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diff --git a/30443.txt b/30443.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1381385 --- /dev/null +++ b/30443.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6684 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 29, +May 1893, by Various + +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: The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 29, May 1893 + An Illustrated Monthly + +Author: Various + +Editor: George Newnes + +Release Date: November 10, 2009 [EBook #30443] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRAND MAGAZINE, MAY 1893 *** + + + + +Produced by Victorian/Edwardian Pictorial Magazines, +Jonathan Ingram, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE + +STRAND MAGAZINE + +_An Illustrated Monthly_ + +Vol. 5, Issue. 29. + +May 1893 + +[Illustration: "EXCUSE OUR INTRUSION, MADAM." + +(_In the Shadow of the Sierras._)] + + + + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE SIERRAS + +BY IZA DUFFUS HARDY. + + +Barbara Thorne sat leaning her head on her hand, looking at a photograph +that lay on the table beneath her eyes. She had not intended to look for +_that_ when she pulled out a dusty drawer full of old letters, papers, +and account-books to arrange and set in order. But when in the course of +her rummaging and tidying she found that picture in her hand, she paused +in her task. The neglected drawer stood open, with its dusty packets and +rolls of faded papers. Barbara had forgotten it and all else around her. + +She sat there lost in memory, her eyes fixed upon the "counterfeit +presentment" of the face that once had been all the world to her. She +did not often think of Oliver Desmond now; to think of him meant only +pain--pain of outraged pride and wounded love. She had outgrown the time +when she could not tear her thoughts from him, when his face was in her +"mind's eye" by night and day, and yet she shrank with a shuddering +revolt of anguish from those pictures of the past which she could not +banish. For the memory that was the locked-up skeleton of her life--that +rattled its dead bones to-day as Oliver Desmond's pictured eyes smiled +into hers--was a cruel memory indeed, of grief and wrong and bitter +humiliation, of broken troth and shattered faith, insulted love, and +crushed and martyred pride. The blow that had rankled like iron in her +heart for years was base and cowardly as a stab in the back from the +hand that should have shielded and cherished her. + +How strange it seemed to her to-day to think she had outlived it +all--the love, the anguish, the bitterness, which once had seemed +undying! There was nothing to disturb her reverie; she was alone, had +been alone all day, and yet not lonely, albeit this solitary Californian +ranch, in a secluded valley amongst the foot-hills of the Sierras, was a +lonesome-looking place enough. But Barbara had been too busy all day to +sit down and realize the loneliness. She lived on the Saucel Ranch with +her married brother and his wife, she and her sister-in-law doing all +the housework between them--servants or "helps" being unattainable +luxuries in those parts. Mr. and Mrs. Thorne had gone out for all the +day and all the night; a nervous woman might well have shrunk from being +thus left alone and unprotected in such a place; but if Barbara had ever +been troubled with the nineteenth century malady of "nerves," she had +lived it down since she had taken up her abode on the Saucel Ranch. Her +hands were always full. Even now, her day's task done, she had set +herself to "improve the shining hour" by "tidying-up" the bureau drawer, +in which she had come across the photograph of Oliver Desmond. + +It was rarely indeed that Barbara Thorne indulged in reverie by day; the +night was her time for silence and thought; but now she was so lost in +the train of memories aroused by the sight of his portrait--memories +which had lost their sharpest sting, and only hurt her now with a dull +ache--she had even forgotten that an hour ago she had been looking out +for somebody--somebody who would never allow the long, lonely day to +pass without coming to see her! + +Through the open window a flood of sunlight poured in and turned +Barbara's fair hair to gold. Far off, above and beyond the sombre masses +of the evergreen pine forests, a jagged range of mountain peaks, like +tossing billows frozen at their height, shone in snowy silhouette +against a sky of deep and vivid, cloudless blue. + +The scene was fair, but Barbara's eyes were not lifted to dwell on its +beauty; they were brooding on the face of the man she had loved, +and--had she ever hated him? Did she hate him now? She did not hear a +sound or a step, till a shadow fell across the sunlight, and a man stood +on the threshold of the long French window, which was open down to the +ground. + +Barbara turned with a start, and made a hasty, involuntary movement to +push the photograph aside as she sprang up--a movement that, slight, +swift, and momentary as it was, yet did not pass unnoticed by the +visitor's eye. What, indeed, was ever known to escape the eagle eye of +Rick Jeffreys--better known in the neighbourhood of Eden City (which was +the flattering appellation bestowed by its builders on the nearest +settlement) as "Colonel Jeff"? + +He was a tall man, of massive and powerful build, with somewhat harsh +features, black hair and beard just touched with grey, and a sallow +complexion sunburnt as brown as a berry. According to the prevalent +fashion in those latitudes, he wore truculent-looking boots up to his +knees, and a big sombrero hat slouched over his brow. There was a stern, +hard expression about his face, except when he smiled or looked at +Barbara Thorne. He did not look stern now, as she came quickly to meet +him, and welcomed him with a smile that was perhaps less bright, a blush +that was certainly deeper than usual. He spoke no word of greeting at +first, only looked at her as if her face were a magnet that drew and +held his eyes, then put his arm gently round her waist and bent his dark +head to her fair one, and kissed her with infinite tenderness. + +Barbara yielded to his caress with the soft yielding of a woman who +loves. She did not belong to the class of those who, deceived by one, +distrust all thenceforth--who hate all men for one false one's sake. And +the time had come which she had never thought to see, when she--even +she, Barbara Thorne, the deserted, slighted, jilted, held up to the +insult of the world's pity--yet trusted, _loved_ again. For this man's +devotion had been balm to her bruised spirit--a healing balsam poured +into the still smarting wounds of her once crushed and outraged pride. + +"All alone, my little lady?" he said, softly. + +"Yes; Tom and Hatty went off this morning." + +"Been lonesome?" + +"Oh, no; I've had plenty to keep me brisk and busy." + +Colonel Jeff cast a glance at the table, at the photograph which lay +there face upwards. "And who have you there?" he inquired, but not +suspiciously. Barbara conquered a foolish impulse to put out her hand to +intercept his as he went to pick up the portrait. + +He glanced at it, first easily, then keenly, and his dark brows lowered +ominously. Colonel Jeff did not look like a person to offend--if one had +the choice. + +"You are thinking of that blackguard still?" he said; and in his tone +anger and pain struggled equally matched. + +"I found that photograph by chance while I was looking over a drawer +full of old papers," she replied, answering the spirit rather than, the +letter of his words. + +"And you were looking at it as if--as if--it was all the world to you!" +he retorted. + +"My looks belied me, then. It is a memory only--and a painful one," she +said, with the slightest shade of a tremor in her sweet voice. + +"Only a memory?" fixing the stern questioning of his piercing eyes upon +her. + +"If it were more, should I be what I am to you?" she replied, meeting +his look frankly. + +"What are you to me?" he demanded. The words might have sounded brutal +had the tone been different, but though they were harshly spoken, they +bore no suggestion of denial or rebuff, no faintest hint of insulting +disclaimer. "You know," he continued, "we both know, that you're the one +woman in the world to me--but what more? What beyond that? Are you the +woman who _cares_ for me?" + +[Illustration: "HE GLANCED AT IT."] + +"For you more than for all the world beside." + +"More than for----?" He cast a frowning glance at the photograph. + +"Immeasurably more," she answered steadily, and the unconquerable truth +in her forced her to add the word, "to-day!" + +"To-day?" he echoed, with mingled anger and reluctant admiration. +"Barbara, you are too honest to deny----" He paused with a quick +indrawing of the breath and setting of the teeth. + +"To deny the past?" her soft voice interposed as he paused. "Yes! I +could never deny it! You know, Rick, you always knew, that I could not +give you my yesterdays!" + +"Barbara, I am jealous of those yesterdays," he said, after a silence. + +"Why begrudge the yesterdays," she pleaded, "when all the to-morrows are +yours?" + +His dark eyes kindled with a deep and tender glow. + +"All? All? None to share with me, or rob me? All mine?" He framed her +delicate fair face between his big brown hands, and held it thus gently +upturned to his as he gazed intently into it. "Barbara," he added, "do +you know it would be a bad thing for any man who came between me and +you?" + +"No one could," she assured him earnestly. + +Colonel Jeff clasped her in his strong arms. + +"Is that so, indeed, my darling? my Barbara! my own one love," he +whispered, pressing her to his heart. + +"You must not be jealous of the past, dear Rick," she murmured. + +"Forgive me my blundering roughness," he entreated her. "I ought not to +have spoken so to you. Forgive me if I have hurt you, Barbara!" + +"It did hurt me a little," she admitted. "Let us leave the dead bones to +rest in their grave." + +"I will never dig them up again," he promised her. "But put that away," +he added, pushing the portrait aside. "It's very like him, and I hate to +see it near you!" + +Colonel Jeff had known Oliver Desmond, at least by sight and passing +acquaintance, and he knew--as who did not?--Barbara Thorne's story; who +had not heard the story of the bride deserted at the very altar, waiting +in her bridal dress amongst the assembled party of her own and his +friends--waiting for the bridegroom who never came? + +Sometimes even now, when the memory of that horrible day came over +Barbara, she shivered and turned sick and cold at heart. Only since she +had known Rick Jeffreys loved her she had thought of it less; the scar +of the old wound had ceased to throb. + +At first she had thought Oliver Desmond was dead; felt sure that nothing +but death could have kept him from her at that hour! But afterwards she +and all the world--their world--learnt that he had left her for another; +the one palliation of the cruel wrong and insult he had inflicted on his +innocent and trusting betrothed being that it was no new love, but the +resurrection of an old, supposed-to-be-dead passion that had lured him +from her. Then they heard now and again rumours of Oliver Desmond's +career. It seemed to be a downward one. They heard of his drinking and +gambling, sinking from bad to worse; of losses, of utter ruin. Now for +years they had heard nothing of him at all; he had sunk out of +knowledge, gone down under the storm of not unmerited misfortune; and +his world knew him no more. + +Their little differences made up, Rick Jeffreys spent a happy hour with +Barbara, stayed until the golden haze of sunset was stealing soft and +slow over the shadows of the sombre pine forest and the azure radiance +of the sky; then he had an appointment to meet an old comrade in Eden +City, and he tore himself reluctantly away from the Saucel Ranch--ready +at the last moment to throw over his engagement and stay, if Barbara had +urged him. + +The shades of evening had closed when Barbara, having watched her +stalwart lover out of sight, went into the kitchen, on domestic cares +intent. It was very dark there, and she set the outer-door, which led +into the court-yard, wide open to let in such light as there was, while +she put a fresh log on the low wood fire, and prepared to light the lamp +and make herself some tea. She was thus engaged when she heard a step +outside the open door--not the quick, confident step of a friendly +visitor, but a hurried yet hesitating tread--a tread that suggested +skulking and hanging about. + +It was a late hour for tramps, and Barbara, brave woman though she was, +looked round a little anxiously, to see who the stranger might be. She +had but just caught a glimpse of an evidently tired and travel-worn +wayfarer--a haggard, dishevelled figure--when he spoke, raising his hat +as he did so, with the courteous gesture of a gentleman. "Excuse me, +madam, but can you give me a cup of water and a piece of bread, and +shelter for an hour?" + +As he spoke, Barbara glanced up with a start. That voice, it struck upon +her ear like an echo from the past. And even in the deepening twilight +there seemed to be something familiar in the outlines of face and form. + +"Who--who are you?" she faltered. + +It was his turn to start as he heard her voice, and gazed with sudden +searching into her pale face in the gloaming. Then she knew him--knew, +and yet could hardly believe her eyes, her ears, her instincts--could +not realize that in this rough, disordered, unkempt figure, with the +torn clothes and the dark stains on his ragged sleeve, she saw the +handsome, graceful, debonair lover of her girlhood, the recreant +bridegroom who had left her on the very threshold of the altar! + +"Oliver!" she said, in a low and trembling tone. + +And as the last faint glimmer of the dying day rested on her face he +knew her too. + +"Barbara!" he ejaculated, as if with a gasp, fairly staggered by the +recognition. "Is it--can it be--Barbara?" + +"Am I so changed?" she rejoined, with a touch of bitterness in her tone. + +"I--I didn't know--in this light," he stammered. "If--if I had +known----" He seemed for the moment more agitated than she. She stood +stunned, silent, gazing at him as if in a dream. "I won't intrude on +you, Barbara," he said, in a low, unsteady voice. "I didn't know you +lived here. It isn't to _you_ that I should have come." + +"Oliver!" she exclaimed suddenly, waking up as he made a movement to +turn away. "Stay! Did you ask for food and shelter?" + +"I ask nothing from you," he replied, painfully. + +"Come in," she said, firmly, no longer faltering or tremulous, but with +an almost imperious gesture motioning him to enter. "You are tired?" as +she noticed his stiff and dragging step. "Sit down while I get a light." +She struck a match and lit the lamp. In its yellowish glare she saw that +the stains upon his sleeve were red. "What is the matter? You have had +some accident," she said, with a scrutinizing but not ungentle glance. + +"Only a scratch," he answered, in a mechanical way, as if thinking of +something else. "But my coat was nearly torn off my back scrambling +through the chaparral yonder." He had not taken the chair she pointed +out to him, but stood--leaning with the heaviness of fatigue against the +shelf that served as a table--looking at her in the lamp-light. She saw +how pale and haggard and half-famished-looking he was, and turned +promptly to set out the supper. + +"Wait, Barbara," he said, abruptly, and evidently with an effort. "Don't +be doing anything for me till you know what you're doing. Those d---- +hounds of the Vigilance Committee are after me; they're on my track now. +They'll string me up to the nearest tree if they catch me; it's my life +that's in your hands at this minute. I know too well I don't deserve of +you that you should save it. And on the whole, Barbara," he added, with +a touch of the light and half-mocking coolness she remembered of old, +yet with more of bitterness now, "I don't know that it's worth saving." + +[Illustration: "HAGGARD AND HALF FAMISHED."] + +Barbara turned even paler than she had been as she listened to his +words. "What is it you have done?" she asked. + +"Oh, I've not killed anyone. Better for me if I had! One may shoot a +man, but to take a horse is a hanging matter here." + +"Tell me about it, Oliver," she said, preserving her self-possession, +for she was no fragile flower to wilt and droop before the first breath +of danger--no, nor the last. + +"It's soon told," he answered. "I had bad luck--I was cleaned out, not a +red cent in my pockets--and so I hired out to a farmer away in Pine +Valley. We had words one day, and he refused to pay me my wages--so I +took a horse out of his stables and rode off." + +"It was madness, Oliver," she said; for she knew as well as he did that +for the horse-stealer, in those parts and at that time, there was scant +mercy and short shrift: it was danger to be accused, death to be +detected. + +"The horse was worth no more than my fair wages," he rejoined. "I was +warned that they were after me, but I thought I'd got a good start of +them. They were too sharp for me, though--they cut across by Devil's +Ford, and were after me in full chase. They sent a hail of bullets after +me; I sent all I had back--I winged one of them--I fancy he was the +leader, and while they picked him up I got ahead; but, unluckily, before +I was out of shot-range my horse was shot under me. I got clear of the +saddle and bolted into the scrub. I gave them the slip for the time. +I've been crawling like a dog through the chaparral--but you know as +well as I do, those fellows are like blood-hounds on the scent. I was +pretty nearly dead-beat when I caught sight of this place. I little +thought it was _you_ that I should find here." + +"What is to be done?" she said, not helplessly wondering, but actively +thinking. "First of all, you must eat and drink. Then--we must see what +is the safest thing for you." + +She set bread and meat and milk on the table; and Desmond fell to the +simple meal as if half famished. + +"My brother's horse is in the stable," said Barbara, thoughtfully. "He's +fast, is old Sultan, and might take you safe--if we only knew from which +quarter they'd be coming; and I'd take the risk with Tom." + +"You must risk nothing for me," he rejoined. "I see, Barbara, you are +what you always were--the salt of the earth! I deserve of you that you +should shut your door on me now--that when they come this way after me +you should send them on my trail. But--you won't do it?" + +"No," she replied, slowly. "I will not do it." + +He leant forward, resting his arm on the table, and looked at her. The +oil-lamp that stood between them shed a circle of light in which he saw +her face, unshrinking, steadfast, wrought up to high resolve. + +"You were always too good for me, Barbara," he said. "Are you such an +angel as to have forgiven me?" + +"What has that to do with it?" she rejoined, coldly. "Enough that if I +can help you now, I will." + +She was looking at him as intently as he at her. She saw how changed was +the face of the idol of her girlhood--poor shattered idol with the feet +of clay--base metal she had taken for pure gold! It was not only that he +was older--he had aged more than she--but a subtler change had passed +over him; he was hardened, embittered, coarsened, undefinably +deteriorated. She saw the colour mount in his haggard cheek at her calm +words. + +"Coals of fire," he said, with a touch of bitter mockery that disguised +pain. "Well, if it's a comfort to you to know it, Barbara, _they burn_." + +"Which way are they most likely to come?" she asked, putting personal +questions determinedly aside. + +"They'd probably skirt the wood; but yet there's no knowing but what +they might make their way down the gulch and round by the creek yonder." + +"Whichever way you go," she said, in deep consideration, "you might run +right into the jaws of danger. And if they found you with another horse, +and that horse discovered not to be yours, it might be worse for you--if +they refused to believe it had been freely lent to you." + +"They'd not be likely to waste much time on inquiries," he observed, +drily. "It's not their way to make allowance for priest or prayer. +Perhaps I had better lie low for a time until the heat of the chase is +over. Who is here with you, Barbara?" + +"No one to-day. My brother and his wife are out until to-morrow." + +"You are alone?" he said, with a softening of tender respect in his +tone. "Forgive my intrusion. You must not risk the least trouble for me. +I'll feel like a king after this rest and refreshment here, and be ready +to go on my way." + +They were still discussing the best course to be adopted when a faint +sound in the distance struck on their ears--a sound so faint and far +that, had it not been for the wonderful clearness and stillness of the +dry, crisp, dewless air, it could not have reached them. + +"Hark! What is that?" said Desmond, holding his breath. + +"We can see the road better from the upstairs windows--come!" she +exclaimed, springing to her feet. She hastily closed the outer door into +the court-yard, which still stood open, and ran upstairs, followed by +Desmond. From the highest window of the house--a sort of landing or +look-out at the top of the stairs--they had a view of the windings of +the white road between wood and hillside. + +The night had fallen like a dark mantle over the land; but the sky was +clear; the moon had risen; and in the dusk they could just distinguish +the pale, dim line of the road between the shadows of the trees--could +even discern upon it, though some distance off as yet, what looked at +first like a dark, blurred, swift moving spot, then resolved itself into +a group of mounted men riding straight for the Saucel Ranch. + +"There they are," said Oliver Desmond in a low voice; but he was +suddenly and strangely calm now the danger was at his door. "They're +coming here. There's a handy tree I see over yonder, just outside your +gates," he added, with the frequent tendency of men who are used to +carry their lives in their hands to "jest upon the axe which kills +them." Barbara clasped and wrung her hands. + +"Too late to fly!" she said. "Before we could get Sultan out of the +stable and saddle him they'll be here! There's no time for escape. You +must _hide_!" + +"If they've got dogs, I'm a dead man," he rejoined, staring at the fast +nearing horsemen; "and I shall be dangling from that tree before an hour +has passed!" + +Barbara flew to the nearest door and opened it, then the next, and the +next, glancing in wild and eager haste into each room to see in which +any hiding-place might be found--although she knew too well the simple +arrangements of the ranch offered no facilities for concealment. No +secret chambers, no sliding panels, no dark recesses nor trap-doors in +this plain wooden "frame" house. The outhouses? No, they would probably +be the first places searched; the natural idea of the pursuers would be +that he might have sought refuge there unknown to the inmates of the +house. There were no cellars, no possible safe hiding-places on the +lower floor; on the upper floor there were but three rooms--Mr. and Mrs. +Thorne's room, Barbara's room, and the "guest-room." All were plainly +furnished with bare necessaries: no "old oak chests," no tapestries nor +hanging draperies, no curtained recesses, no place to hide a good-sized +dog, much less a full-grown man. Barbara's was the only one of the +bedrooms that could boast of a cupboard--a long, narrow cupboard which +she used as a wardrobe, and kept her dresses there hung on pegs. This +was the only place. + +There was not a moment to lose in talk. Barbara had hardly time to go +downstairs, look round the kitchen, and assure herself that there were +no traces of Desmond's presence to be detected there, when the trampling +of horses sounded close at hand. She heard some of the party ride to the +front, some to the back, and she knew they were surrounding the house, +before there was a sharp, imperative knock on the front door. Barbara +opened it. She stood there--a candle she had just lighted in her hand--a +graceful, composed figure, with a placid, inquiring look. + +The men who were gathered on the threshold looked somewhat taken aback +by the appearance of a lady then and there. + +"Excuse our intrusion, madam," said the foremost; "but we have called to +inquire if there is anyone in this house but the members of your own +family?" + +"No one," she replied; and the feeble flicker of the candle showed the +look of innocent, yet naturally somewhat anxious and surprised, inquiry +on her serene, fair face. + +"Has any stranger been here?" + +"No." + +"Miss Thorne," said another of the group--in whom she recognised a +prominent citizen of Eden, with whom she had, however, but a very slight +acquaintance, and who now came forward, doffing his hat with a +deferential bow--"perhaps we had better speak to your brother." + +"My brother is out. I represent the family at present, and can answer +any question you may wish to ask. I presume, gentlemen, you come on +business?" + +"On business, lady, with which we would not trouble you, if it were not +that we must ascertain whether the person of whom we are in search is +here. We have ordered a search of the outhouses, where a tramp might +take shelter. Meanwhile, with your permission, we will look over the +house. A man might enter by one of the upper windows without your +suspecting it." + +"Indeed, I trust not," said Barbara. + +"We have reason to believe that the man we want came this way, and he +would be likely to try to gain entrance and get refuge here." + +"I hope he will not. But you are most welcome to look round." + +Barbara, gracious and self-possessed, accompanied them, in hostess-wise, +from room to room on the ground floor. The kitchen looked cheerful with +the lighted lamp and stove, the kettle singing merrily on the fire; one +cup, saucer, and plate were set out upon the table, with a cake. +Evidently Miss Thorne had been busy preparing her modest tea when their +arrival interrupted her. The whole party were crossing the hall to the +parlour when they heard the clatter of galloping horses' hoofs, and two +horsemen dashed into the court-yard, hastily dismounted, and entered the +house. And one of these was no other than Colonel Jeff! He and his +companion were evidently expected by the "Vigilance" party, who received +them quietly, as a matter of course, and indeed an awaited addition to +their ranks, one of the men from Eden City observing as he nodded a +greeting, "Guessed you wouldn't keep us waiting long." + +The Colonel looked at Barbara; she paled a little as she met his gaze, +albeit there was no shadow of suspicion in it, only a tender and +respectful solicitude lest she should be alarmed or agitated by this +invasion. But she compelled herself to return his look calmly and +gently, and he was reassured by her tranquillity. + +"Any traces?" he demanded, turning to the one who was apparently the +leader of the committee. + +[Illustration: "'ALLOW ME,' SAID COLONEL JEFF."] + +"Not yet. We're going through the house." + +"Upstairs?" added Colonel Jeff, inquiringly, briefly glancing at +Barbara, and indicating the staircase at the end of the long hall. + +"Are merely three sleeping-rooms," she replied--"my brother's, my own, +and our guest-room." + +"I perceive that anyone might gain access to your upper rooms by the +roof of the lean-to or by the balcony," observed the leader. "By your +leave, madam, we will go up and look round. It will be to your advantage +also to be assured that there is no one lurking about." + +Barbara's heart sank, but she saw it would be fatal to offer any +objection. "Certainly," she said, and led the way towards the staircase. +The gentleman from Eden City, to whom all the Thornes were known, +although not intimately, here put in a suggestion that perhaps it would +be more agreeable to the lady's feelings if they were to depute one, or +say two gentlemen, to accompany her upstairs. The suggestion was +accepted; two searchers were by unanimous vote regarded as sufficient; +and Colonel Jeff and his friend were deputed to go up with Miss Thorne +and examine the bedrooms. + +Barbara was cold and sick with terror, but she kept her self-possession, +and tried to cling to one frail straw of hope--that they might by some +providential chance overlook the door of the cupboard (which was papered +like the walls of the room) and pass it by. She trembled lest Oliver, +hearing the tramp of his enemies' steps approaching, should attempt to +make his escape by the windows, in which case he would fall straight +into the hands of the detachment who were surrounding the house and +searching the grounds. Yet--if they should detect and open the cupboard, +and she should see him caught like a rat in a trap, dragged out to his +death! There was no time for thought; the moment was imminent; in +another minute the die of Oliver Desmond's fate would be cast for life +or death. Yet a moment to breathe was hers. She turned to Mr. Thorne's +room first. + +"Allow me," said Colonel Jeff, taking the candle from her hand as she +threw open the door and drew back. He stepped in past her and held up +the light. His eagle eye swept the room--searched every corner; he saw +there was no hiding-place there. His comrade stood back respectfully on +the threshold, apparently considerate of the lady's feelings, deeming it +sufficient for one to enter the room, and regarding Colonel Jeff as +competent to conduct the search alone. + +They came next to the spare-room, and again the Colonel was the one to +enter and look carefully round. Was it not partly in his liege lady's +own interests, and for _her_ sake, he was assuring himself that no +dangerous intruder lurked in her home and she might sleep in peace? + +Then was the turn of Barbara's own room--the sacred temple that +enshrined his treasure! + +This time he had kept the candle in his hand. Barbara had made no offer +to take it back; she feared the trembling of her hand might betray her. +Wrought up to a pitch of suspense at which every nerve quivered like a +tense chord, she yet by a desperate effort controlled her features and +steadied her step, but she felt she could not keep her fingers from +trembling. Colonel Jeff's comrade remained as before, standing in the +open doorway, while the Colonel, accompanied by Barbara, stepped into +the room. + +As he strode forward she kept near him; it seemed that she could not let +him move an arm's length from her. It took all her self-command to +refrain from flinging herself between him and the cupboard door. Wild +thoughts of appealing to his mercy shot like lightning through her +brain. If only his comrade on the threshold had not been there watching! +With that man looking on, the frail, frail hope would be lost if she +betrayed any sign of fear or agitation. + +Colonel Jeff stood casting his keen glance, around. Barbara stood like a +statue, all her life in her strained eyes, as she followed his glance. + +Colonel Jeff's eye fell on the cupboard door. He moved towards it. As he +did so, he chanced to turn his look on Barbara's face and met her eyes. +A swift and sudden change passed for a moment over his own rough-hewn +features; his dark eyes blazed upon her with an instant's startled, +piercing scrutiny; he set his hand on the cupboard door. And still +Barbara stood paralyzed, rooted to the ground as if the unveiled horror +of the Gorgon's stare had struck her to stone. + +Her lips moved, but no sound came from them. In the whirl of thought +that dazed her she remembered that she did not know, she had never +asked, if Desmond was armed! A desperate man turns at bay, and sells his +life dearly. What if Oliver had a knife or pistol clutched _now_, this +moment, in his hand? What if he shot or stabbed Rick Jeffreys before +the Colonel could draw his own weapon? There would be a moment's +horror--and Rick, her own true, loyal lover, stricken down at her feet, +and Oliver, whom she once had loved--was it a century ago?--dragged out +and murdered before her eyes! + +She felt the springs of life stop at her heart as Rick Jeffreys opened +the cupboard door. He raised the flickering candle. For one terrible +moment, in which Barbara tasted the bitterness of death, he stood +looking in. + +Then he deliberately drew back, closed the door, turned and crossed the +room to his waiting comrade on the threshold. He did not cast even an +instant's glance at Barbara as he passed her. + +[Illustration: "RICK JEFFREYS OPENED THE CUPBOARD DOOR."] + +"Is there any loft?" he demanded, in his usual deep, harsh tone, looking +around the passage as if to complete the search. + +Barbara heard a voice, that seemed to her not her own, issue from her +parted lips, saying, "No, there is no loft." + +They saw there was not, and proceeded downstairs. She followed them with +trembling limbs. She was almost fainting, but followed because she dared +not stay behind. The ominous silence in which Rick Jeffreys had passed +her seemed fraught with something worse than even the horror she had +dreaded. + +The Vigilance Committee did not waste their time, but being assured that +the fugitive they sought was not lurking in or about the ranch, they +promptly went on their way--the leader, before they departed, however, +pausing to express his regret for any inconvenience they might have +occasioned the lady by their unexpected inroad. + +Colonel Jeff was the last to speak. + +"I will make my apologies later," he said, as he took his leave. Barbara +caught the sinister gleam of his eye as he spoke, and she knew that +"later" time would be soon. + +Barely an hour had passed since the tramp of the horses of the departing +Vigilantes had died away into the silence of the windless night, when +another knock summoned Barbara to the front door. + +"I knew you would come back," she said, as the big, powerful form of +Colonel Jeff towered upon the threshold, tall and dark against the +background of the darkness. + +"You knew me well enough for that?" he rejoined, grimly. + +She closed the door, and turned towards the parlour. + +"In here," she said, quietly. + +He looked at her with a kind of fierce astonishment. Into his dark eyes, +that seemed to burn black with smouldering fury, there leapt a flash of +reluctant admiration, that shook and thrilled him with a passion more of +bitter wrath than of love. Instead of being crushed with shame and +humiliation, drooping in fear and beseeching, this woman faced him like +a queen. + +"It is not with _you_ that I have come to speak," he said, his deep +voice a trifle huskier than usual. "I have saved you from open shame and +public scandal. That's enough between you and me. I've nothing more to +do with you, but I've an account to settle with your lover. I deal with +him first, and alone. Where is he?" + +"Wait," she said, as he made a movement to turn to the door. "He is no +lover of mine." + +"You will tell me, I suppose," he retorted, "that he was hidden +_there_"--he ground his teeth upon the word as if he would crush +it--"without your knowledge and consent?" + +"I shall not tell you that." + +"No, you dare not. I saw your face. I read it in your eyes before I +opened that door. You dare not tell me you did not know of his +presence?" + +"No, I dare tell you the truth--that I did!" she replied, meeting the +fiery glance of his sombre eyes fearlessly. In the midst of his +concentrated rage--and Colonel Jeff in wrath was well known to be +dangerous--he could not help admiring this frail, fair, delicate +woman's dauntless courage. "I had no chance of speaking to you alone," +she continued, "or I would have told you--explained to you----" + +"I want no explanation," he said, harshly, bitterly; "I know enough." + +[Illustration: "'STAY!' SHE EXCLAIMED."] + +"Stay!" she exclaimed, lifting her fair head with a royal gesture. "That +man, the man whom I helped to a hiding-place to save his life--for you +know they would have killed him, they came here for his death----" + +"And if they did," he interposed, "what is his life or death to you?" + +"That man," she continued, waving his interruption aside, "did me a +cruel wrong--you know it well. He killed my love for him. Love once dead +rises no more. I have no grain of love left for the man who insulted, +wronged, deserted me. But I tell you now that _he_ wronged me less than +_you_ do if you say to me that you 'know enough!' You do _not_ know +enough. You must know all. Rick, you have said you loved me. You have +made me love you. You shall hear me now!" She spoke not pleadingly, but +with passionate resolution. + +"What have you to say?" he rejoined, sternly still, but less bitterly. + +"That if you love me you must trust me! If you love me you must respect +me! The woman who could turn a helpless, hunted fugitive--even a +stranger--from her doors would be unworthy of love or respect." + +"This man was no stranger!" + +"He came to me as one, not dreaming that I lived here. Would you ask me, +_because_ he was not a stranger, to revenge myself for a wrong of years +ago by refusing to him the help I would have given to any stranger? You +could not think that I would stoop to so base a revenge as to hand him +over to death when I would have given up no other man who stood in his +place? I would not turn a _dog_ away that came to me for help and +shelter. He came here, not knowing whose house this was--came to ask for +food and help because he was exhausted, famishing. It was as much a +surprise to him to find me here as it was to me to see who the man was +who asked me for shelter. And I promised it to him, and I kept my word. +He told me what he had done, and that the Vigilance Committee were on +his track. I've lived here long enough to know what that means! I would +not see the man who appealed to me to save him lawlessly murdered. He +has done wrong; he deserves punishment; but he does _not_ deserve the +fate they would have dealt to him." + +"They'd have strung him up on that big tree outside your gate," said +Colonel Jeff, grim still, but relenting, "and serve him right!" + +"I did not think he deserved death," rejoined Barbara, firmly; "I +risked--more than my life"--her voice quivered for the first time--"to +save him." + +"You did," he said; "you risked having your good name dragged in the +gutter, for the sake of that worthless scamp." + +"I risked more than that," she returned in a lower tone. + +"More than that?" He shot a keen, questioning glance at her from under +his dark, heavy brows. + +"Yes--I risked--and have I lost?