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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30700-8.txt b/30700-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b03358f --- /dev/null +++ b/30700-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11559 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - +Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson + +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 Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25) + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Other: Andrew Lang + +Release Date: December 17, 2009 [EBook #30700] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS--R.L. STEVENSON, VOL 4 (OF 25) *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE WORKS OF + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + SWANSTON EDITION + + VOLUME IV + + + _Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five + Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS + STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies + have been printed, of which only Two Thousand + Copies are for sale._ + + _This is No._ ....... + + + [Illustration: TREE AT SWANSTON BEARING INITIALS OF R. L. S.] + + THE WORKS OF + ROBERT LOUIS + STEVENSON + + VOLUME FOUR + + + LONDON : PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND + WINDUS : IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL + AND COMPANY LIMITED : WILLIAM + HEINEMANN : AND LONGMANS GREEN + AND COMPANY MDCCCCXI + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +CONTENTS + + +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS + + + THE SUICIDE CLUB + PAGE + + STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS 5 + + THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK 37 + + THE ADVENTURE OF THE HANSOM CABS 65 + + + THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND + + STORY OF THE BANDBOX 86 + + STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS 111 + + THE STORY OF THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS 127 + + THE ADVENTURE OF PRINCE FLORIZEL AND A DETECTIVE 159 + + + THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS + + CHAPTER + + I. TELLS HOW I CAMPED IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD, AND BEHELD A + LIGHT IN THE PAVILION 167 + + II. TELLS OF THE NOCTURNAL LANDING FROM THE YACHT 174 + + III. TELLS HOW I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH MY WIFE 180 + + IV. TELLS IN WHAT A STARTLING MANNER I LEARNED THAT I WAS + NOT ALONE IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD 189 + + V. TELLS OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN NORTHMOUR, CLARA, AND + MYSELF 197 + + VI. TELLS OF MY INTRODUCTION TO THE TALL MAN 202 + + VII. TELLS HOW A WORD WAS CRIED THROUGH THE PAVILION WINDOW 208 + + VIII. TELLS THE LAST OF THE TALL MAN 214 + + IX. TELLS HOW NORTHMOUR CARRIED OUT HIS THREAT 221 + + + A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT 227 + + THE SIRE DE MALÉTROIT'S DOOR 250 + + PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR 273 + + + + +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS + + + + +TO + +ROBERT ALAN MOWBRAY STEVENSON + +IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR YOUTH AND THEIR ALREADY OLD AFFECTION + + + + +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS + + + + +THE SUICIDE CLUB + + +STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS + +During his residence in London, the accomplished Prince Florizel of +Bohemia gained the affection of all classes by the seduction of his +manner and by a well-considered generosity. He was a remarkable man even +by what was known of him; and that was but a small part of what he +actually did. Although of a placid temper in ordinary circumstances, and +accustomed to take the world with as much philosophy as any ploughman, +the Prince of Bohemia was not without a taste for ways of life more +adventurous and eccentric than that to which he was destined by his +birth. Now and then, when he fell into a low humour, when there was no +laughable play to witness in any of the London theatres, and when the +season of the year was unsuitable to those field sports in which he +excelled all competitors, he would summon his confidant and Master of +the Horse, Colonel Geraldine, and bid him prepare himself against an +evening ramble. The Master of the Horse was a young officer of a brave +and even temerarious disposition. He greeted the news with delight, and +hastened to make ready. Long practice and a varied acquaintance of life +had given him a singular facility in disguise; he could adapt, not only +his face and bearing, but his voice and almost his thoughts, to those of +any rank, character, or nation; and in this way he diverted attention +from the Prince, and sometimes gained admission for the pair into +strange societies. The civil authorities were never taken into the +secret of these adventures; the imperturbable courage of the one and the +ready invention and chivalrous devotion of the other had brought them +through a score of dangerous passes; and they grew in confidence as time +went on. + +One evening in March they were driven by a sharp fall of sleet into an +Oyster Bar in the immediate neighbourhood of Leicester Square. Colonel +Geraldine was dressed and painted to represent a person connected with +the Press in reduced circumstances; while the Prince had, as usual, +travestied his appearance by the addition of false whiskers and a pair +of large adhesive eyebrows. These lent him a shaggy and weather-beaten +air, which, for one of his urbanity, formed the most impenetrable +disguise. Thus equipped, the commander and his satellite sipped their +brandy and soda in security. + +The bar was full of guests, male and female; but though more than one of +these offered to fall into talk with our adventurers, none of them +promised to grow interesting upon a nearer acquaintance. There was +nothing present but the lees of London and the commonplace of +disrespectability; and the Prince had already fallen to yawning, and was +beginning to grow weary of the whole excursion, when the swing doors +were pushed violently open, and a young man, followed by a couple of +commissionaires, entered the bar. Each of the commissionaires carried a +large dish of cream tarts under a cover, which they at once removed; and +the young man made the round of the company, and pressed these +confections upon every one's acceptance with an exaggerated courtesy. +Sometimes the offer was laughingly accepted; sometimes it was firmly, or +even harshly, rejected. In these latter cases the new-comer always ate +the tart himself, with some more or less humorous commentary. + +At last he accosted Prince Florizel. + +"Sir," said he, with a profound obeisance, proffering the tart at the +same time between his thumb and forefinger, "will you so far honour an +entire stranger? I can answer for the quality of the pastry, having +eaten two dozen and three of them myself since five o'clock." + +"I am in the habit," replied the Prince, "of looking not so much to the +nature of a gift as to the spirit in which it is offered." + +"The spirit, sir," returned the young man, with another bow, "is one of +mockery." + +"Mockery!" repeated Florizel. "And whom do you propose to mock?" + +"I am not here to expound my philosophy," replied the other, "but to +distribute these cream tarts. If I mention that I heartily include +myself in the ridicule of the transaction, I hope you will consider +honour satisfied and condescend. If not, you will constrain me to eat my +twenty-eighth, and I own to being weary of the exercise." + +"You touch me," said the Prince, "and I have all the will in the world +to rescue you from this dilemma, but upon one condition. If my friend +and I eat your cakes--for which we have neither of us any natural +inclination--we shall expect you to join us at supper by way of +recompense." + +The young man seemed to reflect. + +"I have still several dozen upon hand," he said at last; "and that will +make it necessary for me to visit several more bars before my great +affair is concluded. This will take some time; and if you are +hungry----" + +The Prince interrupted him with a polite gesture. + +"My friend and I will accompany you," he said; "for we have already a +deep interest in your very agreeable mode of passing an evening. And now +that the preliminaries of peace are settled, allow me to sign the treaty +for both." + +And the Prince swallowed the tart with the best grace imaginable. + +"It is delicious," said he. + +"I perceive you are a connoisseur," replied the young man. + +Colonel Geraldine likewise did honour to the pastry; and every one in +that bar having now either accepted or refused his delicacies, the young +man with the cream tarts led the way to another and similar +establishment. The two commissionaires, who seemed to have grown +accustomed to their absurd employment, followed immediately after; and +the Prince and the Colonel brought up the rear, arm-in-arm, and smiling +to each other as they went. In this order the company visited two other +taverns, where scenes were enacted of a like nature to that already +described--some refusing, some accepting, the favours of this vagabond +hospitality, and the young man himself eating each rejected tart. + +On leaving the third saloon the young man counted his store. There were +but nine remaining, three in one tray and six in the other. + +"Gentlemen," said he, addressing himself to his two new followers, "I am +unwilling to delay your supper. I am positively sure you must be hungry. +I feel that I owe you a special consideration. And on this great day for +me, when I am closing a career of folly by my most conspicuously silly +action, I wish to behave handsomely to all who give me countenance. +Gentlemen, you shall wait no longer. Although my constitution is +shattered by previous excesses, at the risk of my life I liquidate the +suspensory condition." + +With these words he crushed the nine remaining tarts into his mouth, and +swallowed them at a single movement each. Then, turning to the +commissionaires, he gave them a couple of sovereigns. + +"I have to thank you," said he, "for your extraordinary patience." + +And he dismissed them with a bow apiece. For some seconds he stood +looking at the purse from which he had just paid his assistants, then, +with a laugh, he tossed it into the middle of the street, and signified +his readiness for supper. + +In a small French restaurant in Soho, which had enjoyed an exaggerated +reputation for some little while, but had already begun to be forgotten, +and in a private room up two pair of stairs, the three companions made a +very elegant supper, and drank three or four bottles of champagne, +talking the while upon indifferent subjects. The young man was fluent +and gay, but he laughed louder than was natural in a person of polite +breeding; his hands trembled violently, and his voice took sudden and +surprising inflections, which seemed to be independent of his will. The +dessert had been cleared away, and all three had lighted their cigars, +when the Prince addressed him in these words:-- + +"You will, I am sure, pardon my curiosity. What I have seen of you has +greatly pleased but even more puzzled me. And though I should be loth to +seem indiscreet, I must tell you that my friend and I are persons very +well worthy to be entrusted with a secret. We have many of our own, +which we are continually revealing to improper ears. And if, as I +suppose, your story is a silly one, you need have no delicacy with us, +who are two of the silliest men in England. My name is Godall, +Theophilus Godall; my friend is Major Alfred Hammersmith--or at least, +such is the name by which he chooses to be known. We pass our lives +entirely in the search for extravagant adventures; and there is no +extravagance with which we are not capable of sympathy." + +"I like you, Mr. Godall," returned the young man; "you inspire me with a +natural confidence; and I have not the slightest objection to your +friend the Major, whom I take to be a nobleman in masquerade. At least, +I am sure he is no soldier." + +The Colonel smiled at this compliment to the perfection of his art; and +the young man went on in a more animated manner. + +"There is every reason why I should not tell you my story. Perhaps that +is just the reason why I am going to do so. At least, you seem so well +prepared to hear a tale of silliness that I cannot find it in my heart +to disappoint you. My name, in spite of your example, I shall keep to +myself. My age is not essential to the narrative. I am descended from my +ancestors by ordinary generation, and from them I inherited the very +eligible human tenement which I still occupy and a fortune of three +hundred pounds a year. I suppose they also handed on to me a harebrain +humour, which it has been my chief delight to indulge. I received a good +education. I can play the violin nearly well enough to earn money in the +orchestra of a penny gaff, but not quite. The same remark applies to the +flute and the French horn. I learned enough of whist to lose about a +hundred a year at that scientific game. My acquaintance with French was +sufficient to enable me to squander money in Paris with almost the same +facility as in London. In short, I am a person full of manly +accomplishments. I have had every sort of adventure, including a duel +about nothing. Only two months ago I met a young lady exactly suited to +my taste in mind and body; I found my heart melt; I saw that I had come +upon my fate at last, and was in the way to fall in love. But when I +came to reckon up what remained to me of my capital, I found it amounted +to something less than four hundred pounds! I ask you fairly--can a man +who respects himself fall in love on four hundred pounds? I concluded, +certainly not; left the presence of my charmer, and slightly +accelerating my usual rate of expenditure, came this morning to my last +eighty pounds. This I divided into two equal parts; forty I reserved for +a particular purpose; the remaining forty I was to dissipate before the +night. I have passed a very entertaining day, and played many farces +besides that of the cream tarts which procured me the advantage of your +acquaintance; for I was determined, as I told you, to bring a foolish +career to a still more foolish conclusion; and when you saw me throw my +purse into the street the forty pounds were at an end. Now you know me +as well as I know myself: a fool, but consistent in his folly; and, as I +will ask you to believe, neither a whimperer nor a coward." + +From the whole tone of the young man's statement it was plain that he +harboured very bitter and contemptuous thoughts about himself. His +auditors were led to imagine that his love affair was nearer his heart +than he admitted, and that he had a design on his own life. The farce of +the cream tarts began to have very much the air of a tragedy in +disguise. + +"Why, is this not odd," broke out Geraldine, giving a look to Prince +Florizel, "that we three fellows should have met by the merest accident +in so large a wilderness as London, and should be so nearly in the same +condition?" + +"How?" cried the young man. "Are you, too, ruined? Is this supper a +folly like my cream tarts? Has the devil brought three of his own +together for a last carouse?" + +"The devil, depend upon it, can sometimes do a very gentlemanly thing," +returned Prince Florizel; "and I am so much touched by this coincidence +that, although we are not entirely in the same case, I am going to put +an end to the disparity. Let your heroic treatment of the last cream +tarts be my example." + +So saying, the Prince drew out his purse and took from it a small bundle +of bank-notes. + +"You see, I was a week or so behind you, but I mean to catch you up and +come neck-and-neck into the winning-post," he continued. "This," laying +one of the notes upon the table, "will suffice for the bill. As for the +rest----" + +He tossed them into the fire, and they went up the chimney in a single +blaze. + +The young man tried to catch his arm, but as the table was between them +his interference came too late. + +"Unhappy man," he cried, "you should not have burned them all! You +should have kept forty pounds." + +"Forty pounds!" repeated the Prince. "Why, in Heaven's name, forty +pounds?" + +"Why not eighty?" cried the Colonel; "for to my certain knowledge there +must have been a hundred in the bundle." + +"It was only forty pounds he needed," said the young man gloomily. "But +without them there is no admission. The rule is strict. Forty pounds for +each. Accursed life, where a man cannot even die without money!" + +The Prince and the Colonel exchanged glances. + +"Explain yourself," said the latter. "I have still a pocket-book +tolerably well lined, and I need not say how readily I should share my +wealth with Godall. But I must know to what end: you must certainly tell +us what you mean." + +The young man seemed to awaken: he looked uneasily from one to the +other, and his face flushed deeply. + +"You are not fooling me?" he asked. "You are indeed ruined men like me?" + +"Indeed, I am for my part," replied the Colonel. + +"And for mine," said the Prince, "I have given you proof. Who but a +ruined man would throw his notes into the fire? The action speaks for +itself." + +"A ruined man--yes," returned the other suspiciously, "or else a +millionaire." + +"Enough, sir," said the Prince; "I have said so, and I am not accustomed +to have my word remain in doubt." + +"Ruined?" said the young man. "Are you ruined, like me? Are you, after a +life of indulgence, come to such a pass that you can only indulge +yourself in one thing more? Are you"--he kept lowering his voice as he +went on--"are you going to give yourselves that last indulgence? Are you +going to avoid the consequences of your folly by the one infallible and +easy path? Are you going to give the slip to the sheriff's officers of +conscience by the one open door?" + +Suddenly he broke off and attempted to laugh. + +"Here is your health!" he cried, emptying his glass, "and good-night to +you, my merry ruined men." + +Colonel Geraldine caught him by the arm as he was about to rise. + +"You lack confidence in us," he said, "and you are wrong. To all your +questions I make answer in the affirmative. But I am not so timid, and +can speak the Queen's English plainly. We too, like yourself, have had +enough of life, and are determined to die. Sooner or later, alone or +together, we meant to seek out death and beard him where he lies ready. +Since we have met you, and your case is more pressing, let it be +to-night--and at once--and, if you will, all three together. Such a +penniless trio," he cried, "should go arm-in-arm into the halls of +Pluto, and give each other some countenance among the shades!" + +Geraldine had hit exactly on the manners and intonations that became the +part he was playing. The Prince himself was disturbed, and looked over +at his confidant with a shade of doubt. As for the young man, the flush +came back darkly into his cheek, and his eyes threw out a spark of +light. + +"You are the men for me!" he cried, with an almost terrible gaiety. +"Shake hands upon the bargain!" (his hand was cold and wet). "You little +know in what a company you will begin the march! You little know in what +a happy moment for yourselves you partook of my cream tarts! I am only a +unit, but I am a unit in an army. I know Death's private door. I am one +of his familiars, and can show you into eternity without ceremony and +yet without scandal." + +They called upon him eagerly to explain his meaning. + +"Can you muster eighty pounds between you?" he demanded. + +Geraldine ostentatiously consulted his pocket-book, and replied in the +affirmative. + +"Fortunate beings!" cried the young man. "Forty pounds is the +entry-money of the Suicide Club." + +"The Suicide Club," said the Prince, "why, what the devil is that?" + +"Listen," said the young man; "this is the age of conveniences, and I +have to tell you of the last perfection of the sort. We have affairs in +different places; and hence railways were invented. Railways separated +us infallibly from our friends; and so telegraphs were made that we +might communicate speedily at great distances. Even in hotels we have +lifts to spare us a climb of some hundred steps. Now, we know that life +is only a stage to play the fool upon as long as the part amuses us. +There was one more convenience lacking to modern comfort: a decent, easy +way to quit that stage; the back stairs to liberty; or, as I said this +moment, Death's private door. This, my two fellow-rebels, is supplied by +the Suicide Club. Do not suppose that you and I are alone, or even +exceptional, in the highly reasonable desire that we profess. A large +number of our fellowmen, who have grown heartily sick of the performance +in which they are expected to join daily, and all their lives long, are +only kept from flight by one or two considerations. Some have families +who would be shocked, or even blamed, if the matter became public; +others have a weakness at heart and recoil from the circumstances of +death. That is, to some extent, my own experience. I cannot put a pistol +to my head and draw the trigger; for something stronger than myself +withholds the act; and although I loathe life, I have not strength +enough in my body to take hold of death and be done with it. For such as +I, and for all who desire to be out of the coil without posthumous +scandal, the Suicide Club has been inaugurated. How this has been +managed, what is its history, or what may be its ramifications in other +lands, I am myself uninformed; and what I know of its constitution, I +am not at liberty to communicate to you. To this extent, however, I am +at your service. If you are truly tired of life, I will introduce you +to-night to a meeting; and if not to-night, at least some time within +the week, you will be easily relieved of your existences. It is now +(consulting his watch) eleven; by half-past, at latest, we must leave +this place; so that you have half an hour before you to consider my +proposal. It is more serious than a cream tart," he added, with a smile; +"and I suspect more palatable." + +"More serious, certainly," returned Colonel Geraldine; "and as it is so +much more so, will you allow me five minutes' speech in private with my +friend Mr. Godall?" + +"It is only fair," answered the young man. "If you will permit, I will +retire." + +"You will be very obliging," said the Colonel. + +As soon as the two were alone--"What," said Prince Florizel, "is the use +of this confabulation, Geraldine? I see you are flurried, whereas my +mind is very tranquilly made up. I will see the end of this." + +"Your Highness," said the Colonel, turning pale; "let me ask you to +consider the importance of your life, not only to your friends, but to +the public interest. 'If not to-night,' said this madman; but supposing +that to-night some irreparable disaster were to overtake your Highness's +person, what, let me ask you, what would be my despair, and what the +concern and disaster of a great nation?" + +"I will see the end of this," repeated the Prince in his most deliberate +tones; "and have the kindness, Colonel Geraldine, to remember and +respect your word of honour as a gentleman. Under no circumstances, +recollect, nor without my special authority, are you to betray the +incognito under which I choose to go abroad. These were my commands, +which I now reiterate. And now," he added, "let me ask you to call for +the bill." + +Colonel Geraldine bowed in submission; but he had a very white face as +he summoned the young man of the cream tarts, and issued his directions +to the waiter. The Prince preserved his undisturbed demeanour, and +described a Palais-Royal farce to the young suicide with great humour +and gusto. He avoided the Colonel's appealing looks without ostentation, +and selected another cheroot with more than usual care. Indeed, he was +now the only man of the party who kept any command over his nerves. + +The bill was discharged, the Prince giving the whole change of the note +to the astonished waiter; and the three drove off in a four-wheeler. +They were not long upon the way before the cab stopped at the entrance +to a rather dark court. Here all descended. + +After Geraldine had paid the fare, the young man turned, and addressed +Prince Florizel as follows:-- + +"It is still time, Mr. Godall, to make good your escape into thraldom. +And for you too, Major Hammersmith. Reflect well before you take another +step; and if your hearts say no--here are the cross-roads." + +"Lead on, sir," said the Prince, "I am not the man to go back from a +thing once said." + +"Your coolness does me good," replied their guide. "I have never seen +any one so unmoved at this conjuncture; and yet you are not the first +whom I have escorted to this door. More than one of my friends has +preceded me, where I knew I must shortly follow. But this is of no +interest to you. Wait me here for only a few moments; I shall return as +soon as I have arranged the preliminaries of your introduction." + +And with that the young man, waving his hand to his companions, turned +into the court, entered a doorway and disappeared. + +"Of all our follies," said Colonel Geraldine in a low voice, "this is +the wildest and most dangerous." + +"I perfectly believe so," returned the Prince. + +"We have still," pursued the Colonel, "a moment to ourselves. Let me +beseech your Highness to profit by the opportunity and retire. The +consequences of this step are so dark, and may be so grave, that I feel +myself justified in pushing a little further than usual the liberty +which your Highness is so condescending as to allow me in private." + +"Am I to understand that Colonel Geraldine is afraid?" asked his +Highness, taking his cheroot from his lips, and looking keenly into the +other's face. + +"My fear is certainly not personal," replied the other proudly; "of that +your Highness may rest well assured." + +"I had supposed as much," returned the Prince, with undisturbed +good-humour; "but I was unwilling to remind you of the difference in our +stations. No more--no more," he added, seeing Geraldine about to +apologise; "you stand excused." + +And he smoked placidly, leaning against a railing, until the young man +returned. + +"Well," he asked, "has our reception been arranged?" + +"Follow me," was the reply. "The President will see you in the cabinet. +And let me warn you to be frank in your answers. I have stood your +guarantee; but the club requires a searching inquiry before admission; +for the indiscretion of a single member would lead to the dispersion of +the whole society for ever." + +The Prince and Geraldine put their heads together for a moment. "Bear me +out in this," said the one; and "bear me out in that," said the other; +and by boldly taking up the characters of men with whom both were +acquainted, they had come to an agreement in a twinkling, and were ready +to follow their guide into the President's cabinet. + +There were no formidable obstacles to pass. The outer door stood open; +the door of the cabinet was ajar; and there, in a small but very high +apartment, the young man left them once more. + +"He will be here immediately," he said with a nod, as he disappeared. + +Voices were audible in the cabinet through the folding-doors which +formed one end; and now and then the noise of a champagne cork, followed +by a burst of laughter, intervened among the sounds of conversation. A +single tall window looked out upon the river and the embankment; and by +the disposition of the lights they judged themselves not far from +Charing Cross station. The furniture was scanty, and the coverings worn +to the thread; and there was nothing movable except a hand-bell in the +centre of a round table, and the hats and coats of a considerable party +hung round the wall on pegs. + +"What sort of a den is this?" said Geraldine. + +"That is what I have come to see," replied the Prince. "If they keep +live devils on the premises, the thing may grow amusing." + +Just then the folding-door was opened no more than was necessary for the +passage of a human body; and there entered at the same moment a louder +buzz of talk, and the redoubtable President of the Suicide Club. The +President was a man of fifty or upwards; large and rambling in his gait, +with shaggy side whiskers, a bald top to his head, and a veiled grey +eye, which now and then emitted a twinkle. His mouth, which embraced a +large cigar, he kept continually screwing round and round and from side +to side, as he looked sagaciously and coldly at the strangers. He was +dressed in light tweeds, with his neck very open in a striped shirt +collar; and carried a minute-book under one arm. + +"Good-evening," said he, after he had closed the door behind him. "I am +told you wish to speak with me." + +"We have a desire, sir, to join the Suicide Club," replied the Colonel. + +The President rolled his cigar about in his mouth. + +"What is that?" he said abruptly. + +"Pardon me," returned the Colonel, "but I believe you are the person +best qualified to give us information on that point." + +"I?" cried the President. "A Suicide Club? Come, come! this is a frolic +for All Fools' Day. I can make allowances for gentlemen who get merry +in their liquor; but let there be an end to this." + +"Call your club what you will," said the Colonel; "you have some company +behind these doors, and we insist on joining it." + +"Sir," returned the President curtly, "you have made a mistake. This is +a private house, and you must leave it instantly." + +The Prince had remained quietly in his seat throughout this little +colloquy; but now, when the Colonel looked over to him, as much as to +say, "Take your answer and come away, for God's sake!" he drew his +cheroot from his mouth, and spoke-- + +"I have come here," said he, "upon the invitation of a friend of yours. +He has doubtless informed you of my intention in thus intruding on your +party. Let me remind you that a person in my circumstances has +exceedingly little to bind him, and is not at all likely to tolerate +much rudeness. I am a very quiet man, as a usual thing; but, my dear +sir, you are either going to oblige me in the little matter of which you +are aware, or you shall very bitterly repent that you ever admitted me +to your ante-chamber." + +The President laughed aloud. + +"That is the way to speak," said he. "You are a man who is a man. You +know the way to my heart, and can do what you like with me. Will you," +he continued, addressing Geraldine, "will you step aside for a few +minutes? I shall finish first with your companion, and some of the +club's formalities require to be fulfilled in private." + +With the words he opened the door of a small closet, into which he shut +the Colonel. + +"I believe in you," he said to Florizel, as soon as they were alone; +"but are you sure of your friend?" + +"Not so sure as I am of myself, though he has more cogent reasons," +answered Florizel, "but sure enough to bring him here without alarm. He +has had enough to cure the most tenacious man of life. He was cashiered +the other day for cheating at cards." + +"A good reason, I daresay," replied the President; "at least, we have +another in the same case, and I feel sure of him. Have you also been in +the Service, may I ask?" + +"I have," was the reply; "but I was too lazy--I left it early." + +"What is your reason for being tired of life?" pursued the President. + +"The same, as near as I can make out," answered the Prince: +"unadulterated laziness." + +The President started. "D--n it," said he, "you must have something +better than that." + +"I have no more money," added Florizel. "That is also a vexation, +without doubt. It brings my sense of idleness to an acute point." + +The President rolled his cigar round in his mouth for some seconds, +directing his gaze straight into the eyes of this unusual neophyte; but +the Prince supported his scrutiny with unabashed good temper. + +"If I had not a deal of experience," said the President at last, "I +should turn you off. But I know the world; and this much any way, that +the most frivolous excuses for a suicide are often the toughest to stand +by. And when I downright like a man, as I do you, sir, I would rather +strain the regulation than deny him." + +The Prince and the Colonel, one after the other, were subjected to a +long and particular interrogatory: the Prince alone; but Geraldine in +the presence of the Prince, so that the President might observe the +countenance of the one while the other was being warmly cross-examined. +The result was satisfactory; and the President, after having booked a +few details of each case, produced a form of oath to be accepted. +Nothing could be conceived more passive than the obedience promised, or +more stringent than the terms by which the juror bound himself. The man +who forfeited a pledge so awful could scarcely have a rag of honour or +any of the consolations of religion left to him. Florizel signed the +document, but not without a shudder; the Colonel followed his example +with an air of great depression. Then the President received the entry +money; and without more ado, introduced the two friends into the +smoking-room of the Suicide Club. + +The smoking-room of the Suicide Club was the same height as the cabinet +into which it opened, but much larger, and papered from top to bottom +with an imitation of oak wainscot. A large and cheerful fire and a +number of gas-jets illuminated the company. The Prince and his follower +made the number up to eighteen. Most of the party were smoking, and +drinking champagne; a feverish hilarity reigned, with sudden and rather +ghastly pauses. + +"Is this a full meeting?" asked the Prince. + +"Middling," said the President.--"By the way," he added, "if you have +any money, it is usual to offer some champagne. It keeps up a good +spirit, and is one of my own little perquisites." + +"Hammersmith," said Florizel, "I may leave the champagne to you." + +And with that he turned away and began to go round among the guests. +Accustomed to play the host in the highest circles, he charmed and +dominated all whom he approached; there was something at once winning +and authoritative in his address; and his extraordinary coolness gave +him yet another distinction in this half-maniacal society. As he went +from one to another he kept both his eyes and ears open, and soon began +to gain a general idea of the people among whom he found himself. As in +all other places of resort, one type predominated: people in the prime +of youth, with every show of intelligence and sensibility in their +appearance, but with little promise of strength or the quality that +makes success. Few were much above thirty, and not a few were still in +their teens. They stood, leaning on tables and shifting on their feet; +sometimes they smoked extraordinarily fast, and sometimes they let +their cigars go out; some talked well, but the conversation of others +was plainly the result of nervous tension, and was equally without wit +or purport. As each new bottle of champagne was opened, there was a +manifest improvement in gaiety. Only two were seated--one in a chair in +the recess of the window, with his head hanging and his hands plunged +deep into his trousers pockets, pale, visibly moist with perspiration, +saying never a word, a very wreck of soul and body; the other sat on the +divan close by the chimney, and attracted notice by a trenchant +dissimilarity from all the rest. He was probably upwards of forty, but +he looked fully ten years older; and Florizel thought he had never seen +a man more naturally hideous, nor one more ravaged by disease and +ruinous excitements. He was no more than skin and bone, was partly +paralysed, and wore spectacles of such unusual power that his eyes +appeared through the glasses greatly magnified and distorted in shape. +Except the Prince and the President, he was the only person in the room +who preserved the composure of ordinary life. + +There was little decency among the members of the club. Some boasted of +the disgraceful actions, the consequences of which had reduced them to +seek refuge in death; and the others listened without disapproval. There +was a tacit understanding against moral judgments; and whoever passed +the club doors enjoyed already some of the immunities of the tomb. They +drank to each other's memories, and to those of notable suicides in the +past. They compared and developed their different views of death--some +declaring that it was no more than blackness and cessation; others full +of a hope that that very night they should be scaling the stars and +commercing with the mighty dead. + +"To the eternal memory of Baron Trenck, the type of suicides!" cried +one. "He went out of a small cell into a smaller, that he might come +forth again to freedom." + +"For my part," said a second, "I wish no more than a bandage for my eyes +and cotton for my ears. Only they have no cotton thick enough in this +world." + +A third was for reading the mysteries of life in a future state; and a +fourth professed that he would never have joined the club if he had not +been induced to believe in Mr. Darwin. + +"I could not bear," said this remarkable suicide, "to be descended from +an ape." + +Altogether, the Prince was disappointed by the bearing and conversation +of the members. + +"It does not seem to me," he thought, "a matter of so much disturbance. +If a man has made up his mind to kill himself, let him do it, in God's +name, like a gentleman. This flutter and big talk is out of place." + +In the meanwhile Colonel Geraldine was a prey to the blackest +apprehensions; the club and its rules were still a mystery, and he +looked round the room for some one who should be able to set his mind at +rest. In this survey his eye lighted on the paralytic person with the +strong spectacles; and seeing him so exceedingly tranquil, he besought +the President, who was going in and out of the room under a pressure of +business, to present him to the gentleman on the divan. + +The functionary explained the needlessness of all such formalities +within the club, but nevertheless presented Mr. Hammersmith to Mr. +Malthus. + +Mr. Malthus looked at the Colonel curiously, and then requested him to +take a seat upon his right. + +"You are a new-comer," he said, "and wish information? You have come to +the proper source. It is two years since I first visited this charming +club." + +The Colonel breathed again. If Mr. Malthus had frequented the place for +two years there could be little danger for the Prince in a single +evening. But Geraldine was none the less astonished, and began to +suspect a mystification. + +"What!" cried he, "two years! I thought--but indeed I see I have been +made the subject of a pleasantry." + +"By no means," replied Mr. Malthus mildly. "My case is peculiar. I am +not, properly speaking, a suicide at all; but, as it were, an honorary +member. I rarely visit the club twice in two months. My infirmity and +the kindness of the President have procured me these little immunities, +for which besides I pay at an advanced rate. Even as it is, my luck has +been extraordinary." + +"I am afraid," said the Colonel, "that I must ask you to be more +explicit. You must remember that I am still most imperfectly acquainted +with the rules of the club." + +"An ordinary member who comes here in search of death, like yourself," +replied the paralytic, "returns every evening until fortune favours him. +He can even, if he is penniless, get board and lodging from the +President: very fair, I believe, and clean, although, of course, not +luxurious; that could hardly be, considering the exiguity (if I may so +express myself) of the subscription. And then the President's company is +a delicacy in itself." + +"Indeed!" cried Geraldine, "he had not greatly prepossessed me." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Malthus, "you do not know the man: the drollest fellow! +What stories! What cynicism! He knows life to admiration, and, between +ourselves, is probably the most corrupt rogue in Christendom." + +"And he also," asked the Colonel, "is a permanency--like yourself, if I +may say so without offence?" + +"Indeed, he is a permanency in a very different sense from me," replied +Mr. Malthus. "I have been graciously spared, but I must go at last. Now +he never plays. He shuffles and deals for the club, and makes the +necessary arrangements. That man, my dear Mr. Hammersmith, is the very +soul of ingenuity. For three years he has pursued in London his useful +and, I think I may add, his artistic calling; and not so much as a +whisper of suspicion has been once aroused. I believe himself to be +inspired. You doubtless remember the celebrated case, six months ago, +of the gentleman who was accidentally poisoned in a chemist's shop? That +was one of the least rich, one of the least racy, of his notions; but +then, how simple! and how safe!" + +"You astound me," said the Colonel. "Was that unfortunate gentleman one +of the----" He was about to say "victims"; but bethinking himself in +time, he substituted--"members of the club?" + +In the same flash of thought it occurred to him that Mr. Malthus himself +had not at all spoken in the tone of one who is in love with death; and +he added hurriedly-- + +"But I perceive I am still in the dark. You speak of shuffling and +dealing; pray, for what end? And since you seem rather unwilling to die +than otherwise, I must own that I cannot conceive what brings you here +at all." + +"You say truly that you are in the dark," replied Mr. Malthus with more +animation. "Why, my dear sir, this club is the temple of intoxication. +If my enfeebled health could support the excitement more often, you may +depend upon it I should be more often here. It requires all the sense of +duty engendered by a long habit of ill-health and careful regimen, to +keep me from excess in this, which is, I may say, my last dissipation. I +have tried them all, sir," he went on, laying his hand on Geraldine's +arm, "all, without exception, and I declare to you, upon my honour, +there is not one of them that has not been grossly and untruthfully +overrated. People trifle with love. Now, I deny that love is a strong +passion. Fear is the strong passion; it is with fear that you must +trifle if you wish to taste the intensest joys of living. Envy me--envy +me, sir," he added with a chuckle, "I am a coward!" + +Geraldine could scarcely repress a movement of repulsion for this +deplorable wretch; but he commanded himself with an effort, and +continued his inquiries. + +"How, sir," he asked, "is the excitement so artfully prolonged? and +where is there any element of uncertainty?" + +"I must tell you how the victim for every evening is selected," returned +Mr. Malthus; "and not only the victim, but another member, who is to be +the instrument in the club's hands, and death's high priest for that +occasion." + +"Good God!" said the Colonel, "do they then kill each other?" + +"The trouble of suicide is removed in that way," returned Malthus with a +nod. + +"Merciful heavens!" ejaculated the Colonel, "and may you--may I--may +the--my friend, I mean--may any of us be pitched upon this evening as +the slayer of another man's body and immortal spirit? Can such things be +possible among men born of women? Oh! infamy of infamies!" + +He was about to rise in his horror, when he caught the Prince's eye. It +was fixed upon him from across the room with a frowning and angry stare. +And in a moment Geraldine recovered his composure. + +"After all," he added, "why not? and since you say the game is +interesting, _vogue la galčre_--I follow the club!" + +Mr. Malthus had keenly enjoyed the Colonel's amazement and disgust. He +had the vanity of wickedness; and it pleased him to see another man give +way to a generous movement, while he felt himself, in his entire +corruption, superior to such emotions. + +"You now, after your first moment of surprise," said he, "are in a +position to appreciate the delights of our society. You can see how it +combines the excitement of a gaming-table, a duel, and a Roman +amphitheatre. The Pagans did well enough; I cordially admire the +refinement of their minds; but it has been reserved for a Christian +country to attain this extreme, this quintessence, this absolute of +poignancy. You will understand how vapid are all amusements to a man who +has acquired a taste for this one. The game we play," he continued, "is +one of extreme simplicity. A full pack--but I perceive you are about to +see the thing in progress. Will you lend me the help of your arm? I am +unfortunately paralysed." + +Indeed, just as Mr. Malthus was beginning his description, another pair +of folding-doors was thrown open, and the whole club began to pass, not +without some hurry, into the adjoining room. It was similar in every +respect to the one from which it was entered, but somewhat differently +furnished. The centre was occupied by a long green table, at which the +President sat shuffling a pack of cards with great particularity. Even +with the stick and the Colonel's arm, Mr. Malthus walked with so much +difficulty that everyone was seated before this pair and the Prince, who +had waited for them, entered the apartment; and, in consequence, the +three took seats close together at the lower end of the board. + +"It is a pack of fifty-two," whispered Mr. Malthus. "Watch for the ace +of spades, which is the sign of death, and the ace of clubs, which +designates the official of the night. Happy, happy young men!" he added. +"You have good eyes, and can follow the game. Alas! I cannot tell an ace +from a deuce across the table." + +And he proceeded to equip himself with a second pair of spectacles. + +"I must at least watch the faces," he explained. + +The Colonel rapidly informed his friend of all that he had learned from +the honorary member, and of the horrible alternative that lay before +them. The Prince was conscious of a deadly chill and a contraction about +his heart; he swallowed with difficulty, and looked from side to side +like a man in a maze. + +"One bold stroke," whispered the Colonel, "and we may still escape." + +But the suggestion recalled the Prince's spirits. + +"Silence!" said he. "Let me see that you can play like a gentleman for +any stake, however serious." + +And he looked about him, once more to all appearance at his ease, +although his heart beat thickly, and he was conscious of an unpleasant +heat in his bosom. The members were all very quiet and intent; every one +was pale, but none so pale as Mr. Malthus. His eyes protruded; his head +kept nodding involuntarily upon his spine; his hands found their way, +one after the other, to his mouth, where they made clutches at his +tremulous and ashen lips. It was plain that the honorary member enjoyed +his membership on very startling terms. + +"Attention, gentlemen!" said the President. + +And he began slowly dealing the cards about the table in the reverse +direction, pausing until each man had shown his card. Nearly every one +hesitated; and sometimes you would see a player's fingers stumble more +than once before he could turn over the momentous slip of pasteboard. As +the Prince's turn drew nearer, he was conscious of a growing and almost +suffocating excitement; but he had somewhat of the gambler's nature, and +recognised almost with astonishment that there was a degree of pleasure +in his sensations. The nine of clubs fell to his lot; the three of +spades was dealt to Geraldine; and the queen of hearts to Mr. Malthus, +who was unable to suppress a sob of relief. The young man of the cream +tarts almost immediately afterwards turned over the ace of clubs, and +remained frozen with horror, the card still resting on his finger; he +had not come there to kill, but to be killed; and the Prince in his +generous sympathy with his position almost forgot the peril that still +hung over himself and his friend. + +The deal was coming round again, and still Death's card had not come +out. The players held their respiration, and only breathed by gasps. The +Prince received another club; Geraldine had a diamond; but when Mr. +Malthus turned up his card a horrible noise, like that of something +breaking, issued from his mouth; and he rose from his seat and sat down +again, with no sign of his paralysis. It was the ace of spades. The +honorary member had trifled once too often with his terrors. + +Conversation broke out again almost at once. The players relaxed their +rigid attitudes, and began to rise from the table and stroll back by +twos and threes into the smoking-room. The President stretched his arms +and yawned, like a man who has finished his day's work. But Mr. Malthus +sat in his place, with his head in his hands, and his hands upon the +table, drunk and motionless--a thing stricken down. + +The Prince and Geraldine made their escape at once. In the cold night +air their horror of what they had witnessed was redoubled. + +"Alas!" cried the Prince, "to be bound by an oath in such a matter! to +allow this wholesale trade in murder to be continued with profit and +impunity! If I but dared to forfeit my pledge!" + +"That is impossible for your Highness," replied the Colonel, "whose +honour is the honour of Bohemia. But I dare, and may with propriety, +forfeit mine." + +"Geraldine," said the Prince, "if your honour suffers in any of the +adventures into which you follow me, not only will I never pardon you, +but--what I believe will much more sensibly affect you--I should never +forgive myself." + +"I receive your Highness's commands," replied the Colonel. "Shall we go +from this accursed spot?" + +"Yes," said the Prince. "Call a cab in Heaven's name, and let me try to +forget in slumber the memory of this night's disgrace." + +But it was notable that he carefully read the name of the court before +he left it. + +The next morning, as soon as the Prince was stirring, Colonel Geraldine +brought him a daily newspaper, with the following paragraph marked:-- + + "MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.--This morning, about two o'clock, Mr. + Bartholomew Malthus, of 16 Chepstow Place, Westbourne Grove, on his + way home from a party at a friend's house, fell over the upper + parapet in Trafalgar Square, fracturing his skull and breaking a leg + and an arm. Death was instantaneous. Mr. Malthus, accompanied by a + friend, was engaged in looking for a cab at the time of the + unfortunate occurrence. As Mr. Malthus was paralytic, it is thought + that his fall may have been occasioned by another seizure. The + unhappy gentleman was well known in the most respectable circles, and + his loss will be widely and deeply deplored." + +"If ever a soul went straight to Hell," said Geraldine solemnly, "it was +that paralytic man's." + +The Prince buried his face in his hands, and remained silent. + +"I am almost rejoiced," continued the Colonel, "to know that he is dead. +But for our young man of the cream tarts I confess my heart bleeds." + +"Geraldine," said the Prince, raising his face, "that unhappy lad was +last night as innocent as you and I; and this morning the guilt of blood +is on his soul. When I think of the President, my heart grows sick +within me. I do not know how it shall be done, but I shall have that +scoundrel at my mercy as there is a God in heaven. What an experience, +what a lesson, was that game of cards!" + +"One," said the Colonel, "never to be repeated." + +The Prince remained so long without replying that Geraldine grew +alarmed. + +"You cannot mean to return," he said. "You have suffered too much and +seen too much horror already. The duties of your high position forbid +the repetition of the hazard." + +"There is much in what you say," replied Prince Florizel, "and I am not +altogether pleased with my own determination. Alas! in the clothes of +the greatest potentate what is there but a man? I never felt my weakness +more acutely than now, Geraldine, but it is stronger than I. Can I +cease to interest myself in the fortunes of the unhappy young man who +supped with us some hours ago? Can I leave the President to follow his +nefarious career unwatched? Can I begin an adventure so entrancing, and +not follow it to an end? No, Geraldine, you ask of the Prince more than +the man is able to perform. To-night, once more, we take our places at +the table of the Suicide Club." + +Colonel Geraldine fell upon his knees. + +"Will your Highness take my life?" he cried. "It is his--his freely; but +do not, O do not! let him ask me to countenance so terrible a risk." + +"Colonel Geraldine," replied the Prince, with some haughtiness of +manner, "your life is absolutely your own. I only looked for obedience; +and when that is unwillingly rendered, I shall look for that no longer. +I add one word: your importunity in this affair has been sufficient." + +The Master of the Horse regained his feet at once. + +"Your Highness," he said, "may I be excused in my attendance this +afternoon? I dare not, as an honourable man, venture a second time into +that fatal house until I have perfectly ordered my affairs. Your +Highness shall meet, I promise him, with no more opposition from the +most devoted and grateful of his servants." + +"My dear Geraldine," returned Prince Florizel, "I always regret when you +oblige me to remember my rank. Dispose of your day as you think fit, but +be here before eleven in the same disguise." + +The club, on this second evening, was not so fully attended; and when +Geraldine and the Prince arrived there were not above half a dozen +persons in the smoking-room. His Highness took the President aside and +congratulated him warmly on the demise of Mr. Malthus. + +"I like," he said, "to meet with capacity, and certainly find much of it +in you. Your profession is of a very delicate nature, but I see you are +well qualified to conduct it with success and secrecy." + +The President was somewhat affected by these compliments from one of his +Highness's superior bearing. He acknowledged them almost with humility. + +"Poor Malthy!" he added, "I shall hardly know the club without him. The +most of my patrons are boys, sir, and poetical boys, who are not much +company for me. Not but what Malthy had some poetry too; but it was of a +kind that I could understand." + +"I can readily imagine you should find yourself in sympathy with Mr. +Malthus," returned the Prince. "He struck me as a man of a very original +disposition." + +The young man of the cream tarts was in the room, but painfully +depressed and silent. His late companions sought in vain to lead him +into conversation. + +"How bitterly I wish," he cried, "that I had never brought you to this +infamous abode! Begone, while you are clean-handed. If you could have +heard the old man scream as he fell, and the noise of his bones upon the +pavement! Wish me, if you have any kindness to so fallen a being--wish +the ace of spades for me to-night!" + +A few more members dropped in as the evening went on, but the club did +not muster more than the devil's dozen when they took their places at +the table. The Prince was again conscious of a certain joy in his +alarms; but he was astonished to see Geraldine so much more +self-possessed than on the night before. + +"It is extraordinary," thought the Prince, "that a will, made or unmade, +should so greatly influence a young man's spirit." + +"Attention, gentlemen!" said the President, and he began to deal. + +Three times the cards went all round the table, and neither of the +marked cards had yet fallen from his hand. The excitement as he began +the fourth distribution was overwhelming. There were just cards enough +to go once more entirely round. The Prince, who sat second from the +dealer's left, would receive, in the reverse mode of dealing practised +at the club, the second last card. The third player turned up a black +ace--it was the ace of clubs. The next received a diamond, the next a +heart, and so on; but the ace of spades was still undelivered. At last +Geraldine, who sat upon the Prince's left, turned his card; it was an +ace, but the ace of hearts. + +When Prince Florizel saw his fate upon the table in front of him, his +heart stood still. He was a brave man, but the sweat poured off his +face. There were exactly fifty chances out of a hundred that he was +doomed. He reversed the card; it was the ace of spades. A loud roaring +filled his brain, and the table swam before his eyes. He heard the +player on his right break into a fit of laughter that sounded between +mirth and disappointment; he saw the company rapidly dispersing, but his +mind was full of other thoughts. He recognised how foolish, how +criminal, had been his conduct. In perfect health, in the prime of his +years, the heir to a throne, he had gambled away his future and that of +a brave and loyal country. "God," he cried, "God forgive me!" And with +that the confusion of his senses passed away, and he regained his +self-possession in a moment. + +To his surprise, Geraldine had disappeared. There was no one in the +card-room but his destined butcher consulting with the President, and +the young man of the cream tarts, who slipped up to the Prince and +whispered in his ear-- + +"I would give a million, if I had it, for your luck." + +His Highness could not help reflecting, as the young man departed, that +he would have sold his opportunity for a much more moderate sum. + +The whispered conference now came to an end. The holder of the ace of +clubs left the room with a look of intelligence, and the President, +approaching the unfortunate Prince, proffered him his hand. + +"I am pleased to have met you, sir," said he, "and pleased to have been +in a position to do you this trifling service. At least, you cannot +complain of delay. On the second evening--what a stroke of luck!" + +The Prince endeavoured in vain to articulate something in response, but +his mouth was dry and his tongue seemed paralysed. + +"You feel a little sickish?" asked the President, with some show of +solicitude. "Most gentlemen do. Will you take a little brandy?" + +The Prince signified in the affirmative, and the other immediately +filled some of the spirit into a tumbler. + +"Poor old Malthy!" ejaculated the President, as the Prince drained the +glass. "He drank near upon a pint, and little enough good it seemed to +do him!" + +"I am more amenable to treatment," said the Prince, a good deal revived. +"I am my own man again at once, as you perceive. And so, let me ask you, +what are my directions?" + +"You will proceed along the Strand in the direction of the City, and on +the left-hand pavement, until you meet the gentleman who has just left +the room. He will continue your instructions, and him you will have the +kindness to obey; the authority of the club is vested in his person for +the night. And now," added the President, "I wish you a pleasant walk." + +Florizel acknowledged the salutation rather awkwardly, and took his +leave. He passed through the smoking-room, where the bulk of the players +were still consuming champagne, some of which he had himself ordered and +paid for; and he was surprised to find himself cursing them in his +heart. He put on his hat and greatcoat in the cabinet, and selected his +umbrella from a corner. The familiarity of these acts, and the thought +that he was about them for the last time, betrayed him into a fit of +laughter which sounded unpleasantly in his own ears. He conceived a +reluctance to leave the cabinet, and turned instead to the window. The +sight of the lamps and the darkness recalled him to himself. + +"Come, come, I must be a man," he thought, "and tear myself away." + +At the corner of Box Court three men fell upon Prince Florizel, and he +was unceremoniously thrust into a carriage, which at once drove rapidly +away. There was already an occupant. + +"Will your Highness pardon my zeal?" said a well-known voice. + +The Prince threw himself upon the Colonel's neck in a passion of relief. + +"How can I ever thank you?" he cried. "And how was this effected?" + +Although he had been willing to march upon his doom, he was overjoyed to +yield to friendly violence, and return once more to life and hope. + +"You can thank me effectually enough," replied the Colonel, "by avoiding +all such dangers in the future. And as for your second question, all has +been managed by the simplest means. I arranged this afternoon with a +celebrated detective. Secrecy has been promised and paid for. Your own +servants have been principally engaged in the affair. The house in Box +Court has been surrounded since nightfall, and this, which is one of +your own carriages, has been awaiting you for nearly an hour." + +"And the miserable creature who was to have slain me--what of him?" +inquired the Prince. + +"He was pinioned as he left the club," replied the Colonel, "and now +awaits your sentence at the Palace, where he will soon be joined by his +accomplices." + +"Geraldine," said the Prince, "you have saved me against my explicit +orders, and you have done well. I owe you not only my life, but a +lesson; and I should be unworthy of my rank if I did not show myself +grateful to my teacher. Let it be yours to choose the manner." + +There was a pause, during which the carriage continued to speed through +the streets, and the two men were each buried in his own reflections. +The silence was broken by Colonel Geraldine. + +"Your Highness," said he, "has by this time a considerable body of +prisoners. There is at least one criminal among the number to whom +justice should be dealt. Our oath forbids us all recourse to law; and +discretion would forbid it equally if the oath were loosened. May I +inquire your Highness's intention?" + +"It is decided," answered Florizel; "the President must fall in duel. It +only remains to choose his adversary." + +"Your Highness has permitted me to name my own recompense," said the +Colonel. "Will he permit me to ask the appointment of my brother? It is +an honourable post, but I dare assure your Highness that the lad will +acquit himself with credit." + +"You ask me an ungracious favour," said the Prince, "but I must refuse +you nothing." + +The Colonel kissed his hand with the greatest affection; and at that +moment the carriage rolled under the archway of the Prince's splendid +residence. + +An hour after, Florizel in his official robes, and covered with all the +orders of Bohemia, received the members of the Suicide Club. + +"Foolish and wicked men," said he, "as many of you as have been driven +into this strait by the lack of fortune shall receive employment and +remuneration from my officers. Those who suffer under a sense of guilt +must have recourse to a higher and more generous Potentate than I. I +feel pity for all of you, deeper than you can imagine; to-morrow you +shall tell me your stories; and as you answer more frankly, I shall be +the more able to remedy your misfortunes. As for you," he added, turning +to the President, "I should only offend a person of your parts by any +offer of assistance; but I have instead a piece of diversion to propose +to you. Here," laying his hand on the shoulder of Colonel Geraldine's +young brother, "is an officer of mine who desires to make a little tour +upon the Continent; and I ask you, as a favour, to accompany him on +this excursion. Do you," he went on, changing his tone, "do you shoot +well with the pistol? Because you may have need of that accomplishment. +When two men go travelling together, it is best to be prepared for all. +Let me add that, if by any chance you should lose young Mr. Geraldine +upon the way, I shall always have another member of my household to +place at your disposal; and I am known, Mr. President, to have long +eyesight, and as long an arm." + +With these words, said with much sternness, the Prince concluded his +address. Next morning the members of the club were suitably provided for +by his munificence, and the President set forth upon his travels, under +the supervision of Mr. Geraldine, and a pair of faithful and adroit +lackeys, well trained in the Prince's household. Not content with this, +discreet agents were put in possession of the house in Box Court, and +all letters or visitors for the Suicide Club or its officials were to be +examined by Prince Florizel in person. + + +_Here_ (says my Arabian author) _ends The Story of_ THE YOUNG MAN WITH +THE CREAM TARTS, _who is now a comfortable householder in Wigmore +Street, Cavendish Square. The number, for obvious reasons, I suppress. +Those who care to pursue the adventures of Prince Florizel and the +President of the Suicide Club, may read_ + + +THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK + +Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore was a young American of a simple and harmless +disposition, which was the more to his credit as he came from New +England--a quarter of the New World not precisely famous for those +qualities. Although he was exceedingly rich, he kept a note of all his +expenses in a little paper pocket-book; and he had chosen to study the +attractions of Paris from the seventh story of what is called a +furnished hotel in the Latin Quarter. There was a great deal of habit in +his penuriousness; and his virtue, which was very remarkable among his +associates, was principally founded upon diffidence and youth. + +The next room to his was inhabited by a lady, very attractive in her air +and very elegant in toilette, whom, on his first arrival, he had taken +for a Countess. In course of time he had learned that she was known by +the name of Madame Zéphyrine, and that whatever station she occupied in +life it was not that of a person of title. Madame Zéphyrine, probably in +the hope of enchanting the young American, used to flaunt by him on the +stairs with a civil inclination, a word of course, and a knock-down look +out of her black eyes, and disappear in a rustle of silk, and with the +revelation of an admirable foot and ankle. But these advances, so far +from encouraging Mr. Scuddamore, plunged him into the depths of +depression and bashfulness. She had come to him several times for a +light, or to apologise for imaginary depredations of her poodle; but his +mouth was closed in the presence of so superior a being, his French +promptly left him, and he could only stare and stammer until she was +gone. The slenderness of their intercourse did not prevent him from +throwing out insinuations of a very glorious order when he was safely +alone with a few males. + +The room on the other side of the American's--for there were three rooms +on a floor in the hotel--was tenanted by an old English physician of +rather doubtful reputation. Dr. Noel, for that was his name, had been +forced to leave London, where he enjoyed a large and increasing +practice; and it was hinted that the police had been the instigators of +this change of scene. At least he, who had made something of a figure in +earlier life, now dwelt in the Latin Quarter in great simplicity and +solitude, and devoted much of his time to study. Mr. Scuddamore had made +his acquaintance, and the pair would now and then dine together +frugally in a restaurant across the street. + +Silas Q. Scuddamore had many little vices of the more respectable order, +and was not restrained by delicacy from indulging them in many rather +doubtful ways. Chief among his foibles stood curiosity. He was a born +gossip; and life, and especially those parts of it in which he had no +experience, interested him to the degree of passion. He was a pert, +invincible questioner, pushing his inquiries with equal pertinacity and +indiscretion; he had been observed, when he took a letter to the post, +to weigh it in his hand, to turn it over and over, and to study the +address with care; and when he found a flaw in the partition between his +room and Madame Zéphyrine's, instead of filling it up, he enlarged and +improved the opening, and made use of it as a spy-hole on his +neighbour's affairs. + +One day, in the end of March, his curiosity growing as it was indulged, +he enlarged the hole a little further, so that he might command another +corner of the room. That evening, when he went as usual to inspect +Madame Zéphyrine's movements, he was astonished to find the aperture +obscured in an odd manner on the other side, and still more abashed when +the obstacle was suddenly withdrawn and a titter of laughter reached his +ears. Some of the plaster had evidently betrayed the secret of his +spy-hole, and his neighbour had been returning the compliment in kind. +Mr. Scuddamore was moved to a very acute feeling of annoyance; he +condemned Madame Zéphyrine unmercifully: he even blamed himself; but +when he found, next day, that she had taken no means to baulk him of his +favourite pastime, he continued to profit by her carelessness, and +gratify his idle curiosity. + +That next day Madame Zéphyrine received a long visit from a tall, +loosely-built man of fifty or upwards, whom Silas had not hitherto seen. +His tweed suit and coloured shirt, no less than his shaggy +side-whiskers, identified him as a Britisher, and his dull grey eye +affected Silas with a sense of cold. He kept screwing his mouth from +side to side and round and round during the whole colloquy, which was +carried on in whispers. More than once it seemed to the young New +Englander as if their gestures indicated his own apartment; but the only +thing definite he could gather by the most scrupulous attention was this +remark, made by the Englishman in a somewhat higher key, as if in answer +to some reluctance or opposition-- + +"I have studied his taste to a nicety, and I tell you again and again +you are the only woman of the sort that I can lay my hands on." + +In answer to this, Madame Zéphyrine sighed, and appeared by a gesture to +resign herself, like one yielding to unqualified authority. + +That afternoon the observatory was finally blinded, a wardrobe having +been drawn in front of it upon the other side; and while Silas was still +lamenting over this misfortune, which he attributed to the Britisher's +malign suggestion, the _concierge_ brought him up a letter in a female +handwriting. It was conceived in French of no very rigorous orthography, +bore no signature, and in the most encouraging terms invited the young +American to be present in a certain part of the Bullier Ball at eleven +o'clock that night. Curiosity and timidity fought a long battle in his +heart; sometimes he was all virtue, sometimes all fire and daring; and +the result of it was that, long before ten, Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore +presented himself in unimpeachable attire at the door of the Bullier +Ball Rooms, and paid his entry money with a sense of reckless devilry +that was not without its charm. + +It was Carnival time, and the Ball was very full and noisy. The lights +and the crowd at first rather abashed our young adventurer, and then, +mounting to his brain with a sort of intoxication, put him in possession +of more than his own share of manhood. He felt ready to face the devil, +and strutted in the ball-room with the swagger of a cavalier. While he +was thus parading, he became aware of Madame Zéphyrine and her +Britisher in conference behind a pillar. The cat-like spirit of +eavesdropping overcame him at once. He stole nearer and nearer on the +couple from behind, until he was within earshot. + +"That is the man," the Britisher was saying; "there--with the long blond +hair--speaking to a girl in green." + +Silas identified a very handsome young fellow of small stature, who was +plainly the object of this designation. + +"It is well," said Madame Zéphyrine. "I shall do my utmost. But, +remember, the best of us may fail in such a matter." + +"Tut!" returned her companion; "I answer for the result. Have I not +chosen you from thirty? Go; but be wary of the Prince. I cannot think +what cursed accident has brought him here to-night. As if there were not +a dozen balls in Paris better worth his notice than this riot of +students and counter-jumpers! See him where he sits, more like a +reigning Emperor at home than a Prince upon his holidays!" + +Silas was again lucky. He observed a person of rather a full build, +strikingly handsome, and of a very stately and courteous demeanour, +seated at table with another handsome young man, several years his +junior, who addressed him with conspicuous deference. The name of Prince +struck gratefully on Silas's Republican hearing, and the aspect of the +person to whom that name was applied exercised its usual charm upon his +mind. He left Madame Zéphyrine and her Englishman to take care of each +other, and threading his way through the assembly, approached the table +which the Prince and his confidant had honoured with their choice. + +"I tell you, Geraldine," the former was saying, "the action is madness. +Yourself (I am glad to remember it) chose your brother for this perilous +service, and you are bound in duty to have a guard upon his conduct. He +has consented to delay so many days in Paris; that was already an +imprudence, considering the character of the man he has to deal with; +but now, when he is within eight-and-forty hours of his departure, when +he is within two or three days of the decisive trial, I ask you, is this +a place for him to spend his time? He should be in a gallery at +practice; he should be sleeping long hours and taking moderate exercise +on foot; he should be on a rigorous diet, without white wines or brandy. +Does the dog imagine we are all playing comedy? The thing is deadly +earnest, Geraldine." + +"I know the lad too well to interfere," replied Colonel Geraldine, "and +well enough not to be alarmed. He is more cautious than you fancy, and +of an indomitable spirit. If it had been a woman I should not say so +much, but I trust the President to him and the two valets without an +instant's apprehension." + +"I am gratified to hear you say so," replied the Prince; "but my mind is +not at rest. These servants are well-trained spies, and already has not +this miscreant succeeded three times in eluding their observation and +spending several hours on each in private, and most likely dangerous, +affairs? An amateur might have lost him by accident, but if Rudolph and +Jérome were thrown off the scent, it must have been done on purpose, and +by a man who had a cogent reason and exceptional resources." + +"I believe the question is now one between my brother and myself," +replied Geraldine, with a shade of offence in his tone. + +"I permit it to be so, Colonel Geraldine," returned Prince Florizel. +"Perhaps, for that very reason, you should be all the more ready to +accept my counsels. But enough. That girl in yellow dances well." + +And the talk veered into the ordinary topics of a Paris ball-room in the +Carnival. + +Silas remembered where he was, and that the hour was already near at +hand when he ought to be upon the scene of his assignation. The more he +reflected the less he liked the prospect, and as at that moment an eddy +in the crowd began to draw him in the direction of the door, he +suffered it to carry him away without resistance. The eddy stranded him +in a corner under the gallery, where his ear was immediately struck with +the voice of Madame Zéphyrine. She was speaking in French with the young +man of the blond locks who had been pointed out by the strange Britisher +not half an hour before. + +"I have a character at stake," she said, "or I would put no other +condition than my heart recommends. But you have only to say so much to +the porter, and he will let you go by without a word." + +"But why this talk of debt?" objected her companion. + +"Heavens!" said she, "do you think I do not understand my own hotel?" + +And she went by, clinging affectionately to her companion's arm. + +This put Silas in mind of his billet. + +"Ten minutes hence," thought he, "and I may be walking with as beautiful +a woman as that, and even better dressed--perhaps a real lady, possibly +a woman of title." + +And then he remembered the spelling, and was a little downcast. + +"But it may have been written by her maid," he imagined. + +The clock was only a few minutes from the hour, and this immediate +proximity set his heart beating at a curious and rather disagreeable +speed. He reflected with relief that he was in no way bound to put in an +appearance. Virtue and cowardice were together, and he made once more +for the door, but this time, of his own accord, and battling against the +stream of people which was now moving in a contrary direction. Perhaps +this prolonged resistance wearied him, or perhaps he was in that frame +of mind when merely to continue in the same determination for a certain +number of minutes produces a reaction and a different purpose. +Certainly, at least, he wheeled about for a third time, and did not +stop until he had found a place of concealment within a few yards of the +appointed place. + +Here he went through an agony of spirit, in which he several times +prayed to God for help, for Silas had been devoutly educated. He had now +not the least inclination for the meeting; nothing kept him from flight +but a silly fear lest he should be thought unmanly; but this was so +powerful that it kept head against all other motives; and although it +could not decide him to advance, prevented him from definitely running +away. At last the clock indicated ten minutes past the hour. Young +Scuddamore's spirit began to rise; he peered round the corner and saw no +one at the place of meeting; doubtless his unknown correspondent had +wearied and gone away. He became as bold as he had formerly been timid. +It seemed to him that if he came at all to the appointment, however +late, he was clear from the charge of cowardice. Nay, now he began to +suspect a hoax, and actually complimented himself on his shrewdness in +having suspected and out-manoeuvred his mystifiers. So very idle a +thing is a boy's mind! + +Armed with these reflections, he advanced boldly from his corner; but he +had not taken above a couple of steps before a hand was laid upon his +arm. He turned and beheld a lady cast in a very large mould and with +somewhat stately features, but bearing no mark of severity in her looks. + +"I see that you are a very self-confident lady-killer," said she; "for +you make yourself expected. But I was determined to meet you. When a +woman has once so far forgotten herself as to make the first advance, +she has long ago left behind her all considerations of petty pride." + +Silas was overwhelmed by the size and attractions of his correspondent +and the suddenness with which she had fallen upon him. But she soon set +him at his ease. She was very towardly and lenient in her behaviour; she +led him on to make pleasantries, and then applauded him to the echo; and +in a very short time, between blandishments and a liberal exhibition of +warm brandy, she had not only induced him to fancy himself in love, but +to declare his passion with the greatest vehemence. + +"Alas!" she said; "I do not know whether I ought not to deplore this +moment, great as is the pleasure you give me by your words. Hitherto I +was alone to suffer; now, poor boy, there will be two. I am not my own +mistress. I dare not ask you to visit me at my own house, for I am +watched by jealous eyes. Let me see," she added; "I am older than you, +although so much weaker; and while I trust in your courage and +determination, I must employ my own knowledge of the world for our +mutual benefit. Where do you live?" + +He told her that he lodged in a furnished hotel, and named the street +and number. + +She seemed to reflect for some minutes, with an effort of mind. + +"I see," she said at last. "You will be faithful and obedient, will you +not?" + +Silas assured her eagerly of his fidelity. + +"To-morrow night, then," she continued, with an encouraging smile, "you +must remain at home all the evening; and if any friends should visit +you, dismiss them at once on any pretext that most readily presents +itself. Your door is probably shut by ten?" she asked. + +"By eleven," answered Silas. + +"At a quarter past eleven," pursued the lady, "leave the house. Merely +cry for the door to be opened, and be sure you fall into no talk with +the porter, as that might ruin everything. Go straight to the corner +where the Luxembourg Gardens join the Boulevard; there you will find me +waiting you. I trust you to follow my advice from point to point: and +remember, if you fail me in only one particular, you will bring the +sharpest trouble on a woman whose only fault is to have seen and loved +you." + +"I cannot see the use of all these instructions," said Silas. + +"I believe you are already beginning to treat me as a master," she +cried, tapping him with her fan upon the arm. "Patience, patience! that +should come in time. A woman loves to be obeyed at first, although +afterwards she finds her pleasure in obeying. Do as I ask you, for +Heaven's sake, or I will answer for nothing. Indeed, now I think of it," +she added, with a manner of one who has just seen further into a +difficulty, "I find a better plan of keeping importunate visitors away. +Tell the porter to admit no one for you, except a person who may come +that night to claim a debt; and speak with some feeling, as though you +feared the interview, so that he may take your words in earnest." + +"I think you may trust me to protect myself against intruders," he said, +not without a little pique. + +"That is how I should prefer the thing arranged," she answered coldly. +"I know you men; you think nothing of a woman's reputation." + +Silas blushed and somewhat hung his head; for the scheme he had in view +had involved a little vain-glorying before his acquaintances. + +"Above all," she added, "do not speak to the porter as you come out." + +"And why?" said he. "Of all your instructions, that seems to me the +least important." + +"You at first doubted the wisdom of some of the others, which you now +see to be very necessary," she replied. "Believe me, this also has its +uses; in time you will see them; and what am I to think of your +affection, if you refuse me such trifles at our first interview?" + +Silas confounded himself in explanations and apologies; in