary?" he asked a +little louder. + +"My adversary? His name is Feraud." + +Shadowy in his tricorne and old-fashioned clothes, +like a bowed, thin ghost of the ancien regime, the Cheva- +lier voiced a ghostly memory. "I can remember the +feud about little Sophie Derval, between Monsieur +de Brissac, Captain in the Bodyguards, and d'Anjorrant +(not the pock-marked one, the other -- the Beau +d'Anjorrant, as they called him). They met three times +in eighteen months in a most gallant manner. It was +the fault of that little Sophie, too, who would keep on +playing . . ." + +"This is nothing of the kind," interrupted General +D'Hubert. He laughed a little sardonically. "Not at +all so simple," he added. "Nor yet half so reasonable," +he finished, inaudibly, between his teeth, and ground +them with rage. + +After this sound nothing troubled the silence for a +long time, till the Chevalier asked, without animation: +"What is he -- this Feraud?" + +"Lieutenant of hussars, too -- I mean, he's a general. +A Gascon. Son of a blacksmith, I believe." + +"There! I thought so. That Bonaparte had a +special predilection for the canaille. I don't mean this +for you, D'Hubert. You are one of us, though you have +served this usurper, who . . ." + +"Let's leave him out of this," broke in General D'Hu- +bert. + +The Chevalier shrugged his peaked shoulders. "Fe- +raud of sorts. Offspring of a blacksmith and some +village troll. See what comes of mixing yourself up +with that sort of people." + +"You have made shoes yourself, Chevalier." + +"Yes. But I am not the son of a shoemaker. Neither +are you, Monsieur D'Hubert. You and I have some- +thing that your Bonaparte's princes, dukes, and mar- +shals have not, because there's no power on earth that +could give it to them," retorted the emigre, with the +rising animation of a man who has got hold of a hopeful +argument. "Those people don't exist -- all these Fe- +rauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A va-nu-pieds dis- +guised into a general by a Corsican adventurer mas- +querading as an emperor. There is no earthly reason +for a D'Hubert to s'encanailler by a duel with a person +of that sort. You can make your excuses to him per- +fectly well. And if the manant takes into his head to +decline them, you may simply refuse to meet him." + +"You say I may do that?" + +"I do. With the clearest conscience." + +"Monsieur le Chevalier! To what do you think you +have returned from your emigration?" + +This was said in such a startling tone that the old +man raised sharply his bowed head, glimmering silvery +white under the points of the little tricorne. For a time +he made no sound. + +"God knows!" he said at last, pointing with a slow +and grave gesture at a tall roadside cross mounted on a +block of stone, and stretching its arms of forged iron all +black against the darkening red band in the sky -- "God +knows! If it were not for this emblem, which I remem- +ber seeing on this spot as a child, I would wonder to +what we who remained faithful to God and our king +have returned. The very voices of the people have +changed." + +"Yes, it is a changed France," said General D'Hu- +bert. He seemed to have regained his calm. His tone +was slightly ironic. "Therefore I cannot take your +advice. Besides, how is one to refuse to be bitten by a +dog that means to bite? It's impracticable. Take my +word for it -- Feraud isn't a man to be stayed by apolo- +gies or refusals. But there are other ways. I could, +for instance, send a messenger with a word to the briga- +dier of the gendarmerie in Senlac. He and his two +friends are liable to arrest on my simple order. It +would make some talk in the army, both the organized +and the disbanded -- especially the disbanded. All +canaille! All once upon a time the companions in +arms of Armand D'Hubert. But what need a D'Hu- +bert care what people that don't exist may think? Or, +better still, I might get my brother-in-law to send for +the mayor of the village and give him a hint. No more +would be needed to get the three 'brigands' set upon +with flails and pitchforks and hunted into some nice, +deep, wet ditch -- and nobody the wiser! It has been +done only ten miles from here to three poor devils of the +disbanded Red Lancers of the Guard going to their +homes. What says your conscience, Chevalier? Can +a D'Hubert do that thing to three men who do not +exist?" + +A few stars had come out on the blue obscurity, +clear as crystal, of the sky. The dry, thin voice of the +Chevalier spoke harshly: "Why are you telling me all +this?" + +The General seized the withered old hand with a +strong grip. "Because I owe you my fullest confidence. +Who could tell Adele but you? You understand why I +dare not trust my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. +Chevalier! I have been so near doing these things that +I tremble yet. You don't know how terrible this duel +appears to me. And there's no escape from it." + +He murmured after a pause, "It's a fatality," +dropped the Chevalier's passive hand, and said in his +ordinary conversational voice, "I shall have to go with- +out seconds. If it is my lot to remain on the ground, +you at least will know all that can be made known of +this affair." + +The shadowy ghost of the ancien regime seemed to +have become more bowed during the conversation. +"How am I to keep an indifferent face this evening +before these two women?" he groaned. "General! I +find it very difficult to forgive you." + +General D 'Hubert made no answer. + +"Is your cause good, at least?" + +"I am innocent." + +This time he seized the Chevalier's ghostly arm +above the elbow, and gave it a mighty squeeze. "I +must kill him!" he hissed, and opening his hand strode +away down the road. + +The delicate attentions of his adoring sister had +secured for the General perfect liberty of movement in +the house where he was a guest. He had even his own +entrance through a small door in one corner of the +orangery. Thus he was not exposed that evening to +the necessity of dissembling his agitation before the +calm ignorance of the other inmates. He was glad of +it. It seemed to him that if he had to open his lips he +would break out into horrible and aimless imprecations, +start breaking furniture, smashing china and glass. +From the moment he opened the private door and +while ascending the twenty-eight steps of a winding +staircase, giving access to the corridor on which his room +opened, he went through a horrible and humiliating +scene in which an infuriated madman with blood-shot +eyes and a foaming mouth played inconceivable havoc +with everything inanimate that may be found in a well- +appointed dining-room. When he opened the door of +his apartment the fit was over, and his bodily fatigue +was so great that he had to catch at the backs of the +chairs while crossing the room to reach a low and broad +divan on which he let himself fall heavily. His moral +prostration was still greater. That brutality of feeling +which he had known only when charging the enemy, +sabre in hand, amazed this man of forty, who did not +recognize in it the instinctive fury of his menaced +passion. But in his mental and bodily exhaustion this +passion got cleared, distilled, refined into a sentiment of +melancholy despair at having, perhaps, to die before he +had taught this beautiful girl to love him. + +That night, General D'Hubert stretched out on his +back with his hands over his eyes, or lying on his breast +with his face buried in a cushion, made the full pil- +grimage of emotions. Nauseating disgust at the absur- +dity of the situation, doubt of his own fitness to conduct +his existence, and mistrust of his best sentiments (for +what the devil did he want to go to Fouche for?) -- he +knew them all in turn. "I am an idiot, neither more +nor less," he thought -- "A sensitive idiot. Because I +overheard two men talking in a cafe. . . . I am an +idiot afraid of lies -- whereas in life it is only truth that +matters." + +Several times he got up and, walking in his socks in +order not to be heard by anybody downstairs, drank all +the water he could find in the dark. And he tasted the +torments of jealousy, too. She would marry somebody +else. His very soul writhed. The tenacity of that +Feraud, the awful persistence of that imbecile brute, +came to him with the tremendous force of a relentless +destiny. General D'Hubert trembled as he put down +the empty water ewer. "He will have me," he thought. +General D'Hubert was tasting every emotion that life +has to give. He had in his dry mouth the faint sickly +flavour of fear, not the excusable fear before a young +girl's candid and amused glance, but the fear of death +and the honourable man's fear of cowardice. + +But if true courage consists in going out to meet an +odious danger from which our body, soul, and heart +recoil together, General D'Hubert had the opportunity +to practise it for the first time in his life. He had +charged exultingly at batteries and at infantry squares, +and ridden with messages through a hail of bullets with- +out thinking anything about it. His business now was +to sneak out unheard, at break of day, to an obscure +and revolting death. General D'Hubert never hesi- +tated. He carried two pistols in a leather bag which he +slung over his shoulder. Before he had crossed the +garden his mouth was dry again. He picked two +oranges. It was only after shutting the gate after him +that he felt a slight faintness. + +He staggered on, disregarding it, and after going a +few yards regained the command of his legs. In the +colourless and pellucid dawn the wood of pines de- +tached its columns of trunks and its dark green canopy +very clearly against the rocks of the grey hillside. He +kept his eyes fixed on it steadily, and sucked at an +orange as he walked. That temperamental good- +humoured coolness in the face of danger which had +made him an officer liked by his men and appreciated +by his superiors was gradually asserting itself. It was +like going into battle. Arriving at the edge of the +wood he sat down on a boulder, holding the other orange +in his hand, and reproached himself for coming so +ridiculously early on the ground. Before very long, +however, he heard the swishing of bushes, footsteps on +the hard ground, and the sounds of a disjointed, loud +conversation. A voice somewhere behind him said +boastfully, "He's game for my bag." + +He thought to himself, "Here they are. What's this +about game? Are they talking of me?" And becom- +ing aware of the other orange in his hand, he thought +further, "These are very good oranges. Leonie's own +tree. I may just as well eat this orange now instead of +flinging it away." + +Emerging from a wilderness of rocks and bushes, +General Feraud and his seconds discovered General +D'Hubert engaged in peeling the orange. They stood +still, waiting till he looked up. Then the seconds +raised their hats, while General Feraud, putting his +hands behind his back, walked aside a little way. + +"I am compelled to ask one of you, messieurs, to act +for me. I have brought no friends. Will you?" + +The one-eyed cuirassier said judicially, "That cannot +be refused." + +The other veteran remarked, "It's awkward all the +same." + +"Owing to the state of the people's minds in this +part of the country there was no one I could trust safely +with the object of your presence here," explained +General D'Hubert, urbanely. + +They saluted, looked round, and remarked both +together: + +"Poor ground." + +"It's unfit." + +"Why bother about ground, measurements, and so +on? Let us simplify matters. Load the two pairs of +pistols. I will take those of General Feraud, and let +him take mine. Or, better still, let us take a mixed +pair. One of each pair. Then let us go into the wood +and shoot at sight, while you remain outside. We did +not come here for ceremonies, but for war -- war to the +death. Any ground is good enough for that. If I fall, +you must leave me where I lie and clear out. It +wouldn't be healthy for you to be found hanging about +here after that." + +It appeared after a short parley that General Feraud +was willing to accept these conditions. While the +seconds were loading the pistols, he could be heard +whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with perfect +contentment. He flung off his coat briskly, and +General D 'Hubert took off his own and folded it care- +fully on a stone. + +"Suppose you take your principal to the other side +of the wood and let him enter exactly in ten minutes +from now," suggested General D'Hubert, calmly, but +feeling as if he were giving directions for his own execu- +tion. This, however, was his last moment of weakness. +"Wait. Let us compare watches first." + +He pulled out his own. The officer with the chipped +nose went over to borrow the watch of General Feraud. +They bent their heads over them for a time. + +"That's it. At four minutes to six by yours. Seven +to by mine." + +It was the cuirassier who remained by the side of +General D'Hubert, keeping his one eye fixed immovably +on the white face of the watch he held in the palm of +his hand. He opened his mouth, waiting for the beat +of the last second long before he snapped out the word, +"Avancez." + +General D'Hubert moved on, passing from the glaring +sunshine of the Provencal morning into the cool and +aromatic shade of the pines. The ground was clear +between the reddish trunks, whose multitude, leaning +at slightly different angles, confused his eye at first. It +was like going into battle. The commanding quality +of confidence in himself woke up in his breast. He was +all to his affair. The problem was how to kill the +adversary. Nothing short of that would free him +from this imbecile nightmare. "It's no use wounding +that brute," thought General D'Hubert. He was +known as a resourceful officer. His comrades years ago +used also to call him The Strategist. And it was a fact +that he could think in the presence of the enemy. +Whereas Feraud had been always a mere fighter -- but a +dead shot, unluckily. + +"I must draw his fire at the greatest possible range," +said General D'Hubert to himself. + +At that moment he saw something white moving far +off between the trees -- the shirt of his adversary. He +stepped out at once between the trunks, exposing him- +self freely; then, quick as lightning, leaped back. It +had been a risky move but it succeeded in its object. +Almost simultaneously with the pop of a shot a small +piece of bark chipped off by the bullet stung his ear +painfully. + +General Feraud, with one shot expended, was getting +cautious. Peeping round the tree, General D'Hubert +could not see him at all. This ignorance of the foe's +whereabouts carried with it a sense of insecurity. +General D'Hubert felt himself abominably exposed on +his flank and rear. Again something white fluttered +in his sight. Ha! The enemy was still on his front, +then. He had feared a turning movement. But +apparently General Feraud was not thinking of it. +General D'Hubert saw him pass without special haste +from one tree to another in the straight line of approach. +With great firmness of mind General D'Hubert stayed +his hand. Too far yet. He knew he was no marksman. +His must be a waiting game -- to kill. + +Wishing to take advantage of the greater thickness +of the trunk, he sank down to the ground. Extended +at full length, head on to his enemy, he had his person +completely protected. Exposing himself would not +do now, because the other was too near by this time. +A conviction that Feraud would presently do something +rash was like balm to General D'Hubert's soul. But +to keep his chin raised off the ground was irksome, +and not much use either. He peeped round, exposing +a fraction of his head with dread, but really with +little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact, did not +expect to see anything of him so far down as that. +General D'Hubert caught a fleeting view of General +Feraud shifting trees again with deliberate cau- +tion. "He despises my shooting," he thought, dis- +playing that insight into the mind of his antagonist +which is of such great help in winning battles. He was +confirmed in his tactics of immobility. "If I could only +watch my rear as well as my front!" he thought anx- +iously, longing for the impossible. + +It required some force of character to lay his pistols +down; but, on a sudden impulse, General D'Hubert did +this very gently -- one on each side of him. In the army +he had been looked upon as a bit of a dandy because he +used to shave and put on a clean shirt on the days of +battle. As a matter of fact, he had always been very +careful of his personal appearance. In a man of nearly +forty, in love with a young and charming girl, this +praiseworthy self-respect may run to such little weak- +nesses as, for instance, being provided with an elegant +little leather folding-case containing a small ivory +comb, and fitted with a piece of looking-glass on +the outside. General D'Hubert, his hands being free, +felt in his breeches' pockets for that implement of +innocent vanity excusable in the possessor of long, silky +moustaches. He drew it out, and then with the ut- +most coolness and promptitude turned himself over on +his back. In this new attitude, his head a little raised, +holding the little looking-glass just clear of his tree, he +squinted into it with his left eye, while the right kept a +direct watch on the rear of his position. Thus was +proved Napoleon's saying, that "for a French soldier, +the word impossible does not exist." He had the right +tree nearly filling the field of his little mirror. + +"If he moves from behind it," he reflected with +satisfaction, "I am bound to see his legs. But in any +case he can't come upon me unawares." + +And sure enough he saw the boots of General Feraud +flash in and out, eclipsing for an instant everything else +reflected in the little mirror. He shifted its position +accordingly. But having to form his judgment of the +change from that indirect view he did not realize that +now his feet and a portion of his legs were in plain sight +of General Feraud. + +General Feraud had been getting gradually impressed +by the amazing cleverness with which his enemy was +keeping cover. He had spotted the right tree with +bloodthirsty precision. He was absolutely certain of it. +And yet he had not been able to glimpse as much as +the tip of an ear. As he had been looking for it at the +height of about five feet ten inches from the ground it +was no great wonder -- but it seemed very wonderful to +General Feraud. + +The first view of these feet and legs determined a rush +of blood to his head. He literally staggered behind +his tree, and had to steady himself against it with his +hand. The other was lying on the ground, then! On +the ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed! What could +it mean? . . . The notion that he had knocked +over his adversary at the first shot entered then +General Feraud's head. Once there it grew with +every second of attentive gazing, overshadowing every +other supposition -- irresistible, triumphant, ferocious. + +"What an ass I was to think I could have missed +him," he muttered to himself. "He was exposed en +plein -- the fool! -- for quite a couple of seconds." + +General Feraud gazed at the motionless limbs, the +last vestiges of surprise fading before an unbounded +admiration of his own deadly skill with the pistol. + +"Turned up his toes! By the god of war, that was +a shot!" he exulted mentally. "Got it through the +head, no doubt, just where I aimed, staggered behind +that tree, rolled over on his back, and died." + +And he stared! He stared, forgetting to move, +almost awed, almost sorry. But for nothing in the +world would he have had it undone. Such a shot! -- +such a shot! Rolled over on his back and died! + +For it was this helpless position, lying on the back, +that shouted its direct evidence at General Feraud! +It never occurred to him that it might have been +deliberately assumed by a living man. It was in- +conceivable. It was beyond the range of sane sup- +position. There was no possibility to guess the reason +for it. And it must be said, too, that General D'Hu- +bert's turned-up feet looked thoroughly dead. General +Feraud expanded his lungs for a stentorian shout to his +seconds, but, from what he felt to be an excessive +scrupulousness, refrained for a while. + +"I will just go and see first whether he breathes +yet," he mumbled to himself, leaving carelessly the +shelter of his tree. This move was immediately per- +ceived by the resourceful General D'Hubert. He +concluded it to be another shift, but when he lost the +boots out of the field of the mirror he became uneasy. +General Feraud had only stepped a little out of the line, +but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him +walking up with perfect unconcern. General D'Hubert, +beginning to wonder at what had become of the other, +was taken unawares so completely that the first warning +of danger consisted in the long, early-morning shadow +of his enemy falling aslant on his outstretched legs. +He had not even heard a footfall on the soft ground +between the trees! + +It was too much even for his coolness. He jumped +up thoughtlessly, leaving the pistols on the ground. The +irresistible instinct of an average man (unless totally +paralyzed by discomfiture) would have been to stoop +for his weapons, exposing himself to the risk of being +shot down in that position. Instinct, of course, is irre- +flective. It is its very definition. But it may be an +inquiry worth pursuing whether in reflective mankind +the mechanical promptings of instinct are not affected +by the customary mode of thought. In his young days, +Armand D'Hubert, the reflective, promising officer, had +emitted the opinion that in warfare one should "never +cast back on the lines of a mistake." This idea, de- +fended and developed in many discussions, had settled +into one of the stock notions of his brain, had become a +part of his mental individuality. Whether it had gone +so inconceivably deep as to affect the dictates of his +instinct, or simply because, as he himself declared after- +wards, he was "too scared to remember the confounded +pistols," the fact is that General D'Hubert never at- +tempted to stoop for them. Instead of going back on +his mistake, he seized the rough trunk with both hands, +and swung himself behind it with such impetuosity +that, going right round in the very flash and report of +the pistol-shot, he reappeared on the other side of the +tree face to face with General Feraud. This last, com- +pletely unstrung by such a show of agility on the part +of a dead man, was trembling yet. A very faint mist of +smoke hung before his face which had an extraordinary +aspect, as if the lower jaw had come unhinged. + +"Not missed!" he croaked, hoarsely, from the depths +of a dry throat. + +This sinister sound loosened the spell that had fallen +on General D'Hubert's senses. "Yes, missed -- a bout +portant," he heard himself saying, almost before he had +recovered the full command of his faculties. The re- +vulsion of feeling was accompanied by a gust of homi- +cidal fury, resuming in its violence the accumulated +resentment of a lifetime. For years General D 'Hubert +had been exasperated and humiliated by an atrocious +absurdity imposed upon him by this man's savage +caprice. Besides, General D'Hubert had been in this +last instance too unwilling to confront death for the +reaction of his anguish not to take the shape of a desire +to kill. "And I have my two shots to fire yet," he +added, pitilessly. + +General Feraud snapped-to his teeth, and his face +assumed an irate, undaunted expression. "Go on!" he +said, grimly. + +These would have been his last words if General +D'Hubert had been holding the pistols in his hands. +But the pistols were lying on the ground at the foot +of a pine. General D'Hubert had the second of +leisure necessary to remember that he had dreaded +death not as a man, but as a lover; not as a danger, but +as a rival; not as a foe to life, but as an obstacle to +marriage. And behold! there was the rival defeated! -- +utterly defeated, crushed, done for! + +He picked up the weapons mechanically, and, instead +of firing them into General Feraud's breast, he gave +expression to the thoughts uppermost in his mind, "You +will fight no more duels now." + +His tone of leisurely, ineffable satisfaction was too +much for General Feraud's stoicism. "Don't dawdle, +then, damn you for a cold-blooded staff-coxcomb!" he +roared out, suddenly, out of an impassive face held erect +on a rigidly still body. + +General D'Hubert uncocked the pistols carefully. +This proceeding was observed with mixed feelings by +the other general. "You missed me twice," the victor +said, coolly, shifting both pistols to one hand; "the last +time within a foot or so. By every rule of single com- +bat your life belongs to me. That does not mean that I +want to take it now." + +"I have no use for your forbearance," muttered +General Feraud, gloomily. + +"Allow me to point out that this is no concern of +mine," said General D'Hubert, whose every word was +dictated by a consummate delicacy of feeling. In anger +he could have killed that man, but in cold blood he +recoiled from humiliating by a show of generosity this +unreasonable being -- a fellow-soldier of the Grande +Armee, a companion in the wonders and terrors of the +great military epic. "You don't set up the pretension of +dictating to me what I am to do with what's my own." + +General Feraud looked startled, and the other con- +tinued, "You've forced me on a point of honour to keep +my life at your disposal, as it were, for fifteen years. +Very well. Now that the matter is decided to my ad- +vantage, I am going to do what I like with your life +on the same principle. You shall keep it at my dis- +posal as long as I choose. Neither more nor less. You +are on your honour till I say the word." + +"I am! But, sacrebleu! This is an absurd position +for a General of the Empire to be placed in!" cried +General Feraud, in accents of profound and dismayed +conviction. "It amounts to sitting all the rest of my +life with a loaded pistol in a drawer waiting for your +word. It's -- it's idiotic; I shall be an object of -- of -- +derision." + +"Absurd? -- idiotic? Do you think so?" queried +General D'Hubert with sly gravity. "Perhaps. But I +don't see how that can be helped. However, I am not +likely to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need +ever know anything about it. Just as no one to this day, +I believe, knows the origin of our quarrel. . . . +Not a word more," he added, hastily. "I can't really +discuss this question with a man who, as far as I am +concerned, does not exist." + +When the two duellists came out into the open, Gen- +eral Feraud walking a little behind, and rather with the +air of walking in a trance, the two seconds hurried +towards them, each from his station at the edge of the +wood. General D'Hubert addressed them, speaking +loud and distinctly, "Messieurs, I make it a point of +declaring to you solemnly, in the presence of General +Feraud, that our difference is at last settled for good. +You may inform all the world of that fact." + +"A reconciliation, after all!" they exclaimed to- +gether. + +"Reconciliation? Not that exactly. It is some- +thing much more binding. Is it not so, General?" + +General Feraud only lowered his head in sign of +assent. The two veterans looked at each other. Later +in the day, when they found themselves alone out of +their moody friend's earshot, the cuirassier remarked +suddenly, "Generally speaking, I can see with my one +eye as far as most people; but this beats me. He won't +say anything." + +"In this affair of honour I understand there has been +from first to last always something that no one in the +army could quite make out," declared the chasseur with +the imperfect nose. "In mystery it began, in mystery +it went on, in mystery it is to end, apparently." + +General D'Hubert walked home with long, hasty +strides, by no means uplifted by a sense of triumph. +He had conquered, yet it did not seem to him that +he had gained very much by his conquest. The +night before he had grudged the risk of his life which +appeared to him magnificent, worthy of preservation as +an opportunity to win a girl's love. He had known +moments when, by a marvellous illusion, this love +seemed to be already his, and his threatened life a still +more magnificent opportunity of devotion. Now that +his life was safe it had suddenly lost its special mag- +nificence. It had acquired instead a specially alarming +aspect as a snare for the exposure of unworthiness. As +to the marvellous illusion of conquered love that had +visited him for a moment in the agitated watches of the +night, which might have been his last on earth, he com- +prehended now its true nature. It had been merely +a paroxysm of delirious conceit. Thus to this man, +sobered by the victorious issue of a duel, life appeared +robbed of its charm, simply because it was no longer +menaced. + +Approaching the house from the back, through the +orchard and the kitchen garden, he could not notice the +agitation which reigned in front. He never met a single +soul. Only while walking softly along the corridor, he +became aware that the house was awake and more +noisy than usual. Names of servants were being called +out down below in a confused noise of coming and going. +With some concern he noticed that the door of his own +room stood ajar, though the shutters had not been +opened yet. He had hoped that his early excursion +would have passed unperceived. He expected to find +some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering +through the usual cracks enabled him to see lying on +the low divan something bulky, which had the appear- +ance of two women clasped in each other's arms. Tear- +ful and desolate murmurs issued mysteriously from that +appearance. General D'Hubert pulled open the near- +est pair of shutters violently. One of the women then +jumped up. It was his sister. She stood for a moment +with her hair hanging down and her arms raised straight +up above her head, and then flung herself with a stifled +cry into his arms. He returned her embrace, trying at +the same time to disengage himself from it. The other +woman had not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to +cling closer to the divan, hiding her face in the cushions. +Her hair was also loose; it was admirably fair. Gen- +eral D'Hubert recognized it with staggering emotion. +Mademoiselle de Valmassigue! Adele! In distress! + +He became greatly alarmed, and got rid of his sis- +ter's hug definitely. Madame Leonie then extended +her shapely bare arm out of her peignoir, pointing +dramatically at the divan. "This poor, terrified child +has rushed here from home, on foot, two miles -- running +all the way." + +"What on earth has happened?" asked General +D'Hubert in a low, agitated voice. + +But Madame Leonie was speaking loudly. "She +rang the great bell at the gate and roused all the house- +hold -- we were all asleep yet. You may imagine what +a terrible shock. . . . Adele, my dear child, sit up." + +General D'Hubert's expression was not that of a +man who "imagines" with facility. He did, however, +fish out of the chaos of surmises the notion that his +prospective mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only +to dismiss it at once. He could not conceive the nature +of the event or the catastrophe which would induce +Mademoiselle de Valmassigue, living in a house full of +servants, to bring the news over the fields herself, two +miles, running all the way. + +"But why are you in this room?" he whispered, full +of awe. + +"Of course, I ran up to see, and this child . . . I +did not notice it . . . she followed me. It's that +absurd Chevalier," went on Madame Leonie, looking +towards the divan. . . . "Her hair is all come down. +You may imagine she did not stop to call her maid to +dress it before she started. . . Adele, my dear, sit +up. . . . He blurted it all out to her at half-past five +in the morning. She woke up early and opened her +shutters to breathe the fresh air, and saw him sitting col- +lapsed on a garden bench at the end of the great alley. +At that hour -- you may imagine! And the evening +before he had declared himself indisposed. She hurried +on some clothes and flew down to him. One would be +anxious for less. He loves her, but not very intelli- +gently. He had been up all night, fully dressed, the +poor old man, perfectly exhausted. He wasn't in a +state to invent a plausible story. . . . What a con- +fidant you chose there! My husband was furious. He +said, 'We can't interfere now.' So we sat down to wait. +It was awful. And this poor child running with her +hair loose over here publicly! She has been seen by +some people in the fields. She has roused the whole +household, too. It's awkward for her. Luckily you +are to be married next week. . . . Adele, sit up. He +has come home on his own legs. . . . We expected +to see you coming on a stretcher, perhaps -- what do +I know? Go and see if the carriage is ready. I must +take this child home at once. It isn't proper for her to +stay here a minute longer." + +General D'Hubert did not move. It was as though +he had heard nothing. Madame Leonie changed her +mind. "I will go and see myself," she cried. "I want +also my cloak. -- Adele --" she began, but did not add +"sit up." She went out saying, in a very loud and +cheerful tone: "I leave the door open." + +General D'Hubert made a movement towards the +divan, but then Adele sat up, and that checked him +dead. He thought, "I haven't washed this morning. I +must look like an old tramp. There's earth on the back +of my coat and pine-needles in my hair." It occurred +to him that the situation required a good deal of circum- +spection on his part. + +"I am greatly concerned, mademoiselle," he began, +vaguely, and abandoned that line. She was sitting up +on the divan with her cheeks unusually pink and her +hair, brilliantly fair, falling all over her shoulders -- +which was a very novel sight to the general. He walked +away up the room, and looking out of the window for +safety said, "I fear you must think I behaved like a +madman," in accents of sincere despair. Then he spun +round, and noticed that she had followed him with +her eyes. They were not cast down on meeting his +glance. And the expression of her face was novel to +him also. It was, one might have said, reversed. +Those eyes looked at him with grave thoughtful- +ness, while the exquisite lines of her mouth seemed +to suggest a restrained smile. This change made her +transcendental beauty much less mysterious, much more +accessible to a man's comprehension. An amazing ease +of mind came to the general -- and even some ease of +manner. He walked down the room with as much +pleasurable excitement as he would have found in walk- +ing up to a battery vomiting death, fire, and smoke; +then stood looking down with smiling eyes at the girl +whose marriage with him (next week) had been so +carefully arranged by the wise, the good, the admirable +Leonie. + +"Ah! mademoiselle," he said, in a tone of courtly +regret, "if only I could be certain that you did not +come here this morning, two miles, running all the way, +merely from affection for your mother!" + +He waited for an answer imperturbable but inwardly +elated. It came in a demure murmur, eyelashes low- +ered with fascinating effect. "You must not be me- +chant as well as mad." + +And then General D'Hubert made an aggressive +movement towards the divan which nothing could +check. That piece of furniture was not exactly in the +line of the open door. But Madame Leonie, coming +back wrapped up in a light cloak and carrying a lace +shawl on her arm for Adele to hide her incriminating +hair under, had a swift impression of her brother getting +up from his knees. + +"Come along, my dear child," she cried from the +doorway. + +The general, now himself again in the fullest sense, +showed the readiness of a resourceful cavalry officer and +the peremptoriness of a leader of men. "You don't +expect her to walk to the carriage," he said, indignantly. +"She isn't fit. I shall carry her downstairs." + +This he did slowly, followed by his awed and re- +spectful sister; but he rushed back like a whirlwind to +wash off all the signs of the night of anguish and the +morning of war, and to put on the festive garments of +a conqueror before hurrying over to the other house. +Had it not been for that, General D 'Hubert felt capable +of mounting a horse and pursuing his late adversary in +order simply to embrace him from excess of happiness. +"I owe it all to this stupid brute," he thought. "He +has made plain in a morning what might have taken me +years to find out -- for I am a timid fool. No self-confi- +dence whatever. Perfect coward. And the Chevalier! +Delightful old man!" General D'Hubert longed to +embrace him also. + +The Chevalier was in bed. For several days he +was very unwell. The men of the Empire and the +post-revolution young ladies were too much for him. +He got up the day before the wedding, and, being curi- +ous by nature, took his niece aside for a quiet talk. He +advised her to find out from her husband the true story +of the affair of honour, whose claim, so imperative and +so persistent, had led her to within an ace of tragedy. +"It is right that his wife should be told. And next +month or so will be your time to learn from him any- +thing you want to know, my dear child." + +Later on, when the married couple came on a visit to +the mother of the bride, Madame la Generale D'Hubert +communicated to her beloved old uncle the true story +she had obtained without any difficulty from her hus- +band. + +The Chevalier listened with deep attention to the +end, took a pinch of snuff, flicked the grains of tobacco +from the frilled front of his shirt, and asked, calmly, "And +that's all it was?" + +"Yes, uncle," replied Madame la Generale, opening +her pretty eyes very wide. "Isn't it funny? C'est +insense -- to think what men are capable of!" + +"H'm!" commented the old emigre. "It depends +what sort of men. That Bonaparte's soldiers were +savages. It is insense. As a wife, my dear, you must +believe implicitly what your husband says." + +But to Leonie's husband the Chevalier confided his +true opinion. "If that's the tale the fellow made up +for his wife, and during the honeymoon, too, you may +depend on it that no one will ever know now the secret +of this affair." + +Considerably later still, General D'Hubert judged +the time come, and the opportunity propitious to write +a letter to General Feraud. This letter began by dis- +claiming all animosity. "I've never," wrote the +General Baron D'Hubert, "wished for your death dur- +ing all the time of our deplorable quarrel. Allow me," +he continued, "to give you back in all form your for- +feited life. It is proper that we two, who have been +partners in so much military glory, should be friendly to +each other publicly." + +The same letter contained also an item of domestic +information. It was in reference to this last that +General Feraud answered from a little village on the +banks of the Garonne, in the following words: + +"If one of your boy's names had been Napoleon -- or +Joseph -- or even Joachim, I could congratulate you on +the event with a better heart. As you have thought +proper to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand, +I am confirmed in my conviction that you never +loved the Emperor. The thought of that sublime hero +chained to a rock in the middle of a savage ocean makes +life of so little value that I would receive with positive +joy your instructions to blow my brains out. From +suicide I consider myself in honour debarred. But I +keep a loaded pistol in my drawer." + +Madame la Generale D'Hubert lifted up her hands +in despair after perusing that answer. + +"You see? He won't be reconciled," said her hus- +band. "He must never, by any chance, be allowed to +guess where the money comes from. It wouldn't do. +He couldn't bear it." + +"You are a brave homme, Armand,"said Madame la +Generale, appreciatively. + +"My dear, I had the right to blow his brains out; +but as I didn't, we can't let him starve. He has lost +his pension and he is utterly incapable of doing any- +thing in the world for himself. We must take care of +him, secretly, to the end of his days. Don't I owe him +the most ecstatic moment of my life? . . . Ha! ha! +ha! Over the fields, two miles, running all the way! +I couldn't believe my ears! . . . But for his stupid +ferocity, it would have taken me years to find you out. +It's extraordinary how in one way or another this man +has managed to fasten himself on my deeper feelings." + + + + +A PATHETIC TALE + + +IL CONDE + +"Vedi Napoli e poi mori." + + +THE first time we got into conversation was in the +National Museum in Naples, in the rooms on the +ground floor containing the famous collection of bronzes +from Herculaneum and Pompeii: that marvellous legacy +of antique art whose delicate perfection has been pre- +served for us by the catastrophic fury of a volcano. + +He addressed me first, over the celebrated Resting +Hermes which we had been looking at side by side. He +said the right things about that wholly admirable piece. +Nothing profound. His taste was natural rather than +cultivated. He had obviously seen many fine things in +his life and appreciated them: but he had no jargon of a +dilettante or the connoisseur. A hateful tribe. He +spoke like a fairly intelligent man of the world, a per- +fectly unaffected gentleman. + +We had known each other by sight for some few +days past. Staying in the same hotel -- good, but not +extravagantly up to date -- I had noticed him in the +vestibule going in and out. I judged he was an old +and valued client. The bow of the hotel-keeper was +cordial in its deference, and he acknowledged it with +familiar courtesy. For the servants he was Il Conde. +There was some squabble over a man's parasol -- yellow +silk with white lining sort of thing -- the waiters had dis- +covered abandoned outside the dining-room door. Our +gold-laced door-keeper recognized it and I heard him +directing one of the lift boys to run after Il Conde with +it. Perhaps he was the only Count staying in the hotel, +or perhaps he had the distinction of being the Count par +excellence, conferred upon him because of his tried +fidelity to the house. + +Having conversed at the Museo -- (and by the by he +had expressed his dislike of the busts and statues of +Roman emperors in the gallery of marbles: their faces +were too vigorous, too pronounced for him) -- having +conversed already in the morning I did not think I was +intruding when in the evening, finding the dining-room +very full, I proposed to share his little table. Judging +by the quiet urbanity of his consent he did not think so +either. His smile was very attractive. + +He dined in an evening waistcoat and a "smoking" +(he called it so) with a black tie. All this of very good +cut, not new -- just as these things should be. He was, +morning or evening, very correct in his dress. I have +no doubt that his whole existence had been correct, +well ordered and conventional, undisturbed by startling +events. His white hair brushed upwards off a lofty +forehead gave him the air of an idealist, of an +imaginative man. His white moustache, heavy but +carefully trimmed and arranged, was not unpleasantly +tinted a golden yellow in the middle. The faint scent +of some very good perfume, and of good cigars (that +last an odour quite remarkable to come upon in Italy) +reached me across the table. It was in his eyes that +his age showed most. They were a little weary with +creased eyelids. He must have been sixty or a couple +of years more. And he was communicative. I would +not go so far as to call it garrulous -- but distinctly +communicative. + +He had tried various climates, of Abbazia, of the +Riviera, of other places, too, he told me, but the only +one which suited him was the climate of the Gulf of +Naples. The ancient Romans, who, he pointed out to +me, were men expert in the art of living, knew very well +what they were doing when they built their villas on +these shores, in Baiae, in Vico, in Capri. They came +down to this seaside in search of health, bringing with +them their trains of mimes and flute-players to amuse +their leisure. He thought it extremely probable that the +Romans of the higher classes were specially predisposed +to painful rheumatic affections. + +This was the only personal opinion I heard him +express. It was based on no special erudition. He +knew no more of the Romans than an average informed +man of the world is expected to know. He argued from +personal experience. He had suffered himself from a +painful and dangerous rheumatic affection till he found +relief in this particular spot of Southern Europe. + +This was three years ago, and ever since he had +taken up his quarters on the shores of the gulf, either in +one of the hotels in Sorrento or hiring a small villa in +Capri. He had a piano, a few books: picked up transient +acquaintances of a day, week, or month in the stream of +travellers from all Europe. One can imagine him going +out for his walks in the streets and lanes, becoming +known to beggars, shopkeepers, children, country +people; talking amiably over the walls to the contadini +-- and coming back to his rooms or his villa to sit before +the piano, with his white hair brushed up and his thick +orderly moustache, "to make a little music for myself." +And, of course, for a change there was Naples near by +-- life, movement, animation, opera. A little amuse- +ment, as he said, is necessary for health. Mimes and +flute-players, in fact. Only unlike the magnates of an- +cient Rome, he had no affairs of the city to call him +away from these moderate delights. He had no affairs +at all. Probably he had never had any grave affairs to +attend to in his life. It was a kindly existence, with its +joys and sorrows regulated by the course of Nature -- +marriages, births, deaths -- ruled by the prescribed +usages of good society and protected by the State. + +He was a widower; but in the months of July and +August he ventured to cross the Alps for six weeks on a +visit to his married daughter. He told me her name. +It was that of a very aristocratic family. She had a +castle -- in Bohemia, I think. This is as near as I ever +came to ascertaining his nationality. His own name, +strangely enough, he never mentioned. Perhaps he +thought I had seen it on the published list. Truth to +say, I never looked. At any rate, he was a good Eu- +ropean -- he spoke four languages to my certain knowl- +edge -- and a man of fortune. Not of great fortune +evidently and appropriately. I imagine that to be ex- +tremely rich would have appeared to him improper, +outre -- too blatant altogether. And obviously, too, the +fortune was not of his making. The making of a for- +tune cannot be achieved without some roughness. +It is a matter of temperament. His nature was too +kindly for strife. In the course of conversation he +mentioned his estate quite by the way, in reference to +that painful and alarming rheumatic affection. One +year, staying incautiously beyond the Alps as late as the +middle of September, he had been laid up for three +months in that lonely country house with no one but his +valet and the caretaking couple to attend to him. +Because, as he expressed it, he "kept no establishment +there." He had only gone for a couple of days to con- +fer with his land agent. He promised himself never to be +so imprudent in the future. The first weeks of Sep- +tember would find him on the shores of his beloved +gulf. + +Sometimes in travelling one comes upon such lonely +men, whose only business is to wait for the unavoidable. +Deaths and marriages have made a solitude round them, +and one really cannot blame their endeavours to make +the waiting as easy as possible. As he remarked to me, +"At my time of life freedom from physical pain is a +very important matter." + +It must not be imagined that he was a wearisome +hypochondriac. He was really much too well-bred to +be a nuisance. He had an eye for the small weaknesses +of humanity. But it was a good-natured eye. He +made a restful, easy, pleasant companion for the hours +between dinner and bedtime. We spent three evenings +together, and then I had to leave Naples in a hurry to +look after a friend who had fallen seriously ill in Taor- +mina. Having nothing to do, Il Conde came to see me +off at the station. I was somewhat upset, and his idle- +ness was always ready to take a kindly form. He was +by no means an indolent man. + +He went along the train peering into the carriages +for a good seat for me, and then remained talking +cheerily from below. He declared he would miss me +that evening very much and announced his intention of +going after dinner to listen to the band in the public +garden, the Villa Nazionale. He would amuse himself +by hearing excellent music and looking at the best +society. There would be a lot of people, as usual. + +I seem to see him yet -- his raised face with a friendly +smile under the thick moustaches, and his kind, fatigued +eyes. As the train began to move, he addressed me in +two languages: first in French, saying, "Bon voyage"; +then, in his very good, somewhat emphatic English, +encouragingly, because he could see my concern: "All +will -- be -- well -- yet!" + +My friend's illness having taken a decidedly favour- +able turn, I returned to Naples on the tenth day. I +cannot say I had given much thought to Il Conde during +my absence, but entering the dining-room I looked for +him in his habitual place. I had an idea he might have +gone back to Sorrento to his piano and his books and +his fishing. He was great friends with all the boatmen, +and fished a good deal with lines from a boat. But I +made out his white head in the crowd of heads, and even +from a distance noticed something unusual in his atti- +tude. Instead of sitting erect, gazing all round with +alert urbanity, he drooped over his plate. I stood +opposite him for some time before he looked up, a little +wildly, if such a strong word can be used in connection +with his correct appearance. + +"Ah, my dear sir! Is it you?" he greeted me. "I +hope all is well." + +He was very nice about my friend. Indeed, he was +always nice, with the niceness of people whose hearts are +genuinely humane. But this time it cost him an effort. +His attempts at general conversation broke down into +dullness. It occurred to me he might have been indis- +posed. But before I could frame the inquiry he +muttered: + +"You find me here very sad." + +"I am sorry for that," I said. "You haven't had bad +news, I hope?" + +It was very kind of me to take an interest. No. It +was not that. No bad news, thank God. And he +became very still as if holding his breath. Then, lean- +ing forward a little, and in an odd tone of awed embar- +rassment, he took me into his confidence. + +"The truth is that I have had a very -- a very -- how +shall I say? -- abominable adventure happen to me." + +The energy of the epithet was sufficiently startling in +that man of moderate feelings and toned-down vocabu- +lary. The word unpleasant I should have thought +would have fitted amply the worst experience likely to +befall a man of his stamp. And an adventure, too. In- +credible! But it is in human nature to believe the worst; +and I confess I eyed him stealthily, wondering what he +had been up to. In a moment, however, my unworthy +suspicions vanished. There was a fundamental refine- +ment of nature about the man which made me dismiss +all idea of some more or less disreputable scrape. + +"It is very serious. Very serious." He went on, +nervously. "I will tell you after dinner, if you will +allow me." + +I expressed my perfect acquiescence by a little bow, +nothing more. I wished him to understand that I was +not likely to hold him to that offer, if he thought better +of it later on. We talked of indifferent things, but with +a sense of difficulty quite unlike our former easy, gos- +sipy intercourse. The hand raising a piece of bread to +his lips, I noticed, trembled slightly. This symptom, +in regard to my reading of the man, was no less than +startling. + +In the smoking-room he did not hang back at all. +Directly we had taken our usual seats he leaned side- +ways over the arm of his chair and looked straight into +my eyes earnestly. + +"You remember," he began, "that day you went +away? I told you then I would go to the Villa Nazion- +ale to hear some music in the evening." + +I remembered. His handsome old face, so fresh for +his age, unmarked by any trying experience, appeared +haggard for an instant. It was like the passing of a +shadow. Returning his steadfast gaze, I took a sip of +my black coffee. He was systematically minute in his +narrative, simply in order, I think, not to let his ex- +citement get the better of him. + +After leaving the railway station, he had an ice, and +read the paper in a cafe. Then he went back to the +hotel, dressed for dinner, and dined with a good appetite. +After dinner he lingered in the hall (there were chairs +and tables there) smoking his cigar; talked to the +little girl of the Primo Tenore of the San Carlo the- +atre, and exchanged a few words with that "ami- +able lady," the wife of the Primo Tenore. There was +no performance that evening, and these people were +going to the Villa also. They went out of the hotel. +Very well. + +At the moment of following their example -- it was +half-past nine already -- he remembered he had a rather +large sum of money in his pocket-book. He entered, +therefore, the office and deposited the greater part of it +with the book-keeper of the hotel. This done, he took +a carozella and drove to the seashore. He got out of the +cab and entered the Villa on foot from the Largo di +Vittoria end. + +He stared at me very hard. And I understood then +how really impressionable he was. Every small fact and +event of that evening stood out in his memory as if +endowed with mystic significance. If he did not mention +to me the colour of the pony which drew the carozella, +and the aspect of the man who drove, it was a mere +oversight arising from his agitation, which he repressed +manfully. + +He had then entered the Villa Nazionale from the +Largo di Vittoria end. The Villa Nazionale is a public +pleasure-ground laid out in grass plots, bushes, and +flower-beds between the houses of the Riviera di Chiaja +and the waters of the bay. Alleys of trees, more or less +parallel, stretch its whole length -- which is considerable. +On the Riviera di Chiaja side the electric tramcars run +close to the railings. Between the garden and the sea is +the fashionable drive, a broad road bordered by a low +wall, beyond which the Mediterranean splashes with +gentle murmurs when the weather is fine. + +As life goes on late at night in Naples, the broad +drive was all astir with a brilliant swarm of carriage +lamps moving in pairs, some creeping slowly, others +running rapidly under the thin, motionless line of electric +lamps defining the shore. And a brilliant swarm +of stars hung above the land humming with voices, +piled up with houses, glittering with lights -- and over +the silent flat shadows of the sea. + +The gardens themselves are not very well lit. Our +friend went forward in the warm gloom, his eyes +fixed upon a distant luminous region extending nearly +across the whole width of the Villa, as if the air had +glowed there with its own cold, bluish, and dazzling +light. This magic spot, behind the black trunks of trees +and masses of inky foliage, breathed out sweet sounds +mingled with bursts of brassy roar, sudden clashes of +metal, and grave, vibrating thuds. + +As he walked on, all these noises combined together +into a piece of elaborate music whose harmonious phrases +came persuasively through a great disorderly murmur of +voices and shuffling of feet on the gravel of that open +space. An enormous crowd immersed in the electric +light, as if in a bath of some radiant and tenuous fluid +shed upon their heads by luminous globes, drifted in its +hundreds round the band. Hundreds more sat on chairs +in more or less concentric circles, receiving unflinchingly +the great waves of sonority that ebbed out into the dark- +ness. The Count penetrated the throng, drifted with it +in tranquil enjoyment, listening and looking at the +faces. All people of good society: mothers with their +daughters, parents and children, young men and young +women all talking, smiling, nodding to each other. Very +many pretty faces, and very many pretty toilettes. +There was, of course, a quantity of diverse types: showy +old fellows with white moustaches, fat men, thin +men, officers in uniform; but what predominated, he +told me, was the South Italian type of young man, +with a colourless, clear complexion, red lips, jet-black +little moustache and liquid black eyes so wonderfully +effective in leering or scowling. + +Withdrawing from the throng, the Count shared a +little table in front of the caf‚ with a young man of just +such a type. Our friend had some lemonade. The +young man was sitting moodily before an empty glass. +He looked up once, and then looked down again. He +also tilted his hat forward. Like this -- + +The Count made the gesture of a man pulling his +hat down over his brow, and went on: + +"I think to myself: he is sad; something is wrong +with him; young men have their troubles. I take no +notice of him, of course. I pay for my lemonade, and +go away." + +Strolling about in the neighbourhood of the band, +the Count thinks he saw twice that young man wander- +ing alone in the crowd. Once their eyes met. It must +have been the same young man, but there were so many +there of that type that he could not be certain. More- +over, he was not very much concerned except in so far +that he had been struck by the marked, peevish discon- +tent of that face. + +Presently, tired of the feeling of confinement one ex- +periences in a crowd, the Count edged away from the +band. An alley, very sombre by contrast, presented +itself invitingly with its promise of solitude and coolness. +He entered it, walking slowly on till the sound of the +orchestra became distinctly deadened. Then he walked +back and turned about once more. He did this several +times before he noticed that there was somebody oc- +cupying one of the benches. + +The spot being midway between two lamp-posts the +light was faint. + +The man lolled back in the corner of the seat, his +legs stretched out, his arms folded and his head drooping +on his breast. He never stirred, as though he had fallen +asleep there, but when the Count passed by next time he +had changed his attitude. He sat leaning forward. His +elbows were propped on his knees, and his hands were +rolling a cigarette. He never looked up from that +occupation. + +The Count continued his stroll away from the band. +He returned slowly, he said. I can imagine him +enjoying to the full, but with his usual tranquillity, the +balminess of this southern night and the sounds of music +softened delightfully by the distance. + +Presently, he approached for the third time the man +on the garden seat, still leaning forward with his elbows +on his knees. It was a dejected pose. In the semi- +obscurity of the alley his high shirt collar and his cuffs +made small patches of vivid whiteness. The Count +said that he had noticed him getting up brusquely as +if to walk away, but almost before he was aware of +it the man stood before him asking in a low, gentle tone +whether the signore would have the kindness to oblige +him with a light. + +The Count answered this request by a polite "Cer- +tainly," and dropped his hands with the intention of +exploring both pockets of his trousers for the matches. + +"I dropped my hands," he said, "but I never put +them in my pockets. I felt a pressure there --" + +He put the tip of his finger on a spot close under his +breastbone, the very spot of the human body where a +Japanese gentleman begins the operations of the Hara- +kiri, which is a form of suicide following upon dishonour, +upon an intolerable outrage to the delicacy of one's +feelings. + +"I glance down," the Count continued in an awe- +struck voice, "and what do I see? A knife! A long +knife --" + +"You don't mean to say," I exclaimed, amazed, +"that you have been held up like this in the Villa at +half-past ten o'clock, within a stone's throw of a thou- +sand people!" + +He nodded several times, staring at me with all his +might. + +"The clarionet," he declared, solemnly, "was finishing +his solo, and I assure you I could hear every note. Then +the band crashed fortissimo, and that creature rolled +its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me with the +greatest ferocity, 'Be silent! No noise or --'" + +I could not get over my astonishment. + +"What sort of knife was it?" I asked, stupidly. + +"A long blade. A stiletto -- perhaps a kitchen knife. +A long narrow blade. It gleamed. And his eyes +gleamed. His white teeth, too. I could see them. +He was very ferocious. I thought to myself: 'If I hit +him he will kill me.' How could I fight with him? +He had the knife and I had nothing. I am nearly +seventy, you know, and that was a young man. I +seemed even to recognize him. The moody young man +of the cafe. The young man I met in the crowd. But +I could not tell. There are so many like him in this +country." + +The distress of that moment was reflected in his face. +I should think that physically he must have been +paralyzed by surprise. His thoughts, however, re- +mained extremely active. They ranged over every alarm- +ing possibility. The idea of setting up a vigorous shout- +ing for help occurred to him, too. But he did nothing of +the kind, and the reason why he refrained gave me a +good opinion of his mental self-possession. He saw in a +flash that nothing prevented the other from shouting, +too. + +"That young man might in an instant have thrown +away his knife and pretended I was the aggressor. Why +not? He might have said I attacked him. Why not? +It was one incredible story against another! He might +have said anything -- bring some dishonouring charge +against me -- what do I know? By his dress he was no +common robber. He seemed to belong to the better +classes. What could I say? He was an Italian -- I am +a foreigner. Of course, I have my passport, and there +is our consul -- but to be arrested, dragged at night to +the police office like a criminal!" + +He shuddered. It was in his character to shrink +from scandal, much more than from mere death. And +certainly for many people this would have always re- +mained -- considering certain peculiarities of Neapolitan +manners -- a deucedly queer story. The Count was no +fool. His belief in the respectable placidity of life +having received this rude shock, he thought that now +anything might happen. But also a notion came into +his head that this young man was perhaps merely an +infuriated lunatic. + +This was for me the first hint of his attitude towards +this adventure. In his exaggerated delicacy of senti- +ment he felt that nobody's self-esteem need be affected +by what a madman may choose to do to one. It be- +came apparent, however, that the Count was to be +denied that consolation. He enlarged upon the abom- +inably savage way in which that young man rolled his +glistening eyes and gnashed his white teeth. The band +was going now through a slow movement of solemn +braying by all the trombones, with deliberately re- +peated bangs of the big drum. + +"But what did you do?" I asked, greatly excited. + +"Nothing," answered the Count. "I let my hands +hang down very still. I told him quietly I did not +intend making a noise. He snarled like a dog, then said +in an ordinary voice: + +"'Vostro portofolio.'" + +"So I naturally," continued the Count -- and from +this point acted the whole thing in pantomime. Hold- +ing me with his eyes, he went through all the motions +of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out a +pocket-book, and handing it over. But that young man, +still bearing steadily on the knife, refused to touch it. + +He directed the Count to take the money out him- +self, received it into his left hand, motioned the pocket- +book to be returned to the pocket, all this being done to +the sweet thrilling of flutes and clarionets sustained by +the emotional drone of the hautboys. And the "young +man," as the Count called him, said: "This seems very +little." + +"It was, indeed, only 340 or 360 lire," the Count +pursued. "I had left my money in the hotel, as you +know. I told him this was all I had on me. He shook +his head impatiently and said: + +"'Vostro orologio.'" + +The Count gave me the dumb show of pulling out +his watch, detaching it. But, as it happened, the valu- +able gold half-chronometer he possessed had been left +at a watch-maker's for cleaning. He wore that evening +(on a leather guard) the Waterbury fifty-franc thing he +used to take with him on his fishing expeditions. Per- +ceiving the nature of this booty, the well-dressed robber +made a contemptuous clicking sound with his tongue +like this, "Tse-Ah!" and waved it away hastily. Then, +as the Count was returning the disdained object to his +pocket, he demanded with a threateningly increased +pressure of the knife on the epigastrium, by way of re- +minder: + +"'Vostri anelli.'" + +"One of the rings," went on the Count, "was given +me many years ago by my wife; the other is the signet +ring of my father. I said, 'No. That you shall not +have!'" + +Here the Count reproduced the gesture corresponding +to that declaration by clapping one hand upon the +other, and pressing both thus against his chest. It +was touching in its resignation. "That you shall not +have," he repeated, firmly, and closed his eyes, fully +expecting -- I don't know whether I am right in record- +ing that such an unpleasant word had passed his lips -- +fully expecting to feel himself being -- I really hesitate +to say -- being disembowelled by the push of the long, +sharp blade resting murderously against the pit of +his stomach -- the very seat, in all human beings, of +anguishing sensations. + +Great waves of harmony went on flowing from the +band. + +Suddenly the Count felt the nightmarish pressure +removed from the sensitive spot. He opened his eyes. +He was alone. He had heard nothing. It is probable +that "the young man" had departed, with light steps, +some time before, but the sense of the horrid pressure +had lingered even after the knife had gone. A feeling +of weakness came over him. He had just time to +stagger to the garden seat. He felt as though he had +held his breath for a long time. He sat all in a heap, +panting with the shock of the reaction. + +The band was executing, with immense bravura, the +complicated finale. It ended with a tremendous crash. +He heard it unreal and remote, as if his ears had been +stopped, and then the hard clapping of a thousand, +more or less, pairs of hands, like a sudden hail-shower +passing away. The profound silence which succeeded +recalled him to himself. + +A tramcar resembling a long glass box wherein people +sat with their heads strongly lighted, ran along swiftly +within sixty yards of the spot where he had been robbed. +Then another rustled by, and yet another going the +other way. The audience about the band had broken +up, and were entering the alley in small conversing +groups. The Count sat up straight and tried to think +calmly of what had happened to him. The vileness of +it took his breath away again. As far as I can make +it out he was disgusted with himself. I do not mean +to say with his behaviour. Indeed, if his pantomimic +rendering of it for my information was to be trusted, it +was simply perfect. No, it was not that. He was not +ashamed. He was shocked at being the selected victim, +not of robbery so much as of contempt. His tranquillity +had been wantonly desecrated. His lifelong, kindly +nicety of outlook had been defaced. + +Nevertheless, at that stage, before the iron had time +to sink deep, he was able to argue himself into com- +parative equanimity. As his agitation calmed down +somewhat, he became aware that he was frightfully +hungry. Yes, hungry. The sheer emotion had made +him simply ravenous. He left the seat and, after walk- +ing for some time, found himself outside the gardens +and before an arrested tramcar, without knowing very +well how he came there. He got in as if in a dream, by +a sort of instinct. Fortunately he found in his trouser +pocket a copper to satisfy the conductor. Then the car +stopped, and as everybody was getting out he got out, +too. He recognized the Piazza San Ferdinando, but +apparently it did not occur to him to take a cab and +drive to the hotel. He remained in distress on the +Piazza like a lost dog, thinking vaguely of the best way +of getting something to eat at once. + +Suddenly he remembered his twenty-franc piece. +He explained to me that he had that piece of French +gold for something like three years. He used to carry +it about with him as a sort of reserve in case of ac- +cident. Anybody is liable to have his pocket picked +-- a quite different thing from a brazen and insulting +robbery. + +The monumental arch of the Galleria Umberto faced +him at the top of a noble flight of stairs. He climbed +these without loss of time, and directed his steps towards +the Cafe Umberto. All the tables outside were occupied +by a lot of people who were drinking. But as he wanted +something to eat, he went inside into the cafe, which is +divided into aisles by square pillars set all round with +long looking-glasses. The Count sat down on a red +plush bench against one of these pillars, waiting for +his risotto. And his mind reverted to his abominable +adventure. + +He thought of the moody, well-dressed young man, +with whom he had exchanged glances in the crowd +around the bandstand, and who, he felt confident, was +the robber. Would he recognize him again? Doubt- +less. But he did not want ever to see him again. The +best thing was to forget this humiliating episode. + +The Count looked round anxiously for the coming of +his risotto, and, behold! to the left against the wall -- +there sat the young man. He was alone at a table, with +a bottle of some sort of wine or syrup and a carafe of +iced water before him. The smooth olive cheeks, the +red lips, the little jet-black moustache turned up gal- +lantly, the fine black eyes a little heavy and shaded +by long eyelashes, that peculiar expression of cruel dis- +content to be seen only in the busts of some Roman +emperors -- it was he, no doubt at all. But that was a +type. The Count looked away hastily. The young +officer over there reading a paper was like that, too. +Same type. Two young men farther away playing +draughts also resembled -- + +The Count lowered his head with the fear in his heart +of being everlastingly haunted by the vision of that +young man. He began to eat his risotto. Presently +he heard the young man on his left call the waiter in a +bad-tempered tone. + +At the call, not only his own waiter, but two other +idle waiters belonging to a quite different row of tables, +rushed towards him with obsequious alacrity, which is +not the general characteristic of the waiters in the Cafe +Umberto. The young man muttered something and +one of the waiters walking rapidly to the nearest door +called out into the Galleria: "Pasquale! O! Pas- +quale!" + +Everybody knows Pasquale, the shabby old fellow +who, shuffling between the tables, offers for sale cigars, +cigarettes, picture postcards, and matches to the clients +of the cafe;. He is in many respects an engaging +scoundrel. The Count saw the grey-haired, unshaven +ruffian enter the cafe, the glass case hanging from his +neck by a leather strap, and, at a word from the waiter, +make his shuffling way with a sudden spurt to the young +man's table. The young man was in need of a cigar +with which Pasquale served him fawningly. The old +pedlar was going out, when the Count, on a sudden +impulse, beckoned to him. + +Pasquale approached, the smile of deferential recog- +nition combining oddly with the cynical searching ex- +pression of his eyes. Leaning his case on the table, he +lifted the glass lid without a word. The Count took a +box of cigarettes and urged by a fearful curiosity, asked +as casually as he could -- + +"Tell me, Pasquale, who is that young signore sitting +over there?" + +The other bent over his box confidentially. + +"That, Signor Conde,"he said, beginning to rearrange +his wares busily and without looking up, "that is a +young Cavaliere of a very good family from Bari. He +studies in the University here, and is the chief, capo, of +an association of young men -- of very nice young men." + +He paused, and then, with mingled discretion and +pride of knowledge, murmured the explanatory word +"Camorra" and shut down the lid. "A very powerful +Camorra," he breathed out. "The professors them- +selves respect it greatly . . . una lira e cinquanti +centesimi, Signor Conde." + +Our friend paid with the gold piece. While Pasquale +was making up the change, he observed that the young +man, of whom he had heard so much in a few words, +was watching the transaction covertly. After the +old vagabond had withdrawn with a bow, the Count +settled with the waiter and sat still. A numbness, he +told me, had come over him. + +The young man paid, too, got up, and crossed over, +apparently for the purpose of looking at himself in the +mirror set in the pillar nearest to the Count's seat. He +was dressed all in black with a dark green bow tie. +The Count looked round, and was startled by meeting +a vicious glance out of the corners of the other's eyes. +The young Cavaliere from Bari (according to Pasquale; +but Pasquale is, of course, an accomplished liar) went +on arranging his tie, settling his hat before the glass, +and meantime he spoke just loud enough to be heard +by the Count. He spoke through his teeth with the +most insulting venom of contempt and gazing straight +into the mirror. + +"Ah! So you had some gold on you -- you old liar -- +you old birba -- you furfante! But you are not done +with me yet." + +The fiendishness of his expression vanished like light- +ning, and he lounged out of the cafe with a moody, +impassive face. + +The poor Count, after telling me this last episode, +fell back trembling in his chair. His forehead broke +into perspiration. There was a wanton insolence in +the spirit of this outrage which appalled even me. +What it was to the Count's delicacy I won't attempt to +guess. I am sure that if he had been not too refined +to do such a blatantly vulgar thing as dying from +apoplexy in a cafe;, he would have had a fatal stroke +there and then. All irony apart, my difficulty was to +keep him from seeing the full extent of my commisera- +tion. He shrank from every excessive sentiment, and +my commiseration was practically unbounded. It did +not surprise me to hear that he had been in bed a week. +He had got up to make his arrangements for leaving +Southern Italy for good and all. + +And the man was convinced that he could not live +through a whole year in any other climate! + +No argument of mine had any effect. It was not +timidity, though he did say to me once: "You do not +know what a Camorra is, my dear sir. I am a marked +man." He was not afraid of what could be done to +him. His delicate conception of his dignity was defiled +by a degrading experience. He couldn't stand that. +No Japanese gentleman, outraged in his exaggerated +sense of honour, could have gone about his preparations +for Hara-kiri with greater resolution. To go home +really amounted to suicide for the poor Count. + +There is a saying of Neapolitan patriotism, intended +for the information of foreigners, I presume: "See +Naples and then die." Vedi Napoli e poi mori. It is a +saying of excessive vanity, and everything excessive +was abhorrent to the nice moderation of the poor Count. +Yet, as I was seeing him off at the railway station, I +thought he was behaving with singular fidelity to its +conceited spirit. Vedi Napoli! . . . He had seen +it! He had seen it with startling thoroughness -- and +now he was going to his grave. He was going to it by +the train de luxe of the International Sleeping Car Com- +pany, via Trieste and Vienna. As the four long, sombre +coaches pulled out of the station I raised my hat with +the solemn feeling of paying the last tribute of respect +to a funeral cortege. Il Conde's profile, much aged al- +ready, glided away from me in stony immobility, behind +the lighted pane of glass -- Vedi Napoli e poi mori! + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + diff --git a/old/seto610.zip b/old/seto610.