--_your faith_?" + +He paused a moment before he answered: "Barbara, when a man loves as I +do, he loves to the end of life--and after!" + +A light kindled in her steadfast, questioning eyes. + +"Then I have not lost your love, Rick?" + +"I love you always." + +"But--your faith?" she urged. "One is worthless to me without the +other." + +"Do you say that my love is worthless, Barbara?" + +"If it is given without your trust, it is the setting without the +jewel. _Trust_ me, Rick--or, _leave me_!" + +"I trust you, my love," he replied, catching her hands and holding them +fast and close in his strong clasp. "Who could look in those eyes of +yours and doubt that you're true and pure as truth itself? But, my +darling, you've been foolish--with a woman's noble folly! Rash and +reckless--with an angel's courage! You have ventured too much--in such a +cause. These matters are not for women. Our Vigilante justice may be +rough and ready, but it fits the time and place. Anyhow, we keep the +neighbourhood so that the worst class of characters give it a wide +berth. You should not have crossed its path, my Barbara. It was not safe +for you; and for all that you have hazarded, he is not safe; they'll get +him yet." + +"No, they will not; you will not betray him?" + +"No. To betray him would be betraying you! Not for his sake, but for +yours, I'll hold my tongue. But what will he do? He cannot stay here." + +"He need not. He can have my brother's horse, my brother's overcoat and +hat. He can take the trail up the gully under cover of the night, or +with the first streak of dawn." + +"But your brother? Tom Thorne's a pretty hard citizen; what will he +say?" + +"I don't know. And, Rick, I don't care! I've taken this on myself, and +I'll see it through. I know Tom may be hard--and Hatty, too. The worst +they can do is to turn me out of the house. And if they do----" + +"You'll come to _mine_! Be mistress of all I have--queen of my home--my +_wife_!" + + * * * * * + +As the first pale pearly streak of dawn was stealing over the +snow-capped peaks of the Sierras, Oliver Desmond bowed his head--as he +had never bent it to mortal man--before the woman who had risked so much +for his safety, and raised her hand to his lips, as if it were the hand +of a shrined saint. And Colonel Jeff stood by, grim and silent. For good +or ill, Rick Jeffreys was thorough. He had promised, and he would keep +his word. + +[Illustration: "HE RAISED HER HAND TO HIS LIPS."] + +"You are the best and bravest of women," Desmond said. "Forget that I +have ever crossed your path. I shall cross it no more. But I shall never +forget." + +Barbara is Colonel Jeff's happy and idolized wife to-day; and between +her and her husband there is no forbidden subject--not even that of +Oliver Desmond. For the faith between them is perfect; Rick knows that +whoever may have ruled her yesterdays--he and he only holds Barbara's +heart to-day, and the shadow of Oliver Desmond has passed from off her +life for ever. It was long after that eventful night that they heard how +his ill-starred career had come to an untimely close; but his last words +to Barbara were true; he crossed _her_ path no more--and I for my part +think that he never forgot. + + + + +_The Royal Humane Society._ + +II. + + +CAPTAIN BRYAN MILMAN. + +The following is a narrative of an escape from peril, and the rescue of +five lives by individual gallantry, rarely equalled, and never exceeded, +in the records of high and noble daring. It is from the pen of Captain +Bryan Milman (now General Milman), of the 5th Fusiliers, in a letter +addressed to his father, Major-General Milman, late of the Coldstream +Guards: + +[Illustration: GENERAL BRYAN MILMAN. + +_From a Photograph by Maull & Fox._] + +"Mahebourg, Island of Mauritius, + +"June 30, 1848. + +"The following account of an almost miraculous escape that I and five +other officers have had from drowning will interest you all, I have no +doubt. The names of the others are Colquitt, Bellew, Fitzgerald, Home +(all of the 5th Fusiliers), and Palmer, a commissariat officer, in whose +boat we were at the time of the accident. Colquitt and Fitzgerald are in +the first battalion, and had come down here to stay with me and Bellew. +On the 25th we made a boating party, for them to visit one of our +detachments about fifteen miles from hence, at Grand River, south-east. +We left this about eleven a.m., and after reaching our destination all +safe, left it about three o'clock p.m. for home, the weather then +looking anything but promising. When about four miles from home and from +the shore, we were overset by a squall. It came upon us so suddenly that +we had no time to do anything; torrents of rain fell at the same time, +and there we were, drifting along on the side of the boat (which luckily +did not sink) without a chance of assistance, and the night setting in. +This happened about half-past five o'clock, and at this season it is +dark at six. We drifted in this way for about two hours, and at last +grounded in about seven feet of water. It was very nearly dark, and all +that we could see were the tops of the mountains in the horizon. We +supposed we were about two miles from shore. All of us but myself had +stripped on being upset, as I knew, if we came to a swim, that I could +take my clothes off in a moment. As it turned out, I think I was lucky +in this, for they perhaps, though wet, kept me a little warmer than my +companions. Nothing seemed to give us a chance of being saved, except +holding on till daylight, and as it was terribly cold, this seemed next +to impossible. At last it struck me I might be able to swim ashore to +procure assistance, and I got permission from the others to do so. Our +boatman, a Creole, who also said he would go, started with me to make +the attempt. I left them with a hearty 'God bless you!' from all. After +swimming some time, I lost sight of the boatman, and was left to myself. +I swam back a little, shouting as loud as I could; but getting no +answer, and feeling for my own sake that I must push on, I turned my +head towards the mountain tops (my only guides), and struck out my best. +I must have been swimming for more than an hour when I landed. I found +myself a little tired, and very much benumbed, barefooted, _en chemise_, +and not able to see ten yards before me, it was so dark. My first +impulse was to fall on my knees and thank Providence; after which, +curious to say, my military schooling came to my aid in the 'extension +motions,' which brought some little feeling into my limbs, and enabled +me to continue my work. After feeling my way for about half an hour +along the shore, shouting all the time, I came to a cottage, where I was +hospitably received. They told me that they had heard my cries some +time, but fancied I was some drunken man returning home, or else they +would have come out to my assistance. The poor black gave me some dry +clothes, and made me a cup of tea, and then conducted me to the +proprietor of the estate, who lived close by, and had the nearest +pirogue (a small boat like a canoe, dug out of a solid trunk of a large +tree) in the neighbourhood. M. Chiron, the name of the proprietor, a man +of colour, as soon as I explained my situation and my want of a boat to +go and assist the others, immediately offered to go himself, and his son +also insisted on going with him. I jumped at the offer, of course, and +we immediately walked down to where his pirogue was moored, and started, +myself at the bottom to serve as guide. By the blessing of Providence, +after about an hour's search, we heard the cries from the wreck. I think +I never felt so happy or so light-hearted in my life as I did at this +moment; for there were so many chances against us finding it. We could +not see many yards from our own boat. It was then about eleven o'clock, +so that my companions had been exposed on the boat for upwards of five +hours. Luckily, with great care, we got them safely into the pirogue, +without capsizing her; and by twelve o'clock we were safely housed under +M. Chiron's hospitable roof, who fed, clothed, and lodged us for the +night. In the morning, the unfortunate Creole boatman was found dead, +from cold and cramp, about half a mile from the place he was supposed to +have landed at. The kindness, hospitality, and truly courageous +assistance afforded us by M. Chiron, at the risk of his own life and +that of his son, are deserving of all praise. It was a service of danger +to go out even at all in a pirogue on such a rough night: much more to +go and seek for five drowning men three miles at sea. He wished his son +not to go; but the latter would not allow his father to go without him. +Constantly during our long search, when the son was getting tired of +pulling the boat, the father would cry out and encourage him, saying +'Courage, mon fils.' + + (Signed) "BRYAN MILMAN, + + "Capt. 5th Fusiliers." + + +GENERAL SIR CHARLES CRAUFURD FRASER, K.C.B., V.C. + +[Illustration: GENERAL FRASER. + +_From a Photo. by Chancellor, Dublin._] + +"The Army List makes no allusion to the gallant way in which Major +Charles Craufurd Fraser, of the 7th Hussars, won the Victoria +Cross--that coveted and hardly-won decoration which, to the honour of +England, graces not a few of the breasts of humble privates as well as +generals. The London _Gazette_, however, tells us that the Victoria +Cross was awarded to Charles Craufurd Fraser 'for conspicuous and cool +gallantry on the 31st December, 1858, in having volunteered, at great +personal risk, and under a sharp fire of musketry, to swim to the rescue +of Captain Stisted and some men of the 7th Hussars, who were in imminent +danger of being drowned in the River Raptee, while in pursuit of the +rebels. Major Fraser succeeded in this gallant service, although at the +time partially disabled, not having recovered from a severe wound +received while leading a squadron in a charge against some fanatics in +the action of Nawabgunge on the 13th of June, 1858.'" + + +LORD CHARLES BERESFORD, R.N. + +"Lord Charles Beresford, R.N., on September 18th, 1883, at Liverpool, +saved Mr. Richardson, who accidentally fell into the Mersey. Lord +Charles jumped overboard and supported him in the water until +assistance came. It may be mentioned that a strong tide was running at +the time. Lord Charles is also the holder of the Bronze Clasp, for +saving, in conjunction with John Harry, ship's corporal of H.M.S. +_Galatea_, a marine named W. James, at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, +October 6th, 1868. Lord Charles jumped overboard with heavy shooting +clothes and pockets filled with gun and cartridges. Harry assisted Lord +Charles to support the man until a boat arrived." + +[Illustration: LORD CHARLES BERESFORD. + +_From a Photo. by the London Stereoscopic Co._] + + +BRAM STOKER, M.A. + +[Illustration: MR. BRAM STOKER. + +_From a Photo. by Walery._] + +"On September 14th, 1882, a man jumped overboard from a steamboat, and +after being seized hold of by Mr. Stoker he persistently kept his face +under water. Mr. Stoker then divested himself of some of his clothing +and jumped in after him, and sustained the man until a boat came to +them. The man was insensible. Mr. Stoker, a surgeon, brother to Mr. Bram +Stoker, did his utmost to try and restore the man, but unfortunately +failed." + + +WILLIAM TERRISS. + +[Illustration: MR. WILLIAM TERRISS. + +_From a Photo. by Alfred Ellis._] + +"On August 16th, 1885, Mr. William Terriss saved a boy off the North +Foreland, off Deal. Three lads were bathing near the shore, and one of +them was seized with cramp. Mr. Terriss jumped overboard from a boat, +with all his clothes on, and saved the boy. He was presented with the +Royal Humane Society's Medal by H. Irving, Esq., in the presence of the +whole of the Lyceum employees." + + +MISS MARY COLLIER. + +"On the afternoon of Wednesday, August 19th, 1891, Miss Mary Collier, +daughter of Mr. Simon Collier, shoe manufacturer, of Northampton, was +out bathing with her sister and some friends. The party had been amusing +themselves with a life-buoy, and one of them called attention to the +distance two children, aged respectively eleven and fifteen, were out. +Miss Collier exclaimed: 'Why, they are drowning,' and at once took the +buoy and went out to them. She succeeded in reaching them just as they +were going down for the third time, locked in each other's arms. They +seized hold of the buoy, and Miss Collier attempted to swim back to the +shore; but the tide was going out, and the current too strong, and they +were observed to be drifting farther away. At length the cries of her +companions reached the ears of those on the beach, and the machine +attendant on horseback dashed off to the rescue. After swimming his +horse a considerable distance he reached the scene of danger. Miss +Collier at once seized on a chain attached to the collar, and the +horse's head being with difficulty set towards the shore, the whole +party were dragged through the water, the two children holding on to the +buoy, through which Miss Collier had thrust her spare arm. After going +some distance, the rider called to them that his horse's feet touched +the bottom, and soon they were dragged ashore, amid intense excitement +among the large crowd who had assembled and witnessed the rescue. A sum +of money was collected on the spot to reward the plucky rider for his +conduct, and we are glad to say Miss Collier was none the worse for the +excitement and exertion." + +[Illustration: MISS MARY COLLIER. + +_From a Photo. by Draycutt, Birmingham._] + + +JAMES WILLOUGHBY JARDINE. + +[Illustration: JAMES WILLOUGHBY JARDINE. + +_From a Photo. by Paddicombe, Bideford._] + +"A boy, R. H. Anderson, ten years of age, was trying to swim, but the +current took him out of his depth, when he lost presence of mind and +began to sink. Jardine pluckily swam to the drowning boy, reached him +and held him up as best he could, but the current carried them towards +the opposite point, and finally a boat picked them up." + + +ALBERT ERNEST DEACON, Aged 14. + +"Albert Ernest Deacon, of 25, Canterbury Road, a youth only fourteen +years of age, gallantly rescued two other boys from drowning on +Thursday, July 16th, 1891. It appears that on the day named Deacon and +some of his companions had been bathing, and had just come ashore and +commenced to dress, when their attention was called to two boys +struggling in the water. The other boys on the beach, regarding him as +the best swimmer, shouted out, 'Go for them.' He immediately divested +himself of the only garment he had on, and, plunging into the water, +succeeded in bringing Walter Marsh within reach of Albert Nicholls, who +was walking out waist-deep to meet him. He then at once swam off to the +rescue of the other boy, George Hook, who had sunk twice, and brought +him ashore also. Both boys were greatly exhausted, more especially Hook, +and fears were at first entertained for his recovery. However, Dr. +Wheeler, who was sent for and promptly attended, put into exercise the +remedies usual in such cases, which happily had the desired effect. The +conduct of Albert Ernest Deacon in such an emergency was highly +praiseworthy. Bronze Medal awarded to Deacon; Vellum Testimonial to +Nicholls." + +[Illustration: ALBERT ERNEST DEACON. + +_From a Photo. by Castle, Whitstable._] + +[Illustration: WALTER MARSH AND GEORGE HOOK, SAVED BY A. E. DEACON. + +_From a Photo. by Castle, Whitstable._] + + +SYDNEY GRAVES. + +[Illustration: SYDNEY GRAVES. + +_From a Photo. by Hellis & Sons._] + +"Mr. Sydney Graves is the grandson of the late Henry Graves, the famous +art publisher, of Pall Mall. It was whilst at Ventnor on August 28th, +1888, that he distinguished himself and made good his claim to the +Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society by rendering material +assistance, with others, in saving life at sea. He was bathing and had +returned to his machine. The sea was very rough. An exclamation from a +little boy on the shore told him that somebody was drowning. He saw two +men about fifty yards away struggling in the water, and he at once swam +out, carrying with him a rope which was thrown to him. The rope he gave +to one of the men--a boatman; the other swimmer was already under water. +Mr. Graves got him up and helped both men ashore. The Medal was +presented at the annual festival of the Otter Swimming Club, of +which--at that time--Mr. Graves was the youngest member. He was under +fifteen years of age when he won the Medal." + + +CHARLES WICKENDEN, Aged 10. + +"On Tuesday, the 14th July, 1891, some boys were bathing in a place +called the 'Salts' on the 'Brook,' Snodland, Kent, when William Hodges, +aged eleven years, got out of his depth. It being evident that the boy +was drowning, one of the party ran for assistance, and fortunately soon +met Charles Wickenden, a lad ten years of age. Wickenden, without the +slightest hesitation, plunged into the water, and after a severe +struggle, during which he was pulled under twice, succeeded in bringing +the unfortunate boy to land. He was unconscious, but the other boys held +him head downwards to get rid of the water and rubbed him, and +fortunately succeeded in bringing him back to consciousness again. He +was afterwards taken to Dr. Palmer, who gave it as his opinion that the +boy had had a narrow escape. The conduct of Wickenden, who bravely, at +great peril to himself, attempted successfully to save the life of a +playmate, cannot be too highly commended." + +[Illustration: CHARLES WICKENDEN. + +_From a Photo. by Hicks, Eccles._] + +[Illustration: WILLIAM HODGES. + +_From a Photo. by Hicks, Eccles, Aylesford._] + + +HARRY FOOTE. + +[Illustration: HARRY FOOTE AND W. SAXON. + +_From a Photo. by Hill & Wakeling, Plymouth._] + +"Harry Foote, a schoolboy, aged thirteen, saved W. Saxon, five years +old, on August 10th, 1891. The boy fell off the quay whilst playing. +Harry Foote ran to the place and jumped off the quay with all his +clothes on, and succeeded in bringing him to a landing place, a distance +of twelve yards. There were ten feet of water and the tide was running +swiftly." + + +MISS ANNIE E. MACAULAY. + +[Illustration: MISS ANNIE E. MACAULAY. + +_From a Photo. by T. Patterson, Irvine._] + +"John Martin, a child five years of age, was bathing with other boys +much older than himself, when he was carried out of his depth and they +could render him no assistance. Miss Macaulay went to the rescue and, +with some difficulty, got the boy safely out. She received the Vellum +Testimonial from the Society." + + +FRANK LINES. + +[Illustration: FRANK LINES. + +_From a Photo. by Heillis & Sons, Regent Street, W._] + +"Frank Lines, a little boy aged eight, saved James Cochrane on the 28th +December, 1891, in Broadwater, Brocket Park, Hatfield. Cochrane ran +after a ball on the ice, and when forty-five yards from the bank the ice +broke. He managed, however, to cling to the edge for some time. The +other boys who were present ran away, but Frank Lines crawled to the +hole, and with the aid of a stick got Cochrane out. The ice again gave +way and Cochrane fell in once more; but still his little rescuer made +another attempt, and finally saved him." + + +"PRINCE." + +[Illustration: "PRINCE." + +_From a Photo. by C. Malfait, Dunkirk._] + +"DEAR SIR,--I enclose, with pleasure, the photo. of my dog 'Prince.' I +need hardly say how proud I feel to think that it will be inserted in +the well-known STRAND MAGAZINE. I am sorry that I could not send it +before; but, as I had to have his photo. taken, I have been forced to +wait. 'Prince' is a thoroughbred (absolutely pure) black retriever, and +is nearly three years old. His photo. is taken in the act of 'Toeing the +line,' a trick that I have taught him. He retrieves perfectly, and is a +remarkably rapid swimmer. Three weeks ago he jumped from a height of 30 +ft., with 14 ft. to clear, into one of the dry docks, which had about 6 +ft. to 8 ft. of water in it. In saving the lives of the men he was of +great assistance to me by diving under the water and lifting the feet of +the second officer out of the quicksand. Throughout the whole affair he +displayed great intelligence. I forgot to mention that the collar he is +wearing was presented by the brother of the captain who, unfortunately, +was drowned; and on the plate are engraved these words: 'Presented to +"Prince" for his gallant behaviour, October 22nd, 1892, by J. J. W.' + + "Yours truly, + + "FRANK DAVID PENGELLY." + + + + +_Shafts from an Eastern Quiver._ + +XI.--IN QUEST OF THE LOST GALLEON. + +BY CHARLES J. MANSFORD, B.A. + + +I. + +"Hassan," I said to our guide as he rested before us in the shade of the +tent, "what was it those coolies lying under the trees yonder told you +about Formosa?" + +"The sahib shall hear," replied the Arab. "They wish to persuade the +Englishmen to hire their junk to visit the island, for they learnt from +me that we have met with many strange experiences during our wanderings. +They declare that what may be seen in one part of it is almost beyond +belief." + +"Never mind what they say," I expostulated, "go on and tell us about the +island. There ought to be some story concerning it to interest us, +considering that the Spaniards, the Dutch, and the Chinese have all +possessed it in turn. It is quite notorious for the shipwrecks on its +coast, not to mention the pirates who have held it at different times, +and the savage tribes said to inhabit its wildest parts." + +"Ye shall hear the story, strange indeed as it is," responded the Arab; +"and, besides, it partly concerns a Feringhee sailor." + +"Well, go on with your yarn, Hassan," said Denviers. "What a nigger you +are for trying to excite our interest before you really tell us +anything." + +"The sahib does not give his slave a chance to continue, but makes +always a most indifferent listener," replied the Arab gravely; "and yet +the great Mahomet has said that he who is impatient----" + +"The story!" I interposed. "Go on, Hassan, you can tell us about Mahomet +some other day." Thus abjured, the Arab, after being silent for a few +minutes, related to us the strange events which followed the quest of +the lost galleon. + +Soon after our adventure with the Hunted Tribe of Three Hundred Peaks we +left Siam, and sailing through the China Sea made for Hong Kong. Thence +we set out to traverse a part of the coast of China, and at this time +our tent was pitched not far from Swatow. There Hassan held a +conversation with some coolies, when, from the various excited +exclamations and gestures both of them and the Arab, my interest was +roused sufficiently to question our guide, as narrated. As it afterwards +transpired, the coolies had moved away a little only to await our +decision, and were resting patiently meanwhile under the shade of a huge +umbrella in addition to that afforded by the pine clump. + +[Illustration: "THE SPANISH GALLEON."] + +"Many years ago," began Hassan, "when the far-off people of Spain ruled +a great continent, a galleon laden heavily with treasure wrung from the +natives set out to return with its great store under the command of Don +Luego, a grandee, whose name was a terror to all those who came under +the Spaniard's sway. The riches which the vessel carried were almost +incredible, yet Don Luego had no word of praise or thanks for the +sailors who toiled to convey it home across the stormy seas. + +"More than one brave sailor was hung at the yard-arm for venturing to +utter incautious expressions against the Spaniard's despotic rule, but +at last some of the crew grew strangely silent, and took to watching +Luego and conspiring together under the hatches. Among these men was one +who had been put in chains several times, and whom the constant fear of +death nerved on to lead his disaffected comrades against the commander. + +"One morning all hands were piped on deck to witness the execution of a +seaman, and Jose, the leader of the discontented part of the crew, was +told off to assist. With a stern-set countenance he stepped forward, +pulled the rope from his comrade's neck, and struck the fell Spaniard +full in the face with it. + +[Illustration: "MUTINY!"] + +"'Mutiny!' gasped the astonished Don Luego; then, turning to the other +seamen, he cried, 'Seize him and swing the two together from the +yard-arm!' + +"A number of the sailors ran forward, eager to gain favour with their +commander by obeying his orders, while the rest hurriedly gathered round +the doomed men, and, drawing their keen knives, prepared to defend them. +Don Luego unsheathed his sword and rushed forward with a fierce cry, +while the mutineers fought hand-to-hand with the other seamen. It was a +desperate fray, for the men who had revolted knew their fate if once +they became overpowered. On the mutineers pressed over the slippery +decks, until at last their disheartened opponents ceased fighting and +surrendered. + +"Deserted by his men, Don Luego stood alone with his blood-red sword +still gripped in his hand, for he expected no mercy from the sailors +whom he had driven into rebellion. The chief mutineers gathered in a +group and eagerly discussed the fate to be awarded to their defeated +commander. Most of them were in favour of putting him to death in the +same manner in which he had doomed his seamen; but Jose, who now headed +them, proposed another plan, which eventually was agreed upon. A +quantity of provisions and water were got ready, and then Don Luego was +seized and disarmed in spite of his struggles. The seamen lowered him in +a boat over the side of the galleon, and then, cutting the ropes, cast +the fierce commander adrift at the mercy of wind and wave. They watched +him as the boat was seen to rise at times on the crest of a huge wave, +and saw that he shook at them threateningly his disarmed hand. At last +they lost sight of him, and gathered together once more to consider +their own plans and what to do with the treasure of the galleon. + +"Jose, who seemed to be above the lust for gold which sprang up in the +hearts of the other sailors, assumed the command, and bade the men +prepare to return to Spain. He thought it best to throw himself and his +crew on the mercy of the King, and, delivering up the treasure, to tell +of the cruelties of Don Luego. With some reluctance the seamen agreed, +and so they took their course homeward. Three days afterwards a sailor +on the look-out descried several Spanish caracks to leeward, to which +they signalled, and having joined company sailed on together. All the +vessels carried bombards and cannons, yet within a week the whole of +them, save one, had struck their colours, and nailed to the mast of each +was the flag of the capturing enemy, who belonged to the sahibs' nation. +The single vessel not taken was the galleon which Jose commanded, and +after it, as it fled through the waves with every stitch of canvas +spread, went one of the Feringhee ships. + +"It was a long stern chase, for the enemy was determined to capture the +galleon, yet so well were the vessels matched in speed that they swept +on without any perceptible difference being made in the distance which +separated them. Through all their course nothing seemed to hinder the +relentless pursuit of the treasure-ship. Many times Jose cried out to +his men to turn the vessel about to grapple with the other for the +mastery, but they would not obey, for the Spaniards knew too well how +the Feringhees could fight. A violent storm came on in which both ships +were partly disabled, but still they went on as best they could before a +driving wind, until they were carried from west to east and then driven +north into a sea which none of them had seen before. + +"Then the Spanish galleon began to slacken and the English ship to draw +nearer and nearer by degrees, until one stormy evening the towering +crests of the volcanic range which runs through Formosa were visible, +although the sailors knew not what the land was named. Jose called upon +his men to run the vessel towards it, and as the pursuers drew still +closer in the gloom he determined to be revenged, even at the cost of +every Spaniard's life, for the dogged way in which the enemy had hunted +him down. He chose, as well as he could distinguish it, that part of the +coast which seemed the most rock-bound, and then, slackening his +vessel's speed, lured on the other for a time, then suddenly sped ahead +as though making for a known harbour. Deceived by this, the ship which +chased him followed on, and before even Jose himself was aware of the +outlying reefs of coral, they struck almost together. The next minute +Spaniard and Feringhee were struggling for their lives, while tremendous +seas were sweeping over the two ill-fated vessels. + +[Illustration: "ONLY A SOLITARY SAILOR WAS LEFT."] + +"The English ship went down, leaving only part of her mast to be seen, +to which for a time a few seamen clung until one by one the waves swept +them off, and out of the entire crew only a solitary sailor was left +there. The Spanish galleon struck nearer to the coast, and at low water +its hull could long afterwards be seen, but not a man aboard was saved. +The Feringhee sailor clung to the mast all through that dreary night. +Next morning, seizing a floating spar, he struck out for the shore and +battled with the seething waters until, almost unconscious, he was flung +high on the coral beach. Towards sunset the seaman rose, and struggling +forward to the entrance of one of the caves before him, he flung himself +down to sleep. + +"The coolies say that the sailor afterwards explored a part of the +roast and then set about making his presence known to any vessel which +might chance to pass the island. Getting possession of part of the +broken mast of one of the ships, he raised it on the beach, and hoisted +to the top of it the tattered flag of the English vessel, which chanced +to be flung up by the waves. For weeks and months his signal passed +unnoticed; and meanwhile the sailor made a raft, and at low water +reached the hulk of the Spanish ship several times, from which by +degrees he carried away the treasure. This he hid in the cave which he +occupied, hoping that one day he would be rescued. He found arms and +ammunition in the galleon in abundance, and well it was for him that he +secured them and made them serviceable in case of need. + +"Lying before the cave one day he saw the dusky forms of several savages +appear, at which the sailor immediately seized the nearest Spanish +musket and prepared to defend himself. In a moment they discovered him +and cast a shower of spears towards the entrance of the cave. The +Feringhee shouldered his loaded muskets in turn and picked the savages +off one at a time in quick succession, and despite their onsets he +managed for a time to keep them at bay. At last they gathered together +and made a desperate attack upon the cave, while the undaunted sailor +clubbed them with the butt of a musket as fast as they came upon him. +Then they withdrew and left him to pass the night watching and waiting +for the assault to be renewed, but this was not attempted. Next day one +of the savages appeared alone and unarmed, making signs which indicated +that the tribe desired peace. + +"Not only was this goodwill maintained, but the chief of the fierce +islanders, full of admiration for the sailor's bravery, treated him with +marked respect, and when more than a year had passed, during which no +vessel apparently sighted the fluttering flag at the top of the broken +mast, the seaman became almost reconciled to his strange fate, and took +the chief's daughter as his wife. Watching from the beach one day, long +after this, the sailor saw a vessel, and climbing up the mast seized the +flag and raised frantic cries for rescue; for on seeing a ship once more +his old longing to leave the island at once returned. Anxiously he +watched, and then saw a flag run up to the mast of the ship, which told +him that his signal had been observed--then the dull roar of cannon rang +out over the waters. The vessel tacked and soon bore down towards the +island, the sailor madly waving the tattered flag and uttering +exclamations of delight, for he was almost beside himself at the near +prospect of rescue. + +"The vessel was brought to at some little distance from the island and a +boat sent out, which was carefully steered through the breakers. +Forgetting the treasure which he had concealed in the cave, and the +friendly treatment which he had so long received from the tribe who knew +of its whereabouts, the sailor rushed into the surf, and throwing +himself into the boat bade the men pull back to the ship. When he was +standing on the deck of the latter he recognised fully his own position. +Above him floated the Spanish flag, fierce glances of hatred from all +the crew were turned upon him, and to complete his discomfiture the +commander who came forward to meet him was none other than Don Luego, of +whom every Feringhee sailor had heard. + +"Cast adrift by the crew of the galleon which he had commanded, Don +Luego had been rescued and carried to Spain by a trading vessel, by +which he chanced to be observed after suffering terrible privations at +sea. He made his way into the King's presence, told his own tale of the +mutiny of his sailors, and persuaded the monarch to put him in command +of a fast vessel with which to return and, hunting them down, to restore +the great treasure to the Spanish coffers. Strange rumours were heard by +him when again in the southern seas of the galleon having been seen +flying before the wind with another vessel pursuing it. After cruising +about for a considerable time he had quite unknowingly come within sight +of the island where the English vessel and the Spanish galleon had both +been wrecked. + +"Pretending that hostilities had long ceased between the two nations, +Don Luego endeavoured to get the rescued man to relate the story of his +shipwreck; but the seaman, conscious of his danger, gave evasive +answers, and asked to be landed upon the island once more. The +Spaniard's suspicions were aroused, and he determined to keep the sailor +on board as his prisoner while a number of men were sent ashore to see +if anything could be discovered. They soon come back and reported that +upon the beach they had seen portions of wreckage which had evidently +formed part of a Spanish galleon. The Feringhee seaman was strictly +questioned by the commander, but at first would say nothing. Stung at +length by Don Luego's taunts, he pointed towards the tattered flag which +still floated from the broken mast, and declared that it waved over a +treasure belonging no longer to Spain but to him. + +[Illustration: "CUTTING HIS WAY THROUGH THE SPANIARDS."] + +"Don Luego responded by threatening the hardy sailor with death unless +he pointed out where the contents of the lost galleon were concealed. +The seaman suddenly sprang forward, wrenched the sword from his +interrogator's hand, and, cutting a way through the surprised Spaniards, +flung himself headlong from the vessel's side, and struck out for the +shore. + +"'Shoot him, men!' cried Don Luego, as the sailor's head emerged for a +minute from the water, and instantly a volley from a hundred muskets +whistled round the swimmer's head. He dived at once and swam under +water, only coming up to take breath occasionally. A second and a third +time the muskets were discharged, and then the savages--who had +meanwhile gathered in a threatening band at the water's edge, on hearing +the strange reports ring out--saw the sailor flung upon the coral beach. +They bent over him, then raised a wild cry for vengeance, for the waves +had cast at their feet the blood-stained body of the lifeless seaman. + +"Landing from their boats, the Spaniards tried to force the natives from +the shore, but were driven back time after time at the point of the +savages' spears, till disheartened they leapt into their boats again and +made for the vessel. Foremost among the wild horde which fought so +desperately to avenge the murdered sailor was the daughter of the +chief--for among this tribe the women fight in battle no less than the +men. Her spear it was which pierced the traitorous Don Luego through as +he led on the Spaniards. + +"Soon after the ship sailed away the savages took up their dead, and +carrying the sailor's body away they placed it in some secret spot, +whither also they conveyed the treasure which he had hidden near the +shore. There it is said to remain still, for though many daring +explorers have set out to find it, none have ever returned to speak of +their success, so the coolies say. Yet they would gladly convey the +sahibs to the island and help them to overcome the savage tribe still +living there, for they are bold seamen, and do not fear fighting +whatever enemies may appear." + +"I daresay," commented Denviers, with a glance of amusement at the +coolies still shading themselves with the umbrella, "they would +willingly go with us until the first savage appeared, then they would +jump into the junk and make off, leaving us to defend ourselves as best +we knew how. I have not the slightest objection to setting out for +Formosa, but we will see to the craft ourselves and not trust to them. +What is your opinion, Harold?" + +"Let us go, by all means," I answered. "Between us we can manage the +junk very well, and if we act cautiously we may come across this +strangely hidden treasure; at all events, we might try." + +Hassan was accordingly dispatched to the coolies to tell them what +course we had decided to follow, and after some bargaining the junk was +placed at our disposal. Before many hours had passed we were on our way +to Formosa, little knowing what a strange adventure was in store for us, +or how perilous a task we had so lightly undertaken. Before commencing +our journey we carefully questioned the coolies as to where it was +rumoured the treasure had been secreted, and, learning this, provided +ourselves with everything we thought necessary for the enterprise. Our +tent and possessions were left in charge of a wealthy mandarin, whom we +fortunately met at Swatow, while we looked to the state of our weapons, +for we fully expected to need them in the adventure before us. + + +II. + +"I think these Formosans are altogether too friendly, Harold," said +Denviers, as we eventually reached the rough coast to which we had been +directed, and our boat was being dragged through the blinding surf by a +dozen fierce-looking savages. + +"The sahibs need not fear," interposed Hassan, as he overheard this +remark; "it is necessary that we should be led by them, for not +otherwise could we see Wimpai, who is their head-man, so the coolies +told me." + +"I expect we could have managed very well without seeing him," I +replied. "Would it not have been possible to have found the sailor's +treasure, wherever it is hidden, without landing at a spot where these +savages were evidently on the look-out?" + +"Not so, by Mahomet!" answered the Arab. "The sahibs would certainly be +slain if they attempted to do so without Wimpai permitted them." + +"Well, come on then," said Denviers, as he made his way through the +wreckage and huge fragments of coral lying on the beach: "I daresay we +shall get out of this adventure as safely as we have others. Our new +acquaintances are certainly making themselves quite at home with our +possessions, before being invited even," he added, as four of them +placed on their heads some pieces of cloth and a native basket filled +with handsome beads, which Hassan had advised us to bring in order to +propitiate Wimpai. + +"They seem to consider us their prisoners," I remarked, as the savages +marched on the right and left of us, while we strode on with our rifles +shouldered. + +"I don't relish the look of their knives," commented Denviers; "they are +likely to do us far more harm with them than with the clumsy matchlocks +which they now carry instead of spears. What a splendid set of fellows +they are!" + +The savages who inhabited this part of Formosa, so much avoided on +account of its dangerous coral reefs, wore only a blue loin-cloth. Their +hair was adorned with a number of brightly-coloured feathers, while +across the shoulder of each passed a strip of scarlet cloth, reaching to +the waist, supporting a plaited loop, into which was thrust the +long-bladed knife which my companion mentioned. For some time the +tangled pathway which we traversed