the middle of +these she looked up at the clock and clapped her hands together with a +suppressed scream. + +"Heavens!" she cried, "is it so late? I have not an instant to lose. +Alas, we poor women, what slaves we are! What have I not risked for you +already?" + +And after repeating her directions, which she artfully combined with +caresses and the most abandoned looks, she bade him farewell and +disappeared among the crowd. + +The whole of the next day Silas was filled with a sense of great +importance; he was now sure she was a countess; and when evening came he +minutely obeyed her orders and was at the corner of the Luxembourg +Gardens by the hour appointed. No one was there. He waited nearly half +an hour, looking in the face of every one who passed or loitered near +the spot; he even visited the neighbouring corners of the Boulevard and +made a complete circuit of the garden railings; but there was no +beautiful countess to throw herself into his arms. At last, and most +reluctantly, he began to retrace his steps towards his hotel. On the way +he remembered the words he had heard pass between Madame Zéphyrine and +the blond young man, and they gave him an indefinite uneasiness. + +"It appears," he reflected, "that every one has to tell lies to our +porter." + +He rang the bell, the door opened before him, and the porter in his +bed-clothes came to offer him a light. + +"Has he gone?" inquired the porter. + +"He? Whom do you mean?" asked Silas, somewhat sharply, for he was +irritated by his disappointment. + +"I did not notice him go out," continued the porter, "but I trust you +paid him. We do not care, in this house, to have lodgers who cannot meet +their liabilities." + +"What the devil do you mean?" demanded Silas, rudely. "I cannot +understand a word of this farrago." + +"The short, blond young man who came for his debt," returned the other. +"Him it is I mean. Who else should it be, when I had your orders to +admit no one else?" + +"Why, good God! of course he never came," retorted Silas. + +"I believe what I believe," returned the porter, putting his tongue into +his cheek with a most roguish air. + +"You are an insolent scoundrel," cried Silas, and, feeling that he had +made a ridiculous exhibition of asperity, and at the same time +bewildered by a dozen alarms, he turned and began to run upstairs. + +"Do you not want a light, then?" cried the porter. + +But Silas only hurried the faster, and did not pause until he had +reached the seventh landing and stood in front of his own door. There he +waited a moment to recover his breath, assailed by the worst +forebodings, and almost dreading to enter the room. + +When at last he did so he was relieved to find it dark, and to all +appearance untenanted. He drew a long breath. Here he was, home again in +safety, and this should be his last folly as certainly as it had been +his first. The matches stood on a little table by the bed, and he began +to grope his way in that direction. As he moved, his apprehensions grew +upon him once more, and he was pleased, when his foot encountered an +obstacle, to find it nothing more alarming than a chair. At last he +touched curtains. From the position of the window, which was faintly +visible, he knew he must be at the foot of the bed, and had only to feel +his way along it in order to reach the table in question. + +He lowered his hand, but what it touched was not simply a +counterpane--it was a counterpane with something underneath it like the +outline of a human leg. Silas withdrew his arm and stood a moment +petrified. + +"What, what," he thought, "can this betoken?" + +He listened intently, but there was no sound of breathing. Once more, +with a great effort, he reached out the end of his finger to the spot he +had already touched; but this time he leaped back half a yard, and stood +shivering and fixed with terror. There was something in his bed. What it +was he knew not, but there was something there. + +It was some seconds before he could move. Then, guided by an instinct, +he fell straight upon the matches, and, keeping his back towards the +bed, lighted a candle. As soon as the flame had kindled, he turned +slowly round and looked for what he feared to see. Sure enough, there +was the worst of his imaginations realised. The coverlid was drawn +carefully up over the pillow, but it moulded the outline of a human body +lying motionless; and when he dashed forward and flung aside the sheets, +he beheld the blond young man whom he had seen in the Bullier Ball the +night before, his eyes open and without speculation, his face swollen +and blackened, and a thin stream of blood trickling from his nostrils. + +Silas uttered a long, tremulous wail, dropped the candle and fell on his +knees beside the bed. + +Silas was awakened from the stupor into which his terrible discovery had +plunged him, by a prolonged but discreet tapping at the door. It took +him some seconds to remember his position; and when he hastened to +prevent any one from entering it was already too late. Dr. Noel, in a +tall nightcap, carrying a lamp which lighted up his long white +countenance, sidling in his gait, and peering and cocking his head like +some sort of bird, pushed the door slowly open, and advanced into the +middle of the room. + +"I thought I heard a cry," began the Doctor, "and fearing you might be +unwell I did not hesitate to offer this intrusion." + +Silas, with a flushed face and a fearful beating heart, kept between the +Doctor and the bed; but he found no voice to answer. + +"You are in the dark," pursued the Doctor; "and yet you have not even +begun to prepare for rest. You will not easily persuade me against my +own eyesight; and your face declares most eloquently that you require +either a friend or a physician--which is it to be? Let me feel your +pulse, for that is often a just reporter of the heart." + +He advanced to Silas, who still retreated before him backwards, and +sought to take him by the wrist; but the strain on the young American's +nerves had become too great for endurance. He avoided the Doctor with a +febrile movement, and, throwing himself upon the floor, burst into a +flood of weeping. + +As soon as Dr. Noel perceived the dead man in the bed his face +darkened; and hurrying back to the door, which he had left ajar, he +hastily closed and double-locked it. + +"Up!" he cried, addressing Silas in strident tones; this is no time for +weeping. "What have you done? How came this body in your room? Speak +freely to one who may be helpful. Do you imagine I would ruin you? Do +you think this piece of dead flesh on your pillow can alter in any +degree the sympathy with which you have inspired me? Credulous youth, +the horror with which blind and unjust law regards an action never +attaches to the doer in the eyes of those who love him; and if I saw the +friend of my heart return to me out of seas of blood he would be in no +way changed in my affection. Raise yourself," he said; "good and ill are +a chimera; there is nought in life except destiny, and however you may +be circumstanced there is one at your side who will help you to the +last." + +Thus encouraged, Silas gathered himself together, and in a broken voice, +and helped out by the Doctor's interrogations, contrived at last to put +him in possession of the facts. But the conversation between the Prince +and Geraldine he altogether omitted, as he had understood little of its +purport, and had no idea that it was in any way related to his own +misadventure. + +"Alas!" cried Dr. Noel, "I am much abused, or you have fallen innocently +into the most dangerous hands in Europe. Poor boy, what a pit has been +dug for your simplicity! into what a deadly peril have your unwary feet +been conducted! This man," he said, "this Englishman, whom you twice +saw, and whom I suspect to be the soul of the contrivance, can you +describe him? Was he young or old? tall or short?" + +But Silas, who, for all his curiosity, had not a seeing eye in his head, +was able to supply nothing but meagre generalities, which it was +impossible to recognise. + +"I would have it a piece of education in all schools!" cried the Doctor +angrily. "Where is the use of eyesight and articulate speech if a man +cannot observe and recollect the features of his enemy? I, who know all +the gangs of Europe, might have identified him, and gained new weapons +for your defence. Cultivate this art in future, my poor boy; you may +find it of momentous service." + +"The future!" repeated Silas. "What future is there left for me except +the gallows?" + +"Youth is but a cowardly season," returned the Doctor; "and a man's own +troubles look blacker than they are. I am old, and yet I never despair." + +"Can I tell such a story to the police?" demanded Silas. + +"Assuredly not," replied the Doctor. "From what I see already of the +machination in which you have been involved, your case is desperate upon +that side; and for the narrow eye of the authorities you are infallibly +the guilty person. And remember that we only know a portion of the plot; +and the same infamous contrivers have doubtless arranged many other +circumstances which would be elicited by a police inquiry, and help to +fix the guilt more certainly upon your innocence." + +"I am then lost, indeed!" cried Silas. + +"I have not said so," answered Dr. Noel, "for I am a cautious man." + +"But look at this!" objected Silas, pointing to the body. "Here is this +object in my bed: not to be explained, not to be disposed of, not to be +regarded without horror." + +"Horror?" replied the Doctor. "No. When this sort of clock has run down, +it is no more to me than an ingenious piece of mechanism, to be +investigated with the bistoury. When blood is once cold and stagnant, it +is no longer human blood; when flesh is once dead, it is no longer that +flesh which we desire in our lovers and respect in our friends. The +grace, the attraction, the terror, have all gone from it with the +animating spirit. Accustom yourself to look upon it with composure; for +if my scheme is practicable you will have to live some days in constant +proximity to that which now so greatly horrifies you." + +"Your scheme?" cried Silas. "What is that? Tell me speedily, Doctor; +for I have scarcely courage enough to continue to exist." + +Without replying, Dr. Noel turned towards the bed, and proceeded to +examine the corpse. + +"Quite dead," he murmured. "Yes, as I had supposed, the pockets empty. +Yes, and the name cut off the shirt. Their work has been done thoroughly +and well. Fortunately, he is of small stature." + +Silas followed these words with an extreme anxiety. At last the Doctor, +his autopsy completed, took a chair and addressed the young American +with a smile. + +"Since I came into your room," said he, "although my ears and my tongue +have been so busy, I have not suffered my eyes to remain idle. I noted a +little while ago that you have there, in the corner, one of those +monstrous constructions which your fellow-countrymen carry with them +into all quarters of the globe--in a word, a Saratoga trunk. Until this +moment I have never been able to conceive the utility of these +erections; but then I began to have a glimmer. Whether it was for +convenience in the slave-trade, or to obviate the results of too ready +an employment of the bowie-knife, I cannot bring myself to decide. But +one thing I see plainly--the object of such a box is to contain a human +body." + +"Surely," cried Silas, "surely this is not a time for jesting." + +"Although I may express myself with some degree of pleasantry," replied +the Doctor, "the purport of my words is entirely serious. And the first +thing we have to do, my young friend, is to empty your coffer of all +that it contains." + +Silas, obeying the authority of Dr. Noel, put himself at his +disposition. The Saratoga trunk was soon gutted of its contents, which +made a considerable litter on the floor; and then--Silas taking the +heels and the Doctor supporting the shoulders--the body of the murdered +man was carried from the bed, and, after some difficulty, doubled up and +inserted whole into the empty box. With an effort on the part of both, +the lid was forced down upon this unusual baggage, and the trunk was +locked and corded by the Doctor's own hand, while Silas disposed of what +had been taken out between the closet and a chest of drawers. + +"Now," said the Doctor, "the first step has been taken on the way to +your deliverance. To-morrow, or rather to-day, it must be your task to +allay the suspicions of your porter, paying him all that you owe; while +you may trust me to make the arrangements necessary to a safe +conclusion. Meantime, follow me to my room, where I shall give you a +safe and powerful opiate; for, whatever you do, you must have rest." + +The next day was the longest in Silas's memory; it seemed as if it would +never be done. He denied himself to his friends, and sat in a corner +with his eyes fixed upon the Saratoga trunk in dismal contemplation. His +own former indiscretions were now returned upon him in kind; for the +observatory had been once more opened, and he was conscious of an almost +continual study from Madame Zéphyrine's apartment. So distressing did +this become that he was at last obliged to block up the spy-hole from +his own side; and when he was thus secured from observation he spent a +considerable portion of his time in contrite tears and prayer. + +Late in the evening Dr. Noel entered the room carrying in his hand a +pair of sealed envelopes without address, one somewhat bulky, and the +other so slim as to seem without enclosure. + +"Silas," he said, seating himself at the table, "the time has now come +for me to explain my plan for your salvation. To-morrow morning, at an +early hour, Prince Florizel of Bohemia returns to London, after having +diverted himself for a few days with the Parisian Carnival. It was my +fortune, a good while ago, to do Colonel Geraldine, his Master of the +Horse, one of those services, so common in my profession, which are +never forgotten upon either side. I have no need to explain to you the +nature of the obligation under which he was laid; suffice it to say +that I knew him ready to serve me in any practicable manner. Now, it was +necessary for you to gain London with your trunk unopened. To this the +Custom House seemed to oppose a fatal difficulty; but I bethought me +that the baggage of so considerable a person as the Prince is, as a +matter of courtesy, passed without examination by the officers of +Custom. I applied to Colonel Geraldine, and succeeded in obtaining a +favourable answer. To-morrow, if you go before six to the hotel where +the Prince lodges, your baggage will be passed over as a part of his, +and you yourself will make the journey as a member of his suite." + +"It seems to me, as you speak, that I have already seen both the Prince +and Colonel Geraldine; I even overheard some of their conversation the +other evening at the Bullier Ball." + +"It is probable enough; for the Prince loves to mix with all societies," +replied the Doctor. "Once arrived in London," he pursued, "your task is +nearly ended. In this more bulky envelope I have given you a letter +which I dare not address; but in the other you will find the designation +of the house to which you must carry it along with your box, which will +there be taken from you and not trouble you any more." + +"Alas!" said Silas, "I have every wish to believe you; but how is it +possible? You open up to me a bright prospect, but, I ask you, is my +mind capable of receiving so unlikely a solution? Be more generous, and +let me further understand your meaning." + +The Doctor seemed painfully impressed. + +"Boy," he answered, "you do not know how hard a thing you ask of me. But +be it so. I am now inured to humiliation; and it would be strange if I +refused you this, after having granted you so much. Know, then, that +although I now make so quiet an appearance--frugal, solitary, addicted +to study--when I was younger, my name was once a rallying-cry among the +most astute and dangerous spirits of London; and while I was outwardly +an object for respect and consideration, my true power resided in the +most secret, terrible, and criminal relations. It is to one of the +persons who then obeyed me that I now address myself to deliver you from +your burden. They were men of many different nations and dexterities, +all bound together by a formidable oath, and working to the same +purposes; the trade of the association was in murder; and I who speak to +you, innocent as I appear, was the chieftain of this redoubtable crew." + +"What?" cried Silas. "A murderer? And one with whom murder was a trade? +Can I take your hand? Ought I so much as to accept your services? Dark +and criminal old man, would you make an accomplice of my youth and my +distress?" + +The Doctor bitterly laughed. + +"You are difficult to please, Mr. Scuddamore," said he; "but I now offer +you your choice of company between the murdered man and the murderer. If +your conscience is too nice to accept my aid, say so, and I will +immediately leave you. Thenceforward you can deal with your trunk and +its belongings as best suits your upright conscience." + +"I own myself wrong," replied Silas. "I should have remembered how +generously you offered to shield me, even before I had convinced you of +my innocence, and I continue to listen to your counsels with gratitude." + +"That is well," returned the Doctor; "and I perceive you are beginning +to learn some of the lessons of experience." + +"At the same time," resumed the New Englander, "as you confess yourself +accustomed to this tragical business, and the people to whom you +recommend me are your own former associates and friends, could you not +yourself undertake the transport of the box, and rid me at once of its +detested presence?" + +"Upon my word," replied the Doctor, "I admire you cordially. If you do +not think I have already meddled sufficiently in your concerns, believe +me, from my heart I think the contrary. Take or leave my services as I +offer them; and trouble me with no more words of gratitude, for I value +your consideration even more lightly than I do your intellect. A time +will come, if you should be spared to see a number of years in health of +mind, when you will think differently of all this, and blush for your +to-night's behaviour." + +So saying, the Doctor arose from his chair, repeated his directions +briefly and clearly, and departed from the room without permitting Silas +any time to answer. + +The next morning Silas presented himself at the hotel, where he was +politely received by Colonel Geraldine, and relieved, from that moment, +of all immediate alarm about his trunk and its grisly contents. The +journey passed over without much incident, although the young man was +horrified to overhear the sailors and railway porters complaining among +themselves about the unusual weight of the Prince's baggage. Silas +travelled in a carriage with the valets, for Prince Florizel chose to be +alone with his Master of the Horse. On board the steamer, however, Silas +attracted his Highness's attention by the melancholy of his air and +attitude as he stood gazing at the pile of baggage; for he was still +full of disquietude about the future. + +"There is a young man," observed the Prince, "who must have some cause +for sorrow." + +"That," replied Geraldine, "is the American for whom I obtained +permission to travel with your suite." + +"You remind me that I have been remiss in courtesy," said Prince +Florizel, and advancing to Silas, he addressed him with the most +exquisite condescension in these words: + +"I was charmed, young sir, to be able to gratify the desire you made +known to me through Colonel Geraldine. Remember, if you please, that I +shall be glad at any future time to lay you under a more serious +obligation." + +And he then put some questions as to the political condition of America, +which Silas answered with sense and propriety. + +"You are still a young man," said the Prince; "but I observe you to be +very serious for your years. Perhaps you allow your attention to be too +much occupied with grave studies. But, perhaps, on the other hand, I am +myself indiscreet and touch upon a painful subject." + +"I have certainly cause to be the most miserable of men," said Silas; +"never has a more innocent person been more dismally abused." + +"I will not ask you for your confidence," returned Prince Florizel. "But +do not forget that Colonel Geraldine's recommendation is an unfailing +passport; and that I am not only willing, but possibly more able than +many others, to do you a service." + +Silas was delighted with the amiability of this great personage; but his +mind soon returned upon its gloomy preoccupations; for not even the +favour of a Prince to a Republican can discharge a brooding spirit of +its cares. + +The train arrived at Charing Cross, where the officers of the Revenue +respected the baggage of Prince Florizel in the usual manner. The most +elegant equipages were in waiting; and Silas was driven, along with the +rest, to the Prince's residence. There Colonel Geraldine sought him out, +and expressed himself pleased to have been of any service to a friend of +the physician's, for whom he professed a great consideration. + +"I hope," he added, "that you will find none of your porcelain injured. +Special orders were given along the line to deal tenderly with the +Prince's effects." + +And then, directing the servants to place one of the carriages at the +young gentleman's disposal, and at once to charge the Saratoga trunk +upon the dickey, the Colonel shook hands and excused himself on account +of his occupations in the princely household. + +Silas now broke the seal of the envelope containing the address, and +directed the stately footman to drive him to Box Court, opening off the +Strand. It seemed as if the place were not at all unknown to the man, +for he looked startled and begged a repetition of the order. It was +with a heart full of alarms that Silas mounted into the luxurious +vehicle, and was driven to his destination. The entrance to Box Court +was too narrow for the passage of a coach; it was a mere footway between +railings, with a post at either end. On one of these posts was seated a +man, who at once jumped down and exchanged a friendly sign with the +driver, while the footman opened the door and inquired of Silas whether +he should take down the Saratoga trunk, and to what number it should be +carried. + +"If you please," said Silas. "To number three." + +The footman and the man who had been sitting on the post, even with the +aid of Silas himself, had hard work to carry in the trunk; and before it +was deposited at the door of the house in question, the young American +was horrified to find a score of loiterers looking on. But he knocked +with as good a countenance as he could muster up, and presented the +other envelope to him who opened. + +"He is not at home," said he, "but if you will leave your letter and +return to-morrow early, I shall be able to inform you whether and when +he can receive your visit. Would you like to leave your box?" he added. + +"Dearly," cried Silas; and the next moment he repented his +precipitation, and declared, with equal emphasis, that he would rather +carry the box along with him to the hotel. + +The crowd jeered at his indecision, and followed him to the carriage +with insulting remarks; and Silas, covered with shame and terror, +implored the servants to conduct him to some quiet and comfortable house +of entertainment in the immediate neighbourhood. + +The Prince's equipage deposited Silas at the Craven Hotel in Craven +Street, and immediately drove away, leaving him alone with the servants +of the inn. The only vacant room, it appeared, was a little den up four +pairs of stairs, and looking towards the back. To this hermitage, with +infinite trouble and complaint, a pair of stout porters carried the +Saratoga trunk. It is needless to mention that Silas kept closely at +their heels throughout the ascent, and had his heart in his mouth at +every corner. A single false step, he reflected, and the box might go +over the banisters and land its fatal contents, plainly discovered, on +the pavement of the hall. + +Arrived in the room, he sat down on the edge of his bed to recover from +the agony that he had just endured; but he had hardly taken his position +when he was recalled to a sense of his peril by the action of the boots, +who had knelt beside the trunk, and was proceeding officiously to undo +its elaborate fastenings. + +"Let it be!" cried Silas. "I shall want nothing from it while I stay +here." + +"You might have let it lie in the hall, then," growled the man; "a thing +as big and heavy as a church. What you have inside I cannot fancy. If it +is all money, you are a richer man than we." + +"Money?" repeated Silas, in a sudden perturbation. "What do you mean by +money? I have no money, and you are speaking like a fool." + +"All right, captain," retorted the boots with a wink. "There's nobody +will touch your lordship's money. I'm as safe as the bank," he added; +"but as the box is heavy, I shouldn't mind drinking something to your +lordship's health." + +Silas pressed two Napoleons upon his acceptance, apologising, at the +same time, for being obliged to trouble him with foreign money, and +pleading his recent arrival for excuse. And the man, grumbling with even +greater fervour, and looking contemptuously from the money in his hand +to the Saratoga trunk, and back again from the one to the other, at last +consented to withdraw. + +For nearly two days the dead body had been packed into Silas's box; and +as soon as he was alone the unfortunate New Englander nosed all the +cracks and openings with the most passionate attention. But the weather +was cool, and the trunk still managed to contain his shocking secret. + +He took a chair beside it, and buried his face in his hands, and his +mind in the most profound reflection. If he were not speedily relieved, +no question but he must be speedily discovered. Alone in a strange city, +without friends or accomplices, if the Doctor's introduction failed him, +he was indubitably a lost New Englander. He reflected pathetically over +his ambitious designs for the future; he should not now become the hero +and spokesman of his native place of Bangor, Maine; he should not, as he +had fondly anticipated, move on from office to office, from honour to +honour; he might as well divest himself at once of all hope of being +acclaimed President of the United States, and leaving behind him a +statue, in the worst possible style of art, to adorn the Capitol at +Washington. Here he was, chained to a dead Englishman doubled up inside +a Saratoga trunk; whom he must get rid of, or perish from the rolls of +national glory! + +I should be afraid to chronicle the language employed by this young man +to the Doctor, to the murdered man, to Madame Zéphyrine, to the boots of +the hotel, to the Prince's servants, and, in a word, to all who had been +ever so remotely connected with his horrible misfortune. + +He slunk down to dinner about seven at night; but the yellow coffee-room +appalled him, the eyes of the other diners seemed to rest on his with +suspicion, and his mind remained upstairs with the Saratoga trunk. When +the waiter came to offer him cheese, his nerves were already so much on +edge that he leaped half-way out of his chair and upset the remainder of +a pint of ale upon the table-cloth. + +The fellow offered to show him to the smoking-room when he had done; and +although he would have much preferred to return at once to his perilous +treasure, he had not the courage to refuse, and was shown downstairs to +the black, gas-lit cellar, which formed, and possibly still forms, the +divan of the Craven Hotel. + +Two very sad betting men were playing billiards, attended by a moist, +consumptive marker; and for the moment Silas imagined that these were +the only occupants of the apartment. But at the next glance his eye +fell upon a person smoking in the farthest corner, with lowered eyes and +a most respectable and modest aspect. He knew at once that he had seen +the face before; and, in spite of the entire change of clothes, +recognised the man whom he had found seated on a post at the entrance to +Box Court, and who had helped him to carry the trunk to and from the +carriage. The New Englander simply turned and ran, nor did he pause +until he had locked and bolted himself into his bedroom. + +There, all night long, a prey to the most terrible imaginations, he +watched beside the fatal boxful of dead flesh. The suggestion of the +boots that his trunk was full of gold inspired him with all manner of +new terrors, if he so much as dared to close an eye; and the presence in +the smoking-room, and under an obvious disguise, of the loiterer from +Box Court convinced him that he was once more the centre of obscure +machinations. + +Midnight had sounded some time, when, impelled by uneasy suspicions, +Silas opened his bedroom door and peered into the passage. It was dimly +illuminated by a single jet of gas; and some distance off he perceived a +man sleeping on the floor in the costume of an hotel under-servant. +Silas drew near the man on tiptoe. He lay partly on his back, partly on +his side, and his right fore-arm concealed his face from recognition. +Suddenly, while the American was still bending over him, the sleeper +removed his arm and opened his eyes, and Silas found himself once more +face to face with the loiterer of Box Court. + +"Good-night, sir," said the man pleasantly. + +But Silas was too profoundly moved to find an answer, and regained his +room in silence. + +Towards morning, worn out by apprehension, he fell asleep on his chair, +with his head forward on the trunk. In spite of so constrained an +attitude and such a grisly pillow, his slumber was sound and prolonged, +and he was only awakened at a late hour and by a sharp tapping at the +door. + +He hurried to open, and found the boots without. + +"You are the gentleman who called yesterday at Box Court?" he asked. + +Silas, with a quaver, admitted that he had done so. + +"Then this note is for you," added the servant, proffering a sealed +envelope. + +Silas tore it open, and found inside the words: "Twelve o'clock." + +He was punctual to the hour; the trunk was carried before him by several +stout servants; and he was himself ushered into a room, where a man sat +warming himself before the fire with his back towards the door. The +sound of so many persons entering and leaving, and the scraping of the +trunk as it was deposited upon the bare boards, were alike unable to +attract the notice of the occupant; and Silas stood waiting, in an agony +of fear, until he should deign to recognise his presence. + +Perhaps five minutes had elapsed before the man turned leisurely about, +and disclosed the features of Prince Florizel of Bohemia. + +"So, sir," he said, with great severity, "this is the manner in which +you abuse my politeness. You join yourself to persons of condition, I +perceive, for no other purpose than to escape the consequences of your +crimes; and I can readily understand your embarrassment when I addressed +myself to you yesterday." + +"Indeed," cried Silas, "I am innocent of everything except misfortune." + +And in a hurried voice, and with the greatest ingenuousness, he +recounted to the Prince the whole history of his calamity. + +"I see I have been mistaken," said his Highness, when he had heard him +to an end. "You are no other than a victim, and since I am not to punish +you may be sure I shall do my utmost to help.--And now," he continued, +"to business. Open your box at once, and let me see what it contains." + +Silas changed colour. + +"I almost fear to look upon it," he exclaimed. + +"Nay," replied the Prince, "have you not looked at it already? This is a +form of sentimentality to be resisted. The sight of a sick man, whom we +can still help, should appeal more directly to the feelings than that of +a dead man who is equally beyond help or harm, love or hatred. Nerve +yourself, Mr. Scuddamore,"--and then, seeing that Silas still hesitated, +"I do not desire to give another name to my request," he added. + +The young American awoke as if out of a dream, and with a shiver of +repugnance addressed himself to loose the straps and open the lock of +the Saratoga trunk. The Prince stood by, watching with a composed +countenance and his hands behind his back. The body was quite stiff, and +it cost Silas a great effort, both moral and physical, to dislodge it +from its position, and discover the face. + +Prince Florizel started back with an exclamation of painful surprise. + +"Alas!" he cried, "you little know, Mr. Scuddamore, what a cruel gift +you have brought me. This is a young man of my own suite, the brother of +my trusted friend; and it was upon matters of my own service that he has +thus perished at the hands of violent and treacherous men. Poor +Geraldine," he went on, as if to himself, "in what words am I to tell +you of your brother's fate? How can I excuse myself in your eyes, or in +the eyes of God, for the presumptuous schemes that led him to this +bloody and unnatural death? Ah, Florizel! Florizel! when will you learn +the discretion that suits mortal life, and be no longer dazzled with the +image of power at your disposal? Power!" he cried; "who is more +powerless? I look upon this young man whom I have sacrificed, Mr. +Scuddamore, and feel how small a thing it is to be a Prince." + +Silas was moved at the sight of his emotion. He tried to murmur some +consolatory words, and burst into tears. The Prince, touched by his +obvious intention, came up to him and took him by the hand. + +"Command yourself," said he. "We have both much to learn, and we shall +both be better men for to-day's meeting." + +Silas thanked him in silence with an affectionate look. + +"Write me the address of Doctor Noel on this piece of paper," continued +the Prince, leading him towards the table; "and let me recommend you, +when you are again in Paris, to avoid the society of that dangerous man. +He has acted in this matter on a generous inspiration; that I must +believe; had he been privy to young Geraldine's death he would never +have despatched the body to the care of the actual criminal." + +"The actual criminal!" repeated Silas in astonishment. + +"Even so," returned the Prince. "This letter, which the disposition of +Almighty Providence has so strangely delivered into my hands, was +addressed to no less a person than the criminal himself, the infamous +President of the Suicide Club. Seek to pry no further in these perilous +affairs, but content yourself with your own miraculous escape, and leave +this house at once. I have pressing affairs, and must arrange at once +about this poor clay, which was so lately a gallant and handsome youth." + +Silas took a grateful and submissive leave of Prince Florizel, but he +lingered in Box Court until he saw him depart in a splendid carriage on +a visit to Colonel Henderson of the police. Republican as he was, the +young American took off his hat with almost a sentiment of devotion to +the retreating carriage. And the same night he started by rail on his +return to Paris. + + +_Here_ (observes my Arabian author) _is the end of_ THE HISTORY OF THE +PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK. _Omitting some reflections on the +power of Providence, highly pertinent in the original, but little suited +to our Occidental taste, I shall only add that Mr. Scuddamore has +already begun to mount the ladder of political fame, and by last advices +was the Sheriff of his native town._ + + +THE ADVENTURE OF THE HANSOM CABS + +Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich had greatly distinguished himself in one of +the lesser Indian hill wars. He it was who took the chieftain prisoner +with his own hand; his gallantry was universally applauded; and when he +came home, prostrated by an ugly sabre-cut and a protracted +jungle-fever, society was prepared to welcome the Lieutenant as a +celebrity of minor lustre. But his was a character remarkable for +unaffected modesty; adventure was dear to his heart, but he cared little +for adulation; and he waited at foreign watering-places and in Algiers +until the fame of his exploits had run through its nine days' vitality +and begun to be forgotten. He arrived in London at last, in the early +season, with as little observation as he could desire; and as he was an +orphan and had none but distant relatives who lived in the provinces, it +was almost as a foreigner that he installed himself in the capital of +the country for which he had shed his blood. + +On the day following his arrival he dined alone at a military club. He +shook hands with a few old comrades, and received their warm +congratulations; but as one and all had some engagement for the evening, +he found himself left entirely to his own resources. He was in dress, +for he had entertained the notion of visiting a theatre. But the great +city was new to him; he had gone from a provincial school to a military +college, and thence direct to the Eastern Empire; and he promised +himself a variety of delights in this world for exploration. Swinging +his cane, he took his way westward. It was a mild evening, already dark, +and now and then threatening rain. The succession of faces in the +lamplight stirred the Lieutenant's imagination; and it seemed to him as +if he could walk for ever in that stimulating city atmosphere and +surrounded by the mystery of four million private lives. He glanced at +the houses, and marvelled what was passing behind those warmly-lighted +windows; he looked into face after face, and saw them each intent upon +some unknown interest, criminal or kindly. + +"They talk of war," he thought, "but this is the great battlefield of +mankind." + +And then he began to wonder that he should walk so long in this +complicated scene, and not chance upon so much as the shadow of an +adventure for himself. + +"All in good time," he reflected. "I am still a stranger, and perhaps +wear a strange air. But I must be drawn into the eddy before long." + +The night was already well advanced when a plump of cold rain fell +suddenly out of the darkness. Brackenbury paused under some trees, and +as he did so he caught sight of a hansom cabman making him a sign that +he was disengaged. The circumstance fell in so happily to the occasion +that he at once raised his cane in answer, and had soon ensconced +himself in the London gondola. + +"Where to, sir?" asked the driver. + +"Where you please," said Brackenbury. + +And immediately, at a pace of surprising swiftness, the hansom drove off +through the rain into a maze of villas. One villa was so like another, +each with its front garden, and there was so little to distinguish the +deserted lamp-lit streets and crescents through which the flying hansom +took its way, that Brackenbury soon lost all idea of direction. He would +have been tempted to believe that the cabman was amusing himself by +driving him round and round and in and out about a small quarter, but +there was something business-like in the speed which convinced him of +the contrary. The man had an object in view, he was hastening towards a +definite end; and Brackenbury was at once astonished at the fellow's +skill in picking a way through such a labyrinth, and a little concerned +to imagine what was the occasion of his hurry. He had heard tales of +strangers falling ill in London. Did the driver belong to some bloody +and treacherous association? and was he himself being whirled to a +murderous death? + +The thought had scarcely presented itself, when the cab swung sharply +round a corner and pulled up before the garden gate of a villa in a long +and wide road. The house was brilliantly lighted up. Another hansom had +just driven away, and Brackenbury could see a gentleman being admitted +at the front door and received by several liveried servants. He was +surprised that the cabman should have stopped so immediately in front of +a house where a reception was being held; but he did not doubt it was +the result of accident, and sat placidly smoking where he was, until he +heard the trap thrown open over his head. + +"Here we are, sir," said the driver. + +"Here!" repeated Brackenbury. "Where?" + +"You told me to take you where I pleased, sir," returned the man with a +chuckle, "and here we are." + +It struck Brackenbury that the voice was wonderfully smooth and +courteous for a man in so inferior a position; he remembered the speed +at which he had been driven; and now it occurred to him that the hansom +was more luxuriously appointed than the common run of public +conveyances. + +"I must ask you to explain," said he. "Do you mean to turn me out into +the rain? My good man, I suspect the choice is mine." + +"The choice is certainly yours," replied the driver; "but when I tell +you all, I believe I know how a gentleman of your figure will decide. +There is a gentleman's party in this house. I do not know whether the +master be a stranger to London and without acquaintances of his own; or +whether he is a man of odd notions. But certainly I was hired to kidnap +single gentlemen in evening dress, as many as I pleased, but military +officers by preference. You have simply to go in and say that Mr. Morris +invited you." + +"Are you Mr. Morris?" inquired the Lieutenant. + +"Oh, no," replied the cabman. "Mr. Morris is the person of the house." + +"It is not a common way of collecting guests," said Brackenbury: "but +an eccentric man might very well indulge the whim without any intention +to offend. And suppose that I refuse Mr. Morris's invitation," he went +on, "what then?" + +"My orders are to drive you back where I took you from," replied the +man, "and set out to look for others up to midnight. Those who have no +fancy for such an adventure, Mr. Morris said, were not the guests for +him." + +These words decided the Lieutenant on the spot. + +"After all," he reflected, as he descended from the hansom, "I have not +had long to wait for my adventure." + +He had hardly found footing on the side-walk, and was still feeling in +his pocket for the fare, when the cab swung about and drove off by the +way it came at the former break-neck velocity. Brackenbury shouted after +the man, who paid no heed, and continued to drive away; but the sound of +his voice was overheard in the house, the door was again thrown open, +emitting a flood of light upon the garden, and a servant ran down to +meet him holding an umbrella. + +"The cabman has been paid," observed the servant in a very civil tone; +and he proceeded to escort Brackenbury along the path and up the steps. +In the hall several other attendants relieved him of his hat, cane, and +paletot, gave him a ticket with a number in return, and politely hurried +him up a stair adorned with tropical flowers, to the door of an +apartment on the first story. Here a grave butler inquired his name, and +announcing, "Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich," ushered him into the +drawing-room of the house. + +A young man, slender and singularly handsome, came forward and greeted +him with an air at once courtly and affectionate. Hundreds of candles, +of the finest wax, lit up a room that was perfumed, like the staircase, +with a profusion of rare and beautiful flowering shrubs, A side-table +was loaded with tempting viands. Several servants went to and fro with +fruits and goblets of champagne. The company was perhaps sixteen in +number, all men, few beyond the prime of life, and, with hardly an +exception, of a dashing and capable exterior. They were divided into two +groups, one about a roulette-board, and the other surrounding a table at +which one of their number held a bank of baccarat. + +"I see," thought Brackenbury, "I am in a private gambling saloon, and +the cabman was a tout." + +His eye had embraced the details, and his mind formed the conclusion, +while his host was still holding him by the hand; and to him his looks +returned from this rapid survey. At a second view Mr. Morris surprised +him still more than on the first. The easy elegance of his manners, the +distinction, amiability, and courage that appeared upon his features, +fitted very ill with the Lieutenant's preconceptions on the subject of +the proprietor of a hell; and the tone of his conversation seemed to +mark him out for a man of position and merit. Brackenbury found he had +an instinctive liking for his entertainer; and though he chid himself +for the weakness, he was unable to resist a sort of friendly attraction +for Mr. Morris's person and character. + +"I have heard of you, Lieutenant Rich," said Mr. Morris, lowering his +tone; "and believe me I am gratified to make your acquaintance. Your +looks accord with the reputation that has preceded you from India. And +if you will forget for a while the irregularity of your presentation in +my house, I shall feel it not only an honour, but a genuine pleasure +besides. A man who makes a mouthful of barbarian cavaliers," he added +with a laugh, "should not be appalled by a breach of etiquette, however +serious." + +And he led him towards the sideboard and pressed him to partake of some +refreshment. + +"Upon my word," the Lieutenant reflected, "this is one of the +pleasantest fellows and, I do not doubt, one of the most agreeable +societies in London." + +He partook of some champagne, which he found excellent; and observing +that many of the company were already smoking, he lit one of his own +Manillas, and strolled up to the roulette-board, where he sometimes made +a stake and sometimes looked on smilingly on the fortune of others. It +was while he was thus idling that he became aware of a sharp scrutiny to +which the whole of the guests were subjected. Mr. Morris went here and +there, ostensibly busied on hospitable concerns; but he had ever a +shrewd glance at disposal; not a man of the party escaped his sudden, +searching looks; he took stock of the bearing of heavy losers, he valued +the amount of the stakes, he paused behind couples who were deep in +conversation; and, in a word, there was hardly a characteristic of any +one present but he seemed to catch and make a note of it. Brackenbury +began to wonder if this were indeed a gambling-hell: it had so much the +air of a private inquisition. He followed Mr. Morris in all his +movements; and although the man had a ready smile, he seemed to +perceive, as it were under a mask, a haggard, careworn, and preoccupied +spirit. The fellows around him laughed and made their game; but +Brackenbury had lost interest in the guests. + +"This Morris," thought he, "is no idler in the room. Some deep purpose +inspires him; let it be mine to fathom it." + +Now and then Mr. Morris would call one of his visitors aside; and after +a brief colloquy in an ante-room, he would return alone, and the +visitors in question reappeared no more. After a certain number of +repetitions, this performance excited Brackenbury's curiosity to a high +degree. He determined to be at the bottom of this minor mystery at once; +and strolling into the ante-room, found a deep window recess concealed +by curtains of the fashionable green. Here he hurriedly ensconced +himself; nor had he to wait long before the sound of steps and voices +drew near him from the principal apartment. Peering through the +division, he saw Mr. Morris escorting a fat and ruddy personage, with +somewhat the look of a commercial traveller, whom Brackenbury had +already remarked for his coarse laugh and under-bred behaviour at the +table. The pair halted immediately before the window, so that +Brackenbury lost not a word of the following discourse:-- + +"I beg you a thousand pardons!" began Mr. Morris, with the most +conciliatory manner; "and, if I appear rude, I am sure you will readily +forgive me. In a place so great as London accidents must continually +happen; and the best that we can hope is to remedy them with as small +delay as possible. I will not deny that I fear you have made a mistake +and honoured my poor house by inadvertence; for, to speak openly, I +cannot at all remember your appearance. Let me put the question without +unnecessary circumlocution--between gentlemen of honour a word will +suffice--Under whose roof do you suppose yourself to be?" + +"That of Mr. Morris," replied the other, with a prodigious display of +confusion, which had been visibly growing upon him throughout the last +few words. + +"Mr. John or Mr. James Morris?" inquired the host. + +"I really cannot tell you," returned the unfortunate guest. "I am not +personally acquainted with the gentleman, any more than I am with +yourself." + +"I see," said Mr. Morris. "There is another person of the same name +farther down the street; and I have no doubt the policeman will be able +to supply you with his number. Believe me, I felicitate myself on the +misunderstanding which has procured me the pleasure of your company for +so long; and let me express a hope that we may meet again upon a more +regular footing. Meantime, I would not for the world detain you longer +from your friends. John," he added, raising his voice, "will you see +that this gentleman finds his great-coat?" + +And with the most agreeable air Mr. Morris escorted his visitor as far +as the ante-room door, where he left him under conduct of the butler. As +he passed the window, on his return to the drawing-room, Brackenbury +could hear him utter a profound sigh, as though his mind was loaded with +a great anxiety, and his nerves already fatigued with the task on which +he was engaged. + +For perhaps an hour the hansoms kept arriving with such frequency that +Mr. Morris had to receive a new guest for every old one that he sent +away, and the company preserved its number undiminished. But towards the +end of that time the arrivals grew few and far between, and at length +ceased entirely, while the process of elimination was continued with +unimpaired activity. The drawing-room began to look empty: the baccarat +was discontinued for lack of a banker; more than one person said +good-night of his own accord, and was suffered to depart without +expostulation; and in the meanwhile Mr. Morris redoubled in agreeable +attentions to those who stayed behind. He went from group to group and +from person to person with looks of the readiest sympathy and the most +pertinent and pleasing talk; he was not so much like a host as like a +hostess, and there was a feminine coquetry and condescension in his +manner which charmed the hearts of all. + +As the guests grew thinner, Lieutenant Rich strolled for a moment out of +the drawing-room into the hall in quest of fresher air. But he had no +sooner passed the threshold of the ante-chamber than he was brought to a +dead halt by a discovery of the most surprising nature. The flowering +shrubs had disappeared from the staircase; three large furniture-waggons +stood before the garden gate; the servants were busy dismantling the +house upon all sides; and some of them had already donned their +great-coats and were preparing to depart. It was like the end of a +country ball, where everything has been supplied by contract. +Brackenbury had indeed some matter for reflection. First, the guests, +who were no real guests, after all, had been dismissed; and now the +servants, who could hardly be genuine servants, were actively +dispersing. + +"Was the whole establishment a sham?" he asked himself. "The mushroom of +a single night which should disappear before morning?" + +Watching a favourable opportunity, Brackenbury dashed upstairs to the +higher regions of the house. It was as he had expected. He ran from room +to room, and saw Although the house had been painted and papered, it +was not only uninhabited at present, but plainly had never been +inhabited at all. The young officer remembered with astonishment its +specious, settled, and hospitable air on his arrival. It was only at a +prodigious cost that the imposture could have been carried out upon so +great a scale. + +Who, then, was Mr. Morris? What was his intention in thus playing the +householder for a single night in the remote west of London? And why did +he collect his visitors at hazard from the streets? + +Brackenbury remembered that he had already delayed too long, and +hastened to join the company. Many had left during his absence; and, +counting the Lieutenant and his host, there were not more than five +persons in the drawing-room--recently so thronged. Mr. Morris greeted +him, as he re-entered the apartment, with a smile, and immediately rose +to his feet. + +"It is now time, gentlemen," said he, "to explain my purpose in decoying +you from your amusements. I trust you did not find the evening hang very +dully on your hands; but my object, I will confess it, was not to +entertain your leisure, but to help myself in an unfortunate necessity. +You are all gentlemen," he continued, "your appearance does you that +much justice, and I ask for no better security. Hence, I speak it +without concealment, I ask you to render me a dangerous and delicate +service; dangerous because you may run the hazard of your lives, and +delicate because I must ask an absolute discretion upon all that you +shall see or hear. From an utter stranger the request is almost +comically extravagant; I am well aware of this; and I would add at once, +if there be any one present who has heard enough, if there be one among +the party who recoils from a dangerous confidence and a piece of +Quixotic devotion to he knows not whom--here is my hand ready, and I +shall wish him good-night and God-speed with all the sincerity in the +world." + +A very tall, black man, with a heavy stoop, immediately responded to +this appeal. + +"I commend your frankness, sir," said he; "and, for my part, I go. I +make no reflections; but I cannot deny that you fill me with suspicious +thoughts. I go myself, as I say; and perhaps you will think I have no +right to add words to my example." + +"On the contrary," replied Mr. Morris, "I am obliged to you for all you +say. It would be impossible to exaggerate the gravity of my proposal." + +"Well, gentlemen, what do you say?" said the tall man, addressing the +others. "We have had our evening's frolic; shall we all go homeward +peaceably in a body? You will think well of my suggestion in the +morning, when you see the sun again in innocence and safety." + +The speaker pronounced the last words with an intonation which added to +their force; and his face wore a singular expression, full of gravity +and significance. Another of the company rose hastily, and, with some +appearance of alarm, prepared to take his leave. There were only two who +held their ground, Brackenbury and an old red-nosed cavalry Major; but +these two preserved a nonchalant demeanour, and, beyond a look of +intelligence which they rapidly exchanged, appeared entirely foreign to +the discussion that had just been terminated. + +Mr. Morris conducted the deserters as far as the door, which he closed +upon their heels; then he turned round, disclosing a countenance of +mingled relief and animation, and addressed the two officers as follows. + +"I have chosen my men like Joshua in the Bible," said Mr. Morris, "and I +now believe I have the pick of London. Your appearance pleased my hansom +cabmen; then it delighted me; I have watched your behaviour in a strange +company, and under the most unusual circumstances: I have studied how +you played and how you bore your losses; lastly, I have put you to the +test of a staggering announcement, and you received it like an +invitation to dinner. It is not for nothing," he cried, "that I have +been for years the companion and the pupil of the bravest and wisest +potentate in Europe." + +"At the affair of Bunderchang," observed the Major, "I asked for twelve +volunteers, and every trooper in the ranks replied to my appeal. But a +gaming party is not the same thing as a regiment under fire. You may be +pleased, I suppose, to have found two, and two who will not fail you at +a push. As for the pair who ran away, I count them among the most +pitiful hounds I ever met with.--Lieutenant Rich," he added, addressing +Brackenbury, "I have heard much of you of late; and I cannot doubt but +you have also heard of me. I am Major O'Rooke." + +And the veteran tendered his hand, which was red and tremulous, to the +young Lieutenant. + +"Who has not?" answered Brackenbury. + +"When this little matter is settled," said Mr. Morris, "you will think I +have sufficiently rewarded you; for I could offer neither a more +valuable service than to make him acquainted with the other." + +"And now," said Major O'Rooke, "is it a duel?" + +"A duel after a fashion," replied Mr. Morris, "a duel with unknown and +dangerous enemies, and, as I gravely fear, a duel to the death. I must +ask you," he continued, "to call me Morris no longer; call me, if you +please, Hammersmith; my real name, as well as that of another person to +whom I hope to present you before long, you will gratify me by not +asking, and not seeking to discover for yourselves. Three days ago the +person of whom I speak disappeared suddenly from home; and, until this +morning, I received no hint of his situation. You will fancy my alarm +when I tell you that he is engaged upon a work of private justice. Bound +by an unhappy oath, too lightly sworn, he finds it necessary, without +the help of law, to rid the earth of an insidious and bloody villain. +Already two of our friends, and one of them my own born brother, have +perished in the enterprise. He himself, or I am much deceived, is taken +in the same fatal toils. But at least he still lives and still hopes, +as this billet sufficiently proves." + +And the speaker, no other than Colonel Geraldine, proffered a letter, +thus conceived:-- + + "MAJOR HAMMERSMITH,--On Wednesday, at 3 A.M., you will be admitted by + the small door to the gardens of Rochester House, Regent's Park, by a + man who is entirely in my interest. I must request you not to fail me + by a second. Pray bring my case of swords, and, if you can find them, + one or two gentlemen of conduct and discretion to whom my person is + unknown. My name must not be used in this affair. + + T. GODALL." + +"From his wisdom alone, if he had no other title," pursued Colonel +Geraldine, when the others had each satisfied his curiosity, "my friend +is a man whose directions should implicitly be followed. I need not tell +you, therefore, that I have not so much as visited the neighbourhood of +Rochester House; and that I am still as wholly in the dark as either of +yourselves as to the nature of my friend's dilemma. I betook myself, as +soon as I had received this order, to a furnishing contractor, and, in a +few hours, the house in which we now are had assumed its late air of +festival. My scheme was at least original; and I am far from regretting +an action which has procured me the services of Major O'Rooke and +Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich. But the servants in the street will have a +strange awakening. The house which this evening was full of lights and +visitors they will find uninhabited and for sale to-morrow morning. Thus +even the most serious concerns," added the Colonel, "have a merry side." + +"And let us add a merry ending," said Brackenbury. + +The Colonel consulted his watch. + +"It is now hard on two," he said. "We have an hour before us, and a +swift cab is at the door. Tell me if I may count upon your help." + +"During a long life," replied Major O'Rooke, "I never took back my hand +from anything, nor so much as hedged a bet." + +Brackenbury signified his readiness in the most becoming terms; and +after they had drunk a glass or two of wine, the Colonel gave each of +them a loaded revolver, and the three mounted into the cab and drove off +for the address in question. + +Rochester House was a magnificent residence on the banks of the canal. +The large extent of the garden isolated it in an unusual degree from the +annoyances of neighbourhood. It seemed the _parc aux cerfs_ of some +great nobleman or millionaire. As far as could be seen from the street, +there was not a glimmer of light in any of the numerous windows of the +mansion; and the place had a look of neglect, as though the master had +been long from home. + +The cab was discharged, and the three gentlemen were not long in +discovering the small door, which was a sort of postern in a lane +between two garden walls. It still wanted ten or fifteen minutes of the +appointed time; the rain fell heavily, and the adventurers sheltered +themselves below some pendent ivy, and spoke in low tones of the +approaching trial. + +Suddenly Geraldine raised his finger to command silence, and all three +bent their hearing to the utmost. Through the continuous noise of the +rain, the steps and voices of two men became audible from the other side +of the wall; and, as they drew nearer, Brackenbury, whose sense of +hearing was remarkably acute, could even distinguish some fragments of +their talk. + +"Is the grave dug?" asked one. + +"It is," replied the other; "behind the laurel hedge. When the job is +done, we can cover it with a pile of stakes." + +The first speaker laughed, and the sound of his merriment was shocking +to the listeners on the other side. + +"In an hour from now," he said. + +And by the sound of the steps it was obvious that the pair had +separated, and were proceeding in contrary directions. + +Almost immediately after the postern door was cautiously opened, a white +face was protruded into the lane, and a hand was seen beckoning to the +watchers. In dead silence the three passed the door, which was +immediately locked behind them, and followed their guide through several +garden alleys to the kitchen entrance of the house. A single candle +burned in the great paved kitchen, which was destitute of the customary +furniture; and as the party proceeded to ascend from thence by a flight +of winding stairs, a prodigious noise of rats testified still more +plainly to the dilapidation of the house. + +Their conductor preceded them, carrying the candle. He was a lean man, +much bent, but still agile; and he turned from time to time and +admonished silence and caution by his gestures. Colonel Geraldine +followed on his heels, the case of swords under one arm, and a pistol +ready in the other. Brackenbury's heart beat thickly. He perceived that +they were still in time; but he judged from the alacrity of the old man +that the hour of action must be near at hand; and the circumstances of +this adventure were so obscure and menacing, the place seemed so well +chosen for the darkest acts, that an older man than Brackenbury might +have been pardoned a measure of emotion as he closed the procession up +the winding stair. + +At the top the guide threw open a door and ushered the three officers +before him into a small apartment, lighted by a smoky lamp and the glow +of a modest fire. At the chimney corner sat a man in the early prime of +life, and of a stout but courtly and commanding appearance. His attitude +and expression were those of the most unmoved composure; he was smoking +a cheroot with much enjoyment and deliberation, and on a table by his +elbow stood a long glass of some effervescing beverage which diffused an +agreeable odour through the room. + +"Welcome," said he, extending his hand to Colonel Geraldine. "I knew I +might count on your exactitude." + +"On my devotion," replied the Colonel, with a bow. + +"Present me to your friends," continued the first; and, when that +ceremony had been performed, "I wish, gentlemen," he added, with the +most exquisite affability, "that I could offer you a more cheerful +programme; it is ungracious to inaugurate an acquaintance upon serious +affairs; but the compulsion of events is stronger than the obligations +of good-fellowship. I hope and believe you will be able to forgive me +this unpleasant evening; and for men of your stamp it will be enough to +know that you are conferring a considerable favour." + +"Your Highness," said the Major, "must pardon my bluntness. I am unable +to hide what I know. For some time back I have suspected Major +Hammersmith, but Mr. Godall is unmistakable. To seek two men in London +unacquainted with Prince Florizel of Bohemia was to ask too much at +Fortune's hands." + +"Prince Florizel!" cried Brackenbury in amazement. + +And he gazed with the deepest interest on the features of the celebrated +personage before him. + +"I shall not lament the loss of my incognito," remarked the Prince, "for +it enables me to thank you with the more authority. You would have done +as much for Mr. Godall, I feel sure, as for the Prince of Bohemia; but +the latter can perhaps do more for you. The gain is mine," he added, +with a courteous gesture. + +And the next moment he was conversing with the two officers about the +Indian army and the native troops, a subject on which, as on all others, +he had a remarkable fund of information and the soundest views. + +There was something so striking in this man's attitude at a moment of +deadly peril that Brackenbury was overcome with respectful admiration; +nor was he less sensible to the charm of his conversation or the +surprising amenity of his address. Every gesture, every intonation, was +not only noble in itself, but seemed to ennoble the fortunate mortal for +whom it was intended; and Brackenbury confessed to himself with +enthusiasm that this was a sovereign for whom a brave man might +thankfully lay down his life. + +Many minutes had thus passed, when the person who had introduced them +into the house, and who had sat ever since in a corner, and with his +watch in his hand, arose and whispered a word into the Prince's ear. + +"It is well, Dr. Noel," replied Florizel aloud; and then addressing the +others, "You will excuse me, gentlemen," he added, "if I have to leave +you in the dark. The moment now approaches." + +Dr. Noel extinguished the lamp. A faint, grey light, premonitory of the +dawn, illuminated the window, but was not sufficient to illuminate the +room; and when the Prince rose to his feet, it was impossible to +distinguish his features or to make a guess at the nature of the emotion +which obviously affected him as he spoke. He moved towards the door, and +placed himself at one side of it in an attitude of the wariest +attention. + +"You will have the kindness," he said, "to maintain the strictest +silence, and to conceal yourselves in the densest of the shadow." + +The three officers and the physician hastened to obey, and for nearly +ten minutes the only sound in Rochester House was occasioned by the +excursions of the rats behind the woodwork. At the end of that period, a +loud creak of a hinge broke in with surprising distinctness on the +silence; and shortly after, the watchers could distinguish a slow and +cautious tread approaching up the kitchen stair. At every second step +the intruder seemed to pause and lend an ear, and during these +intervals, which seemed of an incalculable duration, a profound disquiet +possessed the spirit of the listeners. Dr. Noel, accustomed as he was to +dangerous emotions, suffered an almost pitiful physical prostration; his +breath whistled in his lungs, his teeth grated one upon another, and his +joints cracked aloud as he nervously shifted his position. + +At last a hand was laid upon the door, and the bolt shot back with a +slight report. There followed another pause, during which Brackenbury +could see the Prince draw himself together noiselessly as if for some +unusual exertion. Then the door opened, letting in a little more of the +light of the morning; and the figure of a man appeared upon the +threshold and stood motionless. He was tall, and carried a knife in his +hand. Even in the twilight they could see his upper teeth bare and +glistening, for his mouth was open like that of a hound about to leap. +The man had evidently been over the head in water but a minute or two +before; and even while he stood there the drops kept falling from his +wet clothes and pattered on the floor. + +The next moment he crossed the threshold. There was a leap, a stifled +cry, an instantaneous struggle; and before Colonel Geraldine could +spring to his aid, the Prince held the man, disarmed and helpless, by +the shoulders. + +"Dr. Noel," he said, "you will be so good as to re-light the lamp." + +And relinquishing the charge of his prisoner to Geraldine and +Brackenbury, he crossed the room and set his back against the +chimney-piece. As soon as the lamp had kindled the party beheld an +unaccustomed sternness on the Prince's features. It was no longer +Florizel, the careless gentleman; it was the Prince of Bohemia, justly +incensed and full of deadly purpose, who now raised his head and +addressed the captive President of the Suicide Club. + +"President," he said, "you have laid your last snare, and your own feet +are taken in it. The day is beginning; it is your last morning. You have +just swum the Regent's Canal; it is your last bathe in this world. Your +old accomplice, Dr. Noel, so far from betraying me, has delivered you +into my hands for judgment. And the grave you had dug for me this +afternoon shall serve, in God's almighty providence, to hide your own +just doom from the curiosity of mankind. Kneel and pray, sir, if you +have a mind that way; for your time is short, and God is weary of your +iniquities." + +The President made no answer either by word or sign; but continued to +hang his head and gaze sullenly on the floor, as though he were +conscious of the Prince's prolonged and unsparing regard. + +"Gentlemen," continued Florizel, resuming the ordinary tone of his +conversation, "this is a fellow who has long eluded me, but whom, thanks +to Dr. Noel, I now have tightly by the heels. To tell the story of his +misdeeds would occupy more time than we can now afford; but if the canal +had contained nothing but the blood of his victims, I believe the wretch +would have been no drier than you see him. Even in an affair of this +sort I desire to preserve the forms of honour. But I make you the +judges, gentlemen--this is more an execution than a duel; and to give +the rogue his choice of weapons would be to push too far a point of +etiquette. I cannot afford to lose my life in such a business," he +continued, unlocking the case of swords; "and as a pistol-bullet travels +so often on the wings of chance, and skill and courage may fall by the +most trembling marksman, I have decided, and I feel sure you will +approve my determination, to put this question to the touch of swords." + +When Brackenbury and Major O'Rooke, to whom these remarks were +particularly addressed, had each intimated his approval, "Quick, sir," +added Prince Florizel to the President, "choose a blade and do not keep +me waiting; I have an impatience to be done with you for ever." + +For the first time since he was captured and disarmed the President +raised his head, and it was plain that he began instantly to pluck up +courage. + +"Is it to be stand up?" he asked eagerly, "and between you and me?" + +"I mean so far to honour you," replied the Prince. + +"Oh, come!" cried the President. "With a fair field, who knows how +things may happen? I must add that I consider it handsome behaviour on +your Highness's part; and if the worst comes to the worst I shall die by +one of the most gallant gentlemen in Europe." + +And the President, liberated by those who had detained him, stepped up +to the table and began, with minute attention, to select a sword. He was +highly elated, and seemed to feel no doubt that he should issue +victorious from the contest. The spectators grew alarmed in the face of +so entire a confidence, and adjured Prince Florizel to reconsider his +intention. + +"It is but a farce," he answered; "and I think I can promise you, +gentlemen, that it will not be long a-playing." + +"Your Highness will be careful not to overreach," said Colonel +Geraldine. + +"Geraldine," returned the Prince, "did you ever know me fail in a debt +of honour? I owe you this man's death, and you shall have it." + +The President at last satisfied himself with one of the rapiers, and +signified his readiness by a gesture that was not devoid of a rude +nobility. The nearness of peril, and the sense of courage, even to this +obnoxious villain, lent an air of manhood and a certain grace. + +The Prince helped himself at random to a sword. + +"Colonel Geraldine and Doctor Noel," he said, "will have the goodness to +await me in this room. I wish no personal friend of mine to be involved +in this transaction. Major O'Rooke, you are a man of some years and a +settled reputation--let me recommend the President to your good graces. +Lieutenant Rich will be so good as lend me his attentions: a young man +cannot have too much experience in such affairs." + +"Your Highness," replied Brackenbury, "it is an honour I shall prize +extremely." + +"It is well," returned Prince Florizel; "I shall hope to stand your +friend in more important circumstances." + +And so saying he led the way out of the apartment and down the kitchen +stairs. + +The two men who were thus left alone threw open the window and leaned +out, straining every sense to catch an indication of the tragical events +that were about to follow. The rain was now over; day had almost come, +and the birds were piping in the shrubbery and on the forest-trees of +the garden. The Prince and his companions were visible for a moment as +they followed an alley between two flowering thickets; but at the first +corner a clump of foliage intervened, and they were again concealed from +view. This was all that the Colonel and the Physician had an opportunity +to see, and the garden was so vast, and the place of combat evidently so +remote from the house, that not even the noise of sword-play reached +their ears. + +"He has taken him towards the grave," said Dr. Noel, with a shudder. + +"God," cried the Colonel, "God defend the right!" + +And they awaited the event in silence, the Doctor shaking with fear, the +Colonel in an agony of sweat. Many minutes must have elapsed, the day +was sensibly broader, and the birds were singing more heartily in the +garden before a sound of returning footsteps recalled their glances +towards the door. It was the Prince and the two Indian officers who +entered. God had defended the right. + +"I am ashamed of my emotion," said Prince Florizel; "I feel it is a +weakness unworthy of my station, but the continued existence of that +hound of hell had begun to prey upon me like a disease, and his death +has more refreshed me than a night of slumber. Look, Geraldine," he +continued, throwing his sword upon the floor, "there is the blood of the +man who killed your brother. It should be a welcome sight. And yet," he +added, "see how strangely we men are made! my revenge is not yet five +minutes old, and already I am beginning to ask myself if even revenge be +attainable on this precarious stage of life. The ill he did, who can +undo it? The career in which he amassed a huge fortune (for the house +itself in which we stand belonged to him)--that career is now a part of +the destiny of mankind for ever; and I might weary myself making thrusts +in carte until the crack of judgment, and Geraldine's brother would be +none the less dead, and a thousand other innocent persons would be none +the less dishonoured and debauched! The existence of a man is so small a +thing to take, so mighty a thing to employ! Alas!" he cried, "is there +anything in life so disenchanting as attainment?" + +"God's justice has been done," replied the Doctor. "So much I behold. +The lesson, your Highness, has been a cruel one for me; and I await my +own turn with deadly apprehension." + +"What was I saying?" cried the Prince. "I have punished, and here is the +man beside us who can help me to undo. Ah, Dr. Noel! you and I have +before us many a day of hard and honourable toil; and perhaps, before we +have done, you may have more than redeemed your early errors." + +"And in the meantime," said the Doctor, "let me go and bury my oldest +friend." + + +_And this_ (observes the erudite Arabian) _is the fortunate conclusion +of the tale. The Prince, it is superfluous to mention, forgot none of +those who served him in this great exploit; and to this day his +authority and influence help them forward in their public career, while +his condescending friendship adds a charm to their private life. To +collect_, continues my author, _all the strange events in which this +Prince has played the part of Providence were to fill the habitable +globe with books. But the stories which relate to the fortunes of_ THE +RAJAH'S DIAMOND _are of too entertaining a description, says he, to be +omitted. Following prudently in the footsteps of this Oriental, we shall +now begin the series to which he refers with the_ STORY OF THE BANDBOX. + + + + +THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND + + +STORY OF THE BANDBOX + +Up to the age of sixteen, at a private school and afterwards at one of +those great institutions for which England is justly famous, Mr. Harry +Hartley had received the ordinary education of a gentleman. At that +period he manifested a remarkable distaste for study; and his only +surviving parent being both weak and ignorant, he was permitted +thenceforward to spend his time in the attainment of petty and purely +elegant accomplishments. Two years later, he was left an orphan and +almost a beggar. For all active and industrious pursuits, Harry was +unfitted alike by nature and training. He could sing romantic ditties, +and accompany himself with discretion on the piano; he was a graceful +although a timid cavalier; he had a pronounced taste for chess; and +nature had sent him into the world with one of the most engaging +exteriors that can well be fancied. Blond and pink, with dove's eyes and +a gentle smile, he had an air of agreeable tenderness and melancholy and +the most submissive and caressing manners. But when all is said, he was +not the man to lead armaments of war or direct the councils of a State. + +A fortunate chance and some influence obtained for Harry, at the time of +his bereavement, the position of private secretary to Major-General Sir +Thomas Vandeleur, C.B. Sir Thomas was a man of sixty, loud-spoken, +boisterous, and domineering. For some reason, some service the nature of +which had been often whispered and repeatedly denied, the Rajah of +Kashgar had presented this officer with the sixth known diamond of the +world. The gift transformed General Vandeleur from a poor into a +wealthy man, from an obscure and unpopular soldier into one of the lions +of London society; the possessor of the Rajah's Diamond was welcome in +the most exclusive circles; and he had found a lady, young, beautiful, +and well-born, who was willing to call the diamond hers even at the +price of marriage with Sir Thomas Vandeleur. It was commonly said at the +time that, as like draws to like, one jewel had attracted another; +certainly Lady Vandeleur was not only a gem of the finest water in her +own person, but she showed herself to the world in a very costly +setting; and she was considered by many respectable authorities as one +among the three or four best-dressed women in England. + +Harry's duty as secretary was not particularly onerous; but he had a +dislike for all prolonged work; it gave him pain to ink his fingers; and +the charms of Lady Vandeleur and her toilettes drew him often from the +library to the boudoir. He had the prettiest ways among women, could +talk fashions with enjoyment, and was never more happy than when +criticising a shade of ribbon or running on an errand to the milliner's. +In short, Sir Thomas's correspondence fell into pitiful arrears, and my +Lady had another lady's maid. + +At last the General, who was one of the least patient of military +commanders, arose from his place in a violent access of passion, and +indicated to his secretary that he had no further need for his services, +with one of those explanatory gestures which are most rarely employed +between gentlemen. The door being unfortunately open, Mr. Hartley fell +downstairs head-foremost. + +He arose somewhat hurt and very deeply aggrieved. The life in the +General's house precisely suited him; he moved, on a more or less +doubtful footing, in very genteel company, he did little, he ate of the +best, and he had a lukewarm satisfaction in the presence of Lady +Vandeleur, which, in his own heart, he dubbed by a more emphatic name. + +Immediately after he had been outraged by the military foot, he hurried +to the boudoir and recounted his sorrows. + +"You know very well, my dear Harry," replied Lady Vandeleur, for she +called him by name like a child or a domestic servant, "that you never +by any chance do what the General tells you. No more do I, you may say. +But that is different. A woman can earn her pardon for a good year of +disobedience by a single adroit submission; and, besides, no one is +married to his private secretary. I shall be sorry to lose you; but +since you cannot stay longer in a house where you have been insulted, I +shall wish you good-bye, and I promise you to make the General smart for +his behaviour." + +Harry's countenance fell; tears came into his eyes, and he gazed on Lady +Vandeleur with a tender reproach. + +"My Lady," said he, "what is an insult? I should think little indeed of +any one who could not forgive them by the score. But to leave one's +friends; to tear up the bonds of affection----" + +He was unable to continue, for his emotion choked him, and he began to +weep. + +Lady Vandeleur looked at him with a curious expression. + +"This little fool," she thought, "imagines himself to be in love with +me. Why should he not become my servant instead of the General's? He is +good-natured, obliging, and understands dress; and besides, it will keep +him out of mischief. He is positively too pretty to be unattached." + +That night she talked over the General, who was already somewhat ashamed +of his vivacity; and Harry was transferred to the feminine department, +where his life was little short of heavenly. He was always dressed with +uncommon nicety, wore delicate flowers in his button-hole, and could +entertain a visitor with tact and pleasantry. He took a pride in +servility to a beautiful woman; received Lady Vandeleur's commands as so +many marks of favour; and was pleased to exhibit himself before other +men, who derided and despised him, in his character of male lady's-maid +and man-milliner. Nor could he think enough of his existence from a +moral point of view. Wickedness seemed to him an essentially male +attribute, and to pass one's days with a delicate woman, and principally +occupied about trimmings, was to inhabit an enchanted isle among the +storms of life. + +One fine morning he came into the drawing-room and began to arrange some +music on the top of the piano. Lady Vandeleur, at the other end of the +apartment, was speaking somewhat eagerly with her brother, Charlie +Pendragon, an elderly young man, much broken with dissipation, and very +lame of one foot. The private secretary, to whose entrance they paid no +regard, could not avoid overhearing a part of their conversation. + +"To-day or never," said the lady. "Once and for all, it shall be done +to-day." + +"To-day, if it must be," replied the brother, with a sigh. "But it is a +false step, a ruinous step, Clara; and we shall live to repent it +dismally." + +Lady Vandeleur looked her brother steadily and somewhat strangely in the +face. + +"You forget," she said; "the man must die at last." + +"Upon my word, Clara," said Pendragon, "I believe you are the most +heartless rascal in England." + +"You men," she returned, "are so coarsely built, that you can never +appreciate a shade of meaning. You are yourselves rapacious, violent, +immodest, careless of distinction; and yet the least thought for the +future shocks you in a woman. I have no patience with such stuff. You +would despise in a common banker the imbecility that you expect to find +in us." + +"You are very likely right," replied her brother; "you were always +cleverer than I. And, anyway, you know my motto: The family before all." + +"Yes, Charlie," she returned, taking his hand in hers, "I know your +motto better than you know it yourself. 