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c56a19 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/seto610.zip diff --git a/old/seto610m.txt b/old/seto610m.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db6ae09 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/seto610m.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11145 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad* +#24 in our series by Joseph Conrad + +We have two versions: seto610.* and seto610m [markup].* + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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"'<i>Vostri anelli</i>.'" + + +<b>A SET OF SIX</b> + +BY +JOSEPH CONRAD + +Les petites marionnettes + Font, font, font, +Trois petits tours + Et puis s'en vont. + - NURSERY RHYME + +<i>SPECIAL EDITION</i> + + + + +<b>TO +MISS M. H. M. CAPES</b> + +[page intentionally blank] + +<b>AUTHOR'S NOTE</b> + + THE six stories in this volume are the result of some +three or four years of occasional work. The dates of +their writing are far apart, their origins are various. +None of them are connected directly with personal ex- +periences. In all of them the facts are inherently +true, by which I mean that they are not only possible +but that they have actually happened. For instance, +the last story in the volume, the one I call Pathetic, +whose first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an +almost verbatim transcript of the tale told me by a very +charming old gentleman whom I met in Italy. I don't +mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is +something more than a verbatim report, but where he +left off and where I began must be left to the acute dis- +crimination of the reader who may be interested in the +problem. I don't mean to say that the problem is +worth the trouble. What I am certain of, however, +is that it is not to be solved, for I am not at all clear +about it myself by this time. All I can say is that the +personality of the narrator was extremely suggestive +quite apart from the story he was telling me. I heard +a few years ago that he had died far away from his be- +loved Naples where that "abominable adventure" did +really happen to him. + Thus the genealogy of Il Conde is simple. It is +not the case with the other stories. Various strains +contributed to their composition, and the nature of +many of those I have forgotten, not having the habit of +making notes either before or after the fact. I mean + +vii + + +viii AUTHOR'S NOTE + +the fact of writing a story. What I remember best +about Gaspar Ruiz is that it was written, or at any rate +begun, within a month of finishing <i>Nostromo;</i> but +apart from the locality, and that a pretty wide one (all +the South American Continent), the novel and the +story have nothing in common, neither mood, nor in- +tention and, certainly, not the style. The manner for +the most part is that of General Santierra, and that +old warrior, I note with satisfaction, is very true to +himself all through. Looking now dispassionately at +the various ways in which this story could have been +presented I can't honestly think the General super- +fluous. It is he, an old man talking of the days of his +youth, who characterizes the whole narrative and +gives it an air of actuality which I doubt whether I +could have achieved without his help. In the mere +writing his existence of course was of no help at all, +because the whole thing had to be carefully kept within +the frame of his simple mind. But all this is but a +laborious searching of memories. My present feeling +is that the story could not have been told otherwise. +The hint for Gaspar Ruiz the man I found in a book +by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., who was for some time, +between the years 1824 and 1828, senior officer of a +small British Squadron on the West Coast of South +America. His book published in the thirties obtained a +certain celebrity and I suppose is to be found still in +some libraries. The curious who may be mistrusting +my imagination are referred to that printed document, +Vol. II, I forget the page, but it is somewhere not far +from the end. Another document connected with this +story is a letter of a biting and ironic kind from a friend +then in Burma, passing certain strictures upon "the +gentleman with the gun on his back" which I do not +intend to make accessible to the public. Yet the gun + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE ix + +episode did really happen, or at least I am bound to +believe it because I remember it, described in an ex- +tremely matter-of-fact tone, in some book I read in my +boyhood; and I am not going to discard the beliefs of +my boyhood for anybody on earth. + The Brute, which is the only sea-story in the volume, +is, like Il Conde, associated with a direct narrative and +based on a suggestion gathered on warm human lips. +I will not disclose the real name of the criminal ship +but the first I heard of her homicidal habits was from +the late Captain Blake, commanding a London ship +in which I served in 1884 as Second Officer. Captain +Blake was, of all my commanders, the one I remember +with the greatest affection. I have sketched in his +personality, without however mentioning his name, +in the first paper of <i>The Mirror of the Sea</i>. In his +young days he had had a personal experience of the +brute and it is perhaps for that reason that I have put +the story into the mouth of a young man and made of it +what the reader will see. The existence of the brute +was a fact. The end of the brute as related in the story +is also a fact, well-known at the time though it really +happened to another ship, of great beauty of form and +of blameless character, which certainly deserved a +better fate. I have unscrupulously adapted it to the +needs of my story thinking that I had there something +in the nature of poetical justice. I hope that little +villainy will not cast a shadow upon the general honesty +of my proceedings as a writer of tales. + Of The Informer and An Anarchist I will say next +to nothing. The pedigree of these tales is hopelessly +complicated and not worth disentangling at this dis- +tance of time. I found them and here they are. The +discriminating reader will guess that I have found them +within my mind; but how they or their elements came + + +x AUTHOR'S NOTE + +in there I have forgotten for the most part; and for the +rest I really don't see why I should give myself away +more than I have done already. + It remains for me only now to mention The Duel, the +longest story in the book. That story attained the +dignity of publication all by itself in a small illustrated +volume, under the title, "The Point of Honour." That +was many years ago. It has been since reinstated in +its proper place, which is the place it occupies in this +volume, in all the subsequent editions of my work. +Its pedigree is extremely simple. It springs from a +ten-line paragraph in a small provincial paper published +in the South of France. That paragraph, occasioned +by a duel with a fatal ending between two well-known +Parisian personalities, referred for some reason or other +to the "well-known fact" of two officers in Napoleon's +Grand Army having fought a series of duels in the +midst of great wars and on some futile pretext. The +pretext was never disclosed. I had therefore to invent +it; and I think that, given the character of the two offi- +cers which I had to invent, too, I have made it suffi- +ciently convincing by the mere force of its absurdity. +The truth is that in my mind the story is nothing but a +serious and even earnest attempt at a bit of historical +fiction. I had heard in my boyhood a good deal of the +great Napoleonic legend. I had a genuine feeling that +I would find myself at home in it, and The Duel is the +result of that feeling, or, if the reader prefers, of that +presumption. Personally I have no qualms of con- +science about this piece of work. The story might +have been better told of course. All one's work might +have been better done; but this is the sort of reflection +a worker must put aside courageously if he doesn't +mean every one of his conceptions to remain for ever a +private vision, an evanescent reverie. How many of + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE xi + +those visions have I seen vanish in my time! This one, +however, has remained, a testimony, if you like, to my +courage or a proof of my rashness. What I care to re- +member best is the testimony of some French readers +who volunteered the opinion that in those hundred +pages or so I had managed to render "wonderfully" +the spirit of the whole epoch. Exaggeration of kind- +ness no doubt; but even so I hug it still to my breast, +because in truth that is exactly what I was trying to cap- +ture in my small net: the Spirit of the Epoch -- never +purely militarist in the long clash of arms, youthful, +almost childlike in its exaltation of sentiment -- naïvely +heroic in its faith. + + 1920. J. C. + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>CONTENTS</b> + + PAGE +GASPAR RUIZ . . . . . . . . 3 + +THE INFORMER . . . . . . . . 73 + +THE BRUTE . . . . . . . . . 105 + +AN ANARCHIST . . . . . . . . 135 + +THE DUEL . . . . . . . . . 165 + +IL CONDE . . . . . . . . . 269 + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>A SET OF SIX</b> + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>A SET OF SIX</b> + +<b>GASPAR RUIZ</b> + +I + + A REVOLUTIONARY war raises many strange charac- +ters out of the obscurity which is the common lot of +humble lives in an undisturbed state of society. + Certain individualities grow into fame through their +vices and their virtues, or simply by their actions, which +may have a temporary importance; and then they +become forgotten. The names of a few leaders alone +survive the end of armed strife and are further pre- +served in history; so that, vanishing from men's active +memories, they still exist in books. + The name of General Santierra attained that cold +paper-and-ink immortality. He was a South American +of good family, and the books published in his lifetime +numbered him amongst the liberators of that continent +from the oppressive rule of Spain. + That long contest, waged for independence on one +side and for dominion on the other, developed in the +course of years and the vicissitudes of changing fortune +the fierceness and inhumanity of a struggle for life. All +feelings of pity and compassion disappeared in the +growth of political hatred. And, as is usual in war, the +mass of the people, who had the least to gain by the +issue, suffered most in their obscure persons and their +humble fortunes. + + +4 GASPAR RUIZ + + General Santierra began his service as lieutenant in +the patriot army raised and commanded by the famous +San Martin, afterwards conqueror of Lima and liberator +of Peru. A great battle had just been fought on the +banks of the river Bio-Bio. Amongst the prisoners +made upon the routed Royalist troops there was a +soldier called Gaspar Ruiz. His powerful build and his +big head rendered him remarkable amongst his fellow- +captives. The personality of the man was unmistak- +able. Some months before he had been missed from +the ranks of Republican troops after one of the many +skirmishes which preceded the great battle. And now, +having been captured arms in hand amongst Royalists, +he could expect no other fate but to be shot as a deserter. + Gaspar Ruiz, however, was not a deserter; his mind +was hardly active enough to take a discriminating view +of the advantages or perils of treachery. Why should +he change sides? He had really been made a prisoner, +had suffered ill-usage and many privations. Neither +side showed tenderness to its adversaries. There came +a day when he was ordered, together with some other +captured rebels, to march in the front rank of the Royal +troops. A musket had been thrust into his hands. +He had taken it. He had marched. He did not want +to be killed with circumstances of peculiar atrocity for +refusing to march. He did not understand heroism +but it was his intention to throw his musket away at +the first opportunity. Meantime he had gone on load- +ing and firing, from fear of having his brains blown out +at the first sign of unwillingness, by some non- +commissioned officer of the King of Spain. He tried to +set forth these elementary considerations before the +sergeant of the guard set over him and some twenty +other such deserters, who had been condemned sum- +marily to be shot. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 5 + + It was in the quadrangle of the fort at the back of +the batteries which command the roadstead of Val- +paraiso. The officer who had identified him had gone +on without listening to his protestations. His doom +was sealed; his hands were tied very tightly together +behind his back; his body was sore all over from the +many blows with sticks and butts of muskets which had +hurried him along on the painful road from the place of +his capture to the gate of the fort. This was the only +kind of systematic attention the prisoners had received +from their escort during a four days' journey across a +scantily watered tract of country. At the crossings of +rare streams they were permitted to quench their thirst +by lapping hurriedly like dogs. In the evening a few +scraps of meat were thrown amongst them as they +dropped down dead-beat upon the stony ground of the +halting-place. + As he stood in the courtyard of the castle in the +early morning, after having been driven hard all night, +Gaspar Ruiz's throat was parched, and his tongue felt +very large and dry in his mouth. + And Gaspar Ruiz, besides being very thirsty, was +stirred by a feeling of sluggish anger, which he could +not very well express, as though the vigour of his spirit +were by no means equal to the strength of his body. + The other prisoners in the batch of the condemned +hung their heads, looking obstinately on the ground. +But Gaspar Ruiz kept on repeating: "What should I +desert for to the Royalists? Why should I desert? +Tell me, Estaban!" + He addressed himself to the sergeant, who happened +to belong to the same part of the country as himself. +But the sergeant, after shrugging his meagre shoulders +once, paid no further attention to the deep murmuring +voice at his back. It was indeed strange that Gaspar + + +6 GASPAR RUIZ + +Ruiz should desert. His people were in too humble +a station to feel much the disadvantages of any form +of government. There was no reason why Gaspar Ruiz +should wish to uphold in his own person the rule of +the King of Spain. Neither had he been anxious to +exert himself for its subversion. He had joined the +side of Independence in an extremely reasonable and +natural manner. A band of patriots appeared one +morning early, surrounding his father's ranche, spearing +the watch-dogs and hamstringing a fat cow all in the +twinkling of an eye, to the cries of "<i>Viva la Libertad!</i>" +Their officer discoursed of Liberty with enthusiasm and +eloquence after a long and refreshing sleep. When +they left in the evening, taking with them some of +Ruiz, the father's, best horses to replace their own +lamed animals, Gaspar Ruiz went away with them, +having been invited pressingly to do so by the eloquent +officer. + Shortly afterwards a detachment of Royalist troops +coming to pacify the district, burnt the ranche, carried +off the remaining horses and cattle, and having thus +deprived the old people of all their worldly possessions, +left them sitting under a bush in the enjoyment of the +inestimable boon of life. + + +II + + GASPAR RUIZ, condemned to death as a deserter, +was not thinking either of his native place or of his +parents, to whom he had been a good son on account +of the mildness of his character and the great strength +of his limbs. The practical advantage of this last +was made still more valuable to his father by his +obedient disposition. Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent +soul. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 7 + + But it was stirred now to a sort of dim revolt by +his dislike to die the death of a traitor. He was not a +traitor. He said again to the sergeant: "You know +I did not desert, Estaban. You know I remained +behind amongst the trees with three others to keep +the enemy back while the detachment was running +away!" + Lieutenant Santierra, little more than a boy at the +time, and unused as yet to the sanguinary imbecilities +of a state of war, had lingered near by, as if fascinated +by the sight of these men who were to be shot pres- +ently -- "for an example" -- as the <i>Commandante</i> had +said. + The sergeant, without deigning to look at the +prisoner, addressed himself to the young officer with +a superior smile. + "Ten men would not have been enough to make +him a prisoner, <i>mi teniente</i>. Moreover, the other three +rejoined the detachment after dark. Why should he, +unwounded and the strongest of them all, have failed to +do so?" + "My strength is as nothing against a mounted man +with a lasso," Gaspar Ruiz protested, eagerly. "He +dragged me behind his horse for half a mile." + At this excellent reason the sergeant only laughed +contemptuously. The young officer hurried away after +the <i>Commandante</i>. + Presently the adjutant of the castle came by. He +was a truculent, raw-boned man in a ragged uniform. +His spluttering voice issued out of a flat yellow face. +The sergeant learned from him that the condemned +men would not be shot till sunset. He begged then +to know what he was to do with them meantime. + The adjutant looked savagely round the courtyard +and, pointing to the door of a small dungeon-like + + +8 GASPAR RUIZ + +guardroom, receiving light and air through one heavily +barred window, said: "Drive the scoundrels in there." + The sergeant, tightening his grip upon the stick he +carried in virtue of his rank, executed this order with +alacrity and zeal. He hit Gaspar Ruiz, whose move- +ments were slow, over his head and shoulders. Gaspar +Ruiz stood still for a moment under the shower of +blows, biting his lip thoughtfully as if absorbed by a +perplexing mental process -- then followed the others +without haste. The door was locked, and the adjutant +carried off the key. + By noon the heat of that vaulted place crammed +to suffocation had become unbearable. The prisoners +crowded towards the window, begging their guards for +a drop of water; but the soldiers remained lying in +indolent attitudes wherever there was a little shade +under a wall, while the sentry sat with his back against +the door smoking a cigarette, and raising his eyebrows +philosophically from time to time. Gaspar Ruiz had +pushed his way to the window with irresistible force. +His capacious chest needed more air than the others; +his big face, resting with its chin on the ledge, pressed +close to the bars, seemed to support the other faces +crowding up for breath. From moaned entreaties they +had passed to desperate cries, and the tumultuous howl- +ing of those thirsty men obliged a young officer who +was just then crossing the courtyard to shout in order +to make himself heard. + "Why don't you give some water to these prisoners?" + The sergeant, with an air of surprised innocence, +excused himself by the remark that all those men were +condemned to die in a very few hours. + Lieutenant Santierra stamped his foot. "They are +condemned to death, not to torture," he shouted. +"Give them some water at once." + + +GASPAR RUIZ 9 + + Impressed by this appearance of anger, the soldiers +bestirred themselves, and the sentry, snatching up his +musket, stood to attention. + But when a couple of buckets were found and filled +from the well, it was discovered that they could not be +passed through the bars, which were set too close. At +the prospect of quenching their thirst, the shrieks of +those trampled down in the struggle to get near the +opening became very heartrending. But when the +soldiers who had lifted the buckets towards the window +put them to the ground again helplessly, the yell of dis- +appointment was still more terrible. + The soldiers of the army of Independence were not +equipped with canteens. A small tin cup was found, +but its approach to the opening caused such a com- +motion, such yells of rage and pain in the vague mass +of limbs behind the straining faces at the window, that +Lieutenant Santierra cried out hurriedly, "No, no -- you +must open the door, sergeant." + The sergeant, shrugging his shoulders, explained +that he had no right to open the door even if he had +had the key. But he had not the key. The adjutant +of the garrison kept the key. Those men were giving +much unnecessary trouble, since they had to die at sun- +set in any case. Why they had not been shot at once +early in the morning he could not understand. + Lieutenant Santierra kept his back studiously to the +window. It was at his earnest solicitations that the +<i>Commandante</i> had delayed the execution. This favour +had been granted to him in consideration of his dis- +tinguished family and of his father's high position +amongst the chiefs of the Republican party. Lieutenant +Santierra believed that the General commanding would +visit the fort some time in the afternoon, and he ingenu- +ously hoped that his naïve intercession would induce + + +10 GASPAR RUIZ + +that severe man to pardon some, at least, of those crim- +inals. In the revulsion of his feeling his interference +stood revealed now as guilty and futile meddling. It ap- +peared to him obvious that the general would never even +consent to listen to his petition. He could never save +those men, and he had only made himself responsible for +the sufferings added to the cruelty of their fate. + "Then go at once and get the key from the adjutant," +said Lieutenant Santierra. + The sergeant shook his head with a sort of bashful +smile, while his eyes glanced sideways at Gaspar Ruiz's +face, motionless and silent, staring through the bars at +the bottom of a heap of other haggard, distorted, yelling +faces. + His worship the adjutant de Plaza, the sergeant +murmured, was having his siesta; and supposing that +he, the sergeant, would be allowed access to him, the +only result he expected would be to have his soul +flogged out of his body for presuming to disturb his +worship's repose. He made a deprecatory movement +with his hands, and stood stock-still, looking down +modestly upon his brown toes. + Lieutenant Santierra glared with indignation, but +hesitated. His handsome oval face, as smooth as a +girl's, flushed with the shame of his perplexity. Its +nature humiliated his spirit. His hairless upper lip +trembled; he seemed on the point of either bursting +into a fit of rage or into tears of dismay. + Fifty years later, General Santierra, the venerable +relic of revolutionary times, was well able to remem- +ber the feelings of the young lieutenant. Since he +had given up riding altogether, and found it difficult +to walk beyond the limits of his garden, the general's +greatest delight was to entertain in his house the +officers of the foreign men-of-war visiting the harbour. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 11 + +For Englishmen he had a preference, as for old com- +panions in arms. English naval men of all ranks +accepted his hospitality with curiosity, because he had +known Lord Cochrane and had taken part, on board the +patriot squadron commanded by that marvellous sea- +man, in the cutting out and blockading operations be- +fore Callao -- an episode of unalloyed glory in the wars +of Independence and of endless honour in the fighting +tradition of Englishmen. He was a fair linguist, this +ancient survivor of the Liberating armies. A trick of +smoothing his long white beard whenever he was short +of a word in French or English imparted an air of +leisurely dignity to the tone of his reminiscences. + + +III + + "YES, my friends," he used to say to his guests, +"what would you have? A youth of seventeen sum- +mers, without worldly experience, and owing my +rank only to the glorious patriotism of my father, may +God rest his soul. I suffered immense humiliation, +not so much from the disobedience of that subordinate, +who, after all, was responsible for those prisoners; but +I suffered because, like the boy I was, I myself dreaded +going to the adjutant for the key. I had felt, before, +his rough and cutting tongue. Being quite a common +fellow, with no merit except his savage valour, he made +me feel his contempt and dislike from the first day I +joined my battalion in garrison at the fort. It was only +a fortnight before! I would have confronted him sword +in hand, but I shrank from the mocking brutality of his +sneers. + "I don't remember having been so miserable in my +life before or since. The torment of my sensibility +was so great that I wished the sergeant to fall dead at + + +12 GASPAR RUIZ + +my feet, and the stupid soldiers who stared at me to +turn into corpses; and even those wretches for whom +my entreaties had procured a reprieve I wished dead +also, because I could not face them without shame. A +mephitic heat like a whiff of air from hell came out of +that dark place in which they were confined. Those at +the window who had heard what was going on jeered at +me in very desperation: one of these fellows, gone mad +no doubt, kept on urging me volubly to order the soldiers +to fire through the window. His insane loquacity made +my heart turn faint. And my feet were like lead. There +was no higher officer to whom I could appeal. I had +not even the firmness of spirit to simply go away. + "Benumbed by my remorse, I stood with my back +to the window. You must not suppose that all this +lasted a long time. How long could it have been? A +minute? If you measured by mental suffering it was +like a hundred years; a longer time than all my life has +been since. No, certainly, it was not so much as a +minute. The hoarse screaming of those miserable +wretches died out in their dry throats, and then sud- +denly a voice spoke, a deep voice muttering calmly. +It called upon me to turn round. + "That voice, señores, proceeded from the head of +Gaspar Ruiz. Of his body I could see nothing. Some +of his fellow-captives had clambered upon his back. +He was holding them up. His eyes blinked without +looking at me. That and the moving of his lips was +all he seemed able to manage in his overloaded state. +And when I turned round, this head, that seemed more +than human size resting on its chin under a multitude +of other heads, asked me whether I really desired to +quench the thirst of the captives. + "I said, 'Yes, yes!' eagerly, and came up quite +close to the window. I was like a child, and did not + + +GASPAR RUIZ 13 + +know what would happen. I was anxious to be com- +forted in my helplessness and remorse. + "'Have you the authority, <i>Señor teniente</i>, to re- +lease my wrists from their bonds?' Gaspar Ruiz's +head asked me. + "His features expressed no anxiety, no hope; his +heavy eyelids blinked upon his eyes that looked past +me straight into the courtyard. + "As if in an ugly dream, I spoke, stammering: +'What do you mean? And how can I reach the bonds +on your wrists?' + "'I will try what I can do,' he said; and then that +large staring head moved at last, and all the wild faces +piled up in that window disappeared, tumbling down. +He had shaken his load off with one movement, so +strong he was. + "And he had not only shaken it off, but he got free +of the crush and vanished from my sight. For a +moment there was no one at all to be seen at the +window. He had swung about, butting and shoulder- +ing, clearing a space for himself in the only way he could +do it with his hands tied behind his back. + "Finally, backing to the opening, he pushed out to +me between the bars his wrists, lashed with many turns +of rope. His hands, very swollen, with knotted veins, +looked enormous and unwieldy. I saw his bent back. +It was very broad. His voice was like the muttering +of a bull. + "'Cut, <i>Señor teniente</i>. Cut!' + "I drew my sword, my new unblunted sword that +had seen no service as yet, and severed the many turns +of the hide rope. I did this without knowing the why +and the wherefore of my action, but as it were com- +pelled by my faith in that man. The sergeant made as +if to cry out, but astonishment deprived him of his + + +14 GASPAR RUIZ + +voice, and he remained standing with his mouth open +as if overtaken by sudden imbecility. + "I sheathed my sword and faced the soldiers. An +air of awestruck expectation had replaced their usual list- +less apathy. I heard the voice of Gaspar Ruiz shouting +inside, but the words I could not make out plainly. I +suppose that to see him with his arms free augmented +the influence of his strength: I mean by this, the spiritual +influence that with ignorant people attaches to an excep- +tional degree of bodily vigour. In fact, he was no more +to be feared than before, on account of the numbness of +his arms and hands, which lasted for some time. + "The sergeant had recovered his power of speech. +'By all the saints!' he cried, 'we shall have to get a +cavalry man with a lasso to secure him again, if he is +to be led to the place of execution. Nothing less than +a good <i>enlazador</i> on a good horse can subdue him. +Your worship was pleased to perform a very mad thing.' + "I had nothing to say. I was surprised myself, +and I felt a childish curiosity to see what would hap- +pen next. But the sergeant was thinking of the diffi- +culty of controlling Gaspar Ruiz when the time for +making an example would come. + "'Or perhaps,' the sergeant pursued, vexedly, 'we +shall be obliged to shoot him down as he dashes out +when the door is opened.' He was going to give +further vent to his anxieties as to the proper carrying +out of the sentence; but he interrupted himself with a +sudden exclamation, snatched a musket from a soldier, +and stood watchful with his eyes fixed on the window. + + +IV + + "GASPAR RUIZ had clambered up on the sill, and sat +down there with his feet against the thickness of the + + +GASPAR RUIZ 15 + +wall and his knees slightly bent. The window was +not quite broad enough for the length of his legs. +It appeared to my crestfallen perception that he +meant to keep the window all to himself. He seemed +to be taking up a comfortable position. Nobody inside +dared to approach him now he could strike with his +hands. + "'<i>Por Dios!</i>' I heard the sergeant muttering at my +elbow, 'I shall shoot him through the head now, and +get rid of that trouble. He is a condemned man.' + "At that I looked at him angrily. 'The general +has not confirmed the sentence,' I said -- though I knew +well in my heart that these were but vain words. The +sentence required no confirmation. 'You have no +right to shoot him unless he tries to escape,' I added, +firmly. + "'But <i>sangre de Dios!</i>' the sergeant yelled out, +bringing his musket up to the shoulder, 'he is escaping +now. Look!' + "But I, as if that Gaspar Ruiz had cast a spell +upon me, struck the musket upward, and the bullet +flew over the roofs somewhere. The sergeant dashed +his arm to the ground and stared. He might have +commanded the soldiers to fire, but he did not. And +if he had he would not have been obeyed, I think, just +then. + "With his feet against the thickness of the wall +and his hairy hands grasping the iron bar, Gaspar +sat still. It was an attitude. Nothing happened for a +time. And suddenly it dawned upon us that he was +straightening his bowed back and contracting his arms. +His lips were twisted into a snarl. Next thing we per- +ceived was that the bar of forged iron was being bent +slowly by the mightiness of his pull. The sun was +beating full upon his cramped, unquivering figure. A + + +16 GASPAR RUIZ + +shower of sweat-drops burst out of his forehead. +Watching the bar grow crooked, I saw a little blood +ooze from under his finger-nails. Then he let go. For +a moment he remained all huddled up, with a hanging +head, looking drowsily into the upturned palms of his +mighty hands. Indeed he seemed to have dozed off. +Suddenly he flung himself backwards on the sill, and +setting the soles of his bare feet against the other +middle bar, he bent that one, too, but in the opposite +direction from the first. + "Such was his strength, which in this case relieved +my painful feelings. And the man seemed to have +done nothing. Except for the change of position in +order to use his feet, which made us all start by its +swiftness, my recollection is that of immobility. But +he had bent the bars wide apart. And now he could +get out if he liked; but he dropped his legs inwards, +and looking over his shoulder beckoned to the soldiers. +'Hand up the water,' he said. 'I will give them all a +drink.' + "He was obeyed. For a moment I expected man +and bucket to disappear, overwhelmed by the rush of +eagerness; I thought they would pull him down with +their teeth. There was a rush, but holding the bucket +on his lap he repulsed the assault of those wretches by +the mere swinging of his feet. They flew backwards at +every kick, yelling with pain; and the soldiers laughed, +gazing at the window. + "They all laughed, holding their sides, except the +sergeant, who was gloomy and morose. He was afraid +the prisoners would rise and break out -- which would +have been a bad example. But there was no fear of +that, and I stood myself before the window with my +drawn sword. When sufficiently tamed by the strength +of Gaspar Ruiz they came up one by one, stretching + + +GASPAR RUIZ 17 + +their necks and presenting their lips to the edge of the +bucket which the strong man tilted towards them from +his knees with an extraordinary air of charity, gentleness, +and compassion. That benevolent appearance was of +course the effect of his care in not spilling the water +and of his attitude as he sat on the sill; for, if a man +lingered with his lips glued to the rim of the bucket +after Gaspar Ruiz had said 'You have had enough,' +there would be no tenderness or mercy in the shove of +the foot which would send him groaning and doubled +up far into the interior of the prison, where he would +knock down two or three others before he fell himself. +They came up to him again and again; it looked as if +they meant to drink the well dry before going to their +death; but the soldiers were so amused by Gaspar +Ruiz's systematic proceedings that they carried the +water up to the window cheerfully. + "When the adjutant came out after his siesta there +was some trouble over this affair, I can assure you. +And the worst of it was that the general whom we +expected never came to the castle that day." + The guests of General Santierra unanimously ex- +pressed their regret that the man of such strength +and patience had not been saved. + "He was not saved by my interference," said the +General. "The prisoners were led to execution half an +hour before sunset. Gaspar Ruiz, contrary to the +sergeant's apprehensions, gave no trouble. There was no +necessity to get a cavalry man with a lasso in order to +subdue him, as if he were a wild bull of the <i>campo</i>. I +believe he marched out with his arms free amongst the +others who were bound. I did not see. I was not there. +I had been put under arrest for interfering with the +prisoner's guard. About dusk, sitting dismally in my +quarters, I heard three volleys fired, and thought that I + + +18 GASPAR RUIZ + +should never hear of Gaspar Ruiz again. He fell with +the others. But we were to hear of him nevertheless, +though the sergeant boasted that as he lay on his face +expiring or dead in the heap of the slain, he had slashed +his neck with a sword. He had done this, he said, to +make sure of ridding the world of a dangerous traitor. + "I confess to you, señores, that I thought of that +strong man with a sort of gratitude, and with some +admiration. He had used his strength honourably. +There dwelt, then, in his soul no fierceness correspond- +ing to the vigour of his body." + + +V + + GASPAR RUIZ, who could with ease bend apart the +heavy iron bars of the prison, was led out with others +to summary execution. "Every bullet has its billet," +runs the proverb. All the merit of proverbs consists +in the concise and picturesque expression. In the +surprise of our minds is found their persuasiveness. In +other words, we are struck and convinced by the shock. + What surprises us is the form, not the substance. +Proverbs are art -- cheap art. As a general rule they +are not true; unless indeed they happen to be mere +platitudes, as for instance the proverb, "Half a loaf is +better than no bread," or "A miss is as good as a mile." +Some proverbs are simply imbecile, others are immoral. +That one evolved out of the naïve heart of the great +Russian people, "Man discharges the piece, but God +carries the bullet," is piously atrocious, and at bitter +variance with the accepted conception of a compassion- +ate God. It would indeed be an inconsistent occupa- +tion for the Guardian of the poor, the innocent, and the +helpless, to carry the bullet, for instance, into the heart +of a father. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 19 + + Gaspar Ruiz was childless, he had no wife, he had +never been in love. He had hardly ever spoken to a +woman, beyond his mother and the ancient negress of +the household, whose wrinkled skin was the colour of +cinders, and whose lean body was bent double from age. +If some bullets from those muskets fired off at fifteen +paces were specifically destined for the heart of Gaspar +Ruiz, they all missed their billet. One, however, +carried away a small piece of his ear, and another a +fragment of flesh from his shoulder. + A red and unclouded sun setting into a purple ocean +looked with a fiery stare upon the enormous wall +of the Cordilleras, worthy witnesses of his glorious +extinction. But it is inconceivable that it should have +seen the ant-like men busy with their absurd and +insignificant trials of killing and dying for reasons that, +apart from being generally childish, were also im- +perfectly understood. It did light up, however, the +backs of the firing party and the faces of the condemned +men. Some of them had fallen on their knees, others +remained standing, a few averted their heads from the +levelled barrels of muskets. Gaspar Ruiz, upright, the +burliest of them all, hung his big shock head. The low +sun dazzled him a little, and he counted himself a dead +man already. + He fell at the first discharge. He fell because he +thought he was a dead man. He struck the ground +heavily. The jar of the fall surprised him. "I am not +dead apparently," he thought to himself, when he heard +the execution platoon reloading its arms at the word of +command. It was then that the hope of escape dawned +upon him for the first time. He remained lying +stretched out with rigid limbs under the weight of two +bodies collapsed crosswise upon his back. + By the time the soldiers had fired a third volley + + +20 GASPAR RUIZ + +into the slightly stirring heaps of the slain, the sun had +gone out of sight, and almost immediately with the +darkening of the ocean dusk fell upon the coasts of the +young Republic. Above the gloom of the lowlands the +snowy peaks of the Cordilleras remained luminous and +crimson for a long time. The soldiers before marching +back to the fort sat down to smoke. + The sergeant with a naked sword in his hand strolled +away by himself along the heap of the dead. He was +a humane man, and watched for any stir or twitch of +limb in the merciful idea of plunging the point of his +blade into any body giving the slightest sign of life. +But none of the bodies afforded him an opportunity for +the display of this charitable intention. Not a muscle +twitched amongst them, not even the powerful muscles +of Gaspar Ruiz, who, deluged with the blood of his +neighbours and shamming death, strove to appear more +lifeless than the others. + He was lying face down. The sergeant recognized +him by his stature, and being himself a very small man, +looked with envy and contempt at the prostration of so +much strength. He had always disliked that particular +soldier. Moved by an obscure animosity, he inflicted a +long gash across the neck of Gaspar Ruiz, with some +vague notion of making sure of that strong man's death, +as if a powerful physique were more able to resist the +bullets. For the sergeant had no doubt that Gaspar +Ruiz had been shot through in many places. Then he +passed on, and shortly afterwards marched off with his +men, leaving the bodies to the care of crows and +vultures. + Gaspar Ruiz had restrained a cry, though it had +seemed to him that his head was cut off at a blow; and +when darkness came, shaking off the dead, whose weight +had oppressed him, he crawled away over the plain on + + +GASPAR RUIZ 21 + +his hands and knees. After drinking deeply, like a +wounded beast, at a shallow stream, he assumed an +upright posture, and staggered on light-headed and +aimless, as if lost amongst the stars of the clear night. +A small house seemed to rise out of the ground before +him. He stumbled into the porch and struck at the +door with his fist. There was not a gleam of light. +Gaspar Ruiz might have thought that the inhabitants +had fled from it, as from many others in the neigh- +bourhood, had it not been for the shouts of abuse that +answered his thumping. In his feverish and enfeebled +state the angry screaming seemed to him part of a +hallucination belonging to the weird, dreamlike feeling +of his unexpected condemnation to death, of the thirst +suffered, of the volleys fired at him within fifteen paces, +of his head being cut off at a blow. "Open the door!" +he cried. "Open in the name of God!" + An infuriated voice from within jeered at him: +"Come in, come in. This house belongs to you. All +this land belongs to you. Come and take it." + "For the love of God," Gaspar Ruiz murmured. + "Does not all the land belong to you patriots?" +the voice on the other side of the door screamed on. +"Are you not a patriot?" + Gaspar Ruiz did not know. "I am a wounded man," +he said, apathetically. + All became still inside. Gaspar Ruiz lost the hope of +being admitted, and lay down under the porch just +outside the door. He was utterly careless of what +was going to happen to him. All his consciousness +seemed to be concentrated in his neck, where he felt a +severe pain. His indifference as to his fate was genuine. +The day was breaking when he awoke from a feverish +doze; the door at which he had knocked in the dark +stood wide open now, and a girl, steadying herself + + +22 GASPAR RUIZ + +with her outspread arms, leaned over the threshold. +Lying on his back, he stared up at her. Her face was +pale and her eyes were very dark; her hair hung down +black as ebony against her white cheeks; her lips were +full and red. Beyond her he saw another head with +long grey hair, and a thin old face with a pair of +anxiously clasped hands under the chin. + + +VI + + "I KNEW those people by sight," General Santierra +would tell his guests at the dining-table. "I mean +the people with whom Gaspar Ruiz found shelter. +The father was an old Spaniard, a man of property +ruined by the revolution. His estates, his house in +town, his money, everything he had in the world had +been confiscated by proclamation, for he was a bitter foe +of our independence. From a position of great dignity +and influence on the Viceroy's Council he became of +less importance than his own negro slaves made free +by our glorious revolution. He had not even the means +to flee the country, as other Spaniards had managed to +do. It may be that, wandering ruined and houseless, +and burdened with nothing but his life, which was left +to him by the clemency of the Provisional Government, +he had simply walked under that broken roof of old +tiles. It was a lonely spot. There did not seem to be +even a dog belonging to the place. But though the roof +had holes, as if a cannon-ball or two had dropped +through it, the wooden shutters were thick and tight- +closed all the time. + "My way took me frequently along the path in +front of that miserable rancho. I rode from the fort to +the town almost every evening, to sigh at the window +of a lady I was in love with, then. When one is young, + + +GASPAR RUIZ 23 + +you understand. . . . She was a good patriot, you +may believe. <i>Caballeros</i>, credit me or not, political +feeling ran so high in those days that I do not believe +I could have been fascinated by the charms of a woman +of Royalist opinions. . . ." + Murmurs of amused incredulity all round the table +interrupted the General; and while they lasted he +stroked his white beard gravely. + "Señores," he protested, "a Royalist was a monster +to our overwrought feelings. I am telling you this in +order not to be suspected of the slightest tenderness +towards that old Royalist's daughter. Moreover, as you +know, my affections were engaged elsewhere. But I +could not help noticing her on rare occasions when with +the front door open she stood in the porch. + "You must know that this old Royalist was as crazy +as a man can be. His political misfortunes, his total +downfall and ruin, had disordered his mind. To show +his contempt for what we patriots could do, he affected +to laugh at his imprisonment, at the confiscation of his +lands, the burning of his houses, and at the misery +to which he and his womenfolk were reduced. This +habit of laughing had grown upon him, so that he +would begin to laugh and shout directly he caught +sight of any stranger. That was the form of his +madness. + "I, of course, disregarded the noise of that madman +with that feeling of superiority the success of our cause +inspired in us Americans. I suppose I really despised +him because he was an old Castilian, a Spaniard born, +and a Royalist. Those were certainly no reasons to +scorn a man; but for centuries Spaniards born had +shown their contempt of us Americans, men as well +descended as themselves, simply because we were what +they called colonists. We had been kept in abasement + + +24 GASPAR RUIZ + +and made to feel our inferiority in social intercourse. +And now it was our turn. It was safe for us patriots +to display the same sentiments; and I being a young +patriot, son of a patriot, despised that old Spaniard, and +despising him I naturally disregarded his abuse, though +it was annoying to my feelings. Others perhaps would +not have been so forbearing. + "He would begin with a great yell -- 'I see a patriot. +Another of them!' long before I came abreast of +the house. The tone of his senseless revilings, mingled +with bursts of laughter, was sometimes piercingly shrill +and sometimes grave. It was all very mad; but I +felt it incumbent upon my dignity to check my +horse to a walk without even glancing towards the +house, as if that man's abusive clamour in the porch +were less than the barking of a cur. Always I rode by +preserving an expression of haughty indifference on my +face. + "It was no doubt very dignified; but I should have +done better if I had kept my eyes open. A military +man in war time should never consider himself off +duty; and especially so if the war is a revolutionary +war, when the enemy is not at the door, but within +your very house. At such times the heat of passionate +convictions passing into hatred, removes the re- +straints of honour and humanity from many men and +of delicacy and fear from some women. These last, +when once they throw off the timidity and reserve of +their sex, become by the vivacity of their intelligence +and the violence of their merciless resentment more +dangerous than so many armed giants." + The General's voice rose, but his big hand stroked +his white beard twice with an effect of venerable calm- +ness. "Si, Señores! Women are ready to rise to the +heights of devotion unattainable by us men, or to sink + + +GASPAR RUIZ 25 + +into the depths of abasement which amazes our mas- +culine prejudices. I am speaking now of exceptional +women, you understand. . . ." + Here one of the guests observed that he had never +met a woman yet who was not capable of turning out +quite exceptional under circumstances that would en- +gage her feelings strongly. "That sort of superiority +in recklessness they have over us," he concluded, +"makes of them the more interesting half of man- +kind." + The General, who bore the interruption with gravity, +nodded courteous assent. "<i>Si</i>. <i>Si</i>. Under circum- +stances. . . . Precisely. They can do an infinite +deal of mischief sometimes in quite unexpected ways. +For who could have imagined that a young girl, daughter +of a ruined Royalist whose life was held only by the +contempt of his enemies, would have had the power +to bring death and devastation upon two flourishing +provinces and cause serious anxiety to the leaders +of the revolution in the very hour of its success!" +He paused to let the wonder of it penetrate our +minds. + "Death and devastation," somebody murmured in +surprise: "how shocking!" + The old General gave a glance in the direction of +the murmur and went on. "Yes. That is, war -- +calamity. But the means by which she obtained the +power to work this havoc on our southern frontier seem +to me, who have seen her and spoken to her, still more +shocking. That particular thing left on my mind a +dreadful amazement which the further experience of life, +of more than fifty years, has done nothing to diminish." +He looked round as if to make sure of our attention, +and, in a changed voice: "I am, as you know, a re- +publican, son of a Liberator," he declared. "My in- + + +26 GASPAR RUIZ + +comparable mother, God rest her soul, was a French- +woman, the daughter of an ardent republican. As a +boy I fought for liberty; I've always believed in the +equality of men; and as to their brotherhood, that, to +my mind, is even more certain. Look at the fierce +animosity they display in their differences. And what +in the world do you know that is more bitterly fierce +than brothers' quarrels?" + All absence of cynicism checked an inclination to +smile at this view of human brotherhood. On the +contrary, there was in the tone the melancholy natural +to a man profoundly humane at heart who from duty, +from conviction, and from necessity, had played his +part in scenes of ruthless violence. + The General had seen much of fratricidal strife. +"Certainly. There is no doubt of their brotherhood," +he insisted. "All men are brothers, and as such know +almost too much of each other. But" -- and here in +the old patriarchal head, white as silver, the black eyes +humorously twinkled -- "if we are all brothers, all the +women are not our sisters." + One of the younger guests was heard murmuring +his satisfaction at the fact. But the General continued, +with deliberate earnestness: "They are so different! +The tale of a king who took a beggar-maid for a partner +of his throne may be pretty enough as we men look upon +ourselves and upon love. But that a young girl, +famous for her haughty beauty and, only a short time +before, the admired of all at the balls in the Viceroy's +palace, should take by the hand a guasso, a common +peasant, is intolerable to our sentiment of women and +their love. It is madness. Nevertheless it happened. +But it must be said that in her case it was the madness +of hate -- not of love." + After presenting this excuse in a spirit of chivalrous + + +GASPAR RUIZ 27 + +justice, the General remained silent for a time. "I +rode past the house every day almost," he began again, +"and this was what was going on within. But how it +was going on no mind of man can conceive. Her +desperation must have been extreme, and Gaspar Ruiz +was a docile fellow. He had been an obedient soldier. +His strength was like an enormous stone lying on the +ground, ready to be hurled this way or that by the hand +that picks it up. + "It is clear that he would tell his story to the people +who gave him the shelter he needed. And he needed +assistance badly. His wound was not dangerous, but +his life was forfeited. The old Royalist being wrapped +up in his laughing madness, the two women arranged a +hiding-place for the wounded man in one of the huts +amongst the fruit trees at the back of the house. That +hovel, an abundance of clear water while the fever +was on him, and some words of pity were all they could +give. I suppose he had a share of what food there was. +And it would be but little: a handful of roasted corn, +perhaps a dish of beans, or a piece of bread with a few +figs. To such misery were those proud and once +wealthy people reduced." + + +VII + + GENERAL SANTIERRA was right in his surmise. Such +was the exact nature of the assistance which Gaspar +Ruiz, peasant son of peasants, received from the +Royalist family whose daughter had opened the door of +their miserable refuge to his extreme distress. Her +sombre resolution ruled the madness of her father and +the trembling bewilderment of her mother. + She had asked the strange man on the doorstep, +"Who wounded you?" + + +28 GASPAR RUIZ + + "The soldiers, señora," Gaspar Ruiz had answered, +in a faint voice. + "Patriots?" + "Si." + "What for?" + "Deserter," he gasped, leaning against the wall +under the scrutiny of her black eyes. "I was left for +dead over there." + She led him through the house out to a small hut of +clay and reeds, lost in the long grass of the overgrown +orchard. He sank on a heap of maize straw in a corner, +and sighed profoundly. + "No one will look for you here," she said, looking +down at him. "Nobody comes near us. We, too, have +been left for dead -- here." + He stirred uneasily on his heap of dirty straw, and +the pain in his neck made him groan deliriously. + "I shall show Estaban some day that I am alive yet," +he mumbled. + He accepted her assistance in silence, and the many +days of pain went by. Her appearances in the hut +brought him relief and became connected with the +feverish dreams of angels which visited his couch; +for Gaspar Ruiz was instructed in the mysteries of his +religion, and had even been taught to read and write a +little by the priest of his village. He waited for her +with impatience, and saw her pass out of the dark hut +and disappear in the brilliant sunshine with poignant +regret. He discovered that, while he lay there feeling +so very weak, he could, by closing his eyes, evoke her +face with considerable distinctness. And this discovered +faculty charmed the long, solitary hours of his convales- +cence. Later on, when he began to regain his strength, +he would creep at dusk from his hut to the house and +sit on the step of the garden door. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 29 + + In one of the rooms the mad father paced to and +fro, muttering to himself with short, abrupt laughs. In +the passage, sitting on a stool, the mother sighed and +moaned. The daughter, in rough threadbare clothing, +and her white haggard face half hidden by a coarse +manta, stood leaning against the side of the door. +Gaspar Ruiz, with his elbows propped on his knees and +his head resting in his hands, talked to the two women +in an undertone. + The common misery of destitution would have made +a bitter mockery of a marked insistence on social differ- +ences. Gaspar Ruiz understood this in his simplicity. +From his captivity amongst the Royalists he could give +them news of people they knew. He described their +appearance; and when he related the story of the battle +in which he was recaptured the two women lamented the +blow to their cause and the ruin of their secret hopes. + He had no feeling either way. But he felt a great +devotion for that young girl. In his desire to appear +worthy of her condescension, he boasted a little of his +bodily strength. He had nothing else to boast of. +Because of that quality his comrades treated him with +as great a deference, he explained, as though he had +been a sergeant, both in camp and in battle. + "I could always get as many as I wanted to follow +me anywhere, señorita. I ought to have been made an +officer, because I can read and write." + Behind him the silent old lady fetched a moaning +sigh from time to time; the distracted father muttered +to himself, pacing the sala; and Gaspar Ruiz would +raise his eyes now and then to look at the daughter of +these people. + He would look at her with curiosity because she was +alive, and also with that feeling of familiarity and awe +with which he had contemplated in churches the + + +30 GASPAR RUIZ + +inanimate and powerful statues of the saints, whose +protection is invoked in dangers and difficulties. His +difficulty was very great. + He could not remain hiding in an orchard for ever +and ever. He knew also very well that before he had +gone half a day's journey in any direction, he would be +picked up by one of the cavalry patrols scouring the +country, and brought into one or another of the camps +where the patriot army destined for the liberation of +Peru was collected. There he would in the end be +recognized as Gaspar Ruiz -- the deserter to the Royal- +ists -- and no doubt shot very effectually this time. +There did not seem any place in the world for the +innocent Gaspar Ruiz anywhere. And at this thought +his simple soul surrendered itself to gloom and re- +sentment as black as night. + They had made him a soldier forcibly. He did not +mind being a soldier. And he had been a good soldier +as he had been a good son, because of his docility and +his strength. But now there was no use for either. +They had taken him from his parents, and he could no +longer be a soldier -- not a good soldier at any rate. +Nobody would listen to his explanations. What in- +justice it was! What injustice! + And in a mournful murmur he would go over the +story of his capture and recapture for the twentieth +time. Then, raising his eyes to the silent girl in the +doorway, "Si, señorita," he would say with a deep sigh, +"injustice has made this poor breath in my body quite +worthless to me and to anybody else. And I do not +care who robs me of it." + One evening, as he exhaled thus the plaint of his +wounded soul, she condescended to say that, if she were +a man, she would consider no life worthless which held +the possibility of revenge. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 31 + + She seemed to be speaking to herself. Her voice +was low. He drank in the gentle, as if dreamy sound +with a consciousness of peculiar delight of something +warming his breast like a draught of generous wine. + "True, Señorita," he said, raising his face up to hers +slowly: "there is Estaban, who must be shown that I +am not dead after all." + The mutterings of the mad father had ceased long +before; the sighing mother had withdrawn somewhere +into one of the empty rooms. All was still within as +well as without, in the moonlight bright as day on the +wild orchard full of inky shadows. Gaspar Ruiz saw +the dark eyes of Doña Erminia look down at him. + "Ah! The sergeant," she muttered, disdainfully. + "Why! He has wounded me with his sword," he +protested, bewildered by the contempt that seemed to +shine livid on her pale face. + She crushed him with her glance. The power of her +will to be understood was so strong that it kindled in +him the intelligence of unexpressed things. + "What else did you expect me to do?" he cried, as +if suddenly driven to despair. "Have I the power to do +more? Am I a general with an army at my back? -- +miserable sinner that I am to be despised by you at +last." + + +VIII + + "SEÑORES," related the General to his guests, +"though my thoughts were of love then, and therefore +enchanting, the sight of that house always affected me +disagreeably, especially in the moonlight, when its +close shutters and its air of lonely neglect appeared +sinister. Still I went on using the bridle-path by the +ravine, because it was a short cut. The mad Royalist +howled and laughed at me every evening to his complete + + +32 GASPAR RUIZ + +satisfaction; but after a time, as if wearied with my +indifference, he ceased to appear in the porch. How +they persuaded him to leave off I do not know. How- +ever, with Gaspar Ruiz in the house there would have +been no difficulty in restraining him by force. It was +now part of their policy in there to avoid anything +which could provoke me. At least, so I suppose. + "Notwithstanding my infatuation with the brightest +pair of eyes in Chile, I noticed the absence of the old +man after a week or so. A few more days passed. I +began to think that perhaps these Royalists had gone +away somewhere else. But one evening, as I was +hastening towards the city, I saw again somebody in the +porch. It was not the madman; it was the girl. She +stood holding on to one of the wooden columns, tall and +white-faced, her big eyes sunk deep with privation and +sorrow. I looked hard at her, and she met my stare +with a strange, inquisitive look. Then, as I turned +my head after riding past, she seemed to gather courage +for the act, and absolutely beckoned me back. + "I obeyed, señores, almost without thinking, so great +was my astonishment. It was greater still when I heard +what she had to say. She began by thanking me for +my forbearance of her father's infirmity, so that I felt +ashamed of myself. I had meant to show disdain, not +forbearance! Every word must have burnt her lips, +but she never departed from a gentle and melancholy +dignity which filled me with respect against my will. +Señores, we are no match for women. But I could +hardly believe my ears when she began her tale. Provi- +dence, she concluded, seemed to have preserved the +life of that wronged soldier, who now trusted to my +honour as a <i>caballero</i> and to my compassion for his +sufferings. + "'Wronged man,' I observed, coldly. 'Well, I think + + +GASPAR RUIZ 33 + +so, too: and you have been harbouring an enemy of +your cause.' + "'He was a poor Christian crying for help at our +door in the name of God, señor,' she answered, simply. + "I began to admire her. 'Where is he now?' I +asked, stiffly. + "But she would not answer that question. With +extreme cunning, and an almost fiendish delicacy, she +managed to remind me of my failure in saving the lives +of the prisoners in the guardroom, without wounding +my pride. She knew, of course, the whole story. +Gaspar Ruiz, she said, entreated me to procure for him +a safe-conduct from General San Martin himself. He +had an important communication to make to the com- +mander-in-chief. + "<i>Por Dios</i>, señores, she made me swallow all that, +pretending to be only the mouthpiece of that poor man. +Overcome by injustice, he expected to find, she said, as +much generosity in me as had been shown to him by +the Royalist family which had given him a refuge. + "Ha! It was well and nobly said to a youngster +like me. I thought her great. Alas! she was only +implacable. + "In the end I rode away very enthusiastic about the +business, without demanding even to see Gaspar Ruiz, +who I was confident was in the house. + "But on calm reflection I began to see some dif- +ficulties which I had not confidence enough in myself to +encounter. It was not easy to approach a commander- +in-chief with such a story. I feared failure. At last I +thought it better to lay the matter before my general- +of-division, Robles, a friend of my family, who had +appointed me his aide-de-camp lately. + "He took it out of my hands at once without any +ceremony. + + +34 GASPAR RUIZ + + "'In the house! of course he is in the house,' he said +contemptuously. 'You ought to have gone sword in +hand inside and demanded his surrender, instead of +chatting with a Royalist girl in the porch. Those +people should have been hunted out of that long ago. +Who knows how many spies they have harboured right +in the very midst of our camps? A safe-conduct from +the Commander-in-Chief! The audacity of the fellow! +Ha! ha! Now we shall catch him to-night, and then +we shall find out, without any safe-conduct, what +he has got to say, that is so very important. Ha! +ha! ha!' + "General Robles, peace to his soul, was a short, thick +man, with round, staring eyes, fierce and jovial. Seeing +my distress he added: + "'Come, come, <i>chico</i>. I promise you his life if he +does not resist. And that is not likely. We are not +going to break up a good soldier if it can be helped. I +tell you what! I am curious to see your strong man. +Nothing but a general will do for the picaro -- well, he +shall have a general to talk to. Ha! ha! I shall go +myself to the catching, and you are coming with me, of +course.' + "And it was done that same night. Early in the +evening the house and the orchard were surrounded +quietly. Later on the General and I left a ball we were +attending in town and rode out at an easy gallop. At +some little distance from the house we pulled up. A +mounted orderly held our horses. A low whistle +warned the men watching all along the ravine, and we +walked up to the porch softly. The barricaded house +in the moonlight seemed empty. + "The General knocked at the door. After a time a +woman's voice within asked who was there. My chief +nudged me hard. I gasped. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 35 + + "'It is I, Lieutenant Santierra,' I stammered out, as +if choked. 