wound up the steep side of a mountain +spur, running almost down to the edge of the raised coral beach. Forcing +our way through the screw-pine, which obstructed us, we were soon +passing under the shade of some bamboos and banyans, when Denviers +motioned to some trees a little way ahead, and suddenly exclaimed:-- + +"Look out, Harold! These savage niggers mean mischief!" + +I glanced carefully to where my companion directed me, and saw a number +of matchlocks pointed at us, while the heads of those who held them +peered cautiously forth. We raised our rifles to defend ourselves, for +we were completely covered by the shining barrels of the enemy, and for +a moment fully expected that the lighted port-fires would be applied to +their old-fashioned weapons. Seeing that we were closely guarded by the +others from any attempt to escape, the savages came out from their +lurking-places and advanced to meet us. + +"It looks as if Hassan's incredible yarn is going to turn out true after +all," said Denviers to me, aside; "at all events, there are several +women carrying arms among those in front." + +Upon getting close to us the savages passed on one side, and giving a +fierce yell of triumph as they did so, turned and followed behind, while +our guides or captors still inclosed us, except one of them who led the +way. The burden-bearers soon after this disappeared, and we saw no more +of the presents which we had brought. + +"I expect we are in for it," said Denviers, as the savage led us towards +a narrow gap in the heart of the mountain up which we had been toiling. +Through this a number of the men passed in single file, and we were +bidden to follow them. We halted irresolutely and turned round, only to +see the wild horde pressing on behind, impatient at our delay. + +"We must go on," said Denviers, "for we are completely surrounded." + +The Arab pressed forward, anxious to be the first to test whatever +danger confronted us, but my companion prevented this, and Hassan was +compelled to take second place, while I followed him. We were absolutely +in the dark before we had proceeded a dozen yards through the cleft in +the mountain side, and then our worst fears were realized. + +I heard a warning cry from Denviers, followed by Hassan's fierce answer, +as the savages gathered closely about us where the passage or cave mist +have widened out, and then I felt the grip of a hand upon my throat and +saw even in the gloom the fierce glitter of my enemy's eyes. With a thud +I brought my rifle down, and the blow evidently told, for my throat was +released, while the one who had attacked me fell heavily to the ground. + +[Illustration: "I FELT THE GRIP OF A HAND UPON MY THROAT."] + +Of all the adventures which we had met with, that one, during those few +minutes of desperate fighting for our lives in the blackness about us, +seemed the most weird and exciting. Once I heard the ring of the Arab's +sword as it struck against the side of the rocky excavation, and a call +to Mahomet for help came from his lips, while through it all Denviers +was cheering us madly on in the blind conflict with our foes. I felt my +rifle wrenched at last from my hands, and drawing a pistol from my belt +thrust it between the glaring eyes of a savage and fired, sending him +down at my feet. In a second that weapon too was snatched from me, and +feeling hastily for the other I found it gone! Still another savage +faced me, and I struck blindly at him with my fist, dealing a stunning +blow which sent him spinning and laid my knuckles bare. With all my +might I struggled to keep off the rope or thong which I felt was being +bound about me, but the odds were too great, and with my arms lashed +tightly to my sides I was dragged forward, wondering what fate was in +store and why the savages did not kill us outright with their knives. +Evidently that was not their purpose, for as soon as I was helplessly +bound no more blows were rained upon me, nor did my captors attempt to +inflict further injuries. + +How long I was hauled through the gloomy passage in the mountain would +be difficult to conjecture, but eventually a stifling heat seemed to +penetrate to where I was being hurried along, and a dull red glow +appeared ahead which lit up the scene, showing what had happened and +where we were. Denviers and Hassan were both bound, the latter having +one of his arms left loose, from which circumstance I concluded that it +was broken, and this was subsequently found to be true. + +The glowing mass ahead increased in its intensity, and cast strange +shadows of the savages upon the jagged walls of rock which inclosed us +on each side and rose to a height of more than twenty feet at the point +we had then reached. We drew near to each other as we emerged into the +lighter part of the mountain passage, and the savages ceased to drag us +along, since they could watch our movements. + +"We ought to be glad these niggers didn't try conclusions with their +knives in that fight in the dark," said Denviers, as I got close to him +and the Arab. Then, observing the latter's injured arm, he added: "You +seem to have got the worst of the encounter with one of them, +Hassan----" + +"Not so, by the Koran!" answered the Arab, promptly. "He who dealt that +blow felt the edge of my sword, and lived but a second after he did it." + +"Where are we being taken to, do you think, Hassan?" I asked, looking in +surprise at the changing colours of the walls of the passage, which just +there were tinted a bluish-grey, then crimsoned a little further on, +until the long cave seemed to terminate in an enormous hollow +surrounded by blood-red rocks which rose precipitously upwards. + +"The sahib will soon see for himself," answered the Arab. "The savage +tribe has chosen a safe retreat where none would expect to find living +people, for, see! before us is the jagged side of a crater!" + +We emerged from the cave to observe in front of us the cause of the +intense heat which had been so oppressive while we were in it. A white +cloud of smoke rose from the funnel-like hollow, and occasionally +flickering red flames shot up and turned this to the same hue, while at +times the cloud wore a blue colour, matching the changing tints of the +lake of fire below. Round the interior of the great crater in which we +were ran a rugged path of broken masses of rock, between which streams +of lava lay, and over them we had to pass. Even as we went along, +scarcely able to breathe, we saw a huge fragment of rock crash down into +the depths below. This was followed by a grinding sound and a rumble +like thunder; then high above us shot a shower of red-hot lava and +stones, while we crouched under a projecting shelf of black basalt, and +forgot that we were prisoners in the midst of such an impressive scene. +When the stream of fire which darted upwards had somewhat subsided, our +captives urged us forward, and on we went, tumbling and slipping over +the dangerous rocks, which threatened every instant to give way beneath +our feet. Even the savages became exceedingly cautious as we wound our +way around the crater, and seemed to be getting nearer and nearer still +to the molten fire below. + +[Illustration: "HE FELL HEAD FIRST."] + +As he turned round for a moment to see if we were following, the +foremost of our captors missed his footing, and, bound as we were, none +of us could make an attempt to save him. Uttering an appalling cry of +horror, he fell head first into the roaring furnace! We flung ourselves +upon our faces and tried to shut out that weird scream of terror; then +Denviers, prone as he was, worked his body forward upon a loose, +overhanging rock, and stared down into the red sea of fire below. + +"The sahib is mad! Come back, come back!" cried Hassan, excitedly; +whereupon the savages, looking more like demons than men, as their faces +were lighted up by the glow of the lambent flames, seized hold of my +companion and dragged him from threatening death. + +"He has not fallen right in," said Denviers to me, calmly, as though his +own danger had been a mere nothing; "the man is clinging to a projecting +crag just above the flames. Hassan," he cried to our guide, "tell these +savages if they will unbind me I think I can save him." + +Half stupefied with fear and horror, our captors unbound the long rope +which held my companion's arms to his sides, and at once he made a loop +at one end of it and advanced again upon the projecting rock. Quickly +the rope was lowered and, leaning right over, Denviers managed to reach +the almost senseless man, for we saw him hauling the rope slowly in, and +finally the head of the savage appeared before us, while the loose rock +which upheld rescuer and rescued swayed ominously upon the solid mass +which supported it. Scarcely were the two of them dragged back from the +rock when over it went, and again a fierce shower of fire shot up, from +which with much difficulty we protected ourselves. + +The savage lay scorched and motionless for several minutes, then, +struggling to his feet, he took one of the knives which another +proffered and cut Hassan's bonds as well as my own. Again we moved +forward and, conscious that this unexpected rescue of their companion +had won for us the goodwill of all, we passed on, hoping that when we +faced Wimpai, their chief, it would be turned to good account. Freed +from our bonds so unexpectedly, we went on with more confidence than +before, and at last saw another huge cavern facing us, upon entering +which we found ourselves in the presence of the savage chief. + + +III. + +We were not able to observe what the entire number of the savages was, +since the cave into which we went led to several others where we caught +glimpses of many of the wild tribe. We estimated that those among whom +we were amounted to about five hundred, more than a half of whom were +female warriors. Our appearance was the signal for the savages to raise +excited cries, which continued till we stood before Wimpai, who was +partly surrounded by a number of his armed women. The chief of our +captors, who had received several severe burns and injuries through his +fall, pressed forward, and telling first of our fight in the rocky +passage, afterwards spoke of his own rescue by Denviers, so we learnt +from Hassan. Wimpai rose and leant upon his spear when the savage had +concluded his account, and was evidently perplexed as to what course to +pursue. + +Hassan managed to explain our purpose in visiting the chief, and with an +immobile countenance asked for us to be shown the hidden treasure, a +request which brought forth a shrill laugh from those around. We could +not understand what passed between Wimpai and the Arab, but the latter +succeeded in producing a favourable effect by his persuasive words, for +he turned to us eventually, saying:-- + +"Wimpai declares that between his tribe and those who carry the dragon +banner to war there has been of late much fighting, which is the reason +his people have sought this strange shelter." + +"I should have thought these niggers could tell the difference between +us and Chinamen," interposed Denviers. + +"That is so," responded the Arab; "but the sahib forgets that in the +memory of every wild tribe those who have injured them are never +forgotten. Finding that we were not like the people with whom they have +recently been fighting, those who took us prisoners thought we were the +descendants of the fell Spaniards whom their traditions recall. I have +told Wimpai that ye are of the same nation as the Feringhee sailor who +married the daughter of one of their chiefs so long ago, and he promises +that we shall see the treasure, and may take as much of it as we can +bear away. Even now a boat is being got ready for us to enter, and a +warrior woman is to accompany us down the strange stream which leads to +the place where the contents of the galleon have long been hidden." + +[Illustration: "WE SAW A WOMAN APPROACH."] + +As the Arab finished speaking, we saw a woman approach, bearing a torch. +Obedient to Wimpai's command, she moved towards one of the rocky +passages, and motioned to us to follow. We advanced in single file +behind our strange guide, and soon found ourselves in another of the +great fissures, which seemed to traverse the heart of the volcano in all +directions. Before us, by the light of the flaring torch, we saw a wide +stream flowing between lava walls, the lofty top of these meeting far +above our heads, and supporting long crystal prisms of a yellowish hue, +which hung down in thousands. + +The woman who was appointed to guide us pointed to where the native boat +had been placed, and into it we leapt, eager to see the treasure taken +from the lost galleon. Although there were two pairs of oars of peeled +wood ready to hand, we had no occasion to use them, for the underground +river carried us along with its steady current. We each held aloft a +blazing torch, which the female warrior had thrust into our hands before +she took her seat in the prow of the boat, where she sat facing us. + +For more than an hour we passed on, watching the shifting lights of that +wonderful scene, and the grey mist that stole upwards from the hot +spring down which our little craft was floating fast. + +At last we saw several narrow channels into which the stream was divided +by its rocky bed, and down one of these we passed in devious turns until +our new-found guide rose again in the boat and pointed to a jagged +fissure which faced us. Denviers seized a pair of the rude oars and +pulled the boat towards it, then leaping out he secured our frail +conveyance, after which the woman handed to him a fresh torch, and we +all advanced into the cave before us, vaguely wondering what treasure +would be revealed to us. + +All doubts as to the truth of the wreck of the richly-laden galleon off +the coast about which Hassan had told us vanished as soon as ever we +entered there. The various things which had formed the cargo of the +vessel lay strewed in confused heaps about us. There were wedges of gold +and bars of silver, discoloured by the fumes from the crater and the +mists from the hot stream, while Spanish muskets, strange-looking +pistols, and swords with richly-chased handles, and rust-incrusted +barrels and blades lay about in piles. Among these weapons I observed a +pair of pistols with gems studding their handles, and thrust them into +my sash, besides a splendid sword, which proved very serviceable when +polished up, especially as my own defensive arms had been taken away. + +Hassan and Denviers followed my example, and then the latter remarked:-- + +"We may as well make the most of Wimpai's permission to enrich +ourselves," and he raised several wedges of gold, which he proceeded to +carry towards the entrance of the cave. Hassan and I assisted to load +the boat, then we threw in a few more weapons which we thought might +prove useful to us, and with a look of regret at the wealth we were +forced to leave behind us we turned to leave the place. Just then Hassan +moved away from us to another part of the cave, and a moment afterwards +he called out to us. Going over to him, we found the Arab and the +tribeswoman both looking intently at something lying upon the rocky +floor. + +"Every word of Hassan's singular story is undoubtedly true," I said to +Denviers, in sheer amazement, as we stooped over the object and observed +it in the torch-light. The wild tribe had carried and placed the slain +sailor by the spoils of the galleon which he had claimed for his own in +the very face of Don Luego, the Spanish commander. + +There, before our eyes, was stretched the outline of a human form, above +which was spread all that remained of the tattered flag that once had +fluttered from the masthead of the ship which chased the Spanish +galleon, and went down with it on the coral reefs of the Formosan shore! + +Slowly we moved away from the spot towards where our boat was, and +re-entered it. The task which we had undertaken, however--that of +pulling against the stream, with such a weight of treasure as we had +obtained--proved a most difficult one. Indeed, Denviers and I exerted +ourselves to little purpose for some time, then found that the boat was +slowly making headway. We reached the spot where the underground stream +divided into its several channels, and then, by an unlucky accident, the +prow of our craft was dashed against one of the many rocks which lay +between. For a minute we entirely lost control of it, and back it +drifted down one of the other channels. At this the female warrior rose, +and thrusting the head of her long spear against the rock tried to +assist us to get the boat back into the main stream before us. Our +efforts were made in vain, for the bed of the narrow channel into which +we had got sloped rapidly down, and its waters hurried us along at a +speed which defied all our attempts to force the boat back. The woman +had dropped her torch when she came to our assistance, and in the light +of the solitary one still flaring, as Hassan held it, I saw a look upon +her face which startled me. She pointed before us, uttering a wild, +despairing cry, which was drowned a moment after in a dull roar which +struck upon our ears. + +"Pull, sahibs; in Allah's name, pull!" cried Hassan, who was looking +ahead at the danger which we faced. "If the boat cannot be stopped from +drifting on before a few more hundred yards are gone over, we are lost!" + +We gripped the rude oars again, and strained till our arms ached, but +still the relentless current bore us on. I gave another glance at the +danger ahead, then Hassan wildly exclaimed:-- + +"Allah and Mahomet help us! We are on the verge of a cataract!" + +[Illustration: "ON THE VERGE OF A CATARACT!"] + +"Throw the treasure overboard!" cried Denviers, and each of us worked +desperately to free the boat of what we had been so eager to obtain. +Into the stream we cast the wedges of gold and Spanish arms, and +scarcely had our purpose been accomplished, when the boat, lightened of +its heavy cargo, was caught up by the rushing stream, swirled round, and +then borne madly forward at a rate which brought another despairing cry +from the woman's lips. + +"Pull with all your might with the stream, Harold!" said Denviers to me, +as we drew close to where the roaring waters were leaping down. "Pull, +pull, it is our last chance!" + +We both knew that if we failed to shoot the rapid ahead we should be +sucked down and drowned. We tugged at the oars together, then amid a +cloud of blinding spray our boat seemed to hover for a moment over the +tumbling waters, then shot forward and left the danger behind. + +"We are saved, thank Allah!" cried Hassan, and as we ventured to look +round we saw the wonderful escape which had been ours. Swiftly we were +carried along by the stream, which began to widen out as it passed +between the precipitous sides of a vast ravine. + +"Daylight at last!" I exclaimed, with a feeling of relief. "I wonder +where we are now being hurried towards." + +For a considerable time the stream kept on its rapid course, then grew +less violent, and we floated down it gently at last, until we were +carried to where we saw the river flowing into the sea, when we at once +sprang out upon the rough coral beach. + +The Formosan woman hastened away along the shore, making for the distant +cave by which we first entered into the strange haunt of her tribe, +while we followed slowly after her, having drawn the rude boat high up +on the beach. + +"Well!" said Denviers, when at last we found our junk, after walking +several miles along the coast, and prepared to launch it into the sea in +order to leave the island. "We lost the treasure after all, but still we +have something left to recall this strange adventure at times," and he +drew from his sash the Spanish sword which he had thrust there. After +examining it I passed to him the arms which I had taken from the cave. +The pistols, although proving useless, were fine specimens of +workmanship, and as richly chased as the jewel-studded hilt of the sword +which I had also obtained. + +"Mahomet has well rewarded the sahibs with such treasures," interposed +Hassan, gravely, "and has not forgotten their slave." We glanced towards +his waist as he spoke, and saw that the Arab had certainly taken care to +arm himself well from the treasures of the lost galleon, for he bristled +with swords and poniards like a small armoury. + +"Come on, Hassan," said Denviers, with an amused smile at the Arab's +weapons, "Mahomet evidently looks with high favour upon you." + +We pushed the junk through the surf, then entering it, put out for the +distant coast of the mainland, which we reached in safety. + + + + +Zig-Zags at the Zoo + +By Arthur Morrison and J. A. Shepherd. + +[Illustration] + +XI.--ZIG-ZAG MARSUPIAL. + + +When an animal is more than usually a fool for its size, Nature +indulgently permits it to go about with a pouch that it may not lose its +family. Nature also sends it to live in Australia, and man, seeing more +common sense in the pouch than anywhere else in the creature, calls the +entire organism a marsupial, after the pouch. Only one marsupial is +allowed to live out of Australia, and that is the opossum; but, then, +the opossum is no fool, and can take care of itself in the outer world. +Here at the Zoo, besides the opossum, we have kangaroos, wallabies, +wallaroos, wombats, and certain other eccentric things, including the +Tasmanian devil; but none is a bigger fool than the biggest marsupial, +the kangaroo. This is natural, because he has most room to store his +imbecility. The kangaroo's general weakness of character is visible all +over him. He has never quite made up his mind what to be even now; he is +nothing but a flabby compromise. + +[Illustration] + +There would appear to be two plausible theories about the construction +of the kangaroo; when, in the beginning, the animals chose their parts, +the kangaroo may have been first, and weakly and indecisively chose at +random, of no set purpose; or he may have been last, and obliged to put +up with what was left. I incline to the first theory, partly because the +kangaroo is well furnished as regards quality of parts, although they +are oddly assorted, and partly because to make an indecisive selection +would be just in accord with his character. He fancied a sheep's head, +rather, but hadn't enough decision of character to take a sheep's head +as it was and be thankful for it. He preferred a donkey's ears to the +sheep's, so had them substituted. Even then, some mistrust of the +boldness of the design intimidated him, and he cautiously compromised by +having them small. The only part of a kangaroo or wallaby that has the +least independence about it is the tail; and the wallabies are so proud +of the individuality, that they sit with their tails extended before +them all day: and the colonist acknowledges the merit of the kangaroo's +tail by making soup of it. Let us grant the kangaroo his tail, since it +is the only thing that is unmistakably his own. Abashed at his own +temerity in venturing to take an independent tail, all the kangaroo's +other selections became hopelessly demoralized. He took a grasshopper's +hind legs, and plagiarized a rat's fore-paws. Obviously, he got the +design of his coat partly from the rabbit and partly from the rat, and +the idea of his pouch from the bookmaker. + +[Illustration: THE WICKED DINGO DOG; OR,] + +[Illustration: INNOCENCE] + +Now, it is a noticeable thing, illustrative of the mental stagnation of +the kangaroo, that, having adopted the crude idea of the bookmaker's or +'bus-conductor's pouch, he--or, rather, she--through all the +generations, has never developed an improvement on that pouch, either by +evolution, selection, or natural adaptation. Even in these days of +improvement, the kangaroo's pouch has no separate compartment for +silver. Of course it is mainly used to carry the family in, but in any +really intelligent and enterprising class of animals that pouch would +long ago have improved and developed, through the countless ages, into a +convenient perambulator, with rubber tires and a leather hood. As it is, +the kangaroo has not so much as added a patent clasp. + +[Illustration: PRESERVED.] + +Still, in its merely primitive form, the pouch is found useful by the +small kangaroo. It is an ever-ready refuge from the prowling dingo dog, +and any little kangaroo who breaks a window has always a capital +hiding-place handy. Indeed, the young kangaroo would fare ill without +this retreat, because any other cradle the mother, being a kangaroo, +would probably forget all about, and lose. It is only because the pouch +hangs under her very nose that she remembers she has a family at all. +All the kangaroo's strength seems to have settled down into the hind +legs and the tail, leaving the other parts comparatively weak, and the +head superlatively useless, except as an attachment for the mouth. One +would imagine that in the period which has elapsed since the Creation +the feeblest-minded of animals would have had time to arrive at some +final choice in the matter of coat-colour; but the kangaroo hasn't. He +never makes up his mind about anything; he begins life in a pale-grey +colour; in a year or two he changes his mind and turns very dark--darker +than either his father or his mother. The originality pleases him for a +little while, and then he gets doubtful of his choice, and makes a +wretched compromise--the kangaroo is compromise all over--settling down +for the rest of his life to a tint midway between the light and the +dark. If he lived a little longer he would probably experiment in blue. +As it is, he sometimes makes an attempt in pink--with powder. Only the +male kangaroo uses this cosmetic, and where he finds it and how he keeps +it is a mystery; he doesn't put it on his face--he devotes it entirely +to the complexion of his chest and stomach. + +[Illustration: WRESTLING PRACTICE.] + +Australians call a full-grown male kangaroo a "boomer": why, I don't +know. I could understand the application of the term in this country, +where such a thing as a boom in boxing kangaroos has been heard of, +and--this some while ago--a "white kangaroo" boom. The boxing kangaroo +has made a very loud boom indeed, and has done something to earn the +title of "boomer." Here, at the Zoo, however, there would seem to be +little ambition among the kangaroos to distinguish themselves as boxing +boomers; but there is a very frequent attitude suggestive of wrestling +practice--perhaps because these would-be boomers have muddled things, +and are thinking of the wrestling lion. Personally, I am not anxious +either to box or to wrestle with a kangaroo; for the beast has a plaguey +unpleasant hind foot, armed with a claw like a marline-spike, and a most +respectable ability to kick a hole in a stranger with it. It is a kind +of weapon that ordinary boxing and wrestling systems don't allow for, +and not at all an amusing sort of thing to have lashing about among +one's internal machinery. I don't wish to attribute any unsportsmanlike +proceedings to the kangaroo now before the public, but to point out that +the indiscriminate election of kangaroos into boxing clubs should be +discouraged; especially of raw young kangaroos, ready to put on the +gloves with anybody and to lose their tempers. Beware of kangaroo +upper-cuts. Indeed, the boxing kangaroo should properly wear two pairs +of gloves, and the bigger and softer pair should go upon his hind feet. +For his is a form of _la savate_ which admits neither of duck, guard, +nor counter; and leaves its signature in a form long to be remembered +and hard to stitch up. + +[Illustration: A NASTY WEAPON.] + +[Illustration: RAW YOUTH--"YES, WILL I."] + +The white kangaroo was much less of a boomer. He dared to be original as +to colour, and has been shivering and cowering and looking miserable +ever since in terror of his own independence; he looks only a sort of +unhappy white rabbit, overgrown in the hinder half. But there is +encouragement to be got from the case of the boxing boomer. The +kangaroo will never become clever of himself, but perhaps the showman +may teach him. There are many comic opportunities in the +kangaroo--particularly in the pouch. Let the showman see to it. + +[Illustration: "PLEASE, CAN TOMMY COME OUT?"] + +[Illustration: AN OLD MAID.] + +The most entirely objectionable of all the marsupials is the Tasmanian +devil. It is only a little devil, a couple of feet or so long, but its +savagery is beyond measuring by anything like a two-foot rule. No +reasonable devils could wish to be treated with more indulgence than the +Zoological Society extends to these. A rolling blind is provided to keep +the sun out of their eyes, and they are politely labelled "Ursine +Dasyures," for fear of offending them. They ill deserve either +attention, and at any rate I should like to see the label changed. The +function of the Tasmanian devil in the economy of Nature is to bite, +scratch, tear and mangle whatever other work of Nature happens to be +within reach. It is touching to observe the preference exhibited by the +Tasmanian devil for its keeper, who feeds it; it tries to bite him much +oftener and more savagely than anybody else. Thus you observe that +kindness has some effect, even with the Tasmanian devil. Of course, by +its nature, it resents kindness more than anything else, but it will +also attack anybody for cruelty, or indifference, or admiration, or +curiosity, or for looking at it, or for not looking at it, or any other +injury. You can't drive it away with anything; it won't go for a stick +and it won't go for a gun; nevertheless it will go for you, like three +hundred wild cats. + +[Illustration: Tasmanian Devil!] + +[Illustration: THAT IDEA.] + +The Tasmanian method of taming it is to blow it into space with a heavy +charge of buckshot; and this seems to be the only way of rendering it +quite harmless. In life the Tasmanian devil has one desire, one belief, +one idea--general devastation. Herein, perhaps, he is the superior of +the kangaroo, who doesn't have ideas. There is a superstition that once, +in distant ages, a kangaroo had an idea, and if you closely observe a +kangaroo who is left to himself, you may see something in that +superstition. Ever since the time of that idea (which, of course, the +kangaroo forgot) the whole race of kangaroos has been trying desperately +to remember it. Whenever a kangaroo finds himself alone, and unobserved, +he addresses himself to recollecting that idea. He gazes thoughtfully at +his paws, finding no inspiration. Then, he tries the vacant air above +him, with equal ill-success. He brown-studies at the fence, at the +ground, at his own tail; he will never, never rescue that lost idea +(which is probably a most insane one, not worth rescuing), but he is +always persuading himself that he is on the very point of catching it; +frowning and turning his head aside as though the words were in his +mouth but wouldn't come off the tongue. You will also notice that he +wrestles desperately with it in his sleep, with his fore paw over his +nose. If in his waking efforts he sees you watching him, he instantly +assumes an air of alert wisdom, intended to convey the belief that he +has known all about the idea for years, and is only thinking about +applying it in some practical way or making a book of it. But the +attempt is a failure--those ears give it away. For intellectual pursuits +the kangaroo is not fitted. But he _can_ jump; and the disconsolate +grasshopper, whose hind-leg copyright the kangaroo has infringed, is far +behind the record. It is, in fact, reported of an educated West Indian +that, visiting New South Wales and encountering his first kangaroo, he +sat down immediately to write an essay on the unusually large +grasshoppers of Australasia. + +[Illustration: THOSE EARS.] + +Whether or not a serious naturalist is justified in excluding from a +chapter on marsupial animals a careful and detailed consideration of the +bookmaker and the 'bus-conductor, I will not stay to argue. I refrain +from dealing at length with these interesting creatures in this place, +because of the regrettable absence of specimens from the Zoo. The +conductor (_Bellpunchus familiaris_) is readily capturable in this +country. The habits of the bookmakers (_marsupialis vulgaris_) may be +studied, and their curious habits learned by anybody willing to incur +the expense in the inclosures set apart for their exhibition at the +various racecourses, where their sportive gambles are the subject of +great interest (and principal) on the part of speculative inquirers. + +[Illustration: THE RECORD.] + +[Illustration: THE KANGARULER.] + +[Illustration: WAR OF WIT.] + +Mansbridge is the guardian of the kangaroos in the Zoo--or the +kangaruler, as one may say. Most pouched things in the Gardens are given +to the care of Mansbridge, which involves a sort of compliment, for a +pouched thing is never clever by itself, and wants a keeper who can +think for it. He has the wallabies, the kangaroo hares, the kangaroo +rats (mad things these, greater hotch-potches than the others), and the +wombats. The wombat cannot jump like the kangaroo or the wallaby, and +his sprightliness and activity are the sprightliness and activity of a +cast-iron pig. He is slow, but I scarcely think he is quite such an ass +as the kangaroo. I have even found him indulging in repartee, as you +shall see. Every single movement of any part of the wombat is deliberate +and well considered; it is apparently debated at great length by all the +other parts, and determined upon by a formal resolution, duly proposed, +seconded, and carried by the complete animal properly assembled. Once +the motion is carried, nothing can stop it. If the wombat's travels are +crossed by a river, he merely walks into it, across the bottom, and out +at the other side. Here, in lairs side by side, live a common wombat +and a hairy-nosed wombat. They don't come out much in daylight, and they +had been here some time before they found themselves both out for an +airing together. "Halloa," reflected the hairy-nosed wombat, "here is my +neighbour. I'll chaff him!" and he straightway set to work to invent +some facetious observation. In an hour or so an idea struck him, and, +advancing to the partition bars, he said to the common wombat, "Here, I +say--you're common!" and laughed uproariously. The common wombat felt +the sting of the remark and determined upon a crushing repartee. While +the other chuckled over his achievement (about an hour and a half) the +common wombat laboriously constructed his retort. "Yah! hairy-nose!" he +said, when the reply was properly finished and polished. And then _he_ +chuckled, while the other thought it over. The hairy-nosed wombat +thought it over and the common wombat thought it over (chuckling the +while) for some hours without arriving at any more epigrams. After that +they went into their dens to take a rest. And to this day it is a matter +of dispute as to which has the best of that chaffing match: and the +hairy-nosed wombat is as far off a brilliant reply to the common wombat +as ever, while, of course, the common wombat need not begin to think of +another witticism until the hairy-nosed wombat invents, constructs and +delivers his. Which is why they never speak to one another now, as +anybody may see for himself in proof of the anecdote, if he feel +inclined to doubt it. Both are good--tempered and affable in their way; +but while they still have this portentous combat of wits on hand they +can't afford much time and attention for visitors. The common wombat +still meditates and chuckles inwardly over his victory, and the +hairy-nosed wombat is thinking hard, and mustn't be disturbed. It is +difficult to imagine what may be the end of the affair, or when the +minds of both the wombats may be free to attend to the friendly +greetings of visitors; in the meantime, it is well that the reason for +their preoccupation may be known. They are not proud. The intelligence +of the marsupials is in some sort redeemed by the wombat, who is given a +slow and inelastic gait to accord with his mental weight, while the +frivolous kangaroo bounces about the world like a thing of india-rubber, +and plays a game of leap-frog with all Nature. + +[Illustration] + + + + +_Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives._ + + +MISS IZA DUFFUS HARDY. + +Miss Iza Duffus Hardy, only daughter of the late Sir Thomas Duffus +Hardy, was educated chiefly at home, and began writing stories at a very +early age. Amongst the many popular novels she has published are "A New +Othello," "Glencairn," "Only a Love Story," "A Broken Faith," "Hearts or +Diamonds," and "Love in Idleness." She has also published two well-known +volumes of American reminiscences, "Between Two Oceans" and "Oranges and +Alligators." The opening tale of our present number, "In the Shadow of +the Sierras," is an excellent specimen of her abilities as a +story-writer. + +[Illustration: AGE 3. + +_From a Drawing._] + +[Illustration: AGE 14. + +_From a Photograph._] + +[Illustration: AGE 20. + +_From a Photograph._] + +[Illustration: AGE 28. + +_From a Photo. by Bradley & Rulofson, San Francisco._] + +[Illustration: PRESENT DAY. + +_From a Photo. by Russell & Sons, Baker Street, W._] + + +HUBERT HERKOMER, R.A. + +BORN 1849. + +Mr. Herkomer, who was born at Waal, in Bavaria, is the son of a wood +engraver who settled at Southampton in 1857. At thirteen he entered the +Art School in that town, and afterwards studied for a time at South +Kensington. His first Academy picture was "After the Toil of the Day," +exhibited in 1873, when he was twenty-four, a work which extended his +reputation and prepared the way for "The Last Muster," 1875, the +memorable picture of the Chelsea pensioners, which afterwards figured in +the Paris Exhibition of 1878, and was there awarded one of the two Grand +Medals of Honour carried off by the English School. Among his best known +later pictures may be mentioned "Missing" (1881), "Homeward" (1882), and +"The Chapel of the Charterhouse" (1889). He was elected A.R.A. in 1879 +and R.A. in 1890. + +[Illustration: AGE 12 MONTHS. + +_From a Drawing._] + +[Illustration: AGE 3. + +_From a Drawing._] + +[Illustration: AGE 11. + +_From a Photograph._] + +[Illustration: AGE 47. + +_From a Drawing by Himself._] + +[Illustration: PRESENT DAY. + +_From a Photo. by Gabell, Ebury St., S.W._] + + +THE HON. ERSKINE NICOL, A.R.A. + +BORN 1825. + +The Hon. Erskine Nicol, A.R.A., was born at Leith, Scotland, in 1825, +and received his art education in the Trustees' Academy, Edinburgh, +under Sir William Allan and Mr. Thomas Duncan. In 1846 he went to reside +in Ireland, where he remained three or four years. It was this residence +in the sister isle which decided the painter's choice of his peculiar +field of representation, for most of his subsequent pictures have been +Irish in subject. From Ireland he returned to Edinburgh, and after +exhibiting for some time, he was ultimately elected a member of the +Royal Scottish Academy. In 1862 he settled in London, and after that +date contributed regularly to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy, of +which body he was elected an Associate in June, 1866. + +[Illustration: AGE 19. + +_From a Pencil Sketch by Peter Clelland._] + +[Illustration: AGE 32. + +_From a Photo. by J. G. Tunny, Edinburgh._] + +[Illustration: AGE 55. + +_From a Photo. by Fradelle & Marshall._] + +[Illustration: PRESENT DAY. + +_From a Water Colour Drawing by Himself._] + + +JOHN MACWHIRTER, A.R.A. + +BORN 1839. + +[Illustration: AGE 16. + +_From a Photo. by Robert Burton, Dalmeny._] + +[Illustration: AGE 32. + +_From an Oil Painting by J. Pettie, R.A._] + +[Illustration: AGE 40. + +_From a Photo. by Fradelle._] + +[Illustration: PRESENT DAY. + +_From a Photo. by Raymond Lynde._] + +Mr. John MacWhirter, A.R.A., was born at Slateford, near Edinburgh, and +educated at Peebles. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish +Academy in 1863. In the following year he came to London, and was +elected an Associate of the Royal Academy on January 22nd, 1879. He was +elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Scotch Academy in 1882; elected +member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, same year; +exhibited in R.A., 1884, "The Windings of the Forth," "A Sermon by the +Sea," and "Home of the Grizzly Bear"; 1885, "Track of a Hurricane," +"Iona," "Loch Scavaig"; "The Three Witches," 1886. Mr. MacWhirter has +painted "Loch Cornisk, Skye," 1867; "A great while ago the world began +with hey ho, the wind and the rain," 1871; "Caledonia," 1875; "The Lady +of the Woods," 1876; "The Three Graces," 1878; "The Valley by the Sea," +1879; "The Lord of the Glen," 1880; "Sunday in the Highlands," and +"Mountain Tops," 1881; "A Highland Auction" and "Ossian's Grave," 1882; +"Corrie, Isle of Arran," "Sunset Fires," "Nature's Mirror," "A Highland +Harvest," 1883; and "Edinburgh from Salisbury Crag," 1887. + + +J. FORBES-ROBERTSON. + +BORN 1853. + +Mr. Forbes-Robertson, who is the son of the well-known art critic and +historian, Mr. John Forbes-Robertson, was educated at the Charterhouse, +and afterwards at various art schools in France and Germany. Being +intended for an artist, he in due course entered the Royal Academy as a +student, where he proved a most promising pupil, but his great natural +bent towards the stage was too strong to be overcome, and he made his +_debut_ as _Chastelard_ in "Marie Stuart," at the Princess's. He rapidly +made a very high reputation, especially as _Baron Scarpia_ in "La +Tosca," in which he displayed extraordinary passion, power, and +earnestness. At the present time he is appearing in the remarkable +revival of "Diplomacy" at the Garrick. + +[Illustration: AGE 12. + +_From a Photograph._] + +[Illustration: AGE 21. + +_From a Photo. by The London Stereo. Co._] + +[Illustration: AGE 28. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +[Illustration: PRESENT DAY. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + + +EDWARD LLOYD. + +BORN 1845. + +Mr. Edward Lloyd, the famous tenor vocalist, was born in London in 1845. +When seven years of age he entered Westminster Abbey choir. Afterwards +he became solo tenor at the Chapel Royal, St. James's. Mr. Lloyd sang in +Novello's Concerts in 1867, and at the Gloucester Festival in 1871, +where he attracted much attention by his part in Bach's "Passion." In +1888 he went on tour in America, and sang in the Cincinnati Festival. In +the same year he sang also in the Handel Festival; and was principal +tenor in the Leeds Musical Festival in 1889. Mr. Edward Lloyd is an +artist "to the manner born," gifted with a perfect ear, a voice not only +of exquisite quality, but of remarkable flexibility, and is without +doubt the most popular tenor now before the public. + +[Illustration: AGE 17. + +_From a Photo. by Alder Bros., Cheltenham._] + +[Illustration: AGE 21. + +_From a Photo. by Mayland, Cambridge._] + +[Illustration: AGE 26. + +_From a Photo. by Thomas, Gloucester._] + +[Illustration: PRESENT DAY. + +_From a Photo. by Falk, New York._] + + + + +_The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes._ + +XVIII.--THE ADVENTURE OF THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL. + +BY A. CONAN DOYLE. + + +An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock +Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest +and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain +quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one +of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. +Not that I am in the least conventional in that respect myself. The +rough-and-tumble work in Afghanistan, coming on the top of a natural +Bohemianism of disposition, has made me rather more lax than befits a +medical man. But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who +keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a +Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a +jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin +to give myself virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that pistol +practice should distinctly be an open-air pastime; and when Holmes in +one of his queer humours would sit in an arm-chair, with his +hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the +opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt +strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was +improved by it. + +Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics, which +had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and of turning up in the +butter-dish, or in even less desirable places. But his papers were my +great crux. He had a horror of destroying documents, especially those +which were connected with his past cases, and yet it was only once in +every year or two that he would muster energy to docket and arrange +them, for as I have mentioned somewhere in these incoherent memoirs, the +outbursts of passionate energy when he performed the remarkable feats +with which his name is associated were followed by reactions of +lethargy, during which he would lie about with his violin and his books, +hardly moving, save from the sofa to the table. Thus month after month +his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with +bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which +could not be put away save by their owner. + +One winter's night, as we sat together by the fire, I ventured to +suggest to him that as he had finished pasting extracts into his +commonplace book he might employ the next two hours in making our room a +little more habitable. He could not deny the justice of my request, so +with a rather rueful face he went off to his bedroom, from which he +returned presently pulling a large tin box behind him. This he placed in +the middle of the floor, and squatting down upon a stool in front of it +he threw back the lid. I could see that it was already a third full of +bundles of paper tied up with red tape into separate packages. + +"There are cases enough here, Watson," said he, looking at me with +mischievous eyes. "I think that if you knew all that I had in this box +you would ask me to pull some out instead of putting others in." + +"These are the records of your early work, then?" I asked. "I have often +wished that I had notes of those cases." + +"Yes, my boy; these were all done prematurely, before my biographer had +come to glorify me." He lifted bundle after bundle in a tender, +caressing sort of way. "They are not all successes, Watson," said he, +"but there are some pretty little problems among them. Here's the record +of the Tarleton murders, and the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant, +and the adventure of the old Russian woman, and the singular affair of +the aluminium crutch, as well as a full account of Ricoletti of the club +foot and his abominable wife. And here--ah, now! this really is +something a little recherche." + +He dived his arm down to the bottom of the chest, and brought up a small +wooden box, with a sliding lid, such as children's toys are kept in. +From within he produced a crumpled piece of paper, an old-fashioned +brass key, a peg of wood with a ball of string attached to it, and +three rusty old discs of metal. + +"Well, my boy, what do you make of this lot?" he asked, smiling at my +expression. + +"It is a curious collection." + +[Illustration: "A CURIOUS COLLECTION."] + +"Very curious, and the story that hangs round it will strike you as +being more curious still." + +"These relics have a history, then?" + +"So much so that they _are_ history." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +Sherlock Holmes picked them up one by one, and laid them along the edge +of the table. Then he reseated himself in his chair, and looked them +over with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes. + +"These," said he, "are all that I have left to remind me of 'The +Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual.'" + +I had heard him mention the case more than once, though I had never been +able to gather the details. + +"I should be so glad," said I, "if you would give me an account of it." + +"And leave the litter as it is," he cried, mischievously. "Your tidiness +won't bear much strain, after all, Watson. But I should be glad that you +should add this case to your annals, for there are points in it which +make it quite unique in the criminal records of this or, I believe, of +any other country. A collection of my trifling achievements would +certainly be incomplete which contained no account of this very singular +business. + +"You may remember how the affair of the _Gloria Scott_, and my +conversation with the unhappy man whose fate I told you of, first turned +my attention in the direction of the profession which has become my +life's work. You see me now when my name has become known far and wide, +and when I am generally recognised both by the public and by the +official force as being a final court of appeal in doubtful cases. Even +when you knew me first, at the time of the affair which you have +commemorated in 'A Study in Scarlet,' I had already established a +considerable, though not a very lucrative, connection. You can hardly +realize, then, how difficult I found it at first, and how long I had to +wait before I succeeded in making any headway. + +"When I first came up to London I had rooms in Montague Street, just +round the corner from the British Museum, and there I waited, filling in +my too abundant leisure time by studying all those branches of science +which might make me more efficient. Now and again cases came in my way +principally through the introduction of old fellow students, for during +my last years at the university there was a good deal of talk there +about myself and my methods. The third of these cases was that of the +Musgrave Ritual, and it is to the interest which was aroused by that +singular chain of events, and the large issues which proved to be at +stake, that I trace my first stride towards the position which I now +hold. + +"Reginald Musgrave had been in the same college as myself, and I had +some slight acquaintance with him. He was not generally popular among +the undergraduates, though it always seemed to me that what was set down +as pride was really an attempt to cover extreme natural diffidence. In +appearance he was a man of an exceedingly aristocratic type, thin, +high-nosed, and large-eyed, with languid and yet courtly manners. He was +indeed a scion of one of the very oldest families in the kingdom, though +his branch was a cadet one which had separated from the Northern +Musgraves some time in the sixteenth century, and had established itself +in Western Sussex, where the manor house of Hurlstone is perhaps the +oldest inhabited building in the county. Something of his birthplace +seemed to cling to the man, and I never looked at his pale, keen face, +or the poise of his head without associating him with grey archways and +mullioned windows and all the venerable wreckage of a feudal keep. Once +or twice we drifted into talk, and I can remember that more than once he +expressed a keen interest in my methods of observation and inference. + +"For four years I had seen nothing of him, until one morning he walked +into my room in Montague Street. He had changed little, was dressed like +a young man of fashion--he was always a bit of a dandy--and preserved +the same quiet, suave manner which had formerly distinguished him. + +"'How has all gone with you, Musgrave?' I asked, after we had cordially +shaken hands. + +"'You probably heard of my poor father's death,' said he. 'He was +carried off about two years ago. Since then I have, of course, had the +Hurlstone estates to manage, and as I am member for my district as well, +my life has been a busy one; but I understand, Holmes, that you are +turning to practical ends those powers with which you used to amaze us?' + +"'Yes,' said I, 'I have taken to living by my wits.' + +"'I am delighted to hear it, for your advice at present would be +exceedingly valuable to me. We have had some very strange doings at +Hurlstone, and the police have been able to throw no light upon the +matter. It is really the most extraordinary and inexplicable business.' + +[Illustration: REGINALD MUSGRAVE] + +"You can imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson, for the +very chance for which I had been panting during all those months of +inaction seemed to have come within my reach. In my inmost heart I +believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the +opportunity to test myself. + +"'Pray let me have the details,' I cried. + +"Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette which +I had pushed towards him. + +"'You must know,' said he, 'that though I am a bachelor I have to keep +up a considerable staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a rambling +old place, and takes a good deal of looking after. I preserve, too, and +in the pheasant months I usually have a house party, so that it would +not do to be short-handed. Altogether there are eight maids, the cook, +the butler, two footmen, and a boy. The garden and the stables, of +course, have a separate staff. + +"'Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was +Brunton, the butler. He was a young schoolmaster out of place when he +was first taken up by my father, but he was a man of great energy and +character, and he soon became quite invaluable in the household. He was +a well-grown, handsome man, with a splendid forehead, and though he has +been with us for twenty years he cannot be more than forty now. With his +personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts, for he can speak +several languages and play nearly every musical instrument, it is +wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a position, +but I suppose that he was comfortable and lacked energy to make any +change. The butler of Hurlstone is always a thing that is remembered by +all who visit us. + +"'But this paragon has one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan, and you can +imagine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult part to play +in a quiet country district. + +"'When he was married it was all right, but since he has been a widower +we have had no end of trouble with him. A few months ago we were in +hopes that he was about to settle down again, for he became engaged to +Rachel Howells, our second housemaid, but he has thrown her over since +then and taken up with Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the head +gamekeeper. Rachel, who is a very good girl, but of an excitable Welsh +temperament, had a sharp touch of brain fever, and goes about the house +now--or did until yesterday--like a black-eyed shadow of her former +self. That was our first drama at Hurlstone, but a second one came to +drive it from our minds, and it was prefaced by the disgrace and +dismissal of butler Brunton. + +"'This is how it came about. I have said that the man was intelligent, +and this very intelligence has caused his ruin, for it seems to have led +to an insatiable curiosity about things which did not in the least +concern him. I had no idea of the lengths to which this would carry him +until the merest accident opened my eyes to it. + +"'I have said that the house is a rambling one. One night last week--on +Thursday night, to be more exact--I found that I could not sleep, having +foolishly taken a cup of strong _cafe noir_ after my dinner. After +struggling against it until two in the morning I felt that it was quite +hopeless, so I rose and lit the candle with the intention of continuing +a novel which I was reading. The book, however, had been left in the +billiard-room, so I pulled on my dressing-gown and started off to get +it. + +"'In order to reach the billiard-room I had to descend a flight of +stairs, and then to cross the head of a passage which led to the library +and the gun-room. You can imagine my surprise when as I looked down this +corridor I saw a glimmer of light coming from the open door of the +library. I had myself extinguished the lamp and closed the door before +coming to bed. Naturally, my first thought was of burglars. The +corridors at Hurlstone have their walls largely decorated with trophies +of old weapons. From one of these I picked a battle-axe, and then, +leaving my candle behind me, I crept on tip-toe down the passage and +peeped in at the open door. + +"'Brunton, the butler, was in the library. He was sitting, fully +dressed, in an easy chair, with a slip of paper, which looked like a +map, upon his knee, and his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in deep +thought. I stood, dumb with astonishment, watching him from the +darkness. A small taper on the edge of the table shed a feeble light, +which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed. Suddenly, as I +looked, he rose from his chair, and walking over to a bureau at the side +he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers. From this he took a +paper, and, returning to his seat, he flattened it out beside the taper +on the edge of the table, and began to study it with minute attention. +My indignation at this calm examination of our family documents overcame +me so far that I took a step forward, and Brunton looking up saw me +standing in the doorway. He sprang to his feet, his face turned livid +with fear, and he thrust into his breast the chart-like paper which he +had been originally studying. + +"'So!' said I, 'this is how you repay the trust which we have reposed in +you! You will leave my service to-morrow.' + +"'He bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and slunk past +me without a word. The taper was still on the table, and by its light I +glanced to see what the paper was which Brunton had taken from the +bureau. To my surprise it was nothing of any importance at all, but +simply a copy of the questions and answers in the singular old +observance called the Musgrave Ritual. It is a sort of ceremony peculiar +to our family, which each Musgrave for centuries past has gone through +upon his coming of age--a thing of private interest, and perhaps of some +little importance to the archaeologist, like our own blazonings and +charges, but of no practical use whatever.' + +[Illustration: "HE SPRANG TO HIS FEET."] + +"'We had better come back to the paper afterwards,' said I. + +"'If you think it really necessary,' he answered, with some hesitation. +'To continue my statement, however, I re-locked the bureau, using the +key which Brunton had left, and I had turned to go, when I was surprised +to find that the butler had returned and was standing before me. + +"'Mr. Musgrave, sir,' he cried, in a voice which was hoarse with +emotion, 'I can't bear disgrace, sir. I've always been proud above my +station in life, and disgrace would kill me. My blood will be on your +head, sir--it will, indeed--if you drive me to despair. If you cannot +keep me after what has passed, then for God's sake let me give you +notice and leave in a month, as if of my own free will. I could stand +that, Mr. Musgrave, but not to be cast out before all the folk that I +know so well.' + +"'You don't deserve much consideration, Brunton,' I answered. 'Your +conduct has been most infamous. However, as you have been a long time in +the family, I have no wish to bring public disgrace upon you. A month, +however, is too long. Take yourself away in a week, and give what reason +you like for going.' + +"'Only a week, sir?' he cried in a despairing voice. 'A fortnight--say +at least a fortnight.' + +"'A week,' I repeated, 'and you may consider yourself to have been very +leniently dealt with.' + +"'He crept away, his face sunk upon his breast, like a broken man, while +I put out the light and returned to my room. + + * * * * * + +"'For two days after this Brunton was most assiduous in his attention to +his duties. I made no allusion to what had passed, and waited with some +curiosity to see how he would cover his disgrace. On the third morning, +however, he did not appear, as was his custom, after breakfast to +receive my instructions for the day. As I left the dining-room I +happened to meet Rachel Howells, the maid. I have told you that she had +only recently recovered from an illness, and was looking so wretchedly +pale and wan that I remonstrated with her for being at work. + +"'You should be in bed,' I said. 'Come back to your duties when you are +stronger.' + +"'She looked at me with so strange an expression that I began to suspect +that her brain was affected. + +"'I am strong enough, Mr. Musgrave,' said she. + +"'We will see what the doctor says,' I answered. 'You must stop work +now, and when you go downstairs just say that I wish to see Brunton.' + +"'The butler is gone,' said she. + +"'Gone! Gone where?' + +"'He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh, yes, he is +gone--he is gone!' She fell back against the wall with shriek after +shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden hysterical attack, +rushed to the bell to summon help. The girl was taken to her room, still +screaming and sobbing, while I made inquiries about Brunton. There was +no doubt about it that he had disappeared. His bed had not been slept +in; he had been seen by no one since he had retired to his room the +night before; and yet it was difficult to see how he could have left the +house, as both windows and doors were found to be fastened in the +morning. His clothes, his watch, and even his money were in his +room--but the black suit which he usually wore was missing. His +slippers, too, were gone, but his boots were left behind. Where, then, +could butler Brunton have gone in the night, and what could have become +of him now? + +"'Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there was +no trace of him. It is as I have said a labyrinth of an old house, +especially the original wing, which is now practically uninhabited, but +we ransacked every room and cellar without discovering the least sign of +the missing man. It was incredible to me that he could have gone away +leaving all his property behind him, and yet where could he be? I called +in the local police, but without success. Rain had fallen on the night +before, and we examined the lawn and the paths all round the house, but +in vain. Matters were in this state when a new development quite drew +our attention away from the original mystery. + +"'For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious, +sometimes hysterical, that a nurse had been employed to sit up with her +at night. On the third night after Brunton's disappearance the nurse, +finding her patient sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap in the +arm-chair, when she woke in the early morning to find the bed empty, the +window open, and no signs of the invalid. I was instantly aroused, and +with the two footmen started off at once in search of the missing girl. +It was not difficult to tell the direction which she had taken, for, +starting from under her window, we could follow her footmarks easily +across the lawn to the edge of the mere, where they vanished, close to +the gravel path which leads out of the grounds. The lake there is 8 ft. +deep, and you can imagine our feelings when we saw that the trail of the +poor demented girl came to an end at the edge of it. + +"'Of course, we had the drags at once, and set to work to recover the +remains; but no trace of the body could we find. On the other hand, we +brought to the surface an object of a most unexpected kind. It was a +linen bag, which contained within it a mass of old rusted and +discoloured metal and several dull-coloured pieces of pebble or glass. +This strange find was all that we could get from the mere, and although +we made every possible search and inquiry yesterday, we know nothing of +the fate either of Rachel Howells or Richard Brunton. The county police +are at their wits' end, and I have come up to you as a last resource.' + +"You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I listened to this +extraordinary sequence of events, and endeavoured to piece them +together, and to devise some common thread upon which they might all +hang. + +"The butler was gone. The maid was gone. The maid had loved the butler, +but had afterwards had cause to hate him. She was of Welsh blood, fiery +and passionate. She had been terribly excited immediately after his +disappearance. She had flung into the lake a bag containing some curious +contents. These were all factors which had to be taken into +consideration, and yet none of them got quite to the heart of the +matter. What was the starting point of this chain of events? There lay +the end of this tangled line. + +"'I must see that paper, Musgrave,' said I, 'which this butler of yours +thought it worth his while to consult, even at the risk of the loss of +his place.' + +"'It is rather an absurd business, this Ritual of ours,' he answered, +'but it has at least the saving grace of antiquity to excuse it. I have +a copy of the questions and answers here, if you care to ran your eye +over them.' + +"He handed me the very paper which I have here, Watson, and this is the +strange catechism to which each Musgrave had to submit when he came to +man's estate. I will read you the questions and answers as they stand:-- + +"'Whose was it? + +"'His who is gone. + +"'Who shall have it? + +"'He who will come. + +"'Where was the sun? + +"'Over the oak. + +"'Where was the shadow? + +"'Under the elm. + +"'How was it stepped? + +"'North by ten and by ten, east by five and by five, south by two and +by two, west by one and by one, and so under. + +"'What shall we give for it? + +"'All that is ours. + +"'Why should we give it? + +"'For the sake of the trust.' + +"'The original has no date, but is in the spelling of the middle of the +seventeenth century,' remarked Musgrave. 'I am afraid, however, that it +can be of little help to you in solving this mystery.' + +"'At least,' said I, 'it gives us another mystery, and one which is even +more interesting than the first. It may be that the solution of the one +may prove to be the solution of the other. You will excuse me, Musgrave, +if I say that your butler appears to me to have been a very clever man, +and to have had a clearer insight than ten generations of his masters.' + +"'I hardly follow you,' said Musgrave. 'The paper seems to me to be of +no practical importance.' + +"'But to me it seems immensely practical, and I fancy that Brunton took +the same view. He had probably seen it before that night on which you +caught him.' + +"'It is very possible. We took no pains to hide it.' + +"'He simply wished, I should imagine, to refresh his memory upon that +last occasion. He had, as I understand, some sort of map or chart which +he was comparing with the manuscript, and which he thrust into his +pocket when you appeared?' + +"'That is true. But what could he have to do with this old family custom +of ours, and what does this rigmarole mean?' + +"'I don't think that we should have much difficulty in determining +that,' said I. 'With your permission we will take the first train down +to Sussex and go a little more deeply into the matter upon the spot.' + +"The same afternoon saw us both at Hurlstone. Possibly you have seen +pictures and read descriptions of the famous old building, so I will +confine my account of it to saying that it is built in the shape of an +<b>L</b>, the long arm being the more modern portion, and the shorter the +ancient nucleus from which the other has developed. Over the low, +heavy-lintelled door, in the centre of this old part, is chiselled the +date 1607, but experts are agreed that the beams and stone-work are +really much older than this. The enormously thick walls and tiny windows +of this part had in the last century driven the family into building the +new wing, and the old one was used now as a storehouse and a cellar when +it was used at all. A splendid park, with fine old timber, surrounded +the house, and the lake, to which my client had referred, lay close to +the avenue, about two hundred yards from the building. + +[Illustration: "IT HAS A GIRTH OF TWENTY-THREE FEET."] + +"I was already firmly convinced, Watson, that there were not three +separate mysteries here, but one only, and that if I could read the +Musgrave Ritual aright, I should hold in my hand the clue which would +lead me to the truth concerning both the butler Brunton and the maid +Howells. To that, then, I turned all my energies. Why should this +servant be so anxious to master this old formula? Evidently because he +saw something in it which had escaped all those generations of country +squires, and from which he expected some personal advantage. What was +it, then, and how had it affected his fate? + +"It was perfectly obvious to me on reading the Ritual that the +measurements must refer to some spot to which the rest of the document +alluded, and that if we could find that spot we should be in a fair way +towards knowing what the secret was which the old Musgraves had thought +it necessary to embalm in so curious a fashion. There were two guides +given us to start with, an oak and an elm. As to the oak, there could be +no question at all. Right in front of the house, upon the left-hand side +of the drive, there stood a patriarch among oaks, one of the most +magnificent trees that I have ever seen. + +"'That was there when your Ritual was drawn up?' said I, as we drove +past it. + +"'It was there at the Norman Conquest, in all probability,' he answered. +'It has a girth of 23 ft.' + +"Here was one of my fixed points secured. + +"'Have you any old elms?' I asked. + +"'There used to be a very old one over yonder, but it was struck by +lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump.' + +"'You can see where it used to be?' + +"'Oh, yes.' + +"'There are no other elms?' + +"'No old ones, but plenty of beeches.' + +"'I should like to see where it grew.' + +"'We had driven up in a dog-cart, and my client led me away at once, +without our entering the house, to the scar on the lawn where the elm +had stood. It was nearly midway between the oak and the house. My +investigation seemed to be progressing. + +"'I suppose it is impossible to find out how high the elm was?' I asked. + +"'I can give you it at once. It was 64 ft.' + +"'How do you come to know it?' I asked in surprise. + +"'When my old tutor used to give me an exercise in trigonometry it +always took the shape of measuring heights. When I was a lad I worked +out every tree and building on the estate.' + +"This was an unexpected piece of luck. My data were coming more quickly +than I could have reasonably hoped. + +"'Tell me,' I asked, 'did your butler ever ask you such a question?' + +"Reginald Musgrave looked at me in astonishment. 'Now that you call it +to my mind,' he answered, 'Brunton _did_ ask me about the height of the +tree some months ago, in connection with some little argument with the +groom.' + +"This was excellent news, Watson, for it showed me that I was on the +right road. I looked up at the sun. It was low in the heavens, and I +calculated that in less than an hour it would lie just above the topmost +branches of the old oak. One condition mentioned in the Ritual would +then be fulfilled. And the shadow of the elm must mean the further end +of the shadow, otherwise the trunk would have been chosen as the guide. +I had then to find where the far end of the shadow would fall when the +sun was just clear of the oak." + +"That must have been difficult, Holmes, when the elm was no longer +there." + +"Well, at least, I knew that if Brunton could do it I could also. +Besides, there was no real difficulty. I went with Musgrave to his study +and whittled myself this peg, to which I tied this long string, with a +knot at each yard. Then I took two lengths of a fishing-rod, which came +to just six feet, and I went back with my client to where the elm had +been. The sun was just grazing the top of the oak. I fastened the rod on +end, marked out the direction of the shadow, and measured it. It was 9 +ft. in length. + +"Of course, the calculation now was a simple one. If a rod of 6 ft. +threw a shadow of 9 ft., a tree of 64 ft. would throw one of 96 ft., and +the line of the one would of course be the line of the other. I measured +out the distance, which brought me almost to the wall of the house, and +I thrust a peg into the spot. You can imagine my exultation, Watson, +when within 2 in. of my peg I saw a conical depression in the ground. I +knew that it was the mark made by Brunton in his measurements, and that +I was still upon his trail. + +"From this starting point I proceeded to step, having first taken the +cardinal points by my pocket compass. Ten steps with each foot took me +along parallel with the wall of the house, and again I marked my spot +with a peg. Then I carefully paced off five to the east and two to the +south. It brought me to the very threshold of the old door. Two steps to +the west meant now that I was to go two paces down the stone-flagged +passage, and this was the place indicated by the Ritual. + +"Never have I felt such a cold chill of disappointment, Watson. For a +moment it seemed to me that there must be some radical mistake in my +calculations. The setting sun shone full upon the passage floor, and I +could see that the old foot-worn grey stones, with which it was paved, +were firmly cemented together, and had certainly not been moved for many +a long year. Brunton had not been at work here. I tapped upon the floor, +but it sounded the same all over, and there was no sign of any crack or +crevice. But fortunately, Musgrave, who had begun to appreciate the +meaning of my proceedings, and who was now as excited as myself, took +out his manuscript to check my calculations. + +[Illustration: "THIS WAS THE PLACE INDICATED."] + +"'And under,' he cried: 'you have omitted the "and under."' + +"I had thought that it meant that we were to dig, but now of course I +saw at once that I was wrong. 'There is a cellar under this, then?' I +cried. + +"'Yes, and as old as the house. Down here, through this door.' + +"We went down a winding stone stair, and my companion, striking a match, +lit a large lantern which stood on a barrel in the corner. In an instant +it was obvious that we had at last come upon the true place, and that we +had not been the only people to visit the spot recently. + +"It had been used for the storage of wood, but the billets, which had +evidently been littered over the floor, were now piled at the sides so +as to leave a clear space in the middle. In this space lay a large and +heavy flagstone, with a rusted iron ring in the centre, to which a thick +shepherd's check muffler was attached. + +"'By Jove!' cried my client, 'that's Brunton's muffler. I have seen it +on him, and could swear to it. What has the villain been doing here?' + +"At my suggestion a couple of the county police were summoned to be +present, and I then endeavoured to raise the stone by pulling on the +cravat. I could only move it slightly, and it was with the aid of one of +the constables that I succeeded at last in carrying it to one side. A +black hole yawned beneath, into which we all peered, while Musgrave, +kneeling at the side, pushed down the lantern. + +"A small chamber about 7 ft. deep and 4 ft. square lay open to us. At +one side of this was a squat, brass-bound, wooden box, the lid of which +was hinged upwards, with this curious, old-fashioned key projecting from +the lock. It was furred outside by a thick layer of dust, and damp and +worms had eaten through the wood so that a crop of livid fungi was +growing on the inside of it. Several discs of metal--old coins +apparently--such as I hold here, were scattered over the bottom of the +box, but it contained nothing else. + +"At the moment, however, we had no thought for the old chest, for our +eyes were riveted upon that which crouched beside it. It was the figure +of a man, clad in a suit of black, who squatted down upon his hams with +his forehead sunk upon the edge of the box and his two arms thrown out +on each side of it. The attitude had drawn all the stagnant blood to the +face, and no man could have recognised that distorted, liver-coloured +countenance; but his height, his dress, and his hair were all sufficient +to show my client, when we had drawn the body up, that it was, indeed, +his missing butler. He had been dead some days, but there was no wound +or bruise upon his person to show how he had met his dreadful end. When +his body had been carried from the cellar we found ourselves still +confronted with a problem which was almost as formidable as that with +which we had started. + +[Illustration: "IT WAS THE FIGURE OF A MAN."] + +"I confess that so far, Watson, I had been disappointed in my +investigation. I had reckoned upon solving the matter when once I had +found the place referred to in the Ritual; but now I was there, and was +apparently as far as ever from knowing what it was which the family had +concealed with such elaborate precautions. It is true that I had thrown +a light upon the fate of Brunton, but now I had to ascertain how that +fate had come upon him, and what part had been played in the matter by +the woman who had disappeared. I sat down upon a keg in the corner and +thought the whole matter carefully over. + +"You know my methods in such cases, Watson: I put myself in the man's +place, and having first gauged his intelligence, I try to imagine how I +should myself have proceeded under the same circumstances. In this case +the matter was simplified by Brunton's intelligence being quite first +rate, so that it was unnecessary to make any allowance for the personal +equation, as the astronomers have dubbed it. He knew that something +valuable was concealed. He had spotted the place. He found that the +stone which covered it was just too heavy for a man to move unaided. +What would he do next? He could not get help from outside, even if he +had someone whom he could trust, without the unbarring of doors, and +considerable risk of detection. It was better, if he could, to have his +helpmate inside the house. But whom could he ask? This girl had been +devoted to him. A man always finds it hard to realize that he may have +finally lost a woman's love, however badly he may have treated her. He +would try by a few attentions to make his peace with the girl Howells, +and then would engage her as his accomplice. Together they would come at +night to the cellar, and their united force would suffice to raise the +stone. So far I could follow their actions as if I had actually seen +them. + +"But for two of them, and one a woman, it must have been heavy work, the +raising of that stone. A burly Sussex policeman and I had found it no +light job. What would they do to assist them? Probably what I should +have done myself. I rose and examined carefully the different billets of +wood which were scattered round the floor. Almost at once I came upon +what I expected. One piece, about 3 ft. in length, had a marked +indentation at one end, while several were flattened at the sides as if +they had been compressed by some considerable weight. Evidently as they +had dragged the stone up they had thrust the chunks of wood into the +chink, until at last, when the opening was large enough to crawl +through, they would hold it open by a billet placed length-wise, which +might very well become indented at the lower end, since the whole weight +of the stone would press it down on to the edge of this other slab. So +far I was still on safe ground. + +"And now, how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama? +Clearly only one could get into the hole, and that one was Brunton. The +girl must have waited above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up +the contents, presumably--since they were not to be found--and then--and +then what happened? + +"What smouldering fire of vengeance had suddenly sprung into flame in +this passionate Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had +wronged her--wronged her perhaps far more than we suspected--in her +power? Was it a chance that the wood had slipped and that the stone had +shut Brunton into what had become his sepulchre? Had she only been +guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some sudden blow from her hand +dashed the support away and sent the slab crashing down into its place. +Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman's figure, still +clutching at her treasure-trove, and flying wildly up the winding stair +with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled screams from behind her, +and with the drumming of frenzied hands against the slab of stone which +was choking her faithless lover's life out. + +"Here was the secret of her blanched face, her shaken nerves, her peals +of hysterical laughter on the next morning. But what had been in the +box? What had she done with that? Of course, it must have been the old +metal and pebbles which my client had dragged from the mere. She had +thrown them in there at the first opportunity, to remove the last trace +of her crime. + +"For twenty minutes I had sat motionless thinking the matter out. +Musgrave still stood with a very pale face swinging his lantern and +peering down into the hole. + +"'These are coins of Charles I.,' said he, holding out the few which had +been left in the box. 