'And Clara before the family!' +Is not that the second part of it? Indeed, you are the best of brothers, +and I love you dearly." + +Mr. Pendragon got up, looking a little confused by these family +endearments. + +"I had better not be seen," said he. "I understand my part to a miracle, +and I'll keep an eye on the Tame Cat." + +"Do," she replied. "He is an abject creature, and might ruin all." + +She kissed the tips of her fingers to him daintily; and the brother +withdrew by the boudoir and the back stair. + +"Harry," said Lady Vandeleur turning towards the secretary as soon as +they were alone, "I have a commission for you this morning. But you +shall take a cab; I cannot have my secretary freckled." + +She spoke the last words with emphasis and a look of half-motherly pride +that caused great contentment to poor Harry; and he professed himself +charmed to find an opportunity of serving her. + +"It is another of our great secrets," she went on archly, "and no one +must know of it but my secretary and me. Sir Thomas would make the +saddest disturbance; and if you only knew how weary I am of these +scenes! O Harry, Harry, can you explain to me what makes you men so +violent and unjust? But, indeed, I know you cannot; you are the only man +in the world who knows nothing of these shameful passions; you are so +good, Harry, and so kind; you, at least, can be a woman's friend; and, +do you know? I think you make the others more ugly by comparison." + +"It is you," said Harry gallantly, "who are so kind to me. You treat me +like----" + +"Like a mother," interposed Lady Vandeleur; "I try to be a mother to +you. Or, at least," she corrected herself with a smile, "almost a +mother. I am afraid I am too young to be your mother really. Let us say +a friend--a dear friend." + +She paused long enough to let her words take effect in Harry's +sentimental quarters, but not long enough to allow him a reply. + +"But all this is beside our purpose," she resumed. "You will find a +bandbox in the left-hand side of the oak wardrobe; it is underneath the +pink slip that I wore on Wednesday with my Mechlin. You will take it +immediately to this address," and she gave him a paper, "but do not, on +any account, let it out of your hands until you have received a receipt +written by myself. Do you understand? Answer, if you please--answer! +This is extremely important, and I must ask you to pay some attention." + +Harry pacified her by repeating her instructions perfectly; and she was +just going to tell him more when General Vandeleur flung into the +apartment, scarlet with anger, and holding a long and elaborate +milliner's bill in his hand. + +"Will you look at this, madam?" cried he. "Will, you have the goodness +to look at this document? I know well enough you married me for my +money, and I hope I can make as great allowances as any other man in the +service; but, as sure as God made me, I mean to put a period to this +disreputable prodigality." + +"Mr. Hartley," said Lady Vandeleur, "I think you understand what you +have to do. May I ask you to see to it at once?" + +"Stop," said the General, addressing Harry, "one word before you go." +And then, turning again to Lady Vandeleur, "What is this precious +fellow's errand?" he demanded. "I trust him no further than I do +yourself, let me tell you. If he had as much as the rudiments of +honesty, he would scorn to stay in this house; and what he does for his +wages is a mystery to all the world. What is his errand, madam? and why +are you hurrying him away?" + +"I supposed you had something to say to me in private," replied the +lady. + +"You spoke about an errand," insisted the General. "Do not attempt to +deceive me in my present state of temper. You certainly spoke about an +errand." + +"If you insist on making your servants privy to our humiliating +dissensions," replied Lady Vandeleur, "perhaps I had better ask Mr. +Hartley to sit down. No?" she continued; "then you may go, Mr. Hartley. +I trust you may remember all that you have heard in this room; it may be +useful to you." + +Harry at once made his escape from the drawing-room; and as he ran +upstairs he could hear the General's voice upraised in declamation, and +the thin tones of Lady Vandeleur planting icy repartees at every +opening. How cordially he admired the wife! How skilfully she could +evade an awkward question! with what secure effrontery she repeated her +instructions under the very guns of the enemy! and on the other hand, +how he detested the husband! + +There had been nothing unfamiliar in the morning's events, for he was +continually in the habit of serving Lady Vandeleur on secret missions, +principally connected with millinery. There was a skeleton in the house, +as he well knew. The bottomless extravagance and the unknown liabilities +of the wife had long since swallowed her own fortune, and threatened day +by day to engulf that of the husband. Once or twice in every year +exposure and ruin seemed imminent, and Harry kept trotting round to all +sorts of furnishers' shops, telling small fibs, and paying small +advances on the gross amount, until another term was tided over, and the +lady and her faithful secretary breathed again. For Harry, in a double +capacity, was heart and soul upon that side of the war; not only did he +adore Lady Vandeleur and fear and dislike her husband, but he naturally +sympathised with the love of finery, and his own single extravagance was +at the tailor's. + +He found the bandbox where it had been described, arranged his toilette +with care, and left the house. The sun shone brightly; the distance he +had to travel was considerable, and he remembered with dismay that the +General's sudden irruption had prevented Lady Vandeleur from giving him +money for a cab. On this sultry day there was every chance that his +complexion would suffer severely; and to walk through so much of London +with a bandbox on his arm was a humiliation almost insupportable to a +youth of his character. He paused, and took counsel with himself. The +Vandeleurs lived in Eaton Place; his destination was near Notting Hill; +plainly, he might cross the Park by keeping well in the open and +avoiding populous alleys; and he thanked his stars when he reflected +that it was still comparatively early in the day. + +Anxious to be rid of his incubus, he walked somewhat faster than his +ordinary, and he was already some way through Kensington Gardens when, +in a solitary spot among trees, he found himself confronted by the +General. + +"I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas," observed Harry, politely falling on one +side; for the other stood directly in his path. + +"Where are you going, sir?" asked the General. + +"I am taking a little walk among the trees," replied the lad. + +The General struck the bandbox with his cane. + +"With that thing?" he cried; "you lie, sir, and you know you lie!" + +"Indeed, Sir Thomas," returned Harry, "I am not accustomed to be +questioned in so high a key." + +"You do not understand your position," said the General. "You are my +servant, and a servant of whom I have conceived the most serious +suspicions. How do I know but that your box is full of tea-spoons?" + +"It contains a silk hat belonging to a friend," said Harry. + +"Very well," replied General Vandeleur. "Then I want to see your +friend's silk hat. I have," he added grimly, "a singular curiosity for +hats; and I believe you know me to be somewhat positive." + +"I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas; I am exceedingly grieved," Harry +apologised; "but indeed this is a private affair." + +The General caught him roughly by the shoulder with one hand, while he +raised his cane in the most menacing manner with the other. Harry gave +himself up for lost; but at the same moment Heaven vouchsafed him an +unexpected defender in the person of Charlie Pendragon, who now strode +forward from behind the trees. + +"Come, come, General, hold your hand," said he; "this is neither +courteous nor manly." + +"Aha!" cried the General, wheeling round upon his new antagonist, "Mr. +Pendragon! And do you suppose, Mr. Pendragon, that because I have had +the misfortune to marry your sister, I shall suffer myself to be dogged +and thwarted by a discredited and bankrupt libertine like you? My +acquaintance with Lady Vandeleur, sir, has taken away all my appetite +for the other members of her family." + +"And do you fancy, General Vandeleur," retorted Charlie, "that because +my sister has had the misfortune to marry you, she there and then +forfeited her rights and privileges as a lady? I own, sir, that by that +action she did as much as anybody could to derogate from her position; +but to me she is still a Pendragon. I make it my business to protect her +from ungentlemanly outrage, and if you were ten times her husband I +would not permit her liberty to be restrained, nor her private +messengers to be violently arrested." + +"How is that, Mr. Hartley?" interrogated the General. "Mr. Pendragon is +of my opinion, it appears. He too suspects that Lady Vandeleur has +something to do with your friend's silk hat." + +Charlie saw that he had committed an unpardonable blunder, which he +hastened to repair. + +"How, sir?" he cried; "I suspect, do you say? I suspect nothing. Only +where I find strength abused and a man brutalising his inferiors, I take +the liberty to interfere." + +As he said these words he made a sign to Harry, which the latter was too +dull or too much troubled to understand. + +"In what way am I to construe your attitude, sir?" demanded Vandeleur. + +"Why, sir, as you please," returned Pendragon. + +The General once more raised his cane, and made a cut for Charlie's +head; but the latter, lame foot and all, evaded the blow with his +umbrella, ran in, and immediately closed with his formidable adversary. + +"Run, Harry, run!" he cried; "run, you dolt!" + +Harry stood petrified for a moment, watching the two men sway together +in this fierce embrace; then he turned and took to his heels. When he +cast a glance over his shoulder he saw the General prostrate under +Charlie's knee, but still making desperate efforts to reverse the +situation; and the Gardens seemed to have filled with people, who were +running from all directions towards the scene of fight. This spectacle +lent the secretary wings; and he did not relax his pace until he had +gained the Bayswater Road, and plunged at random into an unfrequented +by-street. + +To see two gentlemen of his acquaintance thus brutally mauling each +other was deeply shocking to Harry. He desired to forget the sight; he +desired, above all, to put as great a distance as possible between +himself and General Vandeleur; and in his eagerness for this he forgot +everything about his destination, and hurried before him headlong and +trembling. When he remembered that Lady Vandeleur was the wife of one +and the sister of the other of these gladiators, his heart was touched +with sympathy for a woman so distressingly misplaced in life. Even his +own situation in the General's household looked hardly so pleasing as +usual in the light of these violent transactions. + +He had walked some little distance, busied with these meditations, +before a slight collision with another passenger reminded him of the +bandbox on his arm. + +"Heavens!" cried he, "where was my head? and whither have I wandered?" + +Thereupon he consulted the envelope which Lady Vandeleur had given him. +The address was there, but without a name. Harry was simply directed to +ask for "the gentleman who expected a parcel from Lady Vandeleur," and +if he were not at home to await his return. The gentleman, added the +note, should present a receipt in the handwriting of the lady herself. +All this seemed mightily mysterious, and Harry was above all astonished +at the omission of the name and the formality of the receipt. He had +thought little of this last when he heard it dropped in conversation; +but reading it in cold blood, and taking it in connection with the other +strange particulars, he became convinced that he was engaged in perilous +affairs. For half a moment he had a doubt of Lady Vandeleur herself; for +he found these obscure proceedings somewhat unworthy of so high a lady, +and became more critical when her secrets were preserved against +himself. But her empire over his spirit was too complete, he dismissed +his suspicions, and blamed himself roundly for having so much as +entertained them. + +In one thing, however, his duty and interest, his generosity and his +terrors, coincided--to get rid of the bandbox with the greatest possible +despatch. + +He accosted the first policeman and courteously inquired his way. It +turned out that he was already not far from his destination, and a walk +of a few minutes brought him to a small house in a lane, freshly +painted, and kept with the most scrupulous attention. The knocker and +bell-pull were highly polished: flowering pot-herbs garnished the sills +of the different windows; and curtains of some rich material concealed +the interior from the eyes of curious passengers. The place had an air +of repose and secrecy; and Harry was so far caught with this spirit that +he knocked with more than usual discretion, and was more than usually +careful to remove all impurity from his boots. + +A servant-maid of some personal attractions immediately opened the door, +and seemed to regard the secretary with no unkind eyes. + +"This is a parcel from Lady Vandeleur," said Harry. + +"I know," replied the maid, with a nod. "But the gentleman is from home. +Will you leave it with me?" + +"I cannot," answered Harry. "I am directed not to part with it but upon +a certain condition, and I must ask you, I am afraid, to let me wait." + +"Well," said she, "I suppose I may let you wait. I am lonely enough, I +can tell you, and you do not look as though you would eat a girl. But be +sure and do not ask the gentleman's name, for that I am not to tell +you." + +"Do you say so?" cried Harry. "Why, how strange! But indeed for some +time back I walk among surprises. One question I think I may surely ask +without indiscretion: Is he the master of this house?" + +"He is a lodger, and not eight days old at that," returned the maid. +"And now a question for a question: Do you know Lady Vandeleur?" + +"I am her private secretary," replied Harry, with a glow of modest +pride. + +"She is pretty, is she not?" pursued the servant. + +"Oh, beautiful!" cried Harry; "wonderfully lovely, and not less good and +kind!" + +"You look kind enough yourself," she retorted; "and I wager you are +worth a dozen Lady Vandeleurs." + +Harry was properly scandalised. + +"I!" he cried. "I am only a secretary!" + +"Do you mean that for me?" said the girl. "Because I am only a +housemaid, if you please." And then, relenting at the sight of Harry's +obvious confusion, "I know you mean nothing of the sort," she added; +"and I like your looks; but I think nothing of your Lady Vandeleur. Oh, +these mistresses!" she cried. "To send out a real gentleman like +you--with a bandbox--in broad day!" + +During this talk they had remained in their original positions--she on +the doorstep, he on the side-walk, bare-headed for the sake of coolness, +and with the bandbox on his arm. But upon this last speech Harry, who +was unable to support such point-blank compliments to his appearance, +nor the encouraging look with which they were accompanied, began to +change his attitude, and glance from left to right in perturbation. In +so doing he turned his face towards the lower end of the lane, and +there, to his indescribable dismay, his eyes encountered those of +General Vandeleur. The General, in a prodigious fluster of heat, hurry, +and indignation, had been scouring the streets in chase of his +brother-in-law; but so soon as he caught a glimpse of the delinquent +secretary, his purpose changed, his anger flowed into a new channel, and +he turned on his heel and came tearing up the lane with truculent +gestures and vociferations. + +Harry made but one bolt of it into the house, driving the maid before +him; and the door was slammed in his pursuer's countenance. + +"Is there a bar? Will it lock?" asked Harry, while a salvo on the +knocker made the house echo from wall to wall. + +"Why, what is wrong with you?" asked the maid. "Is it this old +gentleman?" + +"If he gets hold of me," whispered Harry, "I am as good as dead. He has +been pursuing me all day, carries a sword-stick, and is an Indian +military officer." + +"These are fine manners," cried the maid. "And what, if you please, may +be his name?" + +"It is the General, my master," answered Harry. "He is after this +bandbox." + +"Did not I tell you?" cried the maid in triumph. "I told you I thought +worse than nothing of your Lady Vandeleur; and if you had an eye in your +head you might see what she is for yourself. An ungrateful minx, I will +be bound for that!" + +The General renewed his attack upon the knocker, and his passion growing +with delay, began to kick and beat upon the panels of the door. + +"It is lucky," observed the girl, "that I am alone in the house; your +General may hammer until he is weary, and there is none to open for him. +Follow me!" + +So saying she led Harry into the kitchen, where she made him sit down, +and stood by him herself in an affectionate attitude, with a hand upon +his shoulder. The din at the door, so far from abating, continued to +increase in volume, and at each blow the unhappy secretary was shaken to +the heart. + +"What is your name?" asked the girl. + +"Harry Hartley," he replied. + +"Mine," she went on, "is Prudence. Do you like it?" + +"Very much," said Harry. "But hear for a moment how the General beats +upon the door. He will certainly break it in, and then, in Heaven's +name, what have I to look for but death?" + +"You put yourself very much about with no occasion," answered Prudence. +"Let your General knock, he will do no more than blister his hands. Do +you think I would keep you here if I were not sure to save you? Oh, no, +I am a good friend to those that please me! and we have a back door upon +another lane. But," she added, checking him, for he had got upon his +feet immediately on this welcome news, "But I will not show where it is +unless you kiss me. Will you, Harry?" + +"That I will," he cried, remembering his gallantry, "not for your back +door, but because you are good and pretty." + +And he administered two or three cordial salutes, which were returned to +him in kind. + +Then Prudence led him to the back gate, and put her hand upon the key. + +"Will you come and see me?" she asked. + +"I will indeed," said Harry. "Do not I owe you my life?" + +"And now," she added, opening the door, "run as hard as you can, for I +shall let in the General." + +Harry scarcely required this advice; fear had him by the forelock; and +he addressed himself diligently to flight. A few steps, and he believed +he would escape from his trials, and return to Lady Vandeleur in honour +and safety. But these few steps had not been taken before he heard a +man's voice hailing him by name with many execrations, and, looking over +his shoulder, he beheld Charlie Pendragon waving him with both arms to +return. The shock of this new incident was so sudden and profound, and +Harry was already worked into so high a state of nervous tension, that +he could think of nothing better than to accelerate his pace and +continue running. He should certainly have remembered the scene in +Kensington Gardens; he should certainly have concluded that, where the +General was his enemy, Charlie Pendragon could be no other than a +friend. But such was the fever and perturbation of his mind that he was +struck by none of these considerations, and only continued to run the +faster up the lane. + +Charlie, by the sound of his voice and the vile terms that he hurled +after the secretary, was obviously beside himself with rage. He, too, +ran his very best; but, try as he might, the physical advantages were +not upon his side, and his outcries and the fall of his lame foot on the +macadam began to fall farther and farther into the wake. + +Harry's hopes began once more to arise. The lane was both steep and +narrow, but it was exceedingly solitary, bordered on either hand by +garden walls, overhung with foliage; and, for as far as the fugitive +could see in front of him, there was neither a creature moving nor an +open door. Providence, weary of persecution, was now offering him an +open field for his escape. + +Alas! as he came abreast of a garden door under a tuft of chestnuts, it +was suddenly drawn back, and he could see inside, upon a garden path, +the figure of a butcher's boy with his tray upon his arm. He had hardly +recognised the fact before he was some steps beyond upon the other side. +But the fellow had had time to observe him; he was evidently much +surprised to see a gentleman go by at so unusual a pace; and he came out +into the lane and began to call after Harry with shouts of ironical +encouragement. + +His appearance gave a new idea to Charlie Pendragon, who, although he +was now sadly out of breath, once more upraised his voice. + +"Stop, thief!" he cried. + +And immediately the butcher's boy had taken up the cry and joined in the +pursuit. + +This was a bitter moment for the hunted secretary. It is true that his +terror enabled him once more to improve his pace, and gain with every +step on his pursuers; but he was well aware that he was near the end of +his resources, and should he meet any one coming the other way, his +predicament in the narrow lane would be desperate indeed. + +"I must find a place of concealment," he thought, "and that within the +next few seconds, or all is over with me in this world." + +Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind than the lane took a sudden +turning, and he found himself hidden from his enemies. There are +circumstances in which even the least energetic of mankind learn to +behave with vigour and decision, and the most cautious forget their +prudence and embrace foolhardy resolutions. This was one of those +occasions for Harry Hartley; and those who knew him best would have been +the most astonished at the lad's audacity. He stopped dead, flung the +bandbox over a garden wall, and leaping upward with incredible agility, +and seizing the cope-stone with his hands, he tumbled headlong after it +into the garden. + +He came to himself a moment afterwards, seated in a border of small +rose-bushes. His hands and knees were cut and bleeding, for the wall had +been protected against such an escalade by a liberal provision of old +bottles; and he was conscious of a general dislocation and a painful +swimming in the head. Facing him across the garden, which was in +admirable order, and set with flowers of the most delicious perfume, he +beheld the back of a house. It was of considerable extent, and plainly +habitable; but, in odd contrast to the grounds, it was crazy, ill-kept, +and of a mean appearance. On all other sides the circuit of the garden +wall appeared unbroken. + +He took in these features of the scene with mechanical glances, but his +mind was still unable to piece together or draw a rational conclusion +from what he saw. And when he heard footsteps advancing on the gravel, +although he turned his eyes in that direction, it was with no thought +either for defence or flight. + +The new-comer was a large, coarse, and very sordid personage, in +gardening clothes, and with a watering-pot in his left hand. One less +confused would have been affected with some alarm at the sight of this +man's huge proportions and black and lowering eyes. But Harry was too +gravely shaken by his fall to be so much as terrified; and if he was +unable to divert his glances from the gardener, he remained absolutely +passive, and suffered him to draw near, to take him by the shoulder, and +to plant him roughly on his feet, without a motion of resistance. + +For a moment the two stared into each other's eyes, Harry fascinated, +the man filled with wrath and a cruel, sneering humour. + +"Who are you?" he demanded at last. "Who are you to come flying over my +wall and break my _Gloire de Dijons_? What is your name?" he added, +shaking him; "and what may be your business here?" + +Harry could not as much as proffer a word in explanation. + +But just at that moment Pendragon and the butcher's boy went clumping +past, and the sound of their feet and their hoarse cries echoed loudly +in the narrow lane. The gardener had received his answer; and he looked +down into Harry's face with an obnoxious smile. + +"A thief!" he said. "Upon my word, and a very good thing you must make +of it; for I see you dressed like a gentleman from top to toe. Are you +not ashamed to go about the world in such a trim, with honest folk, I +daresay, glad to buy your cast-off finery second-hand? Speak up, you +dog," the man went on; "you can understand English, I suppose; and I +mean to have a bit of talk with you before I march you to the station." + +"Indeed, sir," said Harry, "this is all a dreadful misconception; and if +you will go with me to Sir Thomas Vandeleur's in Eaton Place, I can +promise that all will be made plain. The most upright person, as I now +perceive, can be led into suspicious positions." + +"My little man," replied the gardener, "I will go with you no farther +than the station-house in the next street. The inspector, no doubt, will +be glad to take a stroll with you as far as Eaton Place, and have a bit +of afternoon tea with your great acquaintances. Or would you prefer to +go direct to the Home Secretary? Sir Thomas Vandeleur, indeed! Perhaps +you think I don't know a gentleman when I see one, from a common +run-the-hedge like you? Clothes or no clothes, I can read you like a +book. Here is a shirt that maybe cost as much as my Sunday hat; and that +coat, I take it, has never seen the inside of Rag-fair, and then your +boots----" + +The man, whose eyes had fallen upon the ground, stopped short in his +insulting commentary, and remained for a moment looking intently upon +something at his feet. When he spoke his voice was strangely altered. + +"What, in God's name," said he, "is all this?" + +Harry, following the direction of the man's eyes, beheld a spectacle +that struck him dumb with terror and amazement. In his fall he had +descended vertically upon the bandbox, and burst it open from end to +end; thence a great treasure of diamonds had poured forth, and now lay +abroad, part trodden in the soil, part scattered on the surface in regal +and glittering profusion. There was a magnificent coronet which he had +often admired on Lady Vandeleur; there were rings and brooches, +ear-drops and bracelets, and even unset brilliants rolling here and +there among the rose-bushes like drops of morning dew. A princely fortune +lay between the two men upon the ground--a fortune in the most inviting, +solid, and durable form, capable of being carried in an apron, beautiful +in itself, and scattering the sunlight in a million rainbow flashes. + +"Good God!" said Harry, "I am lost!" + +His mind racked backwards into the past with the incalculable velocity +of thought, and he began to comprehend his day's adventures, to conceive +them as a whole, and to recognise the sad imbroglio in which his own +character and fortunes had become involved. He looked round him as if +for help, but he was alone in the garden, with his scattered diamonds +and his redoubtable interlocutor; and when he gave ear, there was no +sound but the rustle of the leaves and the hurried pulsation of his +heart. It was little wonder if the young man felt himself deserted by +his spirits, and with a broken voice repeated his last ejaculation-- + +"I am lost!" + +The gardener peered in all directions with an air of guilt; but there +was no face at any of the windows, and he seemed to breathe again. + +"Pick up a heart," he said, "you fool! The worst of it is done. Why +could you not say at first there was enough for two? Two?" he repeated, +"ay, and for two hundred! But come away from here, where we may be +observed; and, for the love of wisdom, straighten out your hat and brush +your clothes. You could not travel two steps the figure of fun you look +just now." + +While Harry mechanically adopted these suggestions, the gardener, +getting upon his knees, hastily drew together the scattered jewels and +returned them to the bandbox. The touch of these costly crystals sent a +shiver of emotion through the man's stalwart frame; his face was +transfigured, and his eyes shone with concupiscence; indeed, it seemed +as if he luxuriously prolonged his occupation, and dallied with every +diamond that he handled. At last, however, it was done; and concealing +the bandbox in his smock, the gardener beckoned to Harry and preceded +him in the direction of the house. + +Near the door they were met by a young man, evidently in holy orders, +dark and strikingly handsome, with a look of mingled weakness and +resolution, and very neatly attired after the manner of his caste. The +gardener was plainly annoyed by this encounter; but he put as good a +face upon it as he could, and accosted the clergyman with an obsequious +and smiling air. + +"Here is a fine afternoon, Mr. Rolles," said he: "a fine afternoon, as +sure as God made it! And here is a young friend of mine who had a fancy +to look at my roses. I took the liberty to bring him in, for I thought +none of the lodgers would object." + +"Speaking for myself," replied the Reverend Mr. Rolles, "I do not; nor +do I fancy any of the rest of us would be more difficult upon so small a +matter. The garden is your own, Mr. Raeburn; we must none of us forget +that; and because you give us liberty to walk there we should be indeed +ungracious if we so far presumed upon your politeness as to interfere +with the convenience of your friends. But, on second thoughts," he +added, "I believe that this gentleman and I have met before. Mr. +Hartley, I think. I regret to observe that you have had a fall." + +And he offered his hand. + +A sort of maiden dignity, and a desire to delay as long as possible the +necessity for explanation, moved Harry to refuse this chance of help, +and to deny his own identity. He chose the tender mercies of the +gardener, who was at least unknown to him, rather than the curiosity and +perhaps the doubts of an acquaintance. + +"I fear there is some mistake," said he. "My name is Thomlinson and I am +a friend of Mr. Raeburn's." + +"Indeed?" said Mr. Rolles. "The likeness is amazing." + +Mr. Raeburn, who had been upon thorns throughout this colloquy, now felt +it high time to bring it to a period. + +"I wish you a pleasant saunter, sir," said he. + +And with that he dragged Harry after him into the house, and then into a +chamber on the garden. His first care was to draw down the blind, for +Mr. Rolles still remained where they had left him, in an attitude of +perplexity and thought. Then he emptied the broken bandbox on the table, +and stood before the treasure, thus fully displayed, with an expression +of rapturous greed, and rubbing his hands upon his thighs. For Harry, +the sight of the man's face under the influence of this base emotion +added another pang to those he was already suffering. It seemed +incredible that, from his life of pure and delicate trifling, he should +be plunged in a breath among sordid and criminal relations. He could +reproach his conscience with no sinful act; and yet he was now suffering +the punishment of sin in its most acute and cruel forms--the dread of +punishment, the suspicions of the good, and the companionship and +contamination of vile and brutal natures. He felt he could lay his life +down with gladness to escape from the room and the society of Mr. +Raeburn. + +"And now," said the latter, after he had separated the jewels into two +nearly equal parts, and drawn one of them nearer to himself; "and now," +said he, "everything in this world has to be paid for, and some things +sweetly. You must know, Mr. Hartley, if such be your name, that I am a +man of a very easy temper, and good-nature has been my stumbling-block +from first to last. I could pocket the whole of these pretty pebbles, if +I chose, and I should like to see you dare to say a word; but I think I +must have taken a liking to you; for I declare I have not the heart to +shave you so close. So, do you see, in pure kind feeling, I propose that +we divide; and these," indicating the two heaps, "are the proportions +that seem to me just and friendly. Do you see any objection, Mr. +Hartley, may I ask? I am not the man to stick upon a brooch." + +"But, sir," cried Harry, "what you propose to me is impossible. The +jewels are not mine, and I cannot share what is another's, no matter +with whom, nor in what proportions." + +"They are not yours, are they not?" returned Raeburn. "And you could not +share them with anybody, couldn't you? Well, now, that is what I call a +pity; for here am I obliged to take you to the station. The +police--think of that," he continued; "think of the disgrace for your +respectable parents; think," he went on, taking Harry by the wrist; +"think of the Colonies and the Day of Judgment." + +"I cannot help it," wailed Harry. "It is not my fault. You will not come +with me to Eaton Place." + +"No," replied the man; "I will not, that is certain. And I mean to +divide these playthings with you here." + +And so saying he applied a sudden and severe torsion to the lad's wrist. + +Harry could not suppress a scream, and the perspiration burst forth upon +his face. Perhaps pain and terror quickened his intelligence, but +certainly at that moment the whole business flashed across him in +another light; and he saw that there was nothing for it but to accede to +the ruffian's proposal, and trust to find the house and force him to +disgorge, under more favourable circumstances, and when he himself was +clear from all suspicion. + +"I agree," he said. + +"There is a lamb," sneered the gardener. "I thought you would recognise +your interests at last. This bandbox," he continued, "I shall burn with +my rubbish; it is a thing that curious folk might recognise; and as for +you, scrape up your gaieties and put them in your pocket." + +Harry proceeded to obey, Raeburn watching him, and every now and again, +his greed rekindled by some bright scintillation, abstracting another +jewel from the secretary's share, and adding it to his own. + +When this was finished, both proceeded to the front door, which Raeburn +cautiously opened to observe the street. This was apparently clear of +passengers; for he suddenly seized Harry by the nape of the neck, and +holding his face downward so that he could see nothing but the roadway +and the door steps of the houses, pushed him violently before him down +one street and up another for the space of perhaps a minute and a half. +Harry had counted three corners before the bully relaxed his grasp, and +crying, "Now be off with you!" sent the lad flying head-foremost with a +well-directed and athletic kick. + +When Harry gathered himself up, half-stunned and bleeding freely at the +nose, Mr. Raeburn had entirely disappeared. For the first time, anger +and pain so completely overcame the lad's spirits that he burst into a +fit of tears and remained sobbing in the middle of the road. + +After he had thus somewhat assuaged his emotion, he began to look about +him and read the names of the streets at whose intersection he had been +deserted by the gardener. He was still in an unfrequented portion of +West London, among villas and large gardens; but he could see some +persons at a window who had evidently witnessed his misfortune; and +almost immediately after a servant came running from the house and +offered him a glass of water. At the same time, a dirty rogue, who had +been slouching somewhere in the neighbourhood, drew near him from the +other side. + +"Poor fellow," said the maid, "how vilely you have been handled, to be +sure! Why, your knees are all cut, and your clothes ruined! Do you know +the wretch who used you so?" + +"That I do!" cried Harry, who was somewhat refreshed by the water; "and +shall run him home in spite of his precautions. He shall pay dearly for +this day's work, I promise you." + +"You had better come into the house and have yourself washed and +brushed," continued the maid. "My mistress will make you welcome, never +fear. And see, I will pick up your hat. Why, love of mercy!" she +screamed, "if you have not dropped diamonds all over the street!" + +Such was the case; a good half of what remained to him after the +depredations of Mr. Raeburn had been shaken out of his pockets by the +summersault, and once more lay glittering on the ground. He blessed his +fortune that the maid had been so quick of eye; "there is nothing so bad +but it might be worse," thought he; and the recovery of these few seemed +to him almost as great an affair as the loss of all the rest. But, alas! +as he stooped to pick up his treasures, the loiterer made a rapid +onslaught, overset both Harry and the maid with a movement of his arms, +swept up a double-handful of the diamonds, and made off along the street +with an amazing swiftness. + +Harry, as soon as he could get upon his feet, gave chase to the +miscreant with many cries, but the latter was too fleet of foot, and +probably too well acquainted with the locality; for turn where the +pursuer would he could find no traces of the fugitive. + +In the deepest despondency, Harry revisited the scene of his mishap, +where the maid, who was still waiting, very honestly returned him his +hat and the remainder of the fallen diamonds. Harry thanked her from his +heart, and being now in no humour for economy, made his way to the +nearest cabstand and set off for Eaton Place by coach. + +The house, on his arrival, seemed in some confusion, as if a catastrophe +had happened in the family; and the servants clustered together in the +hall, and were unable, or perhaps not altogether anxious, to suppress +their merriment at the tatterdemalion figure of the secretary. He passed +them with as good an air of dignity as he could assume, and made +directly for the boudoir. When he opened the door an astonishing and +even menacing spectacle presented itself to his eyes; for he beheld the +General and his wife and, of all people, Charlie Pendragon, closeted +together and speaking with earnestness and gravity on some important +subject. Harry saw at once that there was little left for him to +explain--plenary confession had plainly been made to the General of the +intended fraud upon his pocket, and the unfortunate miscarriage of the +scheme; and they had all made common cause against a common danger. + +"Thank Heaven!" cried Lady Vandeleur, "here he is! The bandbox, +Harry--the bandbox!" + +But Harry stood before them silent and downcast. + +"Speak!" she cried. "Speak! Where is the bandbox?" + +And the men, with threatening gestures, repeated the demand. + +Harry drew a handful of jewels from his pocket. He was very white. + +"This is all that remains," said he. "I declare before Heaven it was +through no fault of mine; and if you will have patience, although some +are lost, I am afraid, for ever, others, I am sure, may be still +recovered." + +"Alas!" cried Lady Vandeleur, "all our diamonds are gone, and I owe +ninety thousand pounds for dress!" + +"Madam," said the General, "you might have paved the gutter with your +own trash; you might have made debts to fifty times the sum you mention; +you might have robbed me of my mother's coronet and ring; and Nature +might have still so far prevailed that I could have forgiven you at +last. But, madam, you have taken the Rajah's Diamond--the Eye of Light, +as the Orientals poetically termed it--the Pride of Kashgar! You have +taken from me the Rajah's Diamond," he cried, raising his hands, "and +all, madam, all is at an end between us!" + +"Believe me, General Vandeleur," she replied, "that is one of the most +agreeable speeches that ever I heard from your lips; and since we are to +be ruined, I could almost welcome the change, if it delivers me from +you. You have told me often enough that I married you for your money; +let me tell you now that I always bitterly repented the bargain; and if +you were still marriageable, and had a diamond bigger than your head, I +should counsel even my maid against a union so uninviting and +disastrous.--As for you, Mr. Hartley," she continued, turning on the +secretary, "you have sufficiently exhibited your valuable qualities in +this house; we are now persuaded that you equally lack manhood, sense, +and self-respect; and I can see only one course open for you--to +withdraw instanter, and, if possible, return no more. For your wages you +may rank as a creditor in my late husband's bankruptcy." + +Harry had scarcely comprehended this insulting address before the +General was down upon him with another. + +"And in the meantime," said that personage, "follow me before the +nearest Inspector of Police. You may impose upon a simple-minded +soldier, sir, but the eye of the law will read your disreputable secret. +If I must spend my old age in poverty through your underhand intriguing +with my wife, I mean at least that you shall not remain unpunished for +your pains; and God, sir, will deny me a very considerable satisfaction +if you do not pick oakum from now until your dying day." + +With that, the General dragged Harry from the apartment, and hurried him +down-stairs and along the street to the police-station of the district. + + +_Here_ (says my Arabian author) _ended this deplorable business of the +bandbox. But to the unfortunate secretary the whole affair was the +beginning of a new and manlier life. The police were easily persuaded of +his innocence; and, after he had given what help he could in the +subsequent investigations, he was even complimented by one of the chiefs +of the detective department on the probity and simplicity of his +behaviour. Several persons interested themselves in one so unfortunate; +and soon after he inherited a sum of money from a maiden aunt in +Worcestershire. With this he married Prudence, and set sail for Bendigo, +or, according to another account, for Trincomalee, exceedingly content, +and with the best of prospects._ + + +STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS + +The Reverend Mr. Simon Rolles had distinguished himself in the Moral +Sciences, and was more than usually proficient in the study of Divinity. +His essay "On the Christian Doctrine of the Social Obligations" obtained +for him, at the moment of its production, a certain celebrity in the +University of Oxford; and it was understood in clerical and learned +circles that young Mr. Rolles had in contemplation a considerable +work--a folio, it was said--on the authority of the Fathers of the +Church. These attainments, these ambitious designs, however, were far +from helping him to any preferment; and he was still in quest of his +first curacy when a chance ramble in that part of London, the peaceful +and rich aspect of the garden, a desire for solitude and study, and the +cheapness of the lodging, led him to take up his abode with Mr. Raeburn, +the nurseryman of Stockdove Lane. + +It was his habit every afternoon, after he had worked seven or eight +hours on St. Ambrose or St. Chrysostom, to walk for a while in +meditation among the roses. And this was usually one of the most +productive moments of his day. But even a sincere appetite for thought, +and the excitement of grave problems awaiting solution, are not always +sufficient to preserve the mind of the philosopher against the petty +shocks and contacts of the world. And when Mr. Rolles found General +Vandeleur's secretary, ragged and bleeding, in the company of his +landlord; when he saw both change colour and seek to avoid his +questions; and, above all, when the former denied his own identity with +the most unmoved assurance, he speedily forgot the Saints and Fathers in +the vulgar interest of curiosity. + +"I cannot be mistaken," thought he. "That is Mr. Hartley beyond a doubt. +How comes he in such a pickle? why does he deny his name? and what can +be his business with that black-looking ruffian, my landlord?" + +As he was thus reflecting, another peculiar circumstance attracted his +attention. The face of Mr. Raeburn appeared at a low window next the +door; and, as chance directed, his eyes met those of Mr. Rolles. The +nurseryman seemed disconcerted, and even alarmed; and immediately after +the blind of the apartment was pulled sharply down. + +"This may all be very well," reflected Mr. Rolles; "it may be all +excellently well; but I confess freely that I do not think so. +Suspicious, underhand, untruthful, fearful of observation--I believe +upon my soul," he thought, "the pair are plotting some disgraceful +action." + +The detective that there is in all of us awoke and became clamant in the +bosom of Mr. Rolles; and with a brisk, eager step, that bore no +resemblance to his usual gait, he proceeded to make the circuit of the +garden. When he came to the scene of Harry's escalade, his eye was at +once arrested by a broken rose-bush and marks of trampling on the mould. +He looked up, and saw scratches on the brick, and a rag of trouser +floating from a broken bottle. This, then, was the mode of entrance +chosen by Mr. Raeburn's particular friend! It was thus that General +Vandeleur's secretary came to admire a flower-garden! The young +clergyman whistled softly to himself as he stooped to examine the +ground. He could make out where Harry had landed from his perilous leap; +he recognised the flat foot of Mr. Raeburn where it had sunk deeply in +the soil as he pulled up the secretary by the collar; nay, on a closer +inspection, he seemed to distinguish the marks of groping fingers, as +though something had been spilt abroad and eagerly collected. + +"Upon my word," he thought, "the thing grows vastly interesting." + +And just then he caught sight of something almost entirely buried in the +earth. In an instant he had disinterred a dainty morocco case, +ornamented and clasped in gilt. It had been trodden heavily underfoot, +and thus escaped the hurried search of Mr. Raeburn. Mr. Rolles opened +the case, and drew a long breath of almost horrified astonishment; for +there lay before him, in a cradle of green velvet, a diamond of +prodigious magnitude and of the finest water. It was of the bigness of a +duck's egg; beautifully shaped, and without a flaw; and as the sun shone +upon it, it gave forth a lustre like that of electricity, and seemed to +burn in his hand with a thousand internal fires. + +He knew little of precious stones; but the Rajah's Diamond was a wonder +that explained itself; a village child, if he found it, would run +screaming for the nearest cottage; and a savage would prostrate himself +in adoration before so imposing a fetich. The beauty of the stone +flattered the young clergyman's eyes; the thought of its incalculable +value overpowered his intellect. He knew that what he held in his hand +was worth more than many years' purchase of an archiepiscopal see; that +it would build cathedrals more stately than Ely or Cologne; that he who +possessed it was set free for ever from the primal curse, and might +follow his own inclinations without concern or hurry, without let or +hindrance. And as he suddenly turned it, the rays leaped forth again +with renewed brilliancy, and seemed to pierce his very heart. + +Decisive actions are often taken in a moment and without any conscious +deliverance from the rational parts of man. So it was now with Mr. +Rolles. He glanced hurriedly round; beheld, like Mr. Raeburn before him, +nothing but the sunlit flower-garden, the tall tree-tops, and the house +with blinded windows; and in a trice he had shut the case, thrust it +into his pocket, and was hastening to his study with the speed of guilt. + +The Reverend Simon Rolles had stolen the Rajah's Diamond. + +Early in the afternoon the police arrived with Harry Hartley. The +nurseryman, who was beside himself with terror, readily discovered his +hoard; and the jewels were identified and inventoried in the presence of +the secretary. As for Mr. Rolles, he showed himself in a most obliging +temper, communicated what he knew with freedom, and professed regret +that he could do no more to help the officers in their duty. + +"Still," he added, "I suppose your business is nearly at an end." + +"By no means," replied the man from Scotland Yard; and he narrated the +second robbery of which Harry had been the immediate victim, and gave +the young clergyman a description of the more important jewels that were +still not found, dilating particularly on the Rajah's Diamond. + +"It must be worth a fortune," observed Mr. Rolles. + +"Ten fortunes--twenty fortunes," cried the officer. + +"The more it is worth," remarked Simon shrewdly, "the more difficult it +must be to sell. Such a thing has a physiognomy not to be disguised, and +I should fancy a man might as easily negotiate St. Paul's Cathedral." + +"Oh, truly!" said the officer; "but if the thief be a man of any +intelligence, he will cut it into three or four, and there will be still +enough to make him rich." + +"Thank you," said the clergyman. "You cannot imagine how much your +conversation interests me." + +Whereupon the functionary admitted that they knew many strange things in +his profession, and immediately after took his leave. + +Mr. Rolles regained his apartment. It seemed smaller and barer than +usual; the materials for his great work had never presented so little +interest; and he looked upon his library with the eye of scorn. He took +down, volume by volume, several Fathers of the Church, and glanced them +through; but they contained nothing to his purpose. + +"These old gentlemen," thought he, "are no doubt very valuable writers, +but they seem to me conspicuously ignorant of life. Here am I, with +learning enough to be a Bishop, and I positively do not know how to +dispose of a stolen diamond. I glean a hint from a common policeman, +and, with all my folios, I cannot so much as put it into execution. This +inspires me with very low ideas of University training." + +Herewith he kicked over his book-shelf and, putting on his hat, hastened +from the house to the club of which he was a member. In such a place of +mundane resort he hoped to find some man of good counsel and a shrewd +experience in life. In the reading-room he saw many of the country +clergy and an Archdeacon; there were three journalists and a writer upon +the Higher Metaphysic, playing pool; and at dinner only the raff of +ordinary club frequenters showed their commonplace and obliterated +countenances. None of these, thought Mr. Rolles, would know more on +dangerous topics than he knew himself; none of them were fit to give him +guidance in his present strait. At length, in the smoking-room, up many +weary stairs, he hit upon a gentleman of somewhat portly build and +dressed with conspicuous plainness. He was smoking a cigar and reading +the _Fortnightly_ _Review_; his face was singularly free from all sign +of preoccupation or fatigue; and there was something in his air which +seemed to invite confidence and to expect submission. The more the young +clergyman scrutinised his features, the more he was convinced that he +had fallen on one capable of giving pertinent advice. + +"Sir," said he, "you will excuse my abruptness; but I judge you from +your appearance to be pre-eminently a man of the world." + +"I have indeed considerable claims to that distinction," replied the +stranger, laying aside his magazine with a look of mingled amusement and +surprise. + +"I, sir," continued the curate, "am a recluse, a student, a creature of +ink-bottles and patristic folios. A recent event has brought my folly +vividly before my eyes, and I desire to instruct myself in life. By +life," he added, "I do not mean Thackeray's novels; but the crimes and +secret possibilities of our society, and the principles of wise conduct +among exceptional events. I am a patient reader; can the thing be learnt +in books?" + +"You put me in a difficulty," said the stranger. "I confess I have no +great notion of the use of books, except to amuse a railway journey; +although, I believe, there are some very exact treatises on astronomy, +the use of the globes, agriculture, and the art of making paper-flowers. +Upon the less apparent provinces of life I fear you will find nothing +truthful. Yet stay," he added, "have you read Gaboriau?" + +Mr. Rolles admitted that he had never even heard the name. + +"You may gather some notions from Gaboriau," resumed the stranger. "He +is at least suggestive; and as he is an author much studied by Prince +Bismarck, you will, at the worst, lose your time in good society." + +"Sir," said the curate, "I am infinitely obliged by your politeness." + +"You have already more than repaid me," returned the other. + +"How?" inquired Simon. + +"By the novelty of your request," replied the gentleman; and with a +polite gesture, as though to ask permission, he resumed the study of the +_Fortnightly Review_. + +On his way home Mr. Rolles purchased a work on precious stones and +several of Gaboriau's novels. These last he eagerly skimmed until an +advanced hour in the morning; but although they introduced him to many +new ideas, he could nowhere discover what to do with a stolen diamond. +He was annoyed, moreover, to find the information scattered amongst +romantic story-telling, instead of soberly set forth after the manner of +a manual; and he concluded that, even if the writer had thought much +upon these subjects, he was totally lacking in educational method. For +the character and attainments of Lecoq, however, he was unable to +contain his admiration. + +"He was truly a great creature," ruminated Mr. Rolles. "He knew the +world as I know Paley's Evidences. There was nothing that he could not +carry to a termination with his own hand, and against the largest odds. +Heavens!" he broke out suddenly, "is not this the lesson? Must I not +learn to cut diamonds for myself?" + +It seemed to him as if he had sailed at once out of his perplexities; he +remembered that he knew a jeweller, one B. Macculloch, in Edinburgh, who +would be glad to put him in the way of the necessary training; a few +months, perhaps a few years, of sordid toil, and he would be +sufficiently expert to divide and sufficiently cunning to dispose with +advantage of the Rajah's Diamond. That done, he might return to pursue +his researches at leisure, a wealthy and luxurious student, envied and +respected by all. Golden visions attended him through his slumber, and +he awoke refreshed and light-hearted with the morning sun. + +Mr. Raeburn's house was on that day to be closed by the police, and this +afforded a pretext for his departure. He cheerfully prepared his +baggage, transported it to King's Cross, where he left it in the +cloak-room, and returned to the club to while away the afternoon and +dine. + +"If you dine here to-day, Rolles," observed an acquaintance, "you may +see two of the most remarkable men in England--Prince Florizel of +Bohemia, and old Jack Vandeleur." + +"I have heard of the Prince," replied Mr. Rolles; "and General Vandeleur +I have even met in society." + +"General Vandeleur is an ass!" returned the other. "This is his brother +John, the biggest adventurer, the best judge of precious stones, and one +of the most acute diplomatists in Europe. Have you never heard of his +duel with the Duc de Val d'Orge? of his exploits and atrocities when he +was Dictator of Paraguay? of his dexterity in recovering Sir Samuel +Levi's jewellery? nor of his services in the Indian Mutiny--services by +which the Government profited, but which the Government dared not +recognise? You make me wonder what we mean by fame, or even by infamy; +for Jack Vandeleur has prodigious claims to both. Run down-stairs," he +continued, "take a table near them, and keep your ears open. You will +hear some strange talk, or I am much misled." + +"But how shall I know them?" inquired the clergyman. + +"Know them!" cried his friend; "why, the Prince is the finest gentleman +in Europe, the only living creature who looks like a king; and as for +Jack Vandeleur, if you can imagine Ulysses at seventy years of age, and +with a sabre-cut across his face, you have the man before you! Know +them, indeed! Why, you could pick either of them out of a Derby day!" + +Rolles eagerly hurried to the dining-room. It was as his friend had +asserted; it was impossible to mistake the pair in question. Old John +Vandeleur was of a remarkable force of body, and obviously broken to the +most difficult exercises. He had neither the carriage of a swordsman, +nor of a sailor, nor yet of one much inured to the saddle; but something +made up of all these, and the result and expression of many different +habits and dexterities. His features were bold and aquiline; his +expression arrogant and predatory; his whole appearance that of a swift, +violent, unscrupulous man of action; and his copious white hair and the +deep sabre-cut that traversed his nose and temple added a note of +savagery to a head already remarkable and menacing in itself. + +In his companion, the Prince of Bohemia, Mr. Rolles was astonished to +recognise the gentleman who had recommended him the study of Gaboriau. +Doubtless Prince Florizel, who rarely visited the club, of which, as of +most others, he was an honorary member, had been waiting for John +Vandeleur when Simon accosted him on the previous evening. + +The other diners had modestly retired into the angles of the room, and +left the distinguished pair in a certain isolation, but the young +clergyman was unrestrained by any sentiment of awe, and, marching boldly +up, took his place at the nearest table. + +The conversation was, indeed, new to the student's ears. The ex-Dictator +of Paraguay stated many extraordinary experiences in different quarters +of the world; and the Prince supplied a commentary which, to a man of +thought, was even more interesting than the events themselves. Two forms +of experience were thus brought together and laid before the young +clergyman; and he did not know which to admire the most--the desperate +actor or the skilled expert in life; the man who spoke boldly of his own +deeds and perils, or the man who seemed, like a god, to know all things +and to have suffered nothing. The manner of each aptly fitted with his +part in the discourse. The Dictator indulged in brutalities alike of +speech and gesture; his hand opened and shut and fell roughly on the +table; and his voice was loud and heady. The Prince, on the other hand, +seemed the very type of urbane docility and quiet; the least movement, +the least inflection, had with him a weightier significance than all the +shouts and pantomime of his companion; and if ever, as must frequently +have been the case, he described some experience personal to himself, it +was so aptly dissimulated as to pass unnoticed with the rest. + +At length the talk wandered on to the late robberies and the Rajah's +Diamond. + +"That diamond would be better in the sea," observed Prince Florizel. + +"As a Vandeleur," replied the Dictator, "your Highness may imagine my +dissent." + +"I speak on grounds of public policy," pursued the Prince. "Jewels so +valuable should be reserved for the collection of a Prince or the +treasury of a great nation. To hand them about among the common sort of +men is to set a price on Virtue's head; and if the Rajah of Kashgar--a +Prince, I understand, of great enlightenment--desired vengeance upon the +men of Europe, he could hardly have gone more efficaciously about his +purpose than by sending us this apple of discord. There is no honesty +too robust for such a trial. I myself, who have many duties and many +privileges of my own--I myself, Mr. Vandeleur, could scarce handle the +intoxicating crystal and be safe. As for you, who are a diamond-hunter +by taste and profession, I do not believe there is a crime in the +calendar you would not perpetrate--I do not believe you have a friend in +the world whom you would not eagerly betray--I do not know if you have a +family, but if you have I declare you would sacrifice your children--and +all this for what? Not to be richer, nor to have more comforts or more +respect, but simply to call this diamond yours for a year or two until +you die, and now and again to open a safe and look at it as one looks at +a picture." + +"It is true," replied Vandeleur. "I have hunted most things, from men +and women down to mosquitoes; I have dived for coral; I have followed +both whales and tigers; and a diamond is the tallest quarry of the lot. +It has beauty and worth; it alone can properly reward the ardours of the +chase. At this moment, as your Highness may fancy, I am upon the trail; +I have a sure knack, a wide experience; I know every stone of price in +my brother's collection as a shepherd knows his sheep; and I wish I may +die if I do not recover them every one." + +"Sir Thomas Vandeleur will have great cause to thank you," said the +Prince. + +"I am not so sure," returned the Dictator, with a laugh. "One of the +Vandeleurs will. Thomas or John--Peter or Paul--we are all apostles." + +"I did not catch your observation," said the Prince, with some disgust. + +And at the same moment the waiter informed Mr. Vandeleur that his cab +was at the door. + +Mr. Rolles glanced at the clock, and saw that he also must be moving; +and the coincidence struck him sharply and unpleasantly, for he desired +to see no more of the diamond-hunter. + +Much study having somewhat shaken the young man's nerves, he was in the +habit of travelling in the most luxurious manner; and for the present +journey he had taken a sofa in the sleeping carriage. + +"You will be very comfortable," said the guard; "there is no one in your +compartment, and only one old gentleman in the other end." + +It was close upon the hour, and the tickets were being examined, when +Mr. Rolles beheld this other fellow-passenger ushered by several porters +into his place; certainly, there was not another man in the world whom +he would not have preferred--for it was old John Vandeleur, the +ex-Dictator. + +The sleeping carriages on the Great Northern line were divided into +three compartments--one at each end for travellers, and one in the +centre fitted with the conveniences of a lavatory. A door running in +grooves separated each of the others from the lavatory; but as there +were neither bolts nor locks, the whole suite was practically common +ground. + +When Mr. Rolles had studied his position, he perceived himself without +defence. If the Dictator chose to pay him a visit in the course of the +night, he could do no less than receive it; he had no means of +fortification, and lay open to attack as if he had been lying in the +fields. This situation caused him some agony of mind. He recalled with +alarm the boastful statements of his fellow-traveller across the +dining-table, and the professions of immorality which he had heard him +offering to the disgusted Prince. Some persons, he remembered to have +read, are endowed with a singular quickness of perception for the +neighbourhood of precious metals; through walls and even at considerable +distances they are said to divine the presence of gold. Might it not be +the same with diamonds? he wondered; and if so, who was more likely to +enjoy this transcendental sense than the person who gloried in the +appellation of the Diamond Hunter? From such a man he recognised that he +had everything to fear, and longed eagerly for the arrival of the day. + +In the meantime he neglected no precaution, concealed his diamond in the +most internal pocket of a system of great-coats, and devoutly +recommended himself to the care of Providence. + +The train pursued its usual even and rapid course; and nearly half the +journey had been accomplished before slumber began to triumph over +uneasiness in the breast of Mr. Rolles. For some time he resisted its +influence; but it grew upon him more and more, and a little before York +he was fain to stretch himself upon one of the couches and suffer his +eyes to close; and almost at the same instant consciousness deserted the +young clergyman. His last thought was of his terrifying neighbour. + +When he awoke it was still pitch dark, except for the flicker of the +veiled lamp; and the continual roaring and oscillation testified to the +unrelaxed velocity of the train. He sat upright in a panic, for he had +been tormented by the most uneasy dreams; it was some seconds before he +recovered his self-command; and even after he had resumed a recumbent +attitude sleep continued to flee him, and he lay awake with his brain in +a state of violent agitation, and his eyes fixed upon the lavatory door. +He pulled his clerical felt hat over his brow still further to shield +him from the light; and he adopted the usual expedients, such as +counting a thousand or banishing thought, by which experienced invalids +are accustomed to woo the approach of sleep. In the case of Mr. Rolles +they proved one and all vain; he was harassed by a dozen different +anxieties--the old man in the other end of the carriage haunted him in +the most alarming shapes; and in whatever attitude he chose to lie, the +diamond in his pocket occasioned him a sensible physical distress. It +burned, it was too large; it bruised his ribs; and there were +infinitesimal fractions of a second in which he had half a mind to throw +it from the window. + +While he was thus lying, a strange incident took place. + +The sliding-door into the lavatory stirred a little, and then a little +more, and was finally drawn back for the space of about twenty inches. +The lamp in the lavatory was unshaded, and in the lighted aperture thus +disclosed Mr. Rolles could see the head of Mr. Vandeleur in an attitude +of deep attention. He was conscious that the gaze of the Dictator rested +intently on his own face; and the instinct of self-preservation moved +him to hold his breath, to refrain from the least movement, and, keeping +his eyes lowered, to watch his visitor from underneath the lashes. After +about a moment, the head was withdrawn and the door of the lavatory +replaced. + +The Dictator had not come to attack, but to observe; his action was not +that of a man threatening another, but that of a man who was himself +threatened; if Mr. Rolles was afraid of him, it appeared that he, in his +turn, was not quite easy on the score of Mr. Rolles. He had come, it +would seem, to make sure that his only fellow-traveller was asleep; and, +when satisfied on that point, he had at once withdrawn. + +The clergyman leaped to his feet. The extreme of terror had given place +to a reaction of foolhardy daring. He reflected that the rattle of the +flying train concealed all other sounds, and determined, come what +might, to return the visit he had just received. Divesting himself of +his cloak, which might have interfered with the freedom of his action, +he entered the lavatory and paused to listen. As he had expected, there +was nothing to be heard above the roar of the train's progress; and +laying his hand on the door at the farther side, he proceeded cautiously +to draw it back for about six inches. Then he stopped, and could not +contain an ejaculation of surprise. + +John Vandeleur wore a fur travelling-cap with lappets to protect his +ears; and this may have combined with the sound of the express to keep +him in ignorance of what was going forward. It is certain, at least, +that he did not raise his head, but continued without interruption to +pursue his strange employment. Between his feet stood an open hat-box; +in one hand he held the sleeve of his sealskin greatcoat; in the other a +formidable knife, with which he had just slit up the lining of the +sleeve. Mr. Rolles had read of persons carrying money in a belt; and as +he had no acquaintance with any but cricket-belts, he had never been +able rightly to conceive how this was managed. But here was a stranger +thing before his eyes; for John Vandeleur, it appeared, carried diamonds +in the lining of his sleeve; and even as the young clergyman gazed, he +could see one glittering brilliant drop after another into the hat-box. + +He stood riveted to the spot, following this unusual business with his +eyes. The diamonds were, for the most part, small, and not easily +distinguishable either in shape or fire. Suddenly the Dictator appeared +to find a difficulty; he employed both hands and stooped over his task; +but it was not until after considerable manoeuvring that he extricated +a large tiara of diamonds from the lining, and held it up for some +seconds' examination before he placed it with the others in the hat-box. +The tiara was a ray of light to Mr. Rolles; he immediately recognised +it for a part of the treasure stolen from Harry Hartley by the loiterer. +There was no room for mistake; it was exactly as the detective had +described it; there were the ruby stars, with a great emerald in the +centre; there were the interlacing crescents; and there were the +pear-shaped pendants, each a single stone, which gave a special value to +Lady Vandeleur's tiara. + +Mr. Rolles was hugely relieved. The Dictator was as deeply in the affair +as he was; neither could tell tales upon the other. In the first glow of +happiness, the clergyman suffered a deep sigh to escape him; and as his +bosom had become choked and his throat dry during his previous suspense, +the sigh was followed by a cough. + +Mr. Vandeleur looked up; his face contracted with the blackest and most +deadly passion; his eyes opened widely, and his under jaw dropped in an +astonishment that was upon the brink of fury. By an instinctive movement +he had covered the hat-box with the coat. For half a minute the two men +stared upon each other in silence. It was not a long interval, but it +sufficed for Mr. Rolles; he was one of those who think swiftly on +dangerous occasions; he decided on a course of action of a singularly +daring nature; and although he felt he was setting his life upon the +hazard, he was the first to break silence. + +"I beg your pardon," said he. + +The Dictator shivered slightly, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse. + +"What do you want here?" he asked. + +"I take a particular interest in diamonds," replied Mr. Rolles, with an +air of perfect self-possession. "Two connoisseurs should be acquainted. +I have here a trifle of my own which may perhaps serve for an +introduction." + +And so saying, he quietly took the case from his pocket, showed the +Rajah's Diamond to the Dictator for an instant, and replaced it in +security. + +"It was once your brother's," he added. + +John Vandeleur continued to regard him with a look of almost painful +amazement; but he neither spoke nor moved. + +"I was pleased to observe," resumed the young man, "that we have gems +from the same collection." + +The Dictator's surprise overpowered him. + +"I beg your pardon," he said; "I begin to perceive that I am growing +old! I am positively not prepared for little incidents like this. But +set my mind at rest upon one point: do my eyes deceive me, or are you +indeed a parson?" + +"I am in holy orders," answered Mr. Rolles. + +"Well," cried the other, "as long as I live I will never hear another +word against the cloth!" + +"You flatter me," said Mr. Rolles. + +"Pardon me," replied Vandeleur; "pardon me, young man. You are no +coward, but it still remains to be seen whether you are not the worst of +fools. Perhaps," he continued, leaning back upon his seat, "perhaps you +would oblige me with a few particulars. I must suppose you had some +object in the stupefying impudence of your proceedings, and I confess I +have a curiosity to know it." + +"It is very simple," replied the clergyman; "it proceeds from my great +inexperience of life." + +"I shall be glad to be persuaded," answered Vandeleur. + +Whereupon Mr. Rolles told him the whole story of his connection with the +Rajah's Diamond, from the time he found it in Raeburn's garden to the +time when he left London in the Flying Scotchman. He added a brief +sketch of his feelings and thoughts during the journey, and concluded in +these words:-- + +"When I recognised the tiara I knew we were in the same attitude towards +Society, and this inspired me with a hope, which I trust you will not +say was ill-founded, that you might become in some sense my partner in +the difficulties and, of course, the profits of my situation. To one of +your special knowledge and obviously great experience the negotiation of +the diamond would give but little trouble, while to me it was a matter +of impossibility. On the other part, I judged that I might lose nearly +as much by cutting the diamond, and that not improbably with an +unskilful hand, as might enable me to pay you with proper generosity for +your assistance. The subject was a delicate one to broach; and perhaps I +fell short in delicacy. But I must ask you to remember that for me the +situation was a new one, and I was entirely unacquainted with the +etiquette in use. I believe without vanity that I could have married or +baptised you in a very acceptable manner; but every man has his own +aptitudes, and this sort of bargain was not among the lists of my +accomplishments." + +"I do not wish to flatter you," replied Vandeleur; "but upon my word, +you have an unusual disposition for a life of crime. You have more +accomplishments than you imagine; and though I have encountered a number +of rogues in different quarters of the world, I never met with one so +unblushing as yourself. Cheer up, Mr. Rolles, you are in the right +profession at last! As for helping you, you may command me as you will. +I have only a day's business in Edinburgh on a little matter for my +brother; and once that is concluded, I return to Paris, where I usually +reside. If you please, you may accompany me thither. And before the end +of a month I believe I shall have brought your little business to a +satisfactory conclusion." + + +_At this point, contrary to all the canons of his art, our Arabian +Author breaks off the_ STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS. _I regret +and condemn such practices; but I must follow my original, and refer the +reader for the conclusion of Mr. Rolles' adventures to the next number +of the cycle._ + + +THE STORY OF THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS + +Francis Scrymgeour, a clerk in the Bank of Scotland at Edinburgh, had +attained the age of twenty-five in a sphere of quiet, creditable, and +domestic life. His mother died while he was young; but his father, a man +of sense and probity, had given him an excellent education at school, +and brought him up at home to orderly and frugal habits. Francis, who +was of a docile and affectionate disposition, profited by these +advantages with zeal, and devoted himself heart and soul to his +employment. A walk upon Saturday afternoon, an occasional dinner with +members of his family, and a yearly tour of a fortnight in the Highlands +or even on the continent of Europe were his principal distractions, and +he grew rapidly in favour with his superiors, and enjoyed already a +salary of nearly two hundred pounds a year, with the prospect of an +ultimate advance to almost double that amount. Few young men were more +contented, few more willing and laborious, than Francis Scrymgeour. +Sometimes at night, when he had read the daily paper, he would play upon +the flute to amuse his father, for whose qualities he entertained a +great respect. + +One day he received a note from a well-known firm of Writers to the +Signet, requesting the favour of an immediate interview with him. The +letter was marked "Private and Confidential," and had been addressed to +him at the bank, instead of at home--two unusual circumstances which +made him obey the summons with the more alacrity. The senior member of +the firm, a man of much austerity of manner, made him gravely welcome, +requested him to take a seat, and proceeded to explain the matter in +hand in the picked expressions of a veteran man of business. A person, +who must remain nameless, but of whom the lawyer had every reason to +think well--a man, in short, of some station in the country,--desired to +make Francis an annual allowance of five hundred pounds. The capital was +to be placed under the control of the lawyer's firm and two trustees who +must also remain anonymous. There were conditions annexed to this +liberality, but he was of opinion that his new client would find nothing +either excessive or dishonourable in the terms; and he repeated these +two words with emphasis, as though he desired to commit himself to +nothing more. + +Francis asked their nature. + +"The conditions," said the Writer to the Signet, "are, as I have twice +remarked, neither dishonourable nor excessive. At the same time I cannot +conceal from you that they are most unusual. Indeed, the whole case is +very much out of our way; and I should certainly have refused it had it +not been for the reputation of the gentleman who entrusted it to my +care, and, let me add, Mr. Scrymgeour, the interest I have been led to +take in yourself by many complimentary and, I have no doubt, +well-deserved reports." + +Francis entreated him to be more specific. + +"You cannot picture my uneasiness as to these conditions," he said. + +"They are two," replied the lawyer, "only two; and the sum, as you will +remember, is five hundred a year--and unburdened, I forgot to add, +unburdened." + +And the lawyer raised his eyebrows at him with solemn gusto. + +"The first," he resumed, "is of remarkable simplicity. You must be in +Paris by the afternoon of Sunday, the 15th; there you will find, at the +box-office of the Comédie Française a ticket for admission taken in your +name and waiting you. You are requested to sit out the whole performance +in the seat provided, and that is all." + +"I should certainly have preferred a week-day," replied Francis. "But, +after all, once in a way--" + +"And in Paris, my dear sir," added the lawyer soothingly. "I believe I +am something of a precisian myself, but upon such a consideration, and +in Paris, I should not hesitate an instant." + +And the pair laughed pleasantly together. + +"The other is of more importance," continued the Writer to the Signet. +"It regards your marriage. My client, taking a deep interest in your +welfare, desires to advise you absolutely in the choice of a wife. +Absolutely, you understand," he repeated. + +"Let us be more explicit, if you please," returned Francis. "Am I to +marry any one, maid or widow, black or white, whom this invisible +person chooses to propose?" + +"I was to assure you that suitability of age and position should be a +principle with your benefactor," replied the lawyer. "As to race, I +confess the difficulty had not occurred to me, and I failed to inquire; +but if you like I will make a note of it at once, and advise you on the +earliest opportunity." + +"Sir," said Francis, "it remains to be seen whether this whole affair is +not a most unworthy fraud. The circumstances are inexplicable--I had +almost said incredible; and until I see a little more daylight, and some +plausible motive, I confess I should be very sorry to put a hand to the +transaction. I appeal to you in this difficulty for information. I must +learn what is at the bottom of it all. If you do not know, cannot guess, +or are not at liberty to tell me, I shall take my hat and go back to my +bank as I came." + +"I do not know," answered the lawyer, "but I have an excellent guess. +Your father, and no one else, is at the root of this apparently +unnatural business." + +"My father!" cried Francis, in extreme disdain. "Worthy man, I know +every thought of his mind, every penny of his fortune!" + +"You misinterpret my words," said the lawyer. "I do not refer to Mr. +Scrymgeour, senior; for he is not your father. When he and his wife came +to Edinburgh, you were already nearly one year old, and you had not yet +been three months in their care. The secret has been well kept; but such +is the fact. Your father is unknown, and I say again that I believe him +to be the original of the offers I am charged at present to transmit to +you." + +It would be impossible