'Open the door.' + "It came open slowly. The girl, holding a thin +taper in her hand, seeing another man with me, began +to back away before us slowly, shading the light with +her hand. Her impassive white face looked ghostly. I +followed behind General Robles. Her eyes were fixed +on mine. I made a gesture of helplessness behind my +chief's back, trying at the same time to give a reassur- +ing expression to my face. None of us three uttered +a sound. + "We found ourselves in a room with bare floor and +walls. There was a rough table and a couple of stools +in it, nothing else whatever. An old woman with her +grey hair hanging loose wrung her hands when we +appeared. A peal of loud laughter resounded through +the empty house, very amazing and weird. At this the +old woman tried to get past us. + "'Nobody to leave the room,' said General Robles +to me. + "I swung the door to, heard the latch click, and +the laughter became faint in our ears. + "Before another word could be spoken in that +room I was amazed by hearing the sound of distant +thunder. + "I had carried in with me into the house a vivid im- +pression of a beautiful clear moonlight night, without a +speck of cloud in the sky. I could not believe my ears. +Sent early abroad for my education, I was not familiar +with the most dreaded natural phenomenon of my +native land. I saw, with inexpressible astonishment, a +look of terror in my chief's eyes. Suddenly I felt giddy. +The General staggered against me heavily; the girl +seemed to reel in the middle of the room, the taper fell +out of her hand and the light went out; a shrill cry of + + +36 GASPAR RUIZ + +'Misericordia!' from the old woman pierced my ears. +In the pitchy darkness I heard the plaster off the walls +falling on the floor. It is a mercy there was no ceiling. +Holding on to the latch of the door, I heard the grinding +of the roof-tiles cease above my head. The shock was +over. + "'Out of the house! The door! Fly, Santierra, fly!' +howled the General. You know, señores, in our country +the bravest are not ashamed of the fear an earthquake +strikes into all the senses of man. One never gets used +to it. Repeated experience only augments the mastery +of that nameless terror. + "It was my first earthquake, and I was the calmest of +them all. I understood that the crash outside was +caused by the porch, with its wooden pillars and tiled +roof projection, falling down. The next shock would +destroy the house, maybe. That rumble as of thunder +was approaching again. The General was rushing +round the room, to find the door perhaps. He made a +noise as though he were trying to climb the walls, and I +heard him distinctly invoke the names of several saints. +'Out, out, Santierra!' he yelled. + "The girl's voice was the only one I did not hear. + "'General,' I cried, I cannot move the door. We +must be locked in.' + "I did not recognize his voice in the shout of male- +diction and despair he let out. Señores, I know many +men in my country, especially in the provinces most +subject to earthquakes, who will neither eat, sleep, pray, +nor even sit down to cards with closed doors. The dan- +ger is not in the loss of time, but in this -- that the +movement of the walls may prevent a door being opened +at all. This was what had happened to us. We were +trapped, and we had no help to expect from anybody. +There is no man in my country who will go into a house + + +GASPAR RUIZ 37 + +when the earth trembles. There never was -- except +one: Gaspar Ruiz. + "He had come out of whatever hole he had been +hiding in outside, and had clambered over the timbers of +the destroyed porch. Above the awful subterranean +groan of coming destruction I heard a mighty voice +shouting the word 'Erminia!' with the lungs of a giant. +An earthquake is a great leveller of distinctions. I +collected all my resolution against the terror of the +scene. 'She is here,' I shouted back. A roar as of a +furious wild beast answered me -- while my head swam, +my heart sank, and the sweat of anguish streamed like +rain off my brow. + "He had the strength to pick up one of the heavy +posts of the porch. Holding it under his armpit like a +lance, but with both hands, he charged madly the rock- +ing house with the force of a battering-ram, bursting +open the door and rushing in, headlong, over our pros- +trate bodies. I and the General picking ourselves up, +bolted out together, without looking round once till we +got across the road. Then, clinging to each other, we +beheld the house change suddenly into a heap of form- +less rubbish behind the back of a man, who staggered +towards us bearing the form of a woman clasped in his +arms. Her long black hair hung nearly to his feet. He +laid her down reverently on the heaving earth, and the +moonlight shone on her closed eyes. + "Señores, we mounted with difficulty. Our horses +getting up plunged madly, held by the soldiers who had +come running from all sides. Nobody thought of catch- +ing Gaspar Ruiz then. The eyes of men and animals +shone with wild fear. My general approached Gaspar +Ruiz, who stood motionless as a statue above the girl. +He let himself be shaken by the shoulder without +detaching his eyes from her face. + + +38 GASPAR RUIZ + + "'<i>Que guape!</i>' shouted the General in his ear. 'You +are the bravest man living. You have saved my life. +I am General Robles. Come to my quarters to-morrow +if God gives us the grace to see another day.' + "He never stirred -- as if deaf, without feeling, in- +sensible. + "We rode away for the town, full of our relations, of +our friends, of whose fate we hardly dared to think. +The soldiers ran by the side of our horses. Everything +was forgotten in the immensity of the catastrophe over- +taking a whole country." + . . . . . . . + Gaspar Ruiz saw the girl open her eyes. The raising +of her eyelids seemed to recall him from a trance. They +were alone; the cries of terror and distress from homeless +people filled the plains of the coast remote and immense, +coming like a whisper into their loneliness. + She rose swiftly to her feet, darting fearful glances +on all sides. "What is it?" she cried out low, and peer- +ing into his face. "Where am I?" + He bowed his head sadly, without a word. + ". . . Who are you?" + He knelt down slowly before her, and touched the +hem of her coarse black baize skirt. "Your slave," he +said. + She caught sight then of the heap of rubbish that +had been the house, all misty in the cloud of dust. +"Ah!" she cried, pressing her hand to her forehead. + "I carried you out from there," he whispered at her +feet. + "And they?" she asked in a great sob. + He rose, and taking her by the arms, led her gently +towards the shapeless ruin half overwhelmed by a land- +slide. "Come and listen," he said. + The serene moon saw them clambering over that + + +GASPAR RUIZ 39 + +heap of stones, joists and tiles, which was a grave. +They pressed their ears to the interstices, listening for +the sound of a groan, for a sigh of pain. + At last he said, "They died swiftly. You are alone." + She sat down on a piece of broken timber and put +one arm across her face. He waited -- then approaching +his lips to her ear: "Let us go," he whispered. + "Never -- never from here," she cried out, flinging her +arms above her head. + He stooped over her, and her raised arms fell upon +his shoulders. He lifted her up, steadied himself and +began to walk, looking straight before him. + "What are you doing?" she asked, feebly. + "I am escaping from my enemies," he said, never +once glancing at his light burden. + "With me?" she sighed, helplessly. + "Never without you," he said. "You are my +strength." + He pressed her close to him. His face was grave +and his footsteps steady. The conflagrations bursting +out in the ruins of destroyed villages dotted the plain +with red fires; and the sounds of distant lamentations, +the cries of Misericordia! Misericordia! made a desolate +murmur in his ears. He walked on, solemn and col- +lected, as if carrying something holy, fragile, and +precious. + The earth rocked at times under his feet. + + +IX + + WITH movements of mechanical care and an air of +abstraction old General Santierra lighted a long and +thick cigar. + "It was a good many hours before we could send a +party back to the ravine," he said to his guests. "We + + +40 GASPAR RUIZ + +had found one-third of the town laid low, the rest +shaken up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced +to the same state of distraction by the universal disaster. +The affected cheerfulness of some contrasted with the +despair of others. In the general confusion a number of +reckless thieves, without fear of God or man, became a +danger to those who from the downfall of their homes +had managed to save some valuables. Crying 'Miseri- +cordia' louder than any at every tremor, and beating +their breast with one hand, these scoundrels robbed the +poor victims with the other, not even stopping short of +murder. + "General Robles' division was occupied entirely in +guarding the destroyed quarters of the town from the +depredations of these inhuman monsters. Taken up +with my duties of orderly officer, it was only in the +morning that I could assure myself of the safety of my +own family. My mother and my sisters had escaped +with their lives from that ballroom, where I had left +them early in the evening. I remember those two +beautiful young women -- God rest their souls -- as if I +saw them this moment, in the garden of our destroyed +house, pale but active, assisting some of our poor neigh- +bours, in their soiled ball-dresses and with the dust of +fallen walls on their hair. As to my mother, she had a +stoical soul in her frail body. Half-covered by a costly +shawl, she was lying on a rustic seat by the side of an +ornamental basin whose fountain had ceased to play for +ever on that night. + "I had hardly had time to embrace them all with +transports of joy when my chief, coming along, dis- +patched me to the ravine with a few soldiers, to bring in +my strong man, as he called him, and that pale girl. + "But there was no one for us to bring in. A land- +slide had covered the ruins of the house; and it was + + +GASPAR RUIZ 41 + +like a large mound of earth with only the ends of some +timbers visible here and there -- nothing more. + "Thus were the tribulations of the old Royalist couple +ended. An enormous and unconsecrated grave had +swallowed them up alive, in their unhappy obstinacy +against the will of a people to be free. And their +daughter was gone. + "That Gaspar Ruiz had carried her off I understood +very well. But as the case was not foreseen, I had no +instructions to pursue them. And certainly I had no +desire to do so. I had grown mistrustful of my inter- +ference. It had never been successful, and had not even +appeared creditable. He was gone. Well, let him go. +And he had carried off the Royalist girl! Nothing +better. <i>Vaya con Dios</i>. This was not the time to +bother about a deserter who, justly or unjustly, ought to +have been dead, and a girl for whom it would have been +better to have never been born. + "So I marched my men back to the town. + "After a few days, order having been re-established, +all the principal families, including my own, left for +Santiago. We had a fine house there. At the same +time the division of Robles was moved to new canton- +ments near the capital. This change suited very well +the state of my domestic and amorous feelings. + "One night, rather late, I was called to my chief. I +found General Robles in his quarters, at ease, with his +uniform off, drinking neat brandy out of a tumbler -- +as a precaution, he used to say, against the sleepless- +ness induced by the bites of mosquitoes. He was a good +soldier, and he taught me the art and practice of war. +No doubt God has been merciful to his soul; for his mo- +tives were never other than patriotic, if his character +was irascible. As to the use of mosquito nets, he consid- +ered it effeminate, shameful -- unworthy of a soldier. + + +42 GASPAR RUIZ + +"I noticed at the first glance that his face, already +very red, wore an expression of high good-humour. + "'Aha! <i>Señor teniente</i>,' he cried, loudly, as I saluted +at the door. 'Behold! Your strong man has turned +up again.' + "He extended to me a folded letter, which I saw was +superscribed 'To the Commander-in-Chief of the Re- +publican Armies.' + "'This,' General Robles went on in his loud voice, +'was thrust by a boy into the hand of a sentry at the +Quartel General, while the fellow stood there thinking of +his girl, no doubt -- for before he could gather his wits +together the boy had disappeared amongst the market +people, and he protests he could not recognize him to +save his life.' + "'My chief told me further that the soldier had given +the letter to the sergeant of the guard, and that ulti- +mately it had reached the hands of our generalissimo. +His Excellency had deigned to take cognizance of it +with his own eyes. After that he had referred the +matter in confidence to General Robles. + "The letter, señores, I cannot now recollect textually. +I saw the signature of Gaspar Ruiz. He was an auda- +cious fellow. He had snatched a soul for himself out of +a cataclysm, remember. And now it was that soul +which had dictated the terms of his letter. Its tone +was very independent. I remember it struck me at +the time as noble -- dignified. It was, no doubt, her +letter. Now I shudder at the depth of its duplicity. +Gaspar Ruiz was made to complain of the injustice +of which he had been a victim. He invoked his previ- +ous record of fidelity and courage. Having been saved +from death by the miraculous interposition of Provi- +dence, he could think of nothing but of retrieving his +character. This, he wrote, he could not hope to do + + +GASPAR RUIZ 43 + +in the ranks as a discredited soldier still under suspicion. +He had the means to give a striking proof of his fidelity. +He had ended by proposing to the General-in-Chief +a meeting at midnight in the middle of the Plaza be- +fore the Moneta. The signal would be to strike fire +with flint and steel three times, which was not too con- +spicuous and yet distinctive enough for recognition. + "San Martin, the great Liberator, loved men of +audacity and courage. Besides, he was just and com- +passionate. I told him as much of the man's story as I +knew, and was ordered to accompany him on the ap- +pointed night. The signals were duly exchanged. It +was midnight, and the whole town was dark and silent. +Their two cloaked figures came together in the centre of +the vast Plaza, and, keeping discreetly at a distance, I +listened for an hour or more to the murmur of their +voices. Then the General motioned me to approach; +and as I did so I heard San Martin, who was courteous +to gentle and simple alike, offer Gaspar Ruiz the hospi- +tality of the headquarters for the night. But the sol- +dier refused, saying that he would be not worthy of that +honour till he had done something. + "'You cannot have a common deserter for your +guest, Excellency,' he protested with a low laugh, and +stepping backwards merged slowly into the night. + "The Commander-in-Chief observed to me, as we +turned away: 'He had somebody with him, our friend +Ruiz. I saw two figures for a moment. It was an un- +obtrusive companion.' + "I, too, had observed another figure join the vanishing +form of Gaspar Ruiz. It had the appearance of a short +fellow in a poncho and a big hat. And I wondered +stupidly who it could be he had dared take into his con- +fidence. I might have guessed it could be no one but +that fatal girl -- alas! + + +44 GASPAR RUIZ + + "Where he kept her concealed I do not know. He +had -- it was known afterwards -- an uncle, his mother's +brother, a small shopkeeper in Santiago. Perhaps it +was there that she found a roof and food. Whatever she +found, it was poor enough to exasperate her pride and +keep up her anger and hate. It is certain she did not +accompany him on the feat he undertook to accomplish +first of all. It was nothing less than the destruction of a +store of war material collected secretly by the Spanish au- +thorities in the south, in a town called Linares. Gaspar +Ruiz was entrusted with a small party only, but they +proved themselves worthy of San Martin's confidence. +The season was not propitious. They had to swim +swollen rivers. They seemed, however, to have gal- +loped night and day out-riding the news of their foray, +and holding straight for the town, a hundred miles +into the enemy's country, till at break of day they rode +into it sword in hand, surprising the little garrison. +It fled without making a stand, leaving most of its +officers in Gaspar Ruiz' hands. + "A great explosion of gunpowder ended the con- +flagration of the magazines the raiders had set on fire +without loss of time. In less than six hours they were +riding away at the same mad speed, without the loss of +a single man. Good as they were, such an exploit is +not performed without a still better leadership. + "I was dining at the headquarters when Gaspar +Ruiz himself brought the news of his success. And it +was a great blow to the Royalist troops. For a proof he +displayed to us the garrison's flag. He took it from +under his poncho and flung it on the table. The man +was transfigured; there was something exulting and +menacing in the expression of his face. He stood +behind General San Martin's chair and looked proudly +at us all. He had a round blue cap edged with silver + + +GASPAR RUIZ 45 + +braid on his head, and we all could see a large white +scar on the nape of his sunburnt neck. + "Somebody asked him what he had done with the +captured Spanish officers. + "He shrugged his shoulders scornfully. 'What a +question to ask! In a partisan war you do not burden +yourself with prisoners. I let them go -- and here are +their sword-knots.' + "He flung a bunch of them on the table upon the +flag. Then General Robles, whom I was attending there, +spoke up in his loud, thick voice: 'You did! Then, my +brave friend, you do not know yet how a war like ours +ought to be conducted. You should have done -- this.' +And he passed the edge of his hand across his own +throat. + "Alas, señores! It was only too true that on both +sides this contest, in its nature so heroic, was stained by +ferocity. The murmurs that arose at General Robles' +words were by no means unanimous in tone. But the +generous and brave San Martin praised the humane +action, and pointed out to Ruiz a place on his right +hand. Then rising with a full glass he proposed a +toast: 'Caballeros and comrades-in-arms, let us drink +the health of Captain Gaspar Ruiz.' And when we had +emptied our glasses: 'I intend,' the Commander-in- +Chief continued, 'to entrust him with the guardianship +of our southern frontier, while we go afar to liberate our +brethren in Peru. He whom the enemy could not stop +from striking a blow at his very heart will know how +to protect the peaceful populations we leave behind us +to pursue our sacred task.' And he embraced the silent +Gaspar Ruiz by his side. + "Later on, when we all rose from table, I approached +the latest officer of the army with my congratulations. +'And, Captain Ruiz,' I added, 'perhaps you do not mind + + +46 GASPAR RUIZ + +telling a man who has always believed in the upright- +ness of your character what became of Doña Erminia on +that night?' + "At this friendly question his aspect changed. He +looked at me from under his eyebrows with the heavy, +dull glance of a guasso -- of a peasant. '<i>Señor teniente</i>,' +he said, thickly, and as if very much cast down, 'do not +ask me about the señorita, for I prefer not to think +about her at all when I am amongst you." + "He looked, with a frown, all about the room, full of +smoking and talking officers. Of course I did not +insist. + "These, señores, were the last words I was to hear him +utter for a long, long time. The very next day we em- +barked for our arduous expedition to Peru, and we only +heard of Gaspar Ruiz' doings in the midst of battles of +our own. He had been appointed military guardian of +our southern province. He raised a <i>partida</i>. But his +leniency to the conquered foe displeased the Civil +Governor, who was a formal, uneasy man, full of +suspicions. He forwarded reports against Gaspar Ruiz +to the Supreme Government; one of them being that +he had married publicly, with great pomp, a woman of +Royalist tendencies. Quarrels were sure to arise be- +tween these two men of very different character. At last +the Civil Governor began to complain of his inactivity +and to hint at treachery, which, he wrote, would be not +surprising in a man of such antecedents. Gaspar Ruiz +heard of it. His rage flamed up, and the woman ever +by his side knew how to feed it with perfidious words. +I do not know whether really the Supreme Government +ever did -- as he complained afterwards -- send orders for +his arrest. It seems certain that the Civil Governor +began to tamper with his officers, and that Gaspar Ruiz +discovered the fact. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 47 + + "One evening, when the Governor was giving a +<i>tertullia</i>, Gaspar Ruiz, followed by six men he could +trust, appeared riding through the town to the door of +the Government House, and entered the sala armed, his +hat on his head. As the Governor, displeased, ad- +vanced to meet him, he seized the wretched man round +the body, carried him off from the midst of the appalled +guests, as though he were a child, and flung him down +the outer steps into the street. An angry hug from +Gaspar Ruiz was enough to crush the life out of a giant; +but in addition Gaspar Ruiz' horsemen fired their +pistols at the body of the Governor as it lay motionless +at the bottom of the stairs. + + +X + + "AFTER this -- as he called it -- act of justice, Ruiz +crossed the Rio Blanco, followed by the greater part +of his band, and entrenched himself upon a hill. A +company of regular troops sent out foolishly against +him was surrounded, and destroyed almost to a man. +Other expeditions, though better organized, were +equally unsuccessful. + "It was during these sanguinary skirmishes that his +wife first began to appear on horseback at his right +hand. Rendered proud and self-confident by his suc- +cesses, Ruiz no longer charged at the head of his <i>partida</i>, +but presumptuously, like a general directing the move- +ments of an army, he remained in the rear, well mounted +and motionless on an eminence, sending out his orders. +She was seen repeatedly at his side, and for a long time +was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then +of a mysterious white-faced chief, to whom the defeats +of our troops were ascribed. She rode like an Indian +woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmed man's hat and + + +48 GASPAR RUIZ + +a dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatest +prosperity, this poncho was embroidered in gold, and +she wore then, also, the sword of poor Don Antonio de +Leyva. This veteran Chilian officer, having the mis- +fortune to be surrounded with his small force, and +running short of ammunition, found his death at the +hands of the Arauco Indians, the allies and auxiliaries +of Gaspar Ruiz. This was the fatal affair long remem- +bered afterwards as the 'Massacre of the Island.' The +sword of the unhappy officer was presented to her by +Peneleo, the Araucanian chief; for these Indians, struck +by her aspect, the deathly pallor of her face, which no +exposure to the weather seemed to affect, and her calm +indifference under fire, looked upon her as a supernat- +ural being, or at least as a witch. By this superstition +the prestige and authority of Gaspar Ruiz amongst +these ignorant people were greatly augmented. She +must have savoured her vengeance to the full on that +day when she buckled on the sword of Don Antonio +de Leyva. It never left her side, unless she put on her +woman's clothes -- not that she would or could ever use +it, but she loved to feel it beating upon her thigh as a +perpetual reminder and symbol of the dishonour to the +arms of the Republic. She was insatiable. Moreover, +on the path she had led Gaspar Ruiz upon, there is no +stopping. Escaped prisoners -- and they were not many +-- used to relate how with a few whispered words she +could change the expression of his face and revive his +flagging animosity. They told how after every skirm- +ish, after every raid, after every successful action, he +would ride up to her and look into her face. Its +haughty calm was never relaxed. Her embrace, +señores, must have been as cold as the embrace of a +statue. He tried to melt her icy heart in a stream of +warm blood. Some English naval officers who visited + + +GASPAR RUIZ 49 + +him at that time noticed the strange character of his +infatuation." + At the movement of surprise and curiosity in his +audience General Santierra paused for a moment. + "Yes -- English naval officers," he repeated. "Ruiz +had consented to receive them to arrange for the libera- +tion of some prisoners of your nationality. In the +territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast to the +Cordillera, there was a bay where the ships of that time, +after rounding Cape Horn, used to resort for wood and +water. There, decoying the crew on shore, he captured +first the whaling brig <i>Hersalia</i>, and afterwards made +himself master by surprise of two more ships, one +English and one American. + "It was rumoured at the time that he dreamed of +setting up a navy of his own. But that, of course, was +impossible. Still, manning the brig with part of her +own crew, and putting an officer and a good many men +of his own on board, he sent her off to the Spanish +Governor of the island of Chiloe with a report of his +exploits, and a demand for assistance in the war against +the rebels. The Governor could not do much for him; +but he sent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of +compliments, with a colonel's commission in the royal +forces, and a great Spanish flag. This standard with +much ceremony was hoisted over his house in the heart +of the Arauco country. Surely on that day she may +have smiled on her guasso husband with a less haughty +reserve. + "The senior officer of the English squadron on our +coast made representations to our Government as to +these captures. But Gaspar Ruiz refused to treat with +us. Then an English frigate proceeded to the bay, and +her captain, doctor, and two lieutenants travelled inland +under a safe-conduct. They were well received, and + + +50 GASPAR RUIZ + +spent three days as guests of the partisan chief. A sort +of military barbaric state was kept up at the residence. +It was furnished with the loot of frontier towns. When +first admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife +lying down (she was not in good health then), with +Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot of the couch. His hat +was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on the +hilt of his sword. + "During that first conversation he never removed his +big hands from the sword-hilt, except once, to arrange +the coverings about her, with gentle, careful touches. +They noticed that whenever she spoke he would fix his +eyes upon her in a kind of expectant, breathless atten- +tion, and seemingly forget the existence of the world and +his own existence, too. In the course of the farewell +banquet, at which she was present reclining on her couch, +he burst forth into complaints of the treatment he had +received. After General San Martin's departure he had +been beset by spies, slandered by civil officials, his +services ignored, his liberty and even his life threatened +by the Chilian Government. He got up from the table, +thundered execrations pacing the room wildly, then sat +down on the couch at his wife's feet, his breast heaving, +his eyes fixed on the floor. She reclined on her back, +her head on the cushions, her eyes nearly closed. + "'And now I am an honoured Spanish officer,' he +added in a calm voice. + "The captain of the English frigate then took the +opportunity to inform him gently that Lima had fallen, +and that by the terms of a convention the Spaniards +were withdrawing from the whole continent. + "Gaspar Ruiz raised his head, and without hesitation, +speaking with suppressed vehemence, declared that if +not a single Spanish soldier were left in the whole of +South America he would persist in carrying on the con- + + +GASPAR RUIZ 51 + +test against Chile to the last drop of blood. When he +finished that mad tirade his wife's long white hand was +raised, and she just caressed his knee with the tips of +her fingers for a fraction of a second. + "For the rest of the officers' stay, which did not +extend for more than half an hour after the banquet, +that ferocious chieftain of a desperate <i>partida</i> over- +flowed with amiability and kindness. He had been +hospitable before, but now it seemed as though he could +not do enough for the comfort and safety of his visitors' +journey back to their ship. + "Nothing, I have been told, could have presented a +greater contrast to his late violence or the habitual +taciturn reserve of his manner. Like a man elated +beyond measure by an unexpected happiness, he over- +flowed with good-will, amiability, and attentions. He +embraced the officers like brothers, almost with tears in +his eyes. The released prisoners were presented each +with a piece of gold. At the last moment, suddenly, he +declared he could do no less than restore to the masters +of the merchant vessels all their private property. This +unexpected generosity caused some delay in the depar- +ture of the party, and their first march was very short. + "Late in the evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an +escort, to their camp fires, bringing along with him a +mule loaded with cases of wine. He had come, he said, +to drink a stirrup cup with his English friends, whom he +would never see again. He was mellow and joyous in his +temper. He told stories of his own exploits, laughed like +a boy, borrowed a guitar from the Englishmen's chief +muleteer, and sitting cross-legged on his superfine pon- +cho spread before the glow of the embers, sang a guasso +love-song in a tender voice. Then his head dropped on +his breast, his hands fell to the ground; the guitar +rolled off his knees -- and a great hush fell over the camp + + +52 GASPAR RUIZ + +after the love-song of the implacable partisan who had +made so many of our people weep for destroyed homes +and for loves cut short. + "Before anybody could make a sound he sprang up +from the ground and called for his horse. + "'Adios, my friends!' he cried. 'Go with God. I +love you. And tell them well in Santiago that between +Gaspar Ruiz, colonel of the King of Spain, and the +republican carrion-crows of Chile there is war to the last +breath -- war! war! war!' + "With a great yell of 'War! war! war!' which his +escort took up, they rode away, and the sound of +hoofs and of voices died out in the distance between the +slopes of the hills. + "The two young English officers were convinced that +Ruiz was mad. How do you say that? -- tile loose -- eh? +But the doctor, an observant Scotsman with much +shrewdness and philosophy in his character, told me +that it was a very curious case of possession. I met him +many years afterwards, but he remembered the experi- +ence very well. He told me, too, that in his opinion that +woman did not lead Gaspar Ruiz into the practice of +sanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the +subtle way of awakening and keeping alive in his simple +mind a burning sense of an irreparable wrong. Maybe, +maybe. But I would say that she poured half of her +vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you +may pour intoxication, madness, poison into an empty +cup. + "If he wanted war he got it in earnest when our +victorious army began to return from Peru. Systematic +operations were planned against this blot on the honour +and prosperity of our hardly won independence. Gen- +eral Robles commanded, with his well-known ruthless +severity. Savage reprisals were exercised on both sides + + +GASPAR RUIZ 53 + +and no quarter was given in the field. Having won my +promotion in the Peru campaign, I was a captain on the +staff. Gaspar Ruiz found himself hard pressed; at the +same time we heard by means of a fugitive priest +who had been carried off from his village presbytery +and galloped eighty miles into the hills to perform the +christening ceremony, that a daughter was born to them. +To celebrate the event, I suppose, Ruiz executed one or +two brilliant forays clear away at the rear of our forces, +and defeated the detachments sent out to cut off his +retreat. General Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy +from rage. He found another cause of insomnia than +the bites of mosquitoes; but against this one, señores, +tumblers of raw brandy had no more effect than so +much water. He took to railing and storming at me +about my strong man. And from our impatience to end +this inglorious campaign I am afraid that all we young +officers became reckless and apt to take undue risks on +service. + "Nevertheless, slowly, inch by inch as it were, our +columns were closing upon Gaspar Ruiz, though he had +managed to raise all the Araucanian nation of wild +Indians against us. Then a year or more later our +Government became aware through its agents and spies +that he had actually entered into alliance with Car- +reras, the so-called dictator of the so-called republic of +Mendoza, on the other side of the mountains. Whether +Gaspar Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether +he wished only to secure a safe retreat for his wife and +child while he pursued remorselessly against us his war +of surprises and massacres, I cannot tell. The alliance, +however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt to +check our advance from the sea, he retreated with +his usual swiftness, and preparing for another hard +and hazardous tussle, began by sending his wife with + + +54 GASPAR RUIZ + +the little girl across the Pequeña range of mountains, +on the frontier of Mendoza. + + +XI + + "Now Carreras, under the guise of politics and +liberalism, was a scoundrel of the deepest dye, and +the unhappy state of Mendoza was the prey of thieves, +robbers, traitors, and murderers, who formed his party. +He was under a noble exterior a man without heart, +pity, honour, or conscience. He aspired to nothing +but tyranny, and though he would have made use of +Gaspar Ruiz for his nefarious designs, yet he soon +became aware that to propitiate the Chilian Govern- +ment would answer his purpose better. I blush to say +that he made proposals to our Government to deliver +up on certain conditions the wife and child of the man +who had trusted to his honour, and that this offer was +accepted. + "While on her way to Mendoza over the Pequeña +Pass she was betrayed by her escort of Carreras' men, +and given up to the officer in command of a Chilian fort +on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range. +This atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for +as a matter of fact I was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz' +camp when he received the news. I had been captured +during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers +being speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was +saved from the same fate because he recognized my +features just in time. No doubt my friends thought I +was dead, and I would not have given much for my life +at any time. But the strong man treated me very well, +because, he said, I had always believed in his innocence +and had tried to serve him when he was a victim of +injustice. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 55 + + "'And now,' was his speech to me, 'you shall see +that I always speak the truth. You are safe.' + "I did not think I was very safe when I was called +up to go to him one night. He paced up and down like +a wild beast, exclaiming, 'Betrayed! Betrayed!' + "He walked up to me clenching his fists. 'I could +cut your throat.' + "'Will that give your wife back to you?' I said as +quietly as I could. + "'And the child!' he yelled out, as if mad. He fell +into a chair and laughed in a frightful, boisterous +manner. 'Oh, no, you are safe.' + "I assured him that his wife's life was safe, too; but +I did not say what I was convinced of -- that he would +never see her again. He wanted war to the death, and +the war could only end with his death. + "He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat +muttering blankly, 'In their hands. In their hands.' + "I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. + "Suddenly he jumped up. 'What am I doing +here?' he cried; and opening the door, he yelled out +orders to saddle and mount. 'What is it?' he stam- +mered, coming up to me. 'The Pequeña fort; a +fort of palisades! Nothing. I would get her back +if she were hidden in the very heart of the moun- +tain.' He amazed me by adding, with an effort: "I +carried her off in my two arms while the earth +trembled. And the child at least is mine. She at +least is mine!' + "Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for +wonder. + "'You shall go with me,' he said, violently. 'I may +want to parley, and any other messenger from Ruiz, the +outlaw, would have his throat cut.' + "This was true enough. Between him and the rest + + +56 GASPAR RUIZ + +of incensed mankind there could be no communication, +according to the customs of honourable warfare. + "In less than half an hour we were in the saddle, +flying wildly through the night. He had only an escort +of twenty men at his quarters, but would not wait for +more. He sent, however, messengers to Peneleo, the +Indian chief then ranging in the foothills, directing him +to bring his warriors to the uplands and meet him at the +lake called the Eye of Water, near whose shores the +frontier fort of Pequeña was built. + "We crossed the lowlands with that untired rapidity +of movement which had made Gaspar Ruiz' raids so +famous. We followed the lower valleys up to their +precipitous heads. The ride was not without its dan- +gers. A cornice road on a perpendicular wall of +basalt wound itself around a buttressing rock, and at +last we emerged from the gloom of a deep gorge upon +the upland of Pequeña. + "It was a plain of green wiry grass and thin flower- +ing bushes; but high above our heads patches of snow +hung in the folds and crevices of the great walls of rock. +The little lake was as round as a staring eye. The garri- +son of the fort were just driving in their small herd of +cattle when we appeared. Then the great wooden +gates swung to, and that four-square enclosure of broad +blackened stakes pointed at the top and barely hiding +the grass roofs of the huts inside seemed deserted, +empty, without a single soul. + "But when summoned to surrender, by a man +who at Gaspar Ruiz' order rode fearlessly forward +those inside answered by a volley which rolled him and +his horse over. I heard Ruiz by my side grind his +teeth. 'It does not matter,' he said. 'Now you go.' + "Torn and faded as its rags were, the vestiges of my +uniform were recognized, and I was allowed to approach + + +GASPAR RUIZ 57 + +within speaking distance; and then I had to wait, +because a voice clamouring through a loophole with joy +and astonishment would not allow me to place a word. +It was the voice of Major Pajol, an old friend. He, like +my other comrades, had thought me killed a long +time ago. + "'Put spurs to your horse, man!' he yelled, in the +greatest excitement; 'we will swing the gate open for +you.' + "I let the reins fall out of my hand and shook my +head. 'I am on my honour,' I cried. + "'To him!' he shouted, with infinite disgust. + "'He promises you your life.' + "'Our life is our own. And do you, Santierra, +advise us to surrender to that <i>rastrero?</i>' + "'No!' I shouted. 'But he wants his wife and +child, and he can cut you off from water.' + "'Then she would be the first to suffer. You may +tell him that. Look here -- this is all nonsense: we +shall dash out and capture you.' + "'You shall not catch me alive,' I said, firmly. + "'Imbecile!' + "'For God's sake,' I continued, hastily, 'do not open +the gate.' And I pointed at the multitude of Peneleo's +Indians who covered the shores of the lake. + "I had never seen so many of these savages to- +gether. Their lances seemed as numerous as stalks of +grass. Their hoarse voices made a vast, inarticulate +sound like the murmur of the sea. + "My friend Pajol was swearing to himself. 'Well, +then -- go to the devil!' he shouted, exasperated. But +as I swung round he repented, for I heard him say +hurriedly, 'Shoot the fool's horse before he gets away.' + "He had good marksmen. Two shots rang out, and +in the very act of turning my horse staggered, fell + + +58 GASPAR RUIZ + +and lay still as if struck by lightning. I had my feet +out of the stirrups and rolled clear of him; but I did +not attempt to rise. Neither dared they rush out to +drag me in. + "The masses of Indians had begun to move upon the +fort. They rode up in squadrons, trailing their long +<i>chusos;</i> then dismounted out of musket-shot, and, throw- +ing off their fur mantles, advanced naked to the attack, +stamping their feet and shouting in cadence. A sheet of +flame ran three times along the face of the fort without +checking their steady march. They crowded right +up to the very stakes, flourishing their broad knives. +But this palisade was not fastened together with +hide lashings in the usual way, but with long iron +nails, which they could not cut. Dismayed at the +failure of their usual method of forcing an entrance, +the heathen, who had marched so steadily against the +musketry fire, broke and fled under the volleys of the +besieged. + "Directly they had passed me on their advance I +got up and rejoined Gaspar Ruiz on a low ridge which +jutted out upon the plain. The musketry of his own +men had covered the attack, but now at a sign from +him a trumpet sounded the 'Cease fire.' Together +we looked in silence at the hopeless rout of the savages. + "'It must be a siege, then,' he muttered. And I +detected him wringing his hands stealthily. + "But what sort of siege could it be? Without any +need for me to repeat my friend Pajol's message, he +dared not cut the water off from the besieged. They +had plenty of meat. And, indeed, if they had been short +he would have been too anxious to send food into the +stockade had he been able. But, as a matter of fact, it +was we on the plain who were beginning to feel the +pinch of hunger. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 59 + + "Peneleo, the Indian chief, sat by our fire folded in +his ample mantle of guanaco skins. He was an athletic +savage, with an enormous square shock head of hair +resembling a straw beehive in shape and size, and with +grave, surly, much-lined features. In his broken Span- +ish he repeated, growling like a bad-tempered wild +beast, that if an opening ever so small were made in the +stockade his men would march in and get the señora -- +not otherwise. + "Gaspar Ruiz, sitting opposite him, kept his eyes +fixed on the fort night and day as it were, in awful si- +lence and immobility. Meantime, by runners from +the lowlands that arrived nearly every day, we heard of +the defeat of one of his lieutenants in the Maipu valley. +Scouts sent afar brought news of a column of infantry +advancing through distant passes to the relief of the +fort. They were slow, but we could trace their toilful +progress up the lower valleys. I wondered why Ruiz +did not march to attack and destroy this threat- +ening force, in some wild gorge fit for an ambuscade, +in accordance with his genius for guerilla warfare. +But his genius seemed to have abandoned him to his +despair. + "It was obvious to me that he could not tear himself +away from the sight of the fort. I protest to you, +señores, that I was moved almost to pity by the sight of +this powerless strong man sitting on the ridge, indiffer- +ent to sun, to rain, to cold, to wind; with his hands +clasped round his legs and his chin resting on his knees, +gazing -- gazing -- gazing. + "And the fort he kept his eyes fastened on was as +still and silent as himself. The garrison gave no sign of +life. They did not even answer the desultory fire +directed at the loopholes. + "One night, as I strolled past him, he, without + + +60 GASPAR RUIZ + +changing his attitude, spoke to me unexpectedly. 'I +have sent for a gun,' he said. 'I shall have time to get +her back and retreat before your Robles manages to +crawl up here.' + "He had sent for a gun to the plains. + "It was long in coming, but at last it came. It was +a seven-pounder field gun. Dismounted and lashed +crosswise to two long poles, it had been carried up the +narrow paths between two mules with ease. His +wild cry of exultation at daybreak when he saw the +gun escort emerge from the valley rings in my ears +now. + "But, señores, I have no words to depict his amaze- +ment, his fury, his despair and distraction, when he +heard that the animal loaded with the gun-carriage had, +during the last night march, somehow or other tumbled +down a precipice. He broke into menaces of death and +torture against the escort. I kept out of his way all +that day, lying behind some bushes, and wondering +what he would do now. Retreat was left for him, but +he could not retreat. + "I saw below me his artillerist, Jorge, an old Spanish +soldier, building up a sort of structure with heaped-up +saddles. The gun, ready loaded, was lifted on to that, +but in the act of firing the whole thing collapsed and +the shot flew high above the stockade. + "Nothing more was attempted. One of the ammuni- +tion mules had been lost, too, and they had no more than +six shots to fire; ample enough to batter down the gate +providing the gun was well laid. This was impossible +without it being properly mounted. There was no time +nor means to construct a carriage. Already every +moment I expected to hear Robles' bugle-calls echo +amongst the crags. + "Peneleo, wandering about uneasily, draped in his + + +GASPAR RUIZ 61 + +skins, sat down for a moment near me growling his usual +tale. + "'Make an <i>entrada</i> -- a hole. If make a hole, <i>bueno</i>. +If not make a hole, then vamos -- we must go away.' + "After sunset I observed with surprise the Indians +making preparations as if for another assault. Their +lines stood ranged in the shadows of the mountains. +On the plain in front of the fort gate I saw a group +of men swaying about in the same place. + "I walked down the ridge disregarded. The moon- +light in the clear air of the uplands was bright as day, +but the intense shadows confused my sight, and I could +not make out what they were doing. I heard the voice +of Jorge, the artillerist, say in a queer, doubtful tone, +'It is loaded, señor.' + "Then another voice in that group pronounced firmly +the words, 'Bring the riata here.' It was the voice of +Gaspar Ruiz. + "A silence fell, in which the popping shots of the +besieged garrison rang out sharply. They, too, had +observed the group. But the distance was too great +and in the spatter of spent musket-balls cutting up the +ground, the group opened, closed, swayed, giving me +a glimpse of busy stooping figures in its midst. I +drew nearer, doubting whether this was a weird vision, +a suggestive and insensate dream. + "A strangely stifled voice commanded, 'Haul the +hitches tighter.' + + "'<i>Si, señor</i>,' several other voices answered in tones of +awed alacrity. + "Then the stifled voice said: 'Like this. I must +be free to breathe.' + "Then there was a concerned noise of many men +together. 'Help him up, <i>hombres</i>. Steady! Under the +other arm.' + + +62 GASPAR RUIZ + + "That deadened voice ordered: '<i>Bueno!</i> Stand away +from me, men.' + "I pushed my way through the recoiling circle, and +heard once more that same oppressed voice saying +earnestly: 'Forget that I am a living man, Jorge. +Forget me altogether, and think of what you have to +do.' + "'Be without fear, señor. You are nothing to me +but a gun-carriage, and I shall not waste a shot.' + "I heard the spluttering of a port-fire, and smelt the +saltpetre of the match. I saw suddenly before me a +nondescript shape on all fours like a beast, but with a +man's head drooping below a tubular projection over the +nape of the neck, and the gleam of a rounded mass of +bronze on its back. + "In front of a silent semicircle of men it squatted +alone, with Jorge behind it and a trumpeter motionless, +his trumpet in his hand, by its side. + "Jorge, bent double, muttered, port-fire in hand: +'An inch to the left, señor. Too much. So. Now, if +you let yourself down a little by letting your elbows +bend, I will . . .' + "He leaped aside, lowering his port-fire, and a burst +of flame darted out of the muzzle of the gun lashed +on the man's back. + "Then Gaspar Ruiz lowered himself slowly. 'Good +shot?' he asked. + "'Full on, señor.' + "'Then load again.' + "He lay there before me on his breast under the +darkly glittering bronze of his monstrous burden, such +as no love or strength of man had ever had to bear in +the lamentable history of the world. His arms were +spread out, and he resembled a prostrate penitent on +the moonlit ground. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 63 + + "Again I saw him raised to his hands and knees +and the men stand away from him, and old Jorge stoop +glancing along the gun. + '"Left a little. Right an inch. <i>Por Dios, señor</i>, +stop this trembling. Where is your strength?' + "The old gunner's voice was cracked with emotion. +He stepped aside, and quick as lightning brought the +spark to the touch-hole. + "'Excellent!' he cried, tearfully; but Gaspar Ruiz +lay for a long time silent, flattened on the ground. + "'I am tired,' he murmured at last. 'Will another +shot do it?' + "'Without doubt,' said Jorge, bending down to his +ear. + "'Then -- load,' I heard him utter distinctly. +'Trumpeter!' + "'I am here, señor, ready for your word.' + "'Blow a blast at this word that shall be heard +from one end of Chile to the other,' he said, in an +extraordinarily strong voice. 'And you others stand +ready to cut this accursed riata, for then will be the +time for me to lead you in your rush. Now raise +me up, and you, Jorge -- be quick with your aim.' + "The rattle of musketry from the fort nearly drowned +his voice. The palisade was wreathed in smoke and +flame. + "'Exert your force forward against the recoil, <i>mi +amo</i>,' said the old gunner, shakily. 'Dig your fingers +into the ground. So. Now!' + "A cry of exultation escaped him after the shot. +The trumpeter raised his trumpet nearly to his lips +and waited. But no word came from the prostrate +man. I fell on one knee, and heard all he had to say +then. + "'Something broken,' he whispered, lifting his head + + +64 GASPAR RUIZ + +a little, and turning his eyes towards me in his hope- +lessly crushed attitude. + "'The gate hangs only by the splinters,' yelled Jorge. + "Gaspar Ruiz tried to speak, but his voice died out +in his throat, and I helped to roll the gun off his broken +back. He was insensible. + "I kept my lips shut, of course. The signal for the +Indians to attack was never given. Instead, the bugle- +calls of the relieving force for which my ears had thirsted +so long, burst out, terrifying like the call of the Last Day +to our surprised enemies. + "A tornado, señores, a real hurricane of stampeded +men, wild horses, mounted Indians, swept over me as I +cowered on the ground by the side of Gaspar Ruiz, still +stretched out on his face in the shape of a cross. Pe- +neleo, galloping for life, jabbed at me with his long +<i>chuso</i> in passing -- for the sake of old acquaintance, I +suppose. How I escaped the flying lead is more difficult +to explain. Venturing to rise on my knees too soon +some soldiers of the 17th Taltal regiment, in their hurry +to get at something alive, nearly bayoneted me on the +spot. They looked very disappointed, too, when, some +officers galloping up drove them away with the flat of +their swords. + "It was General Robles with his staff. He wanted +badly to make some prisoners. He, too, seemed dis- +appointed for a moment. 'What! Is it you?' he cried. +But he dismounted at once to embrace me, for he was +an old friend of my family. I pointed to the body at +our feet, and said only these two words: + "'Gaspar Ruiz.' + "He threw his arms up in astonishment. + "'Aha! Your strong man! Always to the last +with your strong man. No matter. He saved our lives +when the earth trembled enough to make the bravest + + +GASPAR RUIZ 65 + +faint with fear. I was frightened out of my wits. But +he -- no! <i>Que guape!</i> Where's the hero who got the +best of him? ha! ha! ha! What killed him, <i>chico?</i>' + "'His own strength, General,' I answered. + + +XII + + "BUT Gaspar Ruiz breathed yet. I had him carried +in his poncho under the shelter of some bushes on the +very ridge from which he had been gazing so fixedly +at the fort while unseen death was hovering already +over his head. + "Our troops had bivouacked round the fort. Towards +daybreak I was not surprised to hear that I was desig- +nated to command the escort of a prisoner who was to +be sent down at once to Santiago. Of course the +prisoner was Gaspar Ruiz' wife. + "'I have named you out of regard for your feelings,' +General Robles remarked. 'Though the woman really +ought to be shot for all the harm she has done to the +Republic.' + "And as I made a movement of shocked protest, he +continued: + "'Now he is as well as dead, she is of no importance. +Nobody will know what to do with her. However, +the Government wants her.' He shrugged his shoulders. +'I suppose he must have buried large quantities of his +loot in places that she alone knows of.' + "At dawn I saw her coming up the ridge, guarded by +two soldiers, and carrying her child on her arm. + "I walked to meet her. + "'Is he living yet?' she asked, confronting me with +that white, impassive face he used to look at in an ador- +ing way. + "I bent my head, and led her round a clump of + + +66 GASPAR RUIZ + +bushes without a word. His eyes were open. He +breathed with difficulty, and uttered her name with a +great effort. + "'Erminia!' + "She knelt at his head. The little girl, unconscious +of him, and with her big eyes looking about, began to +chatter suddenly, in a joyous, thin voice. She pointed +a tiny finger at the rosy glow of sunrise behind the black +shapes of the peaks. And while that child-talk, incom- +prehensible and sweet to the ear, lasted, those two, +the dying man and the kneeling woman, remained +silent, looking into each other's eyes, listening to the +frail sound. Then the prattle stopped. The child +laid its head against its mother's breast and was +still. + "'It was for you,' he began. 'Forgive.' His voice +failed him. Presently I heard a mutter and caught +the pitiful words: 'Not strong enough.' + "She looked at him with an extraordinary intensity. +He tried to smile, and in a humble tone, 'Forgive me,' +he repeated. 'Leaving you . . .' + "She bent down, dry-eyed and in a steady voice: +'On all the earth I have loved nothing but you, Gaspar,' +she said. + "His head made a movement. His eyes revived. +'At last!' he sighed out. Then, anxiously, 'But is this +true . . . is this true?' + '"As true as that there is no mercy and justice in +this world,' she answered him, passionately. She stooped +over his face. He tried to raise his head, but it fell +back, and when she kissed his lips he was already dead. +His glazed eyes stared at the sky, on which pink clouds +floated very high. But I noticed the eyelids of the child, +pressed to its mother's breast, droop and close slowly. +She had gone to sleep. + + +GASPAR RUIZ 67 + + "The widow of Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed +me to lead her away without shedding a tear. + "For travelling we had arranged for her a side- +saddle very much like a chair, with a board swung +beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day she rode +without uttering a word, and hardly for one moment +turning her eyes away from the little girl, whom she +held on her knees. At our first camp I saw her during +the night walking about, rocking the child in her arms +and gazing down at it by the light of the moon. After +we had started on our second day's march she asked +me how soon we should come to the first village of +the inhabited country. + "I said we should be there about noon. + "'And will there be women there?' she inquired. + "I told her that it was a large village. 'There will +be men and women there, señora,' I said, 'whose hearts +shall be made glad by the news that all the unrest and +war is over now.' + + "'Yes, it is all over now,' she repeated. Then, after +a time: 'Señor officer, what will your Government do +with me?' + "'I do not know, señora,' I said. 'They will treat +you well, no doubt. We republicans are not savages +and take no vengeance on women.' + "She gave me a look at the word 'republicans' which +I imagined full of undying hate. But an hour or so +afterwards, as we drew up to let the baggage mules go +first along a narrow path skirting a precipice, she looked +at me with such a white, troubled face that I felt a great +pity for her. + "'Señor officer,' she said, 'I am weak, I tremble. It +is an insensate fear.' And indeed her lips did tremble +while she tried to smile, glancing at the beginning of the +narrow path which was not so dangerous after all. 'I am + + +68 GASPAR RUIZ + +afraid I shall drop the child. Gaspar saved your life, +you remember. . . . Take her from me.' + "I took the child out of her extended arms. 'Shut +your eyes, señora, and trust to your mule,' I recom- +mended. + "She did so, and with her pallor and her wasted, +thin face she looked deathlike. At a turn of the +path where a great crag of purple porphyry closes the +view of the lowlands, I saw her open her eyes. I +rode just behind her holding the little girl with my +right arm. 'The child is all right,' I cried encourag- +ingly. + "'Yes,' she answered, faintly; and then, to my +intense terror, I saw her stand up on the foot-rest, +staring horribly, and throw herself forward into the +chasm on our right. + "I cannot describe to you the sudden and abject +fear that came over me at that dreadful sight. It was +a dread of the abyss, the dread of the crags which +seemed to nod upon me. My head swam. I pressed +the child to my side and sat my horse as still as a +statue. I was speechless and cold all over. Her mule +staggered, sidling close to the rock, and then went +on. My horse only pricked up his ears with a slight +snort. My heart stood still, and from the depths +of the precipice the stones rattling in the bed of +the furious stream made me almost insane with their +sound. + "Next moment we were round the turn and on +a broad and grassy slope. And then I yelled. My +men came running back to me in great alarm. It +seems that at first I did nothing but shout, 'She has +given the child into my hands! She has given the +child into my hands!' The escort thought I had gone +mad." + + +GASPAR RUIZ 69 + + General Santierra ceased and got up from the table. +"And that is all, señores," he concluded, with a courte- +ous glance at his rising guests. + "But what became of the child. General?" we asked. + "Ah, the child, the child." + He walked to one of the windows opening on his +beautiful garden, the refuge of his old days. Its fame +was great in the land. Keeping us back with a raised +arm, he called out, "Erminia, Erminia!" and waited. +Then his cautioning arm dropped, and we crowded to +the windows. + From a clump of trees a woman had come upon the +broad walk bordered with flowers. We could hear the +rustle of her starched petticoats and observed the +ample spread of her old-fashioned black silk skirt. She +looked up, and seeing all these eyes staring at her +stopped, frowned, smiled, shook her finger at the Gen- +eral, who was laughing boisterously, and drawing the +black lace on her head so as to partly conceal her +haughty profile, passed out of our sight, walking with +stiff dignity. + "You have beheld the guardian angel of the old man +-- and her to whom you owe all that is seemly and +comfortable in my hospitality. Somehow, señores, +though the flame of love has been kindled early in my +breast, I have never married. And because of that +perhaps the sparks of the sacred fire are not yet ex- +tinct here." He struck his broad chest. "Still alive, +still alive," he said, with serio-comic emphasis. "But +I shall not marry now. She is General Santierra's +adopted daughter and heiress." + One of our fellow-guests, a young naval officer, +described her afterwards as a "short, stout, old girl of +forty or thereabouts." We had all noticed that her hair +was turning grey, and that she had very fine black eyes. + + +70 GASPAR RUIZ + + "And," General Santierra continued, "neither would +she ever hear of marrying any one. A real calamity! +Good, patient, devoted to the old man. A simple soul. +But I would not advise any of you to ask for her hand, +for if she took yours into hers it would be only to +crush your bones. Ah! she does not jest on that +subject. And she is the own daughter of her father, +the strong man who perished through his own strength: +the strength of his body, of his simplicity -- of his love!" + + + +<b>AN IRONIC TALE</b> + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>THE INFORMER</b> + + MR. X came to me, preceded by a letter of intro- +duction from a good friend of mine in Paris, spe- +cifically to see my collection of Chinese bronzes and +porcelain. + My friend in Paris is a collector, too. He collects +neither porcelain, nor bronzes, nor pictures, nor medals, +nor stamps, nor anything that could be profitably dis- +persed under an auctioneer's hammer. He would reject, +with genuine surprise, the name of a collector. Never- +theless, that's what he is by temperament. He collects +acquaintances. It is delicate work. He brings to it the +patience, the passion, the determination of a true col- +lector of curiosities. His collection does not contain +any royal personages. I don't think he considers them +sufficiently rare and interesting; but, with that excep- +tion, he has met with and talked to everyone worth +knowing on any conceivable ground. He observes +them, listens to them, penetrates them, measures them, +and puts the memory away in the galleries of his mind. +He has schemed, plotted, and travelled all over Europe +in order to add to his collection of distinguished personal +acquaintances. + As he is wealthy, well connected, and unprejudiced, +his collection is pretty complete, including objects (or +should I say subjects?) whose value is unappreciated by +the vulgar, and often unknown to popular fame. Of +those specimens my friend is naturally the most proud. + He wrote to me of X: "He is the greatest rebel + +73 + + +74 THE INFORMER + +(<i>révolté</i>) of modern times. The world knows him as a +revolutionary writer whose savage irony has laid bare +the rottenness of the most respectable institutions. He +has scalped every venerated head, and has mangled +at the stake of his wit every received opinion and every +recognized principle of conduct and policy. Who does +not remember his flaming red revolutionary pamph- +lets? Their sudden swarmings used to overwhelm the +powers of every Continental police like a plague of +crimson gadflies. But this extreme writer has been +also the active inspirer of secret societies, the mysterious +unknown Number One of desperate conspiracies sus- +pected and unsuspected, matured or baffled. And the +world at large has never had an inkling of that fact! +This accounts for him going about amongst us to this +day, a veteran of many subterranean campaigns, stand- +ing aside now, safe within his reputation of merely the +greatest destructive publicist that ever lived." + Thus wrote my friend, adding that Mr. X was an en- +lightened connoisseur of bronzes and china, and asking +me to show him my collection. + X turned up in due course. My treasures are dis- +posed in three large rooms without carpets and curtains. +There is no other furniture than the étagères and the +glass cases whose contents shall be worth a fortune to +my heirs. I allow no fires to be lighted, for fear of +accidents, and a fire-proof door separates them from +the rest of the house. + It was a bitter cold day. We kept on our overcoats +and hats. Middle-sized and spare, his eyes alert in a +long, Roman-nosed countenance, X walked on his neat +little feet, with short steps, and looked at my collection +intelligently. I hope I looked at him intelligently, too. +A snow-white moustache and imperial made his nut- +brown complexion appear darker than it really was. In + + +THE INFORMER 73 + +his fur coat and shiny tall hat that terrible man looked +fashionable. I believe he belonged to a noble family, +and could have called himself Vicomte X de la Z if he +chose. We talked nothing but bronzes and porcelain. +He was remarkably appreciative. We parted on cordial +terms. + Where he was staying I don't know. I imagine he +must have been a lonely man. Anarchists, I suppose, +have no families -- not, at any rate, as we understand +that social relation. Organization into families may +answer to a need of human nature, but in the last in- +stance it is based on law, and therefore must be some- +thing odious and impossible to an anarchist. But, in- +deed, I don't understand anarchists. Does a man of +that -- of that -- persuasion still remain an anarchist +when alone, quite alone and going to bed, for instance? +Does he lay his head on the pillow, pull his bedclothes +over him, and go to sleep with the necessity of the +<i>chambardement général</i>, as the French slang has it, of the +general blow-up, always present to his mind? And if so +how can he? I am sure that if such a faith (or such a +fanaticism) once mastered my thoughts I would never +be able to compose myself sufficiently to sleep or eat or +perform any of the routine acts of daily life. I would +want no wife, no children; I could have no friends, it +seems to me; and as to collecting bronzes or china, that, +I should say, would be quite out of the question. But +I don't know. All I know is that Mr. X took his meals +in a very good restaurant which I frequented also. + With his head uncovered, the silver top-knot of his +brushed-up hair completed the character of his physi- +ognomy, all bony ridges and sunken hollows, clothed in +a perfect impassiveness of expression. His meagre +brown hands emerging from large white cuffs came and +went breaking bread, pouring wine, and so on, with + + +76 THE INFORMER + +quiet mechanical precision. His head and body above +the tablecloth had a rigid immobility. This firebrand, +this great agitator, exhibited the least possible amount +of warmth and animation. His voice was rasping, cold, +and monotonous in a low key. He could not be called a +talkative personality; but with his detached calm +manner he appeared as ready to keep the conversation +going as to drop it at any moment. + And his conversation was by no means common- +place. To me, I own, there was some excitement in +talking quietly across a dinner-table with a man +whose venomous pen-stabs had sapped the vitality of at +least one monarchy. That much was a matter of +public knowledge. But I knew more. I knew of him -- +from my friend -- as a certainty what the guardians of +social order in Europe had at most only suspected, or +dimly guessed at. + He had had what I may call his underground life. +And as I sat, evening after evening, facing him at +dinner, a curiosity in that direction would naturally +arise in my mind. I am a quiet and peaceable product +of civilization, and know no passion other than the +passion for collecting things which are rare, and must +remain exquisite even if approaching to the monstrous. +Some Chinese bronzes are monstrously precious. And +here (out of my friend's collection), here I had before me +a kind of rare monster. It is true that this monster +was polished and in a sense even exquisite. His beauti- +ful unruffled manner was that. But then he was not of +bronze. He was not even Chinese, which would have +enabled one to contemplate him calmly across the gulf +of racial difference. He was alive and European; he +had the manner of good society, wore a coat and hat +like mine, and had pretty near the same taste in cook- +ing. It was too frightful to think of. + + +THE INFORMER 77 + + One evening he remarked, casually, in the course of +conversation, "There's no amendment to be got out of +mankind except by terror and violence." + You can imagine the effect of such a phrase out of +such a man's mouth upon a person like myself, whose +whole scheme of life had been based upon a suave and +delicate discrimination of social and artistic values. +Just imagine! Upon me, to whom all sorts and forms +of violence appeared as unreal as the giants, ogres, and +seven-headed hydras whose activities affect, fantasti- +cally, the course of legends and fairy-tales! + I seemed suddenly to hear above the festive bustle +and clatter of the brilliant restaurant the mutter of a +hungry and seditious multitude. + I suppose I am impressionable and imaginative. I +had a disturbing vision of darkness, full of lean jaws and +wild eyes, amongst the hundred electric lights of the +place. But somehow this vision made me angry, too. +The sight of that man, so calm, breaking bits of white +bread, exasperated me. And I had the audacity to ask +him how it was that the starving proletariat of Europe +to whom he had been preaching revolt and violence had +not been made indignant by his openly luxurious life. +"At all this," I said, pointedly, with a glance round the +room and at the bottle of champagne we generally +shared between us at dinner. + He remained unmoved. + "Do I feed on their toil and their heart's blood? +Am I a speculator or a capitalist? Did I steal my +fortune from a starving people? No! They know this +very well. And they envy me nothing. The miserable +mass of the people is generous to its leaders. What I +have acquired has come to me through my writings; not +from the millions of pamphlets distributed gratis to the +hungry and the oppressed, but from the hundreds of + + +78 THE INFORMER + +thousands of copies sold to the well-fed bourgeoisie. You +know that my writings were at one time the rage, the +fashion -- the thing to read with wonder and horror, +to turn your eyes up at my pathos . . . or else, +to laugh in ecstasies at my wit." + "Yes," I admitted. "I remember, of course; and I +confess frankly that I could never understand that +infatuation." + "Don't you know yet," he said, "that an idle and +selfish class loves to see mischief being made, even if +it is made at its own expense? Its own life being all a +matter of pose and gesture, it is unable to realize the +power and the danger of a real movement and of words +that have no sham meaning. It is all fun and senti- +ment. It is sufficient, for instance, to point out the +attitude of the old French aristocracy towards the +philosophers whose words were preparing the Great +Revolution. Even in England, where you have some +common-sense, a demagogue has only to shout loud +enough and long enough to find some backing in the +very class he is shouting at. You, too, like to see mis- +chief being made. The demagogue carries the amateurs +of emotion with him. Amateurism in this, that, and +the other thing is a delightfully easy way of killing +time, and feeding one's own vanity -- the silly vanity of +being abreast with the ideas of the day after to-morrow. +Just as good and otherwise harmless people will join you +in ecstasies over your collection without having the +slightest notion in what its marvellousness really con- +sists." + I hung my head. It was a crushing illustration of +the sad truth he advanced. The world is full of such +people. And that instance of the French aristocracy +before the Revolution was extremely telling, too. I +could not traverse his statement, though its cynicism + + +THE INFORMER 79 + +-- always a distasteful trait -- took off much of its value +to my mind. However, I admit I was impressed. I +felt the need to say something which would not be in +the nature of assent and yet would not invite discussion. + "You don't mean to say," I observed, airily, "that +extreme revolutionists have ever been actively assisted +by the infatuation of such people?" + "I did not mean exactly that by what I said just +now. I generalized. But since you ask me, I may tell +you that such help has been given to revolutionary +activities, more or less consciously, in various countries. +And even in this country." + "Impossible!" I protested with firmness. "We +don't play with fire to that extent." + "And yet you can better afford it than others, +perhaps. But let me observe that most women, if not +always ready to play with fire, are generally eager to +play with a loose spark or so." + "Is this a joke?" I asked, smiling. + "If it is, I am not aware of it," he said, woodenly. +"I was thinking of an instance. Oh! mild enough in a +way . . ." + I became all expectation at this. I had tried many +times to approach him on his underground side, so to +speak. The very word had been pronounced between +us. But he had always met me with his impenetrable +calm. + "And at the same time," Mr. X continued, "it will +give you a notion of the difficulties that may arise in +what you are pleased to call underground work. It is +sometimes difficult to deal with them. Of course there +is no hierarchy amongst the affiliated. No rigid +system." + My surprise was great, but short-lived. Clearly, +amongst extreme anarchists there could be no hier- + + +80 THE INFORMER + +archy; nothing in the nature of a law of precedence. +The idea of anarchy ruling among anarchists was +comforting, too. It could not possibly make for +efficiency. + Mr. X startled me by asking, abruptly, "You know +Hermione Street?" + I nodded doubtful assent. Hermione Street has +been, within the last three years, improved out of any +man's knowledge. The name exists still, but not one +brick or stone of the old Hermione Street is left now. +It was the old street he meant, for he said: + "There was a row of two-storied brick houses on the +left, with their backs against the wing of a great public +building -- you remember. Would it surprise you very +much to hear that one of these houses was for a time +the centre of anarchist propaganda and of what you +would call underground action?" + "Not at all," I declared. Hermione Street had +never been particularly respectable, as I remembered it. + "The house was the property of a distinguished +government official," he added, sipping his champagne. + "Oh, indeed!" I said, this time not believing a word +of it. + "Of course he was not living there," Mr. X continued. +"But from ten till four he sat next door to it, the dear +man, in his well-appointed private room in the wing of +the public building I've mentioned. To be strictly +accurate, I must explain that the house in Hermione +Street did not really belong to him. It belonged to +his grown-up children -- a daughter and a son. The +girl, a fine figure, was by no means vulgarly pretty. To +more personal charm than mere youth could account +for, she added the seductive appearance of enthusiasm, +of independence, of courageous thought. I suppose she +put on these appearances as she put on her picturesque + + +THE INFORMER 81 + +dresses and for the same reason: to assert her individu- +ality at any cost. You know, women would go to any +length almost for such a purpose. She went to a great +length. She had acquired all the appropriate gestures of +revolutionary convictions -- the gestures of pity, of +anger, of indignation against the anti-humanitarian +vices of the social class to which she belonged herself. +All this sat on her striking personality as well as her +slightly original costumes. Very slightly original; just +enough to mark a protest against the philistinism of the +overfed taskmasters of the poor. Just enough, and no +more. It would not have done to go too far in that +direction -- you understand. But she was of age, and +nothing stood in the way of her offering her house to the +revolutionary workers." + "You don't mean it!" I cried. + "I assure you," he affirmed, "that she made that very +practical gesture. How else could they have got hold +of it? The cause is not rich. And, moreover, there +would have been difficulties with any ordinary house- +agent, who would have wanted references and so on. +The group she came in contact with while exploring +the poor quarters of the town (you know the gesture of +charity and personal service which was so fashionable +some years ago) accepted with gratitude. The first +advantage was that Hermione Street is, as you know, +well away from the suspect part of the town, specially +watched by the police. + "The ground floor consisted of a little Italian restau- +rant, of the flyblown sort. There was no difficulty +in buying the proprietor out. A woman and a man +belonging to the group took it on. The man had been +a cook. The comrades could get their meals there, +unnoticed amongst the other customers. This was +another advantage. The first floor was occupied by a + + +82 THE INFORMER + +shabby Variety Artists' Agency -- an agency for per- +formers in inferior music-halls, you know. A fellow- +called Bomm, I remember. He was not disturbed. It +was rather favourable than otherwise to have a lot of +foreign-looking people, jugglers, acrobats, singers of +both sexes, and so on, going in and out all day long. +The police paid no attention to new faces, you see. The +top floor happened, most conveniently, to stand empty +then." + X interrupted himself to attack impassively, with +measured movements, a <i>bombe glacée</i> which the +waiter had just set down on the table. He swallowed +carefully a few spoonfuls of the iced sweet, and asked +me, "Did you ever hear of Stone's Dried Soup?" + "Hear of <i>what?