'You see we were right in fixing our date for the +Ritual.' + +"'We may find something else of Charles I.,' I cried, as the probable +meaning of the first two questions of the Ritual broke suddenly upon me. +'Let me see the contents of the bag which you fished from the mere.' + +"We ascended to his study, and he laid the debris before me. I could +understand his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at it, +for the metal was almost black, and the stones lustreless and dull. I +rubbed one of them on my sleeve, however, and it glowed afterwards like +a spark, in the dark hollow of my hand. The metal-work was in the form +of a double ring, but it had been bent and twisted out of its original +shape. + +"'You must bear in mind,' said I, 'that the Royal party made head in +England even after the death of the King, and that when they at last +fled they probably left many of their most precious possessions buried +behind them, with the intention of returning for them in more peaceful +times.' + +"'My ancestor, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a prominent Cavalier, and the +right-hand man of Charles II. in his wanderings,' said my friend. + +"'Ah, indeed!' I answered. 'Well, now, I think that really should give +us the last link that we wanted. I must congratulate you on coming into +the possession, though in rather a tragic manner, of a relic which is of +great intrinsic value, but of even greater importance as an historical +curiosity.' + +"'What is it, then?' he gasped in astonishment. + +"'It is nothing less than the ancient crown of the Kings of England.' + +"'The crown!' + +"'Precisely. Consider what the Ritual says. How does it run? "Whose was +it?" "His who is gone." That was after the execution of Charles. Then, +"Who shall have it?" "He who will come." That was Charles II., whose +advent was already foreseen. There can I think be no doubt that this +battered and shapeless diadem once encircled the brows of the Royal +Stuarts.' + +"'And how came it in the pond?' + +"'Ah, that is a question which will take some time to answer,' and with +that I sketched out to him the whole long chain of surmise and of proof +which I had constructed. The twilight had closed in and the moon was +shining brightly in the sky before my narrative was finished. + +"'And how was it, then, that Charles did not get his crown when he +returned?' asked Musgrave, pushing back the relic into its linen bag. + +"'Ah, there you lay your finger upon the one point which we shall +probably never be able to clear up. It is likely that the Musgrave who +held the secret died in the interval, and by some oversight left this +guide to his descendant without explaining the meaning of it. From that +day to this it has been handed down from father to son, until at last it +came within reach of a man who tore its secret out of it and lost his +life in the venture.' + +"And that's the story of the Musgrave Ritual, Watson. They have the +crown down at Hurlstone--though they had some legal bother, and a +considerable sum to pay before they were allowed to retain it. I am sure +that if you mentioned my name they would be happy to show it to you. Of +the woman nothing was ever heard, and the probability is that she got +away out of England, and carried herself, and the memory of her crime, +to some land beyond the seas." + + + + +_From Behind the Speaker's Chair._ + +V. + +(VIEWED BY HENRY W. LUCY.) + + +SIR CHARLES LEWIS. + +The history of Sir Charles Lewis, long time member for Derry, who sat in +the last Parliament for North Antrim, is full of instruction for young +members. Mr. Charles Lewis, as he was most familiarly known, entered the +House as member for Derry in 1872, representing the city for just +fourteen years. He was returned again at the General Election of 1886; +and it was part of the evil fate that pursued him through his +Parliamentary career that he should have been unseated on a petition. In +the following February he was returned for North Antrim, and with the +Salisbury Parliament disappeared from the political arena. + +[Illustration: SIR CHARLES LEWIS.] + +It was in the Session of 1874 that he bounded into fame. Conservatives +were in high spirits, just entering under Mr. Disraeli's leadership upon +a long lease of untrammelled power. Mr. Lewis, unnoticed in the +preceding Parliament, came to the front in the earliest weeks of the new +one, buzzing around in what some of his contemporaries were inclined to +regard as an unnecessarily blatant manner. He attracted the notice of +the _World_, just then founded, and, under the new and vigorous system +of editorship inaugurated by Mr. Edmund Yates, boldly striking out for a +leading place in weekly journalism. Mr. Lewis, whom his most relentless +detractors would not accuse of lack of courage, resented the playfully +bitter attacks of the _World_, and brought before Mr. Justice Coleridge +and a special jury what, at the time, achieved some notoriety as the +great White Waistcoat question. + +It must be admitted that whether a member of the House of Commons wears +a white waistcoat or a black one is no business of anyone but himself; +certainly has nothing to do with his political position. But of Mr. +Lewis's once famous white waistcoat it may be said, as was written long +ago in another connection, "which thing is an allegory." A white +waistcoat worn in sultry weather with light tweed or other summer suit +is appropriate to the occasion and pleasant to the eye. It was an +indication of Mr. Lewis's character--perhaps too subtly, possibly +erroneously, deduced--that in bleak March weather he should have +breasted an angry House of Commons in a spacious white waistcoat, made +all the more aggressive since it was worn in conjunction with a +stubbornly-shaped black frock-coat and a pair of black trousers of +uncompromising Derry cut. However it be, Mr. Lewis would stand no +reflections upon his white waistcoat, and gave the new _World_ an +appreciable fillip on its career by haling it into court on a charge of +libel, which Lord Coleridge dismissed without thinking it necessary to +trouble a jury. + +That was not a hopeful start for a new member. But Mr. Lewis was not the +kind of man to be daunted by repulse. It supplies testimony to his +strong personality that, whilst more or less damaging himself, he +succeeded on more than one occasion in seriously compromising his +political friends and the House itself. In the whirlwind that followed +it was forgotten that it was Mr. Lewis (now Sir Charles, "B.B.K." as the +Claimant put it) who brought about the appointment of the Parnell +Commission and all it boded. When in May, 1887, the _Times_ published an +article accusing Mr. Parnell of wilful and deliberate falsehood in +denying his connection with P. J. Sheridan, Sir Charles Lewis reappeared +on the scene, and, with protest of his desire that the Irish leader +should have the earliest opportunity of clearing his character from the +slur cast upon it, moved that the printers of the _Times_ be brought to +the Bar on a charge of breach of privilege. Mr. W. H. Smith, then fresh +to the leadership, did his best to shake off this inconvenient +counsellor. Sir Charles's proposal was burked; but he had laid the +powder, which was soon after fired and led to the successive explosions +around the Parnell Commission. + +That in later life Sir Charles Lewis should have taken this precise +means of bringing himself once more to the front was fresh proof of his +courage. It was on an analogous motion that he had made his earliest +mark. A Select Committee sitting on Foreign Loans, the morning papers +had, as usual, given some report of the proceedings. But though this was +customary, it was, none the less, technically a breach of Standing +Order. Mr. Charles Lewis, availing himself of the existence of the +anachronism, moved that the printers of the _Times_ and the _Daily News_ +be summoned to the Bar, charged with breach of privilege. Mr. Disraeli, +then leader, did his best to get out of the difficulty. Mr. Lewis, in +full flush with the white waistcoat, was inexorable. The printers were +ordered to appear. They obeyed the summons, and the House finding itself +in a position of ludicrous embarrassment, they were privily entreated to +withdraw, and, above all, to be so good as to say nothing more on the +matter. + +Never since the House of Commons grew out of the Wittenagemot has that +august Assembly been brought so nearly into the position of Dogberry. +"You shall comprehend all vagrom men; you are to bid any man stand, in +the Prince's name." "How, if a' will not stand?" queried the wary second +watchman. "Why, then," said the unshakable City officer, "take no note +of him, but let him go; and presently call the rest of the watch +together, and thank God you are rid of a knave." Thus, in the spring of +1875, under the temporary leadership of Mr. Charles Lewis, did the House +of Commons act towards the representatives of the _Times_ and the _Daily +News_, with the added embarrassment that the vagrom men in question had +not refused to stand, but were even then in the lobby awaiting judgment. + +In the following Session Mr. Lewis succeeded in stirring up another +historic scene. It was he who brought under the notice of the House of +Commons Mr. Lowe's historic declaration, made in a speech delivered at +Retford, that before Mr. Disraeli had undertaken to pass a Bill creating +the Queen Empress of India, two other Prime Ministers had been +approached on the subject by Her Majesty, and had declined to be a party +to the proceedings. Mr. Lewis was utterly devoid of sense of humour, a +poverty that largely accounts for his failure in public life. The only +joke he ever made was unconsciously produced. It happened one night in +Committee of Supply, when, girding at the Irish members opposite, he +sarcastically expressed the hope that the vote before the Committee +"would not prove another fly in the ointment to spoil the digestion of +honourable gentlemen opposite." + +"Mr. Chairman," observed Mr. Delahunty, who then represented Waterford +City, "we have many peculiarities in Ireland, but we don't eat +ointment." + +Thus, though Mr. Lewis had no humour in his own nature, he was +occasionally the cause of its ebullition in others. The short note he +elicited from Mr. Lowe when he assumed the right to call the right hon. +gentleman to task for this indiscretion hugely delighted the House of +Commons. + +[Illustration: MR. LOWE.] + +"Sir," snapped Mr. Lowe, "my recent speech at Retford contains nothing +relating to you. I must therefore decline to answer your questions." + +That would have shut up some men. It had the effect of inciting Mr. +Charles Lewis to further action. He brought forward a motion for a +return setting forth the text of the oath of Privy Councillors, +explaining that he desired to show that Mr. Lowe had, in the disclosure +made, violated his oath. There followed an animated and angry scene. +Disraeli, whilst dealing a back-handed blow at the inconvenient friend +behind him, struck out at his ancient enemy, Lowe, whose statement he +said was "monstrous, if true." He added that he was permitted to state +on the personal authority of the Queen it was absolutely without +foundation. + +These are some of the episodes writ large in a notable Parliamentary +career. Their range shows that Mr. Lewis was a man of high, if +ill-directed, capacity. No mere blunderer could have stirred the depths +of the House of Commons as from time to time he did. He was, in +truth--and here is the pity of it--a man of great ability, an admirable +speaker. If his instincts had been finer and his training more severe he +would have made a position of quite another kind in Parliamentary +annals. Vain, restless, with narrow views and strong prejudices, he was +his own worst enemy. But he will not have lived in vain if new members, +entering the House from whatever quarter, sitting on whichever side, +will study his career, and apply its lesson. His character in its main +bearings is by no means unfamiliar in the House of Commons. It was his +special qualities of courage and capacity that made him so beneficially +prominent as an example of what to avoid. + + +CABINET SECRETS. + +Amongst the characteristics of the present Government that make them in +Ministries a thing apart is the almost total absence of the air of +mystery that, through the ages, has enveloped Cabinets and their +consultations. Never in times ancient or modern was there on the eve of +a new Session so little mystery about the intentions of the Government. +There was still practised by the morning newspapers the dear old farce +of purporting to forecast the unknown. On the morning that opens the new +Session there appears in all well-conducted morning papers an article +delivered in the style of the Priestess Pythia in the temple at Delphi. +Nothing is positively assumed, but the public are told that when the +Queen's Speech is disclosed "it will probably contain promise of +legislation" on such a head, whilst it will "doubtless be found that Her +Majesty's Ministers have not been unmindful of" such another question. + +This fashion was invented generations ago, either by the _Times_ or the +_Morning Chronicle_. The editor, having access to those gilded saloons +to which Lord Palmerston once made historic reference, or profiting by +personal acquaintance with a Minister, obtained more or less full +knowledge of what the Queen's Speech would contain. But he was bound in +honour to preserve his informant from possibly inconvenient consequences +of his garrulity, and so the oracular style was adopted. When other +papers, put on the track, obtained information in the same way they +adopted the same quaint practice, till now it has become deeply +ingrained in journalism. To-day, whilst there is no secret of the +sources of information very properly conveyed to the Press on the eve of +the Session, this same style of dealing with it, in which Mr. Wemmick +would have revelled, is sedulously observed. + +At the beginning of this Session other than newspaper editors had been +made aware of the general legislative intentions of the Government. +Ministers speaking at various public meetings had openly announced that +their several departments were at the time engaged upon the preparation +of particular Bills, the main directions of which were plainly +indicated. It is true that details of the Home Rule Bill were lacking, +though two or three weeks in advance of its presentation one journal, +the _Speaker_, gave an exceedingly close summary of its clauses. But +that a Home Rule Bill was to be introduced, that it would take +precedence of all other measures, and that it would be thorough enough +to satisfy the Irish members, were commonplaces of information long +before the Speech was read in the House of Lords. It used to be +different. Within the range of recent memory, the publication of the +Queen's Speech, or at least a forecast in the morning papers, was the +first authoritative indication of the drift of legislation in the new +Session. + +[Illustration: LORD PALMERSTON.] + +Talking of this new departure with one of the oldest members of the +House, he tells me a delightful story, which I have never found +recalled in print, and it is too good to be buried in the pages of +_Hansard_. At one time, in the run of the Parliament of 1859-65, Lord +Palmerston being Premier, a rumour shook the political world, affirming +the resignation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Gladstone. The +newspapers were neither so alert nor so well informed in those days, and +the rumour drifted about, neither confirmed nor contradicted. At length, +Mr. Horsman could stand the uncertainty no longer, and from his place in +the House of Commons he asked Lord Palmerston whether there was any +truth in the report. + +The Premier approached the table in his gravest manner, and the crowded +House was hushed in silence for the anticipated disclosure. He had, he +said, just come from a meeting of the Cabinet Council, and could not +pretend to be uninformed on the matter of the question submitted to him. +The House, however, knew how stringent was the oath of a Privy +Councillor, and how impossible it was for one in ordinary circumstances +either to affirm or deny a report current as to what had taken place +within its doors. Lord Palmerston was evidently struggling between a +desire to tell something and disinclination to tamper with his oath. As +his manner grew more embarrassed, the interest of the House was +quickened. All heads, including that of Mr. Horsman, were craned forward +as he went on to observe that, perhaps, in the peculiar circumstances of +the case, he would be justified in saying that, at the Council just +held, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had been present and had displayed +no sign of intended resignation. + +"In fact," said Lord Palmerston, turning round to face Mr. Horsman, +seated at the corner bench below the Gangway, "_my right hon. friend has +had his ear at the keyhole of the wrong door_." + + +THE PARLIAMENTARY OLD GUARD. + +I have received a sheaf of correspondence arising out of the article in +the February number, cataloguing the Old Guard who were in the House of +Commons twenty years ago and stand there to-day. One or two demand +acknowledgment as adding to the information there garnered. Mr. Thomas +Whitworth, of Liverpool, a member of the House of Commons from 1869 to +1874, has made independent investigation, with the result of adding +several to the names I gave. These are Sir Charles Dalrymple, Mr. Duff +(who has just retired from Parliament on his appointment to the +Governorship of New South Wales), Sir Julian Goldsmid, Sir John Hibbert, +Sir J. W. Pease, Mr. J. G. Talbot, Mr. Abel Smith, and Mr. James Round. +Mr. Whitworth adds Mr. Charles Seeley. That is an error, since Mr. +Seeley does not sit in the present Parliament--having been defeated at +the General Election when he stood for the Rushcliffe Division of +Nottinghamshire. + +[Illustration: MR. DUFF.] + +"Sir Thomas Lea (not Mr. Lea) was, in 1873," Mr. Whitworth writes, +"member for Kidderminster, and is the only English member of that date +who has changed into an Irish one." + +The present member for Londonderry was certainly "Mr." Lea in 1873, his +baronetcy dating from 1892, being one of the recognitions made by Lord +Salisbury of the services of the Dissentient Liberal allies. The +reference to Sir William Dyke as Liberal Whip was, as the context shows, +an obvious slip of the pen, Sir William having been for many years +prominent in the Conservative ranks as an able Whip. + +One of the late Mr. Miall's kinsmen points out that "it was Edward +Miall, M.P. for Bradford, not Charles," who, side by side with the late +Mr. Fawcett, fought Mr. Gladstone on the Irish University Bill, and did +much to bring about the subsequent _debacle_ of the Liberals. + +Finally, Mr. Johnston, of Ballykilbeg, writes from the House of Commons: +"In your interesting paper, 'From Behind the Speaker's Chair,' in THE +STRAND MAGAZINE for this month, you say, 'Mr. Johnston, still of +Ballykilbeg, but no longer a Liberal, as he ranked twenty years ago.' In +politics I am to-day what I was twenty years ago. Always anxious to vote +for measures for the good of the country, and sometimes being in the +Lobby with Liberals, I never belonged to that party. Mr. Disraeli, in a +letter which I have, expressed his regret that I should have been +opposed, in 1868, by some Belfast Conservatives, and did all in his +power to prevent this. I was always, as he knew, and Lord Rowton knows, +a loyal follower of Disraeli." + +[Illustration: MR. JOHNSTON.] + +In conversation, Mr. Johnston adds the interesting fact that when in +1868 he was first returned for Belfast, he was in the habit of receiving +whips from both sides of the House, a remarkable testimony to the +impression of his absolute impartiality thus early conveyed to +observers. The House of Commons, by the way, is ignorant that in this +sturdy Protestant it entertains a novelist unawares. Mr. Johnston has +written at least two works of fiction, one entitled "Nightshade," which +presumably deals with the epoch of the fellest domination of Rome; and +the other "Under Which King?" a, perhaps unconscious, reflection of the +unsettled state of mind with which the hon. gentleman entered politics, +and which led to embarrassing attention from the rival Whips. + +LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL. + +The interest attached to Lord Randolph Churchill's reappearance on the +Parliamentary scene proved one of the most interesting and significant +incidents in the early days of the new Parliament. There is no doubt +that, whatever be his present views and intentions, Lord Randolph years +ago convinced himself that he was cut adrift from the political world, +and that it had no charms to lure him back. He began by giving up to +Newmarket what was meant for mankind, took a share in a stable, and +regulated his social and other engagements in London not by the Order +Book of the House of Commons, but by the fixtures in the "Racing +Calendar." He was seen only fitfully in his place at the corner seat +behind his esteemed friends and leaders then in office. A year later he +went off to Mashonaland, and for a full Session Westminster knew him no +more. + +[Illustration: "NEWMARKET."] + +[Illustration: "MASHONALAND."] + +When the new Parliament began its sittings Lord Randolph in private +conversation was not less insistent as to the permanency of his act of +renunciation. He was tired of politics, he said, and saw no future for +himself in an assembly where at one time he was a commanding figure. +Some of his friends, whilst puzzled and occasionally staggered by his +insistence on this point, have always refused to accept his view of the +possibilities of the future. A dyspeptic duck gloomily eyeing an old +familiar pond might protest that never again would it enter the water. +But as long as the duck lives and the water remains, they are certain to +come together again. So it has been with Lord Randolph Churchill, who +in this Session has, quite naturally, returned to his old haunts, and +with a single speech regained much of his old position. + +It is possible that accident, untoward in itself, may have had something +to do with hastening the conclusion. When the House first met amid a +fierce tussle for seats, Lord Randolph found his place at the corner of +the second bench in peril of appropriation. If he desired to retain it, +it would obviously be necessary for him to be down every day in time for +prayers. Rather than face that discipline he would suffer the company of +his old colleagues on the Front Opposition Bench. As a Privy Councillor +and ex-Minister he had a right to a seat on that bench equal, at least, +to that of Sir Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett. One evening, coming in at +question time and finding his seat appropriated by an Irish member, he +dropped on to the remote end of the Front Opposition Bench, hoping he +did not intrude. His old colleagues warmly welcomed him, made much of +him, entreated him to go up higher, and it came to pass that the House +of Commons grew accustomed to seeing the strayed reveller sitting in +close companionship with Mr. Arthur Balfour. If the whole story of the +tragedy of Christmas, 1886, were known, it would appear more remarkable +still that from time to time he should have been observed in friendly +conversation with Mr. Goschen. + +[Illustration: "IN CLOSE COMPANIONSHIP."] + +It was from this quarter that, within the first fortnight of the +Session, Lord Randolph rose to make his _rentree_. It was characteristic +of him that he had sat silent through the long debate on the Address. +That meant nothing, except the occupation of a certain space of time. +There was no substantial amendment before the House, nor any prospect of +the existence of the new Government being challenged on a division. But +when the Home Rule Bill was brought in, things were different; there was +a tangible substance round which statesmen might give battle. + +[Illustration: "ROSE TO MAKE HIS RENTREE."] + +It was known that Lord Randolph would resume the debate on this +particular night, and the thronged state of the House testified to the +deathless personal interest he commands. Not since Mr. Gladstone had, a +few nights earlier, risen to expound the Bill was the House so crowded. +The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duke of York, returned to his +seat over the clock, whilst noble lords jostled each other in the effort +to obtain seats in the limited space allotted to them. It happened that +the _debutant_ was destined to undergo a serious and unexpected ordeal. +His time should have come not later than five o'clock, questions being +then over, and the House permitted to settle down to the business of the +day. But there intervened a riotous scene, arising on a question of a +breach of privilege. This extended over an hour, and throughout it Lord +Randolph sat in a state of almost piteous nervousness. + +That was a sore trial for the intending orator, but it reacted with even +worse effect on the audience. The House of Commons, though it likes its +dishes highly spiced, cares for only one such at a meal. Like the modest +person in the hymn, "all it asks for is enough"; and in such a scene as +that which raged round the Irish indictment of the _Times_ for breach of +privilege it found sufficiency. There are only two, or at most three, +men in the House who could have kept the audience together after the +prolonged excitement sprung upon it. Very few left their seats when, at +six o'clock, Lord Randolph Churchill appeared at the table. + +[Illustration: "PITEOUS NERVOUSNESS."] + +What had just happened, taken in conjunction with this peculiar +position, plainly told upon him. He was nervous, occasionally to the +point of being inaudible, and did not mend matters by violently thumping +the box at the precise moment when otherwise the conclusion of his +sentence might have been heard. Some people said in their haste he was +but the shadow of his former self, and that he had done well all these +years to remain in the background. But the faults of this speech were +all of manner. Those who listened closely, with whatever painful effort, +recognised in it the old straightforward, vigorous blows, the keen +insight, the lucid statement, the lofty standpoint from which the whole +question was viewed with the gaze of a statesman rather than with the +squint of a politician. Those whose opportunities were limited to +reading a full report of the speech perceived even more clearly that +Lord Randolph had lost none of his ancient power, had even, with added +years and garnered experience, grown in weighty counsel. + +His second speech, delivered on the Welsh Suspensory Bill, being free +from the accidental circumstances that handicapped his first effort, +confirmed this impression. Reassured in his position, confident of his +powers, encouraged by a friendly audience, he equalled any of the +earlier efforts that established his fame. + +What will happen to Lord Randolph in the future is a matter which, I +believe, depends entirely upon the state of his physical health. I have +written elsewhere, with perhaps tiresome iteration through the six years +he has been wilfully trying to lose himself in the wilderness, that he +might win or regain any prize in public life to the attainment of which +he chose seriously to devote himself. His indispensability to the +Conservative party is testified to by the eagerness with which hands are +held out to him at the earliest indication of desire to return to the +fold. That by his loyalty to the party he has earned such consideration +is a truth not so fully recognised as it might be if he were less modest +in putting forth a claim. If he had been a man of small mind and mean +instincts, what a thorn in the flesh of Lord Salisbury, Mr. Smith, and +Mr. Balfour he might have proved in the whole period following on his +resignation up to the dissolution of the last Parliament! + +[Illustration: "BIRMINGHAM."] + +There were many inviting turning points in his career where he had only +to lift hand and voice, and a belated Government, living upon the +sufferance of not too-affectionate allies, would have found themselves +in a strait place. It will suffice to recall one. It happened four years +ago last month. On one of the earliest days of April, 1889, the +Conservatives of Birmingham turned to Lord Randolph and invited him to +contest the seat vacated by the death of Mr. Bright. I have reason to +believe that at that time, and for some years earlier, it had been the +dearest object of his political life to represent Birmingham. As early +as 1885 he had, recklessly as it seemed, gone down and tried to storm +the citadel even when it was held by so redoubtable a champion as Mr. +Bright. He had not been very badly beaten then. Now, with the +Conservatives enthusiastically and unanimously clamouring for him, and +with the assistance of the Dissenting Liberals which, had he presented +himself, could not have been withheld under penalty of losing the seat, +he would have been triumphantly returned. + +Happening at this particular time, in view of his strained relations +with Lord Salisbury, election by such a constituency would have placed +Lord Randolph in a position of personal influence not equalled by that +of any private member. The moment seemed ripe for the birth of an +organized party raising the standard of social Toryism, and under that +or any other flag there are always ready to rally round Lord Randolph a +number of Conservatives sufficient to make things uncomfortable at +Hatfield. He had only to go in and win, and had he been inclined to play +his own game he would have done so. But it was represented to him that +his candidature was distasteful to a powerful ally of the Government; +that if he insisted in accepting the invitation, the compact between +Dissenting Liberals and the Conservatives would be straightway broken +up; and that thereupon Mr. Gladstone would romp in with his Home Rule +Bill. It was a bitter pill. But Lord Randolph swallowed it. Unmoved by +the angry, almost passionate, protestations of the deputation from +Birmingham that waited upon him, he withdrew his candidature, +sacrificing himself and his prospects on the party shrine. + +Now, Lord Randolph, travelling on other less independent and less +interesting lines, seems half inclined to make his way back. + + * * * * * + +_NOTE._--"_PICTURES AND PAINTERS OF 1893," an Illustrated Guide to the +Royal Academy and the other chief picture exhibitions, being the Fine +Art Supplement of "THE STRAND MAGAZINE" and "THE PICTURE MAGAZINE," and +containing 112 pages of pictures, with portraits of artists, beautifully +reproduced on tinted papers in a variety of colours, will be published +as early as possible in May. Price 1s._ + + + + +_At Dead of Night._ + +BY MRS. NEWMAN. + + +The one afternoon train was due at Middleford, a small, straggling, and +not very prosperous town, where terminated a branch line from a junction +on the South-Western Railway--a line for which, after long-protracted +opposition and delay, a grant had been obtained too late, traffic having +merged in the direction of a neighbouring place. + +"Middleford! Middleford!" + +As the train drew up at the platform, one passenger only, a young man of +about eight or nine and twenty, stepped out and stood for a few moments +looking about him as if in some uncertainty. He was, in fact, debating +with himself as to whether he would, after all, pay the chance visit he +had gone there to make. + +He had not gone by invitation other than was conveyed in the words: +"Don't forget to look me up, if you chance to be anywhere in our +neighbourhood, Meredith," spoken by a young fellow between whom and +himself there had been some degree of intimacy at the University, as the +two parted to go their different ways. The usual words, not generally +estimated above their value; and the idea of acting upon them had not +occurred to Allan Meredith until he found himself stranded for some +hours at the junction, and, turning over the leaves of Bradshaw, came +upon the name of Middleford, and remembered that it was Laurence +Verschoyle's place. Finding that it was not more than five or six miles +from the junction, and that the train was just starting, he had, on the +impulse of the moment, taken a ticket and jumped in. + +He stood for another moment or two still hesitating, little imagining +the influence his decision would have on his future life, and unable to +account for his irresolution--a state of mind so unusual with him. He +presently shook himself free of the feeling, and decided, since he had +got so far, that he would go on. He inquired the way of the porter, who +had been curiously eyeing him, and, leaving his bag at the station, set +forth for the Priory. + +[Illustration: "HE INQUIRED THE WAY."] + +As he walked along the not very interesting country road, his thoughts +reverted again to the man he was going to see. What had become of him +since they had parted three years previously--Verschoyle, the first +favourite of his set, who, with his good intellect, brilliant, witty, +and versatile, had seemed capable of almost any mental feat? True, he +had done nothing beyond give the impression that he could do a great +deal if he chose; "and," thought Allan Meredith, "carry home a sheaf of +bills, I expect. He ought to have been the moneyed man, and I the one +obliged to keep to the grindstone, perhaps. I don't know; the very +necessity for doing something may have given him the kind of impetus he +needed--to say nothing of having to keep up the prestige of an ancient +name, which must be some spur to a man." + +He had reached the cross-roads, and was recalling the somewhat vague +directions the porter had given him. "Straight on till you come to a +finger-post that seems to point back to the station, but doesn't; take +that road, sir--the Priory lane, it's called--until you come to a swing +gate, leading into a field; cross that, keeping the footpath to the +left, mind you, till you see a stile; get over that, go through the +lodge gates right opposite--though it isn't a lodge now, and there ain't +no gates, only posts--and up an avenue, where all the trees have been +cut down, and there you are. The old place you'll see before you is the +Priory." + +Time and weather had effaced whatever information the sign-post had once +afforded, and there was nothing for it but to take the direction in +which it pointed. + +He walked slowly on, speculating as to what sort of welcome he was +likely to receive from Verschoyle's people. How little he knew about +them. Frank to effusiveness in some directions, Verschoyle could be +reticent enough in others, and rarely alluded to his family. That he was +an only son, and, at his father's death, had inherited but the wreck of +a once large property, Allan knew. He had also heard that the widowed +mother was still living. + +What was Verschoyle doing?--living upon the small property, farming the +land; or had he, as he had sometimes talked of doing, gone in for +literature, and carried his wares to the London market? At that time his +wares had appeared to Allan Meredith likely to be worth a great deal; +but, with his three years' added knowledge and experience, he was now +inclined to estimate them somewhat differently. Verschoyle's intellect +had, indeed, revealed itself chiefly by fitful flashes, brilliant and +dazzling enough in their effect at the moment, but leaving no lasting +impression of very high powers; and this, with his mercurial +temperament, might render his success in the future doubtful. + +Allan Meredith had proceeded some distance, and was beginning to think +that he must have passed the swing gate without noticing it, when, on +turning a bend in the lane, he saw a young girl walking in advance. He +quickened his steps a little in order to overtake her, and make inquiry +as to whether he was going in the right direction, noting, meanwhile, +her general appearance so far as to infer that she was a farmer's +daughter; or, rather, as he thought with a half smile, what a farmer's +daughter is conventionally supposed to be like. Thick leather shoes, a +plainly made gown of some light grey stuff, and short enough for country +walking; a large brown straw hat, with neither flower nor feather to +adorn it; and ungloved hands, in the one swinging by her side a strap +buckled round two or three tattered-looking books. After a moment or +two, he recognised something more. Taking note of the firm, light step, +the carriage of the head, the perfect ease and freedom of the tall, +graceful figure, he mentally ejaculated: "A lady; aye, and with some +individuality of her own, too!" + +His step had evidently not been heard on the soft, springy turf, and he +was fast lessening the distance between them, some curiosity now +mingling with his desire for information, when she turned out of the +lane and passed through a swing gate. Here she paused for a moment, +looking back, and their eyes met. + +Yes; just such a face as he, a dreamer of dreams, had sometimes pictured +to himself, but hardly hoped to see in the world of reality. A face too +grave and troubled for her years--she looked barely eighteen--but how +beautiful with its clear, steadfast eyes and general expression so +simple, frank, girlish, and, at the same time, so intelligent and +thoughtful! She was regarding him with a surprised, questioning look, +which reminded him that he was gazing too pertinaciously. + +A little consciously he lifted his hat and asked: "Can you direct me to +the Priory?" + +"The Priory?" she repeated in a low voice, her eyes fixed more intently +upon him, and her hand tightening on the gate. + +"Mr. Verschoyle's place. I was directed at the railway station, but do +not feel sure that----" + +"Whom do you want to see there?" she put in abruptly--almost +ungraciously. + +Nor was the tone assumed; this was not the girl to affect the brusquerie +of unconventionality any more than the suavity of conventionality--it +was rather that of one in deep anxiety, and unaccustomed to veil her +thoughts. + +"Mr. Verschoyle," he replied. + +"On--business?"