to exaggerate the astonishment of Francis +Scrymgeour at this unexpected information. He pled this confusion to the +lawyer. + +"Sir," said he, "after a piece of news so startling, you must grant me +some hours for thought. You shall know this evening what conclusion I +have reached." + +The lawyer commended his prudence; and Francis, excusing himself upon +some pretext at the bank, took a long walk into the country, and fully +considered the different steps and aspects of the case. A pleasant sense +of his own importance rendered him the more deliberate: but the issue +was from the first not doubtful. His whole carnal man leaned +irresistibly towards the five hundred a year, and the strange conditions +with which it was burdened; he discovered in his heart an invincible +repugnance to the name of Scrymgeour, which he had never hitherto +disliked; he began to despise the narrow and unromantic interests of his +former life; and when once his mind was fairly made up, he walked with a +new feeling of strength and freedom, and nourished himself with the +gayest anticipations. + +He said but a word to the lawyer, and immediately received a cheque for +two quarters' arrears; for the allowance was ante-dated from the first +of January. With this in his pocket, he walked home. The flat in +Scotland Street looked mean in his eyes; his nostrils, for the first +time, rebelled against the odour of broth; and he observed little +defects of manner in his adoptive father which filled him with surprise, +and almost with disgust. The next day, he determined, should see him on +his way to Paris. + +In that city, where he arrived long before the appointed date, he put up +at a modest hotel frequented by English and Italians, and devoted +himself to improvement in the French tongue. For this purpose he had a +master twice a week, entered into conversation with loiterers in the +Champs Elysées, and nightly frequented the theatre. He had his whole +toilette fashionably renewed; and was shaved and had his hair dressed +every morning by a barber in a neighbouring street. This gave him +something of a foreign air, and seemed to wipe off the reproach of his +past years. + +At length, on the Saturday afternoon, he betook himself to the +box-office of the theatre in the Rue Richelieu. No sooner had he +mentioned his name than the clerk produced the order in an envelope of +which the address was scarcely dry. + +"It has been taken this moment," said the clerk. + +"Indeed!" said Francis. "May I ask what the gentleman was like?" + +"Your friend is easy to describe," replied the official. "He is old and +strong and beautiful, with white hair and a sabre-cut across his face. +You cannot fail to recognise so marked a person." + +"No, indeed," returned Francis; "and I thank you for your politeness." + +"He cannot yet be far distant," added the clerk. "If you make haste you +might still overtake him." + +Francis did not wait to be twice told; he ran precipitately from the +theatre into the middle of the street and looked in all directions. More +than one white-haired man was within sight; but though he overtook each +of them in succession, all wanted the sabre-cut. For nearly half an hour +he tried one street after another in the neighbourhood, until at length, +recognising the folly of continued search, he started on a walk to +compose his agitated feelings; for this proximity of an encounter with +him to whom he could not doubt he owed the day had profoundly moved the +young man. + +It chanced that his way lay up the Rue Drouot and thence up the Rue des +Martyrs; and chance, in this case, served him better than all the +forethought in the world. For on the outer boulevard he saw two men in +earnest colloquy upon a seat. One was dark, young, and handsome, +secularly dressed, but with an indelible clerical stamp; the other +answered in every particular to the description given him by the clerk. +Francis felt his heart beat high in his bosom; he knew he was now about +to hear the voice of his father; and making a wide circuit, he +noiselessly took his place behind the couple in question, who were too +much interested in their talk to observe much else. As Francis had +expected, the conversation was conducted in the English language. + +"Your suspicions begin to annoy me, Rolles," said the older man. "I tell +you I am doing my utmost; a man cannot lay his hand on millions in a +moment. Have I not taken you up, a mere stranger, out of pure good-will? +Are you not living largely on my bounty?" + +"On your advances, Mr. Vandeleur," corrected the other. + +"Advances, if you choose; and interest instead of good-will, if you +prefer it," returned Vandeleur angrily. "I am not here to pick +expressions. Business is business; and your business, let me remind you, +is too muddy for such airs. Trust me, or leave me alone and find someone +else; but let us have an end, for God's sake, of your jeremiads." + +"I am beginning to learn the world," replied the other, "and I see that +you have every reason to play me false, and not one to deal honestly. I +am not here to pick expressions either; you wish the diamond for +yourself; you know you do--you dare not deny it. Have you not already +forged my name, and searched my lodging in my absence? I understand the +cause of your delays; you are lying in wait; you are the diamond-hunter, +forsooth; and sooner or later, by fair means or foul, you'll lay your +hands upon it. I tell you, it must stop; push me much further and I +promise you a surprise." + +"It does not become you to use threats," returned Vandeleur. "Two can +play at that. My brother is here in Paris; the police are on the alert; +and if you persist in wearying me with your caterwauling, I will arrange +a little astonishment for you, Mr. Rolles. But mine shall be once and +for all. Do you understand, or would you prefer me to tell it you in +Hebrew? There is an end to all things, and you have come to the end of +my patience. Tuesday, at seven; not a day, not an hour sooner, not the +least part of a second, if it were to save your life. And if you do not +choose to wait, you may go to the bottomless pit for me, and welcome." + +And so saying, the Dictator arose from the bench, and marched off in the +direction of Montmartre, shaking his head and swinging his cane with a +most furious air; while his companion remained where he was, in an +attitude of great dejection. + +Francis was at the pitch of surprise and horror; his sentiments had been +shocked to the last degree; the hopeful tenderness with which he had +taken his place upon the bench was transformed into repulsion and +despair; old Mr. Scrymgeour, he reflected, was a far more kindly and +creditable parent than this dangerous and violent intriguer; but he +retained his presence of mind, and suffered not a moment to elapse +before he was on the trail of the Dictator. + +That gentleman's fury carried him forward at a brisk pace, and he was so +completely occupied in his angry thoughts that he never so much as cast +a look behind him till he reached his own door. + +His house stood high up in the Rue Lepic, commanding a view of all +Paris, and enjoying the pure air of the heights. It was two stories +high, with green blinds and shutters; and all the windows looking on the +street were hermetically closed. Tops of trees showed over the high +garden wall, and the wall was protected by _chevaux-de-frise_. The +Dictator paused a moment while he searched his pocket for a key; and +then, opening a gate, disappeared within the enclosure. + +Francis looked about him; the neighbourhood was very lonely, the house +isolated in its garden. It seemed as if his observation must here come +to an abrupt end. A second glance, however, showed him a tall house next +door presenting a gable to the garden, and in this gable a single +window. He passed to the front and saw a ticket offering unfurnished +lodgings by the month; and, on inquiry, the room which commanded the +Dictator's garden proved to be one of those to let. Francis did not +hesitate a moment; he took the room, paid an advance upon the rent, and +returned to his hotel to seek his baggage. + +The old man with the sabre-cut might or might not be his father; he +might or he might not be upon the true scent; but he was certainly on +the edge of an exciting mystery, and he promised himself that he would +not relax his observation until he had got to the bottom of the secret. + +From the window of his new apartment Francis Scrymgeour commanded a +complete view into the garden of the house with the green blinds. +Immediately below him a very comely chestnut with wide boughs sheltered +a pair of rustic tables where people might dine in the height of summer. +On all sides save one a dense vegetation concealed the soil; but there, +between the tables and the house, he saw a patch of gravel walk leading +from the verandah to the garden gate. Studying the place from between +the boards of the Venetian shutters, which he durst not open for fear of +attracting attention, Francis observed but little to indicate the +manners of the inhabitants, and that little argued no more than a close +reserve and a taste for solitude. The garden was conventual, the house +had the air of a prison. The green blinds were all drawn down upon the +outside; the door into the verandah was closed; the garden, as far as he +could see it, was left entirely to itself in the evening sunshine. A +modest curl of smoke from a single chimney alone testified to the +presence of living people. + +In order that he might not be entirely idle, and to give a certain +colour to his way of life, Francis had purchased Euclid's Geometry in +French, which he set himself to copy and translate on the top of his +portmanteau and seated on the floor against the wall; for he was equally +without chair or table. From time to time he would rise and cast a +glance into the enclosure of the house with the green blinds; but the +windows remained obstinately closed and the garden empty. + +Only late in the evening did anything occur to reward his continued +attention. Between nine and ten the sharp tinkle of a bell aroused him +from a fit of dozing; and he sprang to his observatory in time to hear +an important noise of locks being opened and bars removed, and to see +Mr. Vandeleur, carrying a lantern and clothed in a flowing robe of +black velvet with a skull-cap to match, issue from under the verandah +and proceed leisurely towards the garden gate. The sound of bolts and +bars was then repeated; and a moment after, Francis perceived the +Dictator escorting into the house, in the mobile light of the lantern, +an individual of the lowest and most despicable appearance. + +Half an hour afterwards the visitor was reconducted to the street; and +Mr. Vandeleur, setting his light upon one of the rustic tables, finished +a cigar with great deliberation under the foliage of the chestnut. +Francis, peering through a clear space among the leaves, was able to +follow his gestures as he threw away the ash or enjoyed a copious +inhalation; and beheld a cloud upon the old man's brow and a forcible +action of the lips, which testified to some deep and probably painful +train of thought. The cigar was already almost at an end, when the voice +of a young girl was heard suddenly crying the hour from the interior of +the house. + +"In a moment," replied John Vandeleur. + +And, with that, he threw away the stump, and, taking up the lantern, +sailed away under the verandah for the night. As soon as the door was +closed, absolute darkness fell upon the house; Francis might try his +eyesight as much as he pleased, he could not detect so much as a single +chink of light below a blind; and he concluded, with great good sense, +that the bed-chambers were all upon the other side. + +Early the next morning (for he was early awake after an uncomfortable +night upon the floor) he saw cause to adopt a different explanation. The +blinds rose, one after another, by means of a spring in the interior, +and disclosed steel shutters such as we see on the front of shops; these +in their turn were rolled up by a similar contrivance; and for the space +of about an hour the chambers were left open to the morning air. At the +end of that time Mr. Vandeleur, with his own hand, once more closed the +shutters and replaced the blinds from within. + +While Francis was still marvelling at these precautions, the door +opened and a young girl came forth to look about her in the garden. It +was not two minutes before she re-entered the house, but even in that +short time he saw enough to convince him that she possessed the most +unusual attractions. His curiosity was not only highly excited by this +incident, but his spirits were improved to a still more notable degree. +The alarming manners and more than equivocal life of his father ceased +from that moment to prey upon his mind; from that moment he embraced his +new family with ardour; and whether the young lady should prove his +sister or his wife, he felt convinced she was an angel in disguise. So +much was this the case that he was seized with a sudden horror when he +reflected how little he really knew, and how possible it was that he had +followed the wrong person when he followed Mr. Vandeleur. + +The porter, whom he consulted, could afford him little information; but, +such as it was, it had a mysterious and questionable sound. The person +next door was an English gentleman of extraordinary wealth, and +proportionately eccentric in his tastes and habits. He possessed great +collections, which he kept in the house beside him; and it was to +protect these that he had fitted the place with steel shutters, +elaborate fastenings, and _chevaux-de-frise_ along the garden wall. He +lived much alone, in spite of some strange visitors, with whom, it +seemed, he had business to transact; and there was no one else in the +house, except Mademoiselle and an old woman servant. + +"Is Mademoiselle his daughter?" inquired Francis. + +"Certainly," replied the porter. "Mademoiselle is the daughter of the +house; and strange it is to see how she is made to work. For all his +riches, it is she who goes to market; and every day in the week you may +see her going by with a basket on her arm." + +"And the collections?" asked the other. + +"Sir," said the man, "they are immensely valuable. More I cannot tell +you. Since M. de Vandeleur's arrival no one in the quarter has so much +as passed the door." + +"Suppose not," returned Francis, "you must surely have some notion what +these famous galleries contain. Is it pictures, silks, statues, jewels, +or what?" + +"My faith, sir," said the fellow, with a shrug, "it might be carrots, +and still I could not tell you. How should I know? The house is kept +like a garrison, as you perceive." + +And then as Francis was returning disappointed to his room, the porter +called him back. + +"I have just remembered, sir," said he. "M. de Vandeleur has been in all +parts of the world, and I once heard the old woman declare that he had +brought many diamonds back with him. If that be the truth, there must be +a fine show behind those shutters." + +By an early hour on Sunday Francis was in his place at the theatre. The +seat which had been taken for him was only two or three numbers from the +left-hand side, and directly opposite one of the lower boxes. As the +seat had been specially chosen there was doubtless something to be +learned from its position; and he judged by an instinct that the box +upon his right was, in some way or other, to be connected with the drama +in which he ignorantly played a part. Indeed, it was so situated that +its occupants could safely observe him from beginning to end of the +piece, if they were so minded; while, profiting by the depth, they could +screen themselves sufficiently well from any counter-examination on his +side. He promised himself not to leave it for a moment out of sight; and +whilst he scanned the rest of the theatre, or made a show of attending +to the business of the stage, he always kept a corner of an eye upon the +empty box. + +The second act had been some time in progress, and was even drawing +towards a close, when the door opened and two persons entered and +ensconced themselves in the darkest of the shade. Francis could hardly +control his emotion. It was Mr. Vandeleur and his daughter. The blood +came and went in his arteries and veins with stunning activity; his ears +sang; his head turned. He dared not look lest he should awake +suspicion; his play-bill, which he kept reading from end to end and over +and over again, turned from white to red before his eyes; and when he +cast a glance upon the stage, it seemed incalculably far away, and he +found the voices and gestures of the actors to the last degree +impertinent and absurd. + +From time to time he risked a momentary look in the direction which +principally interested him; and once at least he felt certain that his +eyes encountered those of the young girl. A shock passed over his body, +and he saw all the colours of the rainbow. What would he not have given +to overhear what passed between the Vandeleurs? What would he not have +given for the courage to take up his opera-glass and steadily inspect +their attitude and expression? There, for aught he knew, his whole life +was being decided--and he not able to interfere, not able even to follow +the debate, but condemned to sit and suffer where he was, in impotent +anxiety. + +At last the act came to an end. The curtain fell, and the people around +him began to leave their places for the interval. It was only natural +that he should follow their example; and if he did so, it was not only +natural but necessary that he should pass immediately in front of the +box in question. Summoning all his courage, but keeping his eyes +lowered, Francis drew near the spot. His progress was slow, for the old +gentleman before him moved with incredible deliberation, wheezing as he +went. What was he to do? Should he address the Vandeleurs by name as he +went by? Should he take the flower from his button-hole and throw it +into the box? Should he raise his face and direct one long and +affectionate look upon the lady who was either his sister or his +betrothed? As he found himself thus struggling among so many +alternatives, he had a vision of his old equable existence in the bank, +and was assailed by a thought of regret for the past. + +By this time he had arrived directly opposite the box; and although he +was still undetermined what to do or whether to do anything, he turned +his head and lifted his eyes. No sooner had he done so than he uttered a +cry of disappointment and remained rooted to the spot. The box was +empty. During his slow advance Mr. Vandeleur and his daughter had +quietly slipped away. + +A polite person in his rear reminded him that he was stopping the path; +and he moved on again with mechanical footsteps, and suffered the crowd +to carry him unresisting out of the theatre. Once in the street, the +pressure ceasing, he came to a halt, and the cool night air speedily +restored him to the possession of his faculties. He was surprised to +find that his head ached violently, and that he remembered not one word +of the two acts which he had witnessed. As the excitement wore away, it +was succeeded by an overmastering appetite for sleep, and he hailed a +cab and drove to his lodging in a state of extreme exhaustion and some +disgust of life. + +Next morning he lay in wait for Miss Vandeleur on her road to market, +and by eight o'clock beheld her stepping down a lane. She was simply, +and even poorly, attired; but in the carriage of her head and body there +was something flexible and noble that would have lent distinction to the +meanest toilette. Even her basket, so aptly did she carry it, became her +like an ornament. It seemed to Francis, as he slipped into a doorway, +that the sunshine followed and the shadows fled before her as she +walked; and he was conscious, for the first time, of a bird singing in a +cage above the lane. + +He suffered her to pass the doorway, and then, coming forth once more, +addressed her by name from behind. + +"Miss Vandeleur," said he. + +She turned and, when she saw who he was, became deadly pale. + +"Pardon me," he continued; "Heaven knows I had no will to startle you; +and, indeed, there should be nothing startling in the presence of one +who wishes you so well as I do. And, believe me, I am acting rather from +necessity than choice. We have many things in common, and I am sadly in +the dark. There is much that I should be doing, and my hands are tied. I +do not know even what to feel, nor who are my friends and enemies." + +She found her voice with an effort. + +"I do not know who you are," she said. + +"Ah, yes! Miss Vandeleur, you do," returned Francis; "better than I do +myself. Indeed, it is on that, above all, that I seek light. Tell me +what you know," he pleaded. "Tell me who I am, who you are, and how our +destinies are intermixed. Give me a little help with my life, Miss +Vandeleur--only a word or two to guide me, only the name of my father, +if you will--and I shall be grateful and content." + +"I will not attempt to deceive you," she replied. "I know who you are, +but I am not at liberty to say." + +"Tell me, at least, that you have forgiven my presumption, and I shall +wait with all the patience I have," he said. "If I am not to know, I +must do without. It is cruel, but I can bear more upon a push. Only do +not add to my troubles the thought that I have made an enemy of you." + +"You did only what was natural," she said, "and I have nothing to +forgive you. Farewell." + +"Is it to be _farewell_?" he asked. + +"Nay, that I do not know myself," she answered. "Farewell for the +present, if you like." + +And with these words she was gone. + +Francis returned to his lodging in a state of considerable commotion of +mind. He made the most trifling progress with his Euclid for that +forenoon, and was more often at the window than at his improvised +writing-table. But beyond seeing the return of Miss Vandeleur, and the +meeting between her and her father, who was smoking a Trichinopoli cigar +in the verandah, there was nothing notable in the neighbourhood of the +house with the green blinds before the time of the mid-day meal. The +young man hastily allayed his appetite in a neighbouring restaurant, and +returned with the speed of unallayed curiosity to the house in the Rue +Lepic. A mounted servant was leading a saddle-horse to and fro before +the garden wall; and the porter of Francis's lodging was smoking a pipe +against the door-post, absorbed in contemplation of the livery and the +steeds. + +"Look!" he cried to the young man, "what fine cattle! what an elegant +costume! They belong to the brother of M. de Vandeleur, who is now +within upon a visit. He is a great man, a general, in your country; and +you doubtless know him well by reputation." + +"I confess," returned Francis, "that I have never heard of General +Vandeleur before. We have many officers of that grade, and my pursuits +have been exclusively civil." + +"It is he," replied the porter, "who lost the great diamond of the +Indies. Of that at least you must have read often in the papers." + +As soon as Francis could disengage himself from the porter he ran +upstairs and hurried to the window. Immediately below the clear space in +the chestnut leaves, the two gentlemen were seated in conversation over +a cigar. The General, a red, military-looking man, offered some traces +of a family resemblance to his brother; he had something of the same +features, something, although very little, of the same free and powerful +carriage; but he was older, smaller, and more common in air; his +likeness was that of a caricature, and he seemed altogether a poor and +debile being by the side of the Dictator. + +They spoke in tones so low, leaning over the table with every appearance +of interest, that Francis could catch no more than a word or two on an +occasion. For as little as he heard, he was convinced that the +conversation turned upon himself and his own career; several times the +name of Scrymgeour reached his ear, for it was easy to distinguish and +still more frequently he fancied he could distinguish the name Francis. + +At length the General, as if in a hot anger, broke forth into several +violent exclamations. + +"Francis Vandeleur!" he cried, accentuating the last word. "Francis +Vandeleur, I tell you." + +The Dictator made a movement of his whole body, half affirmative, half +contemptuous, but his answer was inaudible to the young man. + +Was he the Francis Vandeleur in question? he wondered. Were they +discussing the name under which he was to be married? Or was the whole +affair a dream and a delusion of his own conceit and self-absorption? + +After another interval of inaudible talk, dissension seemed again to +rise between the couple underneath the chestnut, and again the General +raised his voice angrily so as to be audible to Francis. + +"My wife?" he cried. "I have done with my wife for good. I will not hear +her name. I am sick of her very name." + +And he swore aloud and beat the table with his fist. + +The Dictator appeared, by his gestures, to pacify him after a paternal +fashion; and a little after he conducted him to the garden gate. The +pair shook hands affectionately enough; but as soon as the door had +closed behind his visitor, John Vandeleur fell into a fit of laughter +which sounded unkindly and even devilish in the ears of Francis +Scrymgeour. + +So another day had passed, and little more learnt. But the young man +remembered that the morrow was Tuesday, and promised himself some +curious discoveries; all might be well, or all might be ill; he was +sure, at least, to glean some curious information, and perhaps, by good +luck, get at the heart of the mystery which surrounded his father and +his family. + +As the hour of the dinner drew near many preparations were made in the +garden of the house with the green blinds. That table, which was partly +visible to Francis through the chestnut leaves, was destined to serve as +a sideboard, and carried relays of plates and the materials for salad: +the other, which was almost entirely concealed, had been set apart for +the diners, and Francis could catch glimpses of white cloth and silver +plate. + +Mr. Rolles arrived, punctual to the minute; he looked like a man upon +his guard, and spoke low and sparingly. The Dictator, on the other hand, +appeared to enjoy an unusual flow of spirits; his laugh, which was +youthful and pleasant to hear, sounded frequently from the garden; by +the modulation and the changes of his voice it was obvious that he told +many droll stories and imitated the accents of a variety of different +nations; and before he and the young clergyman had finished their +vermouth all feeling of distrust was at an end, and they were talking +together like a pair of school companions. + +At length Miss Vandeleur made her appearance, carrying the soup-tureen. +Mr. Rolles ran to offer her assistance, which she laughingly refused; +and there was an interchange of pleasantries among the trio which seemed +to have reference to this primitive manner of waiting by one of the +company. + +"One is more at one's ease," Mr. Vandeleur was heard to declare. + +Next moment they were all three in their places, and Francis could see +as little as he could hear of what passed. But the dinner seemed to go +merrily; there was a perpetual babble of voices and sound of knives and +forks below the chestnut; and Francis, who had no more than a roll to +gnaw, was affected with envy by the comfort and deliberation of the +meal. The party lingered over one dish after another, and then over a +delicate dessert, with a bottle of cold wine, carefully uncorked by the +hand of the Dictator himself. As it began to grow dark a lamp was set +upon the table and a couple of candles on the sideboard; for the night +was perfectly pure, starry, and windless. Light overflowed besides from +the door and window in the verandah, so that the garden was fairly +illuminated and the leaves twinkled in the darkness. + +For perhaps the tenth time Miss Vandeleur entered the house; and on +this occasion she returned with the coffee-tray, which she placed upon +the sideboard. At the same moment her father rose from his seat. + +"The coffee is my province," Francis heard him say. + +And the next moment he saw his supposed father standing by the sideboard +in the light of the candles. + +Talking over his shoulder all the while, Mr. Vandeleur poured out two +cups of the brown stimulant, and then, by a rapid act of +prestidigitation, emptied the contents of a tiny phial into the smaller +of the two. The thing was so swiftly done that even Francis, who looked +straight into his face, had hardly time to perceive the movement before +it was completed. And next instant, and still laughing, Mr. Vandeleur +had turned again towards the table with a cup in either hand. + +"Ere we have done with this," said he, "we may expect our famous +Hebrew." + +It would be impossible to depict the confusion and distress of Francis +Scrymgeour. He saw foul play going forward before his eyes, and he felt +bound to interfere, but knew not how. It might be a mere pleasantry, and +then how should he look if he were to offer an unnecessary warning? Or +again, if it were serious, the criminal might be his own father, and +then how should he not lament if he were to bring ruin on the author of +his days? For the first time he became conscious of his own position as +a spy. To wait inactive at such a juncture and with such a conflict of +sentiments in his bosom was to suffer the most acute torture; he clung +to the bars of the shutters, his heart beat fast and with irregularity, +and he felt a strong sweat break forth upon his body. + +Several minutes passed. + +He seemed to perceive the conversation die away and grow less and less +in vivacity and volume; but still no sign of any alarming or even +notable event. + +Suddenly the ring of a glass breaking was followed by a faint and dull +sound, as of a person who should have fallen forward with his head upon +the table. At the same moment a piercing scream rose from the garden. + +"What have you done?" cried Miss Vandeleur. "He is dead!" + +The Dictator replied in a violent whisper, so strong and sibilant that +every word was audible to the watcher at the window. + +"Silence!" said Mr. Vandeleur; "the man is as well as I am. Take him by +the heels whilst I carry him by the shoulders." + +Francis heard Miss Vandeleur break forth into a passion of tears. + +"Do you hear what I say?" resumed the Dictator, in the same tones. "Or +do you wish to quarrel with me? I give you your choice, Miss Vandeleur." + +There was another pause, and the Dictator spoke again. + +"Take that man by the heels," he said. "I must have him brought into the +house. If I were a little younger, I could help myself against the +world. But now that years and dangers are upon me, and my hands are +weakened, I must turn to you for aid." + +"It is a crime," replied the girl. + +"I am your father," said Mr. Vandeleur. + +This appeal seemed to produce its effect. A scuffling noise followed +upon the gravel, a chair was overset, and then Francis saw the father +and daughter stagger across the walk and disappear under the verandah, +bearing the inanimate body of Mr. Rolles embraced about the knees and +shoulders. The young clergyman was limp and pallid, and his head rolled +upon his shoulders at every step. + +Was he alive or dead? Francis, in spite of the Dictator's declaration, +inclined to the latter view. A great crime had been committed; a great +calamity had fallen upon the inhabitants of the house with the green +blinds. To his surprise, Francis found all horror for the deed swallowed +up in sorrow for a girl and an old man whom he judged to be in the +height of peril. A tide of generous feeling swept into his heart; he, +too, would help his father against man and mankind, against fate and +justice; and casting open the shutters he closed his eyes and threw +himself with outstretched arms into the foliage of the chestnut. + +Branch after branch slipped from his grasp or broke under his weight; +then he caught a stalwart bough under his armpit, and hung suspended for +a second; and then he let himself drop and fell heavily against the +table. A cry of alarm from the house warned him that his entrance had +not been effected unobserved. He recovered himself with a stagger, and +in three bounds crossed the intervening space and stood before the door +in the verandah. + +In a small apartment, carpeted with matting and surrounded by glazed +cabinets full of rare and costly curios, Mr. Vandeleur was stooping over +the body of Mr. Rolles. He raised himself as Francis entered, and there +was an instantaneous passage of hands. It was the business of a second; +as fast as an eye can wink the thing was done; the young man had not the +time to be sure, but it seemed to him as if the Dictator had taken +something from the curate's breast, looked at it for the least fraction +of time as it lay in his hand, and then suddenly and swiftly passed it +to his daughter. + +All this was over while Francis had still one foot upon the threshold, +and the other raised in air. The next instant he was on his knees to Mr. +Vandeleur. + +"Father!" he cried. "Let me too help you. I will do what you wish and +ask no questions; I will obey you with my life; treat me as a son, and +you will find I have a son's devotion." + +A deplorable explosion of oaths was the Dictator's first reply. + +"Son and father?" he cried. "Father and son? What d----d unnatural +comedy is all this? How do you come in my garden? What do you want? And +who, in God's name, are you?" + +Francis, with a stunned and shamefaced aspect, got upon his feet again, +and stood in silence. + +Then a light seemed to break upon Mr. Vandeleur, and he laughed aloud. + +"I see," cried he. "It is the Scrymgeour. Very well, Mr. Scrymgeour. Let +me tell you in a few words how you stand. You have entered my private +residence by force, or perhaps by fraud, but certainly with no +encouragement from me; and you come at a moment of some annoyance, a +guest having fainted at my table, to besiege me with your protestations. +You are no son of mine. You are my brother's bastard by a fishwife, if +you want to know. I regard you with an indifference closely bordering on +aversion; and from what I now see of your conduct, I judge your mind to +be exactly suitable to your exterior. I recommend you these mortifying +reflections for your leisure; and, in the meantime, let me beseech you +to rid us of your presence. If I were not occupied," added the Dictator, +with a terrifying oath, "I should give you the unholiest drubbing ere +you went!" + +Francis listened in profound humiliation. He would have fled had it been +possible; but as he had no means of leaving the residence into which he +had so unfortunately penetrated, he could do no more than stand +foolishly where he was. + +It was Miss Vandeleur who broke the silence. + +"Father," she said, "you speak in anger. Mr. Scrymgeour may have been +mistaken, but he meant well and kindly." + +"Thank you for speaking," returned the Dictator. "You remind me of some +other observations which I hold it a point of honour to make to Mr. +Scrymgeour. My brother," he continued, addressing the young man, "has +been foolish enough to give you an allowance; he was foolish enough and +presumptuous enough to propose a match between you and this young lady. +You were exhibited to her two nights ago; and I rejoice to tell you that +she rejected the idea with disgust. Let me add that I have considerable +influence with your father; and it shall not be my fault if you are not +beggared of your allowance and sent back to your scrivening ere the week +be out." + +The tones of the old man's voice were, if possible, more wounding than +his language; Francis felt himself exposed to the most cruel, blighting, +and unbearable contempt; his head turned, and he covered his face with +his hands, uttering at the same time a tearless sob of agony. But Miss +Vandeleur once again interfered in his behalf. + +"Mr Scrymgeour," she said, speaking in clear and even tones, "you must +not be concerned at my father's harsh expressions. I felt no disgust for +you; on the contrary, I asked an opportunity to make your better +acquaintance. As for what has passed to-night, believe me it has filled +my mind with both pity and esteem." + +Just then Mr. Rolles made a convulsive movement with his arm, which +convinced Francis that he was only drugged, and was beginning to throw +off the influence of the opiate. Mr. Vandeleur stooped over him and +examined his face for an instant. + +"Come, come!" cried he, raising his head. "Let there be an end of this. +And since you are so pleased with his conduct, Miss Vandeleur, take a +candle and show the bastard out." + +The young lady hastened to obey. + +"Thank you," said Francis, as soon as he was alone with her in the +garden. "I thank you from my soul. This has been the bitterest evening +of my life, but it will have always one pleasant recollection." + +"I spoke as I felt," she replied, "and in justice to you. It made my +heart sorry that you should be so unkindly used." + +By this time they had reached the garden gate; and Miss Vandeleur, +having set the candle on the ground, was already unfastening the bolts. + +"One word more," said Francis. "This is not for the last time--I shall +see you again, shall I not?" + +"Alas!" she answered. "You have heard my father. What can I do but +obey?" + +"Tell me at least that it is not with your consent," returned Francis; +"tell me that you have no wish to see the last of me." + +"Indeed," replied she, "I have none. You seem to me both brave and +honest." + +"Then," said Francis, "give me a keepsake." + +She paused for a moment, with her hand upon the key; for the various +bars and bolts were all undone, and there was nothing left but to open +the lock. + +"If I agree," she said, "will you promise to do as I tell you from point +to point?" + +"Can you ask?" replied Francis. "I would do so willingly on your bare +word." + +She turned the key and threw open the door. + +"Be it so," said she. "You do not know what you ask, but be it so. +Whatever you hear," she continued, "whatever happens, do not return to +this house; hurry fast until you reach the lighted and populous quarters +of the city; even there be upon your guard. You are in a greater danger +than you fancy. Promise me you will not so much as look at my keepsake +until you are in a place of safety." + +"I promise," replied Francis. + +She put something loosely wrapped in a handkerchief into the young man's +hand; and at the same time, with more strength than he could have +anticipated, she pushed him into the street. + +"Now, run!" she cried. + +He heard the door close behind him, and the noise of the bolts being +replaced. + +"My faith," said he, "since I have promised!" + +And he took to his heels down the lane that leads into the Rue Ravignan. + +He was not fifty paces from the house with the green blinds when the +most diabolical outcry suddenly arose out of the stillness of the night. +Mechanically he stood still; another passenger followed his example; in +the neighbouring floors he saw people crowding to the windows; a +conflagration could not have produced more disturbance in this empty +quarter. And yet it seemed to be all the work of a single man, roaring +between grief and rage, like a lioness robbed of her whelps; and Francis +was surprised and alarmed to hear his own name shouted with English +imprecations to the wind. + +His first movement was to return to the house; his second, as he +remembered Miss Vandeleur's advice, to continue his flight with greater +expedition than before; and he was in the act of turning to put his +thought in action, when the Dictator, bare-headed, bawling aloud, his +white hair blowing about his head, shot past him like a ball out of the +cannon's mouth, and went careering down the street. + +"That was a close shave," thought Francis to himself. "What he wants +with me, and why he should be so disturbed, I cannot think; but he is +plainly not good company for the moment, and I cannot do better than +follow Miss Vandeleur's advice." + +So saying, he turned to retrace his steps, thinking to double and +descend by the Rue Lepic itself while his pursuer should continue to +follow after him on the other line of street. The plan was ill-devised: +as a matter of fact, he should have taken his seat in the nearest café, +and waited there until the first heat of the pursuit was over. But +besides that Francis had no experience and little natural aptitude for +the small war of private life, he was so unconscious of any evil on his +part, that he saw nothing to fear beyond a disagreeable interview. And +to disagreeable interviews he felt he had already served his +apprenticeship that evening; nor could he suppose that Miss Vandeleur +had left anything unsaid. Indeed, the young man was sore both in body +and mind--the one was all bruised, the other was full of smarting +arrows; and he owned to himself that Mr. Vandeleur was master of a very +deadly tongue. + +The thought of his bruises reminded him that he had not only come +without a hat, but that his clothes had considerably suffered in his +descent through the chestnut. At the first magazine he purchased a cheap +wideawake, and had the disorder of his toilet summarily repaired. The +keepsake, still rolled in the handkerchief, he thrust in the meantime +into his trousers pocket. + +Not many steps beyond the shop he was conscious of a sudden shock, a +hand upon his throat, an infuriated face close to his own, and an open +mouth bawling curses in his ear. The Dictator, having found no trace of +his quarry, was returning by the other way. Francis was a stalwart young +fellow; but he was no match for his adversary, whether in strength or +skill; and after a few ineffectual struggles he resigned himself +entirely to his captor. + +"What do you want with me?" said he. + +"We will talk of that at home," returned the Dictator grimly. + +And he continued to march the young man up hill in the direction of the +house with the green blinds. + +But Francis, although he no longer struggled, was only waiting an +opportunity to make a bold push for freedom. With a sudden jerk he left +the collar of his coat in the hands of Mr. Vandeleur, and once more made +off at his best speed in the direction of the Boulevards. + +The tables were now turned. If the Dictator was the stronger, Francis, +in the top of his youth, was the more fleet of foot, and he had soon +effected his escape among the crowds. Relieved for a moment, but with a +growing sentiment of alarm and wonder in his mind, he walked briskly +until he debouched upon the Place de l'Opéra lit up like day with +electric lamps. + +"This, at least," thought he, "should satisfy Miss Vandeleur." + +And turning to his right along the Boulevards, he entered the Café +Américain and ordered some beer. It was both late and early for the +majority of the frequenters of the establishment. Only two or three +persons, all men, were dotted here and there at separate tables in the +hall; and Francis was too much occupied by his own thoughts to observe +their presence. + +He drew the handkerchief from his pocket. The object wrapped in it +proved to be a morocco case, clasped and ornamented in gilt, which +opened by means of a spring, and disclosed to the horrified young man a +diamond of monstrous bigness and extraordinary brilliancy. The +circumstance was so inexplicable, the value of the stone was plainly so +enormous, that Francis sat staring into the open casket without +movement, without conscious thought, like a man stricken suddenly with +idiocy. + +A hand was laid upon his shoulder, lightly but firmly, and a quiet +voice, which yet had in it the ring of command, uttered these words in +his ear-- + +"Close the casket, and compose your face." + +Looking up, he beheld a man, still young, of an urbane and tranquil +presence, and dressed with rich simplicity. This personage had risen +from a neighbouring table, and, bringing his glass with him, had taken a +seat beside Francis. + +"Close the casket," repeated the stranger, "and put it quietly back into +your pocket, where I feel persuaded it should never have been. Try, if +you please, to throw off your bewildered air, and act as though I were +one of your acquaintances whom you had met by chance. So! Touch glasses +with me. That is better. I fear, sir, you must be an amateur." + +And the stranger pronounced these last words with a smile of peculiar +meaning, leaned back in his seat and enjoyed a deep inhalation of +tobacco. + +"For God's sake," said Francis, "tell me who you are and what this +means! Why I should obey your most unusual suggestions I am sure I know +not; but the truth is, I have fallen this evening into so many +perplexing adventures, and all I meet conduct themselves so strangely, +that I think I must either have gone mad or wandered into another +planet. Your face inspires me with confidence; you seem wise, good, and +experienced; tell me, for heaven's sake, why you accost me in so odd a +fashion." + +"All in due time," replied the stranger. "But I have the first hand, and +you must begin by telling me how the Rajah's Diamond is in your +possession." + +"The Rajah's Diamond!" echoed Francis. + +"I would not speak so loud, if I were you," returned the other. "But +most certainly you have the Rajah's Diamond in your pocket. I have seen +and handled it a score of times in Sir Thomas Vandeleur's collection." + +"Sir Thomas Vandeleur! The General! My father!" cried Francis. + +"Your father?" repeated the stranger. "I was not aware the General had +any family." + +"I am illegitimate, sir," replied Francis, with a flush. + +The other bowed with gravity. It was a respectful bow, as of a man +silently apologising to his equal; and Francis felt relieved and +comforted, he scarce knew why. The society of this person did him good; +he seemed to touch firm ground; a strong feeling of respect grew up in +his bosom, and mechanically he removed his wideawake as though in the +presence of a superior. + +"I perceive," said the stranger, "that your adventures have not at all +been peaceful. Your collar is torn, your face is scratched, you have a +cut upon your temple; you will, perhaps, pardon my curiosity when I ask +you to explain how you come by these injuries, and how you happen to +have stolen property to an enormous value in your pocket." + +"I must differ from you!" returned Francis hotly. "I possess no stolen +property. And if you refer to the diamond, it was given to me not an +hour ago by Miss Vandeleur in the Rue Lepic." + +"By Miss Vandeleur in the Rue Lepic!" repeated the other. "You interest +me more than you suppose. Pray continue." + +"Heavens!" cried Francis. + +His memory had made a sudden bound. He had seen Mr. Vandeleur take an +article from the breast of his drugged visitor, and that article, he was +now persuaded, was a morocco case. + +"You have a light?" inquired the stranger. + +"Listen," replied Francis. "I know not who you are, but I believe you to +be worthy of confidence and helpful; I find myself in strange waters; I +must have counsel and support, and since you invite me I shall tell you +all." + +And he briefly recounted his experience since the day when he was +summoned from the bank by his lawyer. + +"Yours is indeed a remarkable history," said the stranger, after the +young man had made an end of his narrative; "and your position is full +of difficulty and peril. Many would counsel you to seek out your father, +and give the diamond to him; but I have other views.--Waiter!" he cried. + +The waiter drew near. + +"Will you ask the manager to speak with me a moment?" said he; and +Francis observed once more, both in his tone and manner, the evidence of +a habit of command. + +The waiter withdrew, and returned in a moment with the manager, who +bowed with obsequious respect. + +"What," said he, "can I do to serve you?" + +"Have the goodness," replied the stranger, indicating Francis, "to tell +this gentleman my name." + +"You have the honour, sir," said the functionary, addressing young +Scrymgeour, "to occupy the same table with His Highness Prince Florizel +of Bohemia." + +Francis rose with precipitation, and made a grateful reverence to the +Prince, who bade him resume his seat. + +"I thank you," said Florizel, once more addressing the functionary; "I +am sorry to have deranged you for so small a matter." + +And he dismissed him with a movement of his hand. + +"And now," added the Prince, turning to Francis, "give me the diamond." + +Without a word the casket was handed over. + +"You have done right," said Florizel; "your sentiments have properly +inspired you, and you will live to be grateful for the misfortunes of +to-night. A man, Mr. Scrymgeour, may fall into a thousand perplexities, +but if his heart be upright and his intelligence unclouded, he will +issue from them all without dishonour. Let your mind be at rest; your +affairs are in my hand; and with the aid of Heaven I am strong enough to +bring them to a good end. Follow me, if you please, to my carriage." + +So saying the Prince arose, and, having left a piece of gold for the +waiter, conducted the young man from the café and along the Boulevard to +where an unpretentious brougham and a couple of servants out of livery +awaited his arrival. + +"This carriage," said he, "is at your disposal; collect your baggage as +rapidly as you can make it convenient, and my servants will conduct you +to a villa in the neighbourhood of Paris where you can wait in some +degree of comfort until I have had time to arrange your situation. You +will find there a pleasant garden, a library of good authors, a cook, a +cellar, and some good cigars, which I recommend to your attention. +Jérome," he added, turning to one of the servants, "you have heard what +I say; I leave Mr. Scrymgeour in your charge; you will, I know, be +careful of my friend." + +Francis uttered some broken phrases of gratitude. + +"It will be time enough to thank me," said the Prince, "when you are +acknowledged by your father and married to Miss Vandeleur." + +And with that the Prince turned away and strolled leisurely in the +direction of Montmartre. He hailed the first passing cab, gave an +address, and a quarter of an hour afterwards, having discharged the +driver some distance lower, he was knocking at Mr. Vandeleur's garden +gate. + +It was opened with singular precautions by the Dictator in person. + +"Who are you?" he demanded. + +"You must pardon me this late visit, Mr. Vandeleur," replied the Prince. + +"Your Highness is always welcome," returned Mr. Vandeleur, stepping +back. + +The Prince profited by the open space, and without waiting for his host +walked right into the house and opened the door of the _salon_. Two +people were seated there; one was Miss Vandeleur, who bore the marks of +weeping about her eyes, and was still shaken from time to time by a sob; +in the other the Prince recognised the young man who had consulted him +on literary matters about a month before, in a club smoking-room. + +"Good-evening, Miss Vandeleur," said Florizel; "you look fatigued. Mr. +Rolles, I believe? I hope you have profited by the study of Gaboriau, +Mr. Rolles." + +But the young clergyman's temper was too much embittered for speech; and +he contented himself with bowing stiffly, and continued to gnaw his lip. + +"To what good wind," said Mr. Vandeleur, following his guest, "am I to +attribute the honour of your Highness's presence?" + +"I am come on business," returned the Prince; "on business with you; as +soon as that is settled I shall request Mr. Rolles to accompany me for a +walk.--Mr. Rolles," he added, with severity, "let me remind you that I +have not yet sat down." + +The clergyman sprang to his feet with an apology; whereupon the Prince +took an arm-chair beside the table, handed his hat to Mr. Vandeleur, his +cane to Mr. Rolles, and, leaving them standing and thus menially +employed upon his service, spoke as follows:-- + +"I have come here, as I said, upon business; but, had I come looking for +pleasure, I could not have been more displeased with my reception nor +more dissatisfied with my company. You, sir," addressing Mr. Rolles, +"you have treated your superior in station with discourtesy; you, +Vandeleur, receive me with a smile, but you know right well that your +hands are not yet cleansed from misconduct.--I do not desire to be +interrupted, sir," he added imperiously; "I am here to speak, and not to +listen; and I have to ask you to hear me with respect, and to obey +punctiliously. At the earliest possible date your daughter shall be +married at the Embassy to my friend, Francis Scrymgeour, your brother's +acknowledged son. You will oblige me by offering not less than ten +thousand pounds dowry. For yourself, I will indicate to you in writing a +mission of some importance in Siam which I destine to your care. And +now, sir, you will answer me in two words whether or not you agree to +these conditions." + +"Your Highness will pardon me," said Mr. Vandeleur, "and permit me, with +all respect, to submit to him two queries?" + +"The permission is granted," replied the Prince. + +"Your Highness," resumed the Dictator, "has called Mr. Scrymgeour his +friend. Believe me, had I known he was thus honoured, I should have +treated him with proportional respect." + +"You interrogate adroitly," said the Prince; "but it will not serve your +turn. You have my commands; if I had never seen that gentleman before +to-night, it would not render them less absolute." + +"Your Highness interprets my meaning with his usual subtlety," returned +Vandeleur. "Once more: I have, unfortunately, put the police upon the +track of Mr. Scrymgeour on a charge of theft; am I to withdraw or to +uphold the accusation?" + +"You will please yourself," replied Florizel. "The question is one +between your conscience and the laws of this land. Give me my hat; and +you, Mr. Rolles, give me my cane and follow me. Miss Vandeleur, I wish +you good-evening. I judge," he added to Vandeleur, "that your silence +means unqualified assent." + +"If I can do no better," replied the old man, "I shall submit; but I +warn you openly it shall not be without a struggle." + +"You are old," said the Prince; "but years are disgraceful to the +wicked. Your age is more unwise than the youth of others. Do not provoke +me, or you may find me harder than you dream. This is the first time +that I have fallen across your path in anger; take care that it be the +last." + +With these words, motioning the clergyman to follow, Florizel left the +apartment and directed his steps towards the garden gate; and the +Dictator, following with a candle, gave them light, and once more undid +the elaborate fastenings with which he sought to protect himself from +intrusion. + +"Your daughter is no longer present," said the Prince, turning on the +threshold. "Let me tell you that I understand your threats; and you have +only to lift your hand to bring upon yourself sudden and irremediable +ruin." + +The Dictator made no reply; but as the Prince turned his back upon him +in the lamplight he made a gesture full of menace and insane fury; and +the next moment, slipping round a corner, he was running at full speed +for the nearest cab-stand. + + +_Here_ (says my Arabian) _the thread of events is finally diverted from_ +THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS. _One more adventure, he adds, and we +have done with_ THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND. _That last link in the chain is +known among the inhabitants of Bagdad by the name of_ + + +THE ADVENTURE OF PRINCE FLORIZEL AND A DETECTIVE + +Prince Florizel walked with Mr. Rolles to the door of a small hotel +where the latter resided. They spoke much together, and the clergyman +was more than once affected to tears by the mingled severity and +tenderness of Florizel's reproaches. + +"I have made ruin of my life," he said at last. "Help me; tell me what I +am to do; I have, alas! neither the virtues of a priest nor the +dexterity of a rogue." + +"Now that you are humbled," said the Prince, "I command no longer; the +repentant have to do with God, and not with Princes. But if you will let +me advise you, go to Australia as a colonist, seek menial labour in the +open air, and try to forget that you have ever been a clergyman, or that +you ever set eyes on that accursed stone." + +"Accurst indeed!" replied Mr. Rolles. "Where is it now? What further +hurt is it not working for mankind?" + +"It will do no more evil," returned the Prince. "It is here in my +pocket. And this," he added kindly, "will show that I place some faith +in your penitence, young as it is." + +"Suffer me to touch your hand," pleaded Mr. Rolles. + +"No," replied Prince Florizel, "not yet." + +The tone in which he uttered these last words was eloquent in the ears +of the young clergyman; and for some minutes after the Prince had turned +away he stood on the threshold following with his eyes the retreating +figure and invoking the blessing of Heaven upon a man so excellent in +counsel. + +For several hours the Prince walked alone in unfrequented streets. His +mind was full of concern; what to do with the diamond, whether to return +it to its owner, whom he judged unworthy of this rare possession, or to +take some sweeping and courageous measure and put it out of the reach of +all mankind at once and for ever, was a problem too grave to be decided +in a moment. The manner in which it had come into his hands appeared +manifestly providential; and as he took out the jewel and looked at it +under the street lamps, its size and surprising brilliancy inclined him +more and more to think of it as of an unmixed and dangerous evil for the +world. + +"God help me!" he thought; "if I look at it much oftener I shall begin +to grow covetous myself." + +At last, though still uncertain in his mind, he turned his steps towards +the small but elegant mansion on the river-side which had belonged for +centuries to his royal family. The arms of Bohemia are deeply graved +over the door and upon the tall chimneys; passengers have a look into a +green court set with the most costly flowers; and a stork, the only one +in Paris, perches on the gable all day long and keeps a crowd before the +house. Grave servants are seen passing to and fro within; and from time +to time the great gate is thrown open and a carriage rolls below the +arch. For many reasons this residence was especially dear to the heart +of Prince Florizel; he never drew near to it without enjoying that +sentiment of home-coming so rare in the lives of the great; and on the +present evening he beheld its tall roof and mildly illuminated windows +with unfeigned relief and satisfaction. + +As he was approaching the postern door by which he always entered when +alone, a man stepped forth from the shadow and presented himself with an +obeisance in the Prince's path. + +"I have the honour of addressing Prince Florizel of Bohemia?" said he. + +"Such is my title," replied the Prince. "What do you want with me?" + +"I am," said the man, "a detective, and I have to present your Highness +with this billet from the Prefect of Police." + +The Prince took the letter and glanced it through by the light of the +street lamp. It was highly apologetic, but requested him to follow the +bearer to the Prefecture without delay. + +"In short," said Florizel, "I am arrested." + +"Your Highness," replied the officer, "nothing, I am certain, could be +further from the intention of the Prefect. You will observe that he has +not granted a warrant. It is mere formality, or call it, if you prefer, +an obligation that your Highness lays on the authorities." + +"At the same time," asked the Prince, "if I were to refuse to follow +you?" + +"I will not conceal from your Highness that a considerable discretion +has been granted me," replied the detective, with a bow. + +"Upon my word," cried Florizel, "your effrontery astounds me! Yourself, +as an agent, I must pardon; but your superiors shall dearly smart for +their misconduct. What, have you any idea, is the cause of this +impolitic and unconstitutional act? You will observe that I have as yet +neither refused nor consented, and much may depend on your prompt and +ingenuous answer. Let me remind you, officer, that this is an affair of +some gravity." + +"Your Highness," said the detective humbly, "General Vandeleur and his +brother have had the incredible presumption to accuse you of theft. The +famous diamond, they declare, is in your hands. A word from you in +denial will most amply satisfy the Prefect; nay, I go further: if your +Highness would so far honour a subaltern as to declare his ignorance of +the matter even to myself, I should ask permission to retire upon the +spot." + +Florizel, up to the last moment, had regarded his adventure in the light +of a trifle, only serious upon international considerations. At the name +of Vandeleur the horrible truth broke upon him in a moment; he was not +only arrested, but he was guilty. This was not only an annoying +incident--it was a peril to his honour. What was he to say? What was he +to do? The Rajah's Diamond was indeed an accursed stone; and it seemed +as if he were to be the last victim to its influence. + +One thing was certain. He could not give the required assurance to the +detective. He must gain time. + +His hesitation had not lasted a second. + +"Be it so," said he, "let us walk together to the Prefecture." + +The man once more bowed, and proceeded to follow Florizel at a +respectful distance in the rear. + +"Approach," said the Prince. "I am in a humour to talk, and, if I +mistake not, now I look at you again, this is not the first time that we +have met." + +"I count it an honour," replied the officer, "that your Highness should +recollect my face. It is eight years since I had the pleasure of an +interview." + +"To remember faces," returned Florizel, "is as much a part of my +profession as it is of yours. Indeed, rightly looked upon, a Prince and +a detective serve in the same corps. We are both combatants against +crime; only mine is the more lucrative and yours the more dangerous +rank, and there is a sense in which both may be made equally honourable +to a good man. I had rather, strange as you may think it, be a detective +of character and parts than a weak and ignoble sovereign." + +The officer was overwhelmed. + +"Your Highness returns good for evil," said he. "To an act of +presumption he replies by the most amiable condescension." + +"How do you know," replied Florizel, "that I am not seeking to corrupt +you?" + +"Heaven preserve me from the temptation!" cried the detective. + +"I applaud your answer," returned the Prince. "It is that of a wise and +honest man. The world is a great place, and stocked with wealth and +beauty, and there is no limit to the rewards that may be offered. Such +an one who would refuse a million of money may sell his honour for an +empire or the love of a woman; and I myself, who speak to you, have seen +occasions so tempting, provocations so irresistible to the strength of +human virtue, that I have been glad to tread in your steps and recommend +myself to the grace of God. It is thus, thanks to that modest and +becoming habit alone," he added, "that you and I can walk this town +together with untarnished hearts." + +"I had always heard that you were brave," replied the officer, "but I +was not aware that you were wise and pious. You speak the truth, and +you speak it with an accent that moves me to the heart. This world is +indeed a place of trial." + +"We are now," said Florizel, "in the middle of the bridge. Lean your +elbows on the parapet and look over. As the water rushing below, so the +passions and complications of life carry away the honesty of weak men. +Let me tell you a story." + +"I receive your Highness's commands," replied the man. + +And, imitating the Prince, he leaned against the parapet, and disposed +himself to listen. The city was already sunk in slumber; had it not been +for the infinity of lights and the outline of buildings on the starry +sky, they might have been alone beside some country river. + +"An officer," began Prince Florizel, "a man of courage and conduct, who +had already risen by merit to an eminent rank, and won not only +admiration but respect, visited, in an unfortunate hour for his peace of +mind, the collections of an Indian Prince. Here he beheld a diamond so +extraordinary for size and beauty that from that instant he had only one +desire in life: honour, reputation, friendship, the love of country--he +was ready to sacrifice all for this lump of sparkling crystal. For three +years he served this semi-barbarian potentate as Jacob served Laban; he +falsified frontiers, he connived at murders, he unjustly condemned and +executed a brother-officer who had the misfortune to displease the Rajah +by some honest freedoms; lastly, at a time of great danger to his native +land, he betrayed a body of his fellow-soldiers, and suffered them to be +defeated and massacred by thousands. In the end he had amassed a +magnificent fortune, and brought home with him the coveted diamond. + +"Years passed," continued the Prince, "and at length the diamond is +accidentally lost. It falls into the hands of a simple and laborious +youth, a student, a minister of God, just entering on a career of +usefulness and even distinction. Upon him also the spell is cast; he +deserts everything, his holy calling, his studies, and flees with the +gem into a foreign country. The officer has a brother, an astute, +daring, unscrupulous man, who learns the clergyman's secret. What does +he do? Tell his brother, inform the police? No; upon this man also the +Satanic charm has fallen; he must have the stone for himself. At the +risk of murder, he drugs the young priest and seizes the prey. And now, +by an accident which is not important to my moral, the jewel passes out +of his custody into that of another, who, terrified at what he sees, +gives it into the keeping of a man in high station and above reproach. + +"The officer's name is Thomas Vandeleur," continued Florizel. "The stone +is called the Rajah's Diamond. And"--suddenly opening his hand--"you +behold it here before your eyes." + +The officer started back with a cry. + +"We have spoken of corruption," said the Prince. "To me this nugget of +bright crystal is as loathsome as though it were crawling with the worms +of death; it is as shocking as though it were compacted out of innocent +blood. I see it here in my hand, and I know it is shining with +hell-fire. I have told you but a hundredth part of its story; what +passed in former ages, to what crimes and treacheries it incited men of +yore, the imagination trembles to conceive; for years and years it has +faithfully served the powers of hell; enough, I say, of blood, enough of +disgrace, enough of broken lives and friendships; all things come to an +end, the evil like the good; pestilence as well as beautiful music; and +as for this diamond, God forgive me if I do wrong, but its empire ends +to-night." + +The Prince made a sudden movement with his hand, and the jewel, +describing an arc of light, dived with a splash into the flowing river. + +"Amen," said Florizel, with gravity. "I have slain a cockatrice!" + +"God pardon me!" cried the detective. "What have you done? I am a ruined +man." + +"I think," returned the Prince, with a smile, "that many well-to-do +people in this city might envy you your ruin." + +"Alas! your Highness!" said the officer, "and you corrupt me after all?" + +"It seems there was no help for it," replied Florizel.--"And now let us +go forward to the Prefecture." + + +Not long after, the marriage of Francis Scrymgeour and Miss Vandeleur +was celebrated in great privacy; and the Prince acted on that occasion +as groom's man. The two Vandeleurs surprised some rumour of what had +happened to the diamond; and their vast diving operations on the River +Seine are the wonder and amusement of the idle. It is true that through +some miscalculation they have chosen the wrong branch of the river. As +for the Prince, that sublime person, having now served his turn, may go, +along with the _Arabian Author_, topsy-turvy into space. But if the +reader insists on more specific information, I am happy to say that a +recent revolution hurled him from the throne of Bohemia, in consequence +of his continued absence and edifying neglect of public business; and +that his Highness now keeps a cigar store in Rupert Street, much +frequented by other foreign refugees. I go there from time to time to +smoke and have a chat, and find him as great a creature as in the days +of his prosperity; he has an Olympian air behind the counter; and +although a sedentary life is beginning to tell upon his waistcoat, he is +probably, take him for all in all, the handsomest tobacconist in London. + + + + +THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TELLS HOW I CAMPED IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD, AND BEHELD A LIGHT IN THE +PAVILION + + +I was a great solitary when I was young. I made it my pride to keep +aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say that I had +neither friends nor acquaintances until I met that friend who became my +wife and the mother of my children. With one man only was I on private +terms: this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of Graden-Easter, in Scotland. We +had met at college; and though there was not much liking between us, nor +even much intimacy, we were so nearly of a humour that we could +associate with ease to both. Misanthropes we believed ourselves to be; +but I have thought since that we were only sulky fellows. It was +scarcely a companionship, but a co-existence in unsociability. +Northmour's exceptional violence of temper made it no easy affair for +him to keep the peace with any one but me; and as he respected my silent +ways, and let me come and go as I pleased, I could tolerate his presence +without concern. I think we called each other friends. + +When Northmour took his degree and I decided to leave the University +without one, he invited me on a long visit to Graden-Easter; and it was +thus that I first became acquainted with the scene of my adventures. The +mansion-house of Graden stood in a bleak stretch of country some three +miles from the shore of the German Ocean. It was as large as a barrack; +and as it had been built of a soft stone, liable to consume in the eager +air of the seaside, it was damp and draughty within and half-ruinous +without. It was impossible for two young men to lodge with comfort in +such a dwelling. But there stood in the northern part of the estate, in +a wilderness of links and blowing sand-hills, and between a plantation +and the sea, a small Pavilion or Belvidere, of modern design, which was +exactly suited to our wants; and in this hermitage, speaking little, +reading much, and rarely associating except at meals, Northmour and I +spent four tempestuous winter months. I might have stayed longer; but +one March night there sprang up between us a dispute, which rendered my +departure necessary. Northmour spoke hotly, I remember, and I suppose I +must have made some tart rejoinder. He leaped from his chair and +grappled me; I had to fight, without exaggeration, for my life; and it +was only with a great effort that I mastered him, for he was near as +strong in body as myself, and seemed filled with the devil. The next +morning we met on our usual terms; but I judged it more delicate to +withdraw; nor did he attempt to dissuade me. + +It was nine years before I revisited the neighbourhood. I travelled at +that time with a tilt-cart, a tent, and a cooking-stove, tramping all +day beside the waggon, and at night, whenever it was possible, gipsying +in a cove of the hills, or by the side of a wood. I believe I visited in +this manner most of the wild and desolate regions both in England and +Scotland; and, as I had neither friends nor relations, I was troubled +with no correspondence, and had nothing in the nature of headquarters, +unless it was the office of my solicitors, from whom I drew my income +twice a year. It was a life in which I delighted; and I fully thought to +have grown old upon the march, and at last died in a ditch. + +It was my whole business to find desolate corners, where I could camp +without the fear of interruption; and hence, being in another part of +the same shire, I bethought me suddenly of the Pavilion on the Links. No +thoroughfare passed within three miles of it. The nearest town, and that +was but a fisher village, was at a distance of six or seven. For ten +miles of length, and from a depth varying from three miles to half a +mile, this belt of barren country lay along the sea. The beach, which +was the natural approach, was full of quicksands. Indeed, I may say +there is hardly a better place of concealment in the United Kingdom. I +determined to pass a week in the Sea-Wood of Graden-Easter, and making a +long stage, reached it about sundown on a wild September day. + +The country, I have said, was mixed sand-hill and links; _links_ being a +Scottish name for sand which has ceased drifting and become more or less +solidly covered with turf. The pavilion stood on an even space; a little +behind it, the wood began in a hedge of elders huddled together by the +wind; in front, a few tumbled sand-hills stood between it and the sea. +An outcropping of rock had formed a bastion for the sand, so that there +was here a promontory in the coast-line between two shallow bays; and +just beyond the tides, the rock again cropped out and formed an islet of +small dimensions but strikingly designed. The quicksands were of great +extent at low water, and had an infamous reputation in the country. +Close inshore, between the islet and the promontory, it was said they +would swallow a man in four minutes and a half; but there may have been +little ground for this precision. The district was alive with rabbits, +and haunted by gulls which made a continual piping about the pavilion. +On summer days the outlook was bright, and even gladsome; but at sundown +in September, with a high wind, and a heavy surf rolling in close along +the links, the place told of nothing but dead mariners and sea disaster. +A ship beating to windward on the horizon, and a huge truncheon of wreck +half-buried in the sands at my feet, completed the innuendo of the +scene. + +The pavilion--it had been built by the last proprietor, Northmour's +uncle, a silly and prodigal virtuoso--presented little signs of age. It +was two stories in height, Italian in design, surrounded by a patch of +garden in which nothing had prospered but a few coarse flowers, and +looked, with its shuttered windows, not like a house that had been +deserted, but like one that had never been tenanted by man. Northmour +was plainly from home; whether, as usual, sulking in the cabin of his +yacht, or in one of his fitful and extravagant appearances in the world +of society, I had, of course, no means of guessing. The place had an air +of solitude that daunted even a solitary like myself; the wind cried in +the chimneys with a strange and wailing note; and it was with a sense of +escape, as if I were going indoors, that I turned away and, driving my +cart before me, entered the skirts of the wood. + +The Sea-Wood of Graden had been planted to shelter the cultivated fields +behind, and check the encroachments of the blowing sand. As you advanced +into it from coastward, elders were succeeded by other hardy shrubs; but +the timber was all stunted and bushy; it led a life of conflict; the +trees were accustomed to swing there all night long in fierce winter +tempests; and even in early spring the leaves were already flying, and +autumn was beginning, in this exposed plantation. Inland the ground rose +into a little hill, which, along with the islet, served as a sailing +mark for seamen. When the hill was open of the islet to the north, +vessels must bear well to the eastward to clear Graden Ness and the +Graden Bullers. In the lower ground, a streamlet ran among the trees, +and, being dammed with dead leaves and clay of its own carrying, spread +out every here and there, and lay in stagnant pools. One or two ruined +cottages were dotted about the wood; and, according to Northmour, these +were ecclesiastical foundations, and in their time had sheltered pious +hermits. + +I found a den, or small hollow, where there was a spring of pure water; +and there, clearing away the brambles, I pitched the tent, and made a +fire to cook my supper. My horse I picketed farther in the wood where +there was a patch of sward. The banks of the den not only concealed the +light of my fire, but sheltered me from the wind, which was cold as well +as high. + +The life I was leading made me both hardy and frugal. I never drank but +water, and rarely ate anything more costly than oatmeal; and I required +so little sleep that, although I rose with the peep of day, I would +often lie long awake in the dark or starry watches of the night. Thus in +Graden Sea-Wood, although I fell thankfully asleep by eight in the +evening, I was awake again before eleven with a full possession of my +faculties, and no sense of drowsiness or fatigue. I rose and sat by the +fire, watching the trees and clouds tumultuously tossing and fleeing +overhead, and hearkening to the wind and the rollers along the shore; +till at length, growing weary of inaction, I quitted the den, and +strolled towards the borders of the wood. A young moon, buried in mist, +gave a faint illumination to my steps; and the light grew brighter as I +walked forth into the links. At the same moment, the wind, smelling salt +of the open ocean, and carrying particles of sand, struck me with its +full force, so that I had to bow my head. + +When I raised it again to look about me, I was aware of a light in the +pavilion. It was not stationary; but passed from one window to another +as though some one were reviewing the different apartments with a lamp +or candle. I watched it for some seconds in great surprise. When I had +arrived in the afternoon the house had been plainly deserted; now it was +as plainly occupied. It was my first idea that a gang of thieves might +have broken in and be now ransacking Northmour's cupboards, which were +many and not ill supplied. But what should bring thieves to +Graden-Easter? And, again, all the shutters had been thrown open, and it +would have been more in the character of such gentry to close them. I +dismissed the notion, and fell back upon another: Northmour himself must +have arrived, and was now airing and inspecting the pavilion. + +I have said that there was no real affection between this man and me; +but, had I loved him like a brother, I was then so much more in love +with solitude that I should none the less have shunned his company. As +it was, I turned and ran for it; and it was with genuine satisfaction +that I found myself safely back beside the fire. I had escaped an +acquaintance: I should have one more night in comfort. In the morning I +might either slip away before Northmour was abroad, or pay him as short +a visit as I chose. + +But when morning came I thought the situation so diverting that I forgot +my shyness. Northmour was at my mercy; I arranged a good practical jest, +though I knew well that my neighbour was not the man to jest with in +security; and, chuckling beforehand over its success, took my place +among the elders at the edge of the wood, whence I could command the +door of the pavilion. The shutters were all once more closed, which I +remember thinking odd; and the house, with its white walls and green +venetians, looked spruce and habitable in the morning light. Hour after +hour passed, and still no sign of Northmour. I knew him for a sluggard +in the morning; but, as it drew on towards noon, I lost my patience. To +say the truth, I had promised myself to break my fast in the pavilion, +and hunger began to prick me sharply. It was a pity to let the +opportunity go by without some cause for mirth; but the grosser appetite +prevailed, and I relinquished my jest with regret, and sallied from the +wood. + +The appearance of the house affected me, as I drew near, with +disquietude. It seemed unchanged since last evening; and I had expected +it, I scarce knew why, to wear some external signs of habitation. But +no: the windows were all closely shuttered, the chimneys breathed no +smoke, and the front door itself was closely padlocked. Northmour +therefore had entered by the back; this was the natural, and indeed the +necessary, conclusion; and you may judge of my surprise when, on turning +the house, I found the back-door similarly secured. + +My mind at once reverted to the original theory of thieves; and I blamed +myself sharply for my last night's inaction. I examined all the windows +on the lower story, but none of them had been tampered with; I tried the +padlocks, but they were both secure. It thus became a problem how the +thieves, if thieves they were, had managed to enter the house. They must +have got, I reasoned, upon the roof of the outhouse where Northmour +used to keep his photographic battery; and from thence, either by the +window of the study or that of my old bedroom, completed their +burglarious entry. + +I followed what I supposed was their example; and, getting on the roof, +tried the shutters of each room. Both were secure; but I was not to be +beaten; and, with a little force, one of them flew open, grazing, as it +did so, the back of my hand. I remember I put the wound to my mouth and +stood for perhaps half a minute licking it like a dog, and mechanically +gazing behind me over the waste links and the sea; and in that space of +time my eye made note of a large schooner yacht some miles to the +north-east. Then I threw up the window and climbed in. + +I went over the house, and nothing can express my mystification. There +was no sign of disorder, but, on the contrary, the rooms were unusually +clean and pleasant. I found fires laid ready for lighting; three +bedrooms prepared with a luxury quite foreign to Northmour's habits, and +with water in the ewers and the beds turned down; a table set for three +in the dining-room; and an ample supply of cold meats, game, and +vegetables on the pantry shelves. There were guests expected, that was +plain; but why guests when Northmour hated society? And, above all, why +was the house thus stealthily prepared at dead of night? and why were +the shutters closed and the doors padlocked? + +I effaced all traces of my visit, and came forth from the window feeling +sobered and concerned. + +The schooner yacht was still in the same place; and it flashed for a +moment through my mind that this might be the _Red Earl_ bringing the +owner of the pavilion and his guests. But the vessel's head was set the +other way. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TELLS OF THE NOCTURNAL LANDING FROM THE YACHT + + +I returned to the den to cook myself a meal, of which I stood in great +need, as well as to care for my horse, which I had somewhat neglected in +the morning. From time to time I went down to the edge of the wood; but +there was no change in the pavilion, and not a human creature was seen +all day upon the links. The schooner in the offing was the one touch of +life within my range of vision. She, apparently with no set object, +stood off and on or lay to, hour after hour; but as the evening deepened +she drew steadily nearer. I became more convinced that she carried +Northmour and his friends, and that they would probably come ashore +after dark; not only because that was of a piece with the secrecy of the +preparations, but because the tide would not have flowed sufficiently +before eleven to cover Graden Floe and the other sea quags that +fortified the shore against invaders. + +All day the wind had been going down, and the sea along with it; but +there was a return towards sunset of the heavy weather of the day +before. The night set in pitch dark. The wind came off the sea in +squalls, like the firing of a battery of cannon; now and then there was +a flaw of rain and the surf rolled heavier with the rising tide. I was +down at my observatory among the elders, when a light was run up to the +mast-head of the schooner, and showed she was closer in than when I had +last seen her by the dying daylight. I concluded that this must be a +signal to Northmour's associates on shore; and, stepping forth into the +links, looked around me for something in response. + +A small footpath ran along the margin of the wood, and formed the most +direct communication between the pavilion and the mansion-house; and as +I cast my eyes to that side I saw a spark of light, not a quarter of a +mile away, and rapidly approaching. From its uneven course it appeared +to be the light of a lantern carried by a person who followed the +windings of the path, and was often staggered and taken aback by the +more violent squalls. I concealed myself once more among the elders, and +waited eagerly for the new-comer's advance. It proved to be a woman; and +as she passed within half a rod of my ambush I was able to recognise the +features. The deaf and silent old dame who had nursed Northmour in his +childhood was his associate in this underhand affair. + +I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of the innumerable +heights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, and favoured not only by +the nurse's deafness, but by the uproar of the wind and surf. She +entered the pavilion, and, going at once to the upper story, opened and +set a light in one of the windows that looked towards the sea. +Immediately afterwards the light at the schooner's mast-head was run +down and extinguished. Its purpose had been attained, and those on board +were sure that they were expected. The old woman resumed her +preparations; although the other shutters remained closed, I could see a +glimmer going to and fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from one +chimney after another soon told me that the fires were being kindled. + +Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would come ashore as soon +as there was water on the floe. It was a wild night for boat service; +and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I reflected on the +danger of the landing. My old acquaintance, it was true, was the most +eccentric of men; but the present eccentricity was both disquieting and +lugubrious to consider. A variety of feelings thus led me towards the +beach, where I lay flat on my face in a hollow within six feet of the +track that led to the pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfaction +of recognising the arrivals, and, if they should prove to be +acquaintances, greeting them as soon as they had landed. + +Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously low, a +boat's lantern appeared close inshore; and, my attention being thus +awakened, I could perceive another still far to seaward, violently +tossed, and sometimes hidden by the billows. The weather, which was +getting dirtier as the night went on, and the perilous situation of the +yacht upon a lee-shore, had probably driven them to attempt a landing at +the earliest possible moment. + +A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very heavy chest, and +guided by a fifth with a lantern, passed close in front of me as I lay, +and were admitted to the pavilion by the nurse. They returned to the +beach, and passed me a second time with another chest, larger but +apparently not so heavy as the first. A third time they made the +transit; and on this occasion one of the yachtsmen carried a leather +portmanteau, and the others a lady's trunk and carriage bag. My +curiosity was sharply excited. If a woman were among the guests of +Northmour, it would show a change in his habits and an apostasy from his +pet theories of life, well calculated to fill me with surprise. When he +and I dwelt there together, the pavilion had been a temple of misogyny. +And now, one of the detested sex was to be installed under its roof. I +remembered one or two particulars, a few notes of daintiness and almost +of coquetry which had struck me the day before as I surveyed the +preparations in the house; their purpose was now clear, and I thought +myself dull not to have perceived it from the first. + +While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near me from the +beach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom I had not yet seen, and who +was conducting two other persons to the pavilion. These two persons were +unquestionably the guests for whom the house was made ready; and, +straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them as they passed. One +was an unusually tall man, in a travelling hat slouched over his eyes, +and a highland cape closely buttoned and turned up so as to conceal his +face. You could make out no more of him than that he was, as I have +said, unusually tall, and walked feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side, +and either clinging to him or giving him support--I could not make out +which--was a young, tall, and slender figure of a woman. She was +extremely pale; but in the light of the lantern her face was so marred +by strong and changing shadows that she might equally well have been as +ugly as sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be. + +When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some remark which was +drowned by the noise of the wind. + +"Hush!" said her companion; and there was something in the tone with +which the word was uttered that thrilled and rather shook my spirits. It +seemed to breathe from a bosom labouring under the deadliest terror; I +have never heard another syllable so expressive; and I still hear it +again when I am feverish at night, and my mind runs upon old times. The +man turned towards the girl as he spoke; I had a glimpse of much red +beard and a nose which seemed to have been broken in youth; and his +light eyes seemed shining in his face with some strong and unpleasant +emotion. + +But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn to the pavilion. + +One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the beach. The wind +brought me the sound of a rough voice crying, "Shove off!" Then, after a +pause, another lantern drew near. It was Northmour alone. + +My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how a +person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive as +Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face bore +every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to look at him, +even in the most amiable moment, to see that he had the temper of a +slaver captain. I never knew a character that was both explosive and +revengeful to the same degree; he combined the vivacity of the South +with the sustained and deadly hatreds of the North; and both traits were +plainly written on his face, which was a sort of danger-signal. In +person he was tall, strong, and active; his hair and complexion very +dark; his features handsomely designed, but spoiled by a menacing +expression. + +At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; he wore a heavy +frown; and his lips worked, and he looked sharply round him as he +walked, like a man besieged with apprehensions. And yet I thought he had +a look of triumph underlying all, as though he had already done much, +and was near the end of an achievement. + +Partly from a scruple of delicacy--which I daresay came too late--partly +from the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, I desired to make my +presence known to him without delay. + +I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward. + +"Northmour!" said I. + +I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. He leaped on me +without a word; something shone in his hand; and he struck for my heart +with a dagger. At the same moment I knocked him head over heels. Whether +it was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, I know not; but the blade +only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt and his fist struck me violently +on the mouth. + +I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the capabilities of +the sand-hills for protracted ambush or stealthy advances and retreats; +and, not ten yards from the scene of the scuffle, plumped down again +upon the grass. The lantern had fallen and gone out. But what was my +astonishment to see Northmour slip at a bound into the pavilion, and +hear him bar the door behind him with a clang of iron! + +He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, whom I knew for the +most implacable and daring of men, had run away! I could scarcely +believe my reason; and yet in this strange business, where all was +incredible, there was nothing to make a work about in an incredibility +more or less. For why was the pavilion secretly prepared? Why had +Northmour landed with his guests at dead of night, in half a gale of +wind, and with the floe scarce covered? Why had he sought to kill me? +Had he not recognised my voice? I wondered. And, above all, how had he +come to have a dagger ready in his hand? A dagger, or even a sharp +knife, seemed out of keeping with the age in which we lived; and a +gentleman landing from his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even +although it was at night and with some mysterious circumstances, does +not usually, as a matter of fact, walk thus prepared for deadly +onslaught. The more I reflected, the further I felt at sea. I +recapitulated the elements of mystery, counting them on my fingers: the +pavilion secretly prepared for guests; the guests landed at the risk of +their lives and to the imminent peril of the yacht; the guests, or at +least one of them, in undisguised and seemingly causeless terror; +Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmour stabbing his most intimate +acquaintance at a word; last, and not least strange, Northmour fleeing +from the man whom he had sought to murder, and barricading himself, like +a hunted creature, behind the door of the pavilion. Here were at least +six separate causes for extreme surprise; each part and parcel with the +others, and forming all together one consistent story. I felt almost +ashamed to believe my own senses. + +As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow painfully +conscious of the injuries I had received in the scuffle; skulked round +among the sand-hills; and, by a devious path, regained the shelter of +the wood. On the way, the old nurse passed again within several yards of +me, still carrying her lantern, on the return journey to the +mansion-house of Graden. This made a seventh suspicious feature in the +case. Northmour and his guests, it appeared, were to cook and do the +cleaning for themselves, while the old woman continued to inhabit the +big empty barrack among the policies. There must surely be great cause +for secrecy when so many inconveniences were confronted to preserve it. + +So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater security I trod out +the embers of the fire, and lit my lantern to examine the wound upon my +shoulder. It was a trifling hurt, although it bled somewhat freely, and +I dressed it as well as I could (for its position made it difficult to +reach) with some rag and cold water from the spring. While I was thus +busied I mentally declared war against Northmour and his mystery. I am +not an angry man by nature, and I believe there was more curiosity than +resentment in my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way of +preparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the charges, +cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. Next I became preoccupied +about my horse. It might break loose, or fall to neighing, and so betray +my camp in the Sea-Wood. I determined to rid myself of its +neighbourhood; and long before dawn I was leading it over the links in +the direction of the fisher village. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TELLS HOW I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH MY WIFE + + +For two days I skulked round the pavilion, profiting by the uneven +surface of the links. I became an adept in the necessary tactics. These +low hillocks and shallow dells, running one into another, became a kind +of cloak of darkness for my enthralling, but perhaps dishonourable, +pursuit. Yet, in spite of this advantage, I could learn but little of +Northmour or his guests. + +Fresh provisions were brought under cover of darkness by the old woman +from the mansion-house. Northmour and the young lady, sometimes +together, but more often singly, would walk for an hour or two at a time +on the beach beside the quicksand. I could not but conclude that this +promenade was chosen with an eye to secrecy; for the spot was open only +to the seaward. But it suited me not less excellently; the highest and +most accidented of the sand-hills immediately adjoined; and from these, +lying flat in a hollow, I could overlook Northmour or the young lady as +they walked. + +The tall man seemed to have disappeared. Not only did he never cross the +threshold, but he never so much as showed face at a window; or, at +least, not so far as I could see; for I dared not creep forward beyond a +certain distance in the day, since the upper floor commanded the bottoms +of the links; and at night, when I could venture farther, the lower +windows were barricaded as if to stand a siege. Sometimes I thought the +tall man must be confined to bed, for I remembered the feebleness of his +gait; and sometimes I thought he must have gone clear away, and that +Northmour and the young lady remained alone together in the pavilion. +The idea, even then, displeased me. + +Whether or not this pair were man and wife, I had seen abundant reason +to doubt the friendliness of their relation. Although I could hear +nothing of what they said, and rarely so much as glean a decided +expression on the face of either, there was a distance, almost a +stiffness, in their bearing which showed them to be either unfamiliar or +at enmity. The girl walked faster when she was with Northmour than when +she was alone; and I conceived that any inclination between a man and a +woman would rather delay than accelerate the step. Moreover, she kept a +good yard free of him, and trailed her umbrella, as if it were a +barrier, on the side between them. Northmour kept sidling closer; and, +as the girl retired from his advance, their course lay at a sort of +diagonal across the beach, and would have landed them in the surf had it +been long enough continued. But when this was imminent, the girl would +unostentatiously change sides and put Northmour between her and the sea. +I watched these manoeuvres, for my part, with high enjoyment and +approval, and chuckled to myself at every move. + +On the morning of the third day she walked alone for some time, and I +perceived, to my great concern, that she was more than once in tears. +You will see that my heart was already interested more than I supposed. +She had a firm yet airy motion of the body, and carried her head with +unimaginable grace; every step was a thing to look at, and she seemed in +my eyes to breathe sweetness and distinction. + +The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, with a tranquil sea, +and yet with a healthful piquancy and vigour in the air, that, contrary +to custom, she was tempted forth a second time to walk. On this occasion +she was accompanied by Northmour, and they had been but a short while on +the beach, when I saw him take forcible possession of her hand. She +struggled, and uttered a cry that was almost a scream. I sprang to my +feet, unmindful of my strange position; but, ere I had taken a step, I +saw Northmour bareheaded and bowing very low, as if to apologise; and +dropped again at once into my ambush. A few words were interchanged; and +then, with another bow, he left the beach to return to the pavilion. He +passed not far from me, and I could see him, flushed and lowering, and +cutting savagely with his cane among the grass. It was not without +satisfaction that I recognised my own handiwork in a great cut under his +right eye, and a considerable discoloration round the socket. + +For some time the girl remained where he had left her, looking out past +the islet and over the bright sea. Then with a start, as one who throws +off preoccupation and puts energy again upon its mettle, she broke into +a rapid and decisive walk. She also was much incensed by what had +passed. She had forgotten where she was. And I beheld her walk straight +into the borders of the quicksand where it is more abrupt and dangerous. +Two or three steps farther and her life would have been in serious +jeopardy, when I slid down the face of the sand-hill, which is there +precipitous, and, running half-way forward, called to her to stop. + +She did so, and turned round. There was not a tremor of fear in her +behaviour, and she marched directly up to me like a queen. I was +barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, save for an Egyptian scarf +round my waist; and she probably took me at first for some one from the +fisher village, straying after bait. As for her, when I thus saw her +face to face, her eyes set steadily and imperiously upon mine, I was +filled with admiration and astonishment, and thought her even more +beautiful than I had looked to find her. Nor could I think enough of one +who, acting with so much boldness, yet preserved a maidenly air that was +both quaint and engaging; for my wife kept an old-fashioned precision of +manner through all her admirable life--an excellent thing in woman, +since it sets another value on her sweet familiarities. + +"What does this mean?" she asked. + +"You were walking," I told her, "directly into Graden Floe." + +"You do not belong to these parts," she said again. "You speak like an +educated man." + +"I believe I have right to that name," said I, "although in this +disguise." + +But her woman's eye had already detected the sash. + +"Oh!" she said; "your sash betrays you." + +"You have said the word _betray_," I resumed. "May I ask you not to +betray me? I was obliged to disclose myself in your interest; but if +Northmour learned my presence it might be worse than disagreeable for +me." + +"Do you know," she asked, "to whom you are speaking?" + +"Not to Mr. Northmour's wife?" I asked, by way of answer. + +She shook her head. All this while she was studying my face with an +embarrassing intentness. Then she broke out-- + +"You have an honest face. Be honest like your face, sir, and tell me +what you want and what you are afraid of. Do you think I could hurt you? +I believe you have far more power to injure me! And yet you do not look +unkind. What do you mean--you, a gentleman--by skulking like a spy about +this desolate place? Tell me," she said, "who is it you hate?" + +"I hate no one," I answered; "and I fear no one face to face. My name +is Cassilis--Frank Cassilis. I lead the life of a vagabond for my own +good pleasure. I am one of Northmour's oldest friends; and three nights +ago, when I addressed him on these links, he stabbed me in the shoulder +with a knife." + +"It was you!" she said. + +"Why he did so," I continued, disregarding the interruption, "is more +than I can guess, and more than I care to know. I have not many friends, +nor am I very susceptible to friendship; but no man shall drive me from +a place by terror. I had camped in Graden Sea-Wood ere he came; I camp +in it still. If you think I mean harm to you or yours, madam, the remedy +is in your hand. Tell him that my camp is in the Hemlock Den, and +to-night he can stab me in safety while I sleep." + +With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once more among the +sand-hills. I do not know why, but I felt a prodigious sense of +injustice, and felt like a hero and a martyr; while, as a matter of +fact, I had not a word to say in my defence, nor so much as one +plausible reason to offer for my conduct. I had stayed at Graden out of +a curiosity natural enough, but undignified; and though there was +another motive growing in along with the first, it was not one which, at +that period, I could have properly explained to the lady of my heart. + +Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, though her whole +conduct and position seemed suspicious, I could not find it in my heart +to entertain a doubt of her integrity. I could have staked my life that +she was clear of blame, and, though all was dark at the present, that +the explanation of the mystery would show her part in these events to be +both right and needful. It was true, let me cudgel my imagination as I +pleased, that I could invent no theory of her relations to Northmour; +but I felt none the less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on +instinct in place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that night +with the thought of her under my pillow. + +Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, as soon as the +sand-hills concealed her from the pavilion, drew nearer to the edge, and +called me by name in guarded tones. I was astonished to observe that she +was deadly pale, and seemingly under the influence of strong emotion. + +"Mr. Cassilis!" she cried; "Mr. Cassilis!" + +I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. A remarkable air of +relief overspread her countenance as soon as she saw me. + +"Oh!" she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose bosom has been +lightened of a weight. And then, "Thank God you are still safe!" she +added; "I knew, if you were, you would be here." (Was not this strange? +So swiftly and wisely does Nature prepare our hearts for these great +life-long intimacies, that both my wife and I had been given a +presentiment on this the second day of our acquaintance. I had even then +hoped that she would seek me; she had felt sure that she would find me.) +"Do not," she went on swiftly, "do not stay in this place. Promise me +that you will sleep no longer in that wood. You do not know how I +suffer; all last night I could not sleep for thinking of your peril." + +"Peril?" I repeated. "Peril from whom? From Northmour?" + +"Not so," she said. "Did you think I would tell him after what you +said?" + +"Not from Northmour?" I repeated. "Then how? From whom? I see none to be +afraid of." + +"You must not ask me," was her reply, "for I am not free to tell you. +Only believe me, and go hence--believe me, and go away quickly, quickly, +for your life!" + +An appeal to his alarm is never a good plan to rid oneself of a spirited +young man. My obstinacy was but increased by what she said, and I made +it a point of honour to remain. And her solicitude for my safety still +more confirmed me in the resolve. + +"You must not think me inquisitive, madam," I replied; "but, if Graden +is so dangerous a place, you yourself perhaps remain here at some risk." + +She only looked at me reproachfully. + +"You and your father----" I resumed; but she interrupted me almost with +a gasp. + +"My father! How do you know that?" she cried. + +"I saw you together when you landed," was my answer; and I do not know +why, but it seemed satisfactory to both of us, as indeed it was the +truth. "But," I continued, "you need have no fear from me. I see you +have some reason to be secret, and, you may believe me, your secret is +as safe with me as if I were in Graden Floe. I have scarce spoken to any +one for years; my horse is my only companion, and even he, poor beast, +is not beside me. You see, then, you may count on me for silence. So +tell me the truth, my dear young lady, are you not in danger?" + +"Mr. Northmour says you are an honourable man," she returned, "and I +believe it when I see you. I will tell you so much; you are right; we +are in dreadful, dreadful danger, and you share it by remaining where +you are." + +"Ah!" said I; "you have heard of me from Northmour? And he gives me a +good character?" + +"I asked him about you last night," was her reply. "I pretended," she +hesitated, "I pretended to have met you long ago, and spoken to you of +him. It was not true; but I could not help myself without betraying you, +and you had put me in a difficulty. He praised you highly." + +"And--you may permit me one question--does this danger come from +Northmour?" I asked. + +"From Mr. Northmour?" she cried. "Oh, no; he stays with us to share it." + +"While you propose that I should run away?" I said. "You do not rate me +very high." + +"Why should you stay?" she asked. "You are no friend of ours." + +I know not what came over me, for I had not been conscious of a similar +weakness since I was a child, but I was so mortified by this retort +that my eyes pricked and filled with tears, as I continued to gaze upon +her face. + +"No, no," she said, in a changed voice; "I did not mean the words +unkindly." + +"It was I who offended," I said; and I held out my hand with a look of +appeal that somehow touched her, for she gave me hers at once, and even +eagerly. I held it for a while in mine, and gazed into her eyes. It was +she who first tore her hand away, and, forgetting all about her request +and the promise she had sought to extort, ran at the top of her speed, +and without turning, till she was out of sight. And then I knew that I +loved her, and thought in my glad heart that she--she herself--was not +indifferent to my suit. Many a time she has denied it in after days, but +it was with a smiling and not a serious denial. For my part, I am sure +our hands would not have lain so closely in each other if she had not +begun to melt to me already. And, when all is said, it is no great +contention, since, by her own avowal, she began to love me on the +morrow. + +And yet on the morrow very little took place. She came and called me +down as on the day before, upbraided me for lingering at Graden, and, +when she found I was still obdurate, began to ask me more particularly +as to my arrival. I told her by what series of accidents I had come to +witness their disembarkation, and how I had determined to remain, partly +from the interest which had been wakened in me by Northmour's guests, +and partly because of his own murderous attack. As to the former, I fear +I was disingenuous, and led her to regard herself as having been an +attraction to me from the first moment that I saw her on the links. It +relieves my heart to make this confession even now, when my wife is with +God, and already knows all things, and the honesty of my purpose even in +this; for while she lived, although it often pricked my conscience, I +had never the hardihood to undeceive her. Even a little secret, in such +a married life as ours, is like the rose-leaf which kept the Princess +from her sleep. + +From this the talk branched into other subjects, and I told her much +about my lonely and wandering existence; she, for her part, giving ear +and saying little. Although we spoke very naturally, and latterly on +topics that might seem indifferent, we were both sweetly agitated. Too +soon it was time for her to go; and we separated, as if by mutual +consent, without shaking hands, for both knew that, between us, it was +no idle ceremony. + +The next, and that was the fourth day of our acquaintance, we met in the +same spot, but early in the morning, with much familiarity and yet much +timidity on either side. When she had once more spoken about my +danger--and that, I understood, was her excuse for coming--I, who had +prepared a great deal of talk during the night, began to tell her how +highly I valued her kind interest, and how no one had ever cared to hear +about my life, nor had I ever cared to relate it, before yesterday. +Suddenly she interrupted me, saying with vehemence-- + +"And yet, if you knew who I was, you would not so much as speak to me!" + +I told her such a thought was madness, and, little as we had met, I +counted her already a dear friend; but my protestations seemed only to +make her more desperate. + +"My father is in hiding!" she cried. + +"My dear," I said, forgetting for the first time to add "young lady," +"what do I care? If he were in hiding twenty times over, would it make +one thought of change in you?" + +"Ah, but the cause!" she cried, "the cause! It is----" she faltered for +a second--"it is disgraceful to us." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TELLS IN WHAT A STARTLING MANNER I LEARNED THAT I WAS NOT ALONE IN +GRADEN SEA-WOOD + + +This was my wife's story, as I drew it from her among tears and sobs. +Her name was Clara Huddlestone: it sounded very beautiful in my ears; +but not so beautiful as that other name of Clara Cassilis, which she +wore during the longer, and I thank God the happier, portion of her +life. Her father, Bernard Huddlestone, had been a private banker in a +very large way of business. Many years before, his affairs becoming +disordered, he had been led to try dangerous, and at last criminal, +expedients to retrieve himself from ruin. All was in vain; he became +more and more cruelly involved, and found his honour lost at the same +moment with his fortune. About this period Northmour had been courting +his daughter with great assiduity, though with small encouragement; and +to him, knowing him thus disposed in his favour, Bernard Huddlestone +turned for help in his extremity. It was not merely ruin and dishonour, +nor merely a legal condemnation, that the unhappy man had brought upon +his head. It seems he could have gone to prison with a light heart. What +he feared, what kept him awake at night or recalled him from slumber +into frenzy, was some secret, sudden, and unlawful attempt upon his +life. Hence he desired to bury his existence and escape to one of the +islands in the South Pacific, and it was in Northmour's yacht, the _Red +Earl_, that he designed to go. The yacht picked them up clandestinely +upon the coast of Wales, and had once more deposited them at Graden, +till she could be refitted and provisioned for the longer voyage. Nor +could Clara doubt that her hand had been stipulated as the price of +passage. For, although Northmour was neither unkind nor even +discourteous, he had shown himself in several instances somewhat +over-bold in speech and manner. + +I listened, I need not say, with fixed attention, and put many questions +as to the more mysterious part. It was in vain. She had no clear idea of +what the blow was, nor of how it was expected to fall. Her father's +alarm was unfeigned and physically prostrating, and he had thought more +than once of making an unconditional surrender to the police. But the +scheme was finally abandoned, for he was convinced that not even the +strength of our English prisons could shelter him from his pursuers. He +had had many affairs with Italy, and with Italians resident in London, +in the later years of his business, and these last, as Clara fancied, +were somehow connected with the doom that threatened him. He had shown +great terror at the presence of an Italian seaman on board the _Red +Earl_, and had bitterly and repeatedly accused Northmour in consequence. +The latter had protested that Beppo (that was the seaman's name) was a +capital fellow, and could be trusted to the death; but Mr. Huddlestone +had continued ever since to declare that all was lost, that it was only +a question of days, and that Beppo would be the ruin of him yet. + +I regarded the whole story as the hallucination of a mind shaken by +calamity. He had suffered heavy loss by his Italian transactions; and +hence the sight of an Italian was hateful to him, and the principal part +in his nightmare would naturally enough be played by one of that nation. + +"What your father wants," I said, "is a good doctor and some calming +medicine." + +"But Mr. Northmour?" objected your mother. "He is untroubled by losses, +and yet he shares in this terror." + +I could not help laughing at what I considered her simplicity. + +"My dear," said I, "you have told me yourself what reward he has to look +for. All is fair in love, you must remember; and if Northmour foments +your father's terrors, it is not at all because he is afraid of any +Italian man, but simply because he is infatuated with a charming +English woman." + +She reminded me of his attack upon myself on the night of the +disembarkation, and this I was unable to explain. In short, and from one +thing to another, it was agreed between us that I should set out at once +for the fisher village, Graden-Wester, as it is called, look up all the +newspapers I could find, and see for myself if there seemed any basis of +fact for these continued alarms. The next morning, at the same hour and +place, I was to make my report to Clara. She said no more on that +occasion about my departure; nor, indeed, did she make it a secret that +she clung to the thought of my proximity as something helpful and +pleasant; and, for my part, I could not have left her, if she had gone +upon her knees to ask it. + +I reached Graden-Wester before ten in the forenoon; for in those days I +was an excellent pedestrian, and the distance, as I think I have said, +was little over seven miles; fine walking all the way upon the springy +turf. The village is one of the bleakest on that coast, which is saying +much: there is a church in a hollow; a miserable haven in the rocks, +where many boats have been lost as they returned from fishing; two or +three score of stone houses arranged along the beach and in two streets, +one leading from the harbour, and another striking out from it at right +angles; and, at the corner of these two, a very dark and cheerless +tavern, by way of principal hotel. + +I had dressed myself somewhat more suitably to my station in life, and +at once called upon the minister in his little manse beside the +graveyard. He knew me, although it was more than nine years since we had +met; and when I told him that I had been long upon a walking tour, and +was behind with the news, readily lent me an armful of newspapers, +dating from a month back to the day before. With these I sought the +tavern, and, ordering some breakfast, sat down to study the "Huddlestone +Failure." + +It had been, it appeared, a very flagrant case. Thousands of persons +were reduced to poverty; and one in particular had blown out his brains +as soon as payment was suspended. It was strange to myself that, while I +read these details, I continued rather to sympathise with Mr. +Huddlestone than with his victims; so complete already was the empire of +my love for my wife. A price was naturally set upon the banker's head; +and, as the case was inexcusable and the public indignation thoroughly +aroused, the unusual figure of Ł750 was offered for his capture. He was +reported to have large sums of money in his possession. One day he had +been heard of in Spain; the next, there was sure intelligence that he +was still lurking between Manchester and Liverpool, or along the border +of Wales; and the day after, a telegram would announce his arrival in +Cuba or Yucatan. But in all this there was no word of an Italian, nor +any sign of mystery. + +In the very last paper, however, there was one item not so clear. The +accountants who were charged to verify the failure had, it seemed, come +upon the traces of a very large number of thousands, which figured for +some time in the transactions of the house of Huddlestone; but which +came from nowhere, and disappeared in the same mysterious fashion. It +was only once referred to by name, and then under the initials "X.X."; +but it had plainly been floated for the first time into the business at +a period of great depression some six years ago. The name of a +distinguished Royal personage had been mentioned by rumour in connection +with this sum. "The cowardly desperado"--such, I remember, was the +editorial expression--was supposed to have escaped with a large part of +this mysterious fund still in his possession. + +I was still brooding over the fact, and trying to torture it into some +connection with Mr. Huddlestone's danger, when a man entered the tavern +and asked for some bread and cheese with a decided foreign accent. + +"_Siete Italiano?_" said I. + +"_Si, signor_," was his reply. + +I said it was unusually far north to find one of his compatriots; at +which he shrugged his shoulders, and replied that a man would go +anywhere to find work. What work he could hope to find at Graden-Wester, +I was totally unable to conceive; and the incident struck so +unpleasantly upon my mind that I asked the landlord, while he was +counting me some change, whether he had ever before seen an Italian in +the village. He said he had once seen some Norwegians, who had been +shipwrecked on the other side of Graden Ness and rescued by the lifeboat +from Cauldhaven. + +"No!" said I; "but an Italian, like the man who had just had bread and +cheese." + +"What?" cried he, "yon black-avised fellow wi' the teeth? Was he an +I-talian? Weel, yon's the first that ever I saw, an' I daresay he's like +to be the last." + +Even as he was speaking, I raised my eyes, and, casting a glance into +the street, beheld three men in earnest conversation together, and not +thirty yards away. One of them was my recent companion in the tavern +parlour; the other two, by their handsome, sallow features and soft +hats, should evidently belong to the same race. A crowd of village +children stood around them, gesticulating and talking gibberish in +imitation. The trio looked singularly foreign to the bleak dirty street +in which they were standing, and the dark grey heaven that overspread +them; and I confess my incredulity received at that moment a shock from +which it never recovered. I might reason with myself as I pleased, but I +could not argue down the effect of what I had seen, and I began to share +in the Italian terror. + +It was already drawing towards the close of the day before I had +returned, the newspapers at the manse, and got well forward on to the +links on my way home. I shall never forget that walk. It grew very cold +and boisterous; the wind sang in the short grass about my feet; thin +rain showers came running on the gusts; and an immense mountain range of +clouds began to arise out of the bosom of the sea. It would be hard to +imagine a more dismal evening; and whether it was from these external +influences, or because my nerves were already affected by what I had +heard and seen, my thoughts were as gloomy as the weather. + +The upper windows of the pavilion commanded a considerable spread of +links in the direction of Graden-Wester. To avoid observation, it was +necessary to hug the beach until I had gained cover from the higher +sand-hills on the little headland, when I might strike across, through +the hollows, for the margin of the wood. The sun was about setting; the +tide was low, and all the quicksands uncovered; and I was moving along, +lost in unpleasant thought, when I was suddenly thunderstruck to +perceive the prints of human feet. They ran parallel to my own course, +but low down upon the beach instead of along the border of the turf; +and, when I examined them, I saw at once, by the size and coarseness of +the impression, that it was a stranger to me and to those in the +pavilion who had recently passed that way. Not only so; but from the +recklessness of the course which he had followed, steering near to the +most formidable portions of the sand, he was as evidently a stranger to +the country and to the ill-repute of Graden beach. + +Step by step I followed the prints; until, a quarter of a mile farther, +I beheld them die away into the south-eastern boundary of Graden Floe. +There, whoever he was, the miserable man had perished. One or two gulls, +who had, perhaps, seen him disappear, wheeled over his sepulchre with +their usual melancholy piping. The sun had broken through the clouds by +a last effort, and coloured the wide level of quicksands with a dusky +purple. I stood for some time gazing at the spot, chilled and +disheartened by my own reflections, and with a strong and commanding +consciousness of death. I remember wondering how long the tragedy had +taken, and whether his screams had been audible at the pavilion. And +then, making a strong resolution, I was about to tear myself away, when +a gust fiercer than usual fell upon this quarter of the beach, and I +saw, now whirling high in air, now skimming lightly across the surface +of the sands, a soft, black, felt hat, somewhat conical in shape, such +as I had remarked already on the heads of the Italians. + +I believe, but I am not sure, that I uttered a cry. The wind was driving +the hat shoreward, and I ran round the border of the floe to be ready +against its arrival. The gust fell, dropping the hat for a while upon +the quicksand, and then, once more freshening, landed it a few yards +from where I stood. I seized it with the interest you may imagine. It +had seen some service; indeed, it was rustier than either of those I had +seen that day upon the street. The lining was red, stamped with the name +of the maker, which I have forgotten, and that of the place of +manufacture, _Venedig_. This (it is not yet forgotten) was the name +given by the Austrians to the beautiful city of Venice, then, and for +long after, a part of their dominions. + +The shock was complete. I saw imaginary Italians upon every side; and, +for the first, and, I may say, for the last time in my experience, +became overpowered by what is called a panic terror. I knew nothing, +that is, to be afraid of, and yet I submit that I was heartily afraid; +and it was with a sensible reluctance that I returned to my exposed and +solitary camp in the Sea-Wood. + +There I ate some cold porridge which had been left over from the night +before, for I was disinclined to make a fire; and, feeling strengthened +and reassured, dismissed all these fanciful terrors from my mind, and +lay down to sleep with composure. + +How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to guess; but I was +awakened at last by a sudden, blinding flash of light into my face. It +woke me like a blow. In an instant I was upon my knees. But the light +had gone as suddenly as it came. The darkness was intense. And, as it +was blowing great guns from the sea and pouring with rain, the noises of +the storm effectually concealed all others. + +It was, I daresay, half a minute before I regained my self-possession. +But for two circumstances, I should have thought I had been awakened by +some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, the flap of my tent, which +I had shut carefully when I retired, was now unfastened; and, second, I +could still perceive, with a sharpness that excluded any theory of +hallucination, the smell of hot metal and of burning oil. The conclusion +was obvious. I had been wakened by some one flashing a bull's-eye +lantern in my face. It had been but a flash, and away. He had seen my +face, and then gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a +proceeding, and the answer came pat. The man, whoever he was, had +thought to recognise me, and he had not. There was yet another question +unresolved: and to this, I may say, I feared to give an answer; if he +had recognised me, what would he have done? + +My fears were immediately diverted from myself, for I saw that I had +been visited in a mistake; and I became persuaded that some dreadful +danger threatened the pavilion. It required some nerve to issue forth +into the black and intricate thicket which surrounded and overhung the +den; but I groped my way to the links, drenched with rain, beaten upon +and deafened by the gusts, and fearing at every step to lay my hand upon +some lurking adversary. The darkness was so complete that I might have +been surrounded by an army and yet none the wiser, and the uproar of the +gale so loud that my hearing was as useless as my sight. + +For the rest of that night, which seemed interminably long, I patrolled +the vicinity of the pavilion, without seeing a living creature or +hearing any noise but the concert of the wind, the sea, and the rain. A +light in the upper story filtered through a cranny of the shutter, and +kept me company till the approach of dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TELLS OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN NORTHMOUR, CLARA, AND MYSELF + + +With the first peep of day, I retired from the open to my old lair among +the sand-hills, there to await the coming of my wife. The morning was +grey, wild, and melancholy; the wind moderated before sunrise, and then +went about, and blew in puffs from the shore; the sea began to go down, +but the rain still fell without mercy. Over all the wilderness of links +there was not a creature to be seen. Yet I felt sure the neighbourhood +was alive with skulking foes. The light had been so suddenly and +surprisingly flashed upon my face as I lay sleeping, and the hat that +had been blown ashore by the wind from over Graden Floe, were two +speaking signals of the peril that environed Clara and the party in the +pavilion. + +It was perhaps half-past seven, or nearer eight, before I saw the door +open, and that dear figure come towards me in the rain. I was waiting +for her on the beach before she had crossed the sand-hills. + +"I have had such trouble to come!" she cried. "They did not wish me to +go walking in the rain." + +"Clara," I said, "you are not frightened!" + +"No," said she, with a simplicity that filled my heart with confidence. +For my wife was the bravest as well as the best of women; in my +experience I have not found the two go always together, but with her +they did; and she combined the extreme of fortitude with the most +endearing and beautiful virtues. + +I told her what had happened; and, though her cheek grew visibly paler, +she retained perfect control over her senses. + +"You see now that I am safe," said I, in conclusion. "They do not mean +to harm me; for, had they chosen, I was a dead man last night." + +She laid her hand upon my arm. + +"And I had no presentiment!" she cried. + +Her accent thrilled me with delight. I put my arm about her, and +strained her to my side; and before either of us was aware, her hands +were on my shoulders, and my lips upon her mouth. Yet up to that moment +no word of love had passed between us. To this day I remember the touch +of her cheek, which was wet and cold with the rain; and many a time +since, when she has been washing her face, I have kissed it again for +the sake of that morning on the beach. Now that she is taken from me, +and I finish my pilgrimage alone, I recall our old loving-kindnesses and +the deep honesty and affection which united us, and my present loss +seems but a trifle in comparison. + +We may have thus stood for some seconds--for time passes quickly with +lovers--before we were startled by a peal of laughter close at hand. It +was not natural mirth, but seemed to be affected in order to conceal an +angrier feeling. We both turned, though I still kept my left arm about +Clara's waist; nor did she seek to withdraw herself; and there, a few +paces off upon the beach, stood Northmour, his head lowered, his hands +behind his back, his nostrils white with passion. + +"Ah! Cassilis!" he said, as I disclosed my face. + +"That same," said I; for I was not at all put about. + +"And so, Miss Huddlestone," he continued slowly but savagely, "this is +how you keep your faith to your father and to me? This is the value you +set upon your father's life? And you are so infatuated with this young +gentleman that you must brave ruin, and decency, and common human +caution----" + +"Miss Huddlestone----" I was beginning to interrupt him, when he, in his +turn, cut in brutally-- + +"You hold your tongue," said he; "I am speaking to that girl." + +"That girl, as you call her, is my wife," said I; and my wife only +leaned a little nearer, so that I knew she had affirmed my words. + +"Your what?" he cried. "You lie!" + +"Northmour," I said, "we all know you have a bad temper, and I am the +last man to be irritated by words. For all that, I propose that you +speak lower, for I am convinced that we are not alone." + +He looked round him, and it was plain my remark had in some degree +sobered his passion. "What do you mean?" he asked. + +I only said one word: "Italians." + +He swore a round oath, and looked at us, from one to the other. + +"Mr. Cassilis knows all that I know," said my wife. + +"What I want to know," he broke out, "is where the devil Mr. Cassilis +comes from, and what the devil Mr. Cassilis is doing here. You say you +are married; that I do not believe. If you were, Graden Floe would soon +divorce you; four minutes and a half, Cassilis. I keep my private +cemetery for my friends." + +"It took somewhat longer," said I, "for that Italian." + +He looked at me for a moment half-daunted, and then, almost civilly, +asked me to tell my story. "You have too much the advantage of me, +Cassilis," he added. I complied, of course; and he listened, with +several ejaculations, while I told him how I had come to Graden: that it +was I whom he had tried to murder on the night of landing; and what I +had subsequently seen and heard of the Italians. + +"Well," said he, when I had done, "it is here at last; there is no +mistake about that. And what, may I ask, do you propose to do?" + +"I propose to stay with you and lend a hand," said I. + +"You are a brave man," he returned, with a peculiar intonation. + +"I am not afraid," said I. + +"And so," he continued, "I am to understand that you two are married? +And you stand up to it before my face, Miss Huddlestone?" + +"We are not yet married," said Clara; "but we shall be as soon as we +can." + +"Bravo!" cried Northmour. "And the bargain? D--n it, you're not a fool, +young woman; I may call a spade a spade with you. How about the bargain? +You know as well as I do what your father's life depends upon. I have +only to put my hands under my coat-tails and walk away, and his throat +would be cut before the evening." + +"Yes, Mr. Northmour," returned Clara, with great spirit; "but that is +what you will never do. You made a bargain that was unworthy of a +gentleman; but you are gentleman for all that, and you will never desert +a man whom you have begun to help." + +"Aha!" said he. "You think I will give my yacht for nothing? You think I +will risk my life and liberty for love of the old gentleman; and then, I +suppose, be best-man at the wedding, to wind up? Well," he added, with +an odd smile, "perhaps you are not altogether wrong. But ask Cassilis +here. _He_ knows me. Am I a man to trust? Am I safe and scrupulous? Am I +kind?" + +"I know you talk a great deal, and sometimes, I think, very foolishly," +replied Clara, "but I know you are a gentleman, and I am not the least +afraid." + +He looked at her with a peculiar approval and admiration; then, turning +to me, "Do you think I would give her up without a struggle, Frank?" +said he. "I tell you plainly, you look out. The next time we come to +blows----" + +"Will make the third," I interrupted, smiling. + +"Ay, true; so it will," he said. "I had forgotten. Well, the third +time's lucky." + +"The third time, you mean, you will have the crew of the _Red Earl_ to +help," I said. + +"Do you hear him?" he asked, turning to my wife. + +"I hear two men speaking like cowards," said she. "I should despise +myself either to think or speak like that. And neither of you believe +one word that you are saying, which makes it the more wicked and silly." + +"She's a trump!" cried Northmour. "But she's not yet Mrs. Cassilis. I +say no more. The present is not for me." + +Then my wife surprised me. + +"I leave you here," she said suddenly. "My father has been too long +alone. But remember this: you are to be friends, for you are both good +friends to me." + +She has since told me her reason for this step. As long as she remained, +she declares that we two should have continued to quarrel; and I suppose +that she was right, for when she was gone we fell at once into a sort of +confidentiality. + +Northmour stared after her as she went away over the sand-hill. + +"She is the only woman in the world!" he exclaimed, with an oath. "Look +at her action." + +I, for my part, leaped at this opportunity for a little further light. + +"See here, Northmour," said I; "we are all in a tight place, are we +not?" + +"I believe you, my boy," he answered, looking me in the eyes, and with +great emphasis. "We have all hell upon us, that's the truth. You may +believe me or not, but I'm afraid of my life." + +"Tell me one thing," said I. "What are they after, these Italians? What +do they want with Mr. Huddlestone?" + +"Don't you know?" he cried. "The black old scamp had _carbonaro_ funds +on a deposit--two hundred and eighty thousand; and of course he gambled +it away on stocks. There was to have been a revolution in the +Tridentino, or Parma; but the revolution is off, and the whole wasps' +nest is after Huddlestone. We shall all be lucky if we can save our +skins." + +"The _carbonari_!" I exclaimed; "God help him indeed!" + +"Amen!" said Northmour. "And now, look here: I have said that we are in +a fix; and, frankly, I shall be glad of your help. If I can't save +Huddlestone, I want at least to save the girl. Come and stay in the +pavilion; and, there's my hand on it, I shall act as your friend until +the old man is either clear or dead. But," he added, "once that is +settled, you become my rival once again, and I warn you--mind yourself." + +"Done!" said I; and we shook hands. + +"And now let us go directly to the fort," said Northmour; and he began +to lead the way through the rain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TELLS OF MY INTRODUCTION TO THE TALL MAN + + +We were admitted to the pavilion by Clara, and I was surprised by the +completeness and security of the defences. A barricade of great +strength, and yet easy to displace, supported the door against any +violence from without; and the shutters of the dining-room, into which I +was led directly, and which was feebly illuminated by a lamp, were even +more elaborately fortified. The panels were strengthened by bars and +cross-bars; and these, in their turn, were kept in position by a system +of braces and struts, some abutting on the floor, some on the roof, and +others, in fine, against the opposite wall of the apartment. It was at +once a solid and well-designed piece of carpentry; and I did not seek to +conceal my admiration. + +"I am the engineer," said Northmour. "You remember the planks in the +garden? Behold them!" + +"I did not know you had so many talents," said I. + +"Are you armed?" he continued, pointing to an array of guns and pistols, +all in admirable order, which stood in line against the wall or were +displayed upon the sideboard. + +"Thank you," I returned; "I have gone armed since our last encounter. +But, to tell you the truth, I have had nothing to eat since early +yesterday evening." + +Northmour produced some cold meat, to which I eagerly set myself, and a +bottle of good Burgundy, by which, wet as I was, I did not scruple to +profit. I have always been an extreme temperance man on principle; but +it is useless to push principle to excess, and on this occasion I +believe that I finished three-quarters of the bottle. As I ate, I still +continued to admire the preparations for defence. + +"We could stand a siege," I said at length. + +"Ye--es," drawled Northmour; "a very little one, per--haps. It is not so +much the strength of the pavilion I misdoubt; it is the double danger +that kills me. If we get to shooting, wild as the country is, some one +is sure to hear it, and then--why, then it's the same thing, only +different, as they say: caged by law, or killed by _carbonari_. There's +the choice. It is a devilish bad thing to have the law against you in +this world, and so I tell the old gentleman upstairs. He is quite of my +way of thinking." + +"Speaking of that," said I, "what kind of person is he?" + +"Oh, he!" cried the other; "he's a rancid fellow, as far as he goes. I +should like to have his neck wrung to-morrow by all the devils in Italy. +I am not in this affair for him. You take me? I made a bargain for +Missy's hand, and I mean to have it too." + +"That by the way," said I. "I understand. But how will Mr. Huddlestone +take my intrusion?" + +"Leave that to Clara," returned Northmour. + +I could have struck him in the face for this coarse familiarity; but I +respected the truce, as, I am bound to say, did Northmour, and so long +as the danger continued not a cloud arose in our relation. I bear him +this testimony with the most unfeigned satisfaction; nor am I without +pride when I look back upon my own behaviour. For surely no two men were +ever left in a position so invidious and irritating. + +As soon as I had done eating, we proceeded to inspect the lower floor. +Window by window we tried the different supports, now and then making an +inconsiderable change; and the strokes of the hammer sounded with +startling loudness through the house. I proposed, I remember, to make +loopholes; but he told me they were already made in the windows of the +upper story. It was an anxious business, this inspection, and left me +down-hearted. There were two doors and five windows to protect, and, +counting Clara, only four of us to defend them against an unknown number +of foes. I communicated my doubts to Northmour, who assured me, with +unmoved composure, that he entirely shared them. + +"Before morning," said he, "we shall all be butchered and buried in +Graden Floe. For me, that is written." + +I could not help shuddering at the mention of the quicksand, but +reminded Northmour that our enemies had spared me in the wood. + +"Do not flatter yourself," said he. "Then you were not in the same boat +with the old gentleman; now you are. It's the floe for all of us, mark +my words." + +I trembled for Clara; and just then her dear voice was heard calling us +to come upstairs. Northmour showed me the way, and, when he had reached +the landing, knocked at the door of what used to be called _My Uncle's +Bedroom_, as the founder of the pavilion had designed it especially for +himself. + +"Come in, Northmour; come in, dear Mr. Cassilis," said a voice from +within. + +Pushing open the door, Northmour admitted me before him into the +apartment. As I came in I could see the daughter slipping out by the +side-door into the study, which had been prepared as her bedroom. In the +bed, which was drawn back against the wall, instead of standing, as I +had last seen it, boldly across the window, sat Bernard Huddlestone, the +defaulting banker. Little as I had seen of him by the shifting light of +the lantern on the links, I had no difficulty in recognising him for +the same. He had a long and sallow countenance, surrounded by a long red +beard and side-whiskers. His broken nose and high cheek-bones gave him +somewhat the air of a Kalmuck, and his light eyes shone with the +excitement of a high fever. He wore a skull-cap of black silk; a huge +Bible lay open before him on the bed, with a pair of gold spectacles in +the place, and a pile of other books lay on the stand by his side. The +green curtains lent a cadaverous shade to his cheek; and, as he sat +propped on pillows, his great stature was painfully hunched, and his +head protruded till it overhung his knees. I believe if he had not died +otherwise, he must have fallen a victim to consumption in the course of +but a very few weeks. + +He held out to me a hand, long, thin, and disagreeably hairy. + +"Come in, come in, Mr. Cassilis," said he. "Another +protector--ahem!--another protector. Always welcome as a friend of my +daughter's, Mr. Cassilis. How they have rallied about me, my daughter's +friends! May God in Heaven bless and reward them for it!" + +I gave him my hand, of course, because I could not help it; but the +sympathy I had been prepared to feel for Clara's father was immediately +soured by his appearance, and the wheedling, unreal tones in which he +spoke. + +"Cassilis is a good man," said Northmour; "worth ten." + +"So I hear," cried Mr. Huddlestone eagerly; "so my girl tells me. Ah, +Mr. Cassilis, my sin has found me out, you see! I am very low, very low; +but I hope equally penitent. We must all come to the throne of grace at +last, Mr. Cassilis. For my part, I come late indeed; but with unfeigned +humility, I trust." + +"Fiddle-de-dee!" said Northmour roughly. + +"No, no, dear Northmour!" cried the banker. "You must not say that; you +must not try to shake me. You forget, my dear, good boy, you forget I +may be called this very night before my Maker." + +His excitement was pitiful to behold; and I felt myself grow indignant +with Northmour, whose infidel opinions I well knew, and heartily +derided, as he continued to taunt the poor sinner out of his humour of +repentance. + +"Pooh, my dear Huddlestone!" said he. "You do yourself injustice. You +are a man of the world, inside and out, and were up to all kinds of +mischief before I was born. Your conscience is tanned like South +American leather--only you forgot to tan your liver, and that, if you +will believe me, is the seat of the annoyance." + +"Rogue, rogue! bad boy!" said Mr. Huddlestone, shaking his finger, "I am +no precisian, if you come to that; I always hated a precisian; but I +never lost hold of something better through it all. I have been a bad +boy, Mr. Cassilis; I do not seek to deny that; but it was after my +wife's death, and you know, with a widower, it's a different thing: +sinful--I won't say no; but there is a gradation, we shall hope. And +talking of that---- Hark!" he broke out suddenly, his hand raised, his +fingers spread, his face racked with interest and terror. "Only the +rain, bless God!" he added, after a pause, and with indescribable +relief. + +For some seconds he lay back among the pillows like a man near to +fainting; then he gathered himself together, and, in somewhat tremulous +tones, began once more to thank me for the share I was prepared to take +in his defence. + +"One question, sir," said I, when he had paused. "Is it true that you +have money with you?" + +He seemed annoyed by the question, but admitted with reluctance that he +had a little. + +"Well," I continued, "it is their money they are after, is it not? Why +not give it up to them?" + +"Ah!" replied he, shaking his head, "I have tried that already, Mr. +Cassilis; and alas that it should be so! but it is blood they want." + +"Huddlestone, that's a little less than fair," said Northmour. "You +should mention that what you offered them was upwards of two hundred +thousand short. The deficit is worth a reference; it is for what they +call a cool sum, Frank. Then, you see, the fellows reason in their clear +Italian way; and it seems to them, as indeed it seems to me, that they +may just as well have both while they're about it--money and blood +together, by George, and no more trouble for the extra pleasure." + +"Is it in the pavilion?" I asked. + +"It is; and I wish it were in the bottom of the sea instead," said +Northmour; and then suddenly--"What are you making faces at me for?" he +cried to Mr. Huddlestone, on whom I had unconsciously turned my back. +"Do you think Cassilis would sell you?" + +Mr. Huddlestone protested that nothing had been further from his mind. + +"It is a good thing," retorted Northmour in his ugliest manner. "You +might end by wearying us.--What were you going to say?" he added, +turning to me. + +"I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon," said I. "Let +us carry that money out, piece by piece, and lay it down before the +pavilion door. If the _carbonari_ come, why, it's theirs at any rate." + +"No, no," cried Mr. Huddlestone; "it does not, it cannot belong to them! +It should be distributed _pro rata_ among all my creditors." + +"Come now, Huddlestone," said Northmour, "none of that." + +"Well, but my daughter," moaned the wretched man. + +"Your daughter will do well enough. Here are two suitors, Cassilis and +I, neither of us beggars, between whom she has to choose. And as for +yourself, to make an end of arguments, you have no right to a farthing, +and, unless I'm much mistaken, you are going to die." + +It was certainly very cruelly said; but Mr. Huddlestone was a man who +attracted little sympathy; and, although I saw him wince and shudder, I +mentally endorsed the rebuke; nay, I added a contribution of my own. + +"Northmour and I," I said, "are willing enough to help you to save your +life, but not to escape with stolen property." + +He struggled for a while with himself, as though he were on the point of +giving way to anger, but prudence had the best of the controversy. + +"My dear boys," he said, "do with me or my money what you will. I leave +all in your hands. Let me compose myself." + +And so we left him, gladly enough I am sure. The last that I saw, he had +once more taken up his great Bible, and with tremulous hands was +adjusting his spectacles to read. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TELLS HOW A WORD WAS CRIED THROUGH THE PAVILION WINDOW + + +The recollection of that afternoon will always be graven on my mind. +Northmour and I were persuaded that an attack was imminent; and if it +had been in our power to alter in any way the order of events, that +power would have been used to precipitate rather than delay the critical +moment. The worst was to be anticipated; yet we could conceive no +extremity so miserable as the suspense we were now suffering. I have +never been an eager, though always a great, reader; but I never knew +books so insipid as those which I took up and cast aside that afternoon +in the pavilion. Even talk became impossible as the hours went on. One +or other was always listening for some sound, or peering from an +upstairs window over the links. And yet not a sign indicated the +presence of our foes. + +We debated over and over again my proposal with regard to the money; and +had we been in complete possession of our faculties, I am sure we should +have condemned it as unwise; but we were flustered with alarm, grasped +at a straw, and determined, although it was as much as advertising Mr. +Huddlestone's presence in the pavilion, to carry my proposal into +effect. + +The sum was part in specie, part in bank paper, and part in circular +notes payable to the name of James Gregory. We took it out, counted it, +enclosed it once more in a despatch-box belonging to Northmour, and +prepared a letter in Italian which he tied to the handle. It was signed +by both of us under oath, and declared that this was all the money which +had escaped the failure of the house of Huddlestone. This was, perhaps, +the maddest action ever perpetrated by two persons professing to be +sane. Had the despatch-box fallen into other hands than those for which +it was intended, we stood criminally convicted on our own written +testimony; but as I have said, we were neither of us in a condition to +judge soberly, and had a thirst for action that drove us to do +something, right or wrong, rather than endure the agony of waiting. +Moreover, as we were both convinced that the hollows of the links were +alive with hidden spies upon our movements, we hoped that our appearance +with the box might lead to a parley, and perhaps a compromise. + +It was nearly three when we issued from the pavilion. The rain had taken +off; the sun shone quite cheerfully. I have never seen the gulls fly so +close about the house or approach so fearlessly to human beings. On the +very doorstep one flapped heavily past our heads, and uttered its wild +cry in my very ear. + +"There is an omen for you," said Northmour, who, like all freethinkers, +was much under the influence of superstition. "They think we are already +dead." + +I made some light rejoinder, but it was with half my heart; for the +circumstance had impressed me. + +A yard or two before the gate, on a patch of smooth turf, we set down +the despatch-box; and Northmour waved a white handkerchief over his +head. Nothing replied. We raised our voices, and cried aloud in Italian +that we were there as ambassadors to arrange the quarrel; but the +stillness remained unbroken save by the sea-gulls and the surf. I had a +weight at my heart when we desisted; and I saw that even Northmour was +unusually pale. He looked over his shoulder nervously, as though he +feared that some one had crept between him and the pavilion door. + +"By God," he said in a whisper, "this is too much for me!" + +I replied in the same key: "Suppose there should be none, after all?" + +"Look there," he returned, nodding with his head, as though he had been +afraid to point. + +I glanced in the direction indicated; and there, from the northern +quarter of the Sea-Wood, beheld a thin column of smoke rising steadily +against the now cloudless sky. + +"Northmour," I said (we still continued to talk in whispers), "it is not +possible to endure this suspense. I prefer death fifty times over. Stay +you here to watch the pavilion; I will go forward and make sure, if I +have to walk right into their camp." + +He looked once again all round him with puckered eyes, and then nodded +assentingly to my proposal. + +My heart beat like a sledge-hammer as I set out walking rapidly in the +direction of the smoke; and, though up to that moment I had felt chill +and shivering, I was suddenly conscious of a glow of heat over all my +body. The ground in this direction was very uneven; a hundred men might +have lain hidden in as many square yards about my path. But I had not +practised the business in vain, chose such routes as cut at the very +root of concealment, and, by keeping along the most convenient ridges, +commanded several hollows at a time. It was not long before I was +rewarded for my caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound somewhat more +elevated than the surrounding hummocks, I saw, not thirty yards away, a +man bent almost double, and running as fast as his attitude permitted +along the bottom of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from his +ambush. As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in English and +Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no longer possible, straightened +himself out, leaped from the gully, and made off as straight as an arrow +for the borders of the wood. + +It was none of my business to pursue; I had learned what I wanted--that +we were beleaguered and watched in the pavilion; and I returned at once, +and walking as nearly as possible in my old footsteps, to where +Northmour awaited me beside the despatch-box. He was even paler than +when I had left him, and his voice shook a little. + +"Could you see what he was like?" he asked. + +"He kept his back turned," I replied. + +"Let us get into the house, Frank. I don't think I'm a coward, but I can +stand no more of this," he whispered. + +All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion as we turned to re-enter +it; even the gulls had flown in a wider circuit, and were seen +flickering along the beach and sand-hills; and this loneliness terrified +me more than a regiment under arms. It was not until the door was +barricaded that I could draw a full inspiration and relieve the weight +that lay upon my bosom. Northmour and I exchanged a steady glance; and I +suppose each made his own reflections on the white and startled aspect +of the other. + +"You were right," I said. "All is over. Shake hands, old man, for the +last time." + +"Yes," replied he, "I will shake hands; for, as sure as I am here, I +bear no malice. But remember, if, by some impossible accident, we should +give the slip to these blackguards, I'll take the upper hand of you by +fair or foul." + +"Oh," said I, "you weary me." + +He seemed hurt, and walked away in silence to the foot of the stairs, +where he paused. + +"You do not understand," said he. "I am not a swindler, and I guard +myself; that is all. It may weary you or not, Mr. Cassilis, I do not +care a rush; I speak for my own satisfaction, and not for your +amusement. You had better go upstairs and court the girl; for my part, +I stay here." + +"And I stay with you," I returned. "Do you think I would steal a march, +even with your permission?" + +"Frank," he said, smiling, "it's a pity you are an ass, for you have the +makings of a man. I think I must be _fey_ to-day; you cannot irritate me +even when you try. Do you know," he continued softly, "I think we are +the two most miserable men in England, you and I? we have got on to +thirty without wife or child, or so much as a shop to look after--poor, +pitiful, lost devils, both! And now we clash about a girl! As if there +were not several millions in the United Kingdom! Ah, Frank, Frank, the +one who loses this throw, be it you or me, he has my pity! It were +better for him--how does the Bible say?--that a millstone were hanged +about his neck and he were cast into the depth of the sea. Let us take a +drink," he concluded suddenly, but without any levity of tone. + +I was touched by his words and consented. He sat down on the table in +the dining-room, and held up the glass of sherry to his eye. + +"If you beat me, Frank," he said, "I shall take to drink. What will you +do, if it goes the other way?" + +"God knows," I returned. + +"Well," said he, "here is a toast in the meantime: '_Italia +irredenta!_'" + +The remainder of the day was passed in the same dreadful tedium and +suspense. I laid the table for dinner, while Northmour and Clara +prepared the meal together in the kitchen. I could hear their talk as I +went to and fro, and was surprised to find it ran all the time upon +myself. Northmour again bracketed us together, and rallied Clara on a +choice of husbands; but he continued to speak of me with some feeling, +and uttered nothing to my prejudice unless he included himself in the +condemnation. This awakened a sense of gratitude in my heart, which +combined with the immediateness of our peril to fill my eye with tears. +After all, I thought--and perhaps the thought was laughably vain--we +were here three very noble human beings to perish in defence of a +thieving banker. + +Before we sat down to table I looked forth from an upstairs window. The +day was beginning to decline; the links were utterly deserted; the +despatch-box still lay untouched where we had left it hours before. + +Mr. Huddlestone, in a long yellow dressing-gown, took one end of the +table, Clara the other; while Northmour and I faced each other from the +sides. The lamp was brightly trimmed; the wine was good; the viands, +although mostly cold, excellent of their sort. We seemed to have agreed +tacitly; all reference to the impending catastrophe was carefully +avoided; and, considering our tragic circumstances, we made a merrier +party than could have been expected. From time to time, it is true, +Northmour or I would rise from table and make a round of the defences; +and, on each of these occasions, Mr. Huddlestone was recalled to a sense +of his tragic predicament, glanced up with ghastly eyes, and bore for an +instant on his countenance the stamp of terror. But he hastened to empty +his glass, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and joined again in +the conversation. + +I was astonished at the wit and information he displayed. Mr. +Huddlestone's was certainly no ordinary character; he had read and +observed for himself; his gifts were sound; and, though I could never +have learned to love the man, I began to understand his success in +business, and the great respect in which he had been held before his +failure. He had, above all, the talent of society; and though I never +heard him speak but on this one and most unfavourable occasion, I set +him down among the most brilliant conversationalists I ever met. + +He was relating with great gusto, and seemingly no feeling of shame, the +manoeuvres of a scoundrelly commission merchant whom he had known and +studied in his youth, and we were all listening with an odd mixture of +mirth and embarrassment, when our little party was brought abruptly to +an end in the most startling manner. + +A noise like that of a wet finger on the window-pane interrupted Mr. +Huddlestone's tale; and in an instant we were all four as white as +paper, and sat tongue-tied and motionless round the table. + +"A snail," I said at last; for I had heard that these animals make a +noise somewhat similar in character. + +"Snail be d--d!" said Northmour. "Hush!" + +The same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals; and then a +formidable voice shouted through the shutters the Italian word +"_Traditore!_" + +Mr. Huddlestone threw his head in the air; his eyelids quivered; next +moment he fell insensible below the table. Northmour and I had each run +to the armoury and seized a gun. Clara was on her feet with her hand at +her throat. + +So we stood waiting, for we thought the hour of attack was certainly +come; but second passed after second, and all but the surf remained +silent in the neighbourhood of the pavilion. + +"Quick," said Northmour; "upstairs with him before they come." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TELLS THE LAST OF THE TALL MAN + + +Somehow or other, by hook and crook, and between the three of us, we got +Bernard Huddlestone bundled upstairs and laid upon the bed in _My +Uncle's Room_. During the whole process, which was rough enough, he gave +no sign of consciousness, and he remained, as we had thrown him, without +changing the position of a finger. His daughter opened his shirt and +began to wet his head and bosom; while Northmour and I ran to the +window. The weather continued clear; the moon, which was now about full, +had risen and shed a very clear light upon the links; yet, strain our +eyes as we might, we could distinguish nothing moving. A few dark spots, +more or less, on the uneven expanse, were not to be identified; they +might be crouching men, they might be shadows; it was impossible to be +sure. + +"Thank God," said Northmour, "Aggie is not coming to-night." + +Aggie was the name of the old nurse; he had not thought of her till now; +but that he should think of her at all was a trait that surprised me in +the man. + +We were again reduced to waiting. Northmour went to the fireplace and +spread his hands before the red embers, as if he were cold. I followed +him mechanically with my eyes, and in so doing turned my back upon the +window. At that moment a very faint report was audible from without, and +a ball shivered a pane of glass, and buried itself in the shutter two +inches from my head. I heard Clara scream; and though I whipped +instantly out of range and into a corner, she was there, so to speak, +before me, beseeching to know if I were hurt. I felt that I could stand +to be shot at every day and all day long, with such marks of solicitude +for a reward; and I continued to reassure her, with the tenderest +caresses and in complete forgetfulness of our situation, till the voice +of Northmour recalled me to myself. + +"An air-gun," he said. "They wish to make no noise." + +I put Clara aside, and looked at him. He was standing with his back to +the fire and his hands clasped behind him; and I knew by the black look +on his face that passion was boiling within. I had seen just such a look +before he attacked me, that March night, in the adjoining chamber; and, +though I could make every allowance for his anger, I confess I trembled +for the consequences. He gazed straight before him; but he could see us +with the tail of his eye, and his temper kept rising like a gale of +wind. With regular battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an +internecine strife within the walls began to daunt me. + +Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression and prepared +against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a look of relief, upon his +face. He took up the lamp which stood beside him on the table, and +turned to us with an air of some excitement. + +"There is one point that we must know," said he. "Are they going to +butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? Did they take you for him, +or fire at you for your own _beaux yeux_?" + +"They took me for him, for certain," I replied. "I am near as tall, and +my head is fair." + +"I am going to make sure," returned Northmour; and he stepped up to the +window, holding the lamp above his head, and stood there, quietly +affronting death, for half a minute. + +Clara sought to rush forward and pull him from the place of danger; but +I had the pardonable selfishness to hold her back by force. + +"Yes," said Northmour, turning coolly from the window; "it's only +Huddlestone they want." + +"Oh, Mr. Northmour!" cried Clara; but found no more to add; the temerity +she had just witnessed seeming beyond the reach of words. + +He, on his part, looked at me, cocking his head, with a fire of triumph +in his eyes; and I understood at once that he had thus hazarded his +life, merely to attract Clara's notice, and depose me from my position +as the hero of the hour. He snapped his fingers. + +"The fire is only beginning," said he. "When they warm up to their work +they won't be so particular." + +A voice was now heard hailing us from the entrance. From the window we +could see the figure of a man in the moonlight; he stood motionless, his +face uplifted to ours, and a rag of something white on his extended arm; +and as we looked right down upon him, though he was a good many yards +distant on the links, we could see the moonlight glitter on his eyes. + +He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes on end, in a key +so loud that he might have been heard in every corner of the pavilion, +and as far away as the borders of the wood. It was the same voice that +had already shouted "_Traditore!