</i>" + "It was," X pursued, evenly, "a comestible article +once rather prominently advertised in the dailies, but +which never, somehow, gained the favour of the public. +The enterprise fizzled out, as you say here. Parcels of +their stock could be picked up at auctions at consider- +ably less than a penny a pound. The group bought +some of it, and an agency for Stone's Dried Soup was +started on the top floor. A perfectly respectable busi- +ness. The stuff, a yellow powder of extremely unappe- +tizing aspect, was put up in large square tins, of which +six went to a case. If anybody ever came to give an +order, it was, of course, executed. But the advantage +of the powder was this, that things could be concealed in +it very conveniently. Now and then a special case got +put on a van and sent off to be exported abroad under +the very nose of the policeman on duty at the corner. +You understand?" + "I think I do," I said, with an expressive nod at the +remnants of the <i>bombe</i> melting slowly in the dish. + "Exactly. But the cases were useful in another + + +THE INFORMER 83 + +way, too. In the basement, or in the cellar at the back, +rather, two printing-presses were established. A lot of +revolutionary literature of the most inflammatory kind +was got away from the house in Stone's Dried Soup +cases. The brother of our anarchist young lady found +some occupation there. He wrote articles, helped to +set up type and pull off the sheets, and generally as- +sisted the man in charge, a very able young fellow called +Sevrin. + "The guiding spirit of that group was a fanatic of +social revolution. He is dead now. He was an +engraver and etcher of genius. You must have seen his +work. It is much sought after by certain amateurs +now. He began by being revolutionary in his art, and +ended by becoming a revolutionist, after his wife and +child had died in want and misery. He used to say that +the bourgeoisie, the smug, overfed lot, had killed them. +That was his real belief. He still worked at his art and +led a double life. He was tall, gaunt, and swarthy, with +a long, brown beard and deep-set eyes. You must have +seen him. His name was Horne." + At this I was really startled. Of course years ago I +used to meet Horne about. He looked like a powerful, +rough gipsy, in an old top hat, with a red muffler round +his throat and buttoned up in a long, shabby overcoat. +He talked of his art with exaltation, and gave one the +impression of being strung up to the verge of insanity. +A small group of connoisseurs appreciated his work. +Who would have thought that this man. . . . +Amazing! And yet it was not, after all, so difficult to +believe. + "As you see," X went on, "this group was in a posi- +tion to pursue its work of propaganda, and the other +kind of work, too, under very advantageous conditions. +They were all resolute, experienced men of a superior + + +84 THE INFORMER + +stamp. And yet we became struck at length by the +fact that plans prepared in Hermione Street almost +invariably failed." + "Who were 'we'?" I asked, pointedly. + "Some of us in Brussels -- at the centre," he said, +hastily. "Whatever vigorous action originated in +Hermione Street seemed doomed to failure. Something +always happened to baffle the best planned manifesta- +tions in every part of Europe. It was a time of general +activity. You must not imagine that all our failures +are of a loud sort, with arrests and trials. That is not +so. Often the police work quietly, almost secretly, +defeating our combinations by clever counter-plotting. +No arrests, no noise, no alarming of the public mind +and inflaming the passions. It is a wise procedure. +But at that time the police were too uniformly successful +from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. It was annoying +and began to look dangerous. At last we came to the +conclusion that there must be some untrustworthy +elements amongst the London groups. And I came +over to see what could be done quietly. + "My first step was to call upon our young Lady +Amateur of anarchism at her private house. She re- +ceived me in a flattering way. I judged that she knew +nothing of the chemical and other operations going on +at the top of the house in Hermione Street. The print- +ing of anarchist literature was the only 'activity' she +seemed to be aware of there. She was displaying very +strikingly the usual signs of severe enthusiasm, and had +already written many sentimental articles with ferocious +conclusions. I could see she was enjoying herself +hugely, with all the gestures and grimaces of deadly +earnestness. They suited her big-eyed, broad-browed +face and the good carriage of her shapely head, crowned +by a magnificent lot of brown hair done in an unusual + + +THE INFORMER 85 + +and becoming style. Her brother was in the room, too, +a serious youth, with arched eyebrows and wearing a red +necktie, who struck me as being absolutely in the dark +about everything in the world, including himself. By +and by a tall young man came in. He was clean-shaved +with a strong bluish jaw and something of the air of a +taciturn actor or of a fanatical priest: the type with +thick black eyebrows -- you know. But he was very pre- +sentable indeed. He shook hands at once vigorously +with each of us. The young lady came up to me and +murmured sweetly, 'Comrade Sevrin.' + "I had never seen him before. He had little to say +to us, but sat down by the side of the girl, and they fell +at once into earnest conversation. She leaned forward +in her deep armchair, and took her nicely rounded chin +in her beautiful white hand. He looked attentively into +her eyes. It was the attitude of love-making, serious, +intense, as if on the brink of the grave. I suppose she +felt it necessary to round and complete her assumption +of advanced ideas, of revolutionary lawlessness, by +making believe to be in love with an anarchist. And +this one, I repeat, was extremely presentable, notwith- +standing his fanatical black-browed aspect. After a +few stolen glances in their direction, I had no doubt that +he was in earnest. As to the lady, her gestures were +unapproachable, better than the very thing itself in the +blended suggestion of dignity, sweetness, condescension, +fascination, surrender, and reserve. She interpreted +her conception of what that precise sort of love-making +should be with consummate art. And so far, she, too, +no doubt, was in earnest. Gestures -- but so perfect! + "After I had been left alone with our Lady Amateur +I informed her guardedly of the object of my visit. I +hinted at our suspicions. I wanted to hear what she +would have to say, and half expected some perhaps un- + + +86 THE INFORMER + +conscious revelation. All she said was, 'That's serious,' +looking delightfully concerned and grave. But there +was a sparkle in her eyes which meant plainly, 'How +exciting!' After all, she knew little of anything except +of words. Still, she undertook to put me in com- +munication with Horne, who was not easy to find unless +in Hermione Street, where I did not wish to show myself +just then. + "I met Horne. This was another kind of a fanatic +altogether. I exposed to him the conclusion we in +Brussels had arrived at, and pointed out the significant +series of failures. To this he answered with irrelevant +exaltation: + "'I have something in hand that shall strike terror +into the heart of these gorged brutes.' + "And then I learned that, by excavating in one of +the cellars of the house, he and some companions had +made their way into the vaults under the great public +building I have mentioned before. The blowing up of a +whole wing was a certainty as soon as the materials were +ready. + "I was not so appalled at the stupidity of that move +as I might have been had not the usefulness of our +centre in Hermione Street become already very prob- +lematical. In fact, in my opinion it was much more +of a police trap by this time than anything else. + "What was necessary now was to discover what, or +rather who, was wrong, and I managed at last to get +that idea into Horne's head. He glared, perplexed, his +nostrils working as if he were sniffing treachery in the +air. + "And here comes a piece of work which will no doubt +strike you as a sort of theatrical expedient. And yet +what else could have been done? The problem was +to find out the untrustworthy member of the group. + + +THE INFORMER 87 + +But no suspicion could be fastened on one more than +another. To set a watch upon them all was not very +practicable. Besides, that proceeding often fails. In +any case, it takes time, and the danger was pressing. I +felt certain that the premises in Hermione Street would +be ultimately raided, though the police had evidently +such confidence in the informer that the house, for the +time being, was not even watched. Horne was positive +on that point. Under the circumstances it was an +unfavourable symptom. Something had to be done +quickly. + "I decided to organize a raid myself upon the group. +Do you understand? A raid of other trusty comrades +personating the police. A conspiracy within a con- +spiracy. You see the object of it, of course. When +apparently about to be arrested I hoped the informer +would betray himself in some way or other; either by +some unguarded act or simply by his unconcerned de- +meanour, for instance. Of coarse there was the risk of +complete failure and the no lesser risk of some fatal +accident in the course of resistance, perhaps, or in the +efforts at escape. For, as you will easily see, the Her- +mione Street group had to be actually and completely +taken unawares, as I was sure they would be by the real +police before very long. The informer was amongst +them, and Horne alone could be let into the secret of +my plan. + "I will not enter into the detail of my preparations. +It was not very easy to arrange, but it was done very +well, with a really convincing effect. The sham police +invaded the restaurant, whose shutters were immedi- +ately put up. The surprise was perfect. Most of the +Hermione Street party were found in the second cellar, +enlarging the hole communicating with the vaults +of the great public building. At the first alarm, several + + +88 THE INFORMER + +comrades bolted through impulsively into the aforesaid +vault, where, of course, had this been a genuine raid, +they would have been hopelessly trapped. We did not +bother about them for the moment. They were harm- +less enough. The top floor caused considerable anxiety +to Horne and myself. There, surrounded by tins of +Stone's Dried Soup, a comrade, nick-named the Pro- +fessor (he was an ex-science student) was engaged in +perfecting some new detonators. He was an ab- +stracted, self-confident, sallow little man, armed with +large round spectacles, and we were afraid that under a +mistaken impression he would blow himself up and +wreck the house about our ears. I rushed upstairs and +found him already at the door, on the alert, listening, as +he said, to 'suspicious noises down below.' Before I +had quite finished explaining to him what was going on +he shrugged his shoulders disdainfully and turned away +to his balances and test-tubes. His was the true spirit +of an extreme revolutionist. Explosives were his faith, +his hope, his weapon, and his shield. He perished +a couple of years afterwards in a secret laboratory +through the premature explosion of one of his improved +detonators. + "Hurrying down again, I found an impressive scene +in the gloom of the big cellar. The man who personated +the inspector (he was no stranger to the part) was +speaking harshly, and giving bogus orders to his bogus +subordinates for the removal of his prisoners. Evi- +dently nothing enlightening had happened so far. +Horne, saturnine and swarthy, waited with folded arms, +and his patient, moody expectation had an air of stoi- +cism well in keeping with the situation. I detected in +the shadows one of the Hermione Street group surrep- +titiously chewing up and swallowing a small piece of +paper. Some compromising scrap, I suppose; perhaps + + +THE INFORMER 89 + +just a note of a few names and addresses. He was a +true and faithful 'companion.' But the fund of secret +malice which lurks at the bottom of our sympathies +caused me to feel amused at that perfectly uncalled- +for performance. + In every other respect the risky experiment, the +theatrical <i>coup</i>, if you like to call it so, seemed to have +failed. The deception could not be kept up much +longer; the explanation would bring about a very +embarrassing and even grave situation. The man who +had eaten the paper would be furious. The fellows who +had bolted away would be angry, too. + "To add to my vexation, the door communicating +with the other cellar, where the printing-presses were, +flew open, and our young lady revolutionist appeared, +a black silhouette in a close-fitting dress and a large +hat, with the blaze of gas flaring in there at her back. +Over her shoulder I perceived the arched eyebrows and +the red necktie of her brother. + "The last people in the world I wanted to see then! +They had gone that evening to some amateur concert +for the delectation of the poor people, you know; but +she had insisted on leaving early, on purpose to call in +Hermione Street on the way home, under the pretext of +having some work to do. Her usual task was to correct +the proofs of the Italian and French editions of the +<i>Alarm Bell</i> and the <i>Firebrand</i>." . . . + "Heavens!" I murmured. I had been shown once a +few copies of these publications. Nothing, in my +opinion, could have been less fit for the eyes of a young +lady. They were the most advanced things of the sort; +advanced, I mean, beyond all bounds of reason and +decency. One of them preached the dissolution of all +social and domestic ties; the other advocated systematic +murder. To think of a young girl calmly tracking + + +90 THE INFORMER + +printers' errors all along the sort of abominable sen- +tences I remembered was intolerable to my sentiment +of womanhood. Mr. X, after giving me a glance, +pursued steadily. + "I think, however, that she came mostly to exercise +her fascinations upon Sevrin, and to receive his homage +in her queenly and condescending way. She was aware +of both -- her power and his homage -- and enjoyed them +with, I dare say, complete innocence. We have no +ground in expediency or morals to quarrel with her on +that account. Charm in woman and exceptional +intelligence in man are a law unto themselves. Is it +not so?" + I refrained from expressing my abhorrence of that +licentious doctrine because of my curiosity. + "But what happened then?" I hastened to ask. + X went on crumbling slowly a small piece of bread +with a careless left hand. + "What happened, in effect," he confessed, "is that +she saved the situation." + "She gave you an opportunity to end your rather +sinister farce," I suggested. + "Yes," he said, preserving his impassive bearing. +" The farce was bound to end soon. And it ended in a +very few minutes. And it ended well. Had she not +come in, it might have ended badly. Her brother, of +course, did not count. They had slipped into the +house quietly some time before. The printing-cellar +had an entrance of its own. Not finding any one +there, she sat down to her proofs, expecting Sevrin to +return to his work at any moment. He did not do so. +She grew impatient, heard through the door the sounds +of a disturbance in the other cellar and naturally came +in to see what was the matter. + Sevrin had been with us. At first he had seemed + + +THE INFORMER 91 + +to me the most amazed of the whole raided lot. He +appeared for an instant as if paralyzed with astonish- +ment. He stood rooted to the spot. He never moved +a limb. A solitary gas-jet flared near his head; all +the other lights had been put out at the first alarm. +And presently, from my dark corner, I observed on his +shaven actor's face an expression of puzzled, vexed +watchfulness. He knitted his heavy eyebrows. The +corners of his mouth dropped scornfully. He was +angry. Most likely he had seen through the game, and +I regretted I had not taken him from the first into my +complete confidence. + "But with the appearance of the girl he became +obviously alarmed. It was plain. I could see it +grow. The change of his expression was swift and +startling. And I did not know why. The reason +never occurred to me. I was merely astonished at the +extreme alteration of the man's face. Of course he had +not been aware of her presence in the other cellar; but +that did not explain the shock her advent had given him. +For a moment he seemed to have been reduced to +imbecility. He opened his mouth as if to shout, or +perhaps only to gasp. At any rate, it was somebody +else who shouted. This somebody else was the heroic +comrade whom I had detected swallowing a piece of +paper. With laudable presence of mind he let out a +warning yell. + "'It's the police! Back! Back! Run back, and +bolt the door behind you.' + "It was an excellent hint; but instead of retreating +the girl continued to advance, followed by her long- +faced brother in his knickerbocker suit, in which he had +been singing comic songs for the entertainment of a +joyless proletariat. She advanced not as if she had +failed to understand -- the word 'police' has an un- + + +92 THE INFORMER + +mistakable sound -- but rather as if she could not help +herself. She did not advance with the free gait and +expanding presence of a distinguished amateur anarchist +amongst poor, struggling professionals, but with +slightly raised shoulders, and her elbows pressed +close to her body, as if trying to shrink within herself. +Her eyes were fixed immovably upon Sevrin. Sevrin +the man, I fancy; not Sevrin the anarchist. But she +advanced. And that was natural. For all their +assumption of independence, girls of that class are used +to the feeling of being specially protected, as, in fact, +they are. This feeling accounts for nine tenths of +their audacious gestures. Her face had gone com- +pletely colourless. Ghastly. Fancy having it brought +home to her so brutally that she was the sort of person +who must run away from the police! I believe she was +pale with indignation, mostly, though there was, of +course, also the concern for her intact personality, a +vague dread of some sort of rudeness. And, naturally, +she turned to a man, to the man on whom she had a +claim of fascination and homage -- the man who could +not conceivably fail her at any juncture." + "But," I cried, amazed at this analysis, "if it had +been serious, real, I mean -- as she thought it was -- what +could she expect him to do for her?" + X never moved a muscle of his face. + "Goodness knows. I imagine that this charming, +generous, and independent creature had never known +in her life a single genuine thought; I mean a single +thought detached from small human vanities, or whose +source was not in some conventional perception. All I +know is that after advancing a few steps she extended +her hand towards the motionless Sevrin. And that at +least was no gesture. It was a natural movement. As +to what she expected him to do, who can tell? The + + +THE INFORMER 93 + +impossible. But whatever she expected, it could not +have come up, I am safe to say, to what he had made +up his mind to do, even before that entreating hand had +appealed to him so directly. It had not been necessary. +From the moment he had seen her enter that cellar, he +had made up his mind to sacrifice his future usefulness, +to throw off the impenetrable, solidly fastened mask it +had been his pride to wear --" + "What do you mean?" I interrupted, puzzled. +"Was it Sevrin, then, who was --" + "He was. The most persistent, the most dangerous, +the craftiest, the most systematic of informers. A +genius amongst betrayers. Fortunately for us, he was +unique. The man was a fanatic, I have told you. +Fortunately, again, for us, he had fallen in love with the +accomplished and innocent gestures of that girl. An +actor in desperate earnest himself, he must have be- +lieved in the absolute value of conventional signs. As +to the grossness of the trap into which he fell, the +explanation must be that two sentiments of such ab- +sorbing magnitude cannot exist simultaneously in one +heart. The danger of that other and unconscious +comedian robbed him of his vision, of his perspicacity, +of his judgment. Indeed, it did at first rob him of his +self-possession. But he regained that through the +necessity -- as it appeared to him imperiously -- to do +something at once. To do what? Why, to get her +out of the house as quickly as possible. He was +desperately anxious to do that. I have told you he +was terrified. It could not be about himself. He had +been surprised and annoyed at a move quite unforeseen +and premature. I may even say he had been furious. +He was accustomed to arrange the last scene of his +betrayals with a deep, subtle art which left his revolu- +tionist reputation untouched. But it seems clear to + + +94 THE INFORMER + +me that at the same time he had resolved to make the +best of it, to keep his mask resolutely on. It was only +with the discovery of her being in the house that every- +thing -- the forced calm, the restraint of his fanaticism, +the mask -- all came off together in a kind of panic. +Why panic, do you ask? The answer is very simple. +He remembered -- or, I dare say, he had never forgotten +-- the Professor alone at the top of the house, pursuing +his researches, surrounded by tins upon tins of Stone's +Dried Soup. There was enough in some few of them to +bury us all where we stood under a heap of bricks. +Sevrin, of course, was aware of that. And we must +believe, also, that he knew the exact character of the +man. He had gauged so many such characters! Or +perhaps he only gave the Professor credit for what he +himself was capable of. But, in any case, the effect +was produced. And suddenly he raised his voice in +authority. + "'Get the lady away at once.' + "It turned out that he was as hoarse as a crow; +result, no doubt, of the intense emotion. It passed off +in a moment. But these fateful words issued forth from +his contracted throat in a discordant, ridiculous croak. +They required no answer. The thing was done. How- +ever, the man personating the inspector judged it ex- +pedient to say roughly: + "'She shall go soon enough, together with the rest of +you.' + "These were the last words belonging to the comedy +part of this affair. + "Oblivious of everything and everybody, Sevrin +strode towards him and seized the lapels of his coat. +Under his thin bluish cheeks one could see his jaws +working with passion. + "'You have men posted outside. Get the lady taken + + +THE INFORMER 95 + +home at once. Do you hear? Now. Before you try to +get hold of the man upstairs.' + "'Oh! There is a man upstairs,' scoffed the other, +openly. 'Well, he shall be brought down in time to see +the end of this.' + "But Sevrin, beside himself, took no heed of the +tone. + '"Who's the imbecile meddler who sent you blunder- +ing here? Didn't you understand your instructions? +Don't you know anything? It's incredible. Here --' + "He dropped the lapels of the coat and, plunging +his hand into his breast, jerked feverishly at some- +thing under his shirt. At last he produced a small +square pocket of soft leather, which must have been +hanging like a scapulary from his neck by the tape +whose broken ends dangled from his fist. + "'Look inside,' he spluttered, flinging it in the other's +face. And instantly he turned round towards the girl. +She stood just behind him, perfectly still and silent. +Her set, white face gave an illusion of placidity. Only +her staring eyes seemed bigger and darker. + "He spoke rapidly, with nervous assurance. I heard +him distinctly promise her to make everything as clear +as daylight presently. But that was all I caught. He +stood close to her, never attempting to touch her even +with the tip of his little finger -- and she stared at him +stupidly. For a moment, however, her eyelids de- +scended slowly, pathetically, and then, with the +long black eyelashes lying on her white cheeks, she +looked ready to fall down in a swoon. But she never +even swayed where she stood. He urged her loudly to +follow him at once, and walked towards the door at the +bottom of the cellar stairs without looking behind him. +And, as a matter of fact, she did move after him a pace +or two. But, of course, he was not allowed to reach the + + +96 THE INFORMER + +door. There were angry exclamations, a short, fierce +scuffle. Flung away violently, he came flying back- +wards upon her, and fell. She threw out her arms in a +gesture of dismay and stepped aside, just clear of his +head, which struck the ground heavily near her shoe. + "He grunted with the shock. By the time he had +picked himself up, slowly, dazedly, he was awake to the +reality of things. The man into whose hands he had +thrust the leather case had extracted therefrom a +narrow strip of bluish paper. He held it up above his +head, and, as after the scuffle an expectant uneasy still- +ness reigned once more, he threw it down disdainfully +with the words, 'I think, comrades, that this proof was +hardly necessary.' + "Quick as thought, the girl stooped after the flutter- +ing slip. Holding it spread out in both hands, she +looked at it; then, without raising her eyes, opened her +fingers slowly and let it fall. + "I examined that curious document afterwards. It +was signed by a very high personage, and stamped and +countersigned by other high officials in various countries +of Europe. In his trade -- or shall I say, in his mission? +-- that sort of talisman might have been necessary, no +doubt. Even to the police itself -- all but the heads -- +he had been known only as Sevrin the noted anarchist. + "He hung his head, biting his lower lip. A change +had come over him, a sort of thoughtful, absorbed calm- +ness. Nevertheless, he panted. His sides worked visi- +bly, and his nostrils expanded and collapsed in weird +contrast with his sombre aspect of a fanatical monk in a +meditative attitude, but with something, too, in his +face of an actor intent upon the terrible exigencies of his +part. Before him Horne declaimed, haggard and +bearded, like an inspired denunciatory prophet from a +wilderness. Two fanatics. They were made to under- + + +THE INFORMER 97 + +stand each other. Does this surprise you? I sup- +pose you think that such people would be foaming at the +mouth and snarling at each other?" + I protested hastily that I was not surprised in the +least; that I thought nothing of the kind; that anarchists +in general were simply inconceivable to me mentally, +morally, logically, sentimentally, and even physically. +X received this declaration with his usual woodenness +and went on. + "Horne had burst out into eloquence. While pour- +ing out scornful invective, he let tears escape from his +eyes and roll down his black beard unheeded. Sevrin +panted quicker and quicker. When he opened his +mouth to speak, everyone hung on his words. + "'Don't be a fool, Horne,' he began. 'You know +very well that I have done this for none of the reasons +you are throwing at me.' And in a moment he became +outwardly as steady as a rock under the other's lurid +stare. 'I have been thwarting, deceiving, and betraying +you -- from conviction.' + "He turned his back on Horne, and addressing the +girl, repeated the words: 'From conviction.' + "It's extraordinary how cold she looked. I suppose +she could not think of any appropriate gesture. There +can have been few precedents indeed for such a situ- +ation. + "'Clear as daylight,' he added. 'Do you understand +what that means? From conviction.' + "And still she did not stir. She did not know what +to do. But the luckless wretch was about to give +her the opportunity for a beautiful and correct gesture. + "'I have felt in me the power to make you share +this conviction,' he protested, ardently. He had for- +gotten himself; he made a step towards her -- perhaps +he stumbled. To me he seemed to be stooping low as + + +98 THE INFORMER + +if to touch the hem of her garment. And then the +appropriate gesture came. She snatched her skirt +away from his polluting contact and averted her head +with an upward tilt. It was magnificently done, this +gesture of conventionally unstained honour, of an un- +blemished high-minded amateur. + "Nothing could have been better. And he seemed +to think so, too, for once more he turned away. But +this time he faced no one. He was again panting fright- +fully, while he fumbled hurriedly in his waistcoat +pocket, and then raised his hand to his lips. There was +something furtive in this movement, but directly after- +wards his bearing changed. His laboured breathing +gave him a resemblance to a man who had just run a +desperate race; but a curious air of detachment, of sud- +den and profound indifference, replaced the strain of the +striving effort. The race was over. I did not want to +see what would happen next. I was only too well +aware. I tucked the young lady's arm under mine +without a word, and made my way with her to the +stairs. + "Her brother walked behind us. Half-way up the +short flight she seemed unable to lift her feet high +enough for the steps, and we had to pull and push to get +her to the top. In the passage she dragged herself +along, hanging on my arm, helplessly bent like an old +woman. We issued into an empty street through a +half-open door, staggering like besotted revellers. At +the corner we stopped a four-wheeler, and the ancient +driver looked round from his box with morose scorn at +our efforts to get her in. Twice during the drive I felt +her collapse on my shoulder in a half faint. Facing us, +the youth in knickerbockers remained as mute as a +fish, and, till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat +more still than I would have believed it possible. + + +THE INFORMER 99 + + "At the door of their drawing-room she left my arm +and walked in first, catching at the chairs and tables. +She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted with the effort, +her cloak still hanging from her shoulders, flung her- +self into a deep armchair, sideways, her face half +buried in a cushion. The good brother appeared +silently before her with a glass of water. She motioned +it away. He drank it himself and walked off to a dis- +tant corner -- behind the grand piano, somewhere. All +was still in this room where I had seen, for the first +time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist, captivated and spell- +bound by the consummate and hereditary grimaces +that in a certain sphere of life take the place of feelings +with an excellent effect. I suppose her thoughts were +busy with the same memory. Her shoulders shook +violently. A pure attack of nerves. When it quieted +down she affected firmness, 'What is done to a man of +that sort? What will they do to him?' + "'Nothing. They can do nothing to him,' I assured +her, with perfect truth. I was pretty certain he had +died in less than twenty minutes from the moment his +hand had gone to his lips. For if his fanatical anti- +anarchism went even as far as carrying poison in his +pocket, only to rob his adversaries of legitimate ven- +geance, I knew he would take care to provide something +that would not fail him when required. + "She drew an angry breath. There were red spots +on her cheeks and a feverish brilliance in her eyes. + "'Has ever any one been exposed to such a terrible +experience? To think that he had held my hand! +That man!' Her face twitched, she gulped down a +pathetic sob. 'If I ever felt sure of anything, it was of +Sevrin's high-minded motives.' + "Then she began to weep quietly, which was good +for her. Then through her flood of tears, half resentful, + + +100 THE INFORMER + +'What was it he said to me? -- "From conviction!" +It seemed a vile mockery. What could he mean by +it?' + "'That, my dear young lady,' I said, gently, 'is more +than I or anybody else can ever explain to you.'" + Mr. X flicked a crumb off the front of his coat. + "And that was strictly true as to her. Though +Horne, for instance, understood very well; and so did I, +especially after we had been to Sevrin's lodging in a +dismal back street of an intensely respectable quarter. +Horne was known there as a friend, and we had no +difficulty in being admitted, the slatternly maid merely +remarking, as she let us in, that 'Mr Sevrin had not been +home that night.' We forced open a couple of drawers +in the way of duty, and found a little useful information. +The most interesting part was his diary; for this man, +engaged in such deadly work, had the weakness to keep +a record of the most damnatory kind. There were his +acts and also his thoughts laid bare to us. But the dead +don't mind that. They don't mind anything. + "'From conviction.' Yes. A vague but ardent +humanitarianism had urged him in his first youth into +the bitterest extremity of negation and revolt. After- +wards his optimism flinched. He doubted and became +lost. You have heard of converted atheists. These +turn often into dangerous fanatics, but the soul remains +the same. After he had got acquainted with the girl, +there are to be met in that diary of his very queer +politico-amorous rhapsodies. He took her sovereign +grimaces with deadly seriousness. He longed to con- +vert her. But all this cannot interest you. For the +rest, I don't know if you remember -- it is a good many +years ago now -- the journalistic sensation of the 'Hermi- +one Street Mystery'; the finding of a man's body in the +cellar of an empty house; the inquest; some arrests; + + +THE INFORMER 101 + +many surmises -- then silence -- the usual end for many +obscure martyrs and confessors. The fact is, he was +not enough of an optimist. You must be a savage, +tyrannical, pitiless, thick-and-thin optimist, like Horne, +for instance, to make a good social rebel of the extreme +type. + He rose from the table. A waiter hurried up with +his overcoat; another held his hat in readiness. + "But what became of the young lady?" I asked. + "Do you really want to know?" he said, buttoning +himself in his fur coat carefully. "I confess to the small +malice of sending her Sevrin's diary. She went into +retirement; then she went to Florence; then she went +into retreat in a convent. I can't tell where she will +go next. What does it matter? Gestures! Gestures! +Mere gestures of her class." + He fitted on his glossy high hat with extreme pre- +cision, and casting a rapid glance round the room, full +of well-dressed people, innocently dining, muttered +between his teeth: + "And nothing else! That is why their kind is fated +to perish." + I never met Mr. X again after that evening. I took +to dining at my club. On my next visit to Paris I found +my friend all impatience to hear of the effect produced +on me by this rare item of his collection. I told him all +the story, and he beamed on me with the pride of his +distinguished specimen. + "Isn't X well worth knowing?" he bubbled over +in great delight. "He's unique, amazing, absolutely +terrific." + His enthusiasm grated upon my finer feelings. I +told him curtly that the man's cynicism was simply +abominable. + "Oh, abominable! abominable!" assented my friend, + + +102 THE INFORMER + +effusively. "And then, you know, he likes to have his +little joke sometimes," he added in a confidential tone. + I fail to understand the connection of this last re- +mark. I have been utterly unable to discover where in +all this the joke comes in. + + +<b>AN INDIGNANT TALE</b> + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>THE BRUTE</b> + + DODGING in from the rain-swept street, I exchanged +a smile and a glance with Miss Blank in the bar of the +Three Crows. This exchange was effected with ex- +treme propriety. It is a shock to think that, if still +alive, Miss Blank must be something over sixty now. +How time passes! + Noticing my gaze directed inquiringly at the parti- +tion of glass and varnished wood, Miss Blank was good +enough to say, encouragingly: + "Only Mr. Jermyn and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with +another gentleman I've never seen before." + I moved towards the parlour door. A voice dis- +coursing on the other side (it was but a matchboard +partition), rose so loudly that the concluding words +became quite plain in all their atrocity. + "That fellow Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, +and a good job, too!" + This inhuman sentiment, since there was nothing +profane or improper in it, failed to do as much as to +check the slight yawn Miss Blank was achieving behind +her hand. And she remained gazing fixedly at the +window-panes, which streamed with rain. + As I opened the parlour door the same voice went on +in the same cruel strain: + "I was glad when I heard she got the knock from +somebody at last. Sorry enough for poor Wilmot, +though. That man and I used to be chums at one +time. Of course that was the end of him. A clear + +105 + + +106 THE BRUTE + +case if there ever was one. No way out of it. None +at all." + The voice belonged to the gentleman Miss Blank had +never seen before. He straddled his long legs on the +hearthrug. Jermyn, leaning forward, held his pocket- +handkerchief spread out before the grate. He looked +back dismally over his shoulder, and as I slipped behind +one of the little wooden tables, I nodded to him. On +the other side of the fire, imposingly calm and large, +sat Mr. Stonor, jammed tight into a capacious Windsor +armchair. There was nothing small about him but +his short, white side-whiskers. Yards and yards of +extra superfine blue cloth (made up into an overcoat) +reposed on a chair by his side. And he must just +have brought some liner from sea, because another +chair was smothered under his black waterproof, +ample as a pall, and made of three-fold oiled silk, +double-stitched throughout. A man's hand-bag of the +usual size looked like a child's toy on the floor near +his feet. + I did not nod to him. He was too big to be nodded +to in that parlour. He was a senior Trinity pilot and +condescended to take his turn in the cutter only during +the summer months. He had been many times in +charge of royal yachts in and out of Port Victoria. +Besides, it's no use nodding to a monument. And he +was like one. He didn't speak, he didn't budge. He +just sat there, holding his handsome old head up, +immovable, and almost bigger than life. It was ex- +tremely fine. Mr. Stonor's presence reduced poor old +Jermyn to a mere shabby wisp of a man, and made the +talkative stranger in tweeds on the hearthrug look +absurdly boyish. The latter must have been a few +years over thirty, and was certainly not the sort of +individual that gets abashed at the sound of his own + + +THE BRUTE 107 + +voice, because gathering me in, as it were, by a friendly +glance, he kept it going without a check. + "I was glad of it," he repeated, emphatically. "You +may be surprised at it, but then you haven't gone +through the experience I've had of her. I can tell you, +it was something to remember. Of course, I got off scot +free myself -- as you can see. She did her best to break +up my pluck for me tho'. She jolly near drove as fine a +fellow as ever lived into a madhouse. What do you say +to that -- eh?" + Not an eyelid twitched in Mr. Stonor's enormous face. +Monumental! The speaker looked straight into my +eyes. + "It used to make me sick to think of her going +about the world murdering people." + Jermyn approached the handkerchief a little nearer +to the grate and groaned. It was simply a habit he had. + "I've seen her once," he declared, with mournful in- +difference. "She had a house --" + The stranger in tweeds turned to stare down at him, +surprised. + "She had three houses," he corrected, authoritatively. +But Jermyn was not to be contradicted. + "She had a house, I say," he repeated, with dismal +obstinacy. "A great, big, ugly, white thing. You could +see it from miles away -- sticking up." + "So you could," assented the other readily. "It was +old Colchester's notion, though he was always threaten- +ing to give her up. He couldn't stand her racket any +more, he declared; it was too much of a good thing for +him; he would wash his hands of her, if he never got +hold of another -- and so on. I daresay he would have +chucked her, only -- it may surprise you -- his missus +wouldn't hear of it. Funny, eh? But with women, +you never know how they will take a thing, and Mrs. + + +108 THE BRUTE + +Colchester, with her moustaches and big eyebrows, set +up for being as strong-minded as they make them. She +used to walk about in a brown silk dress, with a great +gold cable flopping about her bosom. You should have +heard her snapping out: 'Rubbish!' or 'Stuff and non- +sense!' I daresay she knew when she was well off. +They had no children, and had never set up a home any- +where. When in England she just made shift to hang +out anyhow in some cheap hotel or boarding-house. I +daresay she liked to get back to the comforts she was +used to. She knew very well she couldn't gain by any +change. And, moreover, Colchester, though a first- +rate man, was not what you may call in his first youth, +and, perhaps, she may have thought that he wouldn't +be able to get hold of another (as he used to say) so +easily. Anyhow, for one reason or another, it was +'Rubbish' and 'Stuff and nonsense' for the good lady. +I overheard once young Mr. Apse himself say to her +confidentially: 'I assure you, Mrs. Colchester, I am +beginning to feel quite unhappy about the name she's +getting for herself.' 'Oh,' says she, with her deep little +hoarse laugh, 'if one took notice of all the silly talk,' +and she showed Apse all her ugly false teeth at once. +'It would take more than that to make me lose my +confidence in her, I assure you,' says she." + At this point, without any change of facial expression, +Mr. Stonor emitted a short, sardonic laugh. It was +very impressive, but I didn't see the fun. I looked from +one to another. The stranger on the hearthrug had an +ugly smile. + "And Mr. Apse shook both Mrs. Colchester's hands, +he was so pleased to hear a good word said for their +favourite. All these Apses, young and old you know, +were perfectly infatuated with that abominable, dan- +gerous --" + + +THE BRUTE 109 + + "I beg your pardon," I interrupted, for he seemed +to be addressing himself exclusively to me; "but who +on earth are you talking about?" + "I am talking of the Apse family," he answered, +courteously. + I nearly let out a damn at this. But just then the +respected Miss Blank put her head in, and said that the +cab was at the door, if Mr. Stonor wanted to catch the +eleven three up. + At once the senior pilot arose in his mighty bulk and +began to struggle into his coat, with awe-inspiring up- +heavals. The stranger and I hurried impulsively to his +assistance, and directly we laid our hands on him he +became perfectly quiescent. We had to raise our arms +very high, and to make efforts. It was like caparisoning +a docile elephant. With a "Thanks, gentlemen," he +dived under and squeezed himself through the door in a +great hurry. + We smiled at each other in a friendly way. + "I wonder how he manages to hoist himself up a +ship's side-ladder," said the man in tweeds; and poor +Jermyn, who was a mere North Sea pilot, without official +status or recognition of any sort, pilot only by courtesy, +groaned. + "He makes eight hundred a year." + "Are you a sailor?" I asked the stranger, who had +gone back to his position on the rug. + "I used to be till a couple of years ago, when I got +married," answered this communicative individual. "I +even went to sea first in that very ship we were speak- +ing of when you came in." + "What ship?" I asked, puzzled. "I never heard +you mention a ship." + "I've just told you her name, my dear sir," he replied. +"The <i>Apse Family</i>. Surely you've heard of the great + + +110 THE BRUTE + +firm of Apse & Sons, shipowners. They had a pretty +big fleet. There was the <i>Lucy Apse</i>, and the <i>Harold +Apse</i>, and <i>Anne, John, Malcolm, Clara, Juliet</i>, and so on +-- no end of <i>Apses</i>. Every brother, sister, aunt, cousin, +wife -- and grandmother, too, for all I know -- of the firm +had a ship named after them. Good, solid, old-fashioned +craft they were, too, built to carry and to last. None +of your new-fangled, labour-saving appliances in them, +but plenty of men and plenty of good salt beef and hard +tack put aboard -- and off you go to fight your way out +and home again." + The miserable Jermyn made a sound of approval, +which sounded like a groan of pain. Those were the +ships for him. He pointed out in doleful tones that +you couldn't say to labour-saving appliances: "Jump +lively now, my hearties." No labour-saving appliance +would go aloft on a dirty night with the sands under +your lee. + "No," assented the stranger, with a wink at me. +"The Apses didn't believe in them either, apparently. +They treated their people well -- as people don't get +treated nowadays, and they were awfully proud of their +ships. Nothing ever happened to them. This last one, +the <i>Apse Family</i>, was to be like the others, only she was +to be still stronger, still safer, still more roomy and com- +fortable. I believe they meant her to last for ever. +They had her built composite -- iron, teak-wood, and +greenheart, and her scantling was something fabulous. +If ever an order was given for a ship in a spirit of pride +this one was. Everything of the best. The commodore +captain of the employ was to command her, and they +planned the accommodation for him like a house on +shore under a big, tall poop that went nearly to the +mainmast. No wonder Mrs. Colchester wouldn't let +the old man give her up. Why, it was the best home + + +THE BRUTE 111 + +she ever had in all her married days. She had a nerve, +that woman. + "The fuss that was made while that ship was build- +ing! Let's have this a little stronger, and that a little +heavier; and hadn't that other thing better be changed +for something a little thicker. The builders entered +into the spirit of the game, and there she was, growing +into the clumsiest, heaviest ship of her size right before +all their eyes, without anybody becoming aware of it +somehow. She was to be 2,000 tons register, or a little +over; no less on any account. But see what happens. +When they came to measure her she turned out 1,999 +tons and a fraction. General consternation! And they +say old Mr. Apse was so annoyed when they told him +that he took to his bed and died. The old gentleman +had retired from the firm twenty-five years before, and +was ninety-six years old if a day, so his death wasn't, +perhaps, so surprising. Still Mr. Lucian Apse was con- +vinced that his father would have lived to a hundred. +So we may put him at the head of the list. Next +comes the poor devil of a shipwright that brute caught +and squashed as she went off the ways. They called +it the launch of a ship, but I've heard people say that, +from the wailing and yelling and scrambling out of the +way, it was more like letting a devil loose upon the +river. She snapped all her checks like pack-thread, and +went for the tugs in attendance like a fury. Before +anybody could see what she was up to she sent one +of them to the bottom, and laid up another for three +months' repairs. One of her cables parted, and then, +suddenly -- you couldn't tell why -- she let herself be +brought up with the other as quiet as a lamb. + "That's how she was. You could never be sure +what she would be up to next. There are ships difficult +to handle, but generally you can depend on them behav- + + +112 THE BRUTE + +ing rationally. With <i>that</i> ship, whatever you did with +her you never knew how it would end. She was +a wicked beast. Or, perhaps, she was only just in- +sane." + He uttered this supposition in so earnest a tone that +I could not refrain from smiling. He left off biting his +lower lip to apostrophize me. + "Eh! Why not? Why couldn't there be something +in her build, in her lines corresponding to -- What's +madness? Only something just a tiny bit wrong in the +make of your brain. Why shouldn't there be a mad +ship -- I mean mad in a ship-like way, so that under no +circumstances could you be sure she would do what any +other sensible ship would naturally do for you. There +are ships that steer wildly, and ships that can't be quite +trusted always to stay; others want careful watching +when running in a gale; and, again, there may be +a ship that will make heavy weather of it in every +little blow. But then you expect her to be always +so. You take it as part of her character, as a ship, +just as you take account of a man's peculiarities of +temper when you deal with him. But with her you +couldn't. She was unaccountable. If she wasn't mad, +then she was the most evil-minded, underhand, savage +brute that ever went afloat. I've seen her run in a heavy +gale beautifully for two days, and on the third broach +to twice in the same afternoon. The first time she +flung the helmsman clean over the wheel, but as she +didn't quite manage to kill him she had another try +about three hours afterwards. She swamped herself +fore and aft, burst all the canvas we had set, scared all +hands into a panic, and even frightened Mrs. Colchester +down there in these beautiful stern cabins that she was +so proud of. When we mustered the crew there was +one man missing. Swept overboard, of course, without + + +THE BRUTE 113 + +being either seen or heard, poor devil! and I only wonder +more of us didn't go. + "Always something like that. Always. I heard an +old mate tell Captain Colchester once that it had come +to this with him, that he was afraid to open his mouth +to give any sort of order. She was as much of a terror +in harbour as at sea. You could never be certain what +would hold her. On the slightest provocation she would +start snapping ropes, cables, wire hawsers, like carrots. +She was heavy, clumsy, unhandy -- but that does not +quite explain that power for mischief she had. You +know, somehow, when I think of her I can't help re- +membering what we hear of incurable lunatics breaking +loose now and then." + He looked at me inquisitively. But, of course, +I couldn't admit that a ship could be mad. + "In the ports where she was known," he went on,' +"they dreaded the sight of her. She thought nothing of +knocking away twenty feet or so of solid stone facing off +a quay or wiping off the end of a wooden wharf. She +must have lost miles of chain and hundreds of tons of +anchors in her time. When she fell aboard some poor +unoffending ship it was the very devil of a job to haul her +off again. And she never got hurt herself -- just a few +scratches or so, perhaps. They had wanted to have +her strong. And so she was. Strong enough to ram +Polar ice with. And as she began so she went on. +From the day she was launched she never let a year pass +without murdering somebody. I think the owners got +very worried about it. But they were a stiff-necked +generation all these Apses; they wouldn't admit there +could be anything wrong with the <i>Apse Family</i>. They +wouldn't even change her name. 'Stuff and nonsense,' +as Mrs. Colchester used to say. They ought at least to +have shut her up for life in some dry dock or other, away + + +114 THE BRUTE + +up the river, and never let her smell salt water again. I +assure you, my dear sir, that she invariably did kill +someone every voyage she made. It was perfectly +well-known. She got a name for it, far and wide." + I expressed my surprise that a ship with such a +deadly reputation could ever get a crew. + "Then, you don't know what sailors are, my dear sir. +Let me just show you by an instance. One day in dock +at home, while loafing on the forecastle head, I noticed +two respectable salts come along, one a middle-aged, +competent, steady man, evidently, the other a smart, +youngish chap. They read the name on the bows and +stopped to look at her. Says the elder man: '<i>Apse +Family</i>. That's the sanguinary female dog' (I'm +putting it in that way) 'of a ship, Jack, that kills a +man every voyage. I wouldn't sign in her -- not for +Joe, I wouldn't.' And the other says: 'If she were +mine, I'd have her towed on the mud and set on fire, +blamme if I wouldn't.' Then the first man chimes in: +'Much do they care! Men are cheap, God knows.' +The younger one spat in the water alongside. 'They +won't have me -- not for double wages.' + "They hung about for some time and then walked up +the dock. Half an hour later I saw them both on our +deck looking about for the mate, and apparently very +anxious to be taken on. And they were." + "How do you account for this?" I asked. + "What would you say?" he retorted. "Reckless- +ness ! The vanity of boasting in the evening to all their +chums: 'We've just shipped in that there <i>Apse Family</i>. +Blow her. She ain't going to scare us.' Sheer sailor- +like perversity! A sort of curiosity. Well -- a little of +all that, no doubt. I put the question to them in the +course of the voyage. The answer of the elderly chap +was: + + +THE BRUTE 115 + + "'A man can die but once.' The younger assured +me in a mocking tone that he wanted to see 'how she +would do it this time.' But I tell you what; there was +a sort of fascination about the brute." + Jermyn, who seemed to have seen every ship in the +world, broke in sulkily: + "I saw her once out of this very window towing up +the river; a great black ugly thing, going along like a +big hearse." + "Something sinister about her looks, wasn't there?" +said the man in tweeds, looking down at old Jermyn +with a friendly eye. "I always had a sort of horror of +her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more +than fourteen, the very first day -- nay, hour -- I joined +her. Father came up to see me off, and was to go down +to Gravesend with us. I was his second boy to go to +sea. My big brother was already an officer then. We. +got on board about eleven in the morning, and found the +ship ready to drop out of the basin, stern first. She +had not moved three times her own length when, at +a little pluck the tug gave her to enter the dock gates, +she made one of her rampaging starts, and put such +a weight on the check rope -- a new six-inch hawser +-- that forward there they had no chance to ease it +round in time, and it parted. I saw the broken end +fly up high in the air, and the next moment that brute +brought her quarter against the pier-head with a jar +that staggered everybody about her decks. She didn't +hurt herself. Not she! But one of the boys the mate +had sent aloft on the mizzen to do something, came +down on the poop-deck -- thump -- right in front of me. +He was not much older than myself. We had been +grinning at each other only a few minutes before. He +must have been handling himself carelessly, not expect- +ing to get such a jerk. I heard his startled cry -- Oh! -- + + +116 THE BRUTE + +in a high treble as he felt himself going, and looked up +in time to see him go limp all over as he fell. Ough! +Poor father was remarkably white about the gills when +we shook hands in Gravesend. 'Are you all right?' he +says, looking hard at me. 'Yes, father.' 'Quite sure?' +'Yes, father.' 'Well, then good-bye, my boy.' He told +me afterwards that for half a word he would have carried +me off home with him there and then. I am the baby +of the family -- you know," added the man in tweeds, +stroking his moustache with an ingenuous smile. + I acknowledged this interesting communication by a +sympathetic murmur. He waved his hand carelessly. + "This might have utterly spoiled a chap's nerve for +going aloft, you know -- utterly. He fell within two +feet of me, cracking his head on a mooring-bitt. Never +moved. Stone dead. Nice looking little fellow, he was. +I had just been thinking we would be great chums. +However, that wasn't yet the worst that brute of a ship +could do. I served in her three years of my time, and +then I got transferred to the <i>Lucy Apse</i>, for a year. The +sailmaker we had in the <i>Apse Family</i> turned up there, +too, and I remember him saying to me one evening, after +we had been a week at sea: Isn't she a meek little +ship?' No wonder we thought the <i>Lucy Apse</i> a dear, +meek, little ship after getting clear of that big, rampag- +ing savage brute. It was like heaven. Her officers +seemed to me the restfullest lot of men on earth. To me +who had known no ship but the <i>Apse Family</i>, the <i>Lucy</i> +was like a sort of magic craft that did what you wanted +her to do of her own accord. One evening we got +caught aback pretty sharply from right ahead. In about +ten minutes we had her full again, sheets aft, tacks down, +decks cleared, and the officer of the watch leaning +against the weather rail peacefully. It seemed simply +marvellous to me. The other would have stuck for half- + + +THE BRUTE 117 + +an-hour in irons, rolling her decks full of water, knock- +ing the men about -- spars cracking, braces snapping, +yards taking charge, and a confounded scare going on +aft because of her beastly rudder, which she had a way +of flapping about fit to raise your hair on end. I could- +n't get over my wonder for days. + "Well, I finished my last year of apprenticeship in +that jolly little ship -- she wasn't so little either, but +after that other heavy devil she seemed but a plaything +to handle. I finished my time and passed; and then +just as I was thinking of having three weeks of real +good time on shore I got at breakfast a letter asking me +the earliest day I could be ready to join the <i>Apse Family</i> +as third mate. I gave my plate a shove that shot it +into the middle of the table; dad looked up over his +paper; mother raised her hands in astonishment, and I +went out bare-headed into our bit of garden, where I +walked round and round for an hour. + "When I came in again mother was out of the +dining-room, and dad had shifted berth into his big +armchair. The letter was lying on the mantelpiece. + "'It's very creditable to you to get the offer, and +very kind of them to make it,' he said. 'And I see also +that Charles has been appointed chief mate of that ship +for one voyage.' + "There was, over leaf, a P.S. to that effect in Mr. +Apse's own handwriting, which I had overlooked. +Charley was my big brother. + "I don't like very much to have two of my boys +together in one ship,' father goes on, in his deliberate, +solemn way. 'And I may tell you that I would not +mind writing Mr. Apse a letter to that effect.' + "Dear old dad! He was a wonderful father. What +would you have done? The mere notion of going back +(and as an officer, too), to be worried and bothered, + + +118 THE BRUTE + +and kept on the jump night and day by that brute, made +me feel sick. But she wasn't a ship you could afford to +fight shy of. Besides, the most genuine excuse could +not be given without mortally offending Apse & Sons. +The firm, and I believe the whole family down to the +old unmarried aunts in Lancashire, had grown desper- +ately touchy about that accursed ship's character. This +was the case for answering 'Ready now' from your +very death-bed if you wished to die in their good graces. +And that's precisely what I did answer -- by wire, to +have it over and done with at once. + "The prospect of being shipmates with my big brother +cheered me up considerably, though it made me a bit +anxious, too. Ever since I remember myself as a little +chap he had been very good to me, and I looked upon +him as the finest fellow in the world. And so he was. +No better officer ever walked the deck of a merchant +ship. And that's a fact. He was a fine, strong, up- +standing, sun-tanned, young fellow, with his brown hair +curling a little, and an eye like a hawk. He was just +splendid. We hadn't seen each other for many years, +and even this time, though he had been in England +three weeks already, he hadn't showed up at home yet, +but had spent his spare time in Surrey somewhere mak- +ing up to Maggie Colchester, old Captain Colchester's +niece. Her father, a great friend of dad's, was in the +sugar-broking business, and Charley made a sort of +second home of their house. I wondered what my big +brother would think of me. There was a sort of stern- +ness about Charley's face which never left it, not even +when he was larking in his rather wild fashion. + "He received me with a great shout of laughter. +He seemed to think my joining as an officer the greatest +joke in the world. There was a difference of ten years +between us, and I suppose he remembered me best in + + +THE BRUTE 119 + +pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first went to sea. +It surprised me to find how boisterous he could be. + "'Now we shall see what you are made of,' he cried. +And he held me off by the shoulders, and punched my +ribs, and hustled me into his berth. 'Sit down, Ned. I +am glad of the chance of having you with me. I'll put +the finishing touch to you, my young officer, providing +you're worth the trouble. And, first of all, get it well +into your head that we are not going to let this brute +kill anybody this voyage. We'll stop her racket.' + "I perceived he was in dead earnest about it. He +talked grimly of the ship, and how we must be careful +and never allow this ugly beast to catch us napping +with any of her damned tricks. + "He gave me a regular lecture on special seamanship +for the use of the <i>Apse Family</i>; then changing his tone, +he began to talk at large, rattling off the wildest, +funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. I +could see very well he was a bit above himself with high +spirits. It couldn't be because of my coming. Not to +that extent. But, of course, I wouldn't have dreamt of +asking what was the matter. I had a proper respect +for my big brother, I can tell you. But it was all made +plain enough a day or two afterwards, when I heard +that Miss Maggie Colchester was coming for the voy- +age. Uncle was giving her a sea-trip for the benefit of +her health. + "I don't know what could have been wrong with her +health. She had a beautiful colour, and a deuce of a +lot of fair hair. She didn't care a rap for wind, or rain, +or spray, or sun, or green seas, or anything. She was a +blue-eyed, jolly girl of the very best sort, but the way +she cheeked my big brother used to frighten me. I +always expected it to end in an awful row. However, +nothing decisive happened till after we had been in + + +120 THE BRUTE + +Sydney for a week. One day, in the men's dinner hour, +Charley sticks his head into my cabin. I was stretched +out on my back on the settee, smoking in peace. + "'Come ashore with me, Ned,' he says, in his curt +way. + "I jumped up, of course, and away after him down +the gangway and up George Street. He strode along +like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting. It was con- +foundedly hot. 'Where on earth are you rushing me +to, Charley?' I made bold to ask. + "'Here,' he says. + "'Here' was a jeweller's shop. I couldn't imagine +what he could want there. It seemed a sort of mad +freak. He thrusts under my nose three rings, which +looked very tiny on his big, brown palm, growling out -- + "'For Maggie! Which?' + "I got a kind of scare at this. I couldn't make a +sound, but I pointed at the one that sparkled white and +blue. He put it in his waistcoat pocket, paid for it with +a lot of sovereigns, and bolted out. When we got on +board I was quite out of breath. 'Shake hands, old +chap,' I gasped out. He gave me a thump on the back. +'Give what orders you like to the boatswain when the +hands turn-to,' says he; 'I am off duty this afternoon.' + "Then he vanished from the deck for a while, but +presently he came out of the cabin with Maggie, and +these two went over the gangway publicly, before all +hands, going for a walk together on that awful, blazing +hot day, with clouds of dust flying about. They came +back after a few hours looking very staid, but didn't +seem to have the slightest idea where they had been. +Anyway, that's the answer they both made to Mrs. +Colchester's question at tea-time. + "And didn't she turn on Charley, with her voice +like an old night cabman's! 'Rubbish. Don't know + + +THE BRUTE 121 + +where you've been! Stuff and nonsense. You've +walked the girl off her legs. Don't do it again.' + "It's surprising how meek Charley could be with +that old woman. Only on one occasion he whispered to +me, 'I'm jolly glad she isn't Maggie's aunt, except by +marriage. That's no sort of relationship.' But I +think he let Maggie have too much of her own way. +She was hopping all over that ship in her yachting skirt +and a red tam o' shanter like a bright bird on a dead +black tree. The old salts used to grin to themselves +when they saw her coming along, and offered to teach +her knots or splices. I believe she liked the men, for +Charley's sake, I suppose. + "As you may imagine, the fiendish propensities of +that cursed ship were never spoken of on board. Not +in the cabin, at any rate. Only once on the home- +ward passage Charley said, incautiously, something +about bringing all her crew home this time. Captain +Colchester began to look uncomfortable at once, and +that silly, hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as +though he had said something indecent. I was quite +confounded myself; as to Maggie, she sat completely +mystified, opening her blue eyes very wide. Of course, +before she was a day older she wormed it all out of me. +She was a very difficult person to lie to. + "'How awful,' she said, quite solemn. 