--the expression of dread, or whatever it was, deepening +in her face, white now to the lips; as, on the impulse of the moment, +she pressed back the gate as though to bar the way. + +"No," he murmured. To have brought such a look to such a face! + +She still eyed him with the same unquiet scrutiny, as though debating +something in her mind; then hurriedly asked: "But why? Where do you come +from?" + +He might very well have asked what interest his relations with +Verschoyle could have for her; but he felt that there was some grave +reason underlying her anxiety, and was not inclined to take offence. +Moreover, there was no necessity for mystery on his side; and, +therefore, he might as well reply openly and directly to her question. + +"From Grayminster. My name is Meredith." + +"Are you a friend of his? Mr. Verschoyle is my brother"; still a little +hesitatingly, and, as it were, on the defensive. + +He raised his hat again. "We were at Wadham together, Miss Verschoyle, +and, chancing to be in this neighbourhood, I thought I would look him up +for half an hour's talk over old times." + +The colour came into her cheeks and a smile to her beautiful lips, +although both faded too quickly. "I remember your name now, Mr. +Meredith. I have often heard my brother speak of you," moving aside for +him to pass through the gate as she added: "If you will come with me, I +will show you the way." + +He bowed, passing quickly through to her side. His indecision had +entirely vanished now, and a visit to the Priory seemed the most +desirable thing in the world. To think of Verschoyle not mentioning that +he had a sister--and such a sister! + +"I fear I must have seemed terribly rude when you first spoke to me, Mr. +Meredith," she said, looking up into his face with a smile, as they +proceeded along the path that skirted the field. "The truth is, I was +afraid--that is, I thought you were--someone else," flushing with the +consciousness that she was saying more than she had meant to say. + +He hastened to assure her that it had been quite evident no discourtesy +was intended; mentally, the while, congratulating himself upon not being +"someone else," then quietly changed the subject. "I have not seen your +brother since we left Oxford, Miss Verschoyle. Your only brother, is he +not?" + +"Yes; and I am his only sister. My mother, Laurence, and I live at the +Priory." + +"Mrs. Verschoyle is well, I hope?" with suddenly developed interest in +everything that concerned her. + +"My mother is not worse, I am glad to say, than she has been the last +five years. She is always an invalid." Had not Laurence told him that +much? + +[Illustration: "THERE IS THE PRIORY!"] + +"Was it anxiety about her mother's health that had brought that look to +her face?" he was thinking. "No; it must be something more than, or at +any rate different from, the kind of trouble which might spring from +such a cause." + +He murmured a few words of sympathy; her clear eyes turned to meet his, +with how different an expression from that he had first seen in them! +There was even a little girlish fun in them, as she asked:-- + +"What kind of place do you imagine the Priory to be, Mr. Meredith?" + +"Well, one naturally attaches a little mediaeval romance to the idea of a +Priory"; adding, after a moment's reflection--there were certainly no +signs of prosperity about her--"and it ought to be somewhat dilapidated, +I suppose--in the picturesque stage of decay. It must be difficult to +keep those old places in thorough repair." + +"Very," she replied, her face shadowing. Then, with a side glance at him +and again attempting a jesting tone, she went on: "Difficult, too, as it +crumbles away, to find room for ancient retainers, old pictures, +heirlooms, and the rest of it. Now prepare your mind, Mr. Meredith, when +we turn this next bend--There is the Priory!" + +He was prepared now to see some dilapidated old place, but hardly for +that which met his view. The Priory! That desolate-looking remnant of a +building, standing forlornly against the summer sky! Portions of the +walls, some high, some low, and all of great thickness, still remained +here and there, indicating the plan of the old Priory; but, at this +distance, even these seemed to form part of the surrounding brickfields. +By no effort of the imagination could the inhabited part of the building +be supposed to be the abode of prosperous people. All was desolation and +decay, without picturesqueness. Even the aspect of the grounds about it, +which might once have lent their aid as a setting to the picture, seemed +now only to accentuate the fallen fortunes of the house. Every acre of +the ground about it, once of some extent and beautifully wooded, had +been sold piecemeal--the greater part for brickfields. On the side they +were approaching there seemed no redeeming feature in the dismal scene. +No; not likely to be spacious reception-rooms, nor offices for an army +of ancient retainers there! Courtesy itself was dumb! + +"The Verschoyles have not much left to be proud of, you see, Mr. +Meredith. We are not invaded by picnic parties and artists in search of +the picturesque; but you see the worst of it from this side." + +At that moment the figure of a man was seen emerging from some side +entrance, and hurriedly making his way towards the ruins, in an opposite +direction from that whence they were approaching. + +"Laurence!"--hurriedly calling out, as he seemed to take no heed: "A +friend to see you." + +He turned; seemed to hesitate a moment; then came slowly towards them. +As he drew nearer, and recognised who the visitor was, he hastened his +steps, his whole face brightening. "Meredith!" he ejaculated, in a tone +of relief. "Where have you sprung from? How are you, old fellow? Quite +an age since I saw you last." + +[Illustration: "WHERE HAVE YOU SPRUNG FROM?"] + +Allan Meredith grasped the hand extended towards him, all the more +heartily, perhaps, because it was the hand of Miss Verschoyle's brother, +as he explained, "I was at the junction, and being so near, thought I +would look you up." + +"Glad to see you, old fellow. You know this is my sister?" + +"Yes; Miss Verschoyle was good enough to show me the way." + +She turned to leave them with the words: "Dinner will be ready in an +hour, Laurence." + +"All right!" + +Meredith had time now to notice that there was the same expression of +dread in the brother's face he had seen in the sister's, but with a +difference. In her face it was simply fear; in his it was this and +something worse. Unlike his sister, looking straight at you in her +trouble, his eyes were either downcast or averted: shifting uneasily +from one object to another. The whole man was changed--it seemed +demoralized--since Meredith had last seen him. His very figure had lost +its elasticity, and become slouching and cowering. + +"What have you been doing with yourself the last three years?" asked +Meredith. + +"Oh, all sorts of things; going to the bad, chiefly. Not much +opportunity for doing that or anything else here, you may think," +noticing the direction which the other's eyes took. "No; I have gone +farther afield. Spent two years in London; tried my hand at all sorts of +things, and failed. I am a failure all round." + +"Nonsense, man; if you take that tone you may be." + +"There is no other tone to take, now," moodily. + +"Give up in that way, with your abilities, and the world before you!" + +"It seems easy enough to you, I dare say. It did to me before I tried. +There is no need for you to put your theories to the test, or you might +find that men occasionally fail, even though they have hands and brains +to work with. Some have to go down, and I'm one of them--that's all!" + +"That is not Miss Verschoyle's creed, I think?" + +"My sister! She has been telling you about the wretched teaching +business, I suppose? She, at any rate, is not cursed with the family +pride. I can't endure to see her go about giving lessons to the +clodhoppers round here. Does no end of drudgery about the house, too." + +It had come to this: the sister was working for both; and Verschoyle did +not even see what his allowing her to do so meant! "What kind of pride +was this?" thought Meredith, his tone showing, perhaps, a little of what +was in his mind, as he gravely replied:-- + +"I can quite understand your objecting to that. You must let your +friends use what interests they have to get you into something, +Verschoyle." + +"It would be of no use; at any rate, until----no necessity for going +into that," moodily kicking a stone across the path. What he wanted just +then was money, and this was not the man to whom he could turn for that, +with his talk about setting to work. How could he say to this man that +he had squandered the last remnant of the small property which had come +to him; and that they were liable to be turned out of the old home, such +as it was, at any moment now--his invalid mother, and the sister who had +striven so hard to keep things together--unless he could obtain money to +stave off matters, at any rate for a time? Pressure was now being +brought to bear upon him, and threats used that, unless he paid off the +sum of five hundred pounds--a sum there seemed no possibility of +procuring--charges of fraudulent borrowing would be brought against him +which he might find it difficult to combat in a court of law; and he was +living from hour to hour in fear of arrest. + +The Priory itself, and everything it contained of any value, to the last +family portrait that hung upon the walls, had been either mortgaged or +sold. If a few heirlooms, in the way of carved furniture--a cabinet or +what not--had been allowed still to remain, it was to, as long as +possible, keep the knowledge of the worst from his mother and sister. + +He had, in the first few moments of their meeting, hurriedly speculated +as to whether anything could be made out of the other's chance visit; +but his hopes, if they amounted to that, had very quickly died as he +remembered the past. There had been nothing large-handed or generous, +according to his interpretation of the words, in Meredith. He had shown +no inclination to part with his money without a _quid pro quo_, and +lived as though he had not a pound to spare, instead of an income of +some ten or twelve thousand a year. He had lost his father in his early +boyhood, and the property, carefully nursed for him during a long +minority, had largely increased. + +That, like many who spend little upon themselves, Meredith could be +even lavishly generous to others, and that there was none to whom one in +need could so safely turn for help, Verschoyle did not suspect. He would +have been not a little surprised could he have known that many a man had +to thank Meredith for help given just at the right moment, and given so +quietly that none but the two most concerned were in the secret. +Meredith, in fact, cared nothing for the luxuries of life. Capable of +doing his share in the world's work, steadily exercising his best +faculties, and mentally and physically invigorated by the process, he +was almost unable to comprehend a man such as Verschoyle had come to be. + +"No; it would be of no use," summed up Verschoyle, eyeing him askance. +"If I began to tell him about being in need of a few hundreds, he would +want to know the whole story; and it would be no good trying to throw +dust in his eyes. I wonder what he would do if I told him point-blank +that I am liable to be hauled off to gaol at any moment for lack of five +hundred pounds? Button up his pockets and scurry off without waiting to +test the Priory hospitality, perhaps; or, worse still, begin to preach." + +Seeing that the other was disinclined to be communicative, Meredith +changed the subject, introducing any topic he could think of which he +thought might interest him. In vain. Both felt that they were farther +apart than when they had last met. There was, in fact, a barrier between +them which neither knew how to remove. Engrossed in his own reflections, +Verschoyle did not keep up the first semblance of bonhomie; a little, +indeed, resenting Meredith's efforts in one direction, since he did not +seem likely to make any in another of more importance. + +Both men were equally relieved when a ruddy-cheeked servant-maid +appeared at the door, and informed them that dinner would be ready in +ten minutes now. Verschoyle led the way into the house, showed Meredith +to a room, and then availed himself of the opportunity to say a few +hurried words to his sister. + +"Remember, Madge: there's no necessity for offering him a bed. Only a +chance visit; that means nothing; and, therefore, dinner is quite +enough. How have you contrived it?" + +"Oh, pretty well. No need for pretence. He must know by the general +aspect of things how it is with us." + +"Well, give the mother a hint not to press the hospitalities." + +"He would not care to remain if she did, I should think; there is +nothing to attract him here"; adding, with a little surprise, "but I +should have thought you would have been glad to welcome anyone, dull as +you find it, Laurence." + +"If I were not in such straits I might. You know I am at my wits' end +just now; liable to be seized at any moment for that wretched debt." + +He had given it the name of debt to her, and she had not the slightest +suspicion that it was anything worse. + +[Illustration: "MEREDITH WAS INTRODUCED."] + +At that moment Allan Meredith entered the room, which not even the +shabby furniture and appurtenances of the dinner table could render mean +looking, with its noble proportions, oak ceiling, carved, high +chimney-piece, and oriel window. There was not sufficient carpet even +for the fashion--only, indeed, one large old Turkey rug; and that was +spread in the recess of the window, where were, also, a finely-carved, +high-backed, well cushioned chair, small work and writing tables, and +two or three other last relics of better days, devoted to the use of the +invalid; a gentle, suffering-looking woman, with traces of great beauty +in her thin, worn face. + +Meredith was introduced to her by her daughter, with a tone and look +which showed she felt that she had still something to be proud of. Her +pride in, and loving care of, her mother was, indeed, evident enough. +Even his eyes could see how much more thought had been expended upon the +invalid's toilet than upon her daughter's, of which the most that could +be said was that it was neat as any village girl's might be. + +Mrs. Verschoyle received the stranger with the simple courtesy of good +breeding. There was no allusion by word or look to the altered fortunes +of the house; no attempt at explanation; but a simple, earnest welcome +which had its full effect upon Allan Meredith. He noticed, too, at the +table that no apologies were made for the dinner, until the contemptuous +shrug of the shoulders which Laurence gave as he glanced from the dish +of curried mutton at one end to the remainder of the same joint that +served as the roast at the other, called forth the reply: + +"It is the best I could do, Laurence. There was no time to send into the +town, and I hoped that Mr. Meredith might have sufficient appetite after +his walk, perhaps, to be able to dine on what we have"; apologizing to +her brother, as she had not felt it to be necessary to apologize to +their guest. + +"That am I, Miss Verschoyle," he said, determined that she should see no +lack of appreciation on his side. "I have eaten only a biscuit since +eight o'clock this morning"; going on to explain what had brought him to +the neighbourhood. "I had got a little out of condition from overwork, +and----" + +"Overwork!" put in Laurence. "Of what kind?" + +"Oh, you know I used to have a fancy for comparing evidence, and +latterly I have plodded a little too closely in getting at some I +wanted," speaking a little hesitatingly and awkwardly in his desire to +avoid seeming to pose. "I needed change of scene and more out-of-door +exercise. It happened that a final settlement had, just now, to be made +about a small property my father had in this county, and I thought it +would be an object, or at any rate give me the change of scene they +talked about, to go and look after the sale myself." + +"I did not know you owned property in this direction, Meredith." + +"It was of very little importance; only a small farm; but there was some +competition for it, on account of its joining Lord Drayltown's property. +He wanted to take it into his park." + +"Did you let him have it?" + +"No; it was not so much a question of money with me, and the tenant who +had held it so long, and done his best for the house and land, had, I +considered, the first claim. He and I settled it together without much +law. He is the possessor of the farm, and I have brought away a roll of +notes; that's about all." + +"I suppose a small farm does not fetch much in these days," said +Verschoyle. + +"This would have fetched more had I allowed them to bid one against the +other; three or four instead of two thousand, I was told." + +"Two thousand would seem a pretty good haul to some people. Notes, do +you say?" + +"Partly; and partly in cheques," replied Meredith, looking a little +surprised. + +"Do you carry them about with you, Meredith? I mean"--noticing the +surprise in the other's face--"is it wise--safe, do you think, to go +about these lonely places with all that--" breaking off, and hurriedly +adding: "But, of course, we can't let you go to-night. You must put up +with what we have to offer, until the morning at any rate." A sudden +thought had crossed his mind. Might it not be possible to appeal to +Meredith for a loan? "What a quarter of that money would do for me just +now! If I could only open my heart to him, as Madge says. Pshaw! Easy +enough for girls, such as she, to open their hearts. She wouldn't have +been so ready to advise me to do that, had she known all." + +"Mr. Meredith would, perhaps, prefer the inn in the town, Laurence; he +might find it more comfortable," put in his sister, a little puzzled by +the change in his tone; but, supposing it might be only to keep up +appearances, she went on: "There will be a moon, and----" + +"Oh, nonsense!" hurriedly interrupted her brother. "You will not mind +roughing it for one night, eh, Meredith? Of course you must stay." + +"I hope so, indeed," said Mrs. Verschoyle, to whom her daughter had had +no time to give the hint her brother bade her give. "I trust you will +accept our poor hospitality, Mr. Meredith." + +"There, that settles it, Meredith. You can't refuse my mother, now; or +she will be lamenting the little we have to offer." + +"It is not little to me," replied Meredith, in all sincerity. The chance +of spending a few hours in the society of Margaret Verschoyle was, +indeed, beginning to mean a great deal to him. He had not, before, met +any woman who interested him in this way; and, already, he knew that +none other ever would. She said very little now; having, he noticed, +become more silent and abstracted as her brother grew effusive, +apparently in the endeavour to make up for his previous lack of +courtesy. + +"This is our only drawing-room, Mr. Meredith," she presently said, as +she and her mother rose from the table and went towards the window. "You +must please try to imagine we are not here." + +"I would rather not do that, Miss Verschoyle," he replied, rising to +join them. + +"But won't you----? You would not find this claret so bad," said +Laurence, adding, as the other declined: "Well, then, a cigar on the +terrace, if we can dignify it by that name." + +"Not now, thank you. Later on, perhaps, if you will join me." + +"Then, I will look after your bag. At the station, didn't you say? We +might send Sally's brother, eh, Madge?" hurriedly quitting the room. + +Meredith remained with the ladies in the oriel window, whilst the +rough-looking maid-servant awkwardly cleared the dinner table, assisted +now and again by a smiling word from her young mistress. + +"You have a good view from here, Mrs. Verschoyle." + +"It is good to me, Mr. Meredith. Fortunately, the brickfields are on the +other side; and, seen from here, the part of the ruin, and the old +garden and orchard, have a charm of their own for me. But one misses the +old elms that used to hide the town, which my daughter thinks looks best +when you don't see it," with a smile at the young girl. + +"And so do you, dear. Being romantic, you prefer it when there is a mist +over it, and you have to imagine what is behind the veil, don't you?" +replied her daughter, with pretty defiance. "A serious thing to have a +romantic mother, is it not. Mr. Meredith? In these days, too--romance! +She had need have a matter-of-fact daughter, had she not?" + +[Illustration: "A SERIOUS THING TO HAVE A ROMANTIC MOTHER, IS IT NOT?"] + +He smilingly kept up the same tone, his admiration deepening for the +brave heart that could make a jest of her difficulties. How well the +mother and daughter seemed to understand each other in making the best +of their colourless lives. He soon found they could talk about something +besides the narrow experiences of their everyday world. They were +accustomed to think intelligently, and were not without a spice of +humour, as well as a romance to cast a glamour over their surroundings. +Good listeners, too; showing a desire to hear what was going on in the +world of thought; and, now and again, asking questions which kept his +wits at work for a reply--a not unpleasant exercise to Allan Meredith, +accustomed to use them. + +An hour passed quickly away. It was only the uneasy glances the young +girl was beginning to cast towards the door which reminded him that +Verschoyle had left them so long. When he re-entered the room, Meredith +noticed that the sister's eyes turned anxiously towards him. + +"I made sure about your bag by seeing after it myself, Meredith," he +began. "Remembered the mistakes Sally's brother is apt to make, you +know, Madge; and thought he might demand the post bag, or something of +that sort." + +He appeared more desirous now of making conversation, reminding Meredith +of some of their Oxford experiences, inquiring about mutual friends, and +what not. But his gaiety did not sit quite naturally upon him, and there +was an under-current of excitement in his tone and manner. One there saw +that his gaiety was only on the surface, and that he eyed Meredith +closely and speculatively when he thought himself unobserved. + +"Two thousand pounds! Two thousand!--and a quarter of that would save +me," he was thinking. Were the notes in that wallet of which he could +trace the outline in the breast pocket of the other's coat? His eyes +were turned again and again, as if fascinated, to that breast pocket, +while he talked on _apropos_ of anything that suggested itself. +Presently, in reply to some remark of his mother's with reference to the +rising moon, and the ghostly way in which its beams seemed to steal +about the ruin, he said: "Do you know that we can boast of having a +ghost, Meredith?" + +"Our very own, who watches over the fortunes of the house," said his +sister. "At least, that is the tradition. When last heard of, he was +wandering about, with his hand uplifted as if in warning. Not very +original, is it? And not of much use, unless he will tell us what we are +being warned against." + +"Have you seen him, Miss Verschoyle?" + +"Oh, no. Even he seems to have deserted us now." + +"Speak for yourself, Madge," said her brother, stealing a side glance +towards Meredith. + +"Have you, then, Laurence?" she ejaculated, turning quickly towards him. +"I thought you were inclined to make a jest of the monk." + +"I am inclined to do that no longer, perhaps." + +"Do you mean that you _have_ seen him? You told me nothing about it, +Laurence." + +"When I knew what a fright it gave you only to imagine you saw him?" + +"But I was only ten years old then, you know. I was frightened, Mr. +Meredith," she said, turning to him with a smile. "But even then I was +quite as curious as frightened; for though I fell upon my knees and hid +my face, I begged him not to go until I got sufficiently used to him to +be able to ask what I wanted to know." + +"Had he not the grace to do that, Miss Verschoyle?" + +"Well, it was only an old military cloak of my father's, which Laurence +had hung over a broom in a corner of the school-room to try my courage." + +"I wonder what questions you would ask now?" + +"Oh, there are so many things one would like to know," the sweet face +shadowing, and the eyes taking an anxious expression. + +"Is the monk supposed to have a predilection for any particular +chamber?" asked Meredith. "Ghosts are uncertain visitors, I know; but it +would be something to pass a night where one might be expected." + +"You might find it no jest if he came," said Laurence. + +"Oh, I should take him seriously enough. In fact, I have something of +Miss Verschoyle's feeling. There are so many questions one would like to +ask." + +She was glancing curiously towards her brother. "Why did he take that +tone--he that, until now, had been as ready as the rest to jest at the +ghost?" But she had no time to speculate as to what was in his mind. Now +that he had returned, she might consider herself off duty in the matter +of doing her share towards entertaining; and she had to help Sally to +prepare a room for the guest, her invalid mother to attend to, and to +contrive a fitting breakfast for the morrow. + +The two young men passed out on to the grass terrace before the window, +lighted their cigars, and strolled to and fro in the moonlight. There +was very little interchange of thought. Allan Meredith was speculating +as to how best he could set about helping Margaret Verschoyle's brother; +and beginning to fear it would be very difficult to do so, unless he +were more inclined than he now appeared to put his shoulder to the +wheel. He had little sympathy for a nature such as Verschoyle's; and, +unconsciously perhaps to himself, the few words he uttered conveyed what +was in his mind to the other, who was quick to resent it. + +[Illustration: "TO AND FRO IN THE MOONLIGHT."] + +"Put me in the way of earning money, indeed! No use asking him for a +loan; he would be putting all sorts of awkward questions," thought +Verschoyle, with the uneasy consciousness that he would find it +difficult to explain without incriminating himself. "No, I won't try it! +It must be the other way--there's no help for it now. Once out of this +hole, I'll put my shoulder to the wheel, and pay him back with the first +money I earn. He isn't likely to want the money if I took all instead of +a quarter, and I won't take a penny more than that. It will only be a +loan after all, which, if he were like anyone else, I could openly ask +him for. Yes, I'll do it! If he sees through the trick, it will be easy +to say it was only a jest done to try him. But I think I can manage it +so quietly that he won't wake, and then I am safe." + +On re-entering the room they had quitted--the only habitable +sitting-room the Priory could now boast--they found it untenanted, the +mother and daughter having retired for the night. The two men sat in +desultory conversation, maintained with some effort, until, in reply to +a question from Laurence, Meredith admitted that he had had a long day +and was inclined for bed. They went up together, and Laurence showed the +other into a large, barely-furnished, and somewhat desolate-looking +room, with two doors and one high, narrow, iron-barred window. + +"Sorry we have no better quarters to offer you, Meredith." + +"I am no sybarite, Verschoyle. You'll say that when you see my room at +home. My housekeeper is always bewailing my lack of appreciation of what +she calls comfort"--taking out his pocket-book as he spoke, and putting +it on to the dressing-table before removing his coat. + +Laurence took quick note of the position of the book upon the table. +"Well, good-night, old fellow"; adding, with an elaborate assumption of +carelessness: "Oh, by the way, I'd nearly forgotten: there's a key in +that door--the one belonging to this must be lost, I fancy; but it seems +hermetically sealed. You can't open it, you see," turning and pulling at +the handle; "and you are safely barred in at the window," with a little +laugh. + +"All right, Verschoyle. A barred window and a locked door ought to be +enough. Good-night," telling himself they must talk over things in the +morning. Too late to enter upon what he wanted to say, just then. In the +morning Verschoyle should be made to see that here was a friend who was +not to be put off; they must go into matters together. Verschoyle must +be induced to set to work, and in the meantime it must be so contrived +that the mother and daughter should be better cared for. "Tell him that +I have taken a great fancy to this old place; and, between ourselves, +give him a few thousands for it, perhaps--to be settled on them--yes, +certainly settled on them." + +Once in his own room, Verschoyle sank into a seat and buried his face in +his hands. "If there were but any other way than this! If only the man +had not gone there bragging about his thousands!" trying to persuade +himself that there had been bragging, and almost hating Meredith for the +wrong he was about to do him. "He would not do it! Let the worst come to +the worst--he would not!" springing to his feet again, and fiercely +shaking his fist as against some unseen tempter. + +The clock in a distant church tower chimed twelve. One vibrated on the +night air: it would soon be too late! Morning would dawn, and the +opportunity be gone! Shivering with the remembrance of what the morning +might bring--ruin, disgrace, his whole life blighted--he once more +decided there must be no drawing back. With set teeth and determined +eyes he went towards a chair upon which lay a folded garment. He shook +it out--a long, dark, military cloak--and proceeded, in awkward but +tolerably efficient fashion, to pin the cape so as to, as nearly as +possible, resemble a monk's hood. Changing his boots for slippers, he +enveloped himself in the cloak, drawing the hood well forward so as to +cover nearly the whole of his face; then softly opened the room door, +and stood listening with bated breath. + +No sound broke the stillness. He stole noiselessly forth, and entered a +small room, the door of which was ajar, as he himself had placed it a +couple of hours previously. This room opened into the larger one in +which was Allan Meredith. Laurence stole silently to the communicating +door, locked, and with the key outside. It had been well oiled; but this +notwithstanding, there was a slight sound, like thunder to his guilty +ears, as he turned the key in the lock. + +He waited breathlessly for a few moments again, then, hearing no sound +from within, softly pushed open the door and looked in. His eyes were, +at once, directed towards the bed. Yes, Meredith was, apparently, fast +asleep. To make quite sure, he stood silent and motionless, listening +intently. The quiet, even breathing of one in deep slumber reached him. +He moved softly towards the dressing-table, his eyes still turned upon +the bed; then stood motionless again, a tall black figure in the +semi-darkness. + +Why did he hesitate? What was it that suddenly impelled him to tell the +truth, and cast himself upon the mercy of the man lying there--his good +angel battling for him? The scales trembled in the balance for a moment, +and then it was as though he had chosen--"Evil, be thou my good"; and +the way was, at once, made easy for him. + +[Illustration: "HIS HAND CLOSED OVER IT."] + +His eyes lighted on a dark object, which he knew at once must be what he +was in search of, lying on the white toilet cover of the dressing-table. +His hand closed over it, his eyes turning once more towards the bed. Not +a movement, not a sound! + +Pocket-book in hand, he noiselessly crept out, locked the door on the +outside again, and sped back to his own room. + +Half the danger was over. He had now but to abstract the money he +wanted, and replace the book where he had found it. He put the book on +the table, and sat down. + +"What was that? A sigh--a whispered word? Or was it coward conscience?" +He sat back aghast for a moment; then, with a resolute face, bent +forward, laying his hand upon the book. Suddenly he paused, raising his +head again. A sound--a movement? Surely he heard something! He hurriedly +blew out the light, and sat with all his senses on the alert. Again! +Something or someone was in the room! + +Meredith! Had Meredith seen and followed him--had the time come to act +the part of jester? Unconsciously, he was gazing straight before him +into the dressing glass, faintly reflecting, in the pale, grey light of +the summer night, the objects around. Again a slight movement, hardly +displacement, of the air; but sufficient to intimate a presence there. + +Should he break into a laugh, and challenge Meredith--should he----Great +heavens! Mirrored in the glass, he saw a shadowy form moving silently +towards him--a form draped in cowl and gown. The monk! + +Laurence Verschoyle fell back in his chair, his eyes fastened upon the +figure faintly outlined in the dim light, the left hand raised, as if in +solemn warning, and the right stretched forth towards--the pocket-book! + +He saw it taken from the table, then everything faded from his vision, +and he lost consciousness. + +When, at length, he came to himself, it was a little confusedly; and it +was some time before he remembered where he was and what had happened. +The pocket-book! His eyes went hurriedly over the table. Gone! It had +been no dream, then--no trick of the senses. He flung out his arms upon +the table and buried his face upon them. Suddenly a faint hope sprang up +in his heart. It must have been Meredith! His own fears, and the dim, +uncertain light, had imparted the spectral, shadowy appearance, and +exaggerated the whole effect. Meredith must have imagined--as in case of +emergency he was to have been induced to imagine--that a jest was being +played off upon him, and had determined to return it in kind, managing +somehow to get himself up for the role. Had they not been talking +about the monk and his gesture of warning? Yes; Meredith, of +course!--beginning to recover his nerve. He had been caught, and +Meredith had not been caught; that was all, and he had only to treat the +whole thing as a jest. + +But all this notwithstanding, there was an under-current of something +very like fear in his mind which caused him to watch the slowly +broadening light of day with feverish impatience for the time when he +could enter Meredith's room. It would not do to go too early, lest his +very anxiety should arouse the other's suspicions. Everything now +depended upon his being able to treat the whole thing as a jest. He +threw off his disguise, washed and dressed, and then sat listening for +the usual sounds of Sally's movements about the house. + +When the clock struck six he could contain himself no longer, and made +his way to Meredith's room, going to the door which opened into the +corridor. Meredith, in response to his knock, unlocked the door and +admitted him. + +"Up already, Meredith?" + +"Yes, I am accustomed to rise early." + +As he advanced into the room, Laurence darted a quick look towards the +dressing-table. There lay the pocket-book! He had been right; it had +appeared as a jest to Meredith, and he had played one off in return. +"Had I only guessed and kept my wits about me, instead of making a fool +of myself, by going off in a fainting fit, the jest might have been +better kept up." + +"I see you can make, as well as take, a jest, old fellow," he began, +with an attempt at a laugh. + +"I was too sleepy and lazy to do more than take it, Verschoyle. I saw +what was done both times; but the restoration was managed best." + +"Restoration?" + +"The putting the book back." + +Laurence Verschoyle dropped into a chair, gazing at the other with +widely opened eyes. "Do you mean to say you did not? For Heaven's sake, +tell me the truth, Meredith! You followed me to my room and brought the +book back. I--I--saw you!" + +"That you did not, and could not have done, Verschoyle. I did not rise +from the bed after I lay down until six o'clock this morning, just +before you came in." + +"You must--either awake or asleep, you must have!" catching at a last +hope that the other might have walked in his sleep. + +"No; on my honour; I was tired, but I could not sleep. I saw the ghostly +appearance each time: and I was struck by the difference in the second. +It was a more ghostly affair altogether. I saw, in fact, only a hand and +part of an arm." + +Laurence went hurriedly to the door opposite that by which he had +entered, and turned the handle: locked on the outside, as he had left +it! + +"The first came that way," said Meredith, who had followed him with his +eyes; "but not the other." + +"Meredith, it was I who came, and I came but once!" ejaculated Laurence, +shudderingly. + +He covered his face with his hands a few moments; then, in sudden +desperation, confessed the whole truth. "I meant to rob you! I dressed +up as the monk for the purpose. I took the book, intending to abstract +five hundred pounds; and, if you woke and challenged me, was going to +say that it was done to try your pluck. I had taken it to my room. It +lay on the table before me, and I was about to open it, when a feeling I +can't describe came over me. I knew I was not alone. I was sitting +before the dressing-table, and, glancing into the glass, saw the +reflection of a figure standing behind me--the figure of a monk! A +deathlike hand was put forth. I saw the fingers close over the book, and +then I suppose I lost consciousness, for I can remember no more." + +"The monk!" Meredith gazed at the other, and became gravely silent +again. + +[Illustration: "THE MONK!"] + +"I was in terrible straits," hurriedly went on Laurence. "I meant last +night to appeal to you for a loan; but I fancied you seemed rather hard +and stand-offish, and what I had to tell was not easy to tell. There was +a prison before me, Meredith, unless I could get money, which there +seemed no chance of my being able to get, and the knowledge that you had +all those notes about you tempted me. I meant to take the five hundred, +put the rest back, and trust to the chance of your not suspecting how it +had gone. Of course, I cheated myself with the belief that if I could +set myself straight this time, I would put my shoulder to the wheel and +repay you somehow. I think I see myself as I am--now, and I know I shall +not again try to retrieve my fortunes that way. You can't despise me +more than I despise myself!" + +"I am very sorry," said Meredith. "I did not imagine you were in such +immediate necessity. I only wish you had told me last night, when all +this might have been prevented"--still speaking a little abstractedly. +Was it to be regretted, after all, that Verschoyle had been brought face +to face with himself in this way, since it had brought about such a +revulsion in his mind? He presently decided what course he would take, +and went on:-- + +"Look here, Verschoyle. I intended last night to ask you to let me help +you in some way, and only delayed until this morning because I wanted to +reflect a little as to the best means of doing so. We will go into that +later on. I will only say now that you need be under no anxiety as to +the money. I have a good income--more, a great deal, than I desire to +spend--and there is a large surplus lying idle at my banker's just now. +Use it to set yourself straight with the world, old fellow"; then, as +the other made a gesture of dissent: "Let me have my say. You shall +repay me when you have made your way--as a man of your ability is sure +to do. Nonsense, you have your mother and sister to consider, you know." + +"My poor mother and Madge. Meredith, you could never imagine what my +sister has been to us." + +"Couldn't I?" thought Meredith. + +"She has kept us going the last six months; and though the pressure was +growing heavier and heavier, she never----What a selfish brute I have +been!" + +"Come, it's something to recognise that!" thought Meredith. "There's +some hope for you, after all"; adding to the other: "We will get these +bills settled at once, and then we can see what you are most inclined to +turn to." + +The two young men went down together, and found breakfast awaiting +them--a more varied and bountiful repast than had been set before them +the previous evening, Sally having run down to an adjacent farmhouse for +supplies. The two breakfasted together alone. Mrs. Verschoyle kept her +room till later in the day, and her daughter, who was superintending in +the kitchen, had only time to look in with a morning greeting. + +After breakfast the two young men held consultation together, then set +off for the town, called at the lawyer's office there, and sent off +sundry telegrams. When they returned to the Priory later in the day, it +was explained that Meredith had been helping Laurence with his advice on +business matters. + +"He is the best old fellow in the world, Madge--acting with the noblest +generosity! I think all our troubles will soon be over now," said +Laurence to his sister when they were alone. + +"Generosity! Oh, Laurence, you won't take his money?" she ejaculated, a +ring of sharp pain in her voice. "Not his money!" + +"I won't take advantage of him, Madge. I swear it. Something has +happened. I am a different man, and my whole life will be changed." + +His tone and manner gave her more hope than even his words. + +"I am going to set to work in earnest; and he will be repaid for all he +means to do." + +"Are you sure?" she murmured; adding a little doubtfully, with the +remembrance of past experience: "But how?" + +"That you will see later on." + +She was to see, in another way than that he supposed. Meredith lost no +time in striving to gain the prize he had set his heart upon, returning +again and again to the Priory until he had won his wife. + +It was the last evening of their stay at the old place. On the morrow +Margaret Verschoyle was to be his wife, and they were to go direct to +his beautiful Devonshire home for the purpose of comfortably installing +her mother there, before setting forth on the tour. Mrs. Verschoyle's +health had wonderfully improved with the knowledge of her children's +bright prospects; and wonders were expected from the soft Devonshire +air. + +They had been reading a letter from Laurence, full of hope and +enthusiasm for the new life he had begun in Canada, where he had chosen +to make his start, Meredith having rendered the way easy for him. + +As they lingered on the terrace, the happy girl ventured to whisper out +the confession that had to be made before she became his wife. She must +have no secrets from him now. + +"Allan, you know now--Laurence has told you what he meant to do. But +there is something else you ought to know. How shall I tell you? He +thought he saw a ghost that night; but, oh, Allan, it was I!" + +"I don't think he would have done it after all, darling. I believe he +would have made a clean breast of it in the morning, in any case." + +"But are you not surprised to hear it was I who played the ghost the +second time?" + +He replied only by a caress. + +"I did it in the desperation of the moment, and fear gave me courage." + +"The first time I have heard of fear giving courage," taking the sweet +face between his hands and looking into her eyes. + +"Oh, well! I meant fear for him. I thought--I feared that Laurence was +going into your room--I watched him go; and then, putting on a long +waterproof cloak, and drawing the hood over my head to look like the +monk, I followed him. It was I who put the pocket-book back." + +"How did you manage it?" with a smile. + +[Illustration: "HOW DID YOU MANAGE IT?"] + +"You see, you had left your window a little open. I climbed the thick +ivy that runs up the wall--I had often done it when a child--slipped my +hand between the bars of the window, and put the book upon the table." + +"But you forgot to raise your hand in warning; and ghosts are not +generally in such a hurry, I think, to say nothing of the size of the +hand." + +"It was a scramble; did you hear me fall?" + +"I heard a little 'Oh!'" + +"Then you _did_ know?" + +"I knew Verschoyle had a very good sister." + +"Allan, I do not think he suspects. Ought I not to tell him the truth?" + +"Not yet. Since the impression has worked such good effects, as well let +him remain under it for a while. Time enough to knock down the +scaffolding when the building is completed--eh, darling?" + + + + +_Illustrated Interviews._ + +XXII.--SIR ROBERT RAWLINSON, K.C.B. + + +The Boltons, South Kensington, does not cover a very wide area--it is a +circle of houses with a church in the centre, surrounded by trees, +amongst the boughs of which the birds seem to sing and make merry from +New Year's Day to the ringing out of the old year. This is the third +time our note-book and pencil have been busily employed in this very +pleasant corner of Kensington. At No. 16, Madame Albani has chatted over +five o'clock tea and deliciously thin bread and butter; at No. 27, Mr. +F. C. Burnand once frankly declared that to become a successful humorist +one must needs possess a serious turn of mind, and refuse to yield to +it! + +I remember this as I cross to the opposite side of The Boltons to No. +11, where the great civil engineer and eminent sanitarian lives--the man +who saved many a life in the Crimea, and has numerous works due to his +engineering skill, not only in this country, but in distant lands. There +is little about his house suggestive of the craft of which he is a past +master. He pleads a most artistic hobby: that of pictures; and after +spending a day with him and Lady Rawlinson--they have been happily +married for sixty-three years--I made a hurried survey of the artistic +treasures on the walls once more, and tried to single out a picture +which had not some history attached to it. It was impossible. And the +day's pleasure ended in not only listening to the story of a not +uneventful life, but the bringing away of a collection of pictorial +anecdotes of remarkable and often historical interest. + +[Illustration: THE STUDY. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +In appearance, Sir Robert, though on the very day I sit down to write he +enters upon his eighty-third birthday, still retains that striking +physique which singled him out as a probable "long liver" in the +"fifties." He is tall, and his hair and beard are quite white--his +spirits quick, undampable, and merry. That he is an enthusiast on many +things is evident from the rapid way in which he discusses his pet +subjects. Take Landseer, for instance. The great animal painter never +produced a canvas of which Sir Robert could not tell you its story. On +matters of hygiene--particularly of that relating to armies in the +field--he is an indisputable authority, whilst he has always had the +domiciliary condition of the people near at heart--the proper house +accommodation of the people is a subject he is always ready to discuss. +On all these matters, and many more, the great engineer speaks frankly, +kindly, and well. + +The holly-bushes look delightfully green from the study windows. Here is +a fine bust of Her Majesty, by Noble, and a statuette of Miss Florence +Nightingale, with whom Sir Robert frequently came in contact during the +Crimean War. There are several family portraits; and a couple of +strikingly clever sketches of Paganini, by Landseer, draw from their +present possessor the remark that he never heard the famous violinist, +because the prices charged for admission were beyond his means, but he +caught sight of him by waiting at the door of the theatre until he came +out. Marshall, the painter, is represented by an old lady picking a +goose. + +[Illustration: PAGANINI. + +_By Sir Edwin Landseer._] + +[Illustration: PAGANINI. + +_By Sir Edwin Landseer._] + +"I like that picture," said Sir Robert, "because the face is the nearest +resemblance to my old mother I ever saw. There's a couple of curious sea +pieces," pointing to a pair of pictures done on two pieces of rough deal +board--"Storm" and "Calm." "They were painted by Richard Dadd, the mad +artist. He had an illusion that his father was the devil. He was +pronounced mad, and was confined in Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum. But come +upstairs." + +On the upper landing hang several remarkable examples of Dadd's work. +One is a canvas executed before he went out of his mind; two depict his +efforts afterwards. One of the latter is an Eastern market place, the +other "The Crooked Path"--an incident from the "Pilgrim's +Progress"--done on a sheet of brown paper, and dated Broadmoor, +September, 1866. Every face painted bears the sign of insanity! The +staircase, which is flooded with light from the beautiful stained-glass +window, has many fine canvases, notably Landseer's original study for +the companion to "Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time," a genuine Holbein of +Harry the Eighth, a Linnell, small but precious, for it cost three +hundred guineas, and the sketch for Sir Joshua Reynolds's "Holy Family." + +In a small ante-room near here hangs a portrait of Miss Florence +Nightingale as she appeared when engaged in her noble duties in the +Crimean War. We pause for a moment before a moonlight scene--a picture +of the graveyard in the Crimea, and Sir Robert crosses to a table and +takes from it a forty-two pound shot, which he places in my hand--a shot +of steel, forged and not cast. + +"I keep that picture to remind me how very near I was being put to rest +there myself," he said, thoughtfully; then, pointing to the cannon ball, +he added, "Yes, and that very nearly did it. The story goes a long way +to prove that nothing is ever lost by being polite." + +Sir Robert Rawlinson is probably the only man living who has been +knocked off his horse by a cannon ball. It was Sunday morning, the 18th +of June, 1854, in the Crimea, that Sir Robert--then Mr. Rawlinson--was +riding out with some young artillery officers down a ravine called "The +Valley of the Shadow of Death." A great crowd of our soldiers were +assembled on Cathcart's Hill, and the Russians began firing. Mr. +Rawlinson called out to a captain:-- + +"I'm not going any farther; good morning," and raised his hat to salute +him. As he did so the shot came whizzing along in front of him, cutting +the reins, the pommel of the saddle, and driving a steel purse against +the crest of the hip-bone, making a large flesh wound, and seriously +bruising the bone. The rider thought he was cut in two. + +[Illustration: THE CROOKED PATH. + +_From a Painting by Richard Dadd._] + +"Now, had I not raised my hat," said Sir Robert, merrily, "my right arm +must have been taken off, as the shot perforated my coat beneath the +arm. It has left a deep hole in my hip as a gentle little reminder!" + +How pleasant were the picture stories told of the etchings and +engravings in the bedroom! Over the door are the dogs of Sir Walter +Scott, by a pupil of Tom Landseer--valuable, for it is the only proof +taken from the plate in that state. And the Landseers! Over the +mantel-board are "Night" and "Morning," and near by an etching--and Sir +Robert said he considered it better than the engraving--of "The Monarch +of the Glen," a picture which Landseer originally painted for the +Refreshment Room of the House of Lords for 300 guineas, but which, much +to the artist's chagrin, was rejected by a Fine Arts Committee, of which +the Prince Consort was chairman. Here is "The Midsummer Night's Dream." + +"I was talking to Landseer one day," said Sir Robert, "and I asked him +why he had painted the dwarf yellow. + +"'Oh!' he replied, 'that's mustard-seed, _and he must be strong_!' + +"You notice the white hare in the picture," continued Sir Robert. +"Landseer never made mistakes, but if anybody imagined he did, he was +very smart in replying to the charge. A lady pointed out to him that she +thought the rabbit was wrong--she had never seen a rabbit's legs placed +like that. Landseer was equal to the occasion, for he replied:-- + +"'That is not a rabbit, madam; _it's a white hare_!'" + +In a corner is the engraving of the portrait of Landseer himself, with a +couple of dogs peeping over his shoulder. It was painted when the artist +was sixty-three years of age with the aid of a looking-glass--and the +retriever and collie came and looked over their master's shoulder to see +what he was doing. What better title could have been found for it than +"The Connoisseurs"? Landseer gave this picture to the Prince of Wales. +We talked for a long time about Landseer. In Sir Robert's earlier days +he was associated with Robert Stephenson, and we remembered a little +story of a picture specially painted for Stephenson by Landseer. + +"Stephenson was a man of a very kindly disposition and exceptionally +simple tastes," said Sir Robert, "and some railway people wished to +present him with a piece of plate of the value of 500 guineas. He had +already received some L2,000 worth of plate, and assured his would-be +kindly donors that he would rather have a picture by Landseer. This +remark delighted the artist very much, and he said: 'This is the first +time I ever heard of a fellow who preferred a picture to silver plate. +Well, he shall have a good one.' The result was 'The Twins.'" + +[Illustration: THE LANDING. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +I could not help asking Sir Robert to allow me to tell him the sequel to +this incident--a little anecdote related to me by the late Mr. Henry +Graves, the famous print-seller, of Pall Mall, who probably knew +Landseer better than any other man. The picture shows a sheep with twins +by its side, and was the only painting the artist ever finished +straightaway, instead of working on a number at the same time, as was +his wont. + +The picture was in the possession of Mr. Graves. He received a +communication from America, saying that Landseer's work had never been +seen in America; could it be lent for exhibition for a month in New +York, in consideration of which they would take 500 guineas' worth of +proofs, and insure it for L1,000? Here is the story in Mr. Graves's own +words:-- + +"My American correspondent came over to look to the safety of the +picture. We were dining together with some friends one night, and about +eight o'clock he said:-- + +"'I must be off to Liverpool--the boat goes at twelve o'clock +to-morrow.' + +[Illustration: MISS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. + +_From a Photograph._] + +"I pressed him to stay, remarking he could go by the early train in the +morning and be in good time. He remained, and left on the morrow; the +train was delayed, and he lost the boat. That vessel went down. But what +about the picture? We wrote over to New York so as to get the necessary +documents to claim the insurance, but they replied, 'What do you mean? +The picture is being exhibited!' I had sent 'The Twins' in good time to +Liverpool, and the authorities there noticing the case labelled +'Valuable picture by Landseer--great care,' and having a boat then +going, were just in time to get it on board. Indeed, I believe it was +the last thing received on board by the captain. So the picture went +before, and the agent fortunately went after, the boat that was never +heard of. It now hangs in the house of Mr. Stephenson's nephew." + +[Illustration: GRAVEYARD IN THE CRIMEA.] + +The drawing-room walls are covered with works of art--Sidney Cooper, +George Frip, Mueller, J. B. Pyne (who was Mueller's master), Absalon (who +designed the grand curtain for Her Majesty's Theatre), and Brittan +Willis are all well represented. Absalon gives "Crecy" and "Agincourt" +as they are to-day. In the latter picture the mill is shown where it is +said the King stood while the Black Prince won the battle. A striking +portrait of Lady Blessington is by Shalon, and there are no fewer than +three valuable portraits of the Queen, one of which is the chalk drawing +by Winterhalter, and the other is the original picture of Her Majesty +painted by Parris from the orchestra of Drury Lane Theatre, a +reproduction of which was published in the third number of this +Magazine, together with the story associated with it, told me by the +late Mr. Henry Graves, who sat by the side of Parris when he made the +sketch. Lewis is responsible for "Interior of a Harem." + +"Very expensive man to buy," Sir Robert said. "A few of his pictures +were to be sold, and I attended the sale. One was a little larger than +this, on a similar subject, and I thought I would buy it as a companion +work. But it went for eleven hundred guineas!" Over a fine cabinet are a +pair of dogs in pencil, by Landseer. "Racket" was drawn when he was ten +years of age and "Pincher" a year later. The Satsuma ware and Sevres +china scattered about the apartment are exceptionally choice, and the +curious cloth which covers the table in the centre of the room--a table, +by-the-bye, which belonged to our Ambassador to France during the great +Revolution of 1793--came from the Sultan's palace at Constantinople, and +is worked with His Majesty's name in silk in the centre. + +But what is unquestionably the most interesting among the contents of +the drawing-room is the cabinet of Japanese ivories. It contains +probably the finest collection of such Japanese handicraft in miniature +in the kingdom. There is everything in ivory, from a beggar with his +rosary to a beauty with painted cheeks and almond-shaped eyes. You may +handle the quaintest of ideas carried out in ivory; a skeleton carrying +a baboon--calculated to beat Holbein's "Dance of Death" all to pieces; +skulls with cobras intertwined--indeed, the serpent is everywhere; and +all with some mystic meaning. + +[Illustration: THE DRAWING-ROOM. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +[Illustration: THE DRAWING-ROOM. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +"The date of the workmanship of these," said Sir Robert, "must go back +for centuries." + +"I should think to the very beginning!" Lady Rawlinson remarked. And +amongst these curios are rare jade bowls of white and green, and shining +in the midst of all--as big and almost as brilliant as the noonday +sun--is the largest ball of pure rock crystal in Europe. An +exquisitely-carved rhinoceros horn in the shape of a goblet might +possibly come in useful, for the legend associated with it runs that +should poison be put in it, and some unkind friend request you to drink, +the deadly liquor would disappear of its own accord. + +We looked in at the small library, and then went into the dining-room. +As in the drawing-room, the walls are hidden from view by artistic +works--Landseer, Frith, Phil Morris, Mueller, Ansdell, Ansdell and +Phillip, Hefner, Weiser, Creswick, Sant, John Wilson, Junr., Solomon, +and Henry O'Neil--the latter artist's "Return of the Wanderer" being in +a conspicuous position. As Sir Robert points them out, he seems to see +an unwritten story on every canvas. He singles out the Mueller as his +greatest treasure, for it was the last and possibly the best work the +artist ever chronicled with his brush, and he died eight days after its +completion. + +Pointing to the first study of Frith's "Dolly Varden," Sir Robert said: +"Frith painted three 'Dolly Vardens.' One of these was a commission from +Dickens in 1844, for which he received L20. When Frith asked Dickens if +he wanted the sketch, his reply was, 'No, of course I don't.' That is +the sketch which Dickens refused, for which I paid the small sum of +fifteen guineas. At his sale the picture, for which he gave L20, +realized one thousand guineas. + +[Illustration: "RACKET." + +_From the Drawing by Sir Edwin Landseer._] + +[Illustration: "PINCHER." + +_From the Drawing by Sir Edwin Landseer._] + +"Those donkeys on a common are by Ansdell, R.A. I gave him an order to +paint me some donkeys, and he painted them in an old churchyard with +tombstones. I complained to him in a joking sort of way. + +"'Oh!' he replied, 'I thought a churchyard was just the place for a +sanitary commissioner!' + +"There is another canvas by Ansdell and Phillip, R.A.--a Spanish scene. +Ansdell painted the mule and surrounding landscape, whilst Phillip put +in the two figures. The young girl on the mule is Ansdell's daughter. +That is Sant's own little girl in the picture called 'The Fairy Tale,' +and 'The Gossips' is by Solomon, to which a story was written by Miss +Power, the niece of Lady Blessington. Whilst Solomon was painting 'The +Gossips' for me, he was engaged on a portrait of Jenny Lind, who, by the +way, used to live here in The Boltons. Solomon told me of some of the +great singer's odd expressions which she made use of whilst her portrait +was in progress of being painted. + +[Illustration: THE LIBRARY. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +"'No, no,' she would cry, 'it's not like me! You haven't made my nose +big enough. Don't you see my nose is all over my face? Oh! and look at +my hair. It isn't green enough!' + +"'Not green enough?' Solomon exclaimed. + +"'No; don't you see that my hair is the colour of what you call hay +before it is made?'" + +So, brimful of these stories, we sat down together by the fire. I heard +of a most useful life--a successful career, conceived and carried out by +the man who related it. Whatever success has fallen to Sir Robert +Rawlinson's lot has been honestly laboured for. Sir Robert to-day is a +real example, a personified definition of--Industry. He refers to it all +very quietly--there is not a tittle of over-estimated powers about his +speech. He started life with a purpose--he has lived it with a will. +Born at Bristol on the 28th February, 1810--his father, Thomas +Rawlinson, of Chorley, Lancashire, was a mason and builder, his mother a +Devonshire woman. Sir Robert barely went to school--he frankly declares +that his education only cost three-halfpence a week. He worked at his +father's business at Chorley, and before he was twenty-one he was a +stone-mason, bricklayer, millwright, carpenter, sawyer, and even a +navvy, and all with a view of grounding himself in everything of a +practical nature which would tend to make him an engineer--a profession +on which his heart was set. + +"When I was one-and-twenty," he said, as he contemplatively turned over +the past pages of his life in his mind, "I was residing at Liverpool and +entered the Dock office under Jesse Hartley, the greatest dock engineer +the world has seen. I remained there for five years, for the last three +of which I was Hartley's confidential draughtsman and adviser. Then I +went on to the London and Birmingham Railway, the Blisworth contract, +under Robert Stephenson. Stephenson was remarkably considerate and +indeed a gentleman, and treated me with almost brotherly kindness. I was +in charge of the masonry. The railway was in a cutting about two miles +long and sixty feet deep through rock, with an intervening bed of clay, +which had to be cut out and then filled in with masonry. I was then +twenty-six." + +Mr. Rawlinson completed the work successfully. At the age of thirty, he +once more went to Liverpool, filling the post of Assistant Surveyor to +the Corporation. He remained there for two and a half years, when, on +the recommendation of his first employer--Jesse Hartley--he was +appointed engineer to the celebrated Bridgwater Canal. Then I listened +to the story of how he came to design and complete the wonderful hollow +brick ceiling over St. George's Hall, Liverpool; the lightest work of +its kind, probably, in the world. + +"Whilst I was in Liverpool," Sir Robert said, "I met young Harvey +Lonsdale Elmes, the architect of St. George's Hall. He was about +twenty-four years of age, yet he captured 1,500 guineas, being the three +premiums offered for designs for St. George's Hall, the New Law Courts, +and the New Collegiate Institute. We often met and talked together. I +assisted him in getting out the plan for the foundation, and I laid the +first brick of St. George's Hall. Elmes was consumptive. He went for a +time to the Isle of Wight. He became worse, and the doctors ordered him +to winter in Kingston, Jamaica. One day, before leaving England, he sent +for me. + +"'Rawlinson,' he said, 'if anything would give me a chance of coming +back with my life, it would be to see my building in your hands!' + +"What could I say? I undertook the task until I handed it over to the +great London architect, Mr. Cockerel, who completed it." + +Now came an important epoch in Mr. Rawlinson's career. In 1848 the +Public Health Act was passed and he was appointed the first engineer +superintendent inspector. He made the first inquiry and wrote the first +report on Dover--he subsequently inspected and reported on the state and +condition of towns and villages from Berwick-on-Tweed to Land's End, +from Liverpool to Hull. + +[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +"The Commission of Inquiry lived until 1854," continued Sir Robert. "It +met with such violent opposition in Parliament that it had to be broken +up, though it was immediately revived by Lord Palmerston, under the +chairmanship of Sir Benjamin Hall. I was at this time engineer to the +Birmingham and Wolverhampton Waterworks." The lad who had been +stone-mason and bricklayer, sawyer and carpenter, was earning L5,000 a +year. It was at this point in our conversation that Sir Robert referred +to the Duke of Wellington. + +"I used to see him," he said, "walking down from Apsley House to the +Chapel Royal, St. James's, in white trousers and blue frock-coat with +brass buttons. Whenever he was in London on a Sunday he used to attend +the early morning eight o'clock service at St. James's, and when I had +any friends who wanted to see the great Duke, I used to take them to +church. Frequently he, with myself and friends sitting at a good point +of vantage, would be the only people there. But this by the way. Now +came the winter of '54 and '55--the time of Crimea. In the spring of +1855 I was sent out as Engineering Sanitary Commissioner to the East. +There is a portrait hanging there of Dr. Sutherland and myself taken in +our hut in the Crimea. + +"I was down in Lancashire one Saturday and came up to Euston in the +evening, arriving there at ten o'clock. My wife was there with the +brougham waiting for me--much to my surprise. She said, very quietly, +'I've got a note for you from Lord Shaftesbury; he's called several +times to-day.' I knew what it meant--the Government wanted me to go out +to the Crimea. The note read: 'Dear Rawlinson,--See me to-night if +possible; if not, at eight o'clock to-morrow morning.' We drove away to +Grosvenor Square at once, but Shaftesbury was dining with Palmerston. I +went again at eight o'clock in the morning. He was sitting in his +library. + +"'Well, Rawlinson,' he said, with a gloomy expression, 'we are losing +our poor army in the Crimea. I've induced Palmerston to agree to a +Sanitary Commission. Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Gavin will go, but I want an +engineer. Will you go?' + +"The whole thing now comes vividly before me. When I learned afterwards +that from December to March, out of an army of 32,000 men, 11,000 had +died through starvation and climate--in three months more at the same +rate there would have been no British Army! + +"'I'll go, my lord,' I said. + +"He embraced me like a woman. + +"'You shall take such powers as men never took before,' he said, and he +kept his word. The Commission sailed on the following Thursday, at the +end of February, landed at Constantinople on the 6th March, and the next +day we went over to the great hospitals on the Asiatic side, where the +men were dying at the rate of sixty and seventy a day. The wards were +full of sick and dying, there was no adequate ventilation, and the area +outside of the hospitals was covered with filth and the carcasses of +animals. The cleansing was heavy work. On the second day of our arrival +I had the upper portion of the windows broken to let ventilation into +the rooms. Armenians and Greek labourers cleared away the carcasses--for +the Turks would not touch them--and subsequently the hospitals were +white-washed. By mid-summer our hospitals were the cleanest in +Europe--so Florence Nightingale wrote home. The mortality decreased from +sixty and seventy per thousand to twelve and fourteen, and went on +improving. The French did nothing, although they had some palaces on the +European side for their sick. They neither drained, ventilated, nor +cleansed the surroundings--men, nurses, officers and doctors went down +with fever--they telegraphed home for nurses and doctors; the reply was, +'there were none to spare.' _Peace was absolutely necessary!_" + +[Illustration: SIR ROBERT RAWLINSON. + +_From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry._] + +Sir Robert referred to all this very quietly, but the value of this work +will never be estimated or known. Sir Colin Campbell--afterwards Lord +Clyde--who led the Highland brigade at the Battle of the Alma--called +him the "Inquisitor General," a compliment, indeed; and to-day the +veteran field-marshal, Lord William Paulet, never meets him without +gripping his hand and exclaiming: "I'm glad to see you, Rawlinson--had +it not been for you I shouldn't be here to-day." + +The wound from the cannon ball was the cause of Mr. Rawlinson's return +home from the Crimea, but he continued to act until the end of the war. +The late Emperor of Germany, Prince Bismarck, and Count Moltke have all +acknowledged his services in sanitary matters. In 1864 Lord Palmerston +made him a C.B., in 1885 Mr. Gladstone recommended him for Knighthood, +and in 1889 Lord Salisbury for a K.C.B. Sir Robert has served on three +Royal Commissions; water-works have been constructed under his +directions in Hong Kong--the name Hong Kong curiously enough means +'fragrant streams'--and Singapore; and Sir Robert conceived and +established a system of main sewerage which has had not a little to do +with the health of the people. + +Then as we sat together by the window opening on to the green lawn we +talked of many a famous man Sir Robert had known. He spoke of the blunt +ways of Garibaldi--rough, uncouth, though not lacking in the heartiness, +however, inseparable from a sailor. Then of Lord Shaftesbury, Carlyle, +and many more. + +"I remember a little incident that happened one day when I was staying +with Lord Shaftesbury," said Sir Robert. "We were walking together in +the grounds when a gardener approached him, and asked for a gun and +packet of cartridges to shoot the blackbirds and thrushes which were +ruining the fruit trees. + +"'No,' said Shaftesbury. 'You may get nets if you like and cover the +fruit, or hire a boy to keep the birds away, or sit up yourself; but if +you shoot a bird in my gardens you must go about your business.' + +"Next day I was standing with him on the steps. A gun went off. + +"'Shooting?' I said. + +"'Yes,' he replied; 'that's the keeper shooting your dinner.' + +"'Well,' I said, 'if I have to come again into this world I'd be a +blackbird or a thrush; I wouldn't be a pheasant or a partridge!' + +"I can only hope he forgave me. + +"Carlyle? Well, from about 1865, and on to near his death, at the +request of the Sage of Chelsea, I spent many pleasant evenings with him. +He usually sat on a low seat leaning against the side of the fire, +smoking a long clay pipe up the drawing-room chimney. I sat on a chair +on the opposite side of the fireplace. I do not remember that we ever +had any form of drinkable refreshments during the couple of hours I +might be with him in the evening. + +"One night I questioned him about the destruction of the manuscript of a +volume of his 'French Revolution.' I asked, 'Is it true that an entire +volume of the manuscript was lost or destroyed?' when he replied in a +tone of distress, 'Yes, yes; it is ower true. I lent it to a friend, and +never saw it again.' I said, 'I can hardly comprehend how you got over +it.' He replied, 'For two days and nights I could neither eat nor +sleep.' I then said, 'Well, but you did get over it, some way?' 'Well, +yes,' he replied. 'I just went into the country, and for several weeks +did nothing but read Marryat's novels.' Bursting into a loud laugh, the +thought of this time seemed now to amuse him. 'Well,' I said, 'and what +did you do then?' When he replied, with a deep sigh, 'I just came back +and wrote it all over again.' Then he further said, solemnly, 'I dinna +think it's the same; no, I dinna think it's the same!' + +[Illustration: DR. SUTHERLAND. MR. RAWLINSON. + +"IN THE CRIMEA." + +_From a Painting._] + +"On other evenings we had conversations on various matters, as for +instance, modern portrait statuary in London, which I said upon the +whole was not satisfactory, in which he agreed. I ended the discussion +by saying that if our portrait statuary became much worse, when some +monster murderer had been tried and found guilty, the judge, putting on +the black cap, should say, 'Prisoner at the bar, a jury of your +countrymen having found you guilty of a most atrocious crime, you must +be hanged until you are dead, and then a statue shall be erected to +perpetuate your memory, and God help your soul.' Carlyle assented, but +not in any hearty manner. No doubt I had ventured a little out of my +bearings. + +"On another occasion I brought on the subject of the attack of Mrs. +Beecher Stowe on the memory of Lord Byron. I said there might be +something in Byron's separation from his wife neither agreeable nor +pleasant, but that I could not believe there was much of truth in the +abominable scandals; and that, even if some of it was true, it did not +justify Mrs. Beecher Stowe either to make or meddle. I further said that +Byron, in his lone death, evinced more feeling for his wife than we have +any evidence she ever did for him. In his dying moments he wished +Fletcher, his servant, to convey a message to Lady Byron; with his last +breath Byron muttered, 'You will be sure and tell Lady Byron.' Fletcher +replied, 'I have not heard one word that you have said,' when Byron with +an exclamation, 'Ah, my God!' fell back dead." + +[Illustration: LADY RAWLINSON. + +_From a Photo. by _Fall_ Baker Street. W._] + +"You met Mrs. Carlyle, Sir Robert?" I asked, as we opened the veranda +door to examine the bushes in the garden and watch what progress spring +was making. + +"No, never!" + +"But do you know if it is true that Carlyle used to wear an expression +of 'Silence, woman,' whenever she was in the room?" + +"Well, you know," Sir Robert replied, "Carlyle lived in a house that +stood on Thames gravel. Perhaps that accounted for his dyspepsia and her +headaches. But I can tell you this: One day Mrs. Carlyle sent a message, +saying she wanted to see me particularly. But I was not to go until she +sent for me, and that would be when Thomas was away, for if he was at +home when I called, she wouldn't be able to get a word in edgeways!" + + HARRY HOW. + + + + +_Beauties:--Children._ + + +[Illustration: _From a Photo. by J. Weston & Son, Folkestone._ + +ELSIE KATE BIRCH] + +[Illustration: _From a Photo. by Dighton, Cardiff._ + +Winifred Gascoyne Dalziel] + +[Illustration: Phyllis Maude Wallis] + +[Illustration: _From a Photo by A. Weston, London, E.C._ + +Gladys Herbert.] + +[Illustration: Erna Collins.] + +[Illustration: Doris Collins + +_From Photos. by Macey, Hampstead._] + +[Illustration: _From a Photo. by T. Fall, Baker Street, W._ + +ELSIE DIEDRICHS] + +[Illustration: _From a Photo. by Lombardi & Co., London, S.W._ + +DOROTHY NORCUTT] + +[Illustration: _From a Photo. by Brandseph, Stuttgart._ + +Kathleen White.] + + + + +THE ADJUTANT'S LOVE-STORY + +FROM THE FRENCH OF LE COMTE ALFRED DE VIGNY. + +[Illustration] + + +I. + +I was brought up in the village of Montreuil, by the cure of the place. +The happiest period of my life was that time when I was a choir-boy, +with plump, rosy cheeks, a clear voice, and fair hair, wearing blouse +and sabots. As I had given evidence of possessing a musical ear, the +good father, who had himself been in former days a notable singer and +choir-master at Notre Dame, kindly taught me my notes. + +"Listen, Mathurin," he said to me one day: "you are only a peasant's +son, but you know well your catechism and sol-fa, and some day, perhaps, +if you are good and industrious, you may become a great musician." + +This speech filled me with pleasure and pride, and I twanged more +frequently and vigorously than ever upon my teacher's shrill and +discordant old harp. + +The favourite recreation of my leisure hours was to walk to the farther +end of the park of Montreuil, and to eat my dinner there with the +workmen who were building, in the avenue of Versailles, a little music +pavilion, by order of the Queen. It was a charming spot. + +I used to take with me upon these excursions a little girl of my own +age, named Pierrette, who, because she had such a pretty voice, was also +taught to sing by the cure. In her hand she would carry a large slice of +bread-and-butter, with which her mother, who was the cure's housekeeper, +had provided her. Together we watched with great interest the growth of +the pretty little house. + +Pierrette and I were at that time about thirteen years of age. She was +already so beautiful that strangers would pause by the way to pay her +compliments, and I have seen grand ladies descend from their carriages +in order to caress her. She loved me as a brother. + +From our infancy we had walked always hand-in-hand, and this grew into +such a settled habit that in all her life I cannot remember once giving +her my arm. Our visits to our favourite spot won for us the friendship +of a young stone-cutter, some eight or ten years older than ourselves. +He was a gentle-natured fellow, sometimes, but not often, mildly gay. +While he worked, we would sit beside him upon a stone or on the ground. +He had made a little song about the stones that he cut, in which he +said that they were harder than the heart of Pierrette, and he played in +a hundred ways upon the words Pierre, Pierrette, Pierrerie, and Pierrot, +to our endless amusement and delight. For our new friend was a poet. His +father had been an architect, but in some way (I know not how) had come +to ruin, and it fell to Michel to retrieve the family fortune. With his +rule and hammer he supported a mother and two little brothers. He worked +bravely at his stones, making couplets all the time; with each large +block he would begin a new poem. His full name was Michel Jean Sedaine. + + +II. + +My parents I had never known, for they had died in my infancy, both +about the same time, of the small-pox. But the cure had been a good +father to me. At the age of sixteen I was wild and foolish, but I knew a +little Latin and much about music, and was, moreover, a fairly skilful +gardener. My life was a very happy one, for it was passed at the side of +Pierrette. + +One day, as I was engaged in lopping off the branches of one of the +beeches in the park and tying them together into a small bundle, +Pierrette suddenly exclaimed:-- + +"Oh, Mathurin! I am so frightened! Look at those fine ladies coming +towards us through the alley? What can they be going to do?" + +Looking in the direction she indicated, I saw two young women, who were +walking at a rapid pace over the dead leaves. One, who was a trifle +taller than the other, wore a gown of rose-coloured silk. She ran rather +than walked, and her companion kept just a little behind. Like the poor +peasant lad I was, I was seized with a kind of instinctive panic, and +said to Pierrette:-- + +"Let us hide ourselves!" + +But for that there was now no time, and my terror was redoubled when I +saw the rose-coloured lady making signs to my blushing Pierrette, who +remained as if rooted to the spot, grasping my hand tightly. I pulled +off my cap, and stood leaning against the tree. + +This lady came straight up to Pierrette, and, touching her under the +chin, as if to show her to her friend, said:-- + +"Was I not right? Is this not the very thing for my milkmaid's costume +on Thursday? What a pretty little girl it is! My child, will you give +all your clothes, just as they are now, to the servants whom I will send +for them? I will send you mine in exchange." + +"Oh, madame!" was all that Pierrette could say. + +The other young lady now came forward, and, laying her hand upon +Pierrette's bare arm, encouraged her with gentle words, telling her +that, this lady was one whom everybody obeyed. Then Madame Rose-colour +spoke again:-- + +"Be sure that you alter nothing in your costume, little one," said she, +shaking at the girl her dainty Malacca cane. "See! Here is a handsome +fellow who will be a soldier, and to whom I will marry you." + +So beautiful was she that I almost went on my knees to her. She had the +appearance of a little, good fairy. + +She talked fast and gaily. Bestowing a playful pat upon Pierrette's +cheek, she turned and tripped away, followed by her companion. +Hand-in-hand, according to our custom, we returned home, in silence, but +with happy hearts. + +I went straight to the cure, and said to him: "_Monsieur le cure_, I +wish to be a soldier." + +The good man was astounded. + +"How is it, my dear child," said he, "that you desire to leave me? Do +you no longer love me? Do you no longer love Pierrette? What have we +done to you that you have grown tired of us? And is all the education I +have given you to be thrown away? Answer, you naughty boy!" he +commanded, with a shake of my arm. + +With my eyes fixed upon my shoes, I repeated:-- + +"I wish to be a soldier." + +Pierrette's mother, who had brought in a glassful of water to cool the +cure's agitation, began to cry. Pierrette wept also, but _she_ was not +angry with me, for she knew well it was in order to marry her that I +wished to go away. + +At this moment appeared two tall, powdered lackeys and a lady's-maid, +who inquired whether the little girl had got ready the costume asked for +by the Queen and the Princess de Lamballe. + +When these visitors had gone, and the commotion they caused had +subsided, I was left alone with the cure, Pierrette and her mother +having withdrawn in great excitement to "try on" the contents of the box +which the Queen had sent in exchange for the little girl's frock and +cap. + +My guardian then requested me to relate to him the occurrences of the +morning, which I did, somewhat more briefly than I have told them here. + +[Illustration: "THE OTHER LADY NOW CAME FORWARD."] + +"And it is for this you would leave us, my son?" said my old friend, +when I had ended my recital, holding my hands in his. For a long time he +pleaded earnestly with me, setting forth the numerous hardships, perils, +and temptations of a soldier's life, which, said he, would unfit me for +becoming the husband of such a good, pure little being as Pierrette. + +To all which I replied, doggedly:-- + +"I wish to be a soldier." + +I had my way. + + +III. + +I enlisted into the noble corps of the Royal Auvergne. My training +began, and I was promised that, if I behaved well, I should be admitted +by-and-by into the first company of Grenadiers. I soon had a powdered +_queue_ falling in an imposing fashion over my white vest, but I no +longer had Pierrette, or her mother, or the cure of Montreuil, and I +made no more music. + +One fine day, when I, confined to the barracks, was undergoing some +absurd little punishment for having made three errors in the management +of my arms, I received a visit from Michel. + +"Ah, Mathurin!" he said to me, "you are well punished for having left +Montreuil. You enjoy no longer the counsel and instruction of the good +cure, and you are fast forgetting the music which you used to love so +well." + +"No matter," said I; "I have my wish." + +"You no longer tend the fruit trees and gather the peaches of Montreuil +with your Pierrette, who is as fresh and sweet as they." + +"No matter," said I; "I have my wish." + +"You will have to work hard for a very long time before you can become +even a corporal." + +"No matter," said I, again; "when I am a sergeant, I will marry +Pierrette." + +"Ah, Mathurin!" continued my friend; "believe me, you are unwise. You +have too much ambition and pride. Would you not like someone to buy you +out, so that you might return to marry Pierrette?" + +[Illustration: "BELIEVE ME, YOU ARE UNWISE."] + +"Michel! Michel!" I cried; "have you not often told me yourself, 'Each +one must make his own lot'? I do not choose to marry Pierrette with the +money of others, and I am making my own lot, as you see. Besides, it was +the Queen who put this idea into my head, and the Queen _must_ know +best. She said: 'He will be a soldier, and I will marry you to him.' She +did not say, 'He will return after having been a soldier.'" + +"But suppose," said Michel, "the Queen were to provide you with the +means of marrying, would you not accept her bounty?" + +"No, Michel! Even if such an unlikely thing were to happen, I would not +take her money." + +"And if Pierrette herself earned her _dot_?" + +"Then, Michel, I would marry her at once." + +"Well!" returned he, "I will tell that to the Queen." + +"Are you crazy?" I said to him, "or are you now a servant in her house?" + +"Neither the one nor the other, Mathurin, although I no longer cut +stone." + +"What do you cut, then?" asked I. + +"I cut pieces, out of paper and ink." + +"Is it possible?" + +"Yes, my boy; I write simple little plays, easy to be understood. Some +day, perhaps, you shall see one." + + +IV. + +Meanwhile, my faithful Pierrette did not forget me. And one day a +wonderful thing happened to her. She told me all about it afterwards. + +It was Easter Monday. Pierrette was sitting before the cure's door, +working and singing, when she saw a gorgeous carriage, drawn by six +horses, coming through the avenue. It rolled right up to the cure's +house, and then stopped. Pierrette now saw that the carriage was empty. +As she was gazing with all her eyes, the equerry, taking off his hat +with great politeness, begged her to enter the vehicle. + +Pierrette had too much good sense to make any needless fuss. She simply +slipped off her sabots, put on her shoes with the silver buckles, folded +her work, and, assisted by the footman's arm, stepped into the carriage +as if to the manner born. + +Soon she found herself at Trianon, where she was conducted through +gilded apartments into the Queen's presence. With the Queen was Madame +de Lamballe, seated in an embrasure of a window, before an easel. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the Queen, gaily, "here she is!" And she ran up to +Pierrette, and took both her hands in her own. "How pretty she is!" she +went on; "what a dear little model she will be for you! Sit there, my +child." + +With these words, Marie Antoinette gently pushed the bewildered +Pierrette into a very high chair, where she sat with her pretty feet +dangling. + +[Illustration: "SHE SAW A GORGEOUS CARRIAGE."] + +"Now listen to me, little one," continued the Queen. "Two gentlemen will +shortly be coming here. Whether you do or do not recognise one of them +is no matter, but whatever they tell you, that you must do. You will +have to sing; I know that you _can_ sing. Whenever they tell you to +enter or to depart, to go or to come, you will obey them exactly. Do you +understand me? All this will be for your good. This lady and I will help +the gentlemen to teach you, and all that we ask in return for our pains +is that, for one hour every day, you will sit for madame. You will not +consider that any great hardship?" + +Pierrette was so much more than satisfied with the bargain that she +could have embraced the Queen in the exuberance of her gratitude. + +As she was posing for Madame de Lamballe two men entered the room. One +was stout, the other tall. At sight of the tall one she exclaimed: "Why! +it is----" then stopped herself. + +"Well, gentlemen," said Marie Antoinette, "what do you think of her? Was +I not right?" + +"It is _Rose_ herself!" replied Sedaine. + +"A single note, madame," said the other, M. Grevey, "and I shall know if +she be as perfectly Monsigny's _Rose_ as she is Sedaine's." + +Then, turning to Pierrette, he said to her:-- + +"Sing the scale after me thus: _Ut_, _Re_, _Mi_, _Fa_, _Sol_." + +The girl repeated his notes. + +"She has a divine voice, madame!" was his verdict. + +The Queen clapped her hands and jumped for joy, as she exclaimed:-- + +"She will gain her _dot_!" + + +V. + +Of all these gay proceedings I, of course, was ignorant. Ever since +Michel's visit I had felt very wretched. I had no further tidings of my +friends at Montreuil, and began to think that Pierrette must have quite +forgotten me. The regiment remained at Orleans three months, and I had a +bad fit of home-sickness which affected my physical health. + +One day, in the street, an officer of our company called me to him, and +pointing to a huge play-bill, said:-- + +"Read that, Mathurin." + +This is what I read:-- + +"By order. + +"On Monday next will be given a special performance of 'Irene,' the new +work of M. de Voltaire, to be followed by 'Rose and Colas,' an operetta +by M. Sedaine and M. de Monsigny, for the benefit of Mademoiselle +Colombe, of the Comedie Italienne, who will appear in the second piece. +Her Majesty the Queen has graciously promised to be present." + +"What has that to do with me, my Captain?" inquired I. + +"You are a good-looking fellow," said the officer. "I will get you +powdered and frizzed out a bit, and station you at the door of the Royal +box." + +Thus it came to pass that the night of the performance found me in the +theatre, resplendent in full uniform, standing upon a blue carpet, and +surrounded on all sides by flowers and festoons. + +While awaiting the Queen's arrival, I overheard a conversation between +M. de Grevey and the manager of the theatre. The latter seemed anxious +concerning the qualifications of Mademoiselle Colombe, who, apparently, +was quite unknown to him, while the other reassured him upon that point, +and conveyed to him Her Majesty's guarantee that a sum equal to the half +of the night's receipts should be paid to him for the use of his +theatre. Evidently, the whole affair had been got up by the Queen. + +[Illustration: "I OVERHEARD A CONVERSATION."] + +Their dialogue was interrupted by a sudden bustle and commotion, and the +Queen entered so quickly that I had barely time to present arms. With +her was the other young lady whom I had seen at Montreuil. + +The performance commenced at once. All the time that 'Irene' was going +on, the Queen laughed and chattered, but as soon as the operetta began, +she was all attention, her example, of course, being followed by +everyone in her box. + +Suddenly I heard a woman's voice which thrilled me to the heart, and set +me trembling so that I could scarcely hold my gun. Surely there was but +one voice like that in all the world! + +Through the gauze curtain drawn across the tiny window of the box, I got +a glimpse of the performers. It was a little lady who was singing:-- + + Once a birdie, + Grey as a mouse, + Built for his children + A tiny house. + +Why! this charming _Rose_ was just like Pierrette! She had her figure, +her red and blue frock, her white petticoat, her pretty simple manner, +her small shoes with the silver buckles, her red and blue stockings! + +"Dear me!" said I to myself, "these actresses must be clever indeed to +be able to make themselves look so much like other folks! Here is this +famous Mademoiselle Colombe, who, no doubt, lives in a fine house, has +several men-servants, and goes about in Paris dressed like a duchess, +and she is exactly like Pierrette! But my poor little girl could not +sing so well, although her voice may be quite as pretty." + +I was so fascinated that I could not turn my head away from the glass, +and presently the door of the box struck me in the face. Someone had +opened it, because Her Majesty complained of the heat. I heard her +say:-- + +"I am perfectly satisfied. My first gentleman-in-waiting may tell +Mademoiselle Colombe that she will not repent having left to me the +management of this affair. Ah! it amuses me so much!" + +"There is no doubt, madame," said the Princess de Lamballe, "that your +good deed is a complete success. Everyone is here. See, all the good +townsfolk of Orleans are enchanted with this splendid singer, and the +whole court is ready to applaud her." + +She gave the signal for applause, and the audience, who, according to +custom, had hitherto remained silent out of respect for the Queen, gave +full vent to their enthusiasm. From that moment, scarcely a word of +_Rose's_ was allowed to pass without tremendous clapping. The Queen was +delighted. + +At the end of the piece the ladies threw their bouquets to _Rose_. + +"Where is the real lover?" inquired the Queen of the Duc de Lauzun, who +thereupon left the box, and beckoned to my captain in the corridor. + +Again the nervous trembling seized me, for I felt that something--I +could not guess what--was about to happen to me. + +My captain bowed respectfully, and conversed in a low tone with M. de +Lauzun. Marie Antoinette was looking at _me_! I leaned against the wall +to keep myself from falling. There were footsteps upon the staircase, +and I saw Michel Sedaine, followed by Grevey and the podgy and pompous +manager; and they were bringing Pierrette, the real Pierrette, _my_ +Pierrette, to me--my sister, my wife, my Pierrette of Montreuil! + +The manager was exclaiming joyfully:-- + +"Here is a good night's work! Eighteen thousand francs!" + +The Queen now came forward, and, taking Pierrette's hand, said in her +gay, kindly manner:-- + +"You see, my child, there was no other way in which you could honourably +earn your _dot_ in a single hour. To-morrow I shall take you back to the +cure of Montreuil, who will, I trust, absolve us both. He will forgive +you for playing in a comedy once in your life." + +Here the Queen, with a gracious bow, turned to me. To poor, bewildered, +stupid _me_! + +"I hope," said she, "that M. Mathurin will deign to accept Pierrette's +fortune. I have added nothing to it; she has earned it all herself!" + +[Illustration: "SHE HAS EARNED IT ALL HERSELF!"] + + + + +_The Queer Side of Things._ + + +The Judge's Penance + +[Illustration] + +"Your crime," said Lord Justice Pimblekin, "is the most heartless, +atrocious, inhuman, and horrible that it has ever been my misfortune to +hear of: your long and cold-blooded premeditation; the cynical +indifference to the result of your atrocities, combined with the delight +with which you have wallowed in human gore; your contempt for all the +dictates of honesty, truth, pity, and good faith; your greed, +ingratitude, treachery, savageness, meanness, and cannibalism; all these +things stamp you as the most atrocious, unmitigated and loathsome +scoundrel, savage, monster, and vampire that ever wallowed in the foul +and fathomless quagmire of infinite and immeasurable dastardliness. + +[Illustration] + +"Under these circumstances I ought to inflict upon you the severest +penalty which the law allows. I say it is my unmistakable duty to +sentence you to penal servitude for life, with the cat once a week. + +"Mercy would be thrown away upon you. + +"Under these circumstances I will disregard my palpable duty, and render +the whole proceedings a farce, by sentencing you to a fine of forty +shillings, or a month." + +The fine being immediately paid, the prisoner left the court amid the +congratulations of his friends. + +New laurels were added to the already superfoliated wreath of Lord +Justice Pimblekin by this fresh masterpiece of judicial wisdom. + +He was already the most renowned of all the judges on the Bench, and the +admiration and envy of the whole judicial and forensic body. + +His verdicts had a character of their own; the severity of his +denunciation of inextenuable crime was only equalled by the inadequacy +of the punishment dealt out; as he explained on each occasion, he never +did his duty. + +[Illustration] + +He designed a mixture of justice, equity, and mercy; only he left out +the first two ingredients. After the mental strain of that historical +verdict recounted above, his lordship took a holiday. He had an offer of +a seat in a balloon which was about to ascend, and accepted. The machine +ascended successfully from his lordship's grounds, sailed majestically +out to sea, and disappeared in the distance. + +[Illustration] + +With the utmost anxiety the whole community waited for further news of +the balloon; but none arrived. Either the eminent judge had been picked +up by a passing ship bound for some remote parts, or he had perished. + +A year passed without news; and it was then decided to erect a cenotaph +to his lordship in Westminster Abbey. + + * * * * * + +One evening some time after this decision, Jemmy Wedge and Bill Slinker, +the eminent burglars, sat in their humble room near the Mint, arranging +the final details of a burglary dated for the following evening. Jemmy's +eye, glancing casually round the room, perceived a dim figure standing +in a dark corner. With a strong expression of disapproval, Jemmy jumped +to his feet and sprang towards the intruding eavesdropper; but stopped +suddenly with an ejaculation of surprise as he recognised the well-known +and revered features of Lord Justice Pimblekin! + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +A flood of contending emotions welled up in the mind of Jemmy +Wedge--rage at the overhearing of his plans by an intruder, and that +intruder an administrator of the law; fear of the consequences; +inveterate and deep-rooted affection for the judge who had so often +saved him from the well-merited penalties of crime; surprise, wonder. + +His arm, raised to fell the eavesdropper, sank impotently to his side: +he gasped and stared. + +"You need have no anxiety," said Lord Justice Pimblekin in a strange, +hollow, far-off voice, "your secret is safe with me. I will not blow the +gaff." + +These words, spoken with the quiet judicial accent which Jemmy knew so +well, yet in the far-off tone mentioned above, made Jemmy's eyes rounder +than ever with wonderment. + +No word of slang had ever before passed the lips of the judge: for slang +might indeed be unintelligible to a judge who knew not what a +race-course was, and would ask in court, "What is the 'Stock +Exchange'--is it a cattle market?" + +[Illustration] + +Lord Justice Pimblekin's head was drooped hopelessly upon his bosom; and +he now covered his face with his trembling hands, while a bright tear +crept out between his fingers, as he murmured in a quivering voice, "I +am one of you now! I'm a pal--that's what I am; straight, and no kid, my +pippin!" The painful effort with which these words were uttered was +apparent in his whole frame. He had not finished speaking; he was +obviously struggling with another word, which threatened to choke him. +With an expression of horror and despair, he clutched his bald head; and +then the word came--the single word "Blimey!" It was uttered in the same +soft, mincing, judicial accents. + +Then his lordship moved across the room and, sitting upon the table near +the fire, drew out a short dirty clay pipe, lit it at the candle, and +sat puffing at it; an occasional tear still creeping down his furrowed +cheek. + +"You may proceed with your deliberations with a perfect sense of +security," he said anon. "Djeer, old pal? _I_ ain't goin' to give yer +away." + +Every phrase of this kind evidently inflicted upon the unfortunate judge +the most acute pain. + +"To convince you how little you have to apprehend from me," he +continued, "I may inform you that I shall never again occupy my former +judicial position; in fact, I am incapacitated from doing so by the fact +that I am a GHOST!" + +[Illustration] + +Now, Jemmy Wedge and Bill Slinker were superstitious and nervous to a +degree, as most burglars are; and at that announcement their hair rose, +and they stood gazing at the speaker with glaring eyes and chattering +teeth. + +"I am sorry to cause you such alarm," said the spectre, "and assure you +I should only be too happy to go; but I cannot--it is not permitted me +to do so. + +[Illustration] + +"The balloon in which I ascended was found to have some defect in the +valve, which made it impossible to descend; it, consequently, after +rising to a great altitude, burst, hurling myself and the three other +occupants of the car into the sea. I was unfortunately drowned--a most +terrible loss to society! The three others were drowned also; but, as +they were neither judges nor counsel, but merely ordinary persons, +liable to be called as jurors or witnesses, their loss need not further +concern us. If they had survived, they would have been subsequently +killed at some time or other by their treatment in court. + +[Illustration] + +"Well, I found myself floating among the disembodied spirits in space; +and I became conscious that certain of those in my vicinity were eyeing +me askance and whispering together in a menacing and most disturbing +manner----" At this point the spectre broke down for a moment, and +sobbed audibly, his emotion culminating in the words, "Strike me pink!" +He then proceeded: "You must excuse this emotion--the whole thing has +been too much for me--djeer?----in a most menacing and disturbing +manner. Now and again these threatening spirits would beckon to their +circle certain of those that passed; and these joined them in their +minative demonstrations until, knock me funny! if the whole rabble did +not surround me, covering me with vituperation. I gleaned from the +evidence before me that they were innocent persons who had suffered in +consequence of the inadequate punishments I had dealt out to various +criminals during my judicial career. There was a woman who had been +murdered by her husband after his release from the seven days I had +given him for breaking both her arms and legs; there were seven babies +who had been made away with by another malefactor, in his joy at +escaping with one month for kicking a policeman to death. There were +several hundreds of persons who had succumbed to the practices of a +purveyor of diseased meat to the London markets who was an especial +protege of mine and whom I always--after the most scathing comments on +his villainy--let off with a fine; and so forth. + +"These indignant spectres dragged me before three spirits who acted as +judges in those parts, and who, as I understood, had formerly been +Mahatmas when living; and these, after hearing the evidence before the +court, pronounced upon me a most--s'elp me beans!--most terrible +sentence. I was condemned to return to earth as a ghost, and there +remain until the evil consequences of my lapses of duty had fully worked +themselves out. This, they calculated, would amount to a sentence of +about seven thousand years. There was no option of a fine, while my +request for leave to appeal for a mandamus was dismissed with costs. My +sentence also provided that I should be compelled to assist in all the +crimes resulting from my own leniency, and should be powerless to +prevent them by warning the sufferers or the authorities. And," +concluded the unhappy spectre, sobbing aloud, "here I am, s'elp me!" + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The two burglars were really touched, for they had loved Lord Justice +Pimblekin as a true and valuable friend. They knew him to have been an +old gentleman whose abhorrence of the vulgarity of crime had been +equalled by his sensitive horror of illiterate, vulgar, or slangy +speech; and they thus, to a certain extent, understood the painful +nature of his present position, for the involuntary use of the idiom and +ways of the society in which he was now condemned to mix was a part of +his sentence. + +Far into the night the judge sat smoking his short spectral pipe and +drinking from an unsubstantial pewter pot, while he listened, +shuddering, to the plans of the two burglars for the carrying out of +their crime. With growing horror he gradually gleaned that the crib to +be cracked was the house of his twin brother the Bishop of Hampstead, a +lonely mansion near the village of Highgate. + +[Illustration] + +He watched the two malefactors as they cleaned and loaded their +revolvers and made other preparations for the expedition. If that judge +had done his duty, these two would still have been working out their +time for the last crime but seven which they had committed; whereas Lord +Pimblekin had let them off for that job with three months, and visited +their subsequent deeds with penalties which decreased at a constant +ratio, until for the latest--burglarious entry, removal of property +valued at L500, wilful destruction of other property valued at L5,000, +and maiming of two policemen and one footman--he had given them seven +days. + +[Illustration] + +Now, it happened that there had been for the last year or so before the +disappearance of Justice Pimblekin a disagreement of a somewhat painful +nature between himself and his twin brother the Bishop of Hampstead. + +Both were old gentlemen of the utmost purity and philanthropy of +principle, to whom the injuring of anyone--especially a brother--would +have been an idea of the utmost horror. + +Besides this, their mutual affection was really very strong; but they +had quarrelled about a matter of principle--a mere trifle: whether a +piece of toast should be buttered on the right or left side; and their +feelings had become temporarily embittered. + +[Illustration] + +This painful circumstance naturally increased the horror of the unhappy +spectre at the present plans of the burglars, and he made the wildest +efforts to go to his brother and warn him; but he was glued to the +table. + +Just as the clocks were striking 2 a.m., however, he felt that he could +move; and swiftly gliding away from the attic, he hurried down into the +street and strained every nerve to direct his course towards Highgate. + +But every effort was vain; he was drawn, against his will, to a house +where an habitual criminal whom his lordship had let loose upon society +was engaged in preparing poisoned food for a family. + +Having assisted in the mixing of the poison, he passed on and found +himself in a room with a swindling company-director whom he had let off +with six months instead of fifty years; and here he assisted in the +drawing up of a new prospectus specially designed for the benefit of the +widow and the fatherless who might happen to have a mite or two to be +relieved of. + +By this time it was morning; and the judge's ghost found himself in a +shed where that diseased-meat purveyor whom he had alluded to was busy +packing for the market; and the ghost helped with advice. + +All that day he wandered from one criminal to another, from one victim +to another; until the following night he once more joined the two +burglars Jemmy and Bill at the carriage-gate of the residence of the +Bishop of Hampstead. Convulsed with inexpressible grief, the spectre +advised the stretching of wires across the lawn to trip up pursuers; +then struggling madly against the words which he was forced to utter, he +offered, as a ghost, to glide in through the walls and discover the most +vulnerable fastenings; an offer which the two burglars eagerly and +gratefully accepted. After this the judge's ghost pointed out where the +plate was kept, and assisted in chloroforming the butler and stealing +the key; and then he led the way to the cabinet in which the Bishopess +of Hampstead kept her jewels, and kept watch while it was forced and the +valuables were extracted. + +All three had safely reached the library on their way out, when a +piercing scream rang through the house; it was the scream of the +spectre's sister-in-law the bishopess who had just awoke and discovered +the loss of the jewels; and in another moment the bishop in his nightcap +and slippers stood before them. + +[Illustration] + +He was a brave bishop, and was in the act of felling Jemmy Wedge with a +poker, when he recognised his brother; and the weapon fell from his +hand, giving Jemmy a chance of whipping out his revolver and firing. The +bishop fell; and the judge's ghost and he were left alone. Beside +himself with despair, the ghost bent over his brother and tried to weep; +but he felt that he was grinning from ear to ear and chuckling +derisively. The wounded bishop slowly opened his eyes and gazed at him +in grief and horror. + +[Illustration] + +"Peter!" he gasped. + +"He, he!" said the ghost. "We're quits now. I said I would round on you, +old pal! You've got it now." Then straining every agonized nerve to +prevent it, the judge's ghost began to jig round the prostrate bishop +and snap his fingers and hop lightly over him. + +[Illustration] + +The other members of the family and the servants had collected and were +gazing upon the scene: Mrs. Bishop glared at the ghost, uttered the word +"Peter!" screamed a piercing scream, and swooned. + +[Illustration] + +They carried the bishop and the bishopess upstairs and sent for a +doctor, while the members of the family stood around the judge's ghost, +gazing upon him with indignation and repugnance. In a hurried +consultation they agreed that it would never do to hand him over to the +police, as such a family scandal was not to be thought of. + +"Do not loathe me," said the unfortunate spectre; "I am only a ghost!" + +"A ghost!" cried the family in chorus; "a nice subterfuge! You expect us +to believe that, of course? Go! Let us never see your face again!" + +Slowly and with downcast eyes the ghost crept out through the bookcase +and rejoined Jemmy and Bill to assist in disposing of the swag. They +lavished upon him terms of endearment, and insisted on treating him at +every public-house in the neighbourhood: and the sight of that +respectably-dressed old gentleman with kid gloves and a short clay pipe +surprised the pot-boys. The ghost could not consume the liquor, being +too unsubstantial. At short intervals he would retire into a dark corner +to beat his breast in remorse and anguish. + +Presently Jemmy and Bill, who had been whispering earnestly together, +turned respectfully to the spectre; they appeared very nervous, as +though afraid to broach some delicate matter which was on their minds. + +"Beg parding, boss--I mean my lordship"--began Jemmy, hesitatingly, and +fidgeting from one foot to the other; "but we was a-going to ask yer if +as how you'd 'ave enny objection----" + +"Yus," chimed in Bill. "If ye'd take the 'uff if so be as we wos to----" + +"Dry up, you, Bill," said Jemmy. "It's just this 'ere, guvnor. We wos +a-thinkin' of crackin' another crib next week as yer might ha' heered ov +in yer time--well, to bust out with it straight and candid, it's yer own +crib as used to be w'en yer wos alive; but, yer see, bein' as how ye're +dead now and it ain't o' no more good to yer--there's a nice little lot +of old plate as you've got there as we sho'd be proud to 'andle. The +on'y thing is----" + +"Yus, that's w'ere it is," interrupted Bill. "The o'ny thing is as we +might 'ave to knock yer missis--axin' pardon; 'er ladyship--on the 'ed, +bein' a light sleeper, her maid ses, and a bit ov a spitfire, d'ye see?" + +The judge's ghost attempted to give vent to a cry of indignant horror +and forbid the attempt in the most unequivocal way. He struggled to rush +forth and inform the police and the community; but he heard himself +chuckle and felt himself slap the two burglars on the back, and knew +that he was saying to them: "Heave ahead, my bloaters! I owe the old +Dutch clock one for the naggings she's treated me to. I'm on this job, +that's what I am!" And then he puffed away at his short clay, and kept +on chuckling until he felt quite sick with misery. + +"He's the right sort, so he is," said Bill, "and no two ways abaat it." + +"Right yer are," said Jemmy. "'E's the sort o' pal for me, and no +error." + +Once more the judge's ghost wandered about from one malefactor to +another, and from one victim to another, always assisting the +malefactors and jeering the victims, and always welcome as a friend by +the former, and cursed as an enemy by the latter. He had no rest night +or day; he was constantly racked and harrowed by some new shock of grief +or repugnance. + +The thing got noised about, how the eminent and respected judge Lord +Justice Pimblekin had not been killed in his balloon adventure, but had +returned to the country and, disregarding all his old associations of +morality, refinement, and respectability, was herding with criminals of +the lowest type, and indulging in the most nefarious and vulgar +practices. + +At this time it was his fate to appear at a select meeting of the +directors of that Widows' and Orphans' Fleecing Corporation Limited, the +prospectus of which he had assisted in drawing up. His presence at first +filled the directors with the gravest alarm; but when the promoter +explained how greatly his lordship had changed, they unanimously +appointed him chairman. It was passingly suggested that his lordship's +growing evil reputation might prejudice the concern in the eyes of the +public; but the promoter, who knew the public well, reassuringly +explained that investors were so hopelessly idiotic that a board +composed entirely of burglars would not prevent their investing so long +as the prospectus contained sufficiently impossible promises of profit; +so the ghost of Lord Pimblekin officiated as chairman and assisted in +causing several suicides. + +Then the night came for the cracking of his own crib, and he continued +to give vent to a succession of boisterous chuckles every one of which +nearly killed him; only a ghost is a difficult thing to kill. Arrived at +his palatial suburban residence, he directed the burglars to the +outhouse where the ladders were kept; and the three first ascended to +her ladyship's dressing-room where the jewels were. The door between the +dressing-room and her ladyship's bedroom being open, the ghost undertook +to stand over her with a phantom bludgeon to prevent any noise in the +event of her waking. She woke, stared at his lordship, looked at the +burglars at work at her bureau, gazed once more at the ghost with a look +which froze him, murmured "Peter," and sank back with closed eyes. + +[Illustration] + +Half mad with misery, the ghost directed the burglars to the plate and +other valuables, and then looked on chuckling while they tore the silk +curtains, jumped on her ladyship's favourite violin, ripped the carpet +with a clasp-knife, cut the throat of the pug, and twisted the necks of +the canaries and linnets and doves. + +Then they left quietly; and, as the ghost followed them out, he was +conscious of an immaterial form similar to his own standing at his side. +"Come with me," said the form; and they whirled through space until they +arrived in the same court in which sentence had been passed upon him. +The three Mahatmas were still sitting on the bench, and the chief +Mahatma said:-- + +"Prisoner, your case is one of the worst which it has ever been our +painful task to pass sentence upon. Your reckless disregard of what you +recognised as your duty and of the consequences of your misdemeanours on +the bench render mercy in your case entirely out of place. It is our +duty to give you the benefit of the full seven thousand years to which +you have been sentenced; we will, however, release you on your own +recognisances and allow you to return to earthly existence and again +fill your former judicial sphere, with a view to observing how you go on +for the future. You will be bound over to come up for judgment if called +upon." + +Instantly our judge found himself in the flesh once more, and robing for +his accustomed seat on the bench. His reappearance caused great +surprise, as his evil reputation was now public property and the +authorities had removed his cenotaph from Westminster Abbey and sold it +to a rag-shop. + +However, as it is impossible to remove a judge from the bench even if he +murders the Queen, the Royal Family, and the Bench of Bishops, steals +the watches of the whole Houses of Lords and Commons, and even defrauds +the Inland Revenue, Lord Justice Pimblekin was allowed to remain on the +bench; and, as he was a socially influential person, bygones were +allowed to be bygones. + +[Illustration] + +But he was a reformed judge. He did his duty, and gave irredeemable +criminals what they deserved; fraudulent company directors got the cat, +and diseased meat purveyors a lifer, until there was hardly any crime +left. Lord Justice Pimblekin's twin brother and wife recovered, and +forgave him, and his lordship has not been called up for judgment yet. + + J. F. SULLIVAN + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: CHILDREN OF A 1000 YEARS.] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: WHO ARE THESE? + +In order to find out, hold the page level with the eyes, so as to +foreshorten the drawings.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue +29, May 1893, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRAND MAGAZINE, MAY 1893 *** + +***** This file should be named 30443.txt or 30443.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/4/30443/ + +Produced by Victorian/Edwardian Pictorial Magazines, +Jonathan Ingram, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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