_" through the shutters of the +dining-room; this time it made a complete and clear statement. If the +traitor "Oddlestone" were given up, all others should be spared; if not, +no one should escape to tell the tale. + +"Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?" asked Northmour, turning +to the bed. + +Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, and I, at least, +had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; but he replied at once, +and in such tones as I have never heard elsewhere, save from a delirious +patient, adjured and besought us not to desert him. It was the most +hideous and abject performance that my imagination can conceive. + +"Enough," cried Northmour; and then he threw open the window, leaned out +into the night, and in a tone of exultation, and with a total +forgetfulness of what was due to the presence of a lady, poured out upon +the ambassador a string of the most abominable raillery both in English +and Italian, and bade him be gone where he had come from. I believe that +nothing so delighted Northmour at that moment as the thought that we +must all infallibly perish before the night was out. + +Meantime the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, and +disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand-hills. + +"They make honourable war," said Northmour. "They are all gentlemen and +soldiers. For the credit of the thing, I wish we could change sides--you +and I, Frank, and you too, Missy my darling--and leave that being on the +bed to some one else. Tut! Don't look shocked! We are all going post to +what they call eternity, and may as well be above-board while there's +time. As far as I'm concerned, if I could first strangle Huddlestone and +then get Clara in my arms, I could die with some pride and satisfaction. +And as it is, by God, I'll have a kiss!" + +Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely embraced and +repeatedly kissed the resisting girl. Next moment I had pulled him away +with fury, and flung him heavily against the wall. He laughed loud and +long, and I feared his wits had given way under the strain; for even in +the best of days he had been a sparing and a quiet laugher. + +"Now, Frank," said he, when his mirth was somewhat appeased, "it's your +turn. Here's my hand. Good-bye; farewell!" Then, seeing me stand rigid +and indignant, and holding Clara to my side--"Man!" he broke out, "are +you angry? Did you think we were going to die with all the airs and +graces of society? I took a kiss; I'm glad I had it; and now you can +take another if you like, and square accounts." + +I turned from him with a feeling of contempt which I did not seek to +dissemble. + +"As you please," said he. "You've been a prig in life; a prig you'll +die." + +And with that he sat down on a chair, a rifle over his knee, and amused +himself with snapping the lock; but I could see that his ebullition of +light spirits (the only one I ever knew him to display) had already come +to an end, and was succeeded by a sullen, scowling humour. + +All this time our assailants might have been entering the house, and we +been none the wiser; we had in truth almost forgotten the danger that so +imminently overhung our days. But just then Mr. Huddlestone uttered a +cry, and leaped from the bed. + +I asked him what was wrong. + +"Fire!" he cried. "They have set the house on fire!" + +Northmour was on his feet in an instant, and he and I ran through the +door of communication with the study. The room was illuminated by a red +and angry light. Almost at the moment of our entrance, a tower of flame +arose in front of the window, and, with a tingling report, a pane fell +inwards on the carpet. They had set fire to the lean-to outhouse, where +Northmour used to nurse his negatives. + +"Hot work," said Northmour. "Let us try in your old room." + +We ran thither in a breath, threw up the casement, and looked forth. +Along the whole back wall of the pavilion piles of fuel had been +arranged and kindled; and it is probable they had been drenched with +mineral oil, for, in spite of the morning's rain, they all burned +bravely. The fire had taken a firm hold already on the outhouse, which +blazed higher and higher every moment; the back-door was in the centre +of a red-hot bonfire; the eaves, we could see, as we looked upward, were +already smouldering, for the roof overhung, and was supported by +considerable beams of wood. At the same time, hot, pungent, and choking +volumes of smoke began to fill the house. There was not a human being to +be seen to right or left. + +"Ah, well!" said Northmour, "here's the end, thank God." + +And we returned to _My Uncle's Room_. Mr. Huddlestone was putting on his +boots, still violently trembling, but with an air of determination such +as I had not hitherto observed. Clara stood close by him, with her cloak +in both hands ready to throw about her shoulders, and a strange look in +her eyes, as if she were half-hopeful, half-doubtful of her father. + +"Well, boys and girls," said Northmour, "how about a sally? The oven is +heating; it is not good to stay here and be baked; and, for my part, I +want to come to my hands with them, and be done." + +"There is nothing else left," I replied. + +And both Clara and Mr. Huddlestone, though with a very different +intonation, added, "Nothing." + +As we went downstairs the heat was excessive, and the roaring of the +fire filled our ears; and we had scarce reached the passage before the +stairs window fell in, a branch of flame shot brandishing through the +aperture, and the interior of the pavilion became lit up with that +dreadful and fluctuating glare. At the same moment we heard the fall of +something heavy and inelastic in the upper story. The whole pavilion, it +was plain, had gone alight like a box of matches, and now not only +flamed sky-high to land and sea, but threatened with every moment to +crumble and fall in about our ears. + +Northmour and I cocked our revolvers. Mr. Huddlestone, who had already +refused a firearm, put us behind him with a manner of command. + +"Let Clara open the door," said he. "So, if they fire a volley, she will +be protected. And in the meantime stand behind me. I am the scapegoat; +my sins have found me out." + +I heard him, as I stood breathless by his shoulder, with my pistol +ready, pattering off prayers in a tremulous, rapid whisper; and I +confess, horrid as the thought may seem, I despised him for thinking of +supplications in a moment so critical and thrilling. In the meantime, +Clara, who was dead white, but still possessed her faculties, had +displaced the barricade from the front door. Another moment, and she had +pulled it open. Firelight and moonlight illuminated the links with +confused and changeful lustre, and far away against the sky we could see +a long trail of glowing smoke. + +Mr. Huddlestone, filled for the moment with a strength greater than his +own, struck Northmour and myself a back-hander in the chest; and while +we were thus for the moment incapacitated from action, lifting his arms +above his head like one about to dive, he ran straight forward out of +the pavilion. + +"Here am I!" he cried--"Huddlestone! Kill me, and spare the others!" + +His sudden appearance daunted, I suppose, our hidden enemies; for +Northmour and I had time to recover, to seize Clara between us, one by +each arm, and to rush forth to his assistance, ere anything further had +taken place. But scarce had we passed the threshold when there came near +a dozen reports and flashes from every direction among the hollows of +the links. Mr. Huddlestone staggered, uttered a weird and freezing cry, +threw up his arms over his head, and fell backward on the turf. + +"_Traditore! Traditore!_" cried the invisible avengers. + +And just then a part of the roof of the pavilion fell in, so rapid was +the progress of the fire. A loud, vague, and horrible noise accompanied +the collapse, and a vast volume of flame went soaring up to heaven. It +must have been visible at that moment from twenty miles out at sea, from +the shore at Graden-Wester, and far inland from the peak of Graystiel, +the most eastern summit of the Caulder Hills. Bernard Huddlestone, +although God knows what were his obsequies, had a fine pyre at the +moment of his death. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TELLS HOW NORTHMOUR CARRIED OUT HIS THREAT + + +I should have the greatest difficulty to tell you what followed next +after this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, as I look back upon it, +mixed, strenuous, and ineffectual, like the struggles of a sleeper in a +nightmare. Clara, I remember, uttered a broken sigh and would have +fallen forward to earth, had not Northmour and I supported her +insensible body. I do not think we were attacked; I do not remember even +to have seen an assailant; and I believe we deserted Mr. Huddlestone +without a glance. I only remember running like a man in a panic, now +carrying Clara altogether in my own arms, now sharing her weight with +Northmour, now scuffling confusedly for the possession of that dear +burden. Why we should have made for my camp in the Hemlock Den, or how +we reached it, are points lost for ever to my recollection. The first +moment at which I became definitely sure, Clara had been suffered to +fall against the outside of my little tent, Northmour and I were +tumbling together on the ground, and he, with contained ferocity, was +striking for my head with the butt of his revolver. He had already twice +wounded me on the scalp; and it is to the subsequent loss of blood that +I am tempted to attribute the sudden clearness of my mind. + +I caught him by the wrist. + +"Northmour," I remember saying, "you can kill me afterwards. Let us +first attend to Clara." + +He was at that moment uppermost. Scarcely had the words passed my lips, +when he had leaped to his feet and ran towards the tent; and the next +moment he was straining Clara to his heart and covering her unconscious +hands and face with his caresses. + +"Shame!" I cried. "Shame to you, Northmour!" + +And, giddy though I still was, I struck him repeatedly upon the head and +shoulders. + +He relinquished his grasp, and faced me in the broken moonlight. + +"I had you under, and I let you go," said he; "and now you strike me! +Coward!" + +"You are the coward," I retorted. "Did she wish your kisses while she +was still sensible of what she wanted? Not she! And now she may be +dying; and you waste this precious time, and abuse her helplessness. +Stand aside, and let me help her." + +He confronted me for a moment, white and menacing; then suddenly he +stepped aside. + +"Help her, then," said he. + +I threw myself on my knees beside her, and loosened, as well as I was +able, her dress and corset; but while I was thus engaged, a grasp +descended on my shoulder. + +"Keep your hands off her," said Northmour fiercely. "Do you think I have +no blood in my veins?" + +"Northmour," I cried, "if you will neither help her yourself, nor let me +do so, do you know that I shall have to kill you?" + +"That is better!" he cried. "Let her die also--where's the harm? Step +aside from that girl, and stand up to fight!" + +"You will observe," said I, half-rising, "that I have not kissed her +yet." + +"I dare you to," he cried. + +I do not know what possessed me; it was one of the things I am most +ashamed of in my life, though, as my wife used to say, I knew that my +kisses would be always welcome were she dead or living; down I fell +again upon my knees, parted the hair from her forehead, and, with the +dearest respect, laid my lips for a moment on that cold brow. It was +such a caress as a father might have given; it was such a one as was not +unbecoming from a man soon to die to a woman already dead. + +"And now," said I, "I am at your service, Mr Northmour." + +But I saw, to my surprise, that he had turned his back upon me. + +"Do you hear?" I asked. + +"Yes," said he, "I do. If you wish to fight, I am ready. If not, go on +and save Clara. All is one to me." + +I did not wait to be twice bidden; but, stooping again over Clara, +continued my efforts to revive her. She still lay white and lifeless; I +began to fear that her sweet spirit had indeed fled beyond recall, and +horror and a sense of utter desolation seized upon my heart. I called +her by name with the most endearing inflections; I chafed and beat her +hands; now I laid her head low, now supported it against my knee; but +all seemed to be in vain, and the lids still lay heavy on her eyes. + +"Northmour," I said, "there is my hat. For God's sake bring some water +from the spring." + +Almost in a moment he was by my side with the water. + +"I have brought it in my own," he said. "You do not grudge me the +privilege?" + +"Northmour," I was beginning to say, as I laved her head and breast; but +he interrupted me savagely. + +"Oh, you hush up!" he said. "The best thing you can do is to say +nothing." + +I had certainly no desire to talk, my mind being swallowed up in concern +for my dear love and her condition; so I continued in silence to do my +best towards her recovery, and, when the hat was empty, returned it to +him with one word--"More." He had, perhaps, gone several times upon this +errand, when Clara reopened her eyes. + +"Now," said he, "since she is better, you can spare me, can you not? I +wish you a good-night, Mr. Cassilis." + +And with that he was gone among the thicket. I made a fire, for I had +now no fear of the Italians, who had even spared all the little +possessions left in my encampment; and, broken as she was by the +excitement and the hideous catastrophe of the evening, I managed, in one +way or another--by persuasion, encouragement, warmth, and such simple +remedies as I could lay my hand on--to bring her back to some composure +of mind and strength of body. + +Day had already come, when a sharp "Hist!" sounded from the thicket. I +started from the ground; but the voice of Northmour was heard adding, in +the most tranquil tones: "Come here, Cassilis, and alone; I want to show +you something." + +I consulted Clara with my eyes, and, receiving her tacit permission, +left her alone, and clambered out of the den. At some distance off I saw +Northmour leaning against an elder; and, as soon as he perceived me, he +began walking seaward. I had almost overtaken him as he reached the +outskirts of the wood. + +"Look," said he, pausing. + +A couple of steps more brought me out of the foliage. The light of the +morning lay cold and clear over that well-known scene. The pavilion was +but a blackened wreck; the roof had fallen in, one of the gables had +fallen out; and, far and near, the face of the links was cicatrised with +little patches of burnt furze. Thick smoke still went straight upwards +in the windless air of the morning, and a great pile of ardent cinders +filled the bare walls of the house, like coals in an open grate. Close +by the islet a schooner yacht lay-to, and a well-manned boat was pulling +vigorously for the shore. + +"The _Red Earl_!" I cried. "The _Red Earl_ twelve hours too late!" + +"Feel in your pocket, Frank. Are you armed?" asked Northmour. + +I obeyed him, and I think I must have become deadly pale. My revolver +had been taken from me. + +"You see I have you in my power," he continued. "I disarmed you last +night while you were nursing Clara; but this morning--here--take your +pistol. No thanks!" he cried, holding up his hand. "I do not like them; +that is the only way you can annoy me now." + +He began to walk forward across the links to meet the boat, and I +followed a step or two behind. In front of the pavilion I paused to see +where Mr. Huddlestone had fallen; but there was no sign of him, nor so +much as a trace of blood. + +"Graden Floe," said Northmour. + +He continued to advance till we had come to the head of the beach. + +"No farther, please," said he. "Would you like to take her to Graden +House?" + +"Thank you," I replied; "I shall try to get her to the minister's at +Graden-Wester." + +The prow of the boat here grated on the beach, and a sailor jumped +ashore with a line in his hand. + +"Wait a minute, lads!" cried Northmour; and then lower and to my private +ear: "You had better say nothing of all this to her," he added. + +"On the contrary!" I broke out, "she shall know everything that I can +tell." + +"You do not understand," he returned, with an air of great dignity. "It +will be nothing to her; she expects it of me. Good-bye!" he added, with +a nod. + +I offered him my hand. + +"Excuse me," said he. "It's small, I know; but I can't push things quite +so far as that. I don't wish any sentimental business, to sit by your +hearth a white-haired wanderer, and all that. Quite the contrary: I hope +to God I shall never again clap eyes on either one of you." + +"Well, God bless you, Northmour!" I said heartily. + +"Oh, yes," he returned. + +He walked down the beach; and the man who was ashore gave him an arm on +board, and then shoved off and leaped into the bows himself. Northmour +took the tiller; the boat rose to the waves, and the oars between the +thole-pins sounded crisp and measured in the morning air. + +They were not yet half-way to the _Red Earl_, and I was still watching +their progress, when the sun rose out of the sea. + +One word more, and my story is done. Years after, Northmour was killed +fighting under the colours of Garibaldi for the liberation of the Tyrol. + + + + +A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT + +A STORY OF FRANCIS VILLON + + +It was late in November 1456. The snow fell over Paris with rigorous, +relentless persistence; sometimes the wind made a sally and scattered it +in flying vortices; sometimes there was a lull, and flake after flake +descended out of the black night air, silent, circuitous, interminable. +To poor people, looking up under moist eyebrows, it seemed a wonder +where it all came from. Master Francis Villon had propounded an +alternative that afternoon at a tavern window: was it only Pagan Jupiter +plucking geese upon Olympus? or were the holy angels moulting? He was +only a poor Master of Arts, he went on; and as the question somewhat +touched upon divinity, he durst not venture to conclude. A silly old +priest from Montargis, who was among the company, treated the young +rascal to a bottle of wine in honour of the jest and the grimaces with +which it was accompanied, and swore on his own white beard that he had +been just such another irreverent dog when he was Villon's age. + +The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; and the flakes +were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole city was sheeted up. An army +might have marched from end to end and not a footfall given the alarm. +If there were any belated birds in heaven, they saw the island like a +large white patch, and the bridges like slim white spars, on the black +ground of the river. High up overhead the snow settled among the tracery +of the cathedral towers. Many a niche was drifted full; many a statue +wore a long white bonnet on its grotesque or sainted head. The gargoyles +had been transformed into great false noses, drooping towards the +point. The crockets were like upright pillows swollen on one side. In +the intervals of the wind there was a dull sound of dripping about the +precincts of the church. + +The cemetery of St. John had taken its own share of the snow. All the +graves were decently covered; tall white housetops stood around in grave +array; worthy burghers were long ago in bed, be-nightcapped like their +domiciles; there was no light in all the neighbourhood but a little peep +from a lamp that hung swinging in the church choir, and tossed the +shadows to and fro in time to its oscillations. The clock was hard on +ten when the patrol went by with halberds and a lantern, beating their +hands; and they saw nothing suspicious about the cemetery of St. John. + +Yet there was a small house, backed up against the cemetery wall, which +was still awake, and awake to evil purpose, in that snoring district. +There was not much to betray it from without; only a stream of warm +vapour from the chimney-top, a patch where the snow melted on the roof, +and a few half-obliterated footprints at the door. But within, behind +the shuttered windows, Master Francis Villon the poet, and some of the +thievish crew with whom he consorted, were keeping the night alive and +passing round the bottle. + +A great pile of living embers diffused a strong and ruddy glow from the +arched chimney. Before this straddled Dom Nicolas, the Picardy monk, +with his skirts picked up and his fat legs bared to the comfortable +warmth. His dilated shadow cut the room in half; and the firelight only +escaped on either side of his broad person, and in a little pool between +his outspread feet. His face had the beery, bruised appearance of the +continual drinker's; it was covered with a network of congested veins, +purple in ordinary circumstances, but now pale violet, for even with his +back to the fire the cold pinched him on the other side. His cowl had +half-fallen back, and made a strange excrescence on either side of his +bull-neck. So he straddled, grumbling, and cut the room in half with +the shadow of his portly frame. + +On the right, Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled together over a scrap +of parchment; Villon making a ballade which he was to call the "Ballade +of Roast Fish," and Tabary spluttering admiration at his shoulder. The +poet was a rag of a man, dark, little, and lean, with hollow cheeks and +thin black locks. He carried his four-and-twenty years with feverish +animation. Greed had made folds about his eyes, evil smiles had puckered +his mouth. The wolf and pig struggled together in his face. It was an +eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly countenance. His hands were small and +prehensile, with fingers knotted like a cord; and they were continually +flickering in front of him in violent and expressive pantomime. As for +Tabary, a broad, complacent, admiring imbecility breathed from his +squash nose and slobbering lips: he had become a thief, just as he might +have become the most decent of burgesses, by the imperious chance that +rules the lives of human geese and human donkeys. + +At the monk's other hand, Montigny and Thevenin Pensete played a game of +chance. About the first there clung some flavour of good birth and +training, as about a fallen angel; something long, lithe, and courtly in +the person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. Thevenin, poor +soul, was in great feather: he had done a good stroke of knavery that +afternoon in the Faubourg St. Jacques, and all night he had been gaining +from Montigny. A flat smile illuminated his face; his bald head shone +rosily in a garland of red curls; his little protuberant stomach shook +with silent chucklings as he swept in his gains. + +"Doubles or quits?" said Thevenin. + +Montigny nodded grimly. + +"_Some may prefer to dine in state_," wrote Villon, "_On bread and +cheese on silver plate_. Or--or--help me out, Guido!" + +Tabary giggled. + +"_Or parsley on a golden dish_," scribbled the poet. + +The wind was freshening without; it drove the snow before it, and +sometimes raised its voice in a victorious whoop, and made sepulchral +grumblings in the chimney. The cold was growing sharper as the night +went on. Villon, protruding his lips, imitated the gust with something +between a whistle and a groan. It was an eerie, uncomfortable talent of +the poet's, much detested by the Picardy monk. + +"Can't you hear it rattle in the gibbet?" said Villon. "They are all +dancing the devil's jig on nothing, up there. You may dance, my +gallants, you'll be none the warmer! Whew! what a gust! Down went +somebody just now! A medlar the fewer on the three-legged +medlar-tree!--I say, Dom Nicolas, it'll be cold to-night on the St. +Denis Road?" he asked. + +Dom Nicolas winked both his big eyes, and seemed to choke upon his +Adam's apple. Montfaucon, the great grisly Paris gibbet, stood hard by +the St. Denis Road, and the pleasantry touched him on the raw. As for +Tabary, he laughed immoderately over the medlars; he had never heard +anything more light-hearted; and he held his sides and crowed. Villon +fetched him a fillip on the nose, which turned his mirth into an attack +of coughing. + +"Oh, stop that row," said Villon, "and think of rhymes to 'fish.'" + +"Doubles or quits?" said Montigny doggedly. + +"With all my heart," quoth Thevenin. + +"Is there any more in that bottle?" asked the monk. + +"Open another," said Villon. "How do you ever hope to fill that big +hogshead, your body, with little things like bottles? And how do you +expect to get to heaven? How many angels, do you fancy, can be spared to +carry up a single monk from Picardy? Or do you think yourself another +Elias--and they'll send the coach for you?" + +"_Hominibus impossibile_," replied the monk, as he filled his glass. + +Tabary was in ecstasies. + +Villon filliped his nose again. + +"Laugh at my jokes, if you like," he said. + +"It was very good," objected Tabary. + +Villon made a face at him. "Think of rhymes to 'fish'," he said, "What +have you to do with Latin? You'll wish you knew none of it at the great +assizes, when the devil calls for Guido Tabary, clericus--the devil with +the hump-back and red-hot finger-nails. Talking of the devil," he added +in a whisper, "look at Montigny!" + +All three peered covertly at the gamester. He did not seem to be +enjoying his luck. His mouth was a little to a side; one nostril nearly +shut, and the other much inflated. The black dog was on his back, as +people say, in terrifying nursery metaphor; and he breathed hard under +the gruesome burden. + +"He looks as if he could knife him," whispered Tabary, with round eyes. + +The monk shuddered, and turned his face and spread his open hands to the +red embers. It was the cold that thus affected Dom Nicolas, and not any +excess of moral sensibility. + +"Come now," said Villon--"about this ballade. How does it run so far?" +And beating time with his hand, he read it aloud to Tabary. + +They were interrupted at the fourth rhyme by a brief and fatal movement +among the gamesters. The round was completed, and Thevenin was just +opening his mouth to claim another victory, when Montigny leaped up, +swift as an adder, and stabbed him to the heart. The blow took effect +before he had time to utter a cry, before he had time to move. A tremor +or two convulsed his frame; his hands opened and shut, his heels rattled +on the floor; then his head rolled backwards over one shoulder with the +eyes wide open; and Thevenin Pensete's spirit had returned to Him who +made it. + +Every one sprang to his feet; but the business was over in two twos. +The four living fellows looked at each other in rather a ghastly +fashion; the dead man contemplating a corner of the roof with a singular +and ugly leer. + +"My God!" said Tabary; and he began to pray in Latin. + +Villon broke out into hysterical laughter. He came a step forward and +ducked a ridiculous bow at Thevenin, and laughed still louder. Then he +sat down suddenly, all of a heap, upon a stool, and continued laughing +bitterly as though he would shake himself to pieces. + +Montigny recovered his composure first. + +"Let's see what he has about him," he remarked; and he picked the dead +man's pockets with a practised hand, and divided the money into four +equal portions on the table. "There's for you," he said. + +The monk received his share with a deep sigh, and a single stealthy +glance at the dead Thevenin, who was beginning to sink into himself and +topple sideways off the chair. + +"We're all in for it," cried Villon, swallowing his mirth. "It's a +hanging job for every man jack of us that's here--not to speak of those +who aren't." He made a shocking gesture in the air with his raised right +hand, and put out his tongue and threw his head on one side, so as to +counterfeit the appearance of one who has been hanged. Then he pocketed +his share of the spoil, and executed a shuffle with his feet as if to +restore the circulation. + +Tabary was the last to help himself; he made a dash at the money, and +retired to the other end of the apartment. + +Montigny stuck Thevenin upright in the chair, and drew out the dagger, +which was followed by a jet of blood. + +"You fellows had better be moving," he said, as he wiped the blade on +his victim's doublet. + +"I think we had," returned Villon, with a gulp. "Damn his fat head!" he +broke out. "It sticks in my throat like phlegm. What right has a man to +have red hair when he is dead?" And he fell all of a heap again upon +the stool, and fairly covered his face with his hands. + +Montigny and Dom Nicolas laughed aloud, even Tabary feebly chiming in. + +"Cry baby," said the monk. + +"I always said he was a woman," added Montigny with a sneer. "Sit up, +can't you?" he went on, giving another shake to the murdered body. +"Tread out that fire, Nick!" + +But Nick was better employed; he was quietly taking Villon's purse, as +the poet sat, limp and trembling, on the stool where he had been making +a ballade not three minutes before. Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded +a share of the booty, which the monk silently promised as he passed the +little bag into the bosom of his gown. In many ways an artistic nature +unfits a man for practical existence. + +No sooner had the theft been accomplished than Villon shook himself, +jumped to his feet, and began helping to scatter and extinguish the +embers. Meanwhile Montigny opened the door and cautiously peered into +the street. The coast was clear; there was no meddlesome patrol in +sight. Still it was judged wiser to slip out severally; and as Villon +was himself in a hurry to escape from the neighbourhood of the dead +Thevenin, and the rest were in a still greater hurry to get rid of him +before he should discover the loss of his money, he was the first by +general consent to issue forth into the street. + +The wind had triumphed and swept all the clouds from heaven. Only a few +vapours, as thin as moonlight, fleeted rapidly across the stars. It was +bitter cold; and by a common optical effect, things seemed almost more +definite than in the broadest daylight. The sleeping city was absolutely +still: a company of white hoods, a field full of little Alps, below the +twinkling stars. Villon cursed his fortune. Would it were still snowing! +Now, wherever he went, he left an indelible trail behind him on the +glittering streets; wherever he went he was still tethered to the house +by the cemetery of St. John; wherever he went he must weave, with his +own plodding feet, the rope that bound him to the crime and would bind +him to the gallows. The leer of the dead man came back to him with a new +significance. He snapped his fingers as if to pluck up his own spirits, +and choosing a street at random, stepped boldly forward in the snow. + +Two things preoccupied him as he went: the aspect of the gallows at +Montfaucon in this bright windy phase of the night's existence, for one; +and for another, the look of the dead man with his bald head and garland +of red curls. Both struck cold upon his heart, and he kept quickening +his pace as if he could escape from unpleasant thoughts by mere +fleetness of foot. Sometimes he looked back over his shoulder with a +sudden nervous jerk; but he was the only moving thing in the white +streets, except when the wind swooped round a corner and threw up the +snow, which was beginning to freeze, in spouts of glittering dust. + +Suddenly he saw, a long way before him, a black clump and a couple of +lanterns. The clump was in motion, and the lanterns swung as though +carried by men walking. It was a patrol. And though it was merely +crossing his line of march, he judged it wiser to get out of eyeshot as +speedily as he could. He was not in the humour to be challenged, and he +was conscious of making a very conspicuous mark upon the snow. Just on +his left hand there stood a great hotel, with some turrets and a large +porch before the door; it was half-ruinous, he remembered, and had long +stood empty; and so he made three steps of it and jumped into the +shelter of the porch. It was pretty dark inside, after the glimmer of +the snowy streets, and he was groping forward with outspread hands, when +he stumbled over some substance which offered an indescribable mixture +of resistances, hard and soft, firm and loose. His heart gave a leap, +and he sprang two steps back and stared dreadfully at the obstacle. Then +he gave a little laugh of relief. It was only a woman, and she dead. He +knelt beside her to make sure upon this latter point. She was freezing +cold, and rigid like a stick. A little ragged finery fluttered in the +wind about her hair, and her cheeks had been heavily rouged that same +afternoon. Her pockets were quite empty; but in her stocking, underneath +the garter, Villon found two of the small coins that went by the name of +whites. It was little enough; but it was always something; and the poet +was moved with a deep sense of pathos that she should have died before +she had spent her money. That seemed to him a dark and pitiable mystery; +and he looked from the coins in his hand to the dead woman, and back +again to the coins, shaking his head over the riddle of man's life. +Henry V. of England, dying at Vincennes just after he had conquered +France, and this poor jade cut off by a cold draught in a great man's +doorway, before she had time to spend her couple of whites--it seemed a +cruel way to carry on the world. Two whites would have taken such a +little while to squander; and yet it would have been one more good taste +in the mouth, one more smack of the lips, before the devil got the soul, +and the body was left to birds and vermin. He would like to use all his +tallow before the light was blown out and the lantern broken. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, he was feeling, half +mechanically, for his purse. Suddenly his heart stopped beating; a +feeling of cold scales passed up the back of his legs, and a cold blow +seemed to fall upon his scalp. He stood petrified for a moment; then he +felt again with one feverish movement; and then his loss burst upon him, +and he was covered at once with perspiration. To spendthrifts money is +so living and actual--it is such a thin veil between them and their +pleasures! There is only one limit to their fortune--that of time; and a +spendthrift with only a few crowns is the Emperor of Rome until they are +spent. For such a person to lose his money is to suffer the most +shocking reverse, and fall from heaven to hell, from all to nothing, in +a breath. And all the more if he has put his head in the halter for it; +if he may be hanged to-morrow for that same purse so dearly earned, so +foolishly departed! Villon stood and cursed; he threw the two whites +into the street; he shook his fist at heaven; he stamped, and was not +horrified to find himself trampling the poor corpse. Then he began +rapidly to retrace his steps towards the house beside the cemetery. He +had forgotten all fear of the patrol, which was long gone by at any +rate, and had no idea but that of his lost purse. It was in vain that he +looked right and left upon the snow: nothing was to be seen. He had not +dropped it in the streets. Had it fallen in the house? He would have +liked dearly to go in and see; but the idea of the grisly occupant +unmanned him. And he saw besides, as he drew near, that their efforts to +put out the fire had been unsuccessful; on the contrary, it had broken +into a blaze, and a changeful light played in the chinks of door and +window, and revived his terror for the authorities and Paris gibbet. + +He returned to the hotel with the porch, and groped about upon the snow +for the money he had thrown away in his childish passion. But he could +only find one white; the other had probably struck sideways and sunk +deeply in. With a single white in his pocket, all his projects for a +rousing night in some wild tavern vanished utterly away. And it was not +only pleasure that fled laughing from his grasp; positive discomfort, +positive pain, attacked him as he stood ruefully before the porch. His +perspiration had dried upon him; and though the wind had now fallen, a +binding frost was setting in stronger with every hour, and he felt +benumbed and sick at heart. What was to be done? Late as was the hour, +improbable as was success, he would try the house of his adopted father, +the chaplain of St. Benoît. + +He ran there all the way, and knocked timidly. There was no answer. He +knocked again and again, taking heart with every stroke; and at last +steps were heard approaching from within. A barred wicket fell open in +the iron-studded door, and emitted a gush of yellow light. + +"Hold up your face to the wicket," said the chaplain from within. + +"It's only me," whimpered Villon. + +"Oh, it's only you, is it?" returned the chaplain; and he cursed him +with foul unpriestly oaths for disturbing him at such an hour, and bade +him be off to hell, where he came from. + +"My hands are blue to the wrist," pleaded Villon; "my feet are dead and +full of twinges: my nose aches with the sharp air; the cold lies at my +heart. I may be dead before morning. Only this once, father, and before +God I will never ask again!" + +"You should have come earlier," said the ecclesiastic coolly. "Young men +require a lesson now and then." He shut the wicket and retired +deliberately into the interior of the house. + +Villon was beside himself; he beat upon the door with his hands and +feet, and shouted hoarsely after the chaplain. + +"Wormy old fox!" he cried. "If I had my hand under your twist, I would +send you flying headlong into the bottomless pit." + +A door shut in the interior, faintly audible to the poet down long +passages. He passed his hand over his mouth with an oath. And then the +humour of the situation struck him, and he laughed and looked lightly up +to heaven, where the stars seemed to be winking over his discomfiture. + +What was to be done? It looked very like a night in the frosty streets. +The idea of the dead woman popped into his imagination, and gave him a +hearty fright; what had happened to her in the early night might very +well happen to him before morning. And he so young! and with such +immense possibilities of disorderly amusement before him! He felt quite +pathetic over the notion of his own fate, as if it had been some one +else's, and made a little imaginative vignette of the scene in the +morning, when they should find his body. + +He passed all his chances under review, turning the white between his +thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately he was on bad terms with some old +friends who would once have taken pity on him in such a plight. He had +lampooned them in verses, he had beaten and cheated them; and yet now, +when he was in so close a pinch, he thought there was at least one who +might perhaps relent. It was a chance. It was worth trying at least, and +he would go and see. + +On the way, two little accidents happened to him which coloured his +musings in a very different manner. For, first, he fell in with the +track of a patrol, and walked in it for some hundred yards, although it +lay out of his direction. And this spirited him up; at least he had +confused his trail; for he was still possessed with the idea of people +tracking him all about Paris over the snow, and collaring him next +morning before he was awake. The other matter affected him very +differently. He passed a street corner, where, not so long before, a +woman and her child had been devoured by wolves. This was just the kind +of weather, he reflected, when wolves might take it into their heads to +enter Paris again; and a lone man in these deserted streets would run +the chance of something worse than a mere scare. He stopped and looked +upon the place with an unpleasant interest--it was a centre where +several lanes intersected each other; and he looked down them all one +after another, and held his breath to listen, lest he should detect some +galloping black things on the snow, or hear the sound of howling between +him and the river. He remembered his mother telling him the story and +pointing out the spot, while he was yet a child. His mother! If he only +knew where she lived, he might make sure at least of shelter. He +determined he would inquire upon the morrow; nay, he would go and see +her too, poor old girl! So thinking, he arrived at his destination--his +last hope for the night. + +The house was quite dark, like its neighbours, and yet after a few taps, +he heard a movement overhead, a door opening, and a cautious voice +asking who was there. The poet named himself in a loud whisper, and +waited, not without some trepidation, the result. Nor had he to wait +long. A window was suddenly opened, and a pailful of slops splashed down +upon the doorstep. Villon had not been unprepared for something of the +sort, and had put himself as much in shelter as the nature of the porch +admitted; but for all that, he was deplorably drenched below the waist. +His hose began to freeze almost at once. Death from cold and exposure +stared him in the face; he remembered he was of phthisical tendency, and +began coughing tentatively. But the gravity of the danger steadied his +nerves. He stopped a few hundred yards from the door where he had been +so rudely used, and reflected with his finger to his nose. He could only +see one way of getting a lodging, and that was to take it. He had +noticed a house not far away, which looked as if it might be easily +broken into, and thither he betook himself promptly, entertaining +himself on the way with the idea of a room still hot, with a table still +loaded with the remains of supper, where he might pass the rest of the +black hours, and whence he should issue, on the morrow, with an armful +of valuable plate. He even considered on what viands and what wines he +should prefer; and as he was calling the roll of his favourite dainties, +roast fish presented itself to his mind with an odd mixture of amusement +and horror. + +"I shall never finish that ballade," he thought to himself; and then, +with another shudder at the recollection, "Oh, damn his fat head!" he +repeated fervently, and spat upon the snow. + +The house in question looked dark at first sight; but as Villon made a +preliminary inspection in search of the handiest point of attack, a +little twinkle of light caught his eye from behind a curtained window. + +"The devil!" he thought. "People awake! Some student or some saint, +confound the crew! Can't they get drunk and lie in bed snoring like +their neighbours! What's the good of curfew, and poor devils of +bell-ringers jumping at a rope's-end in bell-towers? What's the use of +day, if people sit up all night? The gripes to them!" He grinned as he +saw where his logic was leading him. "Every man to his business, after +all," added he, "and if they're awake, by the lord, I may come by a +supper honestly for this once, and cheat the devil." + +He went boldly to the door and knocked with an assured hand. On both +previous occasions, he had knocked timidly and with some dread of +attracting notice; but now, when he had just discarded the thought of a +burglarious entry, knocking at a door seemed a mighty simple and +innocent proceeding. The sound of his blows echoed through the house +with thin, phantasmal reverberations, as though it were quite empty; but +these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a couple +of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as though no +guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall figure of a +man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted Villon. The head +was in massive bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose blunt at the +bottom, but refining upward to where it joined a pair of strong and +honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with delicate markings, +and the whole face based upon a thick white beard, boldly and squarely +trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a flickering hand-lamp, it +looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to do; but it was a fine face, +honourable rather than intelligent, strong, simple, and righteous. + +"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones. + +Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a +crisis of this sort the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of +genius hid his head with confusion. + +"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And +he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture. + +"Some great seigneur," thought Villon, as his host setting down the +lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry, shot the bolts once more into +their places. + +"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; and +he preceded the poet upstairs into a large apartment, warmed with a pan +of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It was very +bare of furniture: only some gold plate on a sideboard; some folios; and +a stand of armour between the windows. Some smart tapestry hung upon the +walls, representing the crucifixion of our Lord in one piece, and in +another a scene of shepherds and shepherdesses by a running stream. Over +the chimney was a shield of arms. + +"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave +you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must +forage for you myself." + +No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which +he had just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the +stealth and passion of a cat. He weighed the gold flagons in his hand, +opened all the folios, and investigated the arms upon the shield, and +the stuff with which the seats were lined. He raised the window +curtains, and saw that the windows were set with rich stained glass in +figures, so far as he could see, of martial import. Then he stood in the +middle of the room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed +cheeks, looked round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to +impress every feature of the apartment on his memory. + +"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten, I would have +risked it. A fine house, and a fine old master, so help me all the +saints!" + +And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the corridor, +he stole back to his chair, and began humbly toasting his wet legs +before the charcoal pan. + +His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in the +other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon to draw in +his chair, and going to the sideboard, brought back two goblets, which +he filled. + +"I drink to your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's cup +with his own. + +"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere man of +the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old seigneur, but +Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth for great lords +before now, and found them as black rascals as himself. And so he +devoted himself to the viands with a ravenous gusto, while the old man, +leaning backward, watched him with steady, curious eyes. + +"You have blood on your shoulder, my man," he said. + +Montigny must have laid his wet right hand upon him as he left the +house. He cursed Montigny in his heart. + +"It was none of my shedding," he stammered. + +"I had not supposed so," returned his host quietly. "A brawl?" + +"Well, something of that sort," Villon admitted with a quaver. + +"Perhaps a fellow murdered?" + +"Oh, no--not murdered," said the poet, more and more confused. "It was +all fair play--murdered by accident. I had no hand in it, God strike me +dead!" he added fervently. + +"One rogue the fewer, I daresay," observed the master of the house. + +"You may dare to say that," agreed Villon, infinitely relieved. "As big +a rogue as there is between here and Jerusalem. He turned up his toes +like a lamb. But it was a nasty thing to look at. I daresay you've seen +dead men in your time, my lord?" he added, glancing at the armour. + +"Many," said the old man. "I have followed the wars, as you imagine." + +Villon laid down his knife and fork, which he had just taken up again. + +"Were any of them bald?" he asked. + +"Oh yes, and with hair as white as mine." + +"I don't think I should mind the white so much," said Villon. "His was +red." And he had a return of his shuddering and tendency to laughter, +which he drowned with a great draught of wine. "I'm a little put out +when I think of it," he went on. "I knew him--damn him! And then the +cold gives a man fancies--or the fancies give a man cold, I don't know +which." + +"Have you any money?" asked the old man. + +"I have one white," returned the poet, laughing. "I got it out of a dead +jade's stocking in a porch. She was as dead as Cćsar, poor wench, and as +cold as a church, with bits of ribbon sticking in her hair. This is a +hard world in winter for wolves and wenches and poor rogues like me." + +"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillée, seigneur de +Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. Who and what may you be?" + +Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis Villon," +he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know some Latin, +and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, virelais, and +roundels, and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a garret, and I +shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, my lord, that from +this night forward I am your lordship's very obsequious servant to +command." + +"No servant of mine," said the knight; "my guest for this evening, and +no more." + +"A very grateful guest," said Villon politely; and he drank in dumb show +to his entertainer. + +"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very shrewd; +you have learning; you are a clerk; and yet you take a small piece of +money off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of theft?" + +"It is a kind of theft much practised in the wars, my lord." + +"The wars are the field of honour," returned the old man proudly. +"There a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of his +lord the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy saints and +angels." + +"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play my +life also, and against heavier odds?" + +"For gain, but not for honour." + +"Gain?" repeated Villon, with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants +supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are +all these requisitions we hear so much about? If they are not gain to +those who take them, they are loss enough to the others. The men-at-arms +drink by a good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to buy them wine +and wood. I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on trees about the +country; ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very poor figure they +made; and when I asked some one how all these came to be hanged, I was +told it was because they could not scrape together enough crowns to +satisfy the men-at-arms." + +"These things are a necessity of war, which the low-born must endure +with constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there are +spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and indeed many follow +arms who are no better than brigands." + +"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the +brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect +manners? I steal a couple of mutton chops, without so much as disturbing +people's sleep; the farmer grumbles a bit, but sups none the less +wholesomely on what remains. You come up blowing gloriously on a +trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the farmer pitifully into +the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom, Dick, or Harry; I am a +rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for me--with all my heart; but +just you ask the farmer which of us he prefers, just find out which of +us he lies awake to curse on cold nights." + +"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong, and honoured. If +I were turned from my house to-morrow, hundreds would be proud to +shelter me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets +with their children if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. And I +find you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead women by +the wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you tremble and lose +countenance at a word. I wait God's summons contentedly in my own house, +or, if it please the king to call me out again, upon the field of +battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, swift death, without hope or +honour. Is there no difference between these two?" + +"As far as to the moon," Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born lord +of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would the +difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming my +knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for +farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the +thief?" + +"A thief!" cried the old man. "I a thief! If you understood your words, +you would repent them." + +Villon turned out his hands with a gesture of inimitable impudence. "If +your lordship had done me the honour to follow my argument!" he said. + +"I do you too much honour in submitting to your presence," said the +knight. "Learn to curb your tongue when you speak with old and +honourable men, or some one hastier than I may reprove you in a sharper +fashion." And he rose and paced the lower end of the apartment, +struggling with anger and antipathy. Villon surreptitiously refilled his +cup, and settled himself more comfortably in the chair, crossing his +knees and leaning his head upon one hand and the elbow against the back +of the chair. He was now replete and warm; and he was in nowise +frightened for his host, having gauged him as justly as was possible +between two such different characters. The night was far spent, and in +a very comfortable fashion after all; and he felt morally certain of a +safe departure on the morrow. + +"Tell me one thing," said the old man, pausing in his walk. "Are you +really a thief?" + +"I claim the sacred rights of hospitality," returned the poet. "My lord, +I am." + +"You are very young," the knight continued. + +"I should never have been so old," replied Villon, showing his fingers, +"if I had not helped myself with these ten talents. They have been my +nursing-mothers and my nursing-fathers." + +"You may still repent and change." + +"I repent daily," said the poet. "There are few people more given to +repentance than poor Francis. As for change, let somebody change my +circumstances. A man must continue to eat, if it were only that he may +continue to repent." + +"The change must begin in the heart," returned the old man solemnly. + +"My dear lord," answered Villon, "do you really fancy that I steal for +pleasure? I hate stealing, like any other piece of work or of danger. My +teeth chatter when I see a gallows. But I must eat, I must drink, I must +mix in society of some sort. What the devil! Man is not a solitary +animal--_Cui Deus foeminam tradit_. Make me king's pantler--make me +abbot of St. Denis; make me bailly of the Patatrac; and then I shall be +changed indeed. But as long as you leave me the poor scholar Francis +Villon, without a farthing, why, of course, I remain the same." + +"The grace of God is all-powerful." + +"I should be a heretic to question it," said Francis. "It has made you +lord of Brisetout and bailly of the Patatrac; it has given me nothing +but the quick wits under my hat and these ten toes upon my hands. May I +help myself to wine? I thank you respectfully. By God's grace, you have +a very superior vintage." + +The lord of Brisetout walked to and fro with his hands behind his back. +Perhaps he was not yet quite settled in his mind about the parallel +between thieves and soldiers; perhaps Villon had interested him by some +cross-thread of sympathy; perhaps his wits were simply muddled by so +much unfamiliar reasoning; but whatever the cause, he somehow yearned to +convert the young man to a better way of thinking, and could not make up +his mind to drive him forth again into the street. + +"There is something more than I can understand in this," he said at +length. "Your mouth is full of subtleties, and the devil has led you +very far astray; but the devil is only a very weak spirit before God's +truth, and all his subtleties vanish at a word of true honour, like +darkness at morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago that a +gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to God, and the king, +and his lady; and though I have seen many strange things done, I have +still striven to command my ways upon that rule. It is not only written +in all noble histories, but in every man's heart, if he will take care +to read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well that hunger is +a difficult trial to endure; but you do not speak of other wants; you +say nothing of honour, of faith to God and other men, of courtesy, of +love without reproach. It may be that I am not very wise--and yet I +think I am--but you seem to me like one who has lost his way and made a +great error in life. You are attending to the little wants, and you have +totally forgotten the great and only real ones, like a man who should be +doctoring a toothache on the Judgment Day. For such things as honour and +love and faith are not only nobler than food and drink, but indeed I +think that we desire them more, and suffer more sharply for their +absence. I speak to you as I think you will most easily understand me. +Are you not, while careful to fill your belly, disregarding another +appetite in your heart, which spoils the pleasure of your life and keeps +you continually wretched?" + +Villon was sensibly nettled under all this sermonising. "You think I +have no sense of honour!" he cried. "I'm poor enough, God knows! It's +hard to see rich people with their gloves, and you blowing in your +hands. An empty belly is a bitter thing, although you speak so lightly +of it. If you had had as many as I, perhaps you would change your tune. +Any way I'm a thief--make the most of that--but I'm not a devil from +hell, God strike me dead! I would have you to know I've an honour of my +own, as good as yours, though I don't prate about it all day long, as if +it was a God's miracle to have any. It seems quite natural to me; I keep +it in its box till it's wanted. Why now, look you here, how long have I +been in this room with you? Did you not tell me you were alone in the +house? Look at your gold plate! You're strong, if you like, but you're +old and unarmed, and I have my knife. What did I want but a jerk of the +elbow and here would have been you with the cold steel in your bowels, +and there would have been me, linking in the streets, with an armful of +gold cups! Did you suppose I hadn't wit enough to see that? And I +scorned the action. There are your damned goblets, as safe as in a +church; there are you, with your heart ticking as good as new; and here +am I, ready to go out again as poor as I came in, with my one white that +you threw in my teeth! And you think I have no sense of honour--God +strike me dead!" + +The old man stretched out his right arm. "I will tell you what you are," +he said. "You are a rogue, my man, an impudent and a black-hearted rogue +and vagabond. I have passed an hour with you. Oh! believe me, I feel +myself disgraced! And you have eaten and drunk at my table. But now I am +sick at your presence; the day has come, and the night-bird should be +off to his roost. Will you go before, or after?" + +"Which you please," returned the poet, rising. "I believe you to be +strictly honourable." He thoughtfully emptied his cup. "I wish I could +add you were intelligent," he went on, knocking on his head with his +knuckles. "Age, age! the brains stiff and rheumatic." + +The old man preceded him from a point of self-respect; Villon followed, +whistling, with his thumbs in his girdle. + +"God pity you," said the lord of Brisetout at the door. + +"Good-bye, papa," returned Villon, with a yawn. "Many thanks for the +cold mutton." + +The door closed behind him. The dawn was breaking over the white roofs. +A chill, uncomfortable morning ushered in the day. Villon stood and +heartily stretched himself in the middle of the road. + +"A very dull old gentleman," he thought. "I wonder what his goblets may +be worth." + + + + +THE SIRE DE MALÉTROIT'S DOOR + + +Denis de Beaulieu was not yet two-and-twenty, but he counted himself a +grown man, and a very accomplished cavalier into the bargain. Lads were +early formed in that rough, war-faring epoch; and when one has been in a +pitched battle and a dozen raids, has killed one's man in an honourable +fashion, and knows a thing or two of strategy and mankind, a certain +swagger in the gait is surely to be pardoned. He had put up his horse +with due care, and supped with due deliberation; and then, in a very +agreeable frame of mind, went out to pay a visit in the grey of the +evening. It was not a very wise proceeding on the young man's part. He +would have done better to remain beside the fire or go decently to bed. +For the town was full of the troops of Burgundy and England under a +mixed command; and though Denis was there on safe-conduct, his +safe-conduct was like to serve him little on a chance encounter. + +It was September 1429; the weather had fallen sharp; a flighty piping +wind, laden with showers, beat about the township; and the dead leaves +ran riot along the streets. Here and there a window was already lighted +up; and the noise of men-at-arms making merry over supper within came +forth in fits and was swallowed up and carried away by the wind. The +night fell swiftly; the flag of England, fluttering on the spire-top, +grew ever fainter and fainter against the flying clouds--a black speck +like a swallow in the tumultuous, leaden chaos of the sky. As the night +fell the wind rose, and began to hoot under archways and roar amid the +tree-tops in the valley below the town. + +Denis de Beaulieu walked fast, and was soon knocking at his friend's +door; but though he promised himself to stay only a little while and +make an early return, his welcome was so pleasant, and he found so much +to delay him, that it was already long past midnight before he said +good-bye upon the threshold. The wind had fallen again in the meanwhile; +the night was as black as the grave; not a star, nor a glimmer of +moonshine, slipped through the canopy of cloud. Denis was ill-acquainted +with the intricate lanes of Château Landon; even by daylight he had +found some trouble in picking his way; and in this absolute darkness he +soon lost it altogether. He was certain of one thing only--to keep +mounting the hill; for his friend's house lay at the lower end, or tail, +of Château Landon, while the inn was up at the head, under the great +church spire. With this clue to go upon he stumbled and groped forward, +now breathing more freely in open places where there was a good slice of +sky overhead, now feeling along the wall in stifling closes. It is an +eerie and mysterious position to be thus submerged in opaque blackness +in an almost unknown town. The silence is terrifying in its +possibilities. The touch of cold window-bars to the exploring hand +startles the man like the touch of a toad; the inequalities of the +pavement shake his heart into his mouth; a piece of denser darkness +threatens an ambuscade or a chasm in the pathway; and where the air is +brighter, the houses put on strange and bewildering appearances, as if +to lead him farther from his way. For Denis, who had to regain his inn +without attracting notice, there was real danger as well as mere +discomfort in the walk; and he went warily and boldly at once, and at +every corner paused to make an observation. + +He had been for some time threading a lane so narrow that he could touch +a wall with either hand, when it began to open out and go sharply +downward. Plainly this lay no longer in the direction of his inn; but +the hope of a little more light tempted him forward to reconnoitre. The +lane ended in a terrace with a bartizan wall, which gave an outlook +between high houses, as out of an embrasure, into the valley lying dark +and formless several hundred feet below. Denis looked down, and could +discern a few tree-tops waving and a single speck of brightness where +the river ran across a weir. The weather was clearing up, and the sky +had lightened, so as to show the outline of the heavier clouds and the +dark margin of the hills. By the uncertain glimmer, the house on his +left hand should be a place of some pretensions; it was surmounted by +several pinnacles and turret-tops; the round stern of a chapel, with a +fringe of flying buttresses, projected boldly from the main block; and +the door was sheltered under a deep porch carved with figures and +overhung by two long gargoyles. The windows of the chapel gleamed +through their intricate tracery with a light as of many tapers, and +threw out the buttresses and the peaked roof in a more intense blackness +against the sky. It was plainly the hotel of some great family of the +neighbourhood; and as it reminded Denis of a town-house of his own at +Bourges, he stood for some time gazing up at it and mentally gauging the +skill of the architects and the consideration of the two families. + +There seemed to be no issue to the terrace but the lane by which he had +reached it; he could only retrace his steps, but he had gained some +notion of his whereabouts, and hoped by this means to hit the main +thoroughfare and speedily regain the inn. He was reckoning without that +chapter of accidents which was to make this night memorable above all +others in his career; for he had not gone back above a hundred yards +before he saw a light coming to meet him, and heard loud voices speaking +together in the echoing narrows of the lane. It was a party of +men-at-arms going the night-round with torches. Denis assured himself +that they had all been making free with the wine-bowl, and were in no +mood to be particular about safe-conducts or the niceties of chivalrous +war. It was as like as not that they would kill him like a dog and leave +him where he fell. The situation was inspiriting, but nervous. Their own +torches would conceal him from sight, he reflected; and he hoped that +they would drown the noise of his footsteps with their own empty +voices. If he were but fleet and silent, he might evade their notice +altogether. + +Unfortunately, as he turned to beat a retreat, his foot rolled upon a +pebble; he fell against the wall with an ejaculation, and his sword rang +loudly on the stones. Two or three voices demanded who went there--some +in French, some in English; but Denis made no reply, and ran the faster +down the lane. Once upon the terrace, he paused to look back. They still +kept calling after him, and just then began to double the pace in +pursuit, with a considerable clank of armour, and great tossing of the +torchlight to and fro in the narrow jaws of the passage. + +Denis cast a look around and darted into the porch. There he might +escape observation, or--if that were too much to expect--was in a +capital posture whether for parley or defence. So thinking, he drew his +sword and tried to set his back against the door. To his surprise, it +yielded behind his weight; and though he turned in a moment, continued +to swing back on oiled and noiseless hinges, until it stood wide open on +a black interior. When things fall out opportunely for the person +concerned, he is not apt to be critical about the how or why, his own +immediate personal convenience seeming a sufficient reason for the +strangest oddities and revolutions in our sublunary things; and so +Denis, without a moment's hesitation, stepped within and partly closed +the door behind him to conceal his place of refuge. Nothing was further +from his thoughts than to close it altogether; but for some inexplicable +reason--perhaps by a spring or a weight--the ponderous mass of oak +whipped itself out of his fingers and clanked to, with a formidable +rumble and noise like the falling of an automatic bar. + +The round, at that very moment, debouched upon the terrace, and +proceeded to summon him with shouts and curses. He heard them ferreting +in the dark corners; the stock of a lance even rattled along the outer +surface of the door behind which he stood; but these gentlemen were in +too high a humour to be long delayed, and soon made off down a +corkscrew pathway which had escaped Denis's observation, and passed out +of sight and hearing along the battlements of the town. + +Denis breathed again. He gave them a few minutes' grace for fear of +accidents, and then groped about for some means of opening the door and +slipping forth again. The inner surface was quite smooth, not a handle, +not a moulding, not a projection of any sort. He got his finger-nails +round the edges and pulled, but the mass was immovable. He shook it; it +was as firm as a rock. Denis de Beaulieu frowned and gave vent to a +little noiseless whistle. What ailed the door? he wondered. Why was it +open? How came it to shut so easily and so effectually after him? There +was something obscure and underhand about all this that was little to +the young man's fancy. It looked like a snare; and yet who could suppose +a snare in such a quiet by-street and in a house of so prosperous and +even noble an exterior? And yet--snare or no snare, intentionally or +unintentionally--here he was, prettily trapped; and for the life of him +he could see no way out of it again. The darkness began to weigh upon +him. He gave ear; all was silent without, but within and close by he +seemed to catch a faint sighing, a faint sobbing rustle, a little +stealthy creak--as though many persons were at his side, holding +themselves quite still, and governing even their respiration with the +extreme of slyness. The idea went to his vitals with a shock, and he +faced about suddenly as if to defend his life. Then, for the first time, +he became aware of a light about the level of his eyes, and at some +distance in the interior of the house--a vertical thread of light, +widening towards the bottom, such as might escape between two wings of +arras over a doorway. To see anything was a relief to Denis; it was like +a piece of solid ground to a man labouring in a morass; his mind seized +upon it with avidity; and he stood staring at it and trying to piece +together some logical conception of his surroundings. Plainly there was +a flight of steps ascending from his own level to that of this +illuminated doorway; and indeed he thought he could make out another +thread of light, as fine as a needle, and as faint as phosphorescence, +which might very well be reflected along the polished wood of a +handrail. Since he had begun to suspect that he was not alone, his heart +had continued to beat with smothering violence, and an intolerable +desire for action of any sort had possessed itself of his spirit. He was +in deadly peril, he believed. What could be more natural than to mount +the staircase, lift the curtain, and confront his difficulty at once? At +least he would be dealing with something tangible; at least he would be +no longer in the dark. He stepped slowly forward with outstretched +hands, until his foot struck the bottom step; then he rapidly scaled the +stairs, stood for a moment to compose his expression, lifted the arras, +and went in. + +He found himself in a large apartment of polished stone. There were +three doors; one on each of three sides; all similarly curtained with +tapestry. The fourth side was occupied by two large windows and a great +stone chimney-piece, carved with the arms of the Malétroits. Denis +recognised the bearings, and was gratified to find himself in such good +hands. The room was strongly illuminated; but it contained little +furniture except a heavy table and a chair or two, the hearth was +innocent of fire, and the pavement was but sparsely strewn with rushes +clearly many days old. + +On a high chair beside the chimney, and directly facing Denis as he +entered, sat a little old gentleman in a fur tippet. He sat with his +legs crossed and his hands folded, and a cup of spiced wine stood by his +elbow on a bracket on the wall. His countenance had a strongly masculine +cast; not properly human, but such as we see in the bull, the goat, or +the domestic boar; something equivocal and wheedling, something greedy, +brutal, and dangerous. The upper lip was inordinately full, as though +swollen by a blow or a toothache; and the smile, the peaked eyebrows, +and the small, strong eyes were quaintly and almost comically evil in +expression. Beautiful white hair hung straight all round his head, like +a saint's, and fell in a single curl upon the tippet. His beard and +moustache were the pink of venerable sweetness. Age, probably in +consequence of inordinate precautions, had left no mark upon his hands; +and the Malétroit hand was famous. It would be difficult to imagine +anything at once so fleshy and so delicate in design; the taper, sensual +fingers were like those of one of Leonardo's women; the fork of the +thumb made a dimple protuberance when closed; the nails were perfectly +shaped, and of a dead, surprising whiteness. It rendered his aspect +tenfold more redoubtable, that a man with hands like these should keep +them devoutly folded in his lap like a virgin martyr--that a man with so +intense and startling an expression of face should sit patiently on his +seat and contemplate people with an unwinking stare, like a god, or a +god's statue. His quiescence seemed ironical and treacherous, it fitted +so poorly with his looks. + +Such was Alain, Sire de Malétroit. + +Denis and he looked silently at each other for a second or two. + +"Pray step in," said the Sire de Malétroit. "I have been expecting you +all the evening." + +He had not risen, but he accompanied his words with a smile and a slight +but courteous inclination of the head. Partly from the smile, partly +from the strange musical murmur with which the Sire prefaced his +observation, Denis felt a strong shudder of disgust go through his +marrow. And what with disgust and honest confusion of mind, he could +scarcely get words together in reply. + +"I fear," he said, "that this is a double accident. I am not the person +you suppose me. It seems you were looking for a visit; but for my part, +nothing was further from my thoughts--nothing could be more contrary to +my wishes--than this intrusion." + +"Well, well," replied the old gentleman indulgently, "here you are, +which is the main point. Seat yourself, my friend, and put yourself +entirely at your ease. We shall arrange our little affairs presently." + +Denis perceived that the matter was still complicated with some +misconception, and he hastened to continue his explanations. + +"Your door ----" he began. + +"About my door?" asked the other, raising his peaked eyebrows. "A little +piece of ingenuity." And he shrugged his shoulders. "A hospitable fancy! +By your own account, you were not desirous of making my acquaintance. We +old people look for such reluctance now and then; and when it touches +our honour, we cast about until we find some way of overcoming it. You +arrive uninvited, but believe me, very welcome." + +"You persist in error, sir," said Denis. "There can be no question +between you and me. I am a stranger in this countryside. My name is +Denis, damoiseau de Beaulieu. If you see me in your house, it is only +----" + +"My young friend," interrupted the other, "you will permit me to have my +own ideas on that subject. They probably differ from yours at the +present moment," he added, with a leer, "but time will show which of us +is in the right." + +Denis was convinced he had to do with a lunatic. He seated himself with +a shrug, content to wait the upshot; and a pause ensued, during which he +thought he could distinguish a hurried gabbling as of prayer from behind +the arras immediately opposite him. Sometimes there seemed to be but one +person engaged, sometimes two; and the vehemence of the voice, low as it +was, seemed to indicate either haste or an agony of spirit. It occurred +to him that this piece of tapestry covered the entrance to the chapel he +had noticed from without. + +The old gentleman meanwhile surveyed Denis from head to foot with a +smile, and from time to time emitted little noises like a bird or a +mouse, which seemed to indicate a high degree of satisfaction. This +state of matters became rapidly insupportable; and Denis, to put an end +to it, remarked politely that the wind had gone down. + +The old gentleman fell into a fit of silent laughter, so prolonged and +violent that he became quite red in the face. Denis got upon his feet at +once, and put on his hat with a flourish. + +"Sir," he said, "if you are in your wits, you have affronted me grossly. +If you are out of them, I flatter myself I can find better employment +for my brains than to talk with lunatics. My conscience is clear; you +have made a fool of me from the first moment; you have refused to hear +my explanations; and now there is no power under God will make me stay +here any longer; and if I cannot make my way out in a more decent +fashion, I will hack your door in pieces with my sword." + +The Sire de Malétroit raised his right hand and wagged it at Denis with +the fore and little fingers extended. + +"My dear nephew," he said, "sit down." + +"Nephew!" retorted Denis, "you lie in your throat"; and he snapped his +fingers in his face. + +"Sit down, you rogue!" cried the old gentleman, in a sudden, harsh +voice, like the barking of a dog. "Do you fancy," he went on, "that when +I made my little contrivance for the door I had stopped short with that? +If you prefer to be bound hand and foot till your bones ache, rise and +try to go away. If you choose to remain a free young buck, agreeably +conversing with an old gentleman--why, sit where you are in peace, and +God be with you." + +"Do you mean I am a prisoner?" demanded Denis. + +"I state the facts," replied the other. "I would rather leave the +conclusion to yourself." + +Denis sat down again. Externally he managed to keep pretty calm; but +within, he was now boiling with anger, now chilled with apprehension. He +no longer felt convinced that he was dealing with a madman. And if the +old gentleman was sane, what, in God's name, had he to look for? What +absurd or tragical adventure had befallen him? What countenance was he +to assume? + +While he was thus unpleasantly reflecting, the arras that overhung the +chapel door was raised, and a tall priest in his robes came forth, and; +giving a long, keen stare at Denis, said something in an undertone to +Sire de Malétroit. + +"She is in a better frame of spirit?" asked the latter. + +"She is more resigned, messire," replied the priest. + +"Now the Lord help her, she is hard to please!" sneered the old +gentleman. "A likely stripling--not ill-born--and of her own choosing +too? Why, what more would the jade have?" + +"The situation is not usual for a young damsel," said the other, "and +somewhat trying to her blushes." + +"She should have thought of that before she began the dance! It was none +of my choosing, God knows that: but since she is in it, by Our Lady, she +shall carry it to the end." And then addressing Denis, "Monsieur de +Beaulieu," he asked, "may I present you to my niece? She has been +waiting your arrival, I may say, with even greater impatience than +myself." + +Denis had resigned himself with a good grace--all he desired was to know +the worst of it as speedily as possible; so he rose at once, and bowed +in acquiescence. The Sire de Malétroit followed his example, and limped, +with the assistance of the chaplain's arm, towards the chapel door. The +priest pulled aside the arras, and all three entered. The building had +considerable architectural pretensions. A light groining sprang from six +stout columns, and hung down in two rich pendants from the centre of the +vault. The place terminated behind the altar in a round end, embossed +and honeycombed with a superfluity of ornament in relief, and pierced by +many little windows shaped like stars, trefoils, or wheels. These +windows were imperfectly glazed, so that the night-air circulated freely +in the chapel. The tapers, of which there must have been half a hundred +burning on the altar, were unmercifully blown about; and the light went +through many different phases of brilliancy and semi-eclipse. On the +steps in front of the altar knelt a young girl richly attired as a +bride. A chill settled over Denis as he observed her costume; he fought +with desperate energy against the conclusion that was being thrust upon +his mind; it could not--it should not--be as he feared. + +"Blanche," said the Sire, in his most flute-like tones, "I have brought +a friend to see you, my little girl; turn round and give him your pretty +hand. It is good to be devout; but it is necessary to be polite, my +niece." + +The girl rose to her feet and turned towards the newcomers. She moved +all of a piece; and shame and exhaustion were expressed in every line of +her fresh young body; and she held her head down and kept her eyes upon +the pavement, as she came slowly forward. In the course of her advance, +her eyes fell upon Denis de Beaulieu's feet--feet of which he was justly +vain, be it remarked, and wore in the most elegant accoutrement even +while travelling. She paused--started, as if his yellow boots had +conveyed some shocking meaning--and glanced suddenly up into the +wearer's countenance. Their eyes met; shame gave place to horror and +terror in her looks; the blood left her lips; with a piercing scream she +covered her face with her hands and sank upon the chapel floor. + +"That is not the man!" she cried. "My uncle, that is not the man!" + +The Sire de Malétroit chirped agreeably. "Of course not," he said, "I +expected as much. It was so unfortunate you could not remember his +name." + +"Indeed," she cried, "indeed, I have never seen this person till this +moment--I have never so much as set eyes upon him--I never wish to see +him again. Sir," she said, turning to Denis, "if you are a gentleman, +you will bear me out. Have I ever seen you--have you ever seen +me--before this accursed hour?" + +"To speak for myself, I have never had that pleasure," answered the +young man. "This is the first time, messire, that I have met with your +engaging niece." + +The old gentleman shrugged his shoulders. + +"I am distressed to hear it," he said. "But it is never too late to +begin. I had little more acquaintance with my own late lady ere I +married her; which proves," he added with a grimace, "that these +impromptu marriages may often produce an excellent understanding in the +long-run. As the bridegroom is to have a voice in the matter, I will +give him two hours to make up for lost time before we proceed with the +ceremony." And he turned towards the door, followed by the clergyman. + +The girl was on her feet in a moment. "My uncle, you cannot be in +earnest," she said. "I declare before God I will stab myself rather than +be forced on that young man. The heart rises at it; God forbids such +marriages; you dishonour your white hair. Oh, my uncle, pity me! There +is not a woman in all the world but would prefer death to such a +nuptial. Is it possible," she added, faltering--"is it possible that you +do not believe me--that you still think this"--and she pointed at Denis +with a tremor of anger and contempt--"that you still think _this_ to be +the man?" + +"Frankly," said the old gentleman, pausing on the threshold, "I do. But +let me explain to you once for all, Blanche de Malétroit, my way of +thinking about this affair. When you took it into your head to dishonour +my family and the name that I have borne, in peace and war, for more +than threescore years, you forfeited, not only the right to question my +designs, but that of looking me in the face. If your father had been +alive, he would have spat on you and turned you out of doors. His was +the hand of iron. You may bless your God you have only to deal with the +hand of velvet, mademoiselle. It was my duty to get you married without +delay. Out of pure goodwill, I have tried to find your own gallant for +you. And I believe I have succeeded. But before God and all the holy +angels, Blanche de Malétroit, if I have not, I care not one jack-straw. +So let me recommend you to be polite to our young friend; for upon my +word, your next groom may be less appetising." + +And with that he went out, with the chaplain at his heels; and the arras +fell behind the pair. + +The girl turned upon Denis with flashing eyes. + +"And what, sir," she demanded, "may be the meaning of all this?" + +"God knows," returned Denis gloomily. "I am a prisoner in this house, +which seems full of mad people. More I know not, and nothing do I +understand." + +"And pray how came you here?" she asked. + +He told her as briefly as he could. "For the rest," he added, "perhaps +you will follow my example, and tell me the answer to all these riddles, +and what, in God's name, is like to be the end of it." + +She stood silent for a little, and he could see her lips tremble and her +tearless eyes burn with a feverish lustre. Then she pressed her forehead +in both hands. + +"Alas, how my head aches!" she said wearily--"to say nothing of my poor +heart! But it is due to you to know my story, unmaidenly as it must +seem. I am called Blanche de Malétroit; I have been without father or +mother for--oh! for as long as I can recollect, and indeed I have been +most unhappy all my life. Three months ago a young captain began to +stand near me every day in church. I could see that I pleased him; I am +much to blame, but I was so glad that any one should love me; and when +he passed me a letter, I took it home with me and read it with great +pleasure. Since that time he has written many. He was so anxious to +speak with me, poor fellow! and kept asking me to leave the door open +some evening that we might have two words upon the stair. For he knew +how much my uncle trusted me." She gave something like a sob at that, +and it was a moment before she could go on. "My uncle is a hard man, but +he is very shrewd," she said at last. "He has performed many feats in +war, and was a great person at court, and much trusted by Queen Isabeau +in old days. How he came to suspect me I cannot tell; but it is hard to +keep anything from his knowledge; and this morning, as we came from +mass, he took my hand in his, forced it open, and read my little billet, +walking by my side all the while. When he had finished, he gave it back +to me with great politeness. It contained another request to have the +door left open; and this has been the ruin of us all. My uncle kept me +strictly in my room until evening, and then ordered me to dress myself +as you see me--a hard mockery for a young girl, do you not think so? I +suppose, when he could not prevail with me to tell him the young +captain's name, he must have laid a trap for him: into which, alas! you +have fallen in the anger of God. I looked for much confusion; for how +could I tell whether he was willing to take me for his wife on these +sharp terms? He might have been trifling with me from the first; or I +might have made myself too cheap in his eyes. But truly I had not looked +for such a shameful punishment as this! I could not think that God would +let a girl be so disgraced before a young man. And now I have told you +all; and I can scarcely hope that you will not despise me." + +Denis made her a respectful inclination. + +"Madam," he said, "you have honoured me by your confidence. It remains +for me to prove that I am not unworthy of the honour. Is Messire de +Malétroit at hand?" + +"I believe he is writing in the salle without," she answered. + +"May I lead you thither, madam?" asked Denis, offering his hand with his +most courtly bearing. + +She accepted it; and the pair passed out of the chapel, Blanche in a +very drooping and shamefaced condition, but Denis strutting and ruffling +in the consciousness of a mission, and a boyish certainty of +accomplishing it with honour. + +The Sire de Malétroit rose to meet them with an ironical obeisance. + +"Sir," said Denis, with the grandest possible air, "I believe I am to +have some say in the matter of this marriage; and let me tell you at +once, I will be no party to forcing the inclination of this young lady. +Had it been freely offered to me, I should have been proud to accept her +hand, for I perceive she is as good as she is beautiful; but as things +are, I have now the honour, messire, of refusing." + +Blanche looked at him with gratitude in her eyes; but the old gentleman +only smiled and smiled, until his smile grew positively sickening to +Denis. + +"I am afraid," he said, "Monsieur de Beaulieu, that you do not perfectly +understand the choice I have to offer you. Follow me, I beseech you, to +this window." And he led the way to one of the large windows which stood +open on the night. "You observe," he went on, "there is an iron ring in +the upper masonry, and reeved through that a very efficacious rope. Now, +mark my words: if you should find your disinclination to my niece's +person insurmountable, I shall have you hanged out of this window before +sunrise. I shall only proceed to such an extremity with the greatest +regret, you may believe me. For it is not at all your death that I +desire, but my niece's establishment in life. At the same time, it must +come to that if you prove obstinate. Your family, Monsieur de Beaulieu, +is very well in its way; but if you sprang from Charlemagne, you should +not refuse the hand of a Malétroit with impunity--not if she had been as +common as the Paris road--not if she were as hideous as the gargoyle +over my door. Neither my niece nor you, nor my own private feelings, +move me at all in this matter. The honour of my house has been +compromised; I believe you to be the guilty person; at least you are now +in the secret; and you can hardly wonder if I request you to wipe out +the stain. If you will not, your blood be on your own head! It will be +no great satisfaction to me to have your interesting relics kicking +their heels in the breeze below my windows; but half a loaf is better +than no bread, and if I cannot cure the dishonour, I shall at least stop +the scandal." + +There was a pause. + +"I believe there are other ways of settling such imbroglios among +gentlemen," said Denis. "You wear a sword, and I hear you have used it +with distinction." + +The Sire de Malétroit made a signal to the chaplain, who crossed the +room with long, silent strides and raised the arras over the third of +the three doors. It was only a moment before he let it fall again; but +Denis had time to see a dusky passage full of armed men. + +"When I was a little younger, I should have been delighted to honour +you, Monsieur de Beaulieu," said Sire Alain; "but I am now too old. +Faithful retainers are the sinews of age, and I must employ the strength +I have. This is one of the hardest things to swallow as a man grows up +in years; but with a little patience, even this becomes habitual. You +and the lady seem to prefer the salle for what remains of your two +hours; and as I have no desire to cross your preference, I shall resign +it to your use with all the pleasure in the world. No haste!" he added, +holding up his hand, as he saw a dangerous look come into Denis de +Beaulieu's face. "If your mind revolts against hanging, it will be time +enough two hours hence to throw yourself out of the window or upon the +pikes of my retainers. Two hours of life are always two hours. A great +many things may turn up in even as little a while as that. And, besides, +if I understand her appearance, my niece has still something to say to +you. You will not disfigure your last hours by a want of politeness to a +lady?" + +Denis looked at Blanche, and she made him an imploring gesture. + +It is likely that the old gentleman was hugely pleased at this symptom +of an understanding; for he smiled on both, and added sweetly: "If you +will give me your word of honour, Monsieur de Beaulieu, to await my +return at the end of the two hours before attempting anything desperate, +I shall withdraw my retainers, and let you speak in greater privacy with +mademoiselle." + +Denis again glanced at the girl, who seemed to beseech him to agree. + +"I give you my word of honour," he said. + +Messire de Malétroit bowed, and proceeded to limp about the apartment, +clearing his throat the while with that odd musical chirp which had +already grown so irritating in the ears of Denis de Beaulieu. He first +possessed himself of some papers which lay upon the table; then he went +to the mouth of the passage and appeared to give an order to the men +behind the arras; and lastly he hobbled out through the door by which +Denis had come in, turning upon the threshold to address a last smiling +bow to the young couple, and followed by the chaplain with a hand-lamp. + +No sooner were they alone than Blanche advanced towards Denis with her +hands extended. Her face was flushed and excited, and her eyes shone +with tears. + +"You shall not die!" she cried, "you shall marry me after all." + +"You seem to think, madam," replied Denis, "that I stand much in fear of +death." + +"Oh, no, no," she said; "I see you are no poltroon. It is for my own +sake--I could not bear to have you slain for such a scruple." + +"I am afraid," returned Denis, "that you underrate the difficulty, +madam. What you may be too generous to refuse, I may be too proud to +accept. In a moment of noble feeling towards me, you forget what you +perhaps owe to others." + +He had the decency to keep his eyes upon the floor as he said this, and +after he had finished, so as not to spy upon her confusion. She stood +silent for a moment, then walked suddenly away, and falling on her +uncle's chair, fairly burst out sobbing. Denis was in the acme of +embarrassment. He looked round, as if to seek for inspiration, and +seeing a stool, plumped down upon it for something to do. There he sat, +playing with the guard of his rapier, and wishing himself dead a +thousand times over, and buried in the nastiest kitchen-heap in France. +His eyes wandered round the apartment, but found nothing to arrest +them. There were such wide spaces between the furniture, the light fell +so baldly and cheerlessly over all, the dark outside air looked in so +coldly through the windows, that he thought he had never seen a church +so vast nor a tomb so melancholy. The regular sobs of Blanche de +Malétroit measured out the time like the ticking of a clock. He read the +device upon the shield over and over again, until his eyes became +obscured; he stared into shadowy corners until he imagined they were +swarming with horrible animals; and every now and again he awoke with a +start, to remember that his last two hours were running, and death was +on the march. + +Oftener and oftener, as the time went on, did his glance settle on the +girl herself. Her face was bowed forward and covered with her hands, and +she was shaken at intervals by the convulsive hiccup of grief. Even thus +she was not an unpleasant object to dwell upon, so plump, and yet so +fine, with a warm brown skin, and the most beautiful hair, Denis +thought, in the whole world of womankind. Her hands were like her +uncle's; but they were more in place at the end of her young arms, and +looked infinitely soft and caressing. He remembered how her blue eyes +had shone upon him full of anger, pity, and innocence. And the more he +dwelt on her perfections, the uglier death looked, and the more deeply +was he smitten with penitence at her continued tears. Now he felt that +no man could have the courage to leave a world which contained so +beautiful a creature; and now he would have given forty minutes of his +last hour to have unsaid his cruel speech. + +Suddenly a hoarse and ragged peal of cockcrow rose to their ears from +the dark valley below the windows. And this shattering noise in the +silence of all around was like a light in a dark place, and shook them +both out of their reflections. + +"Alas, can I do nothing to help you?" she said, looking up. + +"Madam," replied Denis, with a fine irrelevancy, "if I have said +anything to wound you, believe me it was for your own sake and not for +mine." + +She thanked him with a tearful look. + +"I feel your position cruelly," he went on. "The world has been bitter +hard on you. Your uncle is a disgrace to mankind. Believe me, madam, +there is no young gentleman in all France but would be glad of my +opportunity, to die in doing you a momentary service." + +"I know already that you can be very brave and generous," she answered. +"What I _want_ to know is whether I can serve you--now or afterwards," +she added, with a quaver. + +"Most certainly," he answered, with a smile. "Let me sit beside you as +if I were a friend, instead of a foolish intruder; try to forget how +awkwardly we are placed to one another; make my last moments go +pleasantly; and you will do me the chief service possible." + +"You are very gallant," she added, with a yet deeper sadness; "very +gallant----and it somehow pains me. But draw nearer, if you please; and +if you find anything to say to me, you will at least make certain of a +very friendly listener. Ah! Monsieur de Beaulieu," she broke forth--"ah! +Monsieur de Beaulieu, how can I look you in the face?" And she fell to +weeping again with a renewed effusion. + +"Madam," said Denis, taking her hand in both of his, "reflect on the +little time I have before me, and the great bitterness into which I am +cast by the sight of your distress. Spare me, in my last moments, the +spectacle of what I cannot cure even with the sacrifice of my life." + +"I am very selfish," answered Blanche. "I will be braver, Monsieur de +Beaulieu, for your sake. But think if I can do you no kindness in the +future--if you have no friends to whom I could carry your adieux. Charge +me as heavily as you can: every burden will lighten, by so little, the +invaluable gratitude I owe you. Put it in my power to do something more +for you than weep." + +"My mother is married again, and has a young family to care for. My +brother Guichard will inherit my fiefs: and if I am not in error, that +will content him amply for my death. Life is a little vapour that +passeth away, as we are told by those in holy orders. When a man is in a +fair way and sees all life open in front of him, he seems to himself to +make a very important figure in the world. His horse whinnies to him; +the trumpets blow and the girls look out of window as he rides into town +before his company; he receives many assurances of trust and +regard--sometimes by express in a letter--sometimes face to face, with +persons of great consequence falling on his neck. It is not wonderful if +his head is turned for a time. But once he is dead, were he as brave as +Hercules or as wise as Solomon, he is soon forgotten. It is not ten +years since my father fell, with many other knights around him, in a +very fierce encounter, and I do not think that any one of them, nor so +much as the name of the fight, is now remembered. No, no, madam, the +nearer you come to it, you see that death is a dark and dusty corner, +where a man gets into his tomb and has the door shut after him till the +judgment-day. I have few friends just now, and once I am dead I shall +have none." + +"Ah, Monsieur de Beaulieu!" she exclaimed, "you forget Blanche de +Malétroit." + +"You have a sweet nature, madam, and you are pleased to estimate a +little service far beyond its worth." + +"It is not that," she answered. "You mistake me if you think I am so +easily touched by my own concerns. I say so, because you are the noblest +man I have ever met; because I recognise in you a spirit that would have +made even a common person famous in the land." + +"And yet here I die in a mousetrap--with no more noise about it than my +own squeaking," answered he. + +A look of pain crossed her face, and she was silent for a little while. +Then a light came into her eyes, and with a smile she spoke again. + +"I cannot have my champion think meanly of himself. Any one who gives +his life for another will be met in Paradise by all the heralds and +angels of the Lord God. And you have no cause to hang your head. +For----Pray, do you think me beautiful?" she asked, with a deep flush. + +"Indeed, madam, I do," he said. + +"I am glad of that," she answered heartily. "Do you think there are many +men in France who have been asked in marriage by a beautiful +maiden--with her own lips--and who have refused her to her face? I know +you men would half-despise such a triumph; but believe me, we women know +more of what is precious in love. There is nothing that should set a +person higher in his own esteem; and we women would prize nothing more +dearly." + +"You are very good," he said; "but you cannot make me forget that I was +asked in pity and not for love." + +"I am not so sure of that," she replied, holding down her head. "Hear me +to an end, Monsieur de Beaulieu. I know how you must despise me; I feel +you are right to do so; I am too poor a creature to occupy one thought +of your mind, although, alas! you must die for me this morning. But when +I asked you to marry me, indeed, and indeed, it was because I respected +and admired you, and loved you with my whole soul, from the very moment +that you took my part against my uncle. If you had seen yourself, and +how noble you looked, you would pity rather than despise me. And now," +she went on, hurriedly checking him with her hand, "although I have laid +aside all reserve and told you so much, remember that I know your +sentiments towards me already. I would not, believe me, being nobly +born, weary you with importunities into consent. I too have a pride of +my own: and I declare before the holy Mother of God, if you should now +go back from your word already given, I would no more marry you than I +would marry my uncle's groom." + +Denis smiled a little bitterly. + +"It is a small love," he said, "that shies at a little pride." + +She made no answer, although she probably had her own thoughts. + +"Come hither to the window," he said, with a sigh. "Here is the dawn." + +And indeed the dawn was already beginning. The hollow of the sky was +full of essential daylight, colourless and clean; and the valley +underneath was flooded with a grey reflection. A few thin vapours clung +in the coves of the forest or lay along the winding course of the river. +The scene disengaged a surprising effect of stillness, which was hardly +interrupted when the cocks began once more to crow among the steadings. +Perhaps the same fellow who had made so horrid a clangour in the +darkness not half an hour before now sent up the merriest cheer to greet +the coming day. A little wind went bustling and eddying among the +tree-tops underneath the windows. And still the daylight kept flooding +insensibly out of the east, which was soon to grow incandescent and cast +up that red-hot cannon-ball, the rising sun. + +Denis looked out over all this with a bit of a shiver. He had taken her +hand, and retained it in his almost unconsciously. + +"Has the day begun already?" she said; and then, illogically enough: +"the night has been so long! Alas! what shall we say to my uncle when he +returns?" + +"What you will," said Denis, and he pressed her fingers in his. + +She was silent. + +"Blanche," he said, with a swift, uncertain, passionate utterance, "you +have seen whether I fear death. You must know well enough that I would +as gladly leap out of that window into the empty air as lay a finger on +you without your free and full consent. But if you care for me at all do +not let me lose my life in a misapprehension; for I love you better than +the whole world; and though I will die for you blithely, it would be +like all the joys of Paradise to live on and spend my life in your +service." + +As he stopped speaking, a bell began to ring loudly in the interior of +the house; and a clatter of armour in the corridor showed that the +retainers were returning to their post, and the two hours were at an +end. + +"After all that you have heard?" she whispered, leaning towards him with +her lips and eyes. + +"I have heard nothing," he replied. + +"The captain's name was Florimond de Champdivers," she said in his ear. + +"I did not hear it," he answered, taking her supple body in his arms and +covered her wet face with kisses. + +A melodious chirping was audible behind, followed by a beautiful +chuckle, and the voice of Messire de Malétroit wished his new nephew a +good morning. + + + + +PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Monsieur Léon Berthelini had a great care of his appearance, and +sedulously suited his deportment to the costume of the hour. He affected +something Spanish in his air, and something of the bandit, with a +flavour of Rembrandt at home. In person he was decidedly small, and +inclined to be stout; his face was the picture of good-humour; his dark +eyes, which were very expressive, told of a kind heart, a brisk, merry +nature, and the most indefatigable spirits. If he had worn the clothes +of the period you would have set him down for a hitherto undiscovered +hybrid between the barber, the innkeeper, and the affable dispensing +chemist. But in the outrageous bravery of velvet jacket and flapped hat, +with trousers that were more accurately described as fleshings, a white +handkerchief cavalierly knotted at his neck, a shock of Olympian curls +upon his brow, and his feet shod through all weathers in the slenderest +of Moličre shoes--you had but to look at him and you knew you were in +the presence of a Great Creature. When he wore an overcoat he scorned to +pass the sleeves; a single button held it round his shoulders; it was +tossed backwards after the manner of a cloak, and carried with the gait +and presence of an Almaviva. I am of opinion that M. Berthelini was +nearing forty. But he had a boy's heart, gloried in his finery, and +walked through life like a child in a perpetual dramatic performance. If +he were not Almaviva after all, it was not for lack of making believe. +And he enjoyed the artist's compensation. If he were not really +Almaviva, he was sometimes just as happy as though he were. + +I have seen him, at moments when he has fancied himself alone with his +Maker, adopt so gay and chivalrous a bearing, and represent his own part +with so much warmth and conscience, that the illusion became catching, +and I believed implicitly in the Great Creature's pose. + +But, alas! life cannot be entirely conducted on these principles; man +cannot live by Almavivery alone; and the Great Creature, having failed +upon several theatres, was obliged to step down every evening from his +heights, and sing from half a dozen to a dozen comic songs, twang a +guitar, keep a country audience in good humour, and preside finally over +the mysteries of a tombola. + +Madame Berthelini, who was art and part with him in these undignified +labours, had perhaps a higher position in the scale of beings, and +enjoyed a natural dignity of her own. But her heart was not any more +rightly placed, for that would have been impossible; and she had +acquired a little air of melancholy, attractive enough in its way, but +not good to see like the wholesome, sky-scraping, boyish spirits of her +lord. + +He, indeed, swam like a kite on a fair wind, high above earthly +troubles. Detonations of temper were not unfrequent in the zones he +travelled; but sulky fogs and tearful depressions were there alike +unknown. A well-delivered blow upon a table, or a noble attitude, +imitated from Mélingue or Frédéric, relieved his irritation like a +vengeance. Though the heaven had fallen, if he had played his part with +propriety, Berthelini had been content! And the man's atmosphere, if not +his example, reacted on his wife; for the couple doated on each other, +and although you would have thought they walked in different worlds, yet +continued to walk hand in hand. + +It chanced one day that Monsieur and Madame Berthelini descended with +two boxes and a guitar in a fat case at the station of the little town +of Castel-le-Gâchis, and the omnibus carried them with their effects to +the Hotel of the Black Head. This was a dismal, conventual building in a +narrow street, capable of standing siege when once the gates were shut, +and smelling strangely in the interior of straw and chocolate and old +feminine apparel. Berthelini paused upon the threshold with a painful +premonition. In some former state, it seemed to him, he had visited a +hostelry that smelt not otherwise, and been ill received. + +The landlord, a tragic person in a large felt hat, rose from a +business-table under the key-rack, and came forward, removing his hat +with both hands as he did so. + +"Sir, I salute you. May I inquire what is your charge for artists?" +inquired Berthelini, with a courtesy at once splendid and insinuating. + +"For artists?" said the landlord. His countenance fell and the smile of +welcome disappeared. "Oh, artists!" he added brutally; "four francs a +day." And he turned his back upon these inconsiderable customers. + +A commercial traveller is received, he also, upon a reduction--yet is he +welcome, yet can he command the fatted calf; but an artist, had he the +manners of an Almaviva, were he dressed like Solomon in all his glory, +is received like a dog and served like a timid lady travelling alone. + +Accustomed as he was to the rubs of his profession, Berthelini was +unpleasantly affected by the landlord's manner. + +"Elvira," said he to his wife, "mark my words: Castel-le-Gâchis is a +tragic folly." + +"Wait till we see what we take," replied Elvira. + +"We shall take nothing," replied Berthelini; "we shall feed upon +insults. I have an eye, Elvira; I have a spirit of divination; and this +place is accursed. The landlord has been discourteous, the Commissary +will be brutal, the audience will be sordid and uproarious, and you will +take a cold upon your throat. We have been besotted enough to come; the +die is cast--it will be a second Sedan." + +Sedan was a town hateful to the Berthelinis, not only from patriotism +(for they were French, and answered after the flesh to the somewhat +homely name of Duval), but because it had been the scene of their most +sad reverses. In that place they had lain three weeks in pawn for their +hotel bill, and had it not been for a surprising stroke of fortune they +might have been lying there in pawn until this day. To mention the name +of Sedan was for the Berthelinis to dip the brush in earthquake and +eclipse. Count Almaviva slouched his hat with a gesture expressive of +despair, and even Elvira felt as if ill-fortune had been personally +evoked. + +"Let us ask for breakfast," said she, with a woman's tact. + +The Commissary of Police of Castel-le-Gâchis was a large red Commissary, +pimpled, and subject to a strong cutaneous transpiration. I have +repeated the name of his office because he was so very much more a +Commissary than a man. The spirit of his dignity had entered into him. +He carried his corporation as if it were something official. Whenever he +insulted a common citizen it seemed to him as if he were adroitly +flattering the Government by a side-wind; in default of dignity he was +brutal from an over-weening sense of duty. His office was a den, whence +passers-by could hear rude accents laying down, not the law, but the +good pleasure of the Commissary. + +Six several times in the course of the day did M. Berthelini hurry +thither in quest of the requisite permission for his evening's +entertainment; six several times he found the official was abroad. Léon +Berthelini began to grow quite a familiar figure in the streets of +Castel-le-Gâchis; he became a local celebrity, and was pointed out as +"the man who was looking for the Commissary." Idle children attached +themselves to his footsteps, and trotted after him back and forward +between the hotel and the office. Léon might try as he liked; he might +roll cigarettes, he might straddle, he might cock his hat at a dozen +different jaunty inclinations--the part of Almaviva was, under the +circumstances, difficult to play. + +As he passed the market-place upon the seventh excursion the Commissary +was pointed out to him, where he stood, with his waistcoat unbuttoned +and his hands behind his back, to superintend the sale and measurement +of butter. Berthelini threaded his way through the market-stalls and +baskets, and accosted the dignitary with a bow which was a triumph of +the histrionic art. + +"I have the honour," he asked, "of meeting M. le Commissaire?" + +The Commissary was affected by the nobility of his address. He excelled +Léon in the depth if not in the airy grace of his salutation. + +"The honour," said he, "is mine!" + +"I am," continued the strolling player, "I am, sir, an artist, and I +have permitted myself to interrupt you on an affair of business. +To-night I give a trifling musical entertainment at the Café of the +Triumphs of the Plough--permit me to offer you this little +programme--and I have come to ask you for the necessary authorisation." + +At the word "artist" the Commissary had replaced his hat with the air of +a person who, having condescended too far, should suddenly remember the +duties of his rank. + +"Go, go," said he, "I am busy; I am measuring butter." + +"Heathen Jew!" thought Léon. "Permit me, sir," he resumed, aloud. "I +have gone six times already--" + +"Put up your bills if you choose," interrupted the Commissary. "In an +hour or so I will examine your papers at the office. But now go; I am +busy." + +"Measuring butter!" thought Berthelini. "O France, and it is for this +that we made '93!" + +The preparations were soon made; the bills posted, programmes laid on +the dinner-table of every hotel in the town, and a stage erected at one +end of the Café of the Triumphs of the Plough; but when Léon returned to +the office, the Commissary was once more abroad. + +"He is like Madame Benoîton," thought Léon: "Fichu Commissaire!" + +And just then he met the man face to face. + +"Here, sir," said he, "are my papers. Will you be pleased to verify?" + +But the Commissary was now intent upon dinner. + +"No use," he replied, "no use; I am busy; I am quite satisfied. Give +your entertainment." + +And he hurried on. + +"Fichu Commissaire!" thought Léon. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The audience was pretty large; and the proprietor of the café made a +good thing of it in beer. But the Berthelinis exerted themselves in +vain. + +Léon was radiant in velveteen; he had a rakish way of smoking a +cigarette between his songs that was worth money in itself; he +underlined his comic points so that the dullest numskull in +Castel-le-Gâchis had a notion when to laugh; and he handled his guitar +in a manner worthy of himself. Indeed, his play with that instrument was +as good as a whole romantic drama; it was so dashing, so florid, and so +cavalier. + +Elvira, on the other hand, sang her patriotic and romantic songs with +more than usual expression; her voice had charm and plangency; and as +Léon looked at her, in her low-bodied maroon dress, with her arms bare +to the shoulder, and a red flower set provocatively in her corset, he +repeated to himself for the many hundredth time that she was one of the +loveliest creatures in the world of women. + +Alas! when she went round with the tambourine, the golden youth of +Castel-le-Gâchis turned from her coldly. Here and there a single +halfpenny was forthcoming; the net result of a collection never exceeded +half a franc; and the Maire himself, after seven different applications, +had contributed exactly twopence. A certain chill began to settle upon +the artists themselves; it seemed as if they were singing to slugs; +Apollo himself might have lost heart with such an audience. The +Berthelinis struggled against the impression; they put their back into +their work, they sang louder and louder, the guitar twanged like a +living thing; and at last Léon arose in his might, and burst with +inimitable conviction into his great song, "Y a des honnętes gens +partout!" Never had he given more proof of his artistic mastery; it was +his intimate, indefeasible conviction that Castel-le-Gâchis formed an +exception to the law he was now lyrically proclaiming, and was peopled +exclusively by thieves and bullies; and yet, as I say, he flung it down +like a challenge, he trolled it forth like an article of faith; and his +face so beamed the while that you would have thought he must make +converts of the benches. + +He was at the top of his register, with his head thrown back and his +mouth open, when the door was thrown violently open, and a pair of +new-comers marched noisily into the café. It was the Commissary, +followed by the Garde Champętre. + +The undaunted Berthelini still continued to proclaim, "Y a des honnętes +gens partout!" But now the sentiment produced an audible titter among +the audience. Berthelini wondered why; he did not know the antecedents +of the Garde Champętre; he had never heard of a little story about +postage-stamps. But the public knew all about the postage-stamps and +enjoyed the coincidence hugely. + +The Commissary planted himself upon a vacant chair with somewhat the air +of Cromwell visiting the Rump, and spoke in occasional whispers to the +Garde Champętre, who remained respectfully standing at his back. The +eyes of both were directed upon Berthelini, who persisted in his +statement. + +"Y a des honnętes gens partout," he was just chanting for the twentieth +time; when up got the Commissary upon his feet and waved brutally to +the singer with his cane. + +"Is it me you want?" inquired Léon, stopping in his song. + +"It is you," replied the potentate. + +"Fichu Commissaire!" thought Léon, and he descended from the stage and +made his way to the functionary. + +"How does it happen, sir," said the Commissary, swelling in person, +"that I find you mountebanking in a public café without my permission?" + +"Without?" cried the indignant Léon. "Permit me to remind you----" + +"Come, come, sir!" said the Commissary, "I desire no explanations." + +"I care nothing about what you desire," returned the singer. "I choose +to give them, and I will not be gagged. I am an artist, sir, a +distinction that you cannot comprehend. I received your permission and +stand here upon the strength of it; interfere with me who dare." + +"You have not got my signature, I tell you," cried the Commissary. "Show +me my signature! Where is my signature?" + +That was just the question; where was his signature? Léon recognised +that he was in a hole; but his spirit rose with the occasion, and he +blustered nobly, tossing back his curls. The Commissary played up to him +in the character of tyrant; and as the one leaned farther forward, the +other leaned farther back--majesty confronting fury. The audience had +transferred their attention to this new performance, and listened with +that silent gravity common to all Frenchmen in the neighbourhood of the +Police. Elvira had sat down, she was used to these distractions, and it +was rather melancholy than fear that now oppressed her. + +"Another word," cried the Commissary, "and I arrest you." + +"Arrest me?" shouted Léon. "I defy you!" + +"I am the Commissary of Police," said the official. + +Léon commanded his feelings, and replied, with great delicacy of +innuendo-- + +"So it would appear." + +The point was too refined for Castel-le-Gâchis; it did not raise a +smile; and as for the Commissary, he simply bade the singer follow him +to his office, and directed his proud footsteps towards the door. There +was nothing for it but to obey. Léon did so with a proper pantomime of +indifference, but it was a leek to eat, and there was no denying it. + +The Maire had slipped out and was already waiting at the Commissary's +door. Now the Maire, in France, is the refuge of the oppressed. He +stands between his people and the boisterous rigours of the Police. He +can sometimes understand what is said to him; he is not always puffed up +beyond measure by his dignity. 'Tis a thing worth the knowledge of +travellers. When all seems over, and a man has made up his mind to +injustice, he has still, like the heroes of romance, a little bugle at +his belt whereon to blow; and the Maire, a comfortable _deus ex +machinâ_, may still descend to deliver him from the minions of the law. +The Maire of Castel-le-Gâchis, although inaccessible to the charms of +music as retailed by the Berthelinis, had no hesitation whatever as to +the rights of the matter. He instantly fell foul of the Commissary in +very high terms, and the Commissary, pricked by this humiliation, +accepted battle on the point of fact. The argument lasted some little +while with varying success, until at length victory inclined so plainly +to the Commissary's side that the Maire was fain to re-assert himself by +an exercise of authority. He had been out-argued, but he was still the +Maire. And so, turning from his interlocutor, he briefly but kindly +recommended Léon to get back instanter to his concert. + +"It is already growing late," he added. + +Léon did not wait to be told twice. He returned to the Café of the +Triumphs of the Plough with all expedition. Alas! the audience had +melted away during his absence; Elvira was sitting in a very +disconsolate attitude on the guitar-box; she had watched the company +dispersing by twos and threes, and the prolonged spectacle had somewhat +overwhelmed her spirits. Each man, she reflected, retired with a certain +proportion of her earnings in his pocket, and she saw to-night's board +and to-morrow's railway expenses, and finally even to-morrow's dinner, +walk one after another out of the café-door and disappear into the +night. + +"What was it?" she asked languidly. + +But Léon did not answer. He was looking round him on the scene of +defeat. Scarce a score of listeners remained, and these of the least +promising sort. The minute-hand of the clock was already climbing upward +towards eleven. + +"It's a lost battle," said he, and then taking up the money-box, he +turned it out. "Three francs seventy-five!" he cried, "as against four +of board and six of railway fares; and no time for the tombola! Elvira, +this is Waterloo!" And he sat down and passed both hands desperately +among his curls. "O fichu Commissaire!" he cried, "fichu Commissaire!" + +"Let us get the things together and be off," returned Elvira. "We might +try another song, but there is not six halfpence in the room." + +"Six halfpence?" cried Léon, "six hundred thousand devils! There is not +a human creature in the town--nothing but pigs and dogs and +commissaries! Pray heaven we get safe to bed." + +"Don't imagine things!" exclaimed Elvira, with a shudder. + +And with that they set to work on their preparations. The tobacco-jar, +the cigarette-holder, the three papers of shirt-studs, which were to +have been the prizes of the tombola had the tombola come off, were made +into a bundle with the music; the guitar was stowed into the fat +guitar-case; and Elvira having thrown a thin shawl about her neck and +shoulders, the pair issued from the café and set off for the Black Head. + +As they crossed the market-place the church bell rang out eleven. It was +a dark, mild night, and there was no one in the streets. + +"It is all very fine," said Léon: "but I have a presentiment. The night +is not yet done." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +The Black Head presented not a single chink of light upon the street, +and the carriage gate was closed. + +"This is unprecedented," observed Léon. "An inn closed by five minutes +after eleven! And there were several commercial travellers in the café +up to a late hour. Elvira, my heart misgives me. Let us ring the bell." + +The bell had a potent note; and being swung under the arch it filled the +house from top to bottom with surly, clanging reverberations. The sound +accentuated the conventual appearance of the building; a wintry +sentiment, a thought of prayer and mortification, took hold upon +Elvira's mind; and, as for Léon, he seemed to be reading the stage +directions for a lugubrious fifth act. + +"This is your fault," said Elvira; "this is what comes of fancying +things!" + +Again Léon pulled the bell-rope; again the solemn tocsin awoke the +echoes of the inn; and ere they had died away, a light glimmered in the +carriage entrance, and a powerful voice was heard upraised and tremulous +with wrath. + +"What's all this?" cried the tragic host through the spars of the gate. +"Hard upon twelve, and you come clamouring like Prussians at the door of +a respectable hotel? Oh!" he cried, "I know you now! Common singers! +People in trouble with the Police! And you present yourselves at +midnight like lords and ladies? Be off with you!" + +"You will permit me to remind you," replied Léon, in thrilling tones, +"that I am a guest in your house, that I am properly inscribed, and that +I have deposited baggage to the value of four hundred francs." + +"You cannot get in at this hour," returned the man. "This is no thieves' +tavern, for mohocks and night-rakes and organ-grinders." + +"Brute!" cried Elvira, for the organ-grinders touched her home. + +"Then I demand my baggage," said Léon, with unabated dignity. + +"I know nothing of your baggage," replied the landlord. + +"You detain my baggage? You dare to detain my baggage?" cried the +singer. + +"Who are you?" returned the landlord. "It is dark--I cannot recognise +you." + +"Very well, then--you detain my baggage," concluded Léon. "You shall +smart for this. I will weary out your life with persecutions; I will +drag you from court to court; if there is justice to be had in France, +it shall be rendered between you and me. And I will make you a +by-word--I will put you in a song--a scurrilous song--an indecent +song--a popular song--which the boys shall sing to you in the street, +and come and howl through these spars at midnight!" + +He had gone on raising his voice at every phrase, for all the while the +landlord was very placidly retiring; and now, when the last glimmer of +light had vanished from the arch, and the last footstep died away in the +interior, Léon turned to his wife with a heroic countenance. + +"Elvira," said he, "I have now a duty in life. I shall destroy that man +as Eugčne Sue destroyed the concierge. Let us come at once to the +Gendarmerie and begin our vengeance." + +He picked up the guitar-case, which had been propped against the wall, +and they set forth through the silent and ill-lighted town with burning +hearts. + +The Gendarmerie was concealed beside the telegraph-office at the bottom +of a vast court, which was partly laid out in gardens; and here all the +shepherds of the public lay locked in grateful sleep. It took a deal of +knocking to waken one; and he, when he came at last to the door, could +find no other remark but that "it was none of his business." Léon +reasoned with him, threatened him, besought him; "here," he said, "was +Madame Berthelini in evening dress--a delicate woman--in an interesting +condition"--the last was thrown in, I fancy, for effect; and to all this +the man-at-arms made the same answer-- + +"It is none of my business," said he. + +"Very well," said Léon, "then we shall go to the Commissary." Thither +they went; the office was closed and dark; but the house was close by, +and Léon was soon swinging the bell like a madman. The Commissary's wife +appeared at the window. She was a thread-paper creature, and informed +them that the Commissary had not yet come home. + +"Is he at the Maire's?" demanded Léon. + +She thought that was not unlikely. + +"Where is the Maire's house?" he asked. + +And she gave him some rather vague information on that point. + +"Stay you here, Elvira," said Léon, "lest I should miss him by the way. +If, when I return, I find you here no longer, I shall follow at once to +the Black Head." + +And he set out to find the Maire's. It took him some ten minutes' +wandering among blind lanes, and when he arrived it was already half an +hour past midnight. A long white garden wall overhung by some thick +chestnuts, a door with a letter-box, and an iron bell-pull--that was all +that could be seen of the Maire's domicile. Léon took the bell-pull in +both hands, and danced furiously upon the side-walk. The bell itself was +just upon the other side of the wall; it responded to his activity, and +scattered an alarming clangour far and wide into the night. + +A window was thrown open in a house across the street, and a voice +inquired the cause of this untimely uproar. + +"I wish the Maire," said Léon. + +"He has been in bed this hour," returned the voice. + +"He must get up again," retorted Léon, and he was for tackling the +bell-pull once more. + +"You will never make him hear," responded the voice. "The garden is of +great extent, the house is at the farther end, and both the Maire and +his housekeeper are deaf." + +"Aha!" said Léon, pausing. "The Maire is deaf, is he? That explains." +And he thought of the evening's concert with a momentary feeling of +relief. "Ah!" he continued, "and so the Maire is deaf, and the garden +vast, and the house at the far end?" + +"And you might ring all night," added the voice, "and be none the better +for it. You would only keep me awake." + +"Thank you, neighbour," replied the singer. "You shall sleep." + +And he made off again at his best pace for the Commissary's. Elvira was +still walking to and fro before the door. + +"He has not come?" asked Léon. + +"Not he," she replied. + +"Good," returned Léon. "I am sure our man's inside. Let me see the +guitar-case. I shall lay this siege in form, Elvira; I am angry; I am +indignant: I am truculently inclined; but I thank my Maker I have still +a sense of fun. The unjust judge shall be importuned in a serenade, +Elvira. Set him up--and set him up." + +He had the case opened by this time, struck a few chords, and fell into +an attitude which was irresistibly Spanish. + +"Now," he continued, "feel your voice. Are you ready? Follow me!" + +The guitar twanged, and the two voices upraised, in harmony and with a +startling loudness, the chorus of a song of old Béranger's:-- + + "Commissaire! Commissaire! + Colin bat sa ménagčre." + +The stones of Castel-le-Gâchis thrilled at this audacious innovation. +Hitherto had the night been sacred to repose and night-caps; and now +what was this? Window after window was opened; matches scratched, and +candles began to flicker; swollen, sleepy faces peered forth into the +starlight. There were the two figures before the Commissary's house, +each bolt upright, with head thrown back and eyes interrogating the +starry heavens; the guitar wailed, shouted, and reverberated like half +an orchestra; and the voices, with a crisp and spirited delivery, hurled +the appropriate burden at the Commissary's window. All the echoes +repeated the functionary's name. It was more like an entr'acte in a +farce of Moličre's than a passage of real life in Castel-le-Gâchis. + +The Commissary, if he was not the first, was not the last of the +neighbours to yield to the influence of music, and furiously threw open +the window of his bedroom. He was beside himself with rage. He leaned +far over the window-sill, raving and gesticulating; the tassel of his +white nightcap danced like a thing of life: he opened his mouth to +dimensions hitherto unprecedented, and yet his voice, instead of +escaping from it in a roar, came forth shrill and choked and tottering. +A little more serenading, and it was clear he would be better acquainted +with the apoplexy. + +I scorn to reproduce his language; he touched upon too many serious +topics by the way for a quiet story-teller. Although he was known for a +man who was prompt with his tongue, and had a power of strong expression +at command, he excelled himself so remarkably this night that one maiden +lady, who had got out of bed like the rest to hear the serenade, was +obliged to shut her window at the second clause. Even what she had +heard disquieted her conscience; and next day she said she scarcely +reckoned as a maiden lady any longer. + +Léon tried to explain his predicament, but he received nothing but +threats of arrest by way of answer. + +"If I come down to you!" cried the Commissary. + +"Ay," said Léon, "do!" + +"I will not!" cried the Commissary. + +"You dare not!" answered Léon. + +At that the Commissary closed his window. + +"All is over," said the singer. "The serenade was perhaps ill-judged. +These boors have no sense of humour." + +"Let us get away from here," said Elvira, with a shiver. "All these +people looking--it is so rude and so brutal." And then giving way once +more to passion--"Brutes!" she cried aloud to the candle-lit +spectators--"brutes! brutes! brutes!" + +"_Sauve qui peut_," said Léon. "You have done it now!" + +And taking the guitar in one hand and the case in the other, he led the +way with something too precipitate to be merely called precipitation +from the scene of this absurd adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +To the west of Castel-le-Gâchis four rows of venerable lime-trees +formed, in this starry night, a twilit avenue with two side aisles of +pitch darkness. Here and there stone benches were disposed between the +trunks. There was not a breath of wind; a heavy atmosphere of perfume +hung about the alleys; and every leaf stood stock-still upon its twig. +Hither, after vainly knocking at an inn or two, the Berthelinis came at +length to pass the night. After an amiable contention, Léon insisted on +giving his coat to Elvira, and they sat down together on the first bench +in silence. Léon made a cigarette, which he smoked to an end, looking +up into the trees, and beyond them at the constellations, of which he +tried vainly to recall the names. The silence was broken by the church +bell; it rang the four quarters on a light and tinkling measure; then +followed a single deep stroke that died slowly away with a thrill; and +stillness resumed its empire. + +"One," said Léon. "Four hours till daylight. It is warm; it is starry; I +have matches and tobacco. Do not let us exaggerate, Elvira--the +experience is positively charming. I feel a glow within me; I am born +again. This is the poetry of life. Think of Cooper's novels, my dear." + +"Léon," she said fiercely, "how can you talk such wicked, infamous +nonsense? To pass all night out of doors--it is like a nightmare! We +shall die!" + +"You suffer yourself to be led away," he replied soothingly. "It is not +unpleasant here; only you brood. Come, now, let us repeat a scene. Shall +we try Alceste and Célimčne? No? Or a passage from the _Two Orphans_? +Come, now, it will occupy your mind; I will play up to you as I never +have played before; I feel art moving in my bones." + +"Hold your tongue," she cried, "or you will drive me mad! Will nothing +solemnise you--not even this hideous situation?" + +"Oh, hideous!" objected Léon. "Hideous is not the word. Why, where would +you be? '_Dites, la jeune belle, oů voulez-vous aller?_'" he carolled. +"Well, now," he went on, opening the guitar-case, "there's another idea +for you--sing. Sing '_Dites, la jeune belle_'! It will compose your +spirits, Elvira, I am sure." + +And without waiting an answer he began to strum the symphony. The first +chords awoke a young man who was lying asleep upon a neighbouring bench. + +"Hullo!" cried the young man, "who are you?" + +"Under which king, Bezonian?" declaimed the artist. "Speak or die!" + +Or if it was not exactly that, it was something to much the same purpose +from a French tragedy. + +The young man drew near in the twilight. He was a tall, powerful, +gentlemanly fellow, with a somewhat puffy face, dressed in a grey tweed +suit, with a deer-stalker hat of the same material; and as he now came +forward he carried a knapsack slung upon one arm. + +"Are you camping out here too?" he asked, with a strong English accent. +"I'm not sorry for company." + +Léon explained their misadventure; and the other told them that he was a +Cambridge undergraduate on a walking tour, that he had run short of +money, could no longer pay for his night's lodging, had already been +camping out for two nights, and feared he should require to continue the +same manoeuvre for at least two nights more. + +"Luckily, it's jolly weather," he concluded. + +"You hear that, Elvira," said Léon.--"Madame Berthelini," he went on, +"is ridiculously affected by this trifling occurrence. For my part, I +find it romantic and far from uncomfortable; or at least," he added, +shifting on the stone bench, "not quite so uncomfortable as might have +been expected. But pray be seated." + +"Yes," returned the undergraduate, sitting down, "it's rather nice than +otherwise when once you're used to it; only it's devilish difficult to +get washed. I like the fresh air and these stars and things." + +"Aha!" said Léon, "Monsieur is an artist." + +"An artist?" returned the other, with a blank stare. "Not if I know it!" + +"Pardon me," said the actor. "What you said this moment about the orbs +of heaven--" + +"Oh, nonsense!" cried the Englishman. "A fellow may admire the stars and +be anything he likes." + +"You have an artist's nature, however, Mr. ---- I beg your pardon; may +I, without indiscretion, inquire your name?" asked Léon. + +"My name is Stubbs," replied the Englishman. + +"I thank you," returned Léon. "Mine is Berthelini--Léon Berthelini, +ex-artist of the theatres of Montrouge, Belleville, and Montmartre. +Humble as you see me, I have created with applause more than one +important _rôle_. The Press were unanimous in praise of my Howling Devil +of the Mountains, in the piece of the same name. Madame, whom I now +present to you, is herself an artist, and I must not omit to state, a +better artist than her husband. She also is a creator; she created +nearly twenty successful songs at one of the principal Parisian +music-halls. But to continue: I was saying you had an artist's nature, +Monsieur Stubbs, and you must permit me to be a judge in such a +question. I trust you will not falsify your instincts; let me beseech +you to follow the career of an artist." + +"Thank you," returned Stubbs, with a chuckle. "I'm going to be a +banker." + +"No," said Léon, "do not say so. Not that. A man with such a nature as +yours should not derogate so far. What are a few privations here and +there, so long as you are working for a high and noble goal?" + +"This fellow's mad," thought Stubbs: "but the woman's rather pretty, and +he's not bad fun himself, if you come to that." What he said was +different: "I thought you said you were an actor?" + +"I certainly did so," replied Léon. "I am one, or, alas! I was." + +"And so you want me to be an actor, do you?" continued the +undergraduate. "Why, man, I could never so much as learn the stuff; my +memory's like a sieve; and as for acting, I've no more idea than a cat." + +"The stage is not the only course," said Léon. "Be a sculptor, be a +dancer, be a poet or a novelist; follow your heart, in short, and do +some thorough work before you die." + +"And do you call all these things art?" inquired Stubbs. + +"Why, certainly!" returned Léon. "Are they not all branches?" + +"Oh! I didn't know," replied the Englishman. "I thought an artist meant +a fellow who painted." + +The singer stared at him in some surprise. + +"It is the difference of language," he said at last. "This Tower of +Babel, when shall we have paid for it? If I could speak English you +would follow me more readily." + +"Between you and me, I don't believe I should," replied the other. "You +seem to have thought a devil of a lot about this business. For my part, +I admire the stars, and like to have them shining--it's so cheery--but +hang me if I had an idea it had anything to do with art! It's not in my +line, you see. I'm not intellectual; I have no end of trouble to scrape +through my exams., I can tell you! But I'm not a bad sort at bottom," he +added, seeing his interlocutor looked distressed even in the dim +star-shine, "and I rather like the play, and music, and guitars, and +things." + +Léon had a perception that the understanding was incomplete. He changed +the subject. + +"And so you travel on foot?" he continued. "How romantic! How +courageous! And how are you pleased with my land? How does the scenery +affect you among these wild hills of ours?" + +"Well, the fact is," began Stubbs--he was about to say that he didn't +care for scenery, which was not at all true, being, on the contrary, +only an athletic undergraduate pretension; but he had begun to suspect +that Berthelini liked a different sort of meat, and substituted +something else: "The fact is, I think it jolly. They told me it was no +good up here; even the guide-book said so; but I don't know what they +meant. I think it is deuced pretty--upon my word, I do." + +At this moment, in the most unexpected manner, Elvira burst into tears. + +"My voice!" she cried. "Léon, if I stay here longer I shall lose my +voice!" + +"You shall not stay another moment," cried the actor. + +"If I have to beat in a door, if I have to burn the town, I shall find +you shelter." + +With that, he replaced the guitar, and, comforting her with some +caresses, drew her arm through his. + +"Monsieur Stubbs," said he, taking off his hat, "the reception I offer +you is rather problematical; but let me beseech you to give us the +pleasure of your society. You are a little embarrassed for the moment; +you must, indeed, permit me to advance what may be necessary. I ask it +as a favour; we must not part so soon after having met so strangely." + +"Oh, come, you know," said Stubbs, "I can't let a fellow like you----" +And there he paused, feeling somehow or other on a wrong tack. + +"I do not wish to employ menaces," continued Léon, with a smile; "but if +you refuse, indeed I shall not take it kindly." + +"I don't quite see my way out of it," thought the undergraduate; and +then, after a pause, he said, aloud and ungraciously enough, "All right. +I--I'm very much obliged, of course." And he proceeded to follow them, +thinking in his heart, "But it's bad form, all the same, to force an +obligation on a fellow." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Léon strode ahead as if he knew exactly where he was going; the sobs of +Madame were still faintly audible, and no one uttered a word. A dog +barked furiously in a courtyard as they went by; then the church clock +struck two, and many domestic clocks followed or preceded it in piping +tones. And just then Berthelini spied a light. It burned in a small +house on the outskirts of the town, and thither the party now directed +their steps. + +"It is always a chance," said Léon. + +The house in question stood back from the street behind an open space, +part garden, part turnip-field; and several outhouses stood forward from +either wing at right angles to the front. One of these had recently +undergone some change. An enormous window, looking towards the north, +had been effected in the wall and roof, and Léon began to hope it was a +studio. + +"If it's only a painter," he said, with a chuckle, "ten to one we get as +good a welcome as we want." + +"I thought painters were principally poor," said Stubbs. + +"Ah!" cried Léon, "you do not know the world as I do. The poorer the +better for us!" + +And the trio advanced into the turnip-field. + +The light was in the ground floor; as one window was brightly +illuminated and two others more faintly, it might be supposed that there +was a single lamp in one corner of a large apartment; and a certain +tremulousness and temporary dwindling showed that a live fire +contributed to the effect. The sound of a voice now became audible; and +the trespassers paused to listen. It was pitched in a high, angry key, +but had still a good, full, and masculine note in it. The utterance was +voluble, too voluble even to be quite distinct; a stream of words, +rising and falling, with ever and again a phrase thrown out by itself, +as if the speaker reckoned on its virtue. + +Suddenly another voice joined in. This time it was a woman's; and if the +man were angry, the woman was incensed to the degree of fury. There was +that absolutely blank composure known to suffering males; that +colourless unnatural speech which shows a spirit accurately balanced +between homicide and hysterics; the tone in which the best of women +sometimes utter words worse than death to those most dear to them. If +Abstract Bones-and-Sepulchre were to be endowed with the gift of speech, +thus, and not otherwise, would it discourse. Léon was a brave man, and I +fear he was somewhat sceptically given (he had been educated in a +Papistical country), but the habit of childhood prevailed, and he +crossed himself devoutly. He had met several women in his career. It was +obvious that his instinct had not deceived him, for the male voice broke +forth instantly in a towering passion. + +The undergraduate, who had not understood the significance of the +woman's contribution, pricked up his ears at the change upon the man. + +"There's going to be a free fight," he opined. + +There was another retort from the woman, still calm, but a little +higher. + +"Hysterics?" asked Léon of his wife. "Is that the stage direction?" + +"How should I know?" returned Elvira, somewhat tartly. + +"Oh, woman, woman!" said Léon, beginning to open the guitar-case. "It is +one of the burdens of my life, Monsieur Stubbs; they support each other; +they always pretend there is no system; they say it's nature. Even +Madame Berthelini, who is a dramatic artist!" + +"You are heartless, Léon," said Elvira; "that woman is in trouble." + +"And the man, my angel?" inquired Berthelini, passing the ribbon of his +guitar. "And the man, _m'amour_?" + +"He is a man," she answered. + +"You hear that?" said Léon to Stubbs. "It is not too late for you. Mark +the intonation. And now," he continued, "what are we to give them?" + +"Are you going to sing?" asked Stubbs. + +"I am a troubadour," replied Léon. "I claim a welcome by and for my art. +If I were a banker, could I do as much?" + +"Well, you wouldn't need, you know," answered the undergraduate. + +"Egad," said Léon, "but that's true. Elvira, that is true." + +"Of course it is," she replied. "Did you not know it?" + +"My dear," answered Léon impressively, "I know nothing but what is +agreeable. Even my knowledge of life is a work of art superiorly +composed. But what are we to give them? It should be something +appropriate." + +Visions of "Let dogs delight" passed through the under-graduate's mind; +but it occurred to him that the poetry was English and that he did not +know the air. Hence he contributed no suggestion. + +"Something about our houselessness," said Elvira. + +"I have it," cried Léon. And he broke forth into a song of Pierre +Dupont's:-- + + "Savez-vous oů gite + Mai, ce joli mois?" + +Elvira joined in; so did Stubbs, with a good ear and voice, but an +imperfect acquaintance with the music. Léon and the guitar were equal to +the situation. The actor dispensed his throat-notes with prodigality and +enthusiasm; and, as he looked up to heaven in his heroic way, tossing +the black ringlets, it seemed to him that the very stars contributed a +dumb applause to his efforts, and the universe lent him its silence for +a chorus. That is one of the best features of the heavenly bodies, that +they belong to everybody in particular; and a man like Léon, a chronic +Endymion who managed to get along without encouragement, is always the +world's centre for himself. + +He alone--and it is to be noted, he was the worst singer of the +three--took the music seriously to heart, and judged the serenade from a +high artistic point of view. Elvira, on the other hand, was preoccupied +about their reception; and as for Stubbs, he considered the whole affair +in the light of a broad joke. + +"Know you the lair of May, the lovely month?" went the three voices in +the turnip-field. + +The inhabitants were plainly fluttered; the light moved to and fro, +strengthening in one window, paling in another; and then the door was +thrown open, and a man in a blouse appeared on the threshold carrying a +lamp. He was a powerful young fellow, with bewildered hair and beard, +wearing his neck open; his blouse was stained with oil-colours in a +harlequinesque disorder; and there was something rural in the droop and +bagginess of his belted trousers. + +From immediately behind him, and indeed over his shoulder, a woman's +face looked out into the darkness; it was pale and a little weary, +although still young; it wore a dwindling, disappearing prettiness, soon +to be quite gone, and the expression was both gentle and sour, and +reminded one faintly of the taste of certain drugs. For all that, it was +not a face to dislike; when the prettiness had vanished, it seemed as if +a certain pale beauty might step in to take its place; and as both the +mildness and the asperity were characters of youth, it might be hoped +that, with years, both would merge into a constant, brave, and not +unkindly temper. + +"What is all this?" cried the man. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Léon had his hat in his hand at once. He came forward with his customary +grace; it was a moment which would have earned him a round of cheering +on the stage. Elvira and Stubbs advanced behind him, like a couple of +Admetus's sheep following the god Apollo. + +"Sir," said Léon, "the hour is unpardonably late, and our little +serenade has the air of an impertinence. Believe me, sir, it is an +appeal. Monsieur is an artist, I perceive. We are here three artists +benighted and without shelter, one a woman--a delicate woman--in evening +dress--in an interesting situation. This will not fail to touch the +woman's heart of Madame, whom I perceive indistinctly behind Monsieur +her husband, and whose face speaks eloquently of a well-regulated mind. +Ah! Monsieur, Madame--one generous movement, and you make three people +happy! Two or three hours beside your fire--I ask it of Monsieur in the +name of Art--I ask it of Madame by the sanctity of womanhood." + +The two, as by a tacit consent, drew back from the door. + +"Come in," said the man. + +"_Entrez_, Madame," said the woman. + +The door opened directly upon the kitchen of the house, which was to all +appearance the only sitting-room. The furniture was both plain and +scanty; but there were one or two landscapes on the wall, handsomely +framed, as if they had already visited the committee-rooms of an +exhibition and been thence extruded. Léon walked up to the pictures and +represented the part of a connoisseur before each in turn, with his +usual dramatic insight and force. The master of the house, as if +irresistibly attracted, followed him from canvas to canvas with the +lamp. Elvira was led directly to the fire, where she proceeded to warm +herself, while Stubbs stood in the middle of the floor and followed the +proceedings of Léon with mild astonishment in his eyes. + +"You should see them by daylight," said the artist. + +"I promise myself that pleasure," said Léon. "You possess, sir, if you +will permit me an observation, the art of composition to a T." + +"You are very good," returned the other. "But should you not draw nearer +to the fire?" + +"With all my heart," said Léon. + +And the whole party was soon gathered at the table over a hasty and not +an elegant cold supper, washed down with the least of small wines. +Nobody liked the meal, but nobody complained; they put a good face upon +it, one and all, and made a great clattering of knives and forks. To see +Léon eating a single cold sausage was to see a triumph; by the time he +had done he had got through as much pantomime as would have sufficed for +a baron of beef, and he had the relaxed expression of the over-eaten. + +As Elvira had naturally taken a place by the side of Léon, and Stubbs as +naturally, although I believe unconsciously, by the side of Elvira, the +host and hostess were left together. Yet it was to be noted that they +never addressed a word to each other, nor so much as suffered their eyes +to meet. The interrupted skirmish still survived in ill-feeling; and the +instant the guests departed it would break forth again as bitterly as +ever. The talk wandered from this to that subject--for with one accord +the party had declared it was too late to go to bed; but those two never +relaxed towards each other; Goneril and Regan in a sisterly tiff were +not more bent on enmity. + +It chanced that Elvira was so much tired by all the little excitements +of the night, that for once she laid aside her company manners, which +were both easy and correct, and in the most natural manner in the world +leaned her head on Léon's shoulder. At the same time, fatigue suggesting +tenderness, she locked the fingers of her right hand into those of her +husband's left; and, half-closing her eyes, dozed off into a golden +borderland between sleep and waking. But all the time she was not +unaware of what was passing, and saw the painter's wife studying her +with looks between contempt and envy. + +It occurred to Léon that his constitution demanded the use of some +tobacco; and he undid his fingers from Elvira's in order to roll a +cigarette. It was gently done, and he took care that his indulgence +should in no other way disturb his wife's position. But it seemed to +catch the eye of the painter's wife with a special significancy. She +looked straight before her for an instant, and then, with a swift and +stealthy movement, took hold of her husband's hand below the table. +Alas! she might have spared herself the dexterity. For the poor fellow +was so overcome by this caress that he stopped with his mouth open in +the middle of a word, and by the expression of his face plainly declared +to all the company that his thoughts had been diverted into softer +channels. + +If it had not been rather amiable, it would have been absurdly droll. +His wife at once withdrew her touch; but it was plain she had to exert +some force. Thereupon the young man coloured and looked for a moment +beautiful. + +Léon and Elvira both observed the by-play, and a shock passed from one +to the other; for they were inveterate match-makers, especially between +those who were already married. + +"I beg your pardon," said Léon suddenly. "I see no use in pretending. +Before we came in here we heard sounds indicating--if I may so express +myself--an imperfect harmony." + +"Sir----" began the man. + +But the woman was beforehand. + +"It is quite true," she said. "I see no cause to be ashamed. If my +husband is mad I shall at least do my utmost to prevent the +consequences. Picture to yourself, Monsieur and Madame," she went on, +for she passed Stubbs over, "that this wretched person--a dauber, an +incompetent, not fit to be a sign-painter--receives this morning an +admirable offer from an uncle--an uncle of my own, my mother's brother, +and tenderly beloved--of a clerkship with nearly a hundred and fifty +pounds a year, and that he--picture to yourself!--he refuses it! Why? +For the sake of Art, he says. Look at his art, I say--look at it! Is it +fit to be seen? Ask him--is it fit to be sold? And it is for this, +Monsieur and Madame, that he condemns me to the most deplorable +existence, without luxuries, without comforts, in a vile suburb of a +country town. _O non!_" she cried, "_non--je ne me tairai pas--c'est +plus fort que moi!_ I take these gentlemen and this lady for judges--is +this kind? is it decent? is it manly? Do I not deserve better at his +hands after having married him and"--(a visible hitch)--"done everything +in the world to please him?" + +I doubt if there ever were a more embarrassed company at a table; every +one looked like a fool; and the husband like the biggest. + +"The art of Monsieur, however," said Elvira, breaking the silence, "is +not wanting in distinction." + +"It has this distinction," said the wife, "that nobody will buy it." + +"I should have supposed a clerkship----" began Stubbs. + +"Art is Art," swept in Léon. "I salute Art. It is the beautiful, the +divine; it is the spirit of the world and the pride of life. But----" +And the actor paused. + +"A clerkship----" began Stubbs. + +"I'll tell you what it is," said the painter. "I am an artist, and as +this gentleman says, Art is this and the other; but of course, if my +wife is going to make my life a piece of perdition all day long, I +prefer to go and drown myself out of hand." + +"Go!" said his wife. "I should like to see you!" + +"I was going to say," resumed Stubbs, "that a fellow may be a clerk and +paint almost as much as he likes. I know a fellow in a bank who makes +capital water-colour sketches; he even sold one for seven-and-six." + +To both the women this seemed a plank of safety; each hopefully +interrogated the countenance of her lord; even Elvira, an artist +herself!--but indeed there must be something permanently mercantile in +the female nature. The two men exchanged a glance; it was tragic; not +otherwise might two philosophers salute, as at the end of a laborious +life each recognised that he was still a mystery to his disciples. + +Léon arose. + +"Art is Art," he repeated sadly. "It is not water-colour sketches, nor +practising on a piano. It is a life to be lived." + +"And in the meantime people starve!" observed the woman of the house. +"If that's a life, it is not one for me." + +"I'll tell you what," burst forth Léon; "you, Madame, go into another +room and talk it over with my wife; and I'll stay here and talk it over +with your husband. It may come to nothing, but let's try." + +"I am very willing," replied the young woman; and she proceeded to light +a candle. "This way, if you please." And she led Elvira upstairs into a +bedroom. "The fact is," said she, sitting down, "that my husband cannot +paint." + +"No more can mine act," replied Elvira. + +"I should have thought he could," returned the other; "he seems clever." + +"He is so, and the best of men besides," said Elvira; "but he cannot +act." + +"At least he is not a sheer humbug like mine; he can at least sing." + +"You mistake Léon," returned his wife warmly. "He does not even pretend +to sing; he has too fine a taste; he does so for a living. And, believe +me, neither of the men are humbugs. They are people with a +mission--which they cannot carry out." + +"Humbug or not," replied the other, "you came very near passing the +night in the fields; and, for my part, I live in terror of starvation. I +should think it was a man's mission to think twice about his wife. But +it appears not. Nothing is their mission but to play the fool. Oh!" she +broke out, "is it not something dreary to think of that man of mine? If +he could only do it, who would care? But no--not he--no more than I +can!" + +"Have you any children?" asked Elvira. + +"No; but then I may." + +"Children change so much," said Elvira, with a sigh. + +And just then from the room below there flew up a sudden snapping chord +on the guitar; one followed after another; then the voice of Léon joined +in; and there was an air being played and sung that stopped the speech +of the two women. The wife of the painter stood like a person +transfixed; Elvira, looking into her eyes, could see all manner of +beautiful memories and kind thoughts that were passing in and out of +her soul with every note; it was a piece of her youth that went before +her; a green French plain, the smell of apple-flowers, the far and +shining ringlets of a river, and the words and presence of love. + +"Léon has hit the nail," thought Elvira to herself. "I wonder how." + +The how was plain enough. Léon had asked the painter if there were no +air connected with courtship and pleasant times; and having learned what +he wished, and allowed an interval to pass, he had soared forth into + + "O mon amante, + O mon désir, + Sachons cueillir + L'heure charmante!" + +"Pardon me, Madame," said the painter's wife, "your husband sings +admirably well." + +"He sings that with some feeling," replied Elvira critically, although +she was a little moved herself, for the song cut both ways in the upper +chamber; "but it is as an actor and not as a musician." + +"Life is very sad," said the other; "it so wastes away under one's +fingers." + +"I have not found it so," replied Elvira. "I think the good parts of it +last and grow greater every day." + +"Frankly, how would you advise me?" + +"Frankly, I would let my husband do what he wished. He is obviously a +very loving painter; you have not yet tried him as a clerk. And you +know--if it were only as the possible father of your children--it is as +well to keep him at his best." + +"He is an excellent fellow," said the wife. + + +They kept it up till sunrise with music and all manner of +good-fellowship; and at sunrise, while the sky was still temperate and +clear, they separated on the threshold with a thousand excellent wishes +for each other's welfare. Castel-le-Gâchis was beginning to send up its +smoke against the golden east; and the church bell was ringing six. + +"My guitar is a familiar spirit," said Léon, as he and Elvira took the +nearest way towards the inn; "it resuscitated a Commissary, created an +English tourist, and reconciled a man and wife." + +Stubbs, on his part, went off into the morning with reflections of his +own. + +"They are all mad," thought he, "all mad--but wonderfully decent." + + + + +END OF VOL. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25) + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Other: Andrew Lang + +Release Date: December 17, 2009 [EBook #30700] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS--R.L. STEVENSON, VOL 4 (OF 25) *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<table class="border1" border="0" cellpadding="10" summary="TN"> +<tr> +<td style="width:25%; vertical-align:top"> +Transcriber's note: +</td> +<td> +A few punctuation errors have been corrected. They +appear in the text <span class="correction" title="explanation will pop up">like this</span>, and the +explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked +passage. Hyphenation inconsistencies were left unchanged. +<br /> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<div class="pt3"> </div> + +<h4>THE WORKS OF</h4> +<h3>ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON</h3> +<h4>SWANSTON EDITION</h4> +<h5>VOLUME IV</h5> + +<div class="pt3"> </div> + +<p class="noind center"><i>Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five<br /> +Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS<br /> +STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies<br /> +have been printed, of which only Two Thousand<br /> +Copies are for sale.</i></p> + +<p class="noind center"><i>This is No. <span style="font-size: 60%;">............