'So many +poor fellows. I am glad the voyage is nearly over. I +won't have a moment's peace about Charley now.' + "I assured her Charley was all right. It took more +than that ship knew to get over a seaman like Charley. +And she agreed with me. + "Next day we got the tug off Dungeness; and when +the tow-rope was fast Charley rubbed his hands and +said to me in an undertone -- + "'We've baffled her, Ned.' + + +122 THE BRUTE + + '"Looks like it,' I said, with a grin at him. It was +beautiful weather, and the sea as smooth as a millpond. +We went up the river without a shadow of trouble +except once, when off Hole Haven, the brute took a +sudden sheer and nearly had a barge anchored just clear +of the fairway. But I was aft, looking after the steer- +ing, and she did not catch me napping that time. +Charley came up on the poop, looking very concerned. +'Close shave,' says he. + "'Never mind, Charley,' I answered, cheerily. +'You've tamed her.' + "We were to tow right up to the dock. The river +pilot boarded us below Gravesend, and the first words +I heard him say were: 'You may just as well take your +port anchor inboard at once, Mr. Mate.' + "This had been done when I went forward. I saw +Maggie on the forecastle head enjoying the bustle +and I begged her to go aft, but she took no notice of me, +of course. Then Charley, who was very busy with the +head gear, caught sight of her and shouted in his biggest +voice: 'Get off the forecastle head, Maggie. You're in +the way here.' For all answer she made a funny face at +him, and I saw poor Charley turn away, hiding a smile. +She was flushed with the excitement of getting home +again, and her blue eyes seemed to snap electric sparks +as she looked at the river. A collier brig had gone +round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop her +engines in a hurry to avoid running into her. + "In a moment, as is usually the case, all the shipping +in the reach seemed to get into a hopeless tangle. A +schooner and a ketch got up a small collision all to +themselves right in the middle of the river. It was +exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained +stopped. Any other ship than that brute could have +been coaxed to keep straight for a couple of minutes -- + + +THE BRUTE 123 + +but not she! Her head fell off at once, and she began +to drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed +a cluster of coasters at anchor within a quarter of a mile +of us, and I thought I had better speak to the pilot. +'If you let her get amongst that lot,' I said, quietly, 'she +will grind some of them to bits before we get her out +again.' + "'Don't I know her!' cries he, stamping his foot +in a perfect fury. And he out with his whistle to +make that bothered tug get the ship's head up again +as quick as possible. He blew like mad, waving his +arm to port, and presently we could see that the tug's +engines had been set going ahead. Her paddles +churned the water, but it was as if she had been trying +to tow a rock -- she couldn't get an inch out of that ship. +Again the pilot blew his whistle, and waved his arm to +port. We could see the tug's paddles turning faster and +faster away, broad on our bow. + "For a moment tug and ship hung motionless in a +crowd of moving shipping, and then the terrific strain +that evil, stony-hearted brute would always put on +everything, tore the towing-chock clean out. The +tow-rope surged over, snapping the iron stanchions of +the head-rail one after another as if they had been +sticks of sealing-wax. It was only then I noticed that +in order to have a better view over our heads, Maggie +had stepped upon the port anchor as it lay flat on the +forecastle deck. + "It had been lowered properly into its hardwood +beds, but there had been no time to take a turn with +it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, for going +into dock; but I could see directly that the tow-rope +would sweep under the fluke in another second. My +heart flew up right into my throat, but not before I had +time to yell out: 'Jump clear of that anchor!' + + +124 THE BRUTE + + "But I hadn't time to shriek out her name. I don't +suppose she heard me at all. The first touch of the +hawser against the fluke threw her down; she was up +on her feet again quick as lightning, but she was up on +the wrong side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and +then that anchor, tipping over, rose up like something +alive; its great, rough iron arm caught Maggie round +the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a dreadful +hug, and flung itself with her over and down in a +terrific clang of iron, followed by heavy ringing blows +that shook the ship from stem to stern -- because the +ring stopper held!" + "How horrible!" I exclaimed. + "I used to dream for years afterwards of anchors +catching hold of girls," said the man in tweeds, a +little wildly. He shuddered. "With a most pitiful +howl Charley was over after her almost on the instant. +But, Lord! he didn't see as much as a gleam of her red +tam o' shanter in the water. Nothing! nothing what- +ever! In a moment there were half-a-dozen boats +around us, and he got pulled into one. I, with the +boatswain and the carpenter, let go the other anchor in +a hurry and brought the ship up somehow. The pilot +had gone silly. He walked up and down the forecastle +head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: +'Killing women, now! Killing women, now!' Not +another word could you get out of him. + "Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch; and peering +upon the river I heard a low, mournful hail, 'Ship, +ahoy!' Two Gravesend watermen came alongside. +They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the +ship's side, holding on to the ladder without a word. I +saw in the patch of light a lot of loose, fair hair down +there." + He shuddered again. + + +THE BRUTE 125 + + "After the tide turned poor Maggie's body had +floated clear of one of them big mooring buoys," he +explained. "I crept aft, feeling half-dead, and managed +to send a rocket up -- to let the other searchers know, +on the river. And then I slunk away forward like +a cur, and spent the night sitting on the heel of the +bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out of Charley's +way." + "Poor fellow!" I murmured. + "Yes. Poor fellow," he repeated, musingly. "That +brute wouldn't let him -- not even him -- cheat her of +her prey. But he made her fast in dock next morning. +He did. We hadn't exchanged a word -- not a single +look for that matter. I didn't want to look at him. +When the last rope was fast he put his hands to his +head and stood gazing down at his feet as if trying to +remember something. The men waited on the main +deck for the words that end the voyage. Perhaps that +is what he was trying to remember. I spoke for him. +'That'll do, men.' + "I never saw a crew leave a ship so quietly. They +sneaked over the rail one after another, taking care not +to bang their sea chests too heavily. They looked our +way, but not one had the stomach to come up and offer +to shake hands with the mate as is usual. + "I followed him all over the empty ship to and fro, +here and there, with no living soul about but the two of +us, because the old ship-keeper had locked himself up +in the galley -- both doors. Suddenly poor Charley +mutters, in a crazy voice: 'I'm done here,' and strides +down the gangway with me at his heels, up the dock, +out at the gate, on towards Tower Hill. He used to +take rooms with a decent old landlady in America +Square, to be near his work. + "All at once he stops short, turns round, and comes + + +126 THE BRUTE + +back straight at me. 'Ned,' says he, I am going home.' +I had the good luck to sight a four-wheeler and got him +in just in time. His legs were beginning to give way. +In our hall he fell down on a chair, and I'll never forget +father's and mother's amazed, perfectly still faces as +they stood over him. They couldn't understand what +had happened to him till I blubbered out, 'Maggie got +drowned, yesterday, in the river.' + "Mother let out a little cry. Father looks from him +to me, and from me to him, as if comparing our faces -- +for, upon my soul, Charley did not resemble himself at +all. Nobody moved; and the poor fellow raises his big +brown hands slowly to his throat, and with one single +tug rips everything open -- collar, shirt, waistcoat -- a +perfect wreck and ruin of a man. Father and I got him +upstairs somehow, and mother pretty nearly killed her- +self nursing him through a brain fever." + The man in tweeds nodded at me significantly. + "Ah! there was nothing that could be done with that +brute. She had a devil in her." + "Where's your brother?" I asked, expecting to +hear he was dead. But he was commanding a smart +steamer on the China coast, and never came home now. + Jermyn fetched a heavy sigh, and the handkerchief +being now sufficiently dry, put it up tenderly to his red +and lamentable nose. + "She was a ravening beast," the man in tweeds +started again. "Old Colchester put his foot down and +resigned. And would you believe it? Apse & Sons +wrote to ask whether he wouldn't reconsider his de- +cision! Anything to save the good name of the <i>Apse +Family</i>.' Old Colchester went to the office then and +said that he would take charge again but only to sail her +out into the North Sea and scuttle her there. He was +nearly off his chump. He used to be darkish iron-grey, + + +THE BRUTE 127 + +but his hair went snow-white in a fortnight. And Mr. +Lucian Apse (they had known each other as young men) +pretended not to notice it. Eh? Here's infatuation +if you like! Here's pride for you! + "They jumped at the first man they could get to +take her, for fear of the scandal of the <i>Apse Family</i> not +being able to find a skipper. He was a festive soul, I +believe, but he stuck to her grim and hard. Wilmot +was his second mate. A harum-scarum fellow, and +pretending to a great scorn for all the girls. The fact is +he was really timid. But let only one of them do as +much as lift her little finger in encouragement, and there +was nothing that could hold the beggar. As apprentice, +once, he deserted abroad after a petticoat, and would +have gone to the dogs then, if his skipper hadn't taken +the trouble to find him and lug him by the ears out of +some house of perdition or other. + "It was said that one of the firm had been heard once +to express a hope that this brute of a ship would get +lost soon. I can hardly credit the tale, unless it might +have been Mr. Alfred Apse, whom the family didn't +think much of. They had him in the office, but he was +considered a bad egg altogether, always flying off to +race meetings and coming home drunk. You would +have thought that a ship so full of deadly tricks would +run herself ashore some day out of sheer cussedness. +But not she! She was going to last for ever. She had +a nose to keep off the bottom." + Jermyn made a grunt of approval. + "A ship after a pilot's own heart, eh?" jeered the +man in tweeds. "Well, Wilmot managed it. He was +the man for it, but even he, perhaps, couldn't have done +the trick without the green-eyed governess, or nurse, or +whatever she was to the children of Mr. and Mrs. +Pamphilius. + + +128 THE BRUTE + + "Those people were passengers in her from Port +Adelaide to the Cape. Well, the ship went out and +anchored outside for the day. The skipper -- hospitable +soul -- had a lot of guests from town to a farewell lunch -- +as usual with him. It was five in the evening before +the last shore boat left the side, and the weather looked +ugly and dark in the gulf. There was no reason for him +to get under way. However, as he had told everybody +he was going that day, he imagined it was proper to do +so anyhow. But as he had no mind after all these +festivities to tackle the straits in the dark, with a scant +wind, he gave orders to keep the ship under lower +topsails and foresail as close as she would lie, dodging +along the land till the morning. Then he sought his +virtuous couch. The mate was on deck, having his +face washed very clean with hard rain squalls. Wilmot +relieved him at midnight. + "The <i>Apse Family</i> had, as you observed, a house on +her poop . . ." + "A big, ugly white thing, sticking up," Jermyn mur- +mured, sadly, at the fire. + "That's it: a companion for the cabin stairs and a +sort of chart-room combined. The rain drove in gusts +on the sleepy Wilmot. The ship was then surging +slowly to the southward, close hauled, with the coast +within three miles or so to windward. There was noth- +ing to look out for in that part of the gulf, and Wilmot +went round to dodge the squalls under the lee of that +chart-room, whose door on that side was open. The +night was black, like a barrel of coal-tar. And then +he heard a woman's voice whispering to him. + "That confounded green-eyed girl of the Pamphilius +people had put the kids to bed a long time ago, of +course, but it seems couldn't get to sleep herself. She +heard eight bells struck, and the chief mate come below + + +THE BRUTE 129 + +to turn in. She waited a bit, then got into her dressing- +gown and stole across the empty saloon and up the +stairs into the chart-room. She sat down on the settee +near the open door to cool herself, I daresay. + "I suppose when she whispered to Wilmot it was as +if somebody had struck a match in the fellow's brain. +I don't know how it was they had got so very thick. +I fancy he had met her ashore a few times before. I +couldn't make it out, because, when telling the story, +Wilmot would break off to swear something awful at +every second word. We had met on the quay in Sydney, +and he had an apron of sacking up to his chin, a big +whip in his hand. A wagon-driver. Glad to do any- +thing not to starve. That's what he had come down to. + "However, there he was, with his head inside the +door, on the girl's shoulder as likely as not -- officer of +the watch! The helmsman, on giving his evidence +afterwards, said that he shouted several times that the +binnacle lamp had gone out. It didn't matter to him, +because his orders were to 'sail her close.' 'I thought +it funny,' he said, 'that the ship should keep on falling +off in squalls, but I luffed her up every time as close +as I was able. It was so dark I couldn't see my hand +before my face, and the rain came in bucketfuls on my +head.' + "The truth was that at every squall the wind hauled +aft a little, till gradually the ship came to be heading +straight for the coast, without a single soul in her being +aware of it. Wilmot himself confessed that he had not +been near the standard compass for an hour. He might +well have confessed! The first thing he knew was the +man on the look-out shouting blue murder forward +there. + "He tore his neck free, he says, and yelled back at +him: 'What do you say?' + + +130 THE BRUTE + + "'I think I hear breakers ahead, sir,' howled the man, +and came rushing aft with the rest of the watch, in the +'awfullest blinding deluge that ever fell from the sky,' +Wilmot says. For a second or so he was so scared and +bewildered that he could not remember on which side of +the gulf the ship was. He wasn't a good officer, but he +was a seaman all the same. He pulled himself together +in a second, and the right orders sprang to his lips +without thinking. They were to hard up with the helm +and shiver the main and mizzen-topsails. + "It seems that the sails actually fluttered. He +couldn't see them, but he heard them rattling and bang- +ing above his head. 'No use! She was too slow in +going off,' he went on, his dirty face twitching, and the +damn'd carter's whip shaking in his hand. 'She seemed +to stick fast.' And then the flutter of the canvas above +his head ceased. At this critical moment the wind +hauled aft again with a gust, filling the sails and send- +ing the ship with a great way upon the rocks on her +lee bow. She had overreached herself in her last little +game. Her time had come -- the hour, the man, the +black night, the treacherous gust of wind -- the right +woman to put an end to her. The brute deserved +nothing better. Strange are the instruments of Provi- +dence. There's a sort of poetical justice --" + The man in tweeds looked hard at me. + "The first ledge she went over stripped the false keel +off her. Rip! The skipper, rushing out of his berth, +found a crazy woman, in a red flannel dressing-gown, +flying round and round the cuddy, screeching like a +cockatoo. + "The next bump knocked her clean under the cabin +table. It also started the stern-post and carried away +the rudder, and then that brute ran up a shelving, +rocky shore, tearing her bottom out, till she stopped. + + +THE BRUTE 131 + +short, and the foremast dropped over the bows like a +gangway." + "Anybody lost?" I asked. + "No one, unless that fellow, Wilmot," answered the +gentleman, unknown to Miss Blank, looking round for +his cap. "And his case was worse than drowning for a +man. Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn't +come on till next day, dead from the West, and broke up +that brute in a surprisingly short time. It was as +though she had been rotten at heart." . . . He +changed his tone, "Rain left off? I must get my bike +and rush home to dinner. I live in Herne Bay -- came +out for a spin this morning." + He nodded at me in a friendly way, and went out +with a swagger. + "Do you know who he is, Jermyn?" I asked. + The North Sea pilot shook his head, dismally. +"Fancy losing a ship in that silly fashion! Oh, dear! +oh dear!" he groaned in lugubrious tones, spreading +his damp handkerchief again like a curtain before the +glowing grate. + On going out I exchanged a glance and a smile +(strictly proper) with the respectable Miss Blank, bar- +maid of the Three Crows. + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>A DESPERATE TALE</b> + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>AN ANARCHIST</b> + +THAT year I spent the best two months of the dry +season on one of the estates -- in fact, on the principal +cattle estate -- of a famous meat-extract manufacturing +company. + B.O.S. Bos. You have seen the three magic letters +on the advertisement pages of magazines and news- +papers, in the windows of provision merchants, and on +calendars for next year you receive by post in the month +of November. They scatter pamphlets also, written in +a sickly enthusiastic style and in several languages, +giving statistics of slaughter and bloodshed enough +to make a Turk turn faint. The "art" illustrating that +"literature" represents in vivid and shining colours a +large and enraged black bull stamping upon a yellow +snake writhing in emerald-green grass, with a cobalt- +blue sky for a background. It is atrocious and it is an +allegory. The snake symbolizes disease, weakness -- +perhaps mere hunger, which last is the chronic disease +of the majority of mankind. Of course everybody +knows the B. 0. S. Ltd., with its unrivalled products: +Vinobos, Jellybos, and the latest unequalled perfection, +Tribos, whose nourishment is offered to you not only +highly concentrated, but already half digested. Such +apparently is the love that Limited Company bears to +its fellowmen -- even as the love of the father and mother +penguin for their hungry fledglings. + Of course the capital of a country must be pro- +ductively employed. I have nothing to say against the + +135 + + +136 AN ANARCHIST + +company. But being myself animated by feelings of +affection towards my fellow-men, I am saddened by the +modern system of advertising. Whatever evidence it +offers of enterprise, ingenuity, impudence, and resource +in certain individuals, it proves to my mind the wide +prevalence of that form of mental degradation which is +called gullibility. + In various parts of the civilized and uncivilized world +I have had to swallow B. 0. S. with more or less benefit +to myself, though without great pleasure. Prepared +with hot water and abundantly peppered to bring out +the taste, this extract is not really unpalatable. But I +have never swallowed its advertisements. Perhaps +they have not gone far enough. As far as I can re- +member they make no promise of everlasting youth to +the users of B. 0. S., nor yet have they claimed the +power of raising the dead for their estimable products. +Why this austere reserve, I wonder? But I don't think +they would have had me even on these terms. What- +ever form of mental degradation I may (being but hu- +man) be suffering from, it is not the popular form. I +am not gullible. + I have been at some pains to bring out distinctly this +statement about myself in view of the story which +follows. I have checked the facts as far as possible. +I have turned up the files of French newspapers, and I +have also talked with the officer who commands the +military guard on the <i>Ile Royale</i>, when in the course of +my travels I reached Cayenne. I believe the story to be +in the main true. It is the sort of story that no man, I +think, would ever invent about himself, for it is neither +grandiose nor flattering, nor yet funny enough to +gratify a perverted vanity. + It concerns the engineer of the steam-launch belong- +ing to the Marañon cattle estate of the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd. + + +AN ANARCHIST 137 + +This estate is also an island -- an island as big as a small +province, lying in the estuary of a great South American +river. It is wild and not beautiful, but the grass grow- +ing on its low plains seems to possess exceptionally +nourishing and flavouring qualities. It resounds with +the lowing of innumerable herds -- a deep and distress- +ing sound under the open sky, rising like a monstrous +protest of prisoners condemned to death. On the +mainland, across twenty miles of discoloured muddy +water, there stands a city whose name, let us say, is +Horta. + But the most interesting characteristic of this island +(which seems like a sort of penal settlement for con- +demned cattle) consists in its being the only known +habitat of an extremely rare and gorgeous butterfly. +The species is even more rare than it is beautiful, which +is not saying little. I have already alluded to my +travels. I travelled at that time, but strictly for my- +self and with a moderation unknown in our days of +round-the-world tickets. I even travelled with a pur- +pose. As a matter of fact, I am -- "Ha, ha, ha! -- a +desperate butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" + This was the tone in which Mr. Harry Gee, the +manager of the cattle station, alluded to my pursuits. +He seemed to consider me the greatest absurdity in the +world. On the other hand, the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., +represented to him the acme of the nineteenth century's +achievement. I believe that he slept in his leggings and +spurs. His days he spent in the saddle flying over the +plains, followed by a train of half-wild horsemen, who +called him Don Enrique, and who had no definite idea of +the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., which paid their wages. He was +an excellent manager, but I don't see why, when we met +at meals, he should have thumped me on the back, with +loud, derisive inquiries: "How's the deadly sport + + +138 AN ANARCHIST + +to-day? Butterflies going strong? Ha, ha, ha!" -- +especially as he charged me two dollars per diem for the +hospitality of the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., (capital £1,500,000, +fully paid up), in whose balance-sheet for that year +those monies are no doubt included. "I don't think I +can make it anything less in justice to my company," +he had remarked, with extreme gravity, when I was +arranging with him the terms of my stay on the island. + His chaff would have been harmless enough if +intimacy of intercourse in the absence of all friendly +feeling were not a thing detestable in itself. Moreover, +his facetiousness was not very amusing. It consisted +in the wearisome repetition of descriptive phrases +applied to people with a burst of laughter. "Desperate +butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" was one sample of his +peculiar wit which he himself enjoyed so much. And in +the same vein of exquisite humour he called my at- +tention to the engineer of the steam-launch, one day, as +we strolled on the path by the side of the creek. + The man's head and shoulders emerged above the +deck, over which were scattered various tools of his +trade and a few pieces of machinery. He was doing +some repairs to the engines. At the sound of our foot- +steps he raised anxiously a grimy face with a pointed +chin and a tiny fair moustache. What could be seen of +his delicate features under the black smudges appeared +to me wasted and livid in the greenish shade of the +enormous tree spreading its foliage over the launch +moored close to the bank. + To my great surprise, Harry Gee addressed him as +"Crocodile," in that half-jeering, half-bullying tone +which is characteristic of self-satisfaction in his delect- +able kind: + "How does the work get on, Crocodile?" + I should have said before that the amiable Harry had + + +AN ANARCHIST 139 + +picked up French of a sort somewhere -- in some colony +or other -- and that he pronounced it with a disagreeable +forced precision as though he meant to guy the lan- +guage. The man in the launch answered him quickly in +a pleasant voice. His eyes had a liquid softness and +his teeth flashed dazzlingly white between his thin, +drooping lips. The manager turned to me, very cheer- +ful and loud, explaining: + "I call him Crocodile because he lives half in, half +out of the creek. Amphibious -- see? There's nothing +else amphibious living on the island except crocodiles; +so he must belong to the species -- eh? But in reality +he's nothing less than <i>un citoyen anarchiste de Bar- +celone</i>." + "A citizen anarchist from Barcelona?" I repeated, +stupidly, looking down at the man. He had turned to +his work in the engine-well of the launch and presented +his bowed back to us. In that attitude I heard him +protest, very audibly: + "I do not even know Spanish." + "Hey? What? You dare to deny you come from +over there?" the accomplished manager was down on +him truculently. + At this the man straightened himself up, dropping a +spanner he had been using, and faced us; but he trem- +bled in all his limbs. + "I deny nothing, nothing, nothing!" he said, ex- +citedly. + He picked up the spanner and went to work again +without paying any further attention to us. After +looking at him for a minute or so, we went away. + "Is he really an anarchist?" I asked, when out of +ear-shot. + "I don't care a hang what he is," answered the +humorous official of the B. 0. S. Co. "I gave him the + + +140 AN ANARCHIST + +name because it suited me to label him in that way, +It's good for the company." + "For the company!" I exclaimed, stopping short. + "Aha!" he triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug +face and straddling his thin, long legs. "That sur- +prises you. I am bound to do my best for my company. +They have enormous expenses. Why -- our agent in +Horta tells me they spend fifty thousand pounds every +year in advertising all over the world! One can't be +too economical in working the show. Well, just you +listen. When I took charge here the estate had no +steam-launch. I asked for one, and kept on asking +by every mail till I got it; but the man they sent out +with it chucked his job at the end of two months, leav- +ing the launch moored at the pontoon in Horta. Got a +better screw at a sawmill up the river -- blast him! And +ever since it has been the same thing. Any Scotch or +Yankee vagabond that likes to call himself a mechanic +out here gets eighteen pounds a month, and the next +you know he's cleared out, after smashing something +as likely as not. I give you my word that some of the +objects I've had for engine-drivers couldn't tell the +boiler from the funnel. But this fellow understands his +trade, and I don't mean him to clear out. See?" + And he struck me lightly on the chest for emphasis. +Disregarding his peculiarities of manner, I wanted to +know what all this had to do with the man being an +anarchist. + "Come!" jeered the manager. "If you saw suddenly +a barefooted, unkempt chap slinking amongst the +bushes on the sea face of the island, and at the same +time observed less than a mile from the beach, a small +schooner full of niggers hauling off in a hurry, you +wouldn't think the man fell there from the sky, would +you? And it could be nothing else but either that or + + +AN ANARCHIST 141 + +Cayenne. I've got my wits about me. Directly I +sighted this queer game I said to myself -- 'Escaped +Convict.' I was as certain of it as I am of seeing you +standing here this minute. So I spurred on straight at +him. He stood his ground for a bit on a sand hillock +crying out: <I>'Monsieur! Monsieur! Arrêtez!'</i> then at +the last moment broke and ran for life. Says I to +myself, 'I'll tame you before I'm done with you.' So +without a single word I kept on, heading him off here +and there. I rounded him up towards the shore, and at +last I had him corralled on a spit, his heels in the water +and nothing but sea and sky at his back, with my horse +pawing the sand and shaking his head within a yard +of him. + "He folded his arms on his breast then and stuck his +chin up in a sort of desperate way; but I wasn't to be +impressed by the beggar's posturing. + "Says I, 'You're a runaway convict.' + "When he heard French, his chin went down and +his face changed. + "'I deny nothing,' says he, panting yet, for I had +kept him skipping about in front of my horse pretty +smartly. I asked him what he was doing there. He +had got his breath by then, and explained that he had +meant to make his way to a farm which he understood +(from the schooner's people, I suppose) was to be found +in the neighbourhood. At that I laughed aloud and he +got uneasy. Had he been deceived? Was there no +farm within walking distance? + "I laughed more and more. He was on foot, and of +course the first bunch of cattle he came across would +have stamped him to rags under their hoofs. A dis- +mounted man caught on the feeding-grounds hasn't got +the ghost of a chance. + "'My coming upon you like this has certainly saved + + +142 AN ANARCHIST + +your life,' I said. He remarked that perhaps it was so; +but that for his part he had imagined I had wanted to +kill him under the hoofs of my horse. I assured him +that nothing would have been easier had I meant it. +And then we came to a sort of dead stop. For the life +of me I didn't know what to do with this convict, unless +I chucked him into the sea. It occurred to me to ask +him what he had been transported for. He hung his +head. + "'What is it?' says I. 'Theft, murder, rape, or +what?' I wanted to hear what he would have to say +for himself, though of course I expected it would be some +sort of lie. But all he said was -- + "'Make it what you like. I deny nothing. It is no +good denying anything.' + "I looked him over carefully and a thought struck +me. + "'They've got anarchists there, too,' I said. 'Per- +haps you're one of them.' + "'I deny nothing whatever, monsieur,' he repeats. + "This answer made me think that perhaps he was not +an anarchist. I believe those damned lunatics are +rather proud of themselves. If he had been one, he +would have probably confessed straight out. + "'What were you before you became a convict?' + "'<i>Ouvrier</i>,' he says. 'And a good workman, too.' + "At that I began to think he must be an anarchist, +after all. That's the class they come mostly from, isn't +it? I hate the cowardly bomb-throwing brutes. I +almost made up my mind to turn my horse short round +and leave him to starve or drown where he was, which- +ever he liked best. As to crossing the island to bother +me again, the cattle would see to that. I don't know +what induced me to ask -- + "'What sort of workman?' + + +AN ANARCHIST 143 + + "I didn't care a hang whether he answered me or +not. But when he said at once, <I>'Mécanicien, monsieur,'</i> +I nearly jumped out of the saddle with excitement. The +launch had been lying disabled and idle in the creek for +three weeks. My duty to the company was clear. He +noticed my start, too, and there we were for a minute or +so staring at each other as if bewitched. + "'Get up on my horse behind me,' I told him. 'You +shall put my steam-launch to rights.'" + + These are the words in which the worthy manager +of the Marañon estate related to me the coming of the +supposed anarchist. He meant to keep him -- out of a +sense of duty to the company -- and the name he had +given him would prevent the fellow from obtaining +employment anywhere in Horta. The vaqueros of the +estate, when they went on leave, spread it all over the +town. They did not know what an anarchist was, nor +yet what Barcelona meant. They called him Anarchisto +de Barcelona, as if it were his Christian name and sur- +name. But the people in town had been reading in +their papers about the anarchists in Europe and were +very much impressed. Over the jocular addition of +"de Barcelona" Mr. Harry Gee chuckled with immense +satisfaction. "That breed is particularly murderous, +isn't it? It makes the sawmills crowd still more afraid +of having anything to do with him -- see?" he exulted, +candidly. "I hold him by that name better than if I +had him chained up by the leg to the deck of the steam- +launch. + "And mark," he added, after a pause, "he does not +deny it. I am not wronging him in any way. He is a +convict of some sort, anyhow." + "But I suppose you pay him some wages, don't you?" +I asked. + + +144 AN ANARCHIST + + "Wages! What does he want with money here? +He gets his food from my kitchen and his clothing from +the store. Of course I'll give him something at the end +of the year, but you don't think I'd employ a convict +and give him the same money I would give an honest +man? I am looking after the interests of my company +first and last." + I admitted that, for a company spending fifty +thousand pounds every year in advertising, the strictest +economy was obviously necessary. The manager of +the Marañon Estancia grunted approvingly. + "And I'll tell you what," he continued: "if I were +certain he's an anarchist and he had the cheek to ask me +for money, I would give him the toe of my boot. How- +ever, let him have the benefit of the doubt. I am per- +fectly willing to take it that he has done nothing worse +than to stick a knife into somebody -- with extenuating +circumstances -- French fashion, don't you know. But +that subversive sanguinary rot of doing away with all +law and order in the world makes my blood boil. It's +simply cutting the ground from under the feet of every +decent, respectable, hard-working person. I tell you +that the consciences of people who have them, like you +or I, must be protected in some way; or else the first +low scoundrel that came along would in every respect be +just as good as myself. Wouldn't he, now? And that's +absurd!" + He glared at me. I nodded slightly and murmured +that doubtless there was much subtle truth in his view. + + The principal truth discoverable in the views of Paul +the engineer was that a little thing may bring about the +undoing of a man. + "<i>Il ne faut pas beaucoup pour perdre un homme</i>," he +said to me, thoughtfully, one evening. + + +AN ANARCHIST 145 + + report this reflection in French, since the man was +of Paris, not of Barcelona at all. At the Marañon he +lived apart from the station, in a small shed with a metal +roof and straw walls, which he called <i>mon atelier</i>. He +had a work-bench there. They had given him several +horse-blankets and a saddle -- not that he ever had +occasion to ride, but because no other bedding was +used by the working-hands, who were all vaqueros -- +cattlemen. And on this horseman's gear, like a son of +the plains, he used to sleep amongst the tools of his +trade, in a litter of rusty scrap-iron, with a portable +forge at his head, under the work-bench sustaining his +grimy mosquito-net. + Now and then I would bring him a few candle ends +saved from the scant supply of the manager's house. +He was very thankful for these. He did not like to lie +awake in the dark, he confessed. He complained that +sleep fled from him. "<i>Le sommeil me fuit</i>," he declared, +with his habitual air of subdued stoicism, which made +him sympathetic and touching. I made it clear to him +that I did not attach undue importance to the fact of his +having been a convict. + Thus it came about that one evening he was led to +talk about himself. As one of the bits of candle on the +edge of the bench burned down to the end, he hastened +to light another. + He had done his military service in a provincial +garrison and returned to Paris to follow his trade. It +was a well-paid one. He told me with some pride that +in a short time he was earning no less than ten francs a +day. He was thinking of setting up for himself by +and by and of getting married. + Here he sighed deeply and paused. Then with a +return to his stoical note: + "It seems I did not know enough about myself." + + +146 AN ANARCHIST + + On his twenty-fifth birthday two of his friends in the +repairing shop where he worked proposed to stand him +a dinner. He was immensely touched by this attention. + "I was a steady man," he remarked, "but I am not +less sociable than any other body." + The entertainment came off in a little café on the +Boulevard de la Chapelle. At dinner they drank some +special wine. It was excellent. Everything was excel- +lent; and the world -- in his own words -- seemed a very +good place to live in. He had good prospects, some +little money laid by, and the affection of two excellent +friends. He offered to pay for all the drinks after +dinner, which was only proper on his part. + They drank more wine; they drank liqueurs, cognac, +beer, then more liqueurs and more cognac. Two +strangers sitting at the next table looked at him, he said, +with so much friendliness, that he invited them to join +the party. + He had never drunk so much in his life. His elation +was extreme, and so pleasurable that whenever it +flagged he hastened to order more drinks. + "It seemed to me," he said, in his quiet tone and +looking on the ground in the gloomy shed full of shad- +ows, "that I was on the point of just attaining a great +and wonderful felicity. Another drink, I felt, would do +it. The others were holding out well with me, glass for +glass." + But an extraordinary thing happened. At something +the strangers said his elation fell. Gloomy ideas-- <i>des +idées noires</i> -- rushed into his head. All the world out- +side the café appeared to him as a dismal evil place +where a multitude of poor wretches had to work and +slave to the sole end that a few individuals should ride in +carriages and live riotously in palaces. He became +ashamed of his happiness. The pity of mankind's cruel + + +AN ANARCHIST 147 + +lot wrung his heart. In a voice choked with sorrow he +tried to express these sentiments. He thinks he wept +and swore in turns. + The two new acquaintances hastened to applaud his +humane indignation. Yes. The amount of injustice +in the world was indeed scandalous. There was only +one way of dealing with the rotten state of society. +Demolish the whole <i>sacrée boutique</i>. Blow up the whole +iniquitous show. + Their heads hovered over the table. They whis- +pered to him eloquently; I don't think they quite +expected the result. He was extremely drunk -- mad +drunk. With a howl of rage he leaped suddenly upon +the table. Kicking over the bottles and glasses, he +yelled: "<i>Vive l'anarchie!</i> Death to the capitalists!" +He yelled this again and again. All round him broken +glass was falling, chairs were being swung in the air, +people were taking each other by the throat. The +police dashed in. He hit, bit, scratched and struggled, +till something crashed down upon his head. . . . + He came to himself in a police cell, locked up on +a charge of assault, seditious cries, and anarchist +propaganda. + He looked at me fixedly with his liquid, shining +eyes, that seemed very big in the dim light. + "That was bad. But even then I might have got off +somehow, perhaps," he said, slowly. + I doubt it. But whatever chance he had was done +away with by a young socialist lawyer who volunteered +to undertake his defence. In vain he assured him that +he was no anarchist; that he was a quiet, respectable +mechanic, only too anxious to work ten hours per day at +his trade. He was represented at the trial as the victim +of society and his drunken shoutings as the expression +of infinite suffering. The young lawyer had his way to + + +148 AN ANARCHIST + +make, and this case was just what he wanted for a +start. The speech for the defence was pronounced +magnificent. + The poor fellow paused, swallowed, and brought out +the statement: + "I got the maximum penalty applicable to a first +offence." + I made an appropriate murmur. He hung his head +and folded his arms. + "When they let me out of prison," he began, gently, +"I made tracks, of course, for my old workshop. My +<i>patron</i> had a particular liking for me before; but when +he saw me he turned green with fright and showed me +the door with a shaking hand." + While he stood in the street, uneasy and discon- +certed, he was accosted by a middle-aged man who +introduced himself as an engineer's fitter, too. "I know +who you are," he said. "I have attended your trial. +You are a good comrade and your ideas are sound. +But the devil of it is that you won't be able to get work +anywhere now. These bourgeois'll conspire to starve +you. That's their way. Expect no mercy from the +rich." + To be spoken to so kindly in the street had com- +forted him very much. His seemed to be the sort of +nature needing support and sympathy. The idea of +not being able to find work had knocked him over +completely. If his <i>patron</i>, who knew him so well for a +quiet, orderly, competent workman, would have noth- +ing to do with him now -- then surely nobody else would. +That was clear. The police, keeping their eye on him, +would hasten to warn every employer inclined to give +him a chance. He felt suddenly very helpless, alarmed +and idle; and he followed the middle-aged man to the +<i>estaminet</i> round the corner where he met some other + + +AN ANARCHIST 149 + +good companions. They assured him that he would +not be allowed to starve, work or no work. They had +drinks all round to the discomfiture of all employers of +labour and to the destruction of society. + He sat biting his lower lip. + "That is, monsieur, how I became a <i>compagnon</i>," he +said. The hand he passed over his forehead was +trembling. "All the same, there's something wrong in +a world where a man can get lost for a glass more or +less." + He never looked up, though I could see he was +getting excited under his dejection. He slapped the +bench with his open palm. + "No!" he cried. "It was an impossible existence! +Watched by the police, watched by the comrades, I +did not belong to myself any more! Why, I could not +even go to draw a few francs from my savings-bank +without a comrade hanging about the door to see that +I didn't bolt! And most of them were neither more +nor less than housebreakers. The intelligent, I mean. +They robbed the rich; they were only getting back +their own, they said. When I had had some drink I +believed them. There were also the fools and the mad. +<i>Des exaltés -- quoi!</i> When I was drunk I loved them. +When I got more drink I was angry with the world. +That was the best time. I found refuge from misery in +rage. But one can't be always drunk -- <i>n'est-ce pas, +monsieur?</i> And when I was sober I was afraid to break +away. They would have stuck me like a pig." + He folded his arms again and raised his sharp chin +with a bitter smile. + "By and by they told me it was time to go to work. +The work was to rob a bank. Afterwards a bomb +would be thrown to wreck the place. My beginner's +part would be to keep watch in a street at the back and + + +150 AN ANARCHIST + +to take care of a black bag with the bomb inside till it +was wanted. After the meeting at which the affair was +arranged a trusty comrade did not leave me an inch. +I had not dared to protest; I was afraid of being done +away with quietly in that room; only, as we were +walking together I wondered whether it would not +be better for me to throw myself suddenly into the +Seine. But while I was turning it over in my mind +we had crossed the bridge, and afterwards I had not +the opportunity." + In the light of the candle end, with his sharp features, +fluffy little moustache, and oval face, he looked at +times delicately and gaily young, and then appeared +quite old, decrepit, full of sorrow, pressing his folded +arms to his breast. + As he remained silent I felt bound to ask: + "Well! And how did it end?" + "Deportation to Cayenne," he answered. + He seemed to think that somebody had given the +plot away. As he was keeping watch in the back +street, bag in hand, he was set upon by the police. +"These imbeciles," had knocked him down without +noticing what he had in his hand. He wondered how the +bomb failed to explode as he fell. But it didn't explode. + "I tried to tell my story in court," he continued. +"The president was amused. There were in the +audience some idiots who laughed." + I expressed the hope that some of his companions +had been caught, too. He shuddered slightly before he +told me that there were two -- Simon, called also Biscuit, +the middle-aged fitter who spoke to him in the street, +and a fellow of the name of Mafile, one of the sym- +pathetic strangers who had applauded his sentiments +and consoled his humanitarian sorrows when he got +drunk in the café. + + +AN ANARCHIST 151 + + "Yes," he went on, with an effort, "I had the ad- +vantage of their company over there on St. Joseph's +Island, amongst some eighty or ninety other convicts. +We were all classed as dangerous." + St. Joseph's Island is the prettiest of the <i>Iles de +Salut</i>. It is rocky and green, with shallow ravines, +bushes, thickets, groves of mango-trees, and many +feathery palms. Six warders armed with revolvers and +carbines are in charge of the convicts kept there. + An eight-oared galley keeps up the communication +in the daytime, across a channel a quarter of a mile +wide, with the <i>Ile Royale</i>, where there is a military post. +She makes the first trip at six in the morning. At four +in the afternoon her service is over, and she is then +hauled up into a little dock on the <i>Ile Royale</i> and a +sentry put over her and a few smaller boats. From that +time till next morning the island of St. Joseph remains +cut off from the rest of the world, with the warders +patrolling in turn the path from the warders' house to +the convict huts, and a multitude of sharks patrolling +the waters all round. + Under these circumstances the convicts planned a +mutiny. Such a thing had never been known in the +penitentiary's history before. But their plan was not +without some possibility of success. The warders were +to be taken by surprise and murdered during the night. +Their arms would enable the convicts to shoot down +the people in the galley as she came alongside in the +morning. The galley once in their possession, other +boats were to be captured, and the whole company was +to row away up the coast. + At dusk the two warders on duty mustered the con- +victs as usual. Then they proceeded to inspect the +huts to ascertain that everything was in order. In the +second they entered they were set upon and absolutely + + +152 AN ANARCHIST + +smothered under the numbers of their assailants. The +twilight faded rapidly. It was a new moon; and a heavy +black squall gathering over the coast increased the pro- +found darkness of the night. The convicts assembled in +the open space, deliberating upon the next step to be +taken, argued amongst themselves in low voices. + "You took part in all this?" I asked. + "No. I knew what was going to be done, of course. +But why should I kill these warders? I had nothing +against them. But I was afraid of the others. What- +ever happened, I could not escape from them. I sat +alone on the stump of a tree with my head in my hands, +sick at heart at the thought of a freedom that could be +nothing but a mockery to me. Suddenly I was startled +to perceive the shape of a man on the path near by. +He stood perfectly still, then his form became effaced in +the night. It must have been the chief warder coming +to see what had become of his two men. No one +noticed him. The convicts kept on quarrelling over +their plans. The leaders could not get themselves +obeyed. The fierce whispering of that dark mass of +men was very horrible. + "At last they divided into two parties and moved off. +When they had passed me I rose, weary and hopeless. +The path to the warders' house was dark and silent, +but on each side the bushes rustled slightly. Presently +I saw a faint thread of light before me. The chief +warder, followed by his three men, was approaching +cautiously. But he had failed to close his dark lantern +properly. The convicts had seen that faint gleam, too. +There was an awful savage yell, a turmoil on the dark +path, shots fired, blows, groans: and with the sound of +smashed bushes, the shouts of the pursuers and the +screams of the pursued, the man-hunt, the warder-hunt, +passed by me into the interior of the island. I was + + +AN ANARCHIST 153 + +alone. And I assure you, monsieur, I was indifferent +to everything. After standing still for a while, I walked +on along the path till I kicked something hard. I +stooped and picked up a warder's revolver. I felt with +my fingers that it was loaded in five chambers. In +the gusts of wind I heard the convicts calling to each +other far away, and then a roll of thunder would cover +the soughing and rustling of the trees. Suddenly, a big +light ran across my path very low along the ground. +And it showed a woman's skirt with the edge of an +apron. + "I knew that the person who carried it must be the +wife of the head warder. They had forgotten all about +her, it seems. A shot rang out in the interior of the +island, and she cried out to herself as she ran. She +passed on. I followed, and presently I saw her again. +She was pulling at the cord of the big bell which hangs +at the end of the landing-pier, with one hand, and with +the other she was swinging the heavy lantern to and +fro. This is the agreed signal for the <i>Ile Royale</i> should +assistance be required at night. The wind carried the +sound away from our island and the light she swung +was hidden on the shore side by the few trees that grow +near the warders' house. + "I came up quite close to her from behind. She +went on without stopping, without looking aside, as +though she had been all alone on the island. A brave +woman, monsieur. I put the revolver inside the breast +of my blue blouse and waited. A flash of lightning and +a clap of thunder destroyed both the sound and the +light of the signal for an instant, but she never faltered, +pulling at the cord and swinging the lantern as regularly +as a machine. She was a comely woman of thirty -- no +more. I thought to myself, 'All that's no good on a +night like this.' And I made up my mind that if a + + +154 AN ANARCHIST + +body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier -- +which was sure to happen soon -- I would shoot her +through the head before I shot myself. I knew the +'comrades' well. This idea of mine gave me quite an. +interest in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of re- +maining stupidly exposed on the pier, I retreated a +little way and crouched behind a bush. I did not in- +tend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be +prevented perhaps from rendering a supreme service +to at least one human creature before I died myself. + "But we must believe the signal was seen, for the +galley from <i>Ile Royale</i> came over in an astonishingly +short time. The woman kept right on till the light of +her lantern flashed upon the officer in command and +the bayonets of the soldiers in the boat. Then she sat +down and began to cry. + "She didn't need me any more. I did not budge. +Some soldiers were only in their shirt-sleeves, others +without boots, just as the call to arms had found them. +They passed by my bush at the double. The galley had +been sent away for more; and the woman sat all alone +crying at the end of the pier, with the lantern standing +on the ground near her. + "Then suddenly I saw in the light at the end of the +pier the red pantaloons of two more men. I was over- +come with astonishment. They, too, started off at a +run. Their tunics flapped unbuttoned and they were +bare-headed. One of them panted out to the other, +'Straight on, straight on!' + "Where on earth did they spring from, I wondered. +Slowly I walked down the short pier. I saw the +woman's form shaken by sobs and heard her moaning +more and more distinctly, 'Oh, my man! my poor man! +my poor man!' I stole on quietly. She could neither +hear nor see anything. She had thrown her apron over + + +AN ANARCHIST 155 + +her head and was rocking herself to and fro in her grief. +But I remarked a small boat fastened to the end of the +pier. + "Those two men -- they looked like <i>sous-officiers</i> -- +must have come in it, after being too late, I suppose, for +the galley. It is incredible that they should have thus +broken the regulations from a sense of duty. And it +was a stupid thing to do. I could not believe my eyes +in the very moment I was stepping into that boat. + "I pulled along the shore slowly. A black cloud +hung over the <i>Iles de Salut</i>. I heard firing, shouts. +Another hunt had begun -- the convict-hunt. The +oars were too long to pull comfortably. I managed +them with difficulty, though the boat herself was light. +But when I got round to the other side of the island the +squall broke in rain and wind. I was unable to make +head against it. I let the boat drift ashore and secured +her. + "I knew the spot. There was a tumbledown old +hovel standing near the water. Cowering in there I +heard through the noises of the wind and the falling +downpour some people tearing through the bushes. +They came out on the strand. Soldiers perhaps. A +flash of lightning threw everything near me into violent +relief. Two convicts! + "And directly an amazed voice exclaimed. 'It's a +miracle!' It was the voice of Simon, otherwise Biscuit. + "And another voice growled, 'What's a miracle?' + "'Why, there's a boat lying here!' + "'You must be mad, Simon! But there is, after all. +. . . A boat.' + "They seemed awed into complete silence. The +other man was Mafile. He spoke again, cautiously. + "'It is fastened up. There must be somebody here.' + "I spoke to them from within the hovel: 'I am here.' + + +156 AN ANARCHIST + + "They came in then, and soon gave me to understand +that the boat was theirs, not mine. 'There are two of +us,' said Mafile, 'against you alone.' + "I got out into the open to keep clear of them for +fear of getting a treacherous blow on the head. I could +have shot them both where they stood. But I said +nothing. I kept down the laughter rising in my throat. +I made myself very humble and begged to be allowed to +go. They consulted in low tones about my fate, while +with my hand on the revolver in the bosom of my blouse +I had their lives in my power. I let them live. I +meant them to pull that boat. I represented to them +with abject humility that I understood the management +of a boat, and that, being three to pull, we could get a +rest in turns. That decided them at last. It was time. +A little more and I would have gone into screaming fits +at the drollness of it." + At this point his excitement broke out. He jumped +off the bench and gesticulated. The great shadows of +his arms darting over roof and walls made the shed +appear too small to contain his agitation. + "I deny nothing," he burst out. "I was elated, +monsieur. I tasted a sort of felicity. But I kept very +quiet. I took my turns at pulling all through the +night. We made for the open sea, putting our trust in a +passing ship. It was a foolhardy action. I persuaded +them to it. When the sun rose the immensity of water +was calm, and the <i>Iles de Salut</i> appeared only like dark +specks from the top of each swell. I was steering then. +Mafile, who was pulling bow, let out an oath and said, +'We must rest.' + 'The time to laugh had come at last. And I took +my fill of it, I can tell you. I held my sides and rolled +in my seat, they had such startled faces. 'What's got +into him, the animal?' cries Mafile. + + +AN ANARCHIST 157 + + "And Simon, who was nearest to me, says over his +shoulder to him, 'Devil take me if I don't think he's +gone mad!' + "Then I produced the revolver. Aha! In a mo- +ment they both got the stoniest eyes you can imagine. +Ha, ha! They were frightened. But they pulled. +Oh, yes, they pulled all day, sometimes looking wild and +sometimes looking faint. I lost nothing of it because I +had to keep my eyes on them all the time, or else -- +crack! -- they would have been on top of me in a second. +I rested my revolver hand on my knee all ready and +steered with the other. Their faces began to blister. +Sky and sea seemed on fire round us and the sea steamed +in the sun. The boat made a sizzling sound as she went +through the water. Sometimes Mafile foamed at the +mouth and sometimes he groaned. But he pulled. He +dared not stop. His eyes became blood-shot all over, +and he had bitten his lower lip to pieces. Simon was as +hoarse as a crow. + "'Comrade --' he begins. + '"There are no comrades here. I am your <i>pa- +tron</i>.' + "'<i>Patron</i>, then,' he says, 'in the name of humanity +let us rest.' + "I let them. There was a little rainwater washing +about the bottom of the boat. I permitted them to +snatch some of it in the hollow of their palms. But as I +gave the command, '<i>En route!</i>' I caught them exchang- +ing significant glances. They thought I would have to +go to sleep sometime! Aha! But I did not want to go +to sleep. I was more awake than ever. It is they who +went to sleep as they pulled, tumbling off the thwarts +head over heels suddenly, one after another. I let them +lie. All the stars were out. It was a quiet world. The +sun rose. Another day. <i>Allez! En route!</i> + + +158 AN ANARCHIST + +"They pulled badly. Their eyes rolled about and +their tongues hung out. In the middle of the forenoon +Mafile croaks out: 'Let us make a rush at him, Simon. +I would just as soon be shot at once as to die of thirst, +hunger, and fatigue at the oar.' + "But while he spoke he pulled; and Simon kept on +pulling too. It made me smile. Ah! They loved +their life these two, in this evil world of theirs, just +as I used to love my life, too, before they spoiled it +for me with their phrases. I let them go on to the +point of exhaustion, and only then I pointed at the +sails of a ship on the horizon. + "Aha! You should have seen them revive and +buckle to their work! For I kept them at it to pull +right across that ship's path. They were changed. +The sort of pity I had felt for them left me. They +looked more like themselves every minute. They +looked at me with the glances I remembered so well. +They were happy. They smiled. + "'Well,' says Simon, 'the energy of that youngster +has saved our lives. If he hadn't made us, we could +never have pulled so far out into the track of ships. +Comrade, I forgive you. I admire you.' + "And Mafile growls from forward: 'We owe you a +famous debt of gratitude, comrade. You are cut out +for a chief.' + "Comrade! Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! +And they, such men as these two, had made it accursed. +I looked at them. I remembered their lies, their +promises, their menaces, and all my days of misery. +Why could they not have left me alone after I came out +of prison? I looked at them and thought that while +they lived I could never be free. Never. Neither I nor +others like me with warm hearts and weak heads. For +I know I have not a strong head, monsieur. A black + + +AN ANARCHIST 159 + +rage came upon me -- the rage of extreme intoxication -- +but not against the injustice of society. Oh, no! + "'I must be free!' I cried, furiously. + "'<i>Vive la liberté!" yells that ruffian Mafile. '<i>Mort +aux bourgeois</i> who send us to Cayenne! They shall +soon know that we are free.' + "The sky, the sea, the whole horizon, seemed to turn +red, blood red all round the boat. My temples were +beating so loud that I wondered they did not hear. +How is it that they did not? How is it they did not +understand? + "I heard Simon ask, 'Have we not pulled far enough +out now?' + + "'Yes. Far enough,' I said. I was sorry for him; +it was the other I hated. He hauled in his oar with a +loud sigh, and as he was raising his hand to wipe his +forehead with the air of a man who has done his work, I +pulled the trigger of my revolver and shot him like this +off the knee, right through the heart. + "He tumbled down, with his head hanging over the +side of the boat. I did not give him a second glance. +The other cried out piercingly. Only one shriek of +horror. Then all was still. + "He slipped off the thwart on to his knees and raised +his clasped hands before his face in an attitude of suppli- +cation. 'Mercy,' he whispered, faintly. 'Mercy for +me! -- comrade.' + "'Ah, comrade,' I said, in a low tone. 'Yes, comrade, +of course. Well, then, shout <i>Vive l'anarchie</i>.' + "He flung up his arms, his face up to the sky and +his mouth wide open in a great yell of despair. '<i>Vive +l'anarchie! Vive</i> --' + "He collapsed all in a heap, with a bullet through +his head. + "I flung them both overboard. I threw away the + + +160 AN ANARCHIST + +revolver, too. Then I sat down quietly. I was free at +last! At last. I did not even look towards the ship; +I did not care; indeed, I think I must have gone to +sleep, because all of a sudden there were shouts and I +found the ship almost on top of me. They hauled me +on board and secured the boat astern. They were all +blacks, except the captain, who was a mulatto. He +alone knew a few words of French. I could not find +out where they were going nor who they were. They +gave me something to eat every day; but I did not like +the way they used to discuss me in their language. +Perhaps they were deliberating about throwing me over- +board in order to keep possession of the boat. How do +I know? As we were passing this island I asked +whether it was inhabited. I understood from the +mulatto that there was a house on it. A farm, I +fancied, they meant. So I asked them to put me ashore +on the beach and keep the boat for their trouble. This, +I imagine, was just what they wanted. The rest you +know." + After pronouncing these words he lost suddenly all +control over himself. He paced to and fro rapidly, till +at last he broke into a run; his arms went like a windmill +and his ejaculations became very much like raving. +The burden of them was that he "denied nothing, +nothing!" I could only let him go on, and sat out of his +way, repeating, "<i>Calmez vous, calmez vous</i>," at intervals, +till his agitation exhausted itself. + I must confess, too, that I remained there long after +he had crawled under his mosquito-net. He had en- +treated me not to leave him; so, as one sits up with a +nervous child, I sat up with him -- in the name of +humanity -- till he fell asleep. + On the whole, my idea is that he was much more of +an anarchist than he confessed to me or to himself; and + + +AN ANARCHIST 161 + +that, the special features of his case apart, he was very +much like many other anarchists. Warm heart and +weak head -- that is the word of the riddle; and it is a +fact that the bitterest contradictions and the deadliest +conflicts of the world are carried on in every individual +breast capable of feeling and passion. + From personal inquiry I can vouch that the story of +the convict mutiny was in every particular as stated by +him. + When I got back to Horta from Cayenne and saw +the "Anarchist" again, he did not look well. He was +more worn, still more frail, and very livid indeed under +the grimy smudges of his calling. Evidently the meat +of the company's main herd (in its unconcentrated +form) did not agree with him at all. + It was on the pontoon in Horta that we met; and I +tried to induce him to leave the launch moored where +she was and follow me to Europe there and then. It +would have been delightful to think of the excellent +manager's surprise and disgust at the poor fellow's +escape. But he refused with unconquerable obstinacy. + "Surely you don't mean to live always here!" I +cried. He shook his head. + "I shall die here," he said. Then added moodily, +"Away from <i>them</i>." + Sometimes I think of him lying open-eyed on his +horseman's gear in the low shed full of tools and scraps +of iron -- the anarchist slave of the Marañon estate, +waiting with resignation for that sleep which "fled" +from him, as he used to say, in such an unaccountable +manner. + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>A MILITARY TALE</b> + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>THE DUEL</b> + +I + +NAPOLEON I., whose career had the quality of a +duel against the whole of Europe, disliked duelling +between the officers of his army. The great military +emperor was not a swashbuckler, and had little respect +for tradition. + Nevertheless, a story of duelling, which became a +legend in the army, runs through the epic of imperial +wars. To the surprise and admiration of their fellows, +two officers, like insane artists trying to gild refined gold +or paint the lily, pursued a private contest through the +years of universal carnage. They were officers of +cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited but +fanciful animal which carries men into battle seems +particularly appropriate. It would be difficult to +imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry +of the line, for example, whose fantasy is tamed by +much walking exercise, and whose valour necessarily +must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or +engineers, whose heads are kept cool on a diet of +mathematics, it is simply unthinkable. + The names of the two officers were Feraud and +D'Hubert, and they were both lieutenants in a regiment +of hussars, but not in the same regiment. + Feraud was doing regimental work, but Lieut. +D'Hubert had the good fortune to be attached to the +person of the general commanding the division, as + +165 + + +166 THE DUEL + +<i>officier d'ordonnance</i>. It was in Strasbourg, and in this +agreeable and important garrison they were enjoying +greatly a short interval of peace. They were enjoying +it, though both intensely warlike, because it was a +sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a +military heart and undamaging to military prestige, +inasmuch that no one believed in its sincerity or +duration. + Under those historical circumstances, so favourable +to the proper appreciation of military leisure, Lieut. +D'Hubert, one fine afternoon, made his way along a +quiet street of a cheerful suburb towards Lieut. Feraud's +quarters, which were in a private house with a garden +at the back, belonging to an old maiden lady. + His knock at the door was answered instantly by a +young maid in Alsatian costume. Her fresh complexion +and her long eyelashes, lowered demurely at the sight +of the tall officer, caused Lieut. D'Hubert, who was +accessible to esthetic impressions, to relax the cold, +severe gravity of his face. At the same time he ob- +served that the girl had over her arm a pair of hussar's +breeches, blue with a red stripe. + "Lieut. Feraud in?" he inquired, benevolently. + "Oh, no, sir! He went out at six this morning." + The pretty maid tried to close the door. Lieut. +D'Hubert, opposing this move with gentle firmness, +stepped into the ante-room, jingling his spurs. + "Come, my dear! You don't mean to say he has +not been home since six o'clock this morning?" + Saying these words, Lieut. D'Hubert opened with- +out ceremony the door of a room so comfortably and +neatly ordered that only from internal evidence in the +shape of boots, uniforms, and military accoutrements +did he acquire the conviction that it was Lieut. Feraud's +room. And he saw also that Lieut. Feraud was not at + + +THE DUEL 167 + +home. The truthful maid had followed him, and raised +her candid eyes to his face. + "H'm!" said Lieut. D'Hubert, greatly disappointed, +for he had already visited all the haunts where a lieu- +tenant of hussars could be found of a fine afternoon. +"So he's out? And do you happen to know, my dear, +why he went out at six this morning?" + "No," she answered, readily. "He came home late +last night, and snored. I heard him when I got up at +five. Then he dressed himself in his oldest uniform and +went out. Service, I suppose." + "Service? Not a bit of it!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. +"Learn, my angel, that he went out thus early to fight a +duel with a civilian." + She heard this news without a quiver of her dark +eyelashes. It was very obvious that the actions of +Lieut. Feraud were generally above criticism. She only +looked up for a moment in mute surprise, and Lieut. +D'Hubert concluded from this absence of emotion that +she must have seen Lieut. Feraud since the morning. +He looked around the room. + "Come!" he insisted, with confidential familiarity. +"He's perhaps somewhere in the house now?" + She shook her head. + "So much the worse for him!" continued Lieut. +D'Hubert, in a tone of anxious conviction. "But he +has been home this morning." + This time the pretty maid nodded slightly. + "He has!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. "And went out +again? What for? Couldn't he keep quietly indoors! +What a lunatic! My dear girl --" + Lieut. D'Hubert's natural kindness of disposition +and strong sense of comradeship helped his powers of +observation. He changed his tone to a most insinuating +softness, and, gazing at the hussar's breeches hanging + + +168 THE DUEL + +over the arm of the girl, he appealed to the interest she +took in Lieut. Feraud's comfort and happiness. He +was pressing and persuasive. He used his eyes, which +were kind and fine, with excellent effect. His anxiety +to get hold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut. Feraud's +own good, seemed so genuine that at last it overcame +the girl's unwillingness to speak. Unluckily she had +not much to tell. Lieut. Feraud had returned home +shortly before ten, had walked straight into his room, +and had thrown himself on his bed to resume his +slumbers. She had heard him snore rather louder than +before far into the afternoon. Then he got up, put on +his best uniform, and went out. That was all she knew. + She raised her eyes, and Lieut. D'Hubert stared into +them incredulously. + "It's incredible. Gone parading the town in his +best uniform! My dear child, don't you know he ran +that civilian through this morning? Clean through, as +you spit a hare." + The pretty maid heard the gruesome intelligence +without any signs of distress. But she pressed her lips +together thoughtfully. + "He isn't parading the town," she remarked in a low +tone. "Far from it." + "The civilian's family is making an awful row," +continued Lieut. D'Hubert, pursuing his train of +thought. "And the general is very angry. It's one +of the best families in the town. Feraud ought to have +kept close at least --" + "What will the general do to him?" inquired the girl, +anxiously. + "He won't have his head cut off, to be sure," grum- +bled Lieut. D'Hubert. "His conduct is positively in- +decent. He's making no end of trouble for himself by +this sort of bravado." + + +THE DUEL 169 + + "But he isn't parading the town," the maid insisted +in a shy murmur. + "Why, yes! Now I think of it, I haven't seen him +anywhere about. What on earth has he done with +himself?" + "He's gone to pay a call," suggested the maid, after +a moment of silence. + Lieut. D'Hubert started. + "A call! Do you mean a call on a lady? The cheek +of the man! And how do you know this, my dear?" + Without concealing her woman's scorn for the dense- +ness of the masculine mind, the pretty maid reminded +him that Lieut. Feraud had arrayed himself in his best +uniform before going out. He had also put on his +newest dolman, she added, in a tone as if this conver- +sation were getting on her nerves, and turned away +brusquely. + Lieut. D'Hubert, without questioning the accuracy +of the deduction, did not see that it advanced him much +on his official quest. For his quest after Lieut. Feraud +had an official character. He did not know any of the +women this fellow, who had run a man through in the +morning, was likely to visit in the afternoon. The two +young men knew each other but slightly. He bit his +gloved finger in perplexity. + "Call!" he exclaimed. "Call on the devil!" + The girl, with her back to him, and folding the +hussars breeches on a chair, protested with a vexed +little laugh: + "Oh, dear, no! On Madame de Lionne." + Lieut. D'Hubert whistled softly. Madame de Lionne +was the wife of a high official who had a well-known +<i>salon</i> and some pretensions to sensibility and elegance. +The husband was a civilian, and old; but the society of +the <i>salon</i> was young and military. Lieut. D'Hubert + + +170 THE DUEL + +had whistled, not because the idea of pursuing Lieut. +Feraud into that very <i>salon</i> was disagreeable to him, but +because, having arrived in Strasbourg only lately, he +had not had the time as yet to get an introduction to +Madame de Lionne. And what was that swashbuckler +Feraud doing there, he wondered. He did not seem the +sort of man who -- + "Are you certain of what you say?" asked Lieut. +D'Hubert. + The girl was perfectly certain. Without turning +round to look at him, she explained that the coachman +of their next door neighbours knew the <i>maître-d'hôtel</i> +of Madame de Lionne. In this way she had her in- +formation. And she was perfectly certain. In giving +this assurance she sighed. Lieut. Feraud called there +nearly every afternoon, she added. + "Ah, bah!" exclaimed D'Hubert, ironically. His +opinion of Madame de Lionne went down several de- +grees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him specially +worthy of attention on the part of a woman with a repu- +tation for sensibility and elegance. But there was no +saying. At bottom they were all alike -- very practi- +cal rather than idealistic. Lieut. D'Hubert, however, +did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations. + "By thunder!" he reflected aloud. "The general +goes there sometimes. If he happens to find the fellow +making eyes at the lady there will be the devil to pay! +Our general is not a very accommodating person, I can +tell you." + "Go quickly, then! Don't stand here now I've told +you where he is!" cried the girl, colouring to the eyes. + "Thanks, my dear! I don't know what I would +have done without you." + After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, +which at first was repulsed violently, and then sub- + + +THE DUEL 171 + +mitted to with a sudden and still more repellent in- +difference, Lieut. D'Hubert took his departure. + He clanked and jingled along the streets with a +martial swagger. To run a comrade to earth in a +drawing-room where he was not known did not trouble +him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His +position as <i>officier d'ordonnance</i> of the general added +to his assurance. Moreover, now that he knew where +to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a ser- +vice matter. + Madame de Lionne's house had an excellent appear- +ance. A man in livery, opening the door of a large +drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his name +and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. +The ladies wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of +feathers; their bodies sheathed in clinging white gowns, +from the armpits to the tips of the low satin shoes, +looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare +necks and arms. The men who talked with them, on +the contrary, were arrayed heavily in multi-coloured +garments with collars up to their ears and thick sashes +round their waists. Lieut. D'Hubert made his un- +abashed way across the room and, bowing low before a +sylph-like form reclining on a couch, offered his +apologies for this intrusion, which nothing could excuse +but the extreme urgency of the service order he had to +communicate to his comrade Feraud. He proposed to +himself to return presently in a more regular manner +and beg forgiveness for interrupting the interesting +conversation . . . + A bare arm was extended towards him with gracious +nonchalance even before he had finished speaking. He +pressed the hand respectfully to his lips, and made the +mental remark that it was bony. Madame de Lionne +was a blonde, with too fine a skin and a long face. + + +172 THE DUEL + + "<i>C'est ça!</i>" she said, with an ethereal smile, disclosing +a set of large teeth. "Come this evening to plead for +your forgiveness." + "I will not fail, madame." + Meantime, Lieut. Feraud, splendid in his new dolman +and the extremely polished boots of his calling, sat on a +chair within a foot of the couch, one hand resting on his +thigh, the other twirling his moustache to a point. At +a significant glance from D'Hubert he rose without +alacrity, and followed him into the recess of a window. + "What is it you want with me?" he asked, with +astonishing indifference. Lieut. D'Hubert could not +imagine that in the innocence of his heart and simplicity +of his conscience Lieut. Feraud took a view of his duel +in which neither remorse nor yet a rational apprehension +of consequences had any place. Though he had no +clear recollection how the quarrel had originated (it was +begun in an establishment where beer and wine are +drunk late at night), he had not the slightest doubt of +being himself the outraged party. He had had two +experienced friends for his seconds. Everything had +been done according to the rules governing that sort of +adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the +purpose of someone being at least hurt, if not killed +outright. The civilian got hurt. That also was in +order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectly tranquil; but +Lieut. D'Hubert took it for affectation, and spoke with +a certain vivacity. + "I am directed by the general to give you the order +to go at once to your quarters, and remain there under +close arrest." + It was now the turn of Lieut. Feraud to be aston- +ished. "What the devil are you telling me there?" he +murmured, faintly, and fell into such profound wonder +that he could only follow mechanically the motions of + + +THE DUEL 173 + +Lieut. D'Hubert. The two officers, one tall, with an +interesting face and a moustache the colour of ripe corn, +the other, short and sturdy, with a hooked nose and a +thick crop of black curly hair, approached the mistress +of the house to take their leave. Madame de Lionne, +a woman of eclectic taste, smiled upon these armed +young men with impartial sensibility and an equal share +of interest. Madame de Lionne took her delight in the +infinite variety of the human species. All the other +eyes in the drawing-room followed the departing +officers; and when they had gone out one or two men, +who had already heard of the duel, imparted the in- +formation to the sylph-like ladies, who received it with +faint shrieks of humane concern. + Meantime, the two hussars walked side by side, Lieut. +Feraud trying to master the hidden reason of things +which in this instance eluded the grasp of his intellect, +Lieut. D'Hubert feeling annoyed at the part he had to +play, because the general's instructions were that he +should see personally that Lieut. Feraud carried out his +orders to the letter, and at once. + "The chief seems to know this animal," he thought, +eyeing his companion, whose round face, the round +eyes, and even the twisted-up jet black little moustache +seemed animated by a mental exasperation against the +incomprehensible. And aloud he observed rather re- +proachfully, "The general is in a devilish fury with you!" + Lieut. Feraud stopped short on the edge of the pave- +ment, and cried in accents of unmistakable sincerity, +"What on earth for?" The innocence of the fiery +Gascon soul was depicted in the manner in which he +seized his head in both hands as if to prevent it bursting +with perplexity. + "For the duel," said Lieut. D'Hubert, curtly. He +was annoyed greatly by this sort of perverse fooling. + + +174 THE DUEL + + "The duel! The . . ." + + Lieut. Feraud passed from one paroxysm of astonish- +ment into another. He dropped his hands and walked +on slowly, trying to reconcile this information with the +state of his own feelings. It was impossible. He burst +out indignantly, "Was I to let that sauerkraut-eating +civilian wipe his boots on the uniform of the 7th Hus- +sars?" + Lieut. D'Hubert could not remain altogether un- +moved by that simple sentiment. This little fellow was +a lunatic, he thought to himself, but there was some- +thing in what he said. + "Of course, I don't know how far you were justified," +he began, soothingly. "And the general himself may +not be exactly informed. Those people have been +deafening him with their lamentations." + "Ah! the general is not exactly informed," mumbled +Lieut. Feraud, walking faster and faster as his choler at +the injustice of his fate began to rise. "He is not +exactly . . . And he orders me under close arrest, +with God knows what afterwards!" + "Don't excite yourself like this," remonstrated the +other. "Your adversary's people are very influential, +you know, and it looks bad enough on the face of it. +The general had to take notice of their complaint at +once. I don't think he means to be over-severe with +you. It's the best thing for you to be kept out of sight +for a while." + "I am very much obliged to the general," muttered +Lieut. Feraud through his teeth. "And perhaps you +would say I ought to be grateful to you, too, for the +trouble you have taken to hunt me up in the drawing- +room of a lady who --" + "Frankly," interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, with an +innocent laugh, "I think you ought to be. I had no + + +THE DUEL 175 + +end of trouble to find out where you were. It wasn't +exactly the place for you to disport yourself in under +the circumstances. If the general had caught you +there making eyes at the goddess of the temple . . . +oh, my word! . . . He hates to be bothered with +complaints against his officers, you know. And it +looked uncommonly like sheer bravado." + The two officers had arrived now at the street door of +Lieut. Feraud's lodgings. The latter turned towards +his companion. "Lieut. D'Hubert," he said, "I have +something to say to you, which can't be said very well +in the street. You can't refuse to come up." + The pretty maid had opened the door. Lieut. +Feraud brushed past her brusquely, and she raised her +scared and questioning eyes to Lieut. D'Hubert, who +could do nothing but shrug his shoulders slightly as he +followed with marked reluctance. + In his room Lieut. Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung +his new dolman on the bed, and, folding his arms across +his chest, turned to the other hussar. + "Do you imagine I am a man to submit tamely to +injustice?" he inquired, in a boisterous voice. + "Oh, do be reasonable!" remonstrated Lieut. D'Hu- +bert. + "I am reasonable! I am perfectly reasonable!" +retorted the other with ominous restraint. "I can't +call the general to account for his behaviour, but you are +going to answer me for yours." + "I can't listen to this nonsense," murmured Lieut. +D'Hubert, making a slightly contemptuous grimace. + "You call this nonsense? It seems to me a per- +fectly plain statement. Unless you don't understand +French." + "What on earth do you mean?" + "I mean," screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, "to cut + + +176 THE DUEL + +off your ears to teach you to disturb me with the +general's orders when I am talking to a lady!" + A profound silence followed this mad declaration; +and through the open window Lieut. D'Hubert heard +the little birds singing sanely in the garden. He said, +preserving his calm, "Why! If you take that tone, of +course I shall hold myself at your disposition whenever +you are at liberty to attend to this affair; but I don't +think you will cut my ears off." + "I am going to attend to it at once," declared Lieut. +Feraud, with extreme truculence. "If you are thinking +of displaying your airs and graces to-night in Madame +de Lionne's <i>salon</i> you are very much mistaken." + "Really!" said Lieut. D'Hubert, who was beginning +to feel irritated, "you are an impracticable sort of +fellow. The general's orders to me were to put you +under arrest, not to carve you into small pieces. Good- +morning!" And turning his back on the little Gascon, +who, always sober in his potations, was as though born +intoxicated with the sunshine of his vine-ripening coun- +try, the Northman, who could drink hard on occasion, +but was born sober under the watery skies of Picardy, +made for the door. Hearing, however, the unmistak- +able sound behind his back of a sword drawn from the +scabbard, he had no option but to stop. + "Devil take this mad Southerner!" he thought, spin- +ning round and surveying with composure the warlike +posture of Lieut. Feraud, with a bare sword in his hand. + "At once! -- at once!" stuttered Feraud, beside himself. + "You had my answer," said the other, keeping his +temper very well. + At first he had been only vexed, and somewhat +amused; but now his face got clouded. He was asking +himself seriously how he could manage to get away. +It was impossible to run from a man with a sword, and + + +THE DUEL 177 + +as to fighting him, it seemed completely out of the +question. He waited awhile, then said exactly what +was in his heart. + "Drop this! I won't fight with you. I won't be +made ridiculous." + "Ah, you won't?" hissed the Gascon. "I suppose +you prefer to be made infamous. Do you hear what I +say? . . . Infamous! Infamous! Infamous!" he +shrieked, rising and falling on his toes and getting very +red in the face. + Lieut. D'Hubert, on the contrary, became very pale at +the sound of the unsavoury word for a moment, then +flushed pink to the roots of his fair hair. "But you +can't go out to fight; you are under arrest, you lunatic!" +he objected, with angry scorn. + "There's the garden: it's big enough to lay out your +long carcass in," spluttered the other with such ardour +that somehow the anger of the cooler man subsided. + "This is perfectly absurd," he said, glad enough to +think he had found a way out of it for the moment. +"We shall never get any of our comrades to serve as +seconds. It's preposterous." + "Seconds! Damn the seconds! We don't want +any seconds. Don't you worry about any seconds. I +shall send word to your friends to come and bury you +when I am done. And if you want any witnesses, +I'll send word to the old girl to put her head out of +a window at the back. Stay! There's the gardener. +He'll do. He's as deaf as a post, but he has two eyes +in his head. Come along! I will teach you, my staff +officer, that the carrying about of a general's orders is +not always child's play." + While thus discoursing he had unbuckled his empty +scabbard. He sent it flying under the bed, and, lower- +ing the point of the sword, brushed past the perplexed + + +178 THE DUEL + +Lieut. D'Hubert, exclaiming, "Follow me!" Directly +he had flung open the door a faint shriek was heard and +the pretty maid, who had been listening at the keyhole, +staggered away, putting the backs of her hands over her +eyes. Feraud did not seem to see her, but she ran after +him and seized his left arm. He shook her off, and +then she rushed towards Lieut. D'Hubert and clawed +at the sleeve of his uniform. + "Wretched man!" she sobbed. "Is this what you +wanted to find him for?" + "Let me go," entreated Lieut. D'Hubert, trying to +disengage himself gently. "It's like being in a mad- +house," he protested, with exasperation. "Do let me +go! I won't do him any harm." + A fiendish laugh from Lieut. Feraud commented that +assurance. "Come along!" he shouted, with a stamp of +his foot. + And Lieut. D'Hubert did follow. He could do noth- +ing else. Yet in vindication of his sanity it must be +recorded that as he passed through the ante-room the +notion of opening the street door and bolting out pre- +sented itself to this brave youth, only of course to be +instantly dismissed, for he felt sure that the other would +pursue him without shame or compunction. And the +prospect of an officer of hussars being chased along the +street by another officer of hussars with a naked sword +could not be for a moment entertained. Therefore +he followed into the garden. Behind them the girl +tottered out, too. With ashy lips and wild, scared +eyes, she surrendered herself to a dreadful curiosity. +She had also the notion of rushing if need be between +Lieut. Feraud and death. + The deaf gardener, utterly unconscious of approach- +ing footsteps, went on watering his flowers till Lieut. +Feraud thumped him on the back. Beholding suddenly + + +THE DUEL 179 + +an enraged man flourishing a big sabre, the old chap +trembling in all his limbs dropped the watering-pot. At +once Lieut. Feraud kicked it away with great animosity, +and, seizing the gardener by the throat, backed him +against a tree. He held him there, shouting in his ear, +"Stay here, and look on! You understand? You've +got to look on! Don't dare budge from the spot!" + Lieut. D'Hubert came slowly down the walk, un- +clasping his dolman with unconcealed disgust. Even +then, with his hand already on the hilt of his sword, he +hesitated to draw till a roar, "<i>En garde, fichtre!</i> What +do you think you came here for?" and the rush of his +adversary forced him to put himself as quickly as pos- +sible in a posture of defence. + The clash of arms filled that prim garden, which +hitherto had known no more warlike sound than the +click of clipping shears; and presently the upper part of +an old lady's body was projected out of a window up- +stairs. She tossed her arms above her white cap, +scolding in a cracked voice. The gardener remained +glued to the tree, his toothless mouth open in idiotic +astonishment, and a little farther up the path the pretty +girl, as if spellbound to a small grass plot, ran a few +steps this way and that, wringing her hands and mutter- +ing crazily. She did not rush between the combatants: +the onslaughts of Lieut. Feraud were so fierce that her +heart failed her. Lieut. D'Hubert, his faculties concen- +trated upon defence, needed all his skill and science of +the sword to stop the rushes of his adversary. Twice +already he had to break ground. It bothered him to +feel his foothold made insecure by the round, dry gravel +of the path rolling under the hard soles of his boots. +This was most unsuitable ground, he thought, keeping +a watchful, narrowed gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, +upon the fiery stare of his thick-set adversary. This + + +180 THE DUEL + +absurd affair would ruin his reputation of a sensible, +well-behaved, promising young officer. It would +damage, at any rate, his immediate prospects, and lose +him the good-will of his general. These worldly pre- +occupations were no doubt misplaced in view of the +solemnity of the moment. A duel, whether regarded as +a ceremony in the cult of honour, or even when reduced +in its moral essence to a form of manly sport, demands a +perfect singleness of intention, a homicidal austerity of +mood. On the other hand, this vivid concern for his +future had not a bad effect inasmuch as it began to +rouse the anger of Lieut. D'Hubert. Some seventy +seconds had elapsed since they had crossed blades, and +Lieut. D'Hubert had to break ground again in order to +avoid impaling his reckless adversary like a beetle for a +cabinet of specimens. The result was that misappre- +hending the motive, Lieut. Feraud with a triumphant +sort of snarl pressed his attack. + "This enraged animal will have me against the wall +directly," thought Lieut. D'Hubert. He imagined him- +self much closer to the house than he was, and he dared +not turn his head; it seemed to him that he was keeping +his adversary off with his eyes rather more than with his +point. Lieut. Feraud crouched and bounded with a +fierce tigerish agility fit to trouble the stoutest heart. +But what was more appalling than the fury of a wild +beast, accomplishing in all innocence of heart a natural +function, was the fixity of savage purpose man alone is +capable of displaying. Lieut. D 'Hubert in the midst of +his worldly preoccupations perceived it at last. It was +an absurd and damaging affair to be drawn into, but +whatever silly intention the fellow had started with, it +was clear enough that by this time he meant to kill -- +nothing less. He meant it with an intensity of will +utterly beyond the inferior faculties of a tiger. + + +THE DUEL 181 + + As is the case with constitutionally brave men, the +full view of the danger interested Lieut. D'Hubert. +And directly he got properly interested, the length of his +arm and the coolness of his head told in his favour. It +was the turn of Lieut. Feraud to recoil, with a blood- +curdling grunt of baffled rage. He made a swift feint, +and then rushed straight forward. + "Ah! you would, would you?" Lieut. D'Hubert +exclaimed, mentally. The combat had lasted nearly +two minutes, time enough for any man to get em- +bittered, apart from the merits of the quarrel. And +all at once it was over. Trying to close breast to breast +under his adversary's guard Lieut. Feraud received a +slash on his shortened arm. He did not feel it in the +least, but it checked his rush, and his feet slipping on +the gravel he fell backwards with great violence. The +shock jarred his boiling brain into the perfect quietude +of insensibility. Simultaneously with his fall the pretty +servant-girl shrieked; but the old maiden lady at the +window ceased her scolding, and began to cross her- +self piously. + Beholding his adversary stretched out perfectly still, +his face to the sky, Lieut. D'Hubert thought he had +killed him outright. The impression of having slashed +hard enough to cut his man clean in two abode with +him for a while in an exaggerated memory of the right +good-will he had put into the blow. He dropped on +his knees hastily by the side of the prostrate body. +Discovering that not even the arm was severed, a +slight sense of disappointment mingled with the feeling +of relief. The fellow deserved the worst. But truly he +did not want the death of that sinner. The affair was +ugly enough as it stood, and Lieut. D'Hubert addressed +himself at once to the task of stopping the bleeding. In +this task it was his fate to be ridiculously impeded by + + +182 THE DUEL + +the pretty maid. Rending the air with screams of +horror, she attacked him from behind and, twining her +fingers in his hair, tugged back at his head. Why she +should choose to hinder him at this precise moment +he could not in the least understand. He did not try. +It was all like a very wicked and harassing dream. +Twice to save himself from being pulled over he had to +rise and fling her off. He did this stoically, without a +word, kneeling down again at once to go on with his +work. But the third time, his work being done, he +seized her and held her arms pinned to her body. Her +cap was half off, her face was red, her eyes blazed with +crazy boldness. He looked mildly into them while she +called him a wretch, a traitor, and a murderer many +times in succession. This did not annoy him so much as +the conviction that she had managed to scratch his face +abundantly. Ridicule would be added to the scandal of +the story. He imagined the adorned tale making its +way through the garrison of the town, through the whole +army on the frontier, with every possible distortion of +motive and sentiment and circumstance, spreading a +doubt upon the sanity of his conduct and the distinction +of his taste even to the very ears of his honourable +family. It was all very well for that fellow Feraud, who +had no connections, no family to speak of, and no +quality but courage, which, anyhow, was a matter of +course, and possessed by every single trooper in the +whole mass of French cavalry. Still holding down the +arms of the girl in a strong grip, Lieut. D'Hubert +glanced over his shoulder. Lieut. Feraud had opened +his eyes. He did not move. Like a man just waking +from a deep sleep he stared without any expression at +the evening sky. + Lieut. D'Hubert's urgent shouts to the old gardener +produced no effect -- not so much as to make him shut + + +THE DUEL 183 + +his toothless mouth. Then he remembered that the +man was stone deaf. All that time the girl struggled, +not with maidenly coyness, but like a pretty, dumb fury, +kicking his shins now and then. He continued to hold +her as if in a vice, his instinct telling him that were he +to let her go she would fly at his eyes. But he was +greatly humiliated by his position. At last she gave up. +She was more exhausted than appeased, he feared. +Nevertheless, he attempted to get out of this wicked +dream by way of negotiation. + "Listen to me," he said, as calmly as he could. +"Will you promise to run for a surgeon if I let you go?" + With real affliction he heard her declare that she +would do nothing of the kind. On the contrary, her +sobbed out intention was to remain in the garden, and +fight tooth and nail for the protection of the vanquished +man. This was shocking. + "My dear child!" he cried in despair, "is it possible +that you think me capable of murdering a wounded +adversary? Is it. . . . Be quiet, you little wild +cat, you!" + They struggled. A thick, drowsy voice said behind +him, "What are you after with that girl?" + Lieut. Feraud had raised himself on his good arm. +He was looking sleepily at his other arm, at the mess of +blood on his uniform, at a small red pool on the ground, +at his sabre lying a foot away on the path. Then he +laid himself down gently again to think it all out, as +far as a thundering headache would permit of mental +operations. + Lieut. D'Hubert released the girl who crouched at +once by the side of the other lieutenant. The shades +of night were falling on the little trim garden with this +touching group, whence proceeded low murmurs of +sorrow and compassion, with other feeble sounds of a + + +184 THE DUEL + +different character, as if an imperfectly awake invalid +were trying to swear. Lieut. D'Hubert went away. + He passed through the silent house, and congratu- +lated himself upon the dusk concealing his gory hands +and scratched face from the passers-by. But this story +could by no means be concealed. He dreaded the +discredit and ridicule above everything, and was pain- +fully aware of sneaking through the back streets in +the manner of a murderer. Presently the sounds of +a flute coming out of the open window of a lighted +upstairs room in a modest house interrupted his dismal +reflections. It was being played with a persevering +virtuosity, and through the <i>fioritures</i> of the tune one +could hear the regular thumping of the foot beating +time on the floor. + Lieut. D'Hubert shouted a name, which was that of +an army surgeon whom he knew fairly well. The +sounds of the flute ceased, and the musician appeared at +the window, his instrument still in his hand, peering into +the street. + "Who calls? You, D'Hubert? What brings you +this way?" + He did not like to be disturbed at the hour when he +was playing the flute. He was a man whose hair had +turned grey already in the thankless task of tying up +wounds on battlefields where others reaped advance- +ment and glory. + "I want you to go at once and see Feraud. You +know Lieut. Feraud? He lives down the second street. +It's but a step from here." + "What's the matter with him?" + "Wounded." + "Are you sure?" + "Sure!" cried D'Hubert. "I come from there." + "That's amusing," said the elderly surgeon. Amus- + + +THE DUEL 185 + +ing was his favourite word; but the expression of his +face when he pronounced it never corresponded. He +was a stolid man. "Come in," he added. "I'll get +ready in a moment." + "Thanks! I will. I want to wash my hands in +your room." + Lieut. D'Hubert found the surgeon occupied in un- +screwing his flute, and packing the pieces methodically +in a case. He turned his head. + "Water there -- in the corner. Your hands do want +washing." + "I've stopped the bleeding," said Lieut. D'Hubert. +"But you had better make haste. It's rather more +than ten minutes ago, you know." + The surgeon did not hurry his movements. + "What's the matter? Dressing came off? That's +amusing. I've been at work in the hospital all day +but I've been told this morning by somebody that he +had come off without a scratch." + "Not the same duel probably," growled moodily +Lieut. D'Hubert, wiping his hands on a coarse towel. + "Not the same. . . . What? Another. It +would take the very devil to make me go out twice in +one day." The surgeon looked narrowly at Lieut. +D'Hubert. "How did you come by that scratched +face? Both sides, too -- and symmetrical. It's amus- +ing." + "Very!" snarled Lieut. D'Hubert. "And you will +find his slashed arm amusing, too. It will keep both of +you amused for quite a long time." + The doctor was mystified and impressed by the +brusque bitterness of Lieut. D'Hubert's tone. They +left the house together, and in the street he was still +more mystified by his conduct. + "Aren't you coming with me?" he asked. + + +186 THE DUEL + + "No," said Lieut. D'Hubert. "You can find the +house by yourself. The front door will be standing +open very likely." + "All right. Where's his room?" + "Ground floor. But you had better go right through +and look in the garden first." + This astonishing piece of information made the +surgeon go off without further parley. Lieut. D'Hu- +bert regained his quarters nursing a hot and uneasy +indignation. He dreaded the chaff of his comrades al- +most as much as the anger of his superiors. The truth +was confoundedly grotesque and embarrassing, even +putting aside the irregularity of the combat itself, which +made it come abominably near a criminal offence. Like +all men without much imagination, a faculty which +helps the process of reflective thought, Lieut. D'Hubert +became frightfully harassed by the obvious aspects of +his predicament. He was certainly glad that he had not +killed Lieut. Feraud outside all rules, and without the +regular witnesses proper to such a transaction. Un- +commonly glad. At the same time he felt as though he +would have liked to wring his neck for him without +ceremony. + He was still under the sway of these contradictory +sentiments when the surgeon amateur of the flute came +to see him. More than three days had elapsed. Lieut. +D'Hubert was no longer <i>officier d'ordonnance</i> to the +general commanding the division. He had been sent +back to his regiment. And he was resuming his con- +nection with the soldiers' military family by being shut +up in close confinement, not at his own quarters in town, +but in a room in the barracks. Owing to the gravity of +the incident, he was forbidden to see any one. He +did not know what had happened, what was being +said, or what was being thought. The arrival of the + + +THE DUEL 187 + +surgeon was a most unexpected thing to the worried +captive. The amateur of the flute began by explaining +that he was there only by a special favour of the colonel. + "I represented to him that it would be only fair to let +you have some authentic news of your adversary," he +continued. "You'll be glad to hear he's getting better +fast." + Lieut. D'Hubert's face exhibited no conventional +signs of gladness. He continued to walk the floor of +the dusty bare room. + "Take this chair, doctor," he mumbled. + The doctor sat down. + "This affair is variously appreciated -- in town and in +the army. In fact, the diversity of opinions is amus- +ing." + "Is it!" mumbled Lieut. D'Hubert, tramping steadily +from wall to wall. But within himself he marvelled +that there could be two opinions on the matter. The +surgeon continued. + "Of course, as the real facts are not known --" + "I should have thought," interrupted D'Hubert, "that +the fellow would have put you in possession of facts." + "He said something," admitted the other, "the first +time I saw him. And, by the by, I did find him in the +garden. The thump on the back of his head had made +him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather +reticent than otherwise." + "Didn't think he would have the grace to be +ashamed!" mumbled D'Hubert, resuming his pacing +while the doctor murmured, "It's very amusing. +Ashamed! Shame was not exactly his frame of mind. +However, you may look at the matter otherwise." + "What are you talking about? What matter?" +asked D'Hubert, with a sidelong look at the heavy- +faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden chair. + + +188 THE DUEL + + "Whatever it is," said the surgeon a little im- +patiently, "I don't want to pronounce any opinion on +your conduct --" + "By heavens, you had better not!" burst out D'Hu- +bert. + "There! -- there! Don't be so quick in flourishing +the sword. It doesn't pay in the long run. Under- +stand once for all that I would not carve any of you +youngsters except with the tools of my trade. But my +advice is good. If you go on like this you will make for +yourself an ugly reputation." + "Go on like what?" demanded Lieut. D'Hubert, +stopping short, quite startled. "I! -- I! -- make for my- +self a reputation. . . . What do you imagine?" + "I told you I don't wish to judge of the rights and +wrongs of this incident. It's not my business. Never- +theless --" + "What on earth has he been telling you?" interrupted +Lieut. D'Hubert, in a sort of awed scare. + "I told you already, that at first, when I picked him +up in the garden, he was incoherent. Afterwards he +was naturally reticent. But I gather at least that he +could not help himself." + "He couldn't?" shouted Lieut. D'Hubert in a great +voice. Then, lowering his tone impressively, "And +what about me? Could I help myself?" + The surgeon stood up. His thoughts were running +upon the flute, his constant companion with a consoling +voice. In the vicinity of field ambulances, after twenty- +four hours' hard work, he had been known to trouble +with its sweet sounds the horrible stillness of battle- +fields, given over to silence and the dead. The solacing +hour of his daily life was approaching, and in peace time +he held on to the minutes as a miser to his hoard. + "Of course! -- of course!" he said, perfunctorily. + + +THE DUEL 189 + +"You would think so. It's amusing. However, being +perfectly neutral and friendly to you both, I have con- +sented to deliver his message to you. Say that I am +humouring an invalid if you like. He wants you to +know that this affair is by no means at an end. He +intends to send you his seconds directly he has regained +his strength -- providing, of course, the army is not in +the field at that time." + "He intends, does he? Why, certainly," spluttered +Lieut. D'Hubert in a passion. + The secret of his exasperation was not apparent to +the visitor; but this passion confirmed the surgeon in +the belief which was gaining ground outside that some +very serious difference had arisen between these two +young men, something serious enough to wear an air of +mystery, some fact of the utmost gravity. To settle +their urgent difference about that fact, those two young +men had risked being broken and disgraced at the out- +set almost of their career. The surgeon feared that the +forthcoming inquiry would fail to satisfy the public +curiosity. They would not take the public into their +confidence as to that something which had passed +between them of a nature so outrageous as to make +them face a charge of murder -- neither more nor less. +But what could it be? + The surgeon was not very curious by temperament; +but that question haunting his mind caused him twice +that evening to hold the instrument off his lips and +sit silent for a whole minute -- right in the middle of a +tune -- trying to form a plausible conjecture. + + +II + + He succeeded in this object no better than the rest +of the garrison and the whole of society. The two + + +190 THE DUEL + +young officers, of no especial consequence till then, be- +came distinguished by the universal curiosity as to the +origin of their quarrel. Madame de Lionne's <i>salon</i> was +the centre of ingenious surmises; that lady herself was +for a time assailed by inquiries as being the last person +known to have spoken to these unhappy and reckless +young men before they went out together from her +house to a savage encounter with swords, at dusk, in a +private garden. She protested she had not observed +anything unusual in their demeanour. Lieut. Feraud +had been visibly annoyed at being called away. That +was natural enough; no man likes to be disturbed in a +conversation with a lady famed for her elegance and +sensibility. But in truth the subject bored Madame +de Lionne, since her personality could by no stretch of +reckless gossip be connected with this affair. And it +irritated her to hear it advanced that there might have +been some woman in the case. This irritation arose, +not from her elegance or sensibility, but from a more +instinctive side of her nature. It became so great at +last that she peremptorily forbade the subject to be +mentioned under her roof. Near her couch the pro- +hibition was obeyed, but farther off in the salon the pall +of the imposed silence continued to be lifted more or +less. A personage with a long, pale face, resembling +the countenance of a sheep, opined, shaking his head, +that it was a quarrel of long standing envenomed by +time. It was objected to him that the men themselves +were too young for such a theory. They belonged also +to different and distant parts of France. There were +other physical impossibilities, too. A sub-commissary +of the Intendence, an agreeable and cultivated bachelor +in kerseymere breeches, Hessian boots, and a blue coat +embroidered with silver lace, who affected to believe in +the transmigration of souls, suggested that the two had + + +THE DUEL 191 + +met perhaps in some previous existence. The feud was +in the forgotten past. It might have been something +quite inconceivable in the present state of their being; +but their souls remembered the animosity, and mani- +fested an instinctive antagonism. He developed this +theme jocularly. Yet the affair was so absurd from the +worldly, the military, the honourable, or the prudential +point of view, that this weird explanation seemed +rather more reasonable than any other. + The two officers had confided nothing definite to +any one. Humiliation at having been worsted arms +in hand, and an uneasy feeling of having been involved +in a scrape by the injustice of fate, kept Lieut. Feraud +savagely dumb. He mistrusted the sympathy of man- +kind. That would, of course, go to that dandified +staff officer. Lying in bed, he raved aloud to the pretty +maid who administered to his needs with devotion, and +listened to his horrible imprecations with alarm. That +Lieut. D'Hubert should be made to "pay for it," seemed +to her just and natural. Her principal care was that +Lieut. Feraud should not excite himself. He appeared +so wholly admirable and fascinating to the humility of +her heart that her only concern was to see him get well +quickly, even if it were only to resume his visits to +Madame de Lionne's <i>salon</i>. + Lieut. D'Hubert kept silent for the immediate reason +that there was no one, except a stupid young soldier +servant, to speak to. Further, he was aware that the +episode, so grave professionally, had its comic side. +When reflecting upon it, he still felt that he would like +to wring Lieut. Feraud's neck for him. But this formula +was figurative rather than precise, and expressed more +a state of mind than an actual physical impulse. At +the same time, there was in that young man a feeling of +comradeship and kindness which made him unwilling to + + +192 THE DUEL + +make the position of Lieut. Feraud worse than it was. +He did not want to talk at large about this wretched +affair. At the inquiry he would have, of course, to speak +the truth in self-defence. This prospect vexed him. + But no inquiry took place. The army took the field +instead. Lieut. D'Hubert, liberated without remark, +took up his regimental duties; and Lieut. Feraud, his +arm just out of the sling, rode unquestioned with his +squadron to complete his convalescence in the smoke of +battlefields and the fresh air of night bivouacs. This +bracing treatment suited him so well, that at the first +rumour of an armistice being signed he could turn with- +out misgivings to the thoughts of his private warfare. + This time it was to be regular warfare. He sent +two friends to Lieut. D'Hubert, whose regiment was +stationed only a few miles away. Those friends had +asked no questions of their principal. "I owe him one, +that pretty staff officer," he had said, grimly, and they +went away quite contentedly on their mission. Lieut. +D'Hubert had no difficulty in finding two friends +equally discreet and devoted to their principal. +"There's a crazy fellow to whom I must give a lesson," +he had declared curtly; and they asked for no better +reasons. + On these grounds an encounter with duelling-swords +was arranged one early morning in a convenient field. +At the third set-to Lieut. D'Hubert found himself lying +on his back on the dewy grass with a hole in his side. +A serene sun rising over a landscape of meadows and +woods hung on his left. A surgeon -- not the flute +player, but another -- was bending over him, feeling +around the wound. + "Narrow squeak. But it will be nothing," he pro- +nounced. + Lieut. D'Hubert heard these words with pleasure. + + +THE DUEL 193 + +One of his seconds, sitting on the wet grass, and sus- +taining his head on his lap, said, "The fortune of war, +<i>mon pauvre vieux</i>. What will you have? You had better +make it up like two good fellows. Do!" + "You don't know what you ask," murmured Lieut. +D'Hubert, in a feeble voice. "However, if he . . ." + In another part of the meadow the seconds of Lieut. +Feraud were urging him to go over and shake hands +with his adversary. + "You have paid him off now -- <i>que diable</i>. It's the +proper thing to do. This D'Hubert is a decent fellow." + "I know the decency of these generals' pets," +muttered Lieut. Feraud through his teeth, and the +sombre expression of his face discouraged further +efforts at reconciliation. The seconds, bowing from a +distance, took their men off the field. In the afternoon +Lieut. D'Hubert, very popular as a good comrade +uniting great bravery with a frank and equable temper, +had many visitors. It was remarked that Lieut. +Feraud did not, as is customary, show himself much +abroad to receive the felicitations of his friends. They +would not have failed him, because he, too, was liked for +the exuberance of his southern nature and the sim- +plicity of his character. In all the places where officers +were in the habit of assembling at the end of the day the +duel of the morning was talked over from every point +of view. Though Lieut. D'Hubert had got worsted +this time, his sword play was commended. No one +could deny that it was very close, very scientific. It +was even whispered that if he got touched it was be- +cause he wished to spare his adversary. But by many +the vigour and dash of Lieut. Feraud's attack were pro- +nounced irresistible. + The merits of the two officers as combatants were +frankly discussed; but their attitude to each other after + + +194 THE DUEL + +the duel was criticised lightly and with caution. It +was irreconcilable, and that was to be regretted. But +after all they knew best what the care of their honour +dictated. It was not a matter for their comrades +to pry into over-much. As to the origin of the quarrel, +the general impression was that it dated from the time +they were holding garrison in Strasbourg. The musical +surgeon shook his head at that. It went much farther +back, he thought. + "Why, of course! You must know the whole story," +cried several voices, eager with curiosity. "What +was it?" + He raised his eyes from his glass deliberately. "Even +if I knew ever so well, you can't expect me to tell you, +since both the principals choose to say nothing." + He got up and went out, leaving the sense of mystery +behind him. He could not stay any longer, because the +witching hour of flute-playing was drawing near. + After he had gone a very young officer observed +solemnly, "Obviously, his lips are sealed!" + Nobody questioned the high correctness of that +remark. Somehow it added to the impressiveness of +the affair. Several older officers of both regiments, +prompted by nothing but sheer kindness and love of +harmony, proposed to form a Court of Honour, to +which the two young men would leave the task of their +reconciliation. Unfortunately they began by approach- +ing Lieut. Feraud, on the assumption that, having just +scored heavily, he would be found placable and disposed +to moderation. + The reasoning was sound enough. Nevertheless, the +move turned out unfortunate. In that relaxation of +moral fibre, which is brought about by the ease of +soothed vanity, Lieut. Feraud had condescended in the +secret of his heart to review the case, and even had come + + +THE DUEL 195 + +to doubt not the justice of his cause, but the absolute +sagacity of his conduct. This being so, he was dis- +inclined to talk about it. The suggestion of the regi- +mental wise men put him in a difficult position. He +was disgusted at it, and this disgust, by a paradoxical +logic, reawakened his animosity against Lieut. D'Hu- +bert. Was he to be pestered with this fellow for ever -- +the fellow who had an infernal knack of getting round +people somehow? And yet it was difficult to refuse +point blank that mediation sanctioned by the code of +honour. + He met the difficulty by an attitude of grim reserve. +He twisted his moustache and used vague words. His +case was perfectly clear. He was not ashamed to +state it before a proper Court of Honour, neither was +he afraid to defend it on the ground. He did not see +any reason to jump at the suggestion before ascertain- +ing how his adversary was likely to take it. + Later in the day, his exasperation growing upon him, +he was heard in a public place saying sardonically, "that +it would be the very luckiest thing for Lieut. D'Hubert, +because the next time of meeting he need not hope to +get off with the mere trifle of three weeks in bed." + This boastful phrase might have been prompted by +the most profound Machiavellism. Southern natures +often hide, under the outward impulsiveness of action +and speech, a certain amount of astuteness. + Lieut. Feraud, mistrusting the justice of men, by no +means desired a Court of Honour; and the above words, +according so well with his temperament, had also the +merit of serving his turn. Whether meant so or not, +they found their way in less than four-and-twenty hours +into Lieut. D'Hubert's bedroom. In consequence +Lieut. D'Hubert, sitting propped up with pillows, re- +ceived the overtures made to him next day by the state- + + +196 THE DUEL + +ment that the affair was of a nature which could not +bear discussion. + The pale face of the wounded officer, his weak voice +which he had yet to use cautiously, and the courteous +dignity of his tone had a great effect on his hearers. +Reported outside all this did more for deepening the +mystery than the vapourings of Lieut. Feraud. This +last was greatly relieved at the issue. He began to +enjoy the state of general wonder, and was pleased to +add to it by assuming an attitude of fierce discretion. + The colonel of Lieut. D'Hubert's regiment was a +grey-haired, weather-beaten warrior, who took a simple +view of his responsibilities. "I can't," he said to him- +self, "let the best of my subalterns get damaged like this +for nothing. I must get to the bottom of this affair +privately. He must speak out if the devil were in it. +The colonel should be more than a father to these +youngsters." And indeed he loved all his men with as +much affection as a father of a large family can feel for +every individual member of it. If human beings by an +oversight of Providence came into the world as mere +civilians, they were born again into a regiment as in- +fants are born into a family, and it was that military +birth alone which counted. + At the sight of Lieut. D'Hubert standing before him +very bleached and hollow-eyed the heart of the old +warrior felt a pang of genuine compassion. All his +affection for the regiment -- that body of men which he +held in his hand to launch forward and draw back, who +ministered to his pride and commanded all his thoughts +-- seemed centred for a moment on the person of the +most promising subaltern. He cleared his throat in a +threatening manner, and frowned terribly. "You must +understand," he began, "that I don't care a rap for the +life of a single man in the regiment. I would send the + + +THE DUEL 197 + +eight hundred and forty-three of you men and horses +galloping into the pit of perdition with no more com- +punction than I would kill a fly!" + "Yes, Colonel. You would be riding at our head," +said Lieut. D'Hubert with a wan smile. + The colonel, who felt the need of being very diplo- +matic, fairly roared at this. "I want you to know, +Lieut. D'Hubert, that I could stand aside and see you +all riding to Hades if need be. I am a man to do even +that if the good of the service and my duty to my +country required it from me. But that's unthinkable, +so don't you even hint at such a thing." He glared +awfully, but his tone softened. "There's some milk +yet about that moustache of yours, my boy. You don't +know what a man like me is capable of. I would hide +behind a haystack if . . . Don't grin at me, sir! +How dare you? If this were not a private conversation +I would . . . Look here! I am responsible for the +proper expenditure of lives under my command for the +glory of our country and the honour of the regiment. +Do you understand that? Well, then, what the devil do +you mean by letting yourself be spitted like this by that +fellow of the 7th Hussars? It's simply disgraceful!" + Lieut. D'Hubert felt vexed beyond measure. His +shoulders moved slightly. He made no other answer. +He could not ignore his responsibility. + The colonel veiled his glance and lowered his voice +still more. "It's deplorable!" he murmured. And +again he changed his tone. "Come!" he went on, +persuasively, but with that note of authority which +dwells in the throat of a good leader of men, "this affair +must be settled. I desire to be told plainly what it is +all about. I demand, as your best friend, to know." + The compelling power of authority, the persuasive +influence of kindness, affected powerfully a man just + + +198 THE DUEL + +risen from a bed of sickness. Lieut. D'Hubert's hand, +which grasped the knob of a stick, trembled slightly. +But his northern temperament, sentimental yet cautious +and clear-sighted, too, in its idealistic way, checked his +impulse to make a clean breast of the whole deadly +absurdity. According to the precept of transcendental +wisdom, he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth +before he spoke. He made then only a speech of +thanks. + The colonel listened, interested at first, then looked +mystified. At last he frowned. "You hesitate? -- +<i>mille tonnerres!</i> Haven't I told you that I will con- +descend to argue with you -- as a friend?" + "Yes, Colonel!" answered Lieut. D'Hubert, gently. +"But I am afraid that after you have heard me out as a +friend you will take action as my superior officer." + The attentive colonel snapped his jaws. "Well, +what of that?" he said, frankly. "Is it so damnably +disgraceful?" + "It is not," negatived Lieut. D'Hubert, in a faint but +firm voice. + "Of course, I shall act for the good of the service. +Nothing can prevent me doing that. What do you +think I want to be told for?" + "I know it is not from idle curiosity," protested +Lieut. D'Hubert. "I know you will act wisely. But +what about the good fame of the regiment?" + "It cannot be affected by any youthful folly of a +lieutenant," said the colonel, severely. + "No. It cannot be. But it can be by evil tongues. +It will be said that a lieutenant of the 4th Hussars, +afraid of meeting his adversary, is hiding behind his +colonel. And that would be worse than hiding behind +a haystack -- for the good of the service. I cannot +afford to do that, Colonel." + + +THE DUEL 199 + + "Nobody would dare to say anything of the kind," +began the colonel very fiercely, but ended the phrase on +an uncertain note. The bravery of Lieut. D'Hubert +was well known. But the colonel was well aware that +the duelling courage, the single combat courage, is +rightly or wrongly supposed to be courage of a special +sort. And it was eminently necessary that an officer of +his regiment should possess every kind of courage -- and +prove it, too. The colonel stuck out his lower lip, and +looked far away with a peculiar glazed stare. This was +the expression of his perplexity -- an expression practi- +cally unknown to his regiment; for perplexity is a senti- +ment which is incompatible with the rank of colonel of +cavalry. The colonel himself was overcome by the +unpleasant novelty of the sensation. As he was not +accustomed to think except on professional matters +connected with the welfare of men and horses, and the +proper use thereof on the field of glory, his intellectual +efforts degenerated into mere mental repetitions of pro- +fane language. "<i>Mille tonnerres! . . . Sacré nom +de nom</i> . . ." he thought. + Lieut. D'Hubert coughed painfully, and added in a +weary voice: "There will be plenty of evil tongues to +say that I've been cowed. And I am sure you will not +expect me to pass that over. I may find myself +suddenly with a dozen duels on my hands instead of +this one affair." + The direct simplicity of this argument came home to +the colonel's understanding. He looked at his subordi- +nate fixedly. "Sit down, Lieutenant!" he said, gruffly. +"This is the very devil of a . . . Sit down!" + "<i>Mon Colonel</i>," D'Hubert began again, "I am not +afraid of evil tongues. There's a way of silencing them. +But there's my peace of mind, too. I wouldn't be able +to shake off the notion that I've ruined a brother officer. + + +200 THE DUEL + +Whatever action you take, it is bound to go farther. +The inquiry has been dropped -- let it rest now. It +would have been absolutely fatal to Feraud." + "Hey! What! Did he behave so badly?" + "Yes. It was pretty bad," muttered Lieut. D'Hubert. +Being still very weak, he felt a disposition to cry. + As the other man did not belong to his own regiment +the colonel had no difficulty in believing this. He began +to pace up and down the room. He was a good chief, a +man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human +in other ways, too, and this became apparent because he +was not capable of artifice. + "The very devil, Lieutenant," he blurted out, in the +innocence of his heart, "is that I have declared my in- +tention to get to the bottom of this affair. And when a +colonel says something . . . you see . . ." + Lieut. D'Hubert broke in earnestly: "Let me en- +treat you, Colonel, to be satisfied with taking my word +of honour that I was put into a damnable position where +I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent +with my dignity as a man and an officer. . . . After +all, Colonel, this fact is the very bottom of this affair. +Here you've got it. The rest is mere detail. . . ." + The colonel stopped short. The reputation of Lieut. +D'Hubert for good sense and good temper weighed in +the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, open as the +day. Always correct in his behaviour. One had to +trust him. The colonel repressed manfully an im- +mense curiosity. "H'm! You affirm that as a man +and an officer. . . . No option? Eh?" + "As an officer -- an officer of the 4th Hussars, too," +insisted Lieut. D'Hubert, "I had not. And that is the +bottom of the affair, Colonel." + "Yes. But still I don't see why, to one's colonel. . . . +A colonel is a father -- <i>que diable!</i>" + + +THE DUEL 201 + + Lieut. D'Hubert ought not to have been allowed out +as yet. He was becoming aware of his physical in- +sufficiency with humiliation and despair. But the +morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at +the same time he felt with dismay his eyes filling with +water. This trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear +fell down the thin, pale cheek of Lieut. D'Hubert. + The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You +could have heard a pin drop. "This is some silly +woman story -- is it not?" + Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the +truth, which is not a beautiful shape living in a well, but +a shy bird best caught by stratagem. This was the last +move of the colonel's diplomacy. He saw the truth +shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D'Hubert +raising his weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme +protest. + "Not a woman affair -- eh?" growled the colonel, +staring hard. "I don't ask you who or where. All I +want to know is whether there is a woman in it?" + Lieut. D'Hubert's arms dropped, and his weak voice +was pathetically broken. + "Nothing of the kind, <i>mon Colonel</i>." + "On your honour?" insisted the old warrior. + "On my honour." + "Very well," said the colonel, thoughtfully, and bit +his lip. The arguments of Lieut. D'Hubert, helped by +his liking for the man, had convinced him. On the +other hand, it was highly improper that his intervention, +of which he had made no secret, should produce no +visible effect. He kept Lieut. D'Hubert a few minutes +longer, and dismissed him kindly. + "Take a few days more in bed. Lieutenant. What +the devil does the surgeon mean by reporting you fit for +duty?" + + +202 THE DUEL + + On coming out of the colonel's quarters, Lieut. +D'Hubert said nothing to the friend who was waiting +outside to take him home. He said nothing to anybody. +Lieut. D'Hubert made no confidences. But on the +evening of that day the colonel, strolling under the elms +growing near his quarters, in the company of his second +in command, opened his lips. + "I've got to the bottom of this affair," he remarked. +The lieut.-colonel, a dry, brown chip of a man with +short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears at that without +letting a sign of curiosity escape him. + "It's no trifle," added the colonel, oracularly. The +other waited for a long while before he murmured: + "Indeed, sir!" + "No trifle," repeated the colonel, looking straight +before him. "I've, however, forbidden D'Hubert either +to send to or receive a challenge from Feraud for the +next twelve months." + He had imagined this prohibition to save the prestige +a colonel should have. The result of it was to give an +official seal to the mystery surrounding this deadly +quarrel. Lieut. D'Hubert repelled by an impassive +silence all attempts to worm the truth out of him. Lieut. +Feraud, secretly uneasy at first, regained his assurance +as time went on. He disguised his ignorance of the +meaning of the imposed truce by slight sardonic laughs, +as though he were amused by what he intended to keep +to himself. "But what will you do?" his chums used +to ask him. He contented himself by replying "<i>Qui +vivra verra</i>" with a little truculent air. And everybody +admired his discretion. + Before the end of the truce Lieut. D'Hubert got his +troop. The promotion was well earned, but somehow +no one seemed to expect the event. When Lieut. +Feraud heard of it at a gathering of officers, he muttered + + +THE DUEL 203 + +through his teeth, "Is that so?" At once he unhooked +his sabre from a peg near the door, buckled it on care- +fully, and left the company without another word. He +walked home with measured steps, struck a light with +his flint and steel, and lit his tallow candle. Then +snatching an unlucky glass tumbler off the mantelpiece +he dashed it violently on the floor. + Now that D'Hubert was an officer of superior rank +there could be no question of a duel. Neither of them +could send or receive a challenge without rendering +himself amenable to a court-martial. It was not to be +thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days now had +experienced no real desire to meet Lieut. D'Hubert arms +in hand, chafed again at the systematic injustice of fate. +"Does he think he will escape me in that way?" he +thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an +intrigue, a conspiracy, a cowardly manœuvre. That +colonel knew what he was doing. He had hastened to +recommend his favourite for a step. It was outrageous +that a man should be able to avoid the consequences of +his acts in such a dark and tortuous manner. + Of a happy-go-lucky disposition, of a temperament +more pugnacious than military, Lieut. Feraud had been +content to give and receive blows for sheer love of +armed strife, and without much thought of advance- +ment; but now an urgent desire to get on sprang up in +his breast. This fighter by vocation resolved in his +mind to seize showy occasions and to court the favour- +able opinion of his chiefs like a mere worldling. He +knew he was as brave as any one, and never doubted his +personal charm. Nevertheless, neither the bravery nor +the charm seemed to work very swiftly. Lieut. Feraud's +engaging, careless truculence of a <i>beau sabreur</i> under- +went a change. He began to make bitter allusions to +"clever fellows who stick at nothing to get on." The + + +204 THE DUEL + +army was full of them, he would say; you had only to +look round. But all the time he had in view one person +only, his adversary, D'Hubert. Once he confided to an +appreciative friend: "You see, I don't know how to +fawn on the right sort of people. It isn't in my charac- +ter." + He did not get his step till a week after Austerlitz. +The Light Cavalry of the Grand Army had its hands +very full of interesting work for a little while. Directly +the pressure of professional occupation had been eased +Captain Feraud took measures to arrange a meeting +without loss of time. "I know my bird," he observed, +grimly. "If I don't look sharp he will take care to +get himself promoted over the heads of a dozen better +men than himself. He's got the knack for that sort of +thing." + This duel was fought in Silesia. If not fought +to a finish, it was, at any rate, fought to a standstill. +The weapon was the cavalry sabre, and the skill, the +science, the vigour, and the determination displayed by +the adversaries compelled the admiration of the be- +holders. It became the subject of talk on both shores +of the Danube, and as far as the garrisons of Gratz and +Laybach. They crossed blades seven times. Both had +many cuts which bled profusely. Both refused to have +the combat stopped, time after time, with what ap- +peared the most deadly animosity. This appearance was +caused on the part of Captain D'Hubert by a rational +desire to be done once for all with this worry; on the +part of Captain Feraud by a tremendous exaltation of +his pugnacious instincts and the incitement of wounded +vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in rags, covered +with gore and hardly able to stand, they were led away +forcibly by their marvelling and horrified seconds. +Later on, besieged by comrades avid of details, these + + +THE DUEL 205 + +gentlemen declared that they could not have allowed +that sort of hacking to go on indefinitely. Asked +whether the quarrel was settled this time, they gave it +out as their conviction that it was a difference which +could only be settled by one of the parties remaining +lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread from army +corps to army corps, and penetrated at last to the +smallest detachments of the troops cantoned be- +tween the Rhine and the Save. In the cafés in Vienna +it was generally estimated, from details to hand, +that the adversaries would be able to meet again in +three weeks' time on the outside. Something really +transcendent in the way of duelling was expected. + These expectations were brought to naught by the +necessities of the service which separated the two +officers. No official notice had been taken of their +quarrel. It was now the property of the army, and not +to be meddled with lightly. But the story of the duel, +or rather their duelling propensities, must have stood +somewhat in the way of their advancement, because +they were still captains when they came together again +during the war with Prussia. Detached north after +Jena, with the army commanded by Marshal Berna- +dotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they entered Lübeck +together. + It was only after the occupation of that town that +Captain Feraud found leisure to consider his future con- +duct in view of the fact that Captain D'Hubert had +been given the position of third aide-de-camp to the +marshal. He considered it a great part of a night, and +in the morning summoned two sympathetic friends. + "I've been thinking it over calmly," he said, gazing +at them with blood-shot, tired eyes. "I see that I must +get rid of that intriguing personage. Here he's managed +to sneak on to the personal staff of the marshal. It's a + + +206 THE DUEL + +direct provocation to me. I can't tolerate a situation in +which I am exposed any day to receive an order through +him. And God knows what order, too! That sort of +thing has happened once before -- and that's once too +often. He understands this perfectly, never fear. I +can't tell you any more. Now you know what it is you +have to do." + This encounter took place outside the town of +Lübeck, on very open ground, selected with special +care in deference to the general sentiment of the cavalry +division belonging to the army corps, that this time the +two officers should meet on horseback. After all, this +duel was a cavalry affair, and to persist in fighting on +foot would look like a slight on one's own arm of the +service. The seconds, startled by the unusual nature of +the suggestion, hastened to refer to their principals. +Captain Feraud jumped at it with alacrity. For some +obscure reason, depending, no doubt, on his psychology, +he imagined himself invincible on horseback. All alone +within the four walls of his room he rubbed his hands +and muttered triumphantly, "Aha! my pretty staff +officer, I've got you now." + Captain D'Hubert on his side, after staring hard for +a considerable time at his friends, shrugged his shoulders +slightly. This affair had hopelessly and unreasonably +complicated his existence for him. One absurdity more +or less in the development did not matter -- all absurdity +was distasteful to him; but, urbane as ever, he produced +a faintly ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, "It +certainly will do away to some extent with the monot- +ony of the thing." + When left alone, he sat down at a table and took his +head into his hands. He had not spared himself of late +and the marshal had been working all his aides-de- +camp particularly hard. The last three weeks of + + +THE DUEL 207 + +campaigning in horrible weather had affected his health. +When over-tired he suffered from a stitch in his +wounded side, and that uncomfortable sensation always +depressed him. "It's that brute's doing, too," he +thought bitterly. + The day before he had received a letter from home, +announcing that his only sister was going to be married. +He reflected that from the time she was nineteen and he +twenty-six, when he went away to garrison life in Stras- +bourg, he had had but two short glimpses of her. They +had been great friends and confidants; and now she was +going to be given away to a man whom he did not know +-- a very worthy fellow no doubt, but not half good +enough for her. He would never see his old Léonie +again. She had a capable little head, and plenty of +tact; she would know how to manage the fellow, to be +sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness +but he felt ousted from the first place in her thoughts +which had been his ever since the girl could speak. A +melancholy regret of the days of his childhood settled +upon Captain D'Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the +Prince of Ponte Corvo. + He threw aside the letter of congratulation he had +begun to write as in duty bound, but without enthusi- +asm. He took a fresh piece of paper, and traced on it +the words: "This is my last will and testament." Look- +ing at these words he gave himself up to unpleasant re- +flection; a presentiment that he would never see the +scenes of his childhood weighed down the equable +spirits of Captain D'Hubert. He jumped up, pushing +his chair back, yawned elaborately in sign that he didn't +care anything for presentiments, and throwing himself +on the bed went to sleep. During the night he shivered +from time to time without waking up. In the morning +he rode out of town between his two seconds, talking of + + +208 THE DUEL + +indifferent things, and looking right and left with ap- +parent detachment into the heavy morning mists +shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He +leaped a ditch, and saw the forms of many mounted men +moving in the fog. "We are to fight before a gallery, it +seems," he muttered to himself, bitterly. + His seconds were rather concerned at the state of +the atmosphere, but presently a pale, sickly sun +struggled out of the low vapours, and Captain D'Hubert +made out, in the distance, three horsemen riding a little +apart from the others. It was Captain Feraud and +his seconds. He drew his sabre, and assured himself +that it was properly fastened to his wrist. And now the +seconds, who had been standing in close group with +the heads of their horses together, separated at an easy +canter, leaving a large, clear field between him and his +adversary. Captain D'Hubert looked at the pale sun, +at the dismal fields, and the imbecility of the impending +fight filled him with desolation. From a distant part of +the field a stentorian voice shouted commands at proper +intervals: <i>Au pas -- Au trot -- Charrrgez!</i> . . . Pre- +sentiments of death don't come to a man for nothing, he +thought at the very moment he put spurs to his horse. + And therefore he was more than surprised when, at +the very first set-to, Captain Feraud laid himself open +to a cut over the forehead, which blinding him with +blood, ended the combat almost before it had fairly +begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain D'Hubert, +leaving his enemy swearing horribly and reeling in the +saddle between his two appalled friends, leaped the +ditch again into the road and trotted home with his two +seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy +issue of that encounter. In the evening Captain +D'Hubert finished the congratulatory letter on his +sister's marriage. + + +THE DUEL 209 + + He finished it late. It was a long letter. Captain +D'Hubert gave reins to his fancy. He told his sister +that he would feel rather lonely after this great change +in her life; but then the day would come for him, too, to +get married. In fact, he was thinking already of the +time when there would be no one left to fight with in +Europe and the epoch of wars would be over. "I +expect then," he wrote, "to be within measurable dis- +tance of a marshal's baton, and you will be an ex- +perienced married woman. You shall look out a wife for +me. I will be, probably, bald by then, and a little +<i>blasé</i>. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and +with a large fortune, which should help me to close my +glorious career in the splendour befitting my exalted +rank." He ended with the information that he had +just given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow +who imagined he had a grievance against him. "But +if you, in the depths of your province," he continued, +"ever hear it said that your brother is of a quarrelsome +disposition, don't you believe it on any account. There +is no saying what gossip from the army may reach your +innocent ears. Whatever you hear you may rest assured +that your ever-loving brother is not a duellist." Then +Captain D'Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of paper +headed with the words "This is my last will and testa- +ment," and threw it in the fire with a great laugh at +himself. He didn't care a snap for what that lunatic +could do. He had suddenly acquired the conviction +that his adversary was utterly powerless to affect his +life in any sort of way; except, perhaps, in the way of +putting a special excitement into the delightful, gay +intervals between the campaigns. + From this on there were, however, to be no peaceful +intervals in the career of Captain D'Hubert. He saw +the fields of Eylau and Friedland, marched and counter- + + +210 THE DUEL + +marched in the snow, in the mud, in the dust of Polish +plains, picking up distinction and advancement on all +the roads of North-eastern Europe. Meantime, Cap- +tain Feraud, despatched southwards with his regiment, +made unsatisfactory war in Spain. It was only when +the preparations for the Russian campaign began that +he was ordered north again. He left the country of +mantillas and oranges without regret. + The first signs of a not unbecoming baldness added +to the lofty aspect of Colonel D'Hubert's forehead. +This feature was no longer white and smooth as in the +days of his youth; the kindly open glance of his blue +eyes had grown a little hard as if from much peering +through the smoke of battles. The ebony crop on +Colonel Feraud's head, coarse and crinkly like a cap of +horsehair, showed many silver threads about the +temples. A detestable warfare of ambushes and in- +glorious surprises had not improved his temper. The +beak-like curve of his nose was unpleasantly set off by a +deep fold on each side of his mouth. The round orbits +of his eyes radiated wrinkles. More than ever he re- +called an irritable and staring bird -- something like a +cross between a parrot and an owl. He was still ex- +tremely outspoken in his dislike of "intriguing fellows." +He seized every opportunity to state that he did not +pick up his rank in the ante-rooms of marshals. The +unlucky persons, civil or military, who, with an in- +tention of being pleasant, begged Colonel Feraud to tell +them how he came by that very apparent scar on the +forehead, were astonished to find themselves snubbed +in various ways, some of which were simply rude and +others mysteriously sardonic. Young officers were +warned kindly by their more experienced comrades not +to stare openly at the colonel's scar. But indeed an +officer need have been very young in his profession not + + +THE DUEL 211 + +to have heard the legendary tale of that duel originating +in a mysterious, unforgivable offence. + + +III + + The retreat from Moscow submerged all private +feelings in a sea of disaster and misery. Colonels +without regiments, D'Hubert and Feraud carried the +musket in the ranks of the so-called sacred battalion -- a +battalion recruited from officers of all arms who had no +longer any troops to lead. + In that battalion promoted colonels did duty as +sergeants; the generals captained the companies; a +marshal of France, Prince of the Empire, commanded +the whole. All had provided themselves with muskets +picked up on the road, and with cartridges taken from +the dead. In the general destruction of the bonds of +discipline and duty holding together the companies, the +battalions, the regiments, the brigades, and divisions of +an armed host, this body of men put its pride in pre- +serving some semblance of order and formation. The +only stragglers were those who fell out to give up to the +frost their exhausted souls. They plodded on, and +their passage did not disturb the mortal silence of the +plains, shining with the livid light of snows under a sky +the colour of ashes. Whirlwinds ran along the fields, +broke against the dark column, enveloped it in a tur- +moil of flying icicles, and subsided, disclosing it creeping +on its tragic way without the swing and rhythm of +the military pace. It struggled onwards, the men ex- +changing neither words nor looks; whole ranks marched +touching elbow, day after day and never raising their +eyes from the ground, as if lost in despairing reflections. +In the dumb, black forests of pines the cracking of over- +loaded branches was the only sound they heard. Often + + +212 THE DUEL + +from daybreak to dusk no one spoke in the whole +column. It was like a <i>macabre</i> march of struggling +corpses towards a distant grave. Only an alarm of +Cossacks could restore to their eyes a semblance of +martial resolution. The battalion faced about and +deployed, or formed square under the endless fluttering +of snowflakes. A cloud of horsemen with fur caps on +their heads, levelled long lances, and yelled "Hurrah! +Hurrah!" around their menacing immobility whence, +with muffled detonations, hundreds of dark red flames +darted through the air thick with falling snow. In a +very few moments the horsemen would disappear, as +if carried off yelling in the gale, and the sacred battalion +standing still, alone in the blizzard, heard only the +howling of the wind, whose blasts searched their very +hearts. Then, with a cry or two of "<i>Vive l'Empereur!</i>" +it would resume its march, leaving behind a few life- +less bodies lying huddled up, tiny black specks on the +white immensity of the snows. + Though often marching in the ranks, or skirmishing +in the woods side by side, the two officers ignored each +other; this not so much from inimical intention as from +a very real indifference. All their store of moral energy +was expended in resisting the terrific enmity of nature +and the crushing sense of irretrievable disaster. To the +last they counted among the most active, the least +demoralized of the battalion; their vigorous vitality +invested them both with the appearance of an heroic +pair in the eyes of their comrades. And they never +exchanged more than a casual word or two, except one +day, when skirmishing in front of the battalion against +a worrying attack of cavalry, they found themselves cut +off in the woods by a small party of Cossacks. A score +of fur-capped, hairy horsemen rode to and fro, brandish- +ing their lances in ominous silence; but the two officers + + +THE DUEL 213 + +had no mind to lay down their arms, and Colonel +Feraud suddenly spoke up in a hoarse, growling voice, +bringing his firelock to the shoulder. "You take the +nearest brute, Colonel D'Hubert; I'll settle the next +one. I am a better shot than you are." + Colonel D'Hubert nodded over his levelled musket. +Their shoulders were pressed against the trunk of a +large tree; on their front enormous snowdrifts protected +them from a direct charge. Two carefully aimed shots +rang out in the frosty air, two Cossacks reeled in their +saddles. The rest, not thinking the game good enough, +closed round their wounded comrades and galloped +away out of range. The two officers managed to rejoin +their battalion halted for the night. During that after- +noon they had leaned upon each other more than once, +and towards the end, Colonel D'Hubert, whose long legs +gave him an advantage in walking through soft snow, +peremptorily took the musket of Colonel Feraud from +him and carried it on his shoulder, using his own as a +staff. + On the outskirts of a village half buried in the snow +an old wooden barn burned with a clear and an im- +mense flame. The sacred battalion of skeletons, +muffled in rags, crowded greedily the windward side, +stretching hundreds of numbed, bony hands to the +blaze. Nobody had noted their approach. Before +entering the circle of light playing on the sunken, glassy- +eyed, starved faces, Colonel D'Hubert spoke in his turn: + "Here's your musket, Colonel Feraud. I can walk +better than you." + Colonel Feraud nodded, and pushed on towards the +warmth of the fierce flames. Colonel D'Hubert was +more deliberate, but not the less bent on getting a place +in the front rank. Those they shouldered aside tried to +greet with a faint cheer the reappearance of the two + + +214 THE DUEL + +indomitable companions in activity and endurance. +Those manly qualities had never perhaps received a +higher tribute than this feeble acclamation. + This is the faithful record of speeches exchanged +during the retreat from Moscow by Colonels Feraud and +D'Hubert. Colonel Feraud's taciturnity was the out- +come of concentrated rage. Short, hairy, black faced, +with layers of grime and the thick sprouting of a wiry +beard, a frost-bitten hand wrapped up in filthy rags +carried in a sling, he accused fate of unparalleled +perfidy towards the sublime Man of Destiny. Colonel +D'Hubert, his long moustaches pendent in icicles on +each side of his cracked blue lips, his eyelids inflamed +with the glare of snows, the principal part of his costume +consisting of a sheepskin coat looted with difficulty +from the frozen corpse of a camp follower found in an +abandoned cart, took a more thoughtful view of events. +His regularly handsome features, now reduced to mere +bony lines and fleshless hollows, looked out of a woman's +black velvet hood, over which was rammed forcibly a +cocked hat picked up under the wheels of an empty +army fourgon, which must have contained at one time +some general officer's luggage. The sheepskin coat +being short for a man of his inches ended very high up, +and the skin of his legs, blue with the cold, showed +through the tatters of his nether garments. This +under the circumstances provoked neither jeers nor +pity. No one cared how the next man felt or looked. +Colonel D'Hubert himself, hardened to exposure, suf- +fered mainly in his self-respect from the lamentable in- +decency of his costume. A thoughtless person may +think that with a whole host of inanimate bodies be- +strewing the path of retreat there could not have been +much difficulty in supplying the deficiency. But to +loot a pair of breeches from a frozen corpse is not so easy + + +THE DUEL 215 + +as it may appear to a mere theorist. It requires time +and labour. You must remain behind while your +companions march on. Colonel D'Hubert had his +scruples as to falling out. Once he had stepped aside +he could not be sure of ever rejoining his battalion; and +the ghastly intimacy of a wrestling match with the +frozen dead opposing the unyielding rigidity of iron to +your violence was repugnant to the delicacy of his +feelings. Luckily, one day, grubbing in a mound of +snow between the huts of a village in the hope of +finding there a frozen potato or some vegetable garbage +he could put between his long and shaky teeth, Colonel +D'Hubert uncovered a couple of mats of the sort +Russian peasants use to line the sides of their carts with. +These, beaten free of frozen snow, bent about his +elegant person and fastened solidly round his waist, +made a bell-shaped nether garment, a sort of stiff petti- +coat, which rendered Colonel D'Hubert a perfectly +decent, but a much more noticeable figure than before. + Thus accoutred, he continued to retreat, never doubt- +ing of his personal escape, but full of other misgivings. +The early buoyancy of his belief in the future was +destroyed. If the road of glory led through such unfore- +seen passages, he asked himself -- for he was reflective -- +whether the guide was altogether trustworthy. It was +a patriotic sadness, not unmingled with some personal +concern, and quite unlike the unreasoning indignation +against men and things nursed by Colonel Feraud. +Recruiting his strength in a little German town for three +weeks, Colonel D'Hubert was surprised to discover +within himself a love of repose. His returning vigour +was strangely pacific in its aspirations. He meditated +silently upon this bizarre change of mood. No doubt +many of his brother officers of field rank went through +the same moral experience. But these were not the + + +216 THE DUEL + +times to talk of it. In one of his letters home Colonel +D'Hubert wrote, "All your plans, my dear Léonie, for +marrying me to the charming girl you have discovered +in your neighbourhood, seem farther off than ever. +Peace is not yet. Europe wants another lesson. It +will be a hard task for us, but it shall be done, because +the Emperor is invincible." + Thus wrote Colonel D 'Hubert from Pomerania to +his married sister Léonie, settled in the south of France. +And so far the sentiments expressed would not have +been disowned by Colonel Feraud, who wrote no letters +to anybody, whose father had been in life an illiterate +blacksmith, who had no sister or brother, and whom no +one desired ardently to pair off for a life of peace with a +charming young girl. But Colonel D 'Hubert's letter +contained also some philosophical generalities upon the +uncertainty of all personal hopes, when bound up +entirely with the prestigious fortune of one incompar- +ably great it is true, yet still remaining but a man in +his greatness. This view would have appeared rank +heresy to Colonel Feraud. Some melancholy fore- +bodings of a military kind, expressed cautiously, would +have been pronounced as nothing short of high treason +by Colonel Feraud. But Léonie, the sister of Colonel +D'Hubert, read them with profound satisfaction, and, +folding the letter thoughtfully, remarked to herself that +"Armand was likely to prove eventually a sensible +fellow." Since her marriage into a Southern family she +had become a convinced believer in the return of the +legitimate king. Hopeful and anxious she offered +prayers night and morning, and burnt candles in +churches for the safety and prosperity of her brother. + She had every reason to suppose that her prayers +were heard. Colonel D'Hubert passed through Lutzen, +Bautzen, and Leipsic losing no limb, and acquiring + + +THE DUEL 217 + +additional reputation. Adapting his conduct to the +needs of that desperate time, he had never voiced his +misgivings. He concealed them under a cheerful +courtesy of such pleasant character that people were +inclined to ask themselves with wonder whether Colonel +D'Hubert was aware of any disasters. Not only his +manners, but even his glances remained untroubled. +The steady amenity of his blue eyes disconcerted all +grumblers, and made despair itself pause. + This bearing was remarked favourably by the +Emperor himself; for Colonel D'Hubert, attached now +to the Major-General's staff, came on several occasions +under the imperial eye. But it exasperated the higher +strung nature of Colonel Feraud. Passing through +Magdeburg on service, this last allowed himself, while +seated gloomily at dinner with the <i>Commandant de +Place</i>, to say of his life-long adversary: "This man does +not love the Emperor," and his words were received by +the other guests in profound silence. Colonel Feraud, +troubled in his conscience at the atrocity of the asper- +sion, felt the need to back it up by a good argument. +"I ought to know him," he cried, adding some oaths. +"One studies one's adversary. I have met him on the +ground half a dozen times, as all the army knows. +What more do you want? If that isn't opportunity +enough for any fool to size up his man, may the devil +take me if I can tell what is." And he looked around +the table, obstinate and sombre. + Later on in Paris, while extremely busy reorganizing +his regiment, Colonel Feraud learned that Colonel +D'Hubert had been made a general. He glared at his +informant incredulously, then folded his arms and +turned away muttering, "Nothing surprises me on the +part of that man." + And aloud he added, speaking over his shoulder, + + +218 THE DUEL + +"You would oblige me greatly by telling General +D'Hubert at the first opportunity that his advancement +saves him for a time from a pretty hot encounter. I +was only waiting for him to turn up here." + The other officer remonstrated. + "Could you think of it, Colonel Feraud, at this time, +when every life should be consecrated to the glory and +safety of France?" + But the strain of unhappiness caused by military re- +verses had spoiled Colonel Feraud's character. Like +many other men, he was rendered wicked by misfortune. + "I cannot consider General D'Hubert's existence of +any account either for the glory or safety of France," +he snapped viciously. "You don't pretend, perhaps, to +know him better than I do -- I who have met him half a +dozen times on the ground -- do you?" + His interlocutor, a young man, was silenced. Colonel +Feraud walked up and down the room. + "This is not the time to mince matters," he said. "I +can't believe that that man ever loved the Emperor. +He picked up his general's stars under the boots of +Marshal Berthier. Very well. I'll get mine in another +fashion, and then we shall settle this business which has +been dragging on too long." + General D'Hubert, informed indirectly of Colonel +Feraud's attitude, made a gesture as if to put aside an +importunate person. His thoughts were solicited by +graver cares. He had had no time to go and see his +family. His sister, whose royalist hopes were rising +higher every day, though proud of her brother, re- +gretted his recent advancement in a measure, because it +put on him a prominent mark of the usurper's favour, +which later on could have an adverse influence upon his +career. He wrote to her that no one but an inveterate +enemy could say he had got his promotion by favour. + + +THE DUEL 219 + +As to his career, he assured her that he looked no farther +forward into the future than the next battlefield. + Beginning the campaign of France in this dogged +spirit, General D'Hubert was wounded on the second +day of the battle under Laon. While being carried off +the field he heard that Colonel Feraud, promoted this +moment to general, had been sent to replace him at the +head of his brigade. He cursed his luck impulsively, +not being able at the first glance to discern all the ad- +vantages of a nasty wound. And yet it was by this +heroic method that Providence was shaping his future. +Travelling slowly south to his sister's country home +under the care of a trusty old servant, General D'Hu- +bert was spared the humiliating contacts and the per- +plexities of conduct which assailed the men of Napole- +onic empire at the moment of its downfall. Lying in +his bed, with the windows of his room open wide to the +sunshine of Provence, he perceived the undisguised +aspect of the blessing conveyed by that jagged frag- +ment of a Prussian shell, which, killing his horse and +ripping open his thigh, saved him from an active con- +flict with his conscience. After the last fourteen years +spent sword in hand in the saddle, and with the sense of +his duty done to the very end, General D'Hubert found +resignation an easy virtue. His sister was delighted +with his reasonableness. "I leave myself altogether in +your hands, my dear Léonie," he had said to her. + He was still laid up when, the credit of his brother- +in-law's family being exerted on his behalf, he received +from the royal government not only the confirmation of +his rank, but the assurance of being retained on the +active list. To this was added an unlimited conva- +lescent leave. The unfavourable opinion entertained +of him in Bonapartist circles, though it rested on noth- +ing more solid than the unsupported pronouncement of + + +220 THE DUEL + +General Feraud, was directly responsible for General +D'Hubert's retention on the active list. As to General +Feraud, his rank was confirmed, too. It was more than +he dared to expect; but Marshal Soult, then Minister +of War to the restored king, was partial to officers who +had served in Spain. Only not even the marshal's +protection could secure for him active employment. +He remained irreconcilable, idle, and sinister. He +sought in obscure restaurants the company of other +half-pay officers who cherished dingy but glorious old +tricolour cockades in their breast-pockets, and buttoned +with the forbidden eagle buttons their shabby uniforms, +declaring themselves too poor to afford the expense of +the prescribed change. + The triumphant return from Elba, an historical fact +as marvellous and incredible as the exploits of some +mythological demi-god, found General D'Hubert still +quite unable to sit a horse. Neither could he walk +very well. These disabilities, which Madame Léonie +accounted most lucky, helped to keep her brother out of +all possible mischief. His frame of mind at that time, +she noted with dismay, became very far from reason- +able. This general officer, still menaced by the loss of +a limb, was discovered one night in the stables of the +château by a groom, who, seeing a light, raised an +alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying half-buried in +the straw of the litter, and the general was hopping on +one leg in a loose box around a snorting horse he was +trying to saddle. Such were the effects of imperial +magic upon a calm temperament and a pondered mind. +Beset in the light of stable lanterns, by the tears, en- +treaties, indignation, remonstrances and reproaches +of his family, he got out of the difficult situation by +fainting away there and then in the arms of his nearest +relatives, and was carried off to bed. Before he got + + +THE DUEL 221 + +out of it again, the second reign of Napoleon, the +Hundred Days of feverish agitation and supreme +effort, passed away like a terrifying dream. The +tragic year 1815, begun in the trouble and unrest of +consciences, was ending in vengeful proscriptions. + How General Feraud escaped the clutches of the +Special Commission and the last offices of a firing squad +he never knew himself. It was partly due to the +subordinate position he was assigned during the Hun- +dred Days. The Emperor had never given him active +command, but had kept him busy at the cavalry +depot in Paris, mounting and despatching hastily +drilled troopers into the field. Considering this task +as unworthy of his abilities, he had discharged it with +no offensively noticeable zeal; but for the greater part +he was saved from the excesses of Royalist reaction by +the interference of General D'Hubert. + This last, still on convalescent leave, but able now to +travel, had been despatched by his sister to Paris to +present himself to his legitimate sovereign. As no one +in the capital could possibly know anything of the +episode in the stable he was received there with distinc- +tion. Military to the very bottom of his soul, the pros- +pect of rising in his profession consoled him from +finding himself the butt of Bonapartist malevolence, +which pursued him with a persistence he could not +account for. All the rancour of that embittered and +persecuted party pointed to him as the man who had +<i>never</i> loved the Emperor -- a sort of monster essentially +worse than a mere betrayer. + General D'Hubert shrugged his shoulders without +anger at this ferocious prejudice. Rejected by his old +friends, and mistrusting profoundly the advances of +Royalist society, the young and handsome general (he +was barely forty) adopted a manner of cold, punctilious + + +222 THE DUEL + +courtesy, which at the merest shadow of an intended +slight passed easily into harsh haughtiness. Thus pre- +pared, General D'Hubert went about his affairs in Paris +feeling inwardly very happy with the peculiar up- +lifting happiness of a man very much in love. The +charming girl looked out by his sister had come upon +the scene, and had conquered him in the thorough +manner in which a young girl by merely existing in his +sight can make a man of forty her own. They were go- +ing to be married as soon as General D'Hubert had +obtained his official nomination to a promised com- +mand. + One afternoon, sitting on the <i>terrasse</i> of the <i>Café +Tortoni</i>, General D'Hubert learned from the con- +versation of two strangers occupying a table near his +own, that General Feraud, included in the batch of +superior officers arrested after the second return of the +king, was in danger of passing before the Special Com- +mission. Living all his spare moments, as is frequently +the case with expectant lovers, a day in advance of +reality, and in a state of bestarred hallucination, it +required nothing less than the name of his perpetual +antagonist pronounced in a loud voice to call the +youngest of Napoleon's generals away from the +mental contemplation of his betrothed. He looked +round. The strangers wore civilian clothes. Lean and +weather-beaten, lolling back in their chairs, they +scowled at people with moody and defiant abstraction +from under their hats pulled low over their eyes. It +was not difficult to recognize them for two of the +compulsorily retired officers of the Old Guard. As +from bravado or carelessness they chose to speak in loud +tones, General D'Hubert, who saw no reason why he +should change his seat, heard every word. They did +not seem to be the personal friends of General Feraud. + + +THE DUEL 223 + +His name came up amongst others. Hearing it +repeated, General D'Hubert's tender anticipations of a +domestic future adorned with a woman's grace were +traversed by the harsh regret of his warlike past, of +that one long, intoxicating clash of arms, unique in the +magnitude of its glory and disaster -- the marvellous +work and the special possession of his own generation. +He felt an irrational tenderness towards his old adver- +sary and appreciated emotionally the murderous ab- +surdity their encounter had introduced into his life. It +was like an additional pinch of spice in a hot dish. He +remembered the flavour with sudden melancholy. He +would never taste it again. It was all over. "I fancy it +was being left lying in the garden that had exasperated +him so against me from the first," he thought, indul- +gently. + + The two strangers at the next table had fallen silent +after the third mention of General Feraud's name. Pres- +ently the elder of the two, speaking again in a bitter +tone, affirmed that General Feraud's account was set- +tled. And why? Simply because he was not like some +bigwigs who loved only themselves. The Royalists +knew they could never make anything of him. He +loved <i>The Other</i> too well. + <i>The Other</i> was the Man of St. Helena. The two +officers nodded and touched glasses before they drank +to an impossible return. Then the same who had +spoken before, remarked with a sardonic laugh, "His +adversary showed more cleverness." + "What adversary?" asked the younger, as if puzzled. + "Don't you know? They were two hussars. At +each promotion they fought a duel. Haven't you heard +of the duel going on ever since 1801?" + The other had heard of the duel, of course. Now he +understood the allusion. General Baron D'Hubert + + +224 THE DUEL + +would be able now to enjoy his fat king's favour in +peace. + "Much good may it do to him," mumbled the elder. +"They were both brave men. I never saw this D'Hu- +bert -- a sort of intriguing dandy, I am told. But I can +well believe what I've heard Feraud say of him -- that +he <i>never</i> loved the Emperor." + They rose and went away. + General D'Hubert experienced the horror of a som- +nambulist who wakes up from a complacent dream of +activity to find himself walking on a quagmire. A +profound disgust of the ground on which he was making +his way overcame him. Even the image of the charm- +ing girl was swept from his view in the flood of moral +distress. Everything he had ever been or hoped to be +would taste of bitter ignominy unless he could manage +to save General Feraud from the fate which threatened +so many braves. Under the impulse of this almost +morbid need to attend to the safety of his adversary, +General D'Hubert worked so well with hands and feet +(as the French saying is), that in less than twenty-four +hours he found means of obtaining an extraordinary +private audience from the Minister of Police. + General Baron D'Hubert was shown in suddenly +without preliminaries. In the dusk of the Minister's +cabinet, behind the forms of writing-desk, chairs, and +tables, between two bunches of wax candles blazing in +sconces, he beheld a figure in a gorgeous coat posturing +before a tall mirror. The old <i>conventionnel</i> Fouché, +Senator of the Empire, traitor to every man, to every +principle and motive of human conduct. Duke of Otran- +to, and the wily artizan of the second Restoration, was +trying the fit of a court suit in which his young and +accomplished <i>fiancée</i> had declared her intention to have +his portrait painted on porcelain. It was a caprice, a + + +THE DUEL 223 + +charming fancy which the first Minister of Police of the +second Restoration was anxious to gratify. For that +man, often compared in wiliness of conduct to a fox, +but whose ethical side could be worthily symbolized +by nothing less emphatic than a skunk, was as much +possessed by his love as General D'Hubert himself. + Startled to be discovered thus by the blunder of a +servant, he met this little vexation with the characteris- +tic impudence which had served his turn so well in the +endless intrigues of his self-seeking career. Without +altering his attitude a hair's-breadth, one leg in a silk +stocking advanced, his head twisted over his left +shoulder, he called out calmly, "This way, General. +Pray approach. Well? I am all attention." + While General D'Hubert, ill at ease as if one of his +own little weaknesses had been exposed, presented his +request as shortly as possible, the Duke of Otranto went +on feeling the fit of his collar, settling the lapels before +the glass, and buckling his back in an effort to behold +the set of the gold embroidered coat-skirts behind. His +still face, his attentive eyes, could not have expressed a +more complete interest in those matters if he had been +alone. + "Exclude from the operations of the Special Court +a certain Feraud, Gabriel Florian, General of brigade +of the promotion of 1814?" he repeated, in a slightly +wondering tone, and then turned away from the glass. +"Why exclude <i>him</i> precisely?" + + "I am surprised that your Excellency, so competent +in the evaluation of men of his time, should have +thought worth while to have that name put down on +the list." + "A rabid Bonapartist!" + "So is every grenadier and every trooper of the army, +as your Excellency well knows. And the individuality + + +226 THE DUEL + +of General Feraud can have no more weight than that +of any casual grenadier. He is a man of no mental +grasp, of no capacity whatever. It is inconceivable +that he should ever have any influence." + "He has a well-hung tongue, though," interjected +Fouché. + "Noisy, I admit, but not dangerous." + "I will not dispute with you. I know next to noth- +ing of him. Hardly his name, in fact." + "And yet your Excellency has the presidency of the +Commission charged by the king to point out those who +were to be tried," said General D'Hubert, with an +emphasis which did not miss the minister's ear. + "Yes, General," he said, walking away into the dark +part of the vast room, and throwing himself into a deep +armchair that swallowed him up, all but the soft gleam +of gold embroideries and the pallid patch of the face -- +"yes, General. Take this chair there." + General D'Hubert sat down. + "Yes, General," continued the arch-master in the +arts of intrigue and betrayals, whose duplicity, as if at +times intolerable to his self-knowledge, found relief in +bursts of cynical openness. "I did hurry on the forma- +tion of the proscribing Commission, and I took its presi- +dency. And do you know why? Simply from fear +that if I did not take it quickly into my hands my own +name would head the list of the proscribed. Such are +the times in which we live. But I am minister of the +king yet, and I ask you plainly why I should take the +name of this obscure Feraud off the list? You wonder +how his name got there! Is it possible that you should +know men so little? My dear General, at the very +first sitting of the Commission names poured on us like +rain off the roof of the Tuileries. Names! We had our +choice of thousands. How do you know that the name + + +THE DUEL 227 + +of this Feraud, whose life or death don't matter to +France, does not keep out some other name?" + The voice out of the armchair stopped. Opposite +General D'Hubert sat still, shadowy and silent. Only +his sabre clinked slightly. The voice in the armchair +began again. "And we must try to satisfy the exigencies +of the Allied Sovereigns, too. The Prince de Talleyrand +told me only yesterday that Nesselrode had informed +him officially of His Majesty the Emperor Alexander's +dissatisfaction at the small number of examples the +Government of the king intends to make -- especially +amongst military men. I tell you this confidentially." + "Upon my word!" broke out General D'Hubert, +speaking through his teeth, "if your Excellency deigns +to favour me with any more confidential information I +don't know what I will do. It's enough to break one's +sword over one's knee, and fling the pieces. . . ." + "What government you imagined yourself to be +serving?" interrupted the minister, sharply. + After a short pause the crestfallen voice of General +D'Hubert answered, "The Government of France." + "That's paying your conscience off with mere words, +General. The truth is that you are serving a govern- +ment of returned exiles, of men who have been without +country for twenty years. Of men also who have just +got over a very bad and humiliating fright. . . . +Have no illusions on that score." + The Duke of Otranto ceased. He had relieved him- +self, and had attained his object of stripping some self- +respect off that man who had inconveniently discovered +him posturing in a gold-embroidered court costume +before a mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot in the +army; it occurred to him that it would be inconvenient +if a well-disposed general officer, received in audience +on the recommendation of one of the Princes, were to + + +228 THE DUEL + +do something rashly scandalous directly after a pri- +vate interview with the minister. In a changed tone +he put a question to the point: "Your relation -- this +Feraud?" + "No. No relation at all." + "Intimate friend?" + "Intimate . . . yes. There is between us an +intimate connection of a nature which makes it a point +of honour with me to try . . ." + The minister rang a bell without waiting for the end +of the phrase. When the servant had gone out, after +bringing in a pair of heavy silver candelabra for the +writing-desk, the Duke of Otranto rose, his breast glis- +tening all over with gold in the strong light, and taking a +piece of paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand osten- +tatiously while he said with persuasive gentleness: +"You must not speak of breaking your sword across +your knee, General. Perhaps you would never get +another. The Emperor will not return this time. . . . +<i>Diable d'homme!</i> There was just a moment, here in +Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me. +It looked as though he were ready to begin all over +again. Luckily one never does begin all over again, +really. You must not think of breaking your sword, +General." + General D'Hubert, looking on the ground, moved +slightly his hand in a hopeless gesture of renunciation. +The Minister of Police turned his eyes away from him, +and scanned deliberately the paper he had been holding +up all the time. + "There are only twenty general officers selected to +be made an example of. Twenty. A round number. +And let's see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he's there. Ga- +briel Florian. <i>Parfaitement</i>. That's your man. Well, +there will be only nineteen examples made now." + + +THE DUEL 229 + + General D'Hubert stood up feeling as though he had +gone through an infectious illness. "I must beg your +Excellency to keep my interference a profound secret. +I attach the greatest importance to his never learn- +ing . . ." + "Who is going to inform him, I should like to know?" +said Fouché, raising his eyes curiously to General +D'Hubert's tense, set face. "Take one of these pens, +and run it through the name yourself. This is the +only list in existence. If you are careful to take up +enough ink no one will be able to tell what was the +name struck out. But, <i>par exemple</i>, I am not responsi- +ble for what Clarke will do with him afterwards. If he +persists in being rabid he will be ordered by the Minister +of War to reside in some provincial town under the +supervision of the police." + A few days later General D'Hubert was saying to his +sister, after the first greetings had been got over: "Ah, +my dear Léonie! it seemed to me I couldn't get away +from Paris quick enough." + "Effect of love," she suggested, with a malicious +smile. + "And horror," added General D'Hubert, with pro- +found seriousness. "I have nearly died there of . . . +of nausea." + His face was contracted with disgust. And as his +sister looked at him attentively he continued, "I have +had to see Fouché. I have had an audience. I have +been in his cabinet. There remains with one, who had +the misfortune to breathe the air of the same room with +that man, a sense of diminished dignity, an uneasy feel- +ing of being not so clean, after all, as one hoped one +was. . . . But you can't understand." + She nodded quickly several times. She understood +very well, on the contrary. She knew her brother + + +230 THE DUEL + +thoroughly, and liked him as he was. Moreover, the +scorn and loathing of mankind were the lot of the +<i>Jacobin</i> Fouché, who, exploiting for his own advantage +every weakness, every virtue, every generous illusion of +mankind, made dupes of his whole generation, and died +obscurely as Duke of Otranto. + "My dear Armand," she said, compassionately, "what +could you want from that man?" + "Nothing less than a life," answered General +D'Hubert. "And I've got it. It had to be done. But +I feel yet as if I could never forgive the necessity to the +man I had to save." + General Feraud, totally unable (as is the case with +most of us) to comprehend what was happening to him, +received the Minister of War's order to proceed at once +to a small town of Central France with feelings whose +natural expression consisted in a fierce rolling of the eye +and savage grinding of the teeth. The passing away of +the state of war, the only condition of society he had +ever known, the horrible view of a world at peace, +frightened him. He went away to his little town firmly +convinced that this could not last. There he was in- +formed of his retirement from the army, and that his +pension (calculated on the scale of a colonel's rank) was +made dependent on the correctness of his conduct, and +on the good reports of the police. No longer in the +army! He felt suddenly strange to the earth, like a +disembodied spirit. It was impossible to exist. But +at first he reacted from sheer incredulity. This could +not be. He waited for thunder, earthquakes, natural +cataclysms; but nothing happened. The leaden weight +of an irremediable idleness descended upon General +Feraud, who having no resources within himself sank +into a state of awe-inspiring hebetude. He haunted the +streets of the little town, gazing before him with lack- + + +THE DUEL 231 + +lustre eyes, disregarding the hats raised on his passage; +and people, nudging each other as he went by, whispered, +"That's poor General Feraud. His heart is broken. +Behold how he loved the Emperor." + The other living wreckage of Napoleonic tempest +clustered round General Feraud with infinite respect. +He, himself, imagined his soul to be crushed by grief. +He suffered from quickly succeeding impulses to weep, +to howl, to bite his fists till blood came, to spend days on +his bed with his head thrust under the pillow; but these +arose from sheer ennui, from the anguish of an immense, +indescribable, inconceivable boredom. His mental in- +ability to grasp the hopeless nature of his case as a +whole saved him from suicide. He never even thought +of it once. He thought of nothing. But his appetite +abandoned him, and the difficulty he experienced to +express the overwhelming nature of his feelings (the +most furious swearing could do no justice to it) induced +gradually a habit of silence -- a sort of death to a +southern temperament. + Great, therefore, was the sensation amongst the <i>an- +ciens militaires</i> frequenting a certain little café full of flies +when one stuffy afternoon "that poor General Feraud" +let out suddenly a volley of formidable curses. + He had been sitting quietly in his own privileged +corner looking through the Paris gazettes with just as +much interest as a condemned man on the eve of exe- +cution could be expected to show in the news of the day. +A cluster of martial, bronzed faces, amongst which there +was one lacking an eye, and another the tip of a nose, +frost-bitten in Russia, surrounded him anxiously. + "What's the matter, General?" + General Feraud sat erect, holding the folded news- +paper at arm's length in order to make out the small +print better. He read to himself, over again, fragments + + +232 THE DUEL + +of the intelligence which had caused, what may be called +his resurrection. + "<i>We are informed that General d' Hubert, till now on +sick leave in the south, is to be called to the command of the +5th Cavalry brigade in . . .</i>" + He dropped the paper stonily. . . . "Called to +the command" . . . and suddenly gave his fore- +head a mighty slap. "I had almost forgotten him," +he muttered, in a conscience-stricken tone. + A deep-chested veteran shouted across the café: +"Some new villainy of the Government, General?" + "The villainies of these scoundrels," thundered +General Feraud, "are innumerable. One more, one +less!" . . . He lowered his tone. "But I will set +good order to one of them at least." + He looked all round the faces. "There's a pomaded, +curled staff officer, the darling of some of the marshals +who sold their father for a handful of English gold. He +will find out presently that I am alive yet," he declared, +in a dogmatic tone. "However, this is a private affair. +An old affair of honour. Bah! Our honour does not +matter. Here we are driven off with a split ear like a +lot of cast troop horses -- good only for a knacker's +yard. But it would be like striking a blow for the +Emperor. . . . Messieurs, I shall require the assis- +tance of two of you." + Every man moved forward. General Feraud, deeply +touched by this demonstration, called with visible +emotion upon the one-eyed veteran cuirassier and the +officer of the Chasseurs à Cheval who had left the tip of +his nose in Russia. He excused his choice to the others. + "A cavalry affair this -- you know." + He was answered with a varied chorus of "<i>Parfaite- +ment, mon Général. . . . C'est juste. . . . Par- +bleu, c'est connu</i>. . . ." Everybody was satisfied. + + +THE DUEL 233 + +The three left the café together, followed by cries of +"<i>Bonne chance</i>." + Outside they linked arms, the general in the middle. +The three rusty cocked hats worn <i>en bataille</i> with a +sinister forward slant barred the narrow street nearly +right across. The overheated little town of grey stones +and red tiles was drowsing away its provincial afternoon +under a blue sky. The loud blows of a cooper hooping +a cask reverberated regularly between the houses. The +general dragged his left foot a little in the shade of the +walls. + "This damned winter of 1813 has got into my bones +for good. Never mind. We must take pistols, that's +all. A little lumbago. We must have pistols. He's +game for my bag. My eyes are as keen as ever. You +should have seen me in Russia picking off the dodging +Cossacks with a beastly old infantry musket. I have a +natural gift for firearms." + In this strain General Feraud ran on, holding up his +head, with owlish eyes and rapacious beak. A mere +fighter all his life, a cavalry man, a <i>sabreur</i>, he conceived +war with the utmost simplicity, as, in the main, a massed +lot of personal contests, a sort of gregarious duelling. +And here he had in hand a war of his own. He revived. +The shadow of peace passed away from him like the +shadow of death. It was the marvellous resurrection of +the named Feraud, Gabriel Florian, <i>engagé volontaire</i> +of 1793, General of 1814, buried without ceremony by +means of a service order signed by the War Minister +of the Second Restoration. + + +IV + + No man succeeds in everything he undertakes. In +that sense we are all failures. The great point is not + + +234 THE DUEL + +to fail in ordering and sustaining the effort of our life. +In this matter vanity is what leads us astray. It hurries +us into situations from which we must come out dam- +aged; whereas pride is our safeguard, by the reserve it +imposes on the choice of our endeavour as much as by +the virtue of its sustaining power. + General D'Hubert was proud and reserved. He had +not been damaged by his casual love affairs, successful +or otherwise. In his war-scarred body his heart at forty +remained unscratched. Entering with reserve into his +sister's matrimonial plans, he had felt himself falling +irremediably in love as one falls off a roof. He was too +proud to be frightened. Indeed, the sensation was too +delightful to be alarming. + The inexperience of a man of forty is a much more +serious thing than the inexperience of a youth of twenty, +for it is not helped out by the rashness of hot blood. +The girl was mysterious, as young girls are by the +mere effect of their guarded ingenuity; and to him the +mysteriousness of that young girl appeared exceptional +and fascinating. But there was nothing mysterious +about the arrangements of the match which Madame +Léonie had promoted. There was nothing peculiar, +either. It was a very appropriate match, commending +itself extremely to the young lady's mother (the father +was dead) and tolerable to the young lady's uncle -- an +old <i>émigré</i> lately returned from Germany, and pervad- +ing, cane in hand, a lean ghost of the <i>ancien régime</i>, the +garden walks of the young lady's ancestral home. + General D'Hubert was not the man to be satisfied +merely with the woman and the fortune -- when it came +to the point. His pride (and pride aims always at true +success) would be satisfied with nothing short of love. +But as true pride excludes vanity, he could not imagine +any reason why this mysterious creature with deep and + + +THE DUEL 236 + +brilliant eyes of a violet colour should have any feeling +for him warmer than indifference. The young lady (her +name was Adèle) baffled every attempt at a clear under- +standing on that point. It is true that the attempts +were clumsy and made timidly, because by then General +D'Hubert had become acutely aware of the number of +his years, of his wounds, of his many moral imperfec- +tions, of his secret unworthiness -- and had incidentally +learned by experience the meaning of the word funk. +As far as he could make out she seemed to imply that, +with an unbounded confidence in her mother's affection +and sagacity, she felt no unsurmountable dislike for the +person of General D'Hubert; and that this was quite +sufficient for a well-brought-up young lady to begin +married life upon. This view hurt and tormented the +pride of General D'Hubert. And yet he asked himself, +with a sort of sweet despair, what more could he expect? +She had a quiet and luminous forehead. Her violet eyes +laughed while the lines of her lips and chin remained +composed in admirable gravity. All this was set off by +such a glorious mass of fair hair, by a complexion so +marvellous, by such a grace of expression, that General +D'Hubert really never found the opportunity to examine +with sufficient detachment the lofty exigencies of his +pride. In fact, he became shy of that line of inquiry +since it had led once or twice to a crisis of solitary pas- +sion in which it was borne upon him that he loved her +enough to kill her rather than lose her. From such +passages, not unknown to men of forty, he would come +out broken, exhausted, remorseful, a little dismayed. +He derived, however, considerable comfort from the +quietist practice of sitting now and then half the night +by an open window and meditating upon the wonder +of her existence, like a believer lost in the mystic con- +templation of his faith. + + +236 THE DUEL + + It must not be supposed that all these variations of +his inward state were made manifest to the world. +General D 'Hubert found no difficulty in appearing +wreathed in smiles. Because, in fact, he was very +happy. He followed the established rules of his condi- +tion, sending over flowers (from his sister's garden and +hot-houses) early every morning, and a little later fol- +lowing himself to lunch with his intended, her mother, +and her <i>émigré uncle. The middle of the day was spent +in strolling or sitting in the shade. A watchful defer- +ence, trembling on the verge of tenderness was the note +of their intercourse on his side -- with a playful turn of +the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole +being caused by her inaccessible nearness. Late in the +afternoon General D 'Hubert walked home between the +fields of vines, sometimes intensely miserable, some- +times supremely happy, sometimes pensively sad; but +always feeling a special intensity of existence, that ela- +tion common to artists, poets, and lovers -- to men +haunted by a great passion, a noble thought, or a new +vision of plastic beauty. + The outward world at that time did not exist with +any special distinctness for General D'Hubert. One +evening, however, crossing a ridge from which he could +see both houses, General D'Hubert became aware of two +figures far down the road. The day had been divine. +The festal decoration of the inflamed sky lent a gentle +glow to the sober tints of the southern land. The grey +rocks, the brown fields, the purple, undulating distances +harmonized in luminous accord, exhaled already the +scents of the evening. The two figures down the road +presented themselves like two rigid and wooden sil- +houettes all black on the ribbon of white dust. General +D'Hubert made out the long, straight, military <i>capotes</i> +buttoned closely right up to the black stocks, the cocked + + +THE DUEL 237 + +hats, the lean, carven, brown countenances -- old soldiers +-- <i>vieilles moustaches!</i> The taller of the two had a +black patch over one eye; the other's hard, dry coun- +tenance presented some bizarre, disquieting peculiarity, +which on nearer approach proved to be the absence of +the tip of the nose. Lifting their hands with one move- +ment to salute the slightly lame civilian walking with a +thick stick, they inquired for the house where the Gen- +eral Baron D'Hubert lived, and what was the best way +to get speech with him quietly. + "If you think this quiet enough," said General +D'Hubert, looking round at the vine-fields, framed in +purple lines, and dominated by the nest of grey and +drab walls of a village clustering around the top of a +conical hill, so that the blunt church tower seemed but +the shape of a crowning rock -- "if you think this spot +quiet enough, you can speak to him at once. And I +beg you, comrades, to speak openly, with perfect con- +fidence." + They stepped back at this, and raised again their +hands to their hats with marked ceremoniousness. +Then the one with the chipped nose, speaking for both, +remarked that the matter was confidential enough, and +to be arranged discreetly. Their general quarters were +established in that village over there, where the infernal +clodhoppers -- damn their false, Royalist hearts! -- looked +remarkably cross-eyed at three unassuming military +men. For the present he should only ask for the name +of General D'Hubert's friends. + "What friends?" said the astonished General D'Hu- +bert, completely off the track. "I am staying with my +brother-in-law over there." + "Well, he will do for one," said the chipped veteran. + "We're the friends of General Feraud," interjected +the other, who had kept silent till then, only glowering + + +238 THE DUEL + +with his one eye at the man who had <i>never</i> loved the +Emperor. That was something to look at. For even +the gold-laced Judases who had sold him to the English, +the marshals and princes, had loved him at some time or +other. But this man had <i>never</i> loved the Emperor. +General Feraud had said so distinctly. + General D'Hubert felt an inward blow in his chest. +For an infinitesimal fraction of a second it was as if +the spinning of the earth had become perceptible with +an awful, slight rustle in the eternal stillness of space. +But this noise of blood in his ears passed off at once. +Involuntarily he murmured, "Feraud! I had forgotten +his existence." + "He's existing at present, very uncomfortably, it is +true, in the infamous inn of that nest of savages up +there," said the one-eyed cuirassier, drily. "We arrived +in your parts an hour ago on post horses. He's awaiting +our return with impatience. There is hurry, you know. +The General has broken the ministerial order to obtain +from you the satisfaction he's entitled to by the laws of +honour, and naturally he's anxious to have it all over +before the <i>gendarmerie</i> gets on his scent." + The other elucidated the idea a little further. "Get +back on the quiet -- you understand? Phitt! No one +the wiser. We have broken out, too. Your friend the +king would be glad to cut off our scurvy pittances at the +first chance. It's a risk. But honour before every- +thing." + General D'Hubert had recovered his powers of +speech. "So you come here like this along the road +to invite me to a throat-cutting match with that -- +that . . ." A laughing sort of rage took possession +of him. "Ha! ha! ha! ha!" + His fists on his hips, he roared without restraint, while +they stood before him lank and straight, as though they + + +THE DUEL 239 + +had been shot up with a snap through a trap door in the +ground. Only four-and-twenty months ago the mas- +ters of Europe, they had already the air of antique +ghosts, they seemed less substantial in their faded coats +than their own narrow shadows falling so black across +the white road: the military and grotesque shadows of +twenty years of war and conquests. They had an out- +landish appearance of two imperturbable bonzes of the +religion of the sword. And General D'Hubert, also one +of the ex-masters of Europe, laughed at these serious +phantoms standing in his way. + Said one, indicating the laughing General with a jerk +of the head: "A merry companion, that." + "There are some of us that haven't smiled from the +day <i>The Other</i> went away," remarked his comrade. + A violent impulse to set upon and beat those unsub- +stantial wraiths to the ground frightened General +D'Hubert. He ceased laughing suddenly. His desire +now was to get rid of them, to get them away from his +sight quickly before he lost control of himself. He +wondered at the fury he felt rising in his breast. But +he had no time to look into that peculiarity just then. + "I understand your wish to be done with me as +quickly as possible. Don't let us waste time in empty +ceremonies. Do you see that wood there at the foot of +that slope? Yes, the wood of pines. Let us meet there +to-morrow at sunrise. I will bring with me my sword +or my pistols, or both if you like." + The seconds of General Feraud looked at each other. + "Pistols, General," said the cuirassier. + "So be it. Au revoir -- to-morrow morning. Till +then let me advise you to keep close if you don't want +the <i>gendarmerie</i> making inquiries about you before it +gets dark. Strangers are rare in this part of the coun- +try." + + +240 THE DUEL + + They saluted in silence. General D'Hubert, turning +his back on their retreating forms, stood still in the +middle of the road for a long time, biting his lower lip +and looking on the ground. Then he began to walk +straight before him, thus retracing his steps till he found +himself before the park gate of his intended's house. +Dusk had fallen. Motionless he stared through the +bars at the front of the house, gleaming clear beyond the +thickets and trees. Footsteps scrunched on the gravel, +and presently a tall stooping shape emerged from the +lateral alley following the inner side of the park wall. + Le Chevalier de Valmassigue, uncle of the adorable +Adèle, ex-brigadier in the army of the Princes, book- +binder in Altona, afterwards shoemaker (with a great +reputation for elegance in the fit of ladies' shoes) in +another small German town, wore silk stockings on his +lean shanks, low shoes with silver buckles, a brocaded +waistcoat. A long-skirted coat, <i>à la française</i>, covered +loosely his thin, bowed back. A small three-cornered +hat rested on a lot of powdered hair, tied in a queue. + "<i>Monsieur le Chevalier</i>," called General D'Hubert, +softly. + "What? You here again, <i>mon ami?</i> Have you +forgotten something?" + "By heavens! that's just it. I have forgotten some- +thing. I am come to tell you of it. No -- outside. +Behind this wall. It's too ghastly a thing to be let in +at all where she lives." + The Chevalier came out at once with that benevolent +resignation some old people display towards the fugue +of youth. Older by a quarter of a century than General +D'Hubert, he looked upon him in the secret of his heart +as a rather troublesome youngster in love. He had +heard his enigmatical words very well, but attached no +undue importance to what a mere man of forty so hard + + +THE DUEL 241 + +hit was likely to do or say. The turn of mind of the +generation of Frenchmen grown up during the years of +his exile was almost unintelligible to him. Their senti- +ments appeared to him unduly violent, lacking fineness +and measure, their language needlessly exaggerated. +He joined calmly the General on the road, and they +made a few steps in silence, the General trying to master +his agitation, and get proper control of his voice. + "It is perfectly true; I forgot something. I forgot +till half an hour ago that I had an urgent affair of honour +on my hands. It's incredible, but it is so!" + All was still for a moment. Then in the profound +evening silence of the countryside the clear, aged voice +of the Chevalier was heard trembling slightly: "Mon- +sieur! That's an indignity." + It was his first thought. The girl born during his +exile, the posthumous daughter of his poor brother mur- +dered by a band of Jacobins, had grown since his return +very dear to his old heart, which had been starving on +mere memories of affection for so many years. "It is +an inconceivable thing, I say! A man settles such af- +fairs before he thinks of asking for a young girl's hand. +Why! If you had forgotten for ten days longer, you +would have been married before your memory returned +to you. In my time men did not forget such things -- +nor yet what is due to the feelings of an innocent young +woman. If I did not respect them myself, I would +qualify your conduct in a way which you would not +like." + General D'Hubert relieved himself frankly by a +groan. "Don't let that consideration prevent you. +You run no risk of offending her mortally." + But the old man paid no attention to this lover's +nonsense. It's doubtful whether he even heard. +"What is it? "he asked. "What's the nature of . . . ?" + + +242 THE DUEL + + "Call it a youthful folly, <i>Monsieur le Chevalier</i>. An +inconceivable, incredible result of . . ." He stopped +short. "He will never believe the story," he thought. +"He will only think I am taking him for a fool, and get +offended." General D'Hubert spoke up again: "Yes, +originating in youthful folly, it has become . . ." + The Chevalier interrupted: "Well, then it must be +arranged." + "Arranged?" + "Yes, no matter at what cost to your <i>amour propre</i>. +You should have remembered you were engaged. You +forgot that, too, I suppose. And then you go and forget +your quarrel. It's the most hopeless exhibition of levity +I ever heard of." + "Good heavens, Monsieur! You don't imagine I +have been picking up this quarrel last time I was in +Paris, or anything of the sort, do you?" + "Eh! What matters the precise date of your insane +conduct," exclaimed the Chevalier, testily. "The prin- +cipal thing is to arrange it." + Noticing General D'Hubert getting restive and try- +ing to place a word, the old <i>émigré</i> raised his hand, and +added with dignity, "I've been a soldier, too. I would +never dare suggest a doubtful step to the man whose +name my niece is to bear. I tell you that <i>entre galants +hommes</i> an affair can always be arranged." + "But <i>saperiotte, Monsieur le Chevalier</i>, it's fifteen or +sixteen years ago. I was a lieutenant of hussars then." + The old Chevalier seemed confounded by the vehe- +mently despairing tone of this information. "You +were a lieutenant of hussars sixteen years ago," he mum- +bled in a dazed manner. + "Why, yes! You did not suppose I was made a +general in my cradle like a royal prince." + In the deepening purple twilight of the fields spread + + +THE DUEL 243 + +with vine leaves, backed by a low band of sombre crim- +son in the west, the voice of the old ex-officer in the army +of the Princes sounded collected, punctiliously civil. + "Do I dream? Is this a pleasantry? Or am I to +understand that you have been hatching an affair of +honour for sixteen years?" + "It has clung to me for that length of time. That is +my precise meaning. The quarrel itself is not to be +explained easily. We met on the ground several times +during that time, of course." + "What manners! What horrible perversion of man- +liness! Nothing can account for such inhumanity but +the sanguinary madness of the Revolution which has +tainted a whole generation," mused the returned <i>émigré</i> +in a low tone. "Who's your adversary?" he asked a +little louder. + "My adversary? His name is Feraud." + Shadowy in his <i>tricorne</i> and old-fashioned clothes, +like a bowed, thin ghost of the <i>ancien régime</i>, the Cheva- +lier voiced a ghostly memory. "I can remember the +feud about little Sophie Derval, between Monsieur +de Brissac, Captain in the Bodyguards, and d'Anjorrant +(not the pock-marked one, the other -- the Beau +d'Anjorrant, as they called him). They met three times +in eighteen months in a most gallant manner. It was +the fault of that little Sophie, too, who <i>would</i> keep on +playing . . ." + "This is nothing of the kind," interrupted General +D'Hubert. He laughed a little sardonically. "Not at +all so simple," he added. "Nor yet half so reasonable," +he finished, inaudibly, between his teeth, and ground +them with rage. + After this sound nothing troubled the silence for a +long time, till the Chevalier asked, without animation: +"What is he -- this Feraud?" + + +244 THE DUEL + + "Lieutenant of hussars, too -- I mean, he's a general. +A Gascon. Son of a blacksmith, I believe." + "There! I thought so. That Bonaparte had a +special predilection for the <i>canaille</i>. I don't mean this +for you, D'Hubert. You are one of us, though you have +served this usurper, who . . ." + "Let's leave him out of this," broke in General D'Hu- +bert. + The Chevalier shrugged his peaked shoulders. "Fe- +raud of sorts. Offspring of a blacksmith and some +village troll. See what comes of mixing yourself up +with that sort of people." + "You have made shoes yourself, Chevalier." + "Yes. But I am not the son of a shoemaker. Neither +are you, Monsieur D'Hubert. You and I have some- +thing that your Bonaparte's princes, dukes, and mar- +shals have not, because there's no power on earth that +could give it to them," retorted the <i>émigré</i>, with the +rising animation of a man who has got hold of a hopeful +argument. "Those people don't exist -- all these Fe- +rauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A <i>va-nu-pieds</i> dis- +guised into a general by a Corsican adventurer mas- +querading as an emperor. There is no earthly reason +for a D'Hubert to <i>s'encanailler</i> by a duel with a person +of that sort. You can make your excuses to him per- +fectly well. And if the <i>manant</i> takes into his head to +decline them, you may simply refuse to meet him." + "You say I may do that?" + "I do. With the clearest conscience." + "<i>Monsieur le Chevalier!</i> To what do you think you +have returned from your emigration?" + This was said in such a startling tone that the old +man raised sharply his bowed head, glimmering silvery +white under the points of the little <i>tricorne</i>. For a time +he made no sound. + + +THE DUEL 245 + + "God knows!" he said at last, pointing with a slow +and grave gesture at a tall roadside cross mounted on a +block of stone, and stretching its arms of forged iron all +black against the darkening red band in the sky -- "God +knows! If it were not for this emblem, which I remem- +ber seeing on this spot as a child, I would wonder to +what we who remained faithful to God and our king +have returned. The very voices of the people have +changed." + "Yes, it is a changed France," said General D'Hu- +bert. He seemed to have regained his calm. His tone +was slightly ironic. "Therefore I cannot take your +advice. Besides, how is one to refuse to be bitten by a +dog that means to bite? It's impracticable. Take my +word for it -- Feraud isn't a man to be stayed by apolo- +gies or refusals. But there are other ways. I could, +for instance, send a messenger with a word to the briga- +dier of the <i>gendarmerie</i> in Senlac. He and his two +friends are liable to arrest on my simple order. It +would make some talk in the army, both the organized +and the disbanded -- especially the disbanded. All +<i>canaille!</i> All once upon a time the companions in +arms of Armand D'Hubert. But what need a D'Hu- +bert care what people that don't exist may think? Or, +better still, I might get my brother-in-law to send for +the mayor of the village and give him a hint. No more +would be needed to get the three 'brigands' set upon +with flails and pitchforks and hunted into some nice, +deep, wet ditch -- and nobody the wiser! It has been +done only ten miles from here to three poor devils of the +disbanded Red Lancers of the Guard going to their +homes. What says your conscience, <i>Chevalier?</i> Can +a D'Hubert do that thing to three men who do not +exist?" + A few stars had come out on the blue obscurity, + + +246 THE DUEL + +clear as crystal, of the sky. The dry, thin voice of the +Chevalier spoke harshly: "Why are you telling me all +this?" + The General seized the withered old hand with a +strong grip. "Because I owe you my fullest confidence. +Who could tell Adèle but you? You understand why I +dare not trust my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. +<i>Chevalier!</i> I have been so near doing these things that +I tremble yet. You don't know how terrible this duel +appears to me. And there's no escape from it." + He murmured after a pause, "It's a fatality," +dropped the Chevalier's passive hand, and said in his +ordinary conversational voice, "I shall have to go with- +out seconds. If it is my lot to remain on the ground, +you at least will know all that can be made known of +this affair." + The shadowy ghost of the <i>ancien régime</i> seemed to +have become more bowed during the conversation. +"How am I to keep an indifferent face this evening +before these two women?" he groaned. "General! I +find it very difficult to forgive you." + General D 'Hubert made no answer. + "Is your cause good, at least?" + "I am innocent." + This time he seized the Chevalier's ghostly arm +above the elbow, and gave it a mighty squeeze. "I +must kill him!" he hissed, and opening his hand strode +away down the road. + The delicate attentions of his adoring sister had +secured for the General perfect liberty of movement in +the house where he was a guest. He had even his own +entrance through a small door in one corner of the +orangery. Thus he was not exposed that evening to +the necessity of dissembling his agitation before the +calm ignorance of the other inmates. He was glad of + + +THE DUEL 247 + +it. It seemed to him that if he had to open his lips he +would break out into horrible and aimless imprecations, +start breaking furniture, smashing china and glass. +From the moment he opened the private door and +while ascending the twenty-eight steps of a winding +staircase, giving access to the corridor on which his room +opened, he went through a horrible and humiliating +scene in which an infuriated madman with blood-shot +eyes and a foaming mouth played inconceivable havoc +with everything inanimate that may be found in a well- +appointed dining-room. When he opened the door of +his apartment the fit was over, and his bodily fatigue +was so great that he had to catch at the backs of the +chairs while crossing the room to reach a low and broad +divan on which he let himself fall heavily. His moral +prostration was still greater. That brutality of feeling +which he had known only when charging the enemy, +sabre in hand, amazed this man of forty, who did not +recognize in it the instinctive fury of his menaced +passion. But in his mental and bodily exhaustion this +passion got cleared, distilled, refined into a sentiment of +melancholy despair at having, perhaps, to die before he +had taught this beautiful girl to love him. + That night, General D'Hubert stretched out on his +back with his hands over his eyes, or lying on his breast +with his face buried in a cushion, made the full pil- +grimage of emotions. Nauseating disgust at the absur- +dity of the situation, doubt of his own fitness to conduct +his existence, and mistrust of his best sentiments (for +what the devil did he want to go to Fouché for?) -- he +knew them all in turn. "I am an idiot, neither more +nor less," he thought -- "A sensitive idiot. Because I +overheard two men talking in a café. . . . I am an +idiot afraid of lies -- whereas in life it is only truth that +matters." + + +248 THE DUEL + + Several times he got up and, walking in his socks in +order not to be heard by anybody downstairs, drank all +the water he could find in the dark. And he tasted the +torments of jealousy, too. She would marry somebody +else. His very soul writhed. The tenacity of that +Feraud, the awful persistence of that imbecile brute, +came to him with the tremendous force of a relentless +destiny. General D'Hubert trembled as he put down +the empty water ewer. "He will have me," he thought. +General D'Hubert was tasting every emotion that life +has to give. He had in his dry mouth the faint sickly +flavour of fear, not the excusable fear before a young +girl's candid and amused glance, but the fear of death +and the honourable man's fear of cowardice. + But if true courage consists in going out to meet an +odious danger from which our body, soul, and heart +recoil together, General D'Hubert had the opportunity +to practise it for the first time in his life. He had +charged exultingly at batteries and at infantry squares, +and ridden with messages through a hail of bullets with- +out thinking anything about it. His business now was +to sneak out unheard, at break of day, to an obscure +and revolting death. General D'Hubert never hesi- +tated. He carried two pistols in a leather bag which he +slung over his shoulder. Before he had crossed the +garden his mouth was dry again. He picked two +oranges. It was only after shutting the gate after him +that he felt a slight faintness. + He staggered on, disregarding it, and after going a +few yards regained the command of his legs. In the +colourless and pellucid dawn the wood of pines de- +tached its columns of trunks and its dark green canopy +very clearly against the rocks of the grey hillside. He +kept his eyes fixed on it steadily, and sucked at an +orange as he walked. That temperamental good- + + +THE DUEL 249 + +humoured coolness in the face of danger which had +made him an officer liked by his men and appreciated +by his superiors was gradually asserting itself. It was +like going into battle. Arriving at the edge of the +wood he sat down on a boulder, holding the other orange +in his hand, and reproached himself for coming so +ridiculously early on the ground. Before very long, +however, he heard the swishing of bushes, footsteps on +the hard ground, and the sounds of a disjointed, loud +conversation. A voice somewhere behind him said +boastfully, "He's game for my bag." + He thought to himself, "Here they are. What's this +about game? Are they talking of me?" And becom- +ing aware of the other orange in his hand, he thought +further, "These are very good oranges. Léonie's own +tree. I may just as well eat this orange now instead of +flinging it away." + Emerging from a wilderness of rocks and bushes, +General Feraud and his seconds discovered General +D'Hubert engaged in peeling the orange. They stood +still, waiting till he looked up. Then the seconds +raised their hats, while General Feraud, putting his +hands behind his back, walked aside a little way. + "I am compelled to ask one of you, messieurs, to act +for me. I have brought no friends. Will you?" + The one-eyed cuirassier said judicially, "That cannot +be refused." + The other veteran remarked, "It's awkward all the +same." + "Owing to the state of the people's minds in this +part of the country there was no one I could trust safely +with the object of your presence here," explained +General D'Hubert, urbanely. + They saluted, looked round, and remarked both +together: + + +250 THE DUEL + + "Poor ground." + "It's unfit." + "Why bother about ground, measurements, and so +on? Let us simplify matters. Load the two pairs of +pistols. I will take those of General Feraud, and let +him take mine. Or, better still, let us take a mixed +pair. One of each pair. Then let us go into the wood +and shoot at sight, while you remain outside. We did +not come here for ceremonies, but for war -- war to the +death. Any ground is good enough for that. If I fall, +you must leave me where I lie and clear out. It +wouldn't be healthy for you to be found hanging about +here after that." + It appeared after a short parley that General Feraud +was willing to accept these conditions. While the +seconds were loading the pistols, he could be heard +whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with perfect +contentment. He flung off his coat briskly, and +General D 'Hubert took off his own and folded it care- +fully on a stone. + "Suppose you take your principal to the other side +of the wood and let him enter exactly in ten minutes +from now," suggested General D'Hubert, calmly, but +feeling as if he were giving directions for his own execu- +tion. This, however, was his last moment of weakness. +"Wait. Let us compare watches first." + He pulled out his own. The officer with the chipped +nose went over to borrow the watch of General Feraud. +They bent their heads over them for a time. + "That's it. At four minutes to six by yours. Seven +to by mine." + It was the cuirassier who remained by the side of +General D'Hubert, keeping his one eye fixed immovably +on the white face of the watch he held in the palm of +his hand. He opened his mouth, waiting for the beat + + +THE DUEL 251 + +of the last second long before he snapped out the word, +"<i>Avancez</i>." + General D'Hubert moved on, passing from the glaring +sunshine of the Provençal morning into the cool and +aromatic shade of the pines. The ground was clear +between the reddish trunks, whose multitude, leaning +at slightly different angles, confused his eye at first. It +was like going into battle. The commanding quality +of confidence in himself woke up in his breast. He was +all to his affair. The problem was how to kill the +adversary. Nothing short of that would free him +from this imbecile nightmare. "It's no use wounding +that brute," thought General D'Hubert. He was +known as a resourceful officer. His comrades years ago +used also to call him The Strategist. And it was a fact +that he could think in the presence of the enemy. +Whereas Feraud had been always a mere fighter -- but a +dead shot, unluckily. + "I must draw his fire at the greatest possible range," +said General D'Hubert to himself. + At that moment he saw something white moving far +off between the trees -- the shirt of his adversary. He +stepped out at once between the trunks, exposing him- +self freely; then, quick as lightning, leaped back. It +had been a risky move but it succeeded in its object. +Almost simultaneously with the pop of a shot a small +piece of bark chipped off by the bullet stung his ear +painfully. + General Feraud, with one shot expended, was getting +cautious. Peeping round the tree, General D'Hubert +could not see him at all. This ignorance of the foe's +whereabouts carried with it a sense of insecurity. +General D'Hubert felt himself abominably exposed on +his flank and rear. Again something white fluttered +in his sight. Ha! The enemy was still on his front, + + +252 THE DUEL + +then. He had feared a turning movement. But +apparently General Feraud was not thinking of it. +General D'Hubert saw him pass without special haste +from one tree to another in the straight line of approach. +With great firmness of mind General D'Hubert stayed +his hand. Too far yet. He knew he was no marksman. +His must be a waiting game -- to kill. + Wishing to take advantage of the greater thickness +of the trunk, he sank down to the ground. Extended +at full length, head on to his enemy, he had his person +completely protected. Exposing himself would not +do now, because the other was too near by this time. +A conviction that Feraud would presently do something +rash was like balm to General D'Hubert's soul. But +to keep his chin raised off the ground was irksome, +and not much use either. He peeped round, exposing +a fraction of his head with dread, but really with +little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact, did not +expect to see anything of him so far down as that. +General D'Hubert caught a fleeting view of General +Feraud shifting trees again with deliberate cau- +tion. "He despises my shooting," he thought, dis- +playing that insight into the mind of his antagonist +which is of such great help in winning battles. He was +confirmed in his tactics of immobility. "If I could only +watch my rear as well as my front!" he thought anx- +iously, longing for the impossible. + It required some force of character to lay his pistols +down; but, on a sudden impulse, General D'Hubert did +this very gently -- one on each side of him. In the army +he had been looked upon as a bit of a dandy because he +used to shave and put on a clean shirt on the days of +battle. As a matter of fact, he had always been very +careful of his personal appearance. In a man of nearly +forty, in love with a young and charming girl, this + + +THE DUEL 253 + +praiseworthy self-respect may run to such little weak- +nesses as, for instance, being provided with an elegant +little leather folding-case containing a small ivory +comb, and fitted with a piece of looking-glass on +the outside. General D'Hubert, his hands being free, +felt in his breeches' pockets for that implement of +innocent vanity excusable in the possessor of long, silky +moustaches. He drew it out, and then with the ut- +most coolness and promptitude turned himself over on +his back. In this new attitude, his head a little raised, +holding the little looking-glass just clear of his tree, he +squinted into it with his left eye, while the right kept a +direct watch on the rear of his position. Thus was +proved Napoleon's saying, that "for a French soldier, +the word impossible does not exist." He had the right +tree nearly filling the field of his little mirror. + "If he moves from behind it," he reflected with +satisfaction, "I am bound to see his legs. But in any +case he can't come upon me unawares." + And sure enough he saw the boots of General Feraud +flash in and out, eclipsing for an instant everything else +reflected in the little mirror. He shifted its position +accordingly. But having to form his judgment of the +change from that indirect view he did not realize that +now his feet and a portion of his legs were in plain sight +of General Feraud. + General Feraud had been getting gradually impressed +by the amazing cleverness with which his enemy was +keeping cover. He had spotted the right tree with +bloodthirsty precision. He was absolutely certain of it. +And yet he had not been able to glimpse as much as +the tip of an ear. As he had been looking for it at the +height of about five feet ten inches from the ground it +was no great wonder -- but it seemed very wonderful to +General Feraud. + + +254 THE DUEL + + The first view of these feet and legs determined a rush +of blood to his head. He literally staggered behind +his tree, and had to steady himself against it with his +hand. The other was lying on the ground, then! On +the ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed! What could +it mean? . . . The notion that he had knocked +over his adversary at the first shot entered then +General Feraud's head. Once there it grew with +every second of attentive gazing, overshadowing every +other supposition -- irresistible, triumphant, ferocious. + "What an ass I was to think I could have missed +him," he muttered to himself. "He was exposed <i>en +plein</i> -- the fool! -- for quite a couple of seconds." + General Feraud gazed at the motionless limbs, the +last vestiges of surprise fading before an unbounded +admiration of his own deadly skill with the pistol. + "Turned up his toes! By the god of war, that was +a shot!" he exulted mentally. "Got it through the +head, no doubt, just where I aimed, staggered behind +that tree, rolled over on his back, and died." + And he stared! He stared, forgetting to move, +almost awed, almost sorry. But for nothing in the +world would he have had it undone. Such a shot! -- +such a shot! Rolled over on his back and died! + For it was this helpless position, lying on the back, +that shouted its direct evidence at General Feraud! +It never occurred to him that it might have been +deliberately assumed by a living man. It was in- +conceivable. It was beyond the range of sane sup- +position. There was no possibility to guess the reason +for it. And it must be said, too, that General D'Hu- +bert's turned-up feet looked thoroughly dead. General +Feraud expanded his lungs for a stentorian shout to his +seconds, but, from what he felt to be an excessive +scrupulousness, refrained for a while. + + +THE DUEL 255 + + "I will just go and see first whether he breathes +yet," he mumbled to himself, leaving carelessly the +shelter of his tree. This move was immediately per- +ceived by the resourceful General D'Hubert. He +concluded it to be another shift, but when he lost the +boots out of the field of the mirror he became uneasy. +General Feraud had only stepped a little out of the line, +but his adversary could not possibly have supposed him +walking up with perfect unconcern. General D'Hubert, +beginning to wonder at what had become of the other, +was taken unawares so completely that the first warning +of danger consisted in the long, early-morning shadow +of his enemy falling aslant on his outstretched legs. +He had not even heard a footfall on the soft ground +between the trees! + It was too much even for his coolness. He jumped +up thoughtlessly, leaving the pistols on the ground. The +irresistible instinct of an average man (unless totally +paralyzed by discomfiture) would have been to stoop +for his weapons, exposing himself to the risk of being +shot down in that position. Instinct, of course, is irre- +flective. It is its very definition. But it may be an +inquiry worth pursuing whether in reflective mankind +the mechanical promptings of instinct are not affected +by the customary mode of thought. In his young days, +Armand D'Hubert, the reflective, promising officer, had +emitted the opinion that in warfare one should "never +cast back on the lines of a mistake." This idea, de- +fended and developed in many discussions, had settled +into one of the stock notions of his brain, had become a +part of his mental individuality. Whether it had gone +so inconceivably deep as to affect the dictates of his +instinct, or simply because, as he himself declared after- +wards, he was "too scared to remember the confounded +pistols," the fact is that General D'Hubert never at- + + +256 THE DUEL + +tempted to stoop for them. Instead of going back on +his mistake, he seized the rough trunk with both hands, +and swung himself behind it with such impetuosity +that, going right round in the very flash and report of +the pistol-shot, he reappeared on the other side of the +tree face to face with General Feraud. This last, com- +pletely unstrung by such a show of agility on the part +of a dead man, was trembling yet. A very faint mist of +smoke hung before his face which had an extraordinary +aspect, as if the lower jaw had come unhinged. + "Not missed!" he croaked, hoarsely, from the depths +of a dry throat. + This sinister sound loosened the spell that had fallen +on General D'Hubert's senses. "Yes, missed -- <i>à bout +portant</i>," he heard himself saying, almost before he had +recovered the full command of his faculties. The re- +vulsion of feeling was accompanied by a gust of homi- +cidal fury, resuming in its violence the accumulated +resentment of a lifetime. For years General D 'Hubert +had been exasperated and humiliated by an atrocious +absurdity imposed upon him by this man's savage +caprice. Besides, General D'Hubert had been in this +last instance too unwilling to confront death for the +reaction of his anguish not to take the shape of a desire +to kill. "And I have my two shots to fire yet," he +added, pitilessly. + General Feraud snapped-to his teeth, and his face +assumed an irate, undaunted expression. "Go on!" he +said, grimly. + These would have been his last words if General +D'Hubert had been holding the pistols in his hands. +But the pistols were lying on the ground at the foot +of a pine. General D'Hubert had the second of +leisure necessary to remember that he had dreaded +death not as a man, but as a lover; not as a danger, but + + +THE DUEL 257 + +as a rival; not as a foe to life, but as an obstacle to +marriage. And behold! there was the rival defeated! -- +utterly defeated, crushed, done for! + He picked up the weapons mechanically, and, instead +of firing them into General Feraud's breast, he gave +expression to the thoughts uppermost in his mind, "You +will fight no more duels now." + His tone of leisurely, ineffable satisfaction was too +much for General Feraud's stoicism. "Don't dawdle, +then, damn you for a cold-blooded staff-coxcomb!" he +roared out, suddenly, out of an impassive face held erect +on a rigidly still body. + General D'Hubert uncocked the pistols carefully. +This proceeding was observed with mixed feelings by +the other general. "You missed me twice," the victor +said, coolly, shifting both pistols to one hand; "the last +time within a foot or so. By every rule of single com- +bat your life belongs to me. That does not mean that I +want to take it now." + "I have no use for your forbearance," muttered +General Feraud, gloomily. + "Allow me to point out that this is no concern of +mine," said General D'Hubert, whose every word was +dictated by a consummate delicacy of feeling. In anger +he could have killed that man, but in cold blood he +recoiled from humiliating by a show of generosity this +unreasonable being -- a fellow-soldier of the <i>Grande +Armée</i>, a companion in the wonders and terrors of the +great military epic. "You don't set up the pretension of +dictating to me what I am to do with what's my own." + General Feraud looked startled, and the other con- +tinued, "You've forced me on a point of honour to keep +my life at your disposal, as it were, for fifteen years. +Very well. Now that the matter is decided to my ad- +vantage, I am going to do what I like with your life + + +258 THE DUEL + +on the same principle. You shall keep it at my dis- +posal as long as I choose. Neither more nor less. You +are on your honour till I say the word." + "I am! But, <i>sacrebleu!</i> This is an absurd position +for a General of the Empire to be placed in!" cried +General Feraud, in accents of profound and dismayed +conviction. "It amounts to sitting all the rest of my +life with a loaded pistol in a drawer waiting for your +word. It's -- it's idiotic; I shall be an object of -- of -- +derision." + "Absurd? -- idiotic? Do you think so?" queried +General D'Hubert with sly gravity. "Perhaps. But I +don't see how that can be helped. However, I am not +likely to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need +ever know anything about it. Just as no one to this day, +I believe, knows the origin of our quarrel. . . . +Not a word more," he added, hastily. "I can't really +discuss this question with a man who, as far as I am +concerned, does not exist." + When the two duellists came out into the open, Gen- +eral Feraud walking a little behind, and rather with the +air of walking in a trance, the two seconds hurried +towards them, each from his station at the edge of the +wood. General D'Hubert addressed them, speaking +loud and distinctly, "Messieurs, I make it a point of +declaring to you solemnly, in the presence of General +Feraud, that our difference is at last settled for good. +You may inform all the world of that fact." + "A reconciliation, after all!" they exclaimed to- +gether. + "Reconciliation? Not that exactly. It is some- +thing much more binding. Is it not so, General?" + General Feraud only lowered his head in sign of +assent. The two veterans looked at each other. Later +in the day, when they found themselves alone out of + + +THE DUEL 259 + +their moody friend's earshot, the cuirassier remarked +suddenly, "Generally speaking, I can see with my one +eye as far as most people; but this beats me. He won't +say anything." + "In this affair of honour I understand there has been +from first to last always something that no one in the +army could quite make out," declared the chasseur with +the imperfect nose. "In mystery it began, in mystery +it went on, in mystery it is to end, apparently." + General D'Hubert walked home with long, hasty +strides, by no means uplifted by a sense of triumph. +He had conquered, yet it did not seem to him that +he had gained very much by his conquest. The +night before he had grudged the risk of his life which +appeared to him magnificent, worthy of preservation as +an opportunity to win a girl's love. He had known +moments when, by a marvellous illusion, this love +seemed to be already his, and his threatened life a still +more magnificent opportunity of devotion. Now that +his life was safe it had suddenly lost its special mag- +nificence. It had acquired instead a specially alarming +aspect as a snare for the exposure of unworthiness. As +to the marvellous illusion of conquered love that had +visited him for a moment in the agitated watches of the +night, which might have been his last on earth, he com- +prehended now its true nature. It had been merely +a paroxysm of delirious conceit. Thus to this man, +sobered by the victorious issue of a duel, life appeared +robbed of its charm, simply because it was no longer +menaced. + Approaching the house from the back, through the +orchard and the kitchen garden, he could not notice the +agitation which reigned in front. He never met a single +soul. Only while walking softly along the corridor, he +became aware that the house was awake and more + + +260 THE DUEL + +noisy than usual. Names of servants were being called +out down below in a confused noise of coming and going. +With some concern he noticed that the door of his own +room stood ajar, though the shutters had not been +opened yet. He had hoped that his early excursion +would have passed unperceived. He expected to find +some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering +through the usual cracks enabled him to see lying on +the low divan something bulky, which had the appear- +ance of two women clasped in each other's arms. Tear- +ful and desolate murmurs issued mysteriously from that +appearance. General D'Hubert pulled open the near- +est pair of shutters violently. One of the women then +jumped up. It was his sister. She stood for a moment +with her hair hanging down and her arms raised straight +up above her head, and then flung herself with a stifled +cry into his arms. He returned her embrace, trying at +the same time to disengage himself from it. The other +woman had not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to +cling closer to the divan, hiding her face in the cushions. +Her hair was also loose; it was admirably fair. Gen- +eral D'Hubert recognized it with staggering emotion. +Mademoiselle de Valmassigue! Adèle! In distress! + He became greatly alarmed, and got rid of his sis- +ter's hug definitely. Madame Léonie then extended +her shapely bare arm out of her <i>peignoir</i>, pointing +dramatically at the divan. "This poor, terrified child +has rushed here from home, on foot, two miles -- running +all the way." + "What on earth has happened?" asked General +D'Hubert in a low, agitated voice. + But Madame Léonie was speaking loudly. "She +rang the great bell at the gate and roused all the house- +hold -- we were all asleep yet. You may imagine what +a terrible shock. . . . Adèle, my dear child, sit up." + + +THE DUEL 261 + + General D'Hubert's expression was not that of a +man who "imagines" with facility. He did, however, +fish out of the chaos of surmises the notion that his +prospective mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only +to dismiss it at once. He could not conceive the nature +of the event or the catastrophe which would induce +Mademoiselle de Valmassigue, living in a house full of +servants, to bring the news over the fields herself, two +miles, running all the way. + "But why are you in this room?" he whispered, full +of awe. + "Of course, I ran up to see, and this child . . . I +did not notice it . . . she followed me. It's that +absurd Chevalier," went on Madame Léonie, looking +towards the divan. . . . "Her hair is all come down. +You may imagine she did not stop to call her maid to +dress it before she started. . . Adèle, my dear, sit +up. . . . He blurted it all out to her at half-past five +in the morning. She woke up early and opened her +shutters to breathe the fresh air, and saw him sitting col- +lapsed on a garden bench at the end of the great alley. +At that hour -- you may imagine! And the evening +before he had declared himself indisposed. She hurried +on some clothes and flew down to him. One would be +anxious for less. He loves her, but not very intelli- +gently. He had been up all night, fully dressed, the +poor old man, perfectly exhausted. He wasn't in a +state to invent a plausible story. . . . What a con- +fidant you chose there! My husband was furious. He +said, 'We can't interfere now.' So we sat down to wait. +It was awful. And this poor child running with her +hair loose over here publicly! She has been seen by +some people in the fields. She has roused the whole +household, too. It's awkward for her. Luckily you +are to be married next week. . . . Adèle, sit up. He + + +263 THE DUEL + +has come home on his own legs. . . . We expected +to see you coming on a stretcher, perhaps -- what do +I know? Go and see if the carriage is ready. I must +take this child home at once. It isn't proper for her to +stay here a minute longer." + General D'Hubert did not move. It was as though +he had heard nothing. Madame Léonie changed her +mind. "I will go and see myself," she cried. "I want +also my cloak. -- Adèle --" she began, but did not add +"sit up." She went out saying, in a very loud and +cheerful tone: "I leave the door open." + General D'Hubert made a movement towards the +divan, but then Adèle sat up, and that checked him +dead. He thought, "I haven't washed this morning. I +must look like an old tramp. There's earth on the back +of my coat and pine-needles in my hair." It occurred +to him that the situation required a good deal of circum- +spection on his part. + "I am greatly concerned, mademoiselle," he began, +vaguely, and abandoned that line. She was sitting up +on the divan with her cheeks unusually pink and her +hair, brilliantly fair, falling all over her shoulders -- +which was a very novel sight to the general. He walked +away up the room, and looking out of the window for +safety said, "I fear you must think I behaved like a +madman," in accents of sincere despair. Then he spun +round, and noticed that she had followed him with +her eyes. They were not cast down on meeting his +glance. And the expression of her face was novel to +him also. It was, one might have said, reversed. +Those eyes looked at him with grave thoughtful- +ness, while the exquisite lines of her mouth seemed +to suggest a restrained smile. This change made her +transcendental beauty much less mysterious, much more +accessible to a man's comprehension. An amazing ease + + +THE DUEL 263 + +of mind came to the general -- and even some ease of +manner. He walked down the room with as much +pleasurable excitement as he would have found in walk- +ing up to a battery vomiting death, fire, and smoke; +then stood looking down with smiling eyes at the girl +whose marriage with him (next week) had been so +carefully arranged by the wise, the good, the admirable +Léonie. + "Ah! mademoiselle," he said, in a tone of courtly +regret, "if only I could be certain that you did not +come here this morning, two miles, running all the way, +merely from affection for your mother!" + He waited for an answer imperturbable but inwardly +elated. It came in a demure murmur, eyelashes low- +ered with fascinating effect. "You must not be <i>mé- +chant</i> as well as mad." + And then General D'Hubert made an aggressive +movement towards the divan which nothing could +check. That piece of furniture was not exactly in the +line of the open door. But Madame Léonie, coming +back wrapped up in a light cloak and carrying a lace +shawl on her arm for Adèle to hide her incriminating +hair under, had a swift impression of her brother getting +up from his knees. + "Come along, my dear child," she cried from the +doorway. + The general, now himself again in the fullest sense, +showed the readiness of a resourceful cavalry officer and +the peremptoriness of a leader of men. "You don't +expect her to walk to the carriage," he said, indignantly. +"She isn't fit. I shall carry her downstairs." + This he did slowly, followed by his awed and re- +spectful sister; but he rushed back like a whirlwind to +wash off all the signs of the night of anguish and the +morning of war, and to put on the festive garments of + + +264 THE DUEL + +a conqueror before hurrying over to the other house. +Had it not been for that, General D 'Hubert felt capable +of mounting a horse and pursuing his late adversary in +order simply to embrace him from excess of happiness. +"I owe it all to this stupid brute," he thought. "He +has made plain in a morning what might have taken me +years to find out -- for I am a timid fool. No self-confi- +dence whatever. Perfect coward. And the Chevalier! +Delightful old man!" General D'Hubert longed to +embrace him also. + The Chevalier was in bed. For several days he +was very unwell. The men of the Empire and the +post-revolution young ladies were too much for him. +He got up the day before the wedding, and, being curi- +ous by nature, took his niece aside for a quiet talk. He +advised her to find out from her husband the true story +of the affair of honour, whose claim, so imperative and +so persistent, had led her to within an ace of tragedy. +"It is right that his wife should be told. And next +month or so will be your time to learn from him any- +thing you want to know, my dear child." + Later on, when the married couple came on a visit to +the mother of the bride, Madame la Générale D'Hubert +communicated to her beloved old uncle the true story +she had obtained without any difficulty from her hus- +band. + The Chevalier listened with deep attention to the +end, took a pinch of snuff, flicked the grains of tobacco +from the frilled front of his shirt, and asked, calmly, "And +that's all it was?" + "Yes, uncle," replied Madame la Générale, opening +her pretty eyes very wide. "Isn't it funny? <i>C'est +insensé</i> -- to think what men are capable of!" + "H'm!" commented the old <i>émigré</i>. "It depends +what sort of men. That Bonaparte's soldiers were + + +THE DUEL 265 + +savages. It is <i>insensé</i>. As a wife, my dear, you must +believe implicitly what your husband says." + But to Léonie's husband the Chevalier confided his +true opinion. "If that's the tale the fellow made up +for his wife, and during the honeymoon, too, you may +depend on it that no one will ever know now the secret +of this affair." + Considerably later still, General D'Hubert judged +the time come, and the opportunity propitious to write +a letter to General Feraud. This letter began by dis- +claiming all animosity. "I've never," wrote the +General Baron D'Hubert, "wished for your death dur- +ing all the time of our deplorable quarrel. Allow me," +he continued, "to give you back in all form your for- +feited life. It is proper that we two, who have been +partners in so much military glory, should be friendly to +each other publicly." + The same letter contained also an item of domestic +information. It was in reference to this last that +General Feraud answered from a little village on the +banks of the Garonne, in the following words: + "If one of your boy's names had been Napoleon -- or +Joseph -- or even Joachim, I could congratulate you on +the event with a better heart. As you have thought +proper to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand, +I am confirmed in my conviction that you <i>never</i> +loved the Emperor. The thought of that sublime hero +chained to a rock in the middle of a savage ocean makes +life of so little value that I would receive with positive +joy your instructions to blow my brains out. From +suicide I consider myself in honour debarred. But I +keep a loaded pistol in my drawer." + Madame la Générale D'Hubert lifted up her hands +in despair after perusing that answer. + "You see? He <i>won't</i> be reconciled," said her hus- + + +266 THE DUEL + +band. "He must never, by any chance, be allowed to +guess where the money comes from. It wouldn't do. +He couldn't bear it." + "You are a <i>brave homme</i>, Armand,"said Madame la +Générale, appreciatively. + "My dear, I had the right to blow his brains out; +but as I didn't, we can't let him starve. He has lost +his pension and he is utterly incapable of doing any- +thing in the world for himself. We must take care of +him, secretly, to the end of his days. Don't I owe him +the most ecstatic moment of my life? . . . Ha! ha! +ha! Over the fields, two miles, running all the way! +I couldn't believe my ears! . . . But for his stupid +ferocity, it would have taken me years to find you out. +It's extraordinary how in one way or another this man +has managed to fasten himself on my deeper feelings." + + +<b>A PATHETIC TALE</b> + + +[page intentionally blank] + + +<b>IL CONDE</b> + +<i>"Vedi Napoli e poi mori."</i> + + THE first time we got into conversation was in the +National Museum in Naples, in the rooms on the +ground floor containing the famous collection of bronzes +from Herculaneum and Pompeii: that marvellous legacy +of antique art whose delicate perfection has been pre- +served for us by the catastrophic fury of a volcano. + He addressed me first, over the celebrated Resting +Hermes which we had been looking at side by side. He +said the right things about that wholly admirable piece. +Nothing profound. His taste was natural rather than +cultivated. He had obviously seen many fine things in +his life and appreciated them: but he had no jargon of a +dilettante or the connoisseur. A hateful tribe. He +spoke like a fairly intelligent man of the world, a per- +fectly unaffected gentleman. + We had known each other by sight for some few +days past. Staying in the same hotel -- good, but not +extravagantly up to date -- I had noticed him in the +vestibule going in and out. I judged he was an old +and valued client. The bow of the hotel-keeper was +cordial in its deference, and he acknowledged it with +familiar courtesy. For the servants he was <i>Il Conde</i>. +There was some squabble over a man's parasol -- yellow +silk with white lining sort of thing -- the waiters had dis- +covered abandoned outside the dining-room door. Our +gold-laced door-keeper recognized it and I heard him + +269 + + +270 IL CONDE + +directing one of the lift boys to run after <i>Il Conde</i> with +it. Perhaps he was the only Count staying in the hotel, +or perhaps he had the distinction of being <i>the</i> Count <i>par +excellence</i>, conferred upon him because of his tried +fidelity to the house. + Having conversed at the Museo -- (and by the by he +had expressed his dislike of the busts and statues of +Roman emperors in the gallery of marbles: their faces +were too vigorous, too pronounced for him) -- having +conversed already in the morning I did not think I was +intruding when in the evening, finding the dining-room +very full, I proposed to share his little table. Judging +by the quiet urbanity of his consent he did not think so +either. His smile was very attractive. + He dined in an evening waistcoat and a "smoking" +(he called it so) with a black tie. All this of very good +cut, not new -- just as these things should be. He was, +morning or evening, very correct in his dress. I have +no doubt that his whole existence had been correct, +well ordered and conventional, undisturbed by startling +events. His white hair brushed upwards off a lofty +forehead gave him the air of an idealist, of an +imaginative man. His white moustache, heavy but +carefully trimmed and arranged, was not unpleasantly +tinted a golden yellow in the middle. The faint scent +of some very good perfume, and of good cigars (that +last an odour quite remarkable to come upon in Italy) +reached me across the table. It was in his eyes that +his age showed most. They were a little weary with +creased eyelids. He must have been sixty or a couple +of years more. And he was communicative. I would +not go so far as to call it garrulous -- but distinctly +communicative. + He had tried various climates, of Abbazia, of the +Riviera, of other places, too, he told me, but the only + + +IL CONDE 271 + +one which suited him was the climate of the Gulf of +Naples. The ancient Romans, who, he pointed out to +me, were men expert in the art of living, knew very well +what they were doing when they built their villas on +these shores, in Baiæ, in Vico, in Capri. They came +down to this seaside in search of health, bringing with +them their trains of mimes and flute-players to amuse +their leisure. He thought it extremely probable that the +Romans of the higher classes were specially predisposed +to painful rheumatic affections. + This was the only personal opinion I heard him +express. It was based on no special erudition. He +knew no more of the Romans than an average informed +man of the world is expected to know. He argued from +personal experience. He had suffered himself from a +painful and dangerous rheumatic affection till he found +relief in this particular spot of Southern Europe. + This was three years ago, and ever since he had +taken up his quarters on the shores of the gulf, either in +one of the hotels in Sorrento or hiring a small villa in +Capri. He had a piano, a few books: picked up transient +acquaintances of a day, week, or month in the stream of +travellers from all Europe. One can imagine him going +out for his walks in the streets and lanes, becoming +known to beggars, shopkeepers, children, country +people; talking amiably over the walls to the contadini +-- and coming back to his rooms or his villa to sit before +the piano, with his white hair brushed up and his thick +orderly moustache, "to make a little music for myself." +And, of course, for a change there was Naples near by +-- life, movement, animation, opera. A little amuse- +ment, as he said, is necessary for health. Mimes and +flute-players, in fact. Only unlike the magnates of an- +cient Rome, he had no affairs of the city to call him +away from these moderate delights. He had no affairs + + +272 IL CONDE + +at all. Probably he had never had any grave affairs to +attend to in his life. It was a kindly existence, with its +joys and sorrows regulated by the course of Nature -- +marriages, births, deaths -- ruled by the prescribed +usages of good society and protected by the State. + He was a widower; but in the months of July and +August he ventured to cross the Alps for six weeks on a +visit to his married daughter. He told me her name. +It was that of a very aristocratic family. She had a +castle -- in Bohemia, I think. This is as near as I ever +came to ascertaining his nationality. His own name, +strangely enough, he never mentioned. Perhaps he +thought I had seen it on the published list. Truth to +say, I never looked. At any rate, he was a good Eu- +ropean -- he spoke four languages to my certain knowl- +edge -- and a man of fortune. Not of great fortune +evidently and appropriately. I imagine that to be ex- +tremely rich would have appeared to him improper, +<i>outré</i> -- too blatant altogether. And obviously, too, the +fortune was not of his making. The making of a for- +tune cannot be achieved without some roughness. +It is a matter of temperament. His nature was too +kindly for strife. In the course of conversation he +mentioned his estate quite by the way, in reference to +that painful and alarming rheumatic affection. One +year, staying incautiously beyond the Alps as late as the +middle of September, he had been laid up for three +months in that lonely country house with no one but his +valet and the caretaking couple to attend to him. +Because, as he expressed it, he "kept no establishment +there." He had only gone for a couple of days to con- +fer with his land agent. He promised himself never to be +so imprudent in the future. The first weeks of Sep- +tember would find him on the shores of his beloved +gulf. + + +IL CONDE 273 + + Sometimes in travelling one comes upon such lonely +men, whose only business is to wait for the unavoidable. +Deaths and marriages have made a solitude round them, +and one really cannot blame their endeavours to make +the waiting as easy as possible. As he remarked to me, +"At my time of life freedom from physical pain is a +very important matter." + It must not be imagined that he was a wearisome +hypochondriac. He was really much too well-bred to +be a nuisance. He had an eye for the small weaknesses +of humanity. But it was a good-natured eye. He +made a restful, easy, pleasant companion for the hours +between dinner and bedtime. We spent three evenings +together, and then I had to leave Naples in a hurry to +look after a friend who had fallen seriously ill in Taor- +mina. Having nothing to do, <i>Il Conde</i> came to see me +off at the station. I was somewhat upset, and his idle- +ness was always ready to take a kindly form. He was +by no means an indolent man. + He went along the train peering into the carriages +for a good seat for me, and then remained talking +cheerily from below. He declared he would miss me +that evening very much and announced his intention of +going after dinner to listen to the band in the public +garden, the Villa Nazionale. He would amuse himself +by hearing excellent music and looking at the best +society. There would be a lot of people, as usual. + I seem to see him yet -- his raised face with a friendly +smile under the thick moustaches, and his kind, fatigued +eyes. As the train began to move, he addressed me in +two languages: first in French, saying, "<i>Bon voyage</i>"; +then, in his very good, somewhat emphatic English, +encouragingly, because he could see my concern: "All +will -- be -- well -- yet!" + My friend's illness having taken a decidedly favour- + + +274 IL CONDE + +able turn, I returned to Naples on the tenth day. I +cannot say I had given much thought to <i>Il Conde</i> during +my absence, but entering the dining-room I looked for +him in his habitual place. I had an idea he might have +gone back to Sorrento to his piano and his books and +his fishing. He was great friends with all the boatmen, +and fished a good deal with lines from a boat. But I +made out his white head in the crowd of heads, and even +from a distance noticed something unusual in his atti- +tude. Instead of sitting erect, gazing all round with +alert urbanity, he drooped over his plate. I stood +opposite him for some time before he looked up, a little +wildly, if such a strong word can be used in connection +with his correct appearance. + "Ah, my dear sir! Is it you?" he greeted me. "I +hope all is well." + He was very nice about my friend. Indeed, he was +always nice, with the niceness of people whose hearts are +genuinely humane. But this time it cost him an effort. +His attempts at general conversation broke down into +dullness. It occurred to me he might have been indis- +posed. But before I could frame the inquiry he +muttered: + "You find me here very sad." + "I am sorry for that," I said. "You haven't had bad +news, I hope?" + It was very kind of me to take an interest. No. It +was not that. No bad news, thank God. And he +became very still as if holding his breath. Then, lean- +ing forward a little, and in an odd tone of awed embar- +rassment, he took me into his confidence. + "The truth is that I have had a very -- a very -- how +shall I say? -- abominable adventure happen to me." + The energy of the epithet was sufficiently startling in +that man of moderate feelings and toned-down vocabu- + + +IL CONDE 275 + +lary. The word unpleasant I should have thought +would have fitted amply the worst experience likely to +befall a man of his stamp. And an adventure, too. In- +credible! But it is in human nature to believe the worst; +and I confess I eyed him stealthily, wondering what he +had been up to. In a moment, however, my unworthy +suspicions vanished. There was a fundamental refine- +ment of nature about the man which made me dismiss +all idea of some more or less disreputable scrape. + "It is very serious. Very serious." He went on, +nervously. "I will tell you after dinner, if you will +allow me." + I expressed my perfect acquiescence by a little bow, +nothing more. I wished him to understand that I was +not likely to hold him to that offer, if he thought better +of it later on. We talked of indifferent things, but with +a sense of difficulty quite unlike our former easy, gos- +sipy intercourse. The hand raising a piece of bread to +his lips, I noticed, trembled slightly. This symptom, +in regard to my reading of the man, was no less than +startling. + In the smoking-room he did not hang back at all. +Directly we had taken our usual seats he leaned side- +ways over the arm of his chair and looked straight into +my eyes earnestly. + "You remember," he began, "that day you went +away? I told you then I would go to the Villa Nazion- +ale to hear some music in the evening." + I remembered. His handsome old face, so fresh for +his age, unmarked by any trying experience, appeared +haggard for an instant. It was like the passing of a +shadow. Returning his steadfast gaze, I took a sip of +my black coffee. He was systematically minute in his +narrative, simply in order, I think, not to let his ex- +citement get the better of him. + + +276 IL CONDE + + After leaving the railway station, he had an ice, and +read the paper in a café. Then he went back to the +hotel, dressed for dinner, and dined with a good appetite. +After dinner he lingered in the hall (there were chairs +and tables there) smoking his cigar; talked to the +little girl of the Primo Tenore of the San Carlo the- +atre, and exchanged a few words with that "ami- +able lady," the wife of the Primo Tenore. There was +no performance that evening, and these people were +going to the Villa also. They went out of the hotel. +Very well. + At the moment of following their example -- it was +half-past nine already -- he remembered he had a rather +large sum of money in his pocket-book. He entered, +therefore, the office and deposited the greater part of it +with the book-keeper of the hotel. This done, he took +a carozella and drove to the seashore. He got out of the +cab and entered the Villa on foot from the Largo di +Vittoria end. + He stared at me very hard. And I understood then +how really impressionable he was. Every small fact and +event of that evening stood out in his memory as if +endowed with mystic significance. If he did not mention +to me the colour of the pony which drew the carozella, +and the aspect of the man who drove, it was a mere +oversight arising from his agitation, which he repressed +manfully. + He had then entered the Villa Nazionale from the +Largo di Vittoria end. The Villa Nazionale is a public +pleasure-ground laid out in grass plots, bushes, and +flower-beds between the houses of the Riviera di Chiaja +and the waters of the bay. Alleys of trees, more or less +parallel, stretch its whole length -- which is considerable. +On the Riviera di Chiaja side the electric tramcars run +close to the railings. Between the garden and the sea is + + +IL CONDE 277 + +the fashionable drive, a broad road bordered by a low +wall, beyond which the Mediterranean splashes with +gentle murmurs when the weather is fine. + As life goes on late at night in Naples, the broad +drive was all astir with a brilliant swarm of carriage +lamps moving in pairs, some creeping slowly, others +running rapidly under the thin, motionless line of electric +lamps defining the shore. And a brilliant swarm +of stars hung above the land humming with voices, +piled up with houses, glittering with lights -- and over +the silent flat shadows of the sea. + The gardens themselves are not very well lit. Our +friend went forward in the warm gloom, his eyes +fixed upon a distant luminous region extending nearly +across the whole width of the Villa, as if the air had +glowed there with its own cold, bluish, and dazzling +light. This magic spot, behind the black trunks of trees +and masses of inky foliage, breathed out sweet sounds +mingled with bursts of brassy roar, sudden clashes of +metal, and grave, vibrating thuds. + As he walked on, all these noises combined together +into a piece of elaborate music whose harmonious phrases +came persuasively through a great disorderly murmur of +voices and shuffling of feet on the gravel of that open +space. An enormous crowd immersed in the electric +light, as if in a bath of some radiant and tenuous fluid +shed upon their heads by luminous globes, drifted in its +hundreds round the band. Hundreds more sat on chairs +in more or less concentric circles, receiving unflinchingly +the great waves of sonority that ebbed out into the dark- +ness. The Count penetrated the throng, drifted with it +in tranquil enjoyment, listening and looking at the +faces. All people of good society: mothers with their +daughters, parents and children, young men and young +women all talking, smiling, nodding to each other. Very + + +278 IL CONDE + +many pretty faces, and very many pretty toilettes. +There was, of course, a quantity of diverse types: showy +old fellows with white moustaches, fat men, thin +men, officers in uniform; but what predominated, he +told me, was the South Italian type of young man, +with a colourless, clear complexion, red lips, jet-black +little moustache and liquid black eyes so wonderfully +effective in leering or scowling. + Withdrawing from the throng, the Count shared a +little table in front of the caf‚ with a young man of just +such a type. Our friend had some lemonade. The +young man was sitting moodily before an empty glass. +He looked up once, and then looked down again. He +also tilted his hat forward. Like this -- + The Count made the gesture of a man pulling his +hat down over his brow, and went on: + "I think to myself: he is sad; something is wrong +with him; young men have their troubles. I take no +notice of him, of course. I pay for my lemonade, and +go away." + Strolling about in the neighbourhood of the band, +the Count thinks he saw twice that young man wander- +ing alone in the crowd. Once their eyes met. It must +have been the same young man, but there were so many +there of that type that he could not be certain. More- +over, he was not very much concerned except in so far +that he had been struck by the marked, peevish discon- +tent of that face. + Presently, tired of the feeling of confinement one ex- +periences in a crowd, the Count edged away from the +band. An alley, very sombre by contrast, presented +itself invitingly with its promise of solitude and coolness. +He entered it, walking slowly on till the sound of the +orchestra became distinctly deadened. Then he walked +back and turned about once more. He did this several + + +IL CONDE 279 + +times before he noticed that there was somebody oc- +cupying one of the benches. + The spot being midway between two lamp-posts the +light was faint. + The man lolled back in the corner of the seat, his +legs stretched out, his arms folded and his head drooping +on his breast. He never stirred, as though he had fallen +asleep there, but when the Count passed by next time he +had changed his attitude. He sat leaning forward. His +elbows were propped on his knees, and his hands were +rolling a cigarette. He never looked up from that +occupation. + The Count continued his stroll away from the band. +He returned slowly, he said. I can imagine him +enjoying to the full, but with his usual tranquillity, the +balminess of this southern night and the sounds of music +softened delightfully by the distance. + Presently, he approached for the third time the man +on the garden seat, still leaning forward with his elbows +on his knees. It was a dejected pose. In the semi- +obscurity of the alley his high shirt collar and his cuffs +made small patches of vivid whiteness. The Count +said that he had noticed him getting up brusquely as +if to walk away, but almost before he was aware of +it the man stood before him asking in a low, gentle tone +whether the signore would have the kindness to oblige +him with a light. + The Count answered this request by a polite "Cer- +tainly," and dropped his hands with the intention of +exploring both pockets of his trousers for the matches. + "I dropped my hands," he said, "but I never put +them in my pockets. I felt a pressure there --" + He put the tip of his finger on a spot close under his +breastbone, the very spot of the human body where a +Japanese gentleman begins the operations of the Hara- + + +280 IL CONDE + +kiri, which is a form of suicide following upon dishonour, +upon an intolerable outrage to the delicacy of one's +feelings. + "I glance down," the Count continued in an awe- +struck voice, "and what do I see? A knife! A long +knife --" + "You don't mean to say," I exclaimed, amazed, +"that you have been held up like this in the Villa at +half-past ten o'clock, within a stone's throw of a thou- +sand people!" + He nodded several times, staring at me with all his +might. + "The clarionet," he declared, solemnly, "was finishing +his solo, and I assure you I could hear every note. Then +the band crashed <i>fortissimo</i>, and that creature rolled +its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me with the +greatest ferocity, 'Be silent! No noise or --'" + I could not get over my astonishment. + "What sort of knife was it?" I asked, stupidly. + "A long blade. A stiletto -- perhaps a kitchen knife. +A long narrow blade. It gleamed. And his eyes +gleamed. His white teeth, too. I could see them. +He was very ferocious. I thought to myself: 'If I hit +him he will kill me.' How could I fight with him? +He had the knife and I had nothing. I am nearly +seventy, you know, and that was a young man. I +seemed even to recognize him. The moody young man +of the café. The young man I met in the crowd. But +I could not tell. There are so many like him in this +country." + The distress of that moment was reflected in his face. +I should think that physically he must have been +paralyzed by surprise. His thoughts, however, re- +mained extremely active. They ranged over every alarm- +ing possibility. The idea of setting up a vigorous shout- + + +IL CONDE 281 + +ing for help occurred to him, too. But he did nothing of +the kind, and the reason why he refrained gave me a +good opinion of his mental self-possession. He saw in a +flash that nothing prevented the other from shouting, +too. + "That young man might in an instant have thrown +away his knife and pretended I was the aggressor. Why +not? He might have said I attacked him. Why not? +It was one incredible story against another! He might +have said anything -- bring some dishonouring charge +against me -- what do I know? By his dress he was no +common robber. He seemed to belong to the better +classes. What could I say? He was an Italian -- I am +a foreigner. Of course, I have my passport, and there +is our consul -- but to be arrested, dragged at night to +the police office like a criminal!" + He shuddered. It was in his character to shrink +from scandal, much more than from mere death. And +certainly for many people this would have always re- +mained -- considering certain peculiarities of Neapolitan +manners -- a deucedly queer story. The Count was no +fool. His belief in the respectable placidity of life +having received this rude shock, he thought that now +anything might happen. But also a notion came into +his head that this young man was perhaps merely an +infuriated lunatic. + This was for me the first hint of his attitude towards +this adventure. In his exaggerated delicacy of senti- +ment he felt that nobody's self-esteem need be affected +by what a madman may choose to do to one. It be- +came apparent, however, that the Count was to be +denied that consolation. He enlarged upon the abom- +inably savage way in which that young man rolled his +glistening eyes and gnashed his white teeth. The band +was going now through a slow movement of solemn + + +282 IL CONDE + +braying by all the trombones, with deliberately re- +peated bangs of the big drum. + "But what did you do?" I asked, greatly excited. + "Nothing," answered the Count. "I let my hands +hang down very still. I told him quietly I did not +intend making a noise. He snarled like a dog, then said +in an ordinary voice: + "'<i>Vostro portofolio</i>.'" + "So I naturally," continued the Count -- and from +this point acted the whole thing in pantomime. Hold- +ing me with his eyes, he went through all the motions +of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out a +pocket-book, and handing it over. But that young man, +still bearing steadily on the knife, refused to touch it. + He directed the Count to take the money out him- +self, received it into his left hand, motioned the pocket- +book to be returned to the pocket, all this being done to +the sweet thrilling of flutes and clarionets sustained by +the emotional drone of the hautboys. And the "young +man," as the Count called him, said: "This seems very +little." + "It was, indeed, only 340 or 360 lire," the Count +pursued. "I had left my money in the hotel, as you +know. I told him this was all I had on me. He shook +his head impatiently and said: + "'<i>Vostro orologio</i>.'" + The Count gave me the dumb show of pulling out +his watch, detaching it. But, as it happened, the valu- +able gold half-chronometer he possessed had been left +at a watch-maker's for cleaning. He wore that evening +(on a leather guard) the Waterbury fifty-franc thing he +used to take with him on his fishing expeditions. Per- +ceiving the nature of this booty, the well-dressed robber +made a contemptuous clicking sound with his tongue +like this, "Tse-Ah!" and waved it away hastily. Then, + + +IL CONDE 283 + +as the Count was returning the disdained object to his +pocket, he demanded with a threateningly increased +pressure of the knife on the epigastrium, by way of re- +minder: + "'<i>Vostri anelli</i>.'" + "One of the rings," went on the Count, "was given +me many years ago by my wife; the other is the signet +ring of my father. I said, 'No. <i>That</i> you shall not +have!'" + Here the Count reproduced the gesture corresponding +to that declaration by clapping one hand upon the +other, and pressing both thus against his chest. It +was touching in its resignation. "That you shall not +have," he repeated, firmly, and closed his eyes, fully +expecting -- I don't know whether I am right in record- +ing that such an unpleasant word had passed his lips -- +fully expecting to feel himself being -- I really hesitate +to say -- being disembowelled by the push of the long, +sharp blade resting murderously against the pit of +his stomach -- the very seat, in all human beings, of +anguishing sensations. + Great waves of harmony went on flowing from the +band. + Suddenly the Count felt the nightmarish pressure +removed from the sensitive spot. He opened his eyes. +He was alone. He had heard nothing. It is probable +that "the young man" had departed, with light steps, +some time before, but the sense of the horrid pressure +had lingered even after the knife had gone. A feeling +of weakness came over him. He had just time to +stagger to the garden seat. He felt as though he had +held his breath for a long time. He sat all in a heap, +panting with the shock of the reaction. + The band was executing, with immense bravura, the +complicated finale. It ended with a tremendous crash. + + +284 IL CONDE + +He heard it unreal and remote, as if his ears had been +stopped, and then the hard clapping of a thousand, +more or less, pairs of hands, like a sudden hail-shower +passing away. The profound silence which succeeded +recalled him to himself. + A tramcar resembling a long glass box wherein people +sat with their heads strongly lighted, ran along swiftly +within sixty yards of the spot where he had been robbed. +Then another rustled by, and yet another going the +other way. The audience about the band had broken +up, and were entering the alley in small conversing +groups. The Count sat up straight and tried to think +calmly of what had happened to him. The vileness of +it took his breath away again. As far as I can make +it out he was disgusted with himself. I do not mean +to say with his behaviour. Indeed, if his pantomimic +rendering of it for my information was to be trusted, it +was simply perfect. No, it was not that. He was not +ashamed. He was shocked at being the selected victim, +not of robbery so much as of contempt. His tranquillity +had been wantonly desecrated. His lifelong, kindly +nicety of outlook had been defaced. + Nevertheless, at that stage, before the iron had time +to sink deep, he was able to argue himself into com- +parative equanimity. As his agitation calmed down +somewhat, he became aware that he was frightfully +hungry. Yes, hungry. The sheer emotion had made +him simply ravenous. He left the seat and, after walk- +ing for some time, found himself outside the gardens +and before an arrested tramcar, without knowing very +well how he came there. He got in as if in a dream, by +a sort of instinct. Fortunately he found in his trouser +pocket a copper to satisfy the conductor. Then the car +stopped, and as everybody was getting out he got out, +too. He recognized the Piazza San Ferdinando, but + + +IL CONDE 285 + +apparently it did not occur to him to take a cab and +drive to the hotel. He remained in distress on the +Piazza like a lost dog, thinking vaguely of the best way +of getting something to eat at once. + Suddenly he remembered his twenty-franc piece. +He explained to me that he had that piece of French +gold for something like three years. He used to carry +it about with him as a sort of reserve in case of ac- +cident. Anybody is liable to have his pocket picked +-- a quite different thing from a brazen and insulting +robbery. + The monumental arch of the Galleria Umberto faced +him at the top of a noble flight of stairs. He climbed +these without loss of time, and directed his steps towards +the Café Umberto. All the tables outside were occupied +by a lot of people who were drinking. But as he wanted +something to eat, he went inside into the café, which is +divided into aisles by square pillars set all round with +long looking-glasses. The Count sat down on a red +plush bench against one of these pillars, waiting for +his risotto. And his mind reverted to his abominable +adventure. + He thought of the moody, well-dressed young man, +with whom he had exchanged glances in the crowd +around the bandstand, and who, he felt confident, was +the robber. Would he recognize him again? Doubt- +less. But he did not want ever to see him again. The +best thing was to forget this humiliating episode. + The Count looked round anxiously for the coming of +his risotto, and, behold! to the left against the wall -- +there sat the young man. He was alone at a table, with +a bottle of some sort of wine or syrup and a carafe of +iced water before him. The smooth olive cheeks, the +red lips, the little jet-black moustache turned up gal- +lantly, the fine black eyes a little heavy and shaded + + +286 IL CONDE + +by long eyelashes, that peculiar expression of cruel dis- +content to be seen only in the busts of some Roman +emperors -- it was he, no doubt at all. But that was a +type. The Count looked away hastily. The young +officer over there reading a paper was like that, too. +Same type. Two young men farther away playing +draughts also resembled -- + The Count lowered his head with the fear in his heart +of being everlastingly haunted by the vision of that +young man. He began to eat his risotto. Presently +he heard the young man on his left call the waiter in a +bad-tempered tone. + At the call, not only his own waiter, but two other +idle waiters belonging to a quite different row of tables, +rushed towards him with obsequious alacrity, which is +not the general characteristic of the waiters in the Café +Umberto. The young man muttered something and +one of the waiters walking rapidly to the nearest door +called out into the Galleria: "Pasquale! O! Pas- +quale!" + Everybody knows Pasquale, the shabby old fellow +who, shuffling between the tables, offers for sale cigars, +cigarettes, picture postcards, and matches to the clients +of the café. He is in many respects an engaging +scoundrel. The Count saw the grey-haired, unshaven +ruffian enter the café, the glass case hanging from his +neck by a leather strap, and, at a word from the waiter, +make his shuffling way with a sudden spurt to the young +man's table. The young man was in need of a cigar +with which Pasquale served him fawningly. The old +pedlar was going out, when the Count, on a sudden +impulse, beckoned to him. + Pasquale approached, the smile of deferential recog- +nition combining oddly with the cynical searching ex- +pression of his eyes. Leaning his case on the table, he + + +IL CONDE 287 + +lifted the glass lid without a word. The Count took a +box of cigarettes and urged by a fearful curiosity, asked +as casually as he could -- + "Tell me, Pasquale, who is that young signore sitting +over there?" + The other bent over his box confidentially. + "That, <i>Signor Conde</i>,"he said, beginning to rearrange +his wares busily and without looking up, "that is a +young <i>Cavaliere</i> of a very good family from Bari. He +studies in the University here, and is the chief, <i>capo</i>, of +an association of young men -- of very nice young men." + He paused, and then, with mingled discretion and +pride of knowledge, murmured the explanatory word +"Camorra" and shut down the lid. "A very powerful +Camorra," he breathed out. "The professors them- +selves respect it greatly . . . <i>una lira e cinquanti +centesimi, Signor Conde</i>." + Our friend paid with the gold piece. While Pasquale +was making up the change, he observed that the young +man, of whom he had heard so much in a few words, +was watching the transaction covertly. After the +old vagabond had withdrawn with a bow, the Count +settled with the waiter and sat still. A numbness, he +told me, had come over him. + The young man paid, too, got up, and crossed over, +apparently for the purpose of looking at himself in the +mirror set in the pillar nearest to the Count's seat. He +was dressed all in black with a dark green bow tie. +The Count looked round, and was startled by meeting +a vicious glance out of the corners of the other's eyes. +The young <i>Cavaliere</i> from Bari (according to Pasquale; +but Pasquale is, of course, an accomplished liar) went +on arranging his tie, settling his hat before the glass, +and meantime he spoke just loud enough to be heard +by the Count. He spoke through his teeth with the + + +288 IL CONDE + +most insulting venom of contempt and gazing straight +into the mirror. + "Ah! So you had some gold on you -- you old liar -- +you old <i>birba</i> -- you <i>furfante!</i> But you are not done +with me yet." + The fiendishness of his expression vanished like light- +ning, and he lounged out of the café with a moody, +impassive face. + The poor Count, after telling me this last episode, +fell back trembling in his chair. His forehead broke +into perspiration. There was a wanton insolence in +the spirit of this outrage which appalled even me. +What it was to the Count's delicacy I won't attempt to +guess. I am sure that if he had been not too refined +to do such a blatantly vulgar thing as dying from +apoplexy in a café, he would have had a fatal stroke +there and then. All irony apart, my difficulty was to +keep him from seeing the full extent of my commisera- +tion. He shrank from every excessive sentiment, and +my commiseration was practically unbounded. It did +not surprise me to hear that he had been in bed a week. +He had got up to make his arrangements for leaving +Southern Italy for good and all. + And the man was convinced that he could not live +through a whole year in any other climate! + No argument of mine had any effect. It was not +timidity, though he did say to me once: "You do not +know what a Camorra is, my dear sir. I am a marked +man." He was not afraid of what could be done to +him. His delicate conception of his dignity was defiled +by a degrading experience. He couldn't stand that. +No Japanese gentleman, outraged in his exaggerated +sense of honour, could have gone about his preparations +for Hara-kiri with greater resolution. To go home +really amounted to suicide for the poor Count. + + +IL CONDE 289 + + There is a saying of Neapolitan patriotism, intended +for the information of foreigners, I presume: "See +Naples and then die." <i>Vedi Napoli e poi mori.</i> It is a +saying of excessive vanity, and everything excessive +was abhorrent to the nice moderation of the poor Count. +Yet, as I was seeing him off at the railway station, I +thought he was behaving with singular fidelity to its +conceited spirit. <i>Vedi Napoli!</i> . . . He had seen +it! He had seen it with startling thoroughness -- and +now he was going to his grave. He was going to it by +the <i>train de luxe</i> of the International Sleeping Car Com- +pany, <i>via</i> Trieste and Vienna. As the four long, sombre +coaches pulled out of the station I raised my hat with +the solemn feeling of paying the last tribute of respect +to a funeral <i>cortège</i>. Il Conde's profile, much aged al- +ready, glided away from me in stony immobility, behind +the lighted pane of glass -- <i>Vedi Napoli e poi mori!</i> + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Set of Six, by Joseph Conrad + diff --git a/old/seto610m.zip b/old/seto610m.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e4dd28 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/seto610m.zip |