</span></i></p> +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img style="border:0; width:431px; height:650px" + src="images/img1.jpg" + alt="" /> +<p class="f70">TREE AT SWANSTON BEARING INITIALS OF R. L. S.</p> +</div> + +<h3>THE WORKS OF</h3> +<h2>ROBERT LOUIS</h2> +<h2>STEVENSON</h2> + +<div class="pt3"> </div> +<h5>VOLUME FOUR</h5> +<div class="pt3"> </div> + +<h5>LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND<br /> +WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL<br /> +AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM<br /> +HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN<br /> +AND COMPANY MDCCCCXI</h5> + +<div class="pt3"> </div> +<h6>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</h6> + +<div class="pt2"> </div> +<hr class="art" /> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<table class="nobctr" width="90%" summary="Contents"> + +<tr> <td class="center" colspan="3"><h4>NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS</h4></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="center" colspan="3">THE SUICIDE CLUB</td> </tr> + +<tr style="font-size: 70%; "> <td class="tc2"> </td> + <td> </td> + <td class="tc2">PAGE</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page5">5</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">The Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page37">37</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">The Adventure of the Hansom Cabs</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page65">65</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="center" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em;" colspan="3">THE RAJAH’S DIAMOND</td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">Story of the Bandbox</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page86">86</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">Story of the Young Man in Holy Orders</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page111">111</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">The Story of the House with the Green Blinds</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page127">127</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="scs tc5" colspan="2">The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective</td> + <td class="tc2"><a href="#page159">159</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="center" style="padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em;" colspan="3">THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS</td> </tr> + +<tr style="font-size: 70%; "> <td class="tc2">CHAPTER</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td></tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">I.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells how I Camped in Graden Sea-wood, and beheld a Light in the Pavilion</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page167">167</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">II.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells of the Nocturnal Landing from the Yacht</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page174">174</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">III.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells how I became Acquainted with my Wife</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page180">180</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">IV.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells in what a Startling Manner I learned that I was not Alone in Graden Sea-wood</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page189">189</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">V.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells of an Interview between Northmour, Clara, and Myself</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page197">197</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">VI.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells of my Introduction to the Tall Man</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page202">202</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">VII.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells how a Word was cried through the Pavilion Window</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page208">208</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">VIII.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells the Last of the Tall Man</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page214">214</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc2">IX.</td> + <td class="scs tc3">Tells how Northmour carried out his Threat</td> + <td class="tc2b"><a href="#page221">221</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc5a" colspan="2">A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT</td> + <td class="tc2c"><a href="#page227">227</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc5a" colspan="2">THE SIRE DE MALÉTROIT’S DOOR</td> + <td class="tc2c"><a href="#page250">250</a></td> </tr> + +<tr> <td class="tc5a" colspan="2">PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR</td> + <td class="tc2c"><a href="#page273">273</a></td> </tr> + +</table> + + +<div class="pt2"> </div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"></a>1</span></p> +<hr class="full" /> +<h2>NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS</h2> +<hr class="full" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page2"></a>2</span></p> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3"></a>3</span></p> + +<h5>TO</h5> + +<h3>ROBERT ALAN MOWBRAY STEVENSON</h3> + +<h6>IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR YOUTH</h6> +<h6>AND THEIR ALREADY OLD AFFECTION</h6> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"></a>4</span></p> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page5"></a>5</span></p> +<h2>NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS</h2> +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt3"> </div> + + + +<h3>THE SUICIDE CLUB</h3> + + +<h5>STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">During</span> his residence in London, the accomplished Prince +Florizel of Bohemia gained the affection of all classes +by the seduction of his manner and by a well-considered +generosity. He was a remarkable man even by what +was known of him; and that was but a small part of what +he actually did. Although of a placid temper in ordinary +circumstances, and accustomed to take the world with +as much philosophy as any ploughman, the Prince of +Bohemia was not without a taste for ways of life more +adventurous and eccentric than that to which he was +destined by his birth. Now and then, when he fell into +a low humour, when there was no laughable play to witness +in any of the London theatres, and when the season of +the year was unsuitable to those field sports in which he +excelled all competitors, he would summon his confidant +and Master of the Horse, Colonel Geraldine, and bid him +prepare himself against an evening ramble. The Master +of the Horse was a young officer of a brave and even temerarious +disposition. He greeted the news with delight, +and hastened to make ready. Long practice and a varied +acquaintance of life had given him a singular facility in +disguise; he could adapt, not only his face and bearing, +but his voice and almost his thoughts, to those of any rank, +character, or nation; and in this way he diverted attention +from the Prince, and sometimes gained admission for the +pair into strange societies. The civil authorities were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"></a>6</span> +never taken into the secret of these adventures; the imperturbable +courage of the one and the ready invention +and chivalrous devotion of the other had brought them +through a score of dangerous passes; and they grew in +confidence as time went on.</p> + +<p>One evening in March they were driven by a sharp +fall of sleet into an Oyster Bar in the immediate neighbourhood +of Leicester Square. Colonel Geraldine was +dressed and painted to represent a person connected +with the Press in reduced circumstances; while the Prince +had, as usual, travestied his appearance by the addition +of false whiskers and a pair of large adhesive eyebrows. +These lent him a shaggy and weather-beaten air, which, +for one of his urbanity, formed the most impenetrable +disguise. Thus equipped, the commander and his satellite +sipped their brandy and soda in security.</p> + +<p>The bar was full of guests, male and female; but though +more than one of these offered to fall into talk with our +adventurers, none of them promised to grow interesting +upon a nearer acquaintance. There was nothing present +but the lees of London and the commonplace of disrespectability; +and the Prince had already fallen to yawning, +and was beginning to grow weary of the whole excursion, +when the swing doors were pushed violently open, and a +young man, followed by a couple of commissionaires, +entered the bar. Each of the commissionaires carried +a large dish of cream tarts under a cover, which they at +once removed; and the young man made the round of +the company, and pressed these confections upon every +one’s acceptance with an exaggerated courtesy. Sometimes +the offer was laughingly accepted; sometimes it was +firmly, or even harshly, rejected. In these latter cases +the new-comer always ate the tart himself, with some +more or less humorous commentary.</p> + +<p>At last he accosted Prince Florizel.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said he, with a profound obeisance, proffering +the tart at the same time between his thumb and forefinger, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"></a>7</span> +“will you so far honour an entire stranger? I +can answer for the quality of the pastry, having eaten +two dozen and three of them myself since five o’clock.”</p> + +<p>“I am in the habit,” replied the Prince, “of looking +not so much to the nature of a gift as to the spirit in which +it is offered.”</p> + +<p>“The spirit, sir,” returned the young man, with another +bow, “is one of mockery.”</p> + +<p>“Mockery!” repeated Florizel. “And whom do you +propose to mock?”</p> + +<p>“I am not here to expound my philosophy,” replied +the other, “but to distribute these cream tarts. If I +mention that I heartily include myself in the ridicule of +the transaction, I hope you will consider honour satisfied +and condescend. If not, you will constrain me to +eat my twenty-eighth, and I own to being weary of the +exercise.”</p> + +<p>“You touch me,” said the Prince, “and I have all the +will in the world to rescue you from this dilemma, but +upon one condition. If my friend and I eat your cakes—for +which we have neither of us any natural inclination—we +shall expect you to join us at supper by way of recompense.”</p> + +<p>The young man seemed to reflect.</p> + +<p>“I have still several dozen upon hand,” he said at last; +“and that will make it necessary for me to visit several +more bars before my great affair is concluded. This will +take some time; and if you are hungry——“</p> + +<p>The Prince interrupted him with a polite gesture.</p> + +<p>“My friend and I will accompany you,” he said; “for +we have already a deep interest in your very agreeable +mode of passing an evening. And now that the preliminaries +of peace are settled, allow me to sign the treaty for +both.”</p> + +<p>And the Prince swallowed the tart with the best grace +imaginable.</p> + +<p>“It is delicious,” said he.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page8"></a>8</span></p> + +<p>“I perceive you are a connoisseur,” replied the young +man.</p> + +<p>Colonel Geraldine likewise did honour to the pastry; +and every one in that bar having now either accepted or +refused his delicacies, the young man with the cream tarts +led the way to another and similar establishment. The +two commissionaires, who seemed to have grown accustomed +to their absurd employment, followed immediately +after; and the Prince and the Colonel brought up the rear, +arm-in-arm, and smiling to each other as they went. In +this order the company visited two other taverns, where +scenes were enacted of a like nature to that already described—some +refusing, some accepting, the favours of this vagabond +hospitality, and the young man himself eating each +rejected tart.</p> + +<p>On leaving the third saloon the young man counted +his store. There were but nine remaining, three in one +tray and six in the other.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” said he, addressing himself to his two +new followers, “I am unwilling to delay your supper. +I am positively sure you must be hungry. I feel that +I owe you a special consideration. And on this great +day for me, when I am closing a career of folly by my +most conspicuously silly action, I wish to behave handsomely +to all who give me countenance. Gentlemen, +you shall wait no longer. Although my constitution is +shattered by previous excesses, at the risk of my life I +liquidate the suspensory condition.”</p> + +<p>With these words he crushed the nine remaining tarts +into his mouth, and swallowed them at a single movement +each. Then, turning to the commissionaires, he +gave them a couple of sovereigns.</p> + +<p>“I have to thank you,” said he, “for your extraordinary +patience.”</p> + +<p>And he dismissed them with a bow apiece. For some +seconds he stood looking at the purse from which he had +just paid his assistants, then, with a laugh, he tossed it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page9"></a>9</span> +into the middle of the street, and signified his readiness +for supper.</p> + +<p>In a small French restaurant in Soho, which had enjoyed +an exaggerated reputation for some little while, +but had already begun to be forgotten, and in a private +room up two pair of stairs, the three companions made a +very elegant supper, and drank three or four bottles of +champagne, talking the while upon indifferent subjects. +The young man was fluent and gay, but he laughed louder +than was natural in a person of polite breeding; his hands +trembled violently, and his voice took sudden and surprising +inflections, which seemed to be independent of his +will. The dessert had been cleared away, and all three had +lighted their cigars, when the Prince addressed him in +these words:—</p> + +<p>“You will, I am sure, pardon my curiosity. What I +have seen of you has greatly pleased but even more puzzled +me. And though I should be loth to seem indiscreet, I +must tell you that my friend and I are persons very well +worthy to be entrusted with a secret. We have many of +our own, which we are continually revealing to improper +ears. And if, as I suppose, your story is a silly one, you +need have no delicacy with us, who are two of the silliest +men in England. My name is Godall, Theophilus Godall; +my friend is Major Alfred Hammersmith—or at least, +such is the name by which he chooses to be known. We +pass our lives entirely in the search for extravagant adventures; +and there is no extravagance with which we are +not capable of sympathy.”</p> + +<p>“I like you, Mr. Godall,” returned the young man; +“you inspire me with a natural confidence; and I have +not the slightest objection to your friend the Major, whom +I take to be a nobleman in masquerade. At least, I am +sure he is no soldier.”</p> + +<p>The Colonel smiled at this compliment to the perfection +of his art; and the young man went on in a more +animated manner.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"></a>10</span></p> + +<p>“There is every reason why I should not tell you my +story. Perhaps that is just the reason why I am going to +do so. At least, you seem so well prepared to hear a tale +of silliness that I cannot find it in my heart to disappoint +you. My name, in spite of your example, I shall keep to +myself. My age is not essential to the narrative. I am +descended from my ancestors by ordinary generation, and +from them I inherited the very eligible human tenement +which I still occupy and a fortune of three hundred pounds +a year. I suppose they also handed on to me a harebrain +humour, which it has been my chief delight to indulge. +I received a good education. I can play the violin nearly +well enough to earn money in the orchestra of a penny +gaff, but not quite. The same remark applies to the +flute and the French horn. I learned enough of whist to +lose about a hundred a year at that scientific game. My +acquaintance with French was sufficient to enable me to +squander money in Paris with almost the same facility as +in London. In short, I am a person full of manly accomplishments. +I have had every sort of adventure, including +a duel about nothing. Only two months ago I met a +young lady exactly suited to my taste in mind and body; +I found my heart melt; I saw that I had come upon my +fate at last, and was in the way to fall in love. But when +I came to reckon up what remained to me of my capital, +I found it amounted to something less than four hundred +pounds! I ask you fairly—can a man who respects himself +fall in love on four hundred pounds? I concluded, +certainly not; left the presence of my charmer, and slightly +accelerating my usual rate of expenditure, came this +morning to my last eighty pounds. This I divided into +two equal parts; forty I reserved for a particular purpose; +the remaining forty I was to dissipate before the night. +I have passed a very entertaining day, and played many +farces besides that of the cream tarts which procured me +the advantage of your acquaintance; for I was determined, +as I told you, to bring a foolish career to a still more foolish +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"></a>11</span> +conclusion; and when you saw me throw my purse into +the street the forty pounds were at an end. Now you +know me as well as I know myself: a fool, but consistent +in his folly; and, as I will ask you to believe, neither a +whimperer nor a coward.”</p> + +<p>From the whole tone of the young man’s statement it +was plain that he harboured very bitter and contemptuous +thoughts about himself. His auditors were led to imagine +that his love affair was nearer his heart than he admitted, +and that he had a design on his own life. The farce of +the cream tarts began to have very much the air of a +tragedy in disguise.</p> + +<p>“Why, is this not odd,” broke out Geraldine, giving a +look to Prince Florizel, “that we three fellows should +have met by the merest accident in so large a wilderness +as London, and should be so nearly in the same +condition?”</p> + +<p>“How?” cried the young man. “Are you, too, +ruined? Is this supper a folly like my cream tarts? +Has the devil brought three of his own together for a +last carouse?”</p> + +<p>“The devil, depend upon it, can sometimes do a very +gentlemanly thing,” returned Prince Florizel; “and I am +so much touched by this coincidence that, although we +are not entirely in the same case, I am going to put an +end to the disparity. Let your heroic treatment of the +last cream tarts be my example.”</p> + +<p>So saying, the Prince drew out his purse and took from +it a small bundle of bank-notes.</p> + +<p>“You see, I was a week or so behind you, but I mean +to catch you up and come neck-and-neck into the winning-post,” +he continued. “This,” laying one of the notes upon +the table, “will suffice for the bill. As for the rest——“</p> + +<p>He tossed them into the fire, and they went up the +chimney in a single blaze.</p> + +<p>The young man tried to catch his arm, but as the table +was between them his interference came too late.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"></a>12</span></p> + +<p>“Unhappy man,” he cried, “you should not +have burned them all! You should have kept forty +pounds.”</p> + +<p>“Forty pounds!” repeated the Prince. “Why, in +Heaven’s name, forty pounds?”</p> + +<p>“Why not eighty?” cried the Colonel; “for to my +certain knowledge there must have been a hundred in +the bundle.”</p> + +<p>“It was only forty pounds he needed,” said the young +man gloomily. “But without them there is no admission. +The rule is strict. Forty pounds for each. Accursed life, +where a man cannot even die without money!”</p> + +<p>The Prince and the Colonel exchanged glances.</p> + +<p>“Explain yourself,” said the latter. “I have still a +pocket-book tolerably well lined, and I need not say how +readily I should share my wealth with Godall. But I must +know to what end: you must certainly tell us what you +mean.”</p> + +<p>The young man seemed to awaken: he looked uneasily +from one to the other, and his face flushed deeply.</p> + +<p>“You are not fooling me?” he asked. “You are +indeed ruined men like me?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, I am for my part,” replied the Colonel.</p> + +<p>“And for mine,” said the Prince, “I have given you +proof. Who but a ruined man would throw his notes into +the fire? The action speaks for itself.”</p> + +<p>“A ruined man—yes,” returned the other suspiciously, +“or else a millionaire.”</p> + +<p>“Enough, sir,” said the Prince; “I have said so, and +I am not accustomed to have my word remain in doubt.”</p> + +<p>“Ruined?” said the young man. “Are you ruined, +like me? Are you, after a life of indulgence, come to such +a pass that you can only indulge yourself in one thing +more? Are you“—he kept lowering his voice as he went +on—“are you going to give yourselves that last indulgence? +Are you going to avoid the consequences of your +folly by the one infallible and easy path? Are you going +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page13"></a>13</span> +to give the slip to the sheriff’s officers of conscience by +the one open door?”</p> + +<p>Suddenly he broke off and attempted to laugh.</p> + +<p>“Here is your health!” he cried, emptying his glass, +“and good-night to you, my merry ruined men.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Geraldine caught him by the arm as he was +about to rise.</p> + +<p>“You lack confidence in us,” he said, “and you are +wrong. To all your questions I make answer in the affirmative. +But I am not so timid, and can speak the Queen’s +English plainly. We too, like yourself, have had enough +of life, and are determined to die. Sooner or later, alone +or together, we meant to seek out death and beard him +where he lies ready. Since we have met you, and your +case is more pressing, let it be to-night—and at once—and, +if you will, all three together. Such a penniless +trio,” he cried, “should go arm-in-arm into the halls of +Pluto, and give each other some countenance among the +shades!”</p> + +<p>Geraldine had hit exactly on the manners and intonations +that became the part he was playing. The Prince +himself was disturbed, and looked over at his confidant +with a shade of doubt. As for the young man, the flush +came back darkly into his cheek, and his eyes threw out +a spark of light.</p> + +<p>“You are the men for me!” he cried, with an almost +terrible gaiety. “Shake hands upon the bargain!” (his +hand was cold and wet). “You little know in what a +company you will begin the march! You little know in +what a happy moment for yourselves you partook of my +cream tarts! I am only a unit, but I am a unit in an +army. I know Death’s private door. I am one of his +familiars, and can show you into eternity without ceremony +and yet without scandal.”</p> + +<p>They called upon him eagerly to explain his meaning.</p> + +<p>“Can you muster eighty pounds between you?” he +demanded.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"></a>14</span></p> + +<p>Geraldine ostentatiously consulted his pocket-book, +and replied in the affirmative.</p> + +<p>“Fortunate beings!” cried the young man. “Forty +pounds is the entry-money of the Suicide Club.”</p> + +<p>“The Suicide Club,” said the Prince, “why, what the +devil is that?”</p> + +<p>“Listen,” said the young man; “this is the age of +conveniences, and I have to tell you of the last perfection +of the sort. We have affairs in different places; and +hence railways were invented. Railways separated us +infallibly from our friends; and so telegraphs were made +that we might communicate speedily at great distances. +Even in hotels we have lifts to spare us a climb of some +hundred steps. Now, we know that life is only a stage +to play the fool upon as long as the part amuses us. There +was one more convenience lacking to modern comfort: +a decent, easy way to quit that stage; the back stairs +to liberty; or, as I said this moment, Death’s private door. +This, my two fellow-rebels, is supplied by the Suicide Club. +Do not suppose that you and I are alone, or even exceptional, +in the highly reasonable desire that we profess. A large +number of our fellowmen, who have grown heartily sick +of the performance in which they are expected to join +daily, and all their lives long, are only kept from flight by +one or two considerations. Some have families who would +be shocked, or even blamed, if the matter became public; +others have a weakness at heart and recoil from the circumstances +of death. That is, to some extent, my own experience. +I cannot put a pistol to my head and draw the +trigger; for something stronger than myself withholds the +act; and although I loathe life, I have not strength enough +in my body to take hold of death and be done with it. For +such as I, and for all who desire to be out of the coil without +posthumous scandal, the Suicide Club has been inaugurated. +How this has been managed, what is its +history, or what may be its ramifications in other lands, +I am myself uninformed; and what I know of its constitution, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15"></a>15</span> +I am not at liberty to communicate to you. To +this extent, however, I am at your service. If you are +truly tired of life, I will introduce you to-night to a meeting; +and if not to-night, at least some time within the +week, you will be easily relieved of your existences. It +is now (consulting his watch) eleven; by half-past, at +latest, we must leave this place; so that you have half +an hour before you to consider my proposal. It is more +serious than a cream tart,” he added, with a smile; “and +I suspect more palatable.”</p> + +<p>“More serious, certainly,” returned Colonel Geraldine; +“and as it is so much more so, will you allow me five +minutes’ speech in private with my friend Mr. Godall?”</p> + +<p>“It is only fair,” answered the young man. “If you +will permit, I will retire.”</p> + +<p>“You will be very obliging,” said the Colonel.</p> + +<p>As soon as the two were alone—“What,” said Prince +Florizel, “is the use of this confabulation, Geraldine? +I see you are flurried, whereas my mind is very tranquilly +made up. I will see the end of this.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” said the Colonel, turning pale; “let +me ask you to consider the importance of your life, not +only to your friends, but to the public interest. ‘If not +to-night,’ said this madman; but supposing that to-night +some irreparable disaster were to overtake your Highness’s +person, what, let me ask you, what would be my despair, +and what the concern and disaster of a great nation?”</p> + +<p>“I will see the end of this,” repeated the Prince in his +most deliberate tones; “and have the kindness, Colonel +Geraldine, to remember and respect your word of honour +as a gentleman. Under no circumstances, recollect, nor +without my special authority, are you to betray the incognito +under which I choose to go abroad. These were +my commands, which I now reiterate. And now,” he +added, “let me ask you to call for the bill.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Geraldine bowed in submission; but he had +a very white face as he summoned the young man of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16"></a>16</span> +cream tarts, and issued his directions to the waiter. The +Prince preserved his undisturbed demeanour, and described +a Palais-Royal farce to the young suicide with great humour +and gusto. He avoided the Colonel’s appealing looks +without ostentation, and selected another cheroot with +more than usual care. Indeed, he was now the only man +of the party who kept any command over his nerves.</p> + +<p>The bill was discharged, the Prince giving the whole +change of the note to the astonished waiter; and the +three drove off in a four-wheeler. They were not long +upon the way before the cab stopped at the entrance to +a rather dark court. Here all descended.</p> + +<p>After Geraldine had paid the fare, the young man +turned, and addressed Prince Florizel as follows:—</p> + +<p>“It is still time, Mr. Godall, to make good your escape +into thraldom. And for you too, Major Hammersmith. +Reflect well before you take another step; and if your +hearts say no—here are the cross-roads.”</p> + +<p>“Lead on, sir,” said the Prince, “I am not the man +to go back from a thing once said.”</p> + +<p>“Your coolness does me good,” replied their guide. +“I have never seen any one so unmoved at this conjuncture; +and yet you are not the first whom I have escorted to this +door. More than one of my friends has preceded me, where +I knew I must shortly follow. But this is of no interest to +you. Wait me here for only a few moments; I shall return +as soon as I have arranged the preliminaries of your introduction.”</p> + +<p>And with that the young man, waving his hand to his +companions, turned into the court, entered a doorway and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>“Of all our follies,” said Colonel Geraldine in a low +voice, “this is the wildest and most dangerous.”</p> + +<p>“I perfectly believe so,” returned the Prince.</p> + +<p>“We have still,” pursued the Colonel, “a moment to +ourselves. Let me beseech your Highness to profit by the +opportunity and retire. The consequences of this step +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17"></a>17</span> +are so dark, and may be so grave, that I feel myself justified +in pushing a little further than usual the liberty which your +Highness is so condescending as to allow me in private.”</p> + +<p>“Am I to understand that Colonel Geraldine is afraid?” +asked his Highness, taking his cheroot from his lips, and +looking keenly into the other’s face.</p> + +<p>“My fear is certainly not personal,” replied the other +proudly; “of that your Highness may rest well assured.”</p> + +<p>“I had supposed as much,” returned the Prince, with +undisturbed good-humour; “but I was unwilling to remind +you of the difference in our stations. No more—no +more,” he added, seeing Geraldine about to apologise; +“you stand excused.”</p> + +<p>And he smoked placidly, leaning against a railing, until +the young man returned.</p> + +<p>“Well,” he asked, “has our reception been arranged?”</p> + +<p>“Follow me,” was the reply. “The President will see +you in the cabinet. And let me warn you to be frank in +your answers. I have stood your guarantee; but the club +requires a searching inquiry before admission; for the indiscretion +of a single member would lead to the dispersion +of the whole society for ever.”</p> + +<p>The Prince and Geraldine put their heads together for +a moment. “Bear me out in this,” said the one; and +“bear me out in that,” said the other; and by boldly taking +up the characters of men with whom both were acquainted, +they had come to an agreement in a twinkling, and were +ready to follow their guide into the President’s cabinet.</p> + +<p>There were no formidable obstacles to pass. The +outer door stood open; the door of the cabinet was ajar; +and there, in a small but very high apartment, the young +man left them once more.</p> + +<p>“He will be here immediately,” he said with a nod, +as he disappeared.</p> + +<p>Voices were audible in the cabinet through the folding-doors +which formed one end; and now and then the noise +of a champagne cork, followed by a burst of laughter, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18"></a>18</span> +intervened among the sounds of conversation. A single +tall window looked out upon the river and the embankment; +and by the disposition of the lights they judged +themselves not far from Charing Cross station. The +furniture was scanty, and the coverings worn to the thread; +and there was nothing movable except a hand-bell in the +centre of a round table, and the hats and coats of a considerable +party hung round the wall on pegs.</p> + +<p>“What sort of a den is this?” said Geraldine.</p> + +<p>“That is what I have come to see,” replied the Prince. +“If they keep live devils on the premises, the thing may +grow amusing.”</p> + +<p>Just then the folding-door was opened no more than +was necessary for the passage of a human body; and there +entered at the same moment a louder buzz of talk, and the +redoubtable President of the Suicide Club. The President +was a man of fifty or upwards; large and rambling in his +gait, with shaggy side whiskers, a bald top to his head, and +a veiled grey eye, which now and then emitted a twinkle. +His mouth, which embraced a large cigar, he kept continually +screwing round and round and from side to side, +as he looked sagaciously and coldly at the strangers. He +was dressed in light tweeds, with his neck very open in a +striped shirt collar; and carried a minute-book under one +arm.</p> + +<p>“Good-evening,” said he, after he had closed the +door behind him. “I am told you wish to speak with +me.”</p> + +<p>“We have a desire, sir, to join the Suicide Club,” replied +the Colonel.</p> + +<p>The President rolled his cigar about in his mouth.</p> + +<p>“What is that?” he said abruptly.</p> + +<p>“Pardon me,” returned the Colonel, “but I believe +you are the person best qualified to give us information +on that point.”</p> + +<p>“I?” cried the President. “A Suicide Club? Come, +come! this is a frolic for All Fools’ Day. I can make +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19"></a>19</span> +allowances for gentlemen who get merry in their liquor; +but let there be an end to this.”</p> + +<p>“Call your club what you will,” said the Colonel; “you +have some company behind these doors, and we insist on +joining it.”</p> + +<p>“Sir,” returned the President curtly, “you have made +a mistake. This is a private house, and you must leave +it instantly.”</p> + +<p>The Prince had remained quietly in his seat throughout +this little colloquy; but now, when the Colonel looked over +to him, as much as to say, “Take your answer and come +away, for God’s sake!” he drew his cheroot from his mouth, +and spoke—</p> + +<p>“I have come here,” said he, “upon the invitation +of a friend of yours. He has doubtless informed you of +my intention in thus intruding on your party. Let me +remind you that a person in my circumstances has exceedingly +little to bind him, and is not at all likely to tolerate +much rudeness. I am a very quiet man, as a usual thing; +but, my dear sir, you are either going to oblige me in the +little matter of which you are aware, or you shall very +bitterly repent that you ever admitted me to your ante-chamber.”</p> + +<p>The President laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>“That is the way to speak,” said he. “You are a +man who is a man. You know the way to my heart, and +can do what you like with me. Will you,” he continued, +addressing Geraldine, “will you step aside for a few minutes? +I shall finish first with your companion, and some of the +club’s formalities require to be fulfilled in private.”</p> + +<p>With the words he opened the door of a small closet, +into which he shut the Colonel.</p> + +<p>“I believe in you,” he said to Florizel, as soon as they +were alone; “but are you sure of your friend?”</p> + +<p>“Not so sure as I am of myself, though he has more +cogent reasons,” answered Florizel, “but sure enough to +bring him here without alarm. He has had enough to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20"></a>20</span> +cure the most tenacious man of life. He was cashiered +the other day for cheating at cards.”</p> + +<p>“A good reason, I daresay,” replied the President; +“at least, we have another in the same case, and I feel +sure of him. Have you also been in the Service, may I +ask?”</p> + +<p>“I have,” was the reply; “but I was too lazy—I left +it early.”</p> + +<p>“What is your reason for being tired of life?” pursued +the President.</p> + +<p>“The same, as near as I can make out,” answered the +Prince: “unadulterated laziness.”</p> + +<p>The President started. “D—n it,” said he, “you must +have something better than that.”</p> + +<p>“I have no more money,” added Florizel. “That is +also a vexation, without doubt. It brings my sense of +idleness to an acute point.”</p> + +<p>The President rolled his cigar round in his mouth for +some seconds, directing his gaze straight into the eyes of +this unusual neophyte; but the Prince supported his +scrutiny with unabashed good temper.</p> + +<p>“If I had not a deal of experience,” said the President +at last, “I should turn you off. But I know the world; +and this much any way, that the most frivolous excuses +for a suicide are often the toughest to stand by. And +when I downright like a man, as I do you, sir, I would +rather strain the regulation than deny him.”</p> + +<p>The Prince and the Colonel, one after the other, were +subjected to a long and particular interrogatory: the +Prince alone; but Geraldine in the presence of the Prince, +so that the President might observe the countenance of +the one while the other was being warmly cross-examined. +The result was satisfactory; and the President, after having +booked a few details of each case, produced a form of oath +to be accepted. Nothing could be conceived more passive +than the obedience promised, or more stringent than the +terms by which the juror bound himself. The man who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"></a>21</span> +forfeited a pledge so awful could scarcely have a rag of +honour or any of the consolations of religion left to him. +Florizel signed the document, but not without a shudder; +the Colonel followed his example with an air of great depression. +Then the President received the entry money; +and without more ado, introduced the two friends into +the smoking-room of the Suicide Club.</p> + +<p>The smoking-room of the Suicide Club was the same +height as the cabinet into which it opened, but much +larger, and papered from top to bottom with an imitation +of oak wainscot. A large and cheerful fire and a number +of gas-jets illuminated the company. The Prince and his +follower made the number up to eighteen. Most of the +party were smoking, and drinking champagne; a feverish +hilarity reigned, with sudden and rather ghastly pauses.</p> + +<p>“Is this a full meeting?” asked the Prince.</p> + +<p>“Middling,” said the President.—“By the way,” he +added, “if you have any money, it is usual to offer some +champagne. It keeps up a good spirit, and is one of my +own little perquisites.”</p> + +<p>“Hammersmith,” said Florizel, “I may leave the +champagne to you.”</p> + +<p>And with that he turned away and began to go round +among the guests. Accustomed to play the host in the +highest circles, he charmed and dominated all whom he +approached; there was something at once winning and +authoritative in his address; and his extraordinary coolness +gave him yet another distinction in this half-maniacal +society. As he went from one to another he kept both his +eyes and ears open, and soon began to gain a general idea +of the people among whom he found himself. As in all +other places of resort, one type predominated: people in +the prime of youth, with every show of intelligence and +sensibility in their appearance, but with little promise of +strength or the quality that makes success. Few were +much above thirty, and not a few were still in their teens. +They stood, leaning on tables and shifting on their feet; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"></a>22</span> +sometimes they smoked extraordinarily fast, and sometimes +they let their cigars go out; some talked well, but +the conversation of others was plainly the result of nervous +tension, and was equally without wit or purport. As each +new bottle of champagne was opened, there was a manifest +improvement in gaiety. Only two were seated—one +in a chair in the recess of the window, with his head hanging +and his hands plunged deep into his trousers pockets, pale, +visibly moist with perspiration, saying never a word, a +very wreck of soul and body; the other sat on the divan +close by the chimney, and attracted notice by a trenchant +dissimilarity from all the rest. He was probably upwards +of forty, but he looked fully ten years older; and Florizel +thought he had never seen a man more naturally hideous, +nor one more ravaged by disease and ruinous excitements. +He was no more than skin and bone, was partly paralysed, +and wore spectacles of such unusual power that his eyes +appeared through the glasses greatly magnified and distorted +in shape. Except the Prince and the President, +he was the only person in the room who preserved the +composure of ordinary life.</p> + +<p>There was little decency among the members of the +club. Some boasted of the disgraceful actions, the consequences +of which had reduced them to seek refuge in +death; and the others listened without disapproval. There +was a tacit understanding against moral judgments; and +whoever passed the club doors enjoyed already some of the +immunities of the tomb. They drank to each other’s +memories, and to those of notable suicides in the past. +They compared and developed their different views of +death—some declaring that it was no more than blackness +and cessation; others full of a hope that that very night +they should be scaling the stars and commercing with the +mighty dead.</p> + +<p>“To the eternal memory of Baron Trenck, the type of +suicides!” cried one. “He went out of a small cell into +a smaller, that he might come forth again to freedom.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"></a>23</span></p> + +<p>“For my part,” said a second, “I wish no more than a +bandage for my eyes and cotton for my ears. Only they +have no cotton thick enough in this world.”</p> + +<p>A third was for reading the mysteries of life in a future +state; and a fourth professed that he would never have +joined the club if he had not been induced to believe in +Mr. Darwin.</p> + +<p>“I could not bear,” said this remarkable suicide, “to +be descended from an ape.”</p> + +<p>Altogether, the Prince was disappointed by the bearing +and conversation of the members.</p> + +<p>“It does not seem to me,” he thought, “a matter of +so much disturbance. If a man has made up his mind to +kill himself, let him do it, in God’s name, like a gentleman. +This flutter and big talk is out of place.”</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Colonel Geraldine was a prey to the +blackest apprehensions; the club and its rules were still +a mystery, and he looked round the room for some one +who should be able to set his mind at rest. In this survey +his eye lighted on the paralytic person with the strong +spectacles; and seeing him so exceedingly tranquil, he +besought the President, who was going in and out of the +room under a pressure of business, to present him to the +gentleman on the divan.</p> + +<p>The functionary explained the needlessness of all such +formalities within the club, but nevertheless presented Mr. +Hammersmith to Mr. Malthus.</p> + +<p>Mr. Malthus looked at the Colonel curiously, and then +requested him to take a seat upon his right.</p> + +<p>“You are a new-comer,” he said, “and wish information? +You have come to the proper source. It is two +years since I first visited this charming club.”</p> + +<p>The Colonel breathed again. If Mr. Malthus had frequented +the place for two years there could be little danger +for the Prince in a single evening. But Geraldine was none +the less astonished, and began to suspect a mystification.</p> + +<p>“What!” cried he, “two years! I thought—but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"></a>24</span> +indeed I see I have been made the subject of a +pleasantry.”</p> + +<p>“By no means,” replied Mr. Malthus mildly. “My +case is peculiar. I am not, properly speaking, a suicide +at all; but, as it were, an honorary member. I rarely +visit the club twice in two months. My infirmity and the +kindness of the President have procured me these little +immunities, for which besides I pay at an advanced rate. +Even as it is, my luck has been extraordinary.”</p> + +<p>“I am afraid,” said the Colonel, “that I must ask you +to be more explicit. You must remember that I am still +most imperfectly acquainted with the rules of the club.”</p> + +<p>“An ordinary member who comes here in search of +death, like yourself,” replied the paralytic, “returns every +evening until fortune favours him. He can even, if he is +penniless, get board and lodging from the President: very +fair, I believe, and clean, although, of course, not luxurious; +that could hardly be, considering the exiguity (if +I may so express myself) of the subscription. And then +the President’s company is a delicacy in itself.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” cried Geraldine, “he had not greatly prepossessed +me.”</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said Mr. Malthus, “you do not know the man: +the drollest fellow! What stories! What cynicism! He +knows life to admiration, and, between ourselves, is probably +the most corrupt rogue in Christendom.”</p> + +<p>“And he also,” asked the Colonel, “is a permanency—like +yourself, if I may say so without offence?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, he is a permanency in a very different sense +from me,” replied Mr. Malthus. “I have been graciously +spared, but I must go at last. Now he never plays. He +shuffles and deals for the club, and makes the necessary +arrangements. That man, my dear Mr. Hammersmith, is +the very soul of ingenuity. For three years he has pursued +in London his useful and, I think I may add, his +artistic calling; and not so much as a whisper of suspicion +has been once aroused. I believe himself to be inspired. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25"></a>25</span> +You doubtless remember the celebrated case, six months +ago, of the gentleman who was accidentally poisoned in a +chemist’s shop? That was one of the least rich, one of +the least racy, of his notions; but then, how simple! and +how safe!”</p> + +<p>“You astound me,” said the Colonel. “Was that +unfortunate gentleman one of the——” He was about +to say “victims“; but bethinking himself in time, he +substituted—“members of the club?”</p> + +<p>In the same flash of thought it occurred to him that +Mr. Malthus himself had not at all spoken in the tone of +one who is in love with death; and he added hurriedly—</p> + +<p>“But I perceive I am still in the dark. You speak of +shuffling and dealing; pray, for what end? And since +you seem rather unwilling to die than otherwise, I must +own that I cannot conceive what brings you here +at all.”</p> + +<p>“You say truly that you are in the dark,” replied Mr. +Malthus with more animation. “Why, my dear sir, this +club is the temple of intoxication. If my enfeebled health +could support the excitement more often, you may depend +upon it I should be more often here. It requires all the +sense of duty engendered by a long habit of ill-health and +careful regimen, to keep me from excess in this, which is, +I may say, my last dissipation. I have tried them all, +sir,” he went on, laying his hand on Geraldine’s arm, “all, +without exception, and I declare to you, upon my honour, +there is not one of them that has not been grossly and untruthfully +overrated. People trifle with love. Now, I +deny that love is a strong passion. Fear is the strong +passion; it is with fear that you must trifle if you wish +to taste the intensest joys of living. Envy me—envy me, +sir,” he added with a chuckle, “I am a coward!”</p> + +<p>Geraldine could scarcely repress a movement of repulsion +for this deplorable wretch; but he commanded +himself with an effort, and continued his inquiries.</p> + +<p>“How, sir,” he asked, “is the excitement so artfully +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"></a>26</span> +prolonged? and where is there any element of uncertainty?”</p> + +<p>“I must tell you how the victim for every evening is +selected,” returned Mr. Malthus; “and not only the +victim, but another member, who is to be the instrument +in the club’s hands, and death’s high priest for that occasion.”</p> + +<p>“Good God!” said the Colonel, “do they then kill +each other?”</p> + +<p>“The trouble of suicide is removed in that way,” returned +Malthus with a nod.</p> + +<p>“Merciful heavens!” ejaculated the Colonel, “and +may you—may I—may the—my friend, I mean—may +any of us be pitched upon this evening as the slayer of +another man’s body and immortal spirit? Can such +things be possible among men born of women? Oh! infamy +of infamies!”</p> + +<p>He was about to rise in his horror, when he caught the +Prince’s eye. It was fixed upon him from across the room +with a frowning and angry stare. And in a moment +Geraldine recovered his composure.</p> + +<p>“After all,” he added, “why not? and since you say +the game is interesting, <i>vogue la galčre</i>—I follow the club!”</p> + +<p>Mr. Malthus had keenly enjoyed the Colonel’s amazement +and disgust. He had the vanity of wickedness; and +it pleased him to see another man give way to a generous +movement, while he felt himself, in his entire corruption, +superior to such emotions.</p> + +<p>“You now, after your first moment of surprise,” said +he, “are in a position to appreciate the delights of our +society. You can see how it combines the excitement of +a gaming-table, a duel, and a Roman amphitheatre. The +Pagans did well enough; I cordially admire the refinement +of their minds; but it has been reserved for a Christian +country to attain this extreme, this quintessence, this +absolute of poignancy. You will understand how vapid +are all amusements to a man who has acquired a taste for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27"></a>27</span> +this one. The game we play,” he continued, “is one of +extreme simplicity. A full pack—but I perceive you are +about to see the thing in progress. Will you lend me the +help of your arm? I am unfortunately paralysed.”</p> + +<p>Indeed, just as Mr. Malthus was beginning his description, +another pair of folding-doors was thrown open, and +the whole club began to pass, not without some hurry, +into the adjoining room. It was similar in every respect +to the one from which it was entered, but somewhat differently +furnished. The centre was occupied by a long green +table, at which the President sat shuffling a pack of cards +with great particularity. Even with the stick and the +Colonel’s arm, Mr. Malthus walked with so much difficulty +that everyone was seated before this pair and the Prince, +who had waited for them, entered the apartment; and, in +consequence, the three took seats close together at the +lower end of the board.</p> + +<p>“It is a pack of fifty-two,” whispered Mr. Malthus. +“Watch for the ace of spades, which is the sign of death, +and the ace of clubs, which designates the official of the +night. Happy, happy young men!” he added. “You +have good eyes, and can follow the game. Alas! I cannot +tell an ace from a deuce across the table.”</p> + +<p>And he proceeded to equip himself with a second pair +of spectacles.</p> + +<p>“I must at least watch the faces,” he explained.</p> + +<p>The Colonel rapidly informed his friend of all that he +had learned from the honorary member, and of the horrible +alternative that lay before them. The Prince was conscious +of a deadly chill and a contraction about his heart; +he swallowed with difficulty, and looked from side to side +like a man in a maze.</p> + +<p>“One bold stroke,” whispered the Colonel, “and we +may still escape.”</p> + +<p>But the suggestion recalled the Prince’s spirits.</p> + +<p>“Silence!” said he. “Let me see that you can play +like a gentleman for any stake, however serious.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page28"></a>28</span></p> + +<p>And he looked about him, once more to all appearance +at his ease, although his heart beat thickly, and he +was conscious of an unpleasant heat in his bosom. The +members were all very quiet and intent; every one was +pale, but none so pale as Mr. Malthus. His eyes protruded; +his head kept nodding involuntarily upon his +spine; his hands found their way, one after the other, to +his mouth, where they made clutches at his tremulous +and ashen lips. It was plain that the honorary +member enjoyed his membership on very startling +terms.</p> + +<p>“Attention, gentlemen!” said the President.</p> + +<p>And he began slowly dealing the cards about the table +in the reverse direction, pausing until each man had shown +his card. Nearly every one hesitated; and sometimes you +would see a player’s fingers stumble more than once before +he could turn over the momentous slip of pasteboard. As +the Prince’s turn drew nearer, he was conscious of a growing +and almost suffocating excitement; but he had somewhat +of the gambler’s nature, and recognised almost with astonishment +that there was a degree of pleasure in his sensations. +The nine of clubs fell to his lot; the three of spades was +dealt to Geraldine; and the queen of hearts to Mr. Malthus, +who was unable to suppress a sob of relief. The young +man of the cream tarts almost immediately afterwards +turned over the ace of clubs, and remained frozen with +horror, the card still resting on his finger; he had not come +there to kill, but to be killed; and the Prince in his generous +sympathy with his position almost forgot the peril that +still hung over himself and his friend.</p> + +<p>The deal was coming round again, and still Death’s +card had not come out. The players held their respiration, +and only breathed by gasps. The Prince received +another club; Geraldine had a diamond; but when Mr. +Malthus turned up his card a horrible noise, like that of +something breaking, issued from his mouth; and he rose +from his seat and sat down again, with no sign of his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"></a>29</span> +paralysis. It was the ace of spades. The honorary member +had trifled once too often with his terrors.</p> + +<p>Conversation broke out again almost at once. The +players relaxed their rigid attitudes, and began to rise +from the table and stroll back by twos and threes into the +smoking-room. The President stretched his arms and +yawned, like a man who has finished his day’s work. But +Mr. Malthus sat in his place, with his head in his hands, +and his hands upon the table, drunk and motionless—a +thing stricken down.</p> + +<p>The Prince and Geraldine made their escape at once. +In the cold night air their horror of what they had witnessed +was redoubled.</p> + +<p>“Alas!” cried the Prince, “to be bound by an oath +in such a matter! to allow this wholesale trade in murder +to be continued with profit and impunity! If I but dared +to forfeit my pledge!”</p> + +<p>“That is impossible for your Highness,” replied the +Colonel, “whose honour is the honour of Bohemia. But +I dare, and may with propriety, forfeit mine.”</p> + +<p>“Geraldine,” said the Prince, “if your honour suffers in +any of the adventures into which you follow me, not only +will I never pardon you, but—what I believe will much +more sensibly affect you—I should never forgive myself.”</p> + +<p>“I receive your Highness’s commands,” replied the +Colonel. “Shall we go from this accursed spot?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said the Prince. “Call a cab in Heaven’s +name, and let me try to forget in slumber the memory +of this night’s disgrace.”</p> + +<p>But it was notable that he carefully read the name of +the court before he left it.</p> + +<p>The next morning, as soon as the Prince was stirring, +Colonel Geraldine brought him a daily newspaper, with +the following paragraph marked:—</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> +<p>“<span class="sc">Melancholy Accident.</span>—This morning, about two +o’clock, Mr. Bartholomew Malthus, of 16 Chepstow Place, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"></a>30</span> +Westbourne Grove, on his way home from a party at a +friend’s house, fell over the upper parapet in Trafalgar +Square, fracturing his skull and breaking a leg and an arm. +Death was instantaneous. Mr. Malthus, accompanied by +a friend, was engaged in looking for a cab at the time of +the unfortunate occurrence. As Mr. Malthus was paralytic, +it is thought that his fall may have been occasioned +by another seizure. The unhappy gentleman was well +known in the most respectable circles, and his loss will be +widely and deeply deplored.”</p> +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p>“If ever a soul went straight to Hell,” said Geraldine +solemnly, “it was that paralytic man’s.”</p> + +<p>The Prince buried his face in his hands, and remained +silent.</p> + +<p>“I am almost rejoiced,” continued the Colonel, “to +know that he is dead. But for our young man of the +cream tarts I confess my heart bleeds.”</p> + +<p>“Geraldine,” said the Prince, raising his face, “that +unhappy lad was last night as innocent as you and I; and +this morning the guilt of blood is on his soul. When I +think of the President, my heart grows sick within me. +I do not know how it shall be done, but I shall have that +scoundrel at my mercy as there is a God in heaven. What +an experience, what a lesson, was that game of cards!”</p> + +<p>“One,” said the Colonel, “never to be repeated.”</p> + +<p>The Prince remained so long without replying that +Geraldine grew alarmed.</p> + +<p>“You cannot mean to return,” he said. “You have +suffered too much and seen too much horror already. The +duties of your high position forbid the repetition of the +hazard.”</p> + +<p>“There is much in what you say,” replied Prince +Florizel, “and I am not altogether pleased with my own +determination. Alas! in the clothes of the greatest potentate +what is there but a man? I never felt my weakness +more acutely than now, Geraldine, but it is stronger than +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"></a>31</span> +I. Can I cease to interest myself in the fortunes of the +unhappy young man who supped with us some hours ago? +Can I leave the President to follow his nefarious career +unwatched? Can I begin an adventure so entrancing, +and not follow it to an end? No, Geraldine, you ask of +the Prince more than the man is able to perform. To-night, +once more, we take our places at the table of the +Suicide Club.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Geraldine fell upon his knees.</p> + +<p>“Will your Highness take my life?” he cried. “It is +his—his freely; but do not, O do not! let him ask me to +countenance so terrible a risk.”</p> + +<p>“Colonel Geraldine,” replied the Prince, with some +haughtiness of manner, “your life is absolutely your own. +I only looked for obedience; and when that is unwillingly +rendered, I shall look for that no longer. I add one word: +your importunity in this affair has been sufficient.”</p> + +<p>The Master of the Horse regained his feet at once.</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” he said, “may I be excused in my +attendance this afternoon? I dare not, as an honourable +man, venture a second time into that fatal house until I +have perfectly ordered my affairs. Your Highness shall +meet, I promise him, with no more opposition from the +most devoted and grateful of his servants.”</p> + +<p>“My dear Geraldine,” returned Prince Florizel, “I +always regret when you oblige me to remember my rank. +Dispose of your day as you think fit, but be here before +eleven in the same disguise.”</p> + +<p>The club, on this second evening, was not so fully attended; +and when Geraldine and the Prince arrived there +were not above half a dozen persons in the smoking-room. +His Highness took the President aside and congratulated +him warmly on the demise of Mr. Malthus.</p> + +<p>“I like,” he said, “to meet with capacity, and certainly +find much of it in you. Your profession is of a very delicate +nature, but I see you are well qualified to conduct it +with success and secrecy.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"></a>32</span></p> + +<p>The President was somewhat affected by these compliments +from one of his Highness’s superior bearing. He +acknowledged them almost with humility.</p> + +<p>“Poor Malthy!” he added, “I shall hardly know the +club without him. The most of my patrons are boys, sir, +and poetical boys, who are not much company for me. +Not but what Malthy had some poetry too; but it was of +a kind that I could understand.”</p> + +<p>“I can readily imagine you should find yourself in +sympathy with Mr. Malthus,” returned the Prince. “He +struck me as a man of a very original disposition.”</p> + +<p>The young man of the cream tarts was in the room, +but painfully depressed and silent. His late companions +sought in vain to lead him into conversation.</p> + +<p>“How bitterly I wish,” he cried, “that I had never +brought you to this infamous abode! Begone, while you +are clean-handed. If you could have heard the old man +scream as he fell, and the noise of his bones upon the pavement! +Wish me, if you have any kindness to so fallen a +being—wish the ace of spades for me to-night!”</p> + +<p>A few more members dropped in as the evening went +on, but the club did not muster more than the devil’s dozen +when they took their places at the table. The Prince was +again conscious of a certain joy in his alarms; but he was +astonished to see Geraldine so much more self-possessed +than on the night before.</p> + +<p>“It is extraordinary,” thought the Prince, “that a +will, made or unmade, should so greatly influence a young +man’s spirit.”</p> + +<p>“Attention, gentlemen!” said the President, and he +began to deal.</p> + +<p>Three times the cards went all round the table, and +neither of the marked cards had yet fallen from his hand. +The excitement as he began the fourth distribution was +overwhelming. There were just cards enough to go once +more entirely round. The Prince, who sat second from +the dealer’s left, would receive, in the reverse mode of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"></a>33</span> +dealing practised at the club, the second last card. The +third player turned up a black ace—it was the ace of clubs. +The next received a diamond, the next a heart, and so on; +but the ace of spades was still undelivered. At last +Geraldine, who sat upon the Prince’s left, turned his card; +it was an ace, but the ace of hearts.</p> + +<p>When Prince Florizel saw his fate upon the table in +front of him, his heart stood still. He was a brave man, +but the sweat poured off his face. There were exactly +fifty chances out of a hundred that he was doomed. He +reversed the card; it was the ace of spades. A loud roaring +filled his brain, and the table swam before his eyes. +He heard the player on his right break into a fit of laughter +that sounded between mirth and disappointment; he saw +the company rapidly dispersing, but his mind was full of +other thoughts. He recognised how foolish, how criminal, +had been his conduct. In perfect health, in the prime of +his years, the heir to a throne, he had gambled away his +future and that of a brave and loyal country. “God,” +he cried, “God forgive me!” And with that the confusion +of his senses passed away, and he regained his self-possession +in a moment.</p> + +<p>To his surprise, Geraldine had disappeared. There was +no one in the card-room but his destined butcher consulting +with the President, and the young man of the +cream tarts, who slipped up to the Prince and whispered +in his ear—</p> + +<p>“I would give a million, if I had it, for your luck.”</p> + +<p>His Highness could not help reflecting, as the young +man departed, that he would have sold his opportunity +for a much more moderate sum.</p> + +<p>The whispered conference now came to an end. The +holder of the ace of clubs left the room with a look of intelligence, +and the President, approaching the unfortunate +Prince, proffered him his hand.</p> + +<p>“I am pleased to have met you, sir,” said he, “and +pleased to have been in a position to do you this trifling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"></a>34</span> +service. At least, you cannot complain of delay. On the +second evening—what a stroke of luck!”</p> + +<p>The Prince endeavoured in vain to articulate something +in response, but his mouth was dry and his tongue +seemed paralysed.</p> + +<p>“You feel a little sickish?” asked the President, with +some show of solicitude. “Most gentlemen do. Will you +take a little brandy?”</p> + +<p>The Prince signified in the affirmative, and the other +immediately filled some of the spirit into a tumbler.</p> + +<p>“Poor old Malthy!” ejaculated the President, as the +Prince drained the glass. “He drank near upon a pint, +and little enough good it seemed to do him!”</p> + +<p>“I am more amenable to treatment,” said the Prince, +a good deal revived. “I am my own man again at once, +as you perceive. And so, let me ask you, what are my +directions?”</p> + +<p>“You will proceed along the Strand in the direction of +the City, and on the left-hand pavement, until you meet +the gentleman who has just left the room. He will continue +your instructions, and him you will have the kindness +to obey; the authority of the club is vested in his +person for the night. And now,” added the President, “I +wish you a pleasant walk.”</p> + +<p>Florizel acknowledged the salutation rather awkwardly, +and took his leave. He passed through the smoking-room, +where the bulk of the players were still consuming champagne, +some of which he had himself ordered and paid for; +and he was surprised to find himself cursing them in his +heart. He put on his hat and greatcoat in the cabinet, +and selected his umbrella from a corner. The familiarity +of these acts, and the thought that he was about them for +the last time, betrayed him into a fit of laughter which +sounded unpleasantly in his own ears. He conceived a +reluctance to leave the cabinet, and turned instead to the +window. The sight of the lamps and the darkness recalled +him to himself.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"></a>35</span></p> + +<p>“Come, come, I must be a man,” he thought, “and +tear myself away.”</p> + +<p>At the corner of Box Court three men fell upon Prince +Florizel, and he was unceremoniously thrust into a carriage, +which at once drove rapidly away. There was +already an occupant.</p> + +<p>“Will your Highness pardon my zeal?” said a well-known +voice.</p> + +<p>The Prince threw himself upon the Colonel’s neck in a +passion of relief.</p> + +<p>“How can I ever thank you?” he cried. “And how +was this effected?”</p> + +<p>Although he had been willing to march upon his doom, +he was overjoyed to yield to friendly violence, and return +once more to life and hope.</p> + +<p>“You can thank me effectually enough,” replied the +Colonel, “by avoiding all such dangers in the future. And +as for your second question, all has been managed by the +simplest means. I arranged this afternoon with a celebrated +detective. Secrecy has been promised and paid for. +Your own servants have been principally engaged in the +affair. The house in Box Court has been surrounded since +nightfall, and this, which is one of your own carriages, has +been awaiting you for nearly an hour.”</p> + +<p>“And the miserable creature who was to have slain +me—what of him?” inquired the Prince.</p> + +<p>“He was pinioned as he left the club,” replied the +Colonel, “and now awaits your sentence at the Palace, +where he will soon be joined by his accomplices.”</p> + +<p>“Geraldine,” said the Prince, “you have saved me +against my explicit orders, and you have done well. I +owe you not only my life, but a lesson; and I should be +unworthy of my rank if I did not show myself grateful +to my teacher. Let it be yours to choose the +manner.”</p> + +<p>There was a pause, during which the carriage continued +to speed through the streets, and the two men were each +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"></a>36</span> +buried in his own reflections. The silence was broken by +Colonel Geraldine.</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” said he, “has by this time a considerable +body of prisoners. There is at least one criminal +among the number to whom justice should be dealt. Our +oath forbids us all recourse to law; and discretion would +forbid it equally if the oath were loosened. May I inquire +your Highness’s intention?”</p> + +<p>“It is decided,” answered Florizel; “the President +must fall in duel. It only remains to choose his adversary.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness has permitted me to name my own +recompense,” said the Colonel. “Will he permit me to +ask the appointment of my brother? It is an honourable +post, but I dare assure your Highness that the lad will +acquit himself with credit.”</p> + +<p>“You ask me an ungracious favour,” said the Prince, +“but I must refuse you nothing.”</p> + +<p>The Colonel kissed his hand with the greatest affection; +and at that moment the carriage rolled under the archway +of the Prince’s splendid residence.</p> + +<p>An hour after, Florizel in his official robes, and covered +with all the orders of Bohemia, received the members of +the Suicide Club.</p> + +<p>“Foolish and wicked men,” said he, “as many of you +as have been driven into this strait by the lack of fortune +shall receive employment and remuneration from my +officers. Those who suffer under a sense of guilt must +have recourse to a higher and more generous Potentate +than I. I feel pity for all of you, deeper than you can +imagine; to-morrow you shall tell me your stories; and +as you answer more frankly, I shall be the more able to +remedy your misfortunes. As for you,” he added, turning +to the President, “I should only offend a person of your +parts by any offer of assistance; but I have instead a piece +of diversion to propose to you. Here,” laying his hand on +the shoulder of Colonel Geraldine’s young brother, “is an +officer of mine who desires to make a little tour upon the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37"></a>37</span> +Continent; and I ask you, as a favour, to accompany him +on this excursion. Do you,” he went on, changing his tone, +“do you shoot well with the pistol? Because you may +have need of that accomplishment. When two men go +travelling together, it is best to be prepared for all. Let +me add that, if by any chance you should lose young Mr. +Geraldine upon the way, I shall always have another +member of my household to place at your disposal; and I +am known, Mr. President, to have long eyesight, and as +long an arm.”</p> + +<p>With these words, said with much sternness, the Prince +concluded his address. Next morning the members of the +club were suitably provided for by his munificence, and +the President set forth upon his travels, under the supervision +of Mr. Geraldine, and a pair of faithful and adroit +lackeys, well trained in the Prince’s household. Not content +with this, discreet agents were put in possession of +the house in Box Court, and all letters or visitors for the +Suicide Club or its officials were to be examined by Prince +Florizel in person.</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p><i>Here</i> (says my Arabian author) <i>ends</i> <span class="sc">The Story of +the Young Man with the Cream Tarts</span>, <i>who is now a +comfortable householder in Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square. +The number, for obvious reasons, I suppress. Those who +care to pursue the adventures of Prince Florizel and the President +of the Suicide Club, may read</i></p> + +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h5>THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA +TRUNK</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Mr. Silas</span> Q. Scuddamore was a young American of a +simple and harmless disposition, which was the more to +his credit as he came from New England—a quarter of +the New World not precisely famous for those qualities. +Although he was exceedingly rich, he kept a note of all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38"></a>38</span> +his expenses in a little paper pocket-book; and he had +chosen to study the attractions of Paris from the seventh +story of what is called a furnished hotel in the Latin Quarter. +There was a great deal of habit in his penuriousness; and +his virtue, which was very remarkable among his associates, +was principally founded upon diffidence and youth.</p> + +<p>The next room to his was inhabited by a lady, very +attractive in her air and very elegant in toilette, whom, on +his first arrival, he had taken for a Countess. In course of +time he had learned that she was known by the name of +Madame Zéphyrine, and that whatever station she occupied +in life it was not that of a person of title. Madame +Zéphyrine, probably in the hope of enchanting the young +American, used to flaunt by him on the stairs with a civil +inclination, a word of course, and a knock-down look out +of her black eyes, and disappear in a rustle of silk, and +with the revelation of an admirable foot and ankle. But +these advances, so far from encouraging Mr. Scuddamore, +plunged him into the depths of depression and bashfulness. +She had come to him several times for a light, or to apologise +for imaginary depredations of her poodle; but his +mouth was closed in the presence of so superior a being, +his French promptly left him, and he could only stare and +stammer until she was gone. The slenderness of their +intercourse did not prevent him from throwing out insinuations +of a very glorious order when he was safely alone +with a few males.</p> + +<p>The room on the other side of the American’s—for +there were three rooms on a floor in the hotel—was tenanted +by an old English physician of rather doubtful reputation. +Dr. Noel, for that was his name, had been forced to leave +London, where he enjoyed a large and increasing practice; +and it was hinted that the police had been the instigators +of this change of scene. At least he, who had made something +of a figure in earlier life, now dwelt in the Latin +Quarter in great simplicity and solitude, and devoted +much of his time to study. Mr. Scuddamore had made his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39"></a>39</span> +acquaintance, and the pair would now and then dine together +frugally in a restaurant across the street.</p> + +<p>Silas Q. Scuddamore had many little vices of the more +respectable order, and was not restrained by delicacy from +indulging them in many rather doubtful ways. Chief +among his foibles stood curiosity. He was a born gossip; +and life, and especially those parts of it in which he had +no experience, interested him to the degree of passion. +He was a pert, invincible questioner, pushing his inquiries +with equal pertinacity and indiscretion; he had been +observed, when he took a letter to the post, to weigh it in +his hand, to turn it over and over, and to study the address +with care; and when he found a flaw in the partition +between his room and Madame Zéphyrine’s, instead of +filling it up, he enlarged and improved the opening, and +made use of it as a spy-hole on his neighbour’s affairs.</p> + +<p>One day, in the end of March, his curiosity growing +as it was indulged, he enlarged the hole a little further, +so that he might command another corner of the room. +That evening, when he went as usual to inspect Madame +Zéphyrine’s movements, he was astonished to find the +aperture obscured in an odd manner on the other side, +and still more abashed when the obstacle was suddenly +withdrawn and a titter of laughter reached his ears. Some +of the plaster had evidently betrayed the secret of his spy-hole, +and his neighbour had been returning the compliment +in kind. Mr. Scuddamore was moved to a very acute +feeling of annoyance; he condemned Madame Zéphyrine +unmercifully: he even blamed himself; but when he found, +next day, that she had taken no means to baulk him of his +favourite pastime, he continued to profit by her carelessness, +and gratify his idle curiosity.</p> + +<p>That next day Madame Zéphyrine received a long +visit from a tall, loosely-built man of fifty or upwards, +whom Silas had not hitherto seen. His tweed suit and +coloured shirt, no less than his shaggy side-whiskers, identified +him as a Britisher, and his dull grey eye affected Silas +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"></a>40</span> +with a sense of cold. He kept screwing his mouth from +side to side and round and round during the whole colloquy, +which was carried on in whispers. More than once it +seemed to the young New Englander as if their gestures +indicated his own apartment; but the only thing definite +he could gather by the most scrupulous attention was this +remark, made by the Englishman in a somewhat higher +key, as if in answer to some reluctance or opposition—</p> + +<p>“I have studied his taste to a nicety, and I tell you +again and again you are the only woman of the sort that I +can lay my hands on.”</p> + +<p>In answer to this, Madame Zéphyrine sighed, and +appeared by a gesture to resign herself, like one yielding +to unqualified authority.</p> + +<p>That afternoon the observatory was finally blinded, a +wardrobe having been drawn in front of it upon the other +side; and while Silas was still lamenting over this misfortune, +which he attributed to the Britisher’s malign +suggestion, the <i>concierge</i> brought him up a letter in a +female handwriting. It was conceived in French of no +very rigorous orthography, bore no signature, and in the +most encouraging terms invited the young American to +be present in a certain part of the Bullier Ball at eleven +o’clock that night. Curiosity and timidity fought a long +battle in his heart; sometimes he was all virtue, sometimes +all fire and daring; and the result of it was that, long before +ten, Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore presented himself in unimpeachable +attire at the door of the Bullier Ball Rooms, +and paid his entry money with a sense of reckless devilry +that was not without its charm.</p> + +<p>It was Carnival time, and the Ball was very full and +noisy. The lights and the crowd at first rather abashed our +young adventurer, and then, mounting to his brain with +a sort of intoxication, put him in possession of more than +his own share of manhood. He felt ready to face the devil, +and strutted in the ball-room with the swagger of a cavalier. +While he was thus parading, he became aware of Madame +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"></a>41</span> +Zéphyrine and her Britisher in conference behind a pillar. +The cat-like spirit of eavesdropping overcame him at once. +He stole nearer and nearer on the couple from behind, +until he was within earshot.</p> + +<p>“That is the man,” the Britisher was saying; “there—with +the long blond hair—speaking to a girl in green.”</p> + +<p>Silas identified a very handsome young fellow of small +stature, who was plainly the object of this designation.</p> + +<p>“It is well,” said Madame Zéphyrine. “I shall do +my utmost. But, remember, the best of us may fail in +such a matter.”</p> + +<p>“Tut!” returned her companion; “I answer for the +result. Have I not chosen you from thirty? Go; but be +wary of the Prince. I cannot think what cursed accident +has brought him here to-night. As if there were not a +dozen balls in Paris better worth his notice than this riot +of students and counter-jumpers! See him where he sits, +more like a reigning Emperor at home than a Prince upon +his holidays!”</p> + +<p>Silas was again lucky. He observed a person of rather +a full build, strikingly handsome, and of a very stately and +courteous demeanour, seated at table with another handsome +young man, several years his junior, who addressed +him with conspicuous deference. The name of Prince struck +gratefully on Silas’s Republican hearing, and the aspect of +the person to whom that name was applied exercised its +usual charm upon his mind. He left Madame Zéphyrine +and her Englishman to take care of each other, and threading +his way through the assembly, approached the table +which the Prince and his confidant had honoured with their +choice.</p> + +<p>“I tell you, Geraldine,” the former was saying, “the +action is madness. Yourself (I am glad to remember it) +chose your brother for this perilous service, and you are +bound in duty to have a guard upon his conduct. He has +consented to delay so many days in Paris; that was already +an imprudence, considering the character of the man he has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"></a>42</span> +to deal with; but now, when he is within eight-and-forty +hours of his departure, when he is within two or three days +of the decisive trial, I ask you, is this a place for him to spend +his time? He should be in a gallery at practice; he should +be sleeping long hours and taking moderate exercise on +foot; he should be on a rigorous diet, without white wines +or brandy. Does the dog imagine we are all playing +comedy? The thing is deadly earnest, Geraldine.”</p> + +<p>“I know the lad too well to interfere,” replied Colonel +Geraldine, “and well enough not to be alarmed. He is +more cautious than you fancy, and of an indomitable spirit. +If it had been a woman I should not say so much, but I +trust the President to him and the two valets without an +instant’s apprehension.”</p> + +<p>“I am gratified to hear you say so,” replied the +Prince; “but my mind is not at rest. These servants are +well-trained spies, and already has not this miscreant +succeeded three times in eluding their observation and +spending several hours on each in private, and most likely +dangerous, affairs? An amateur might have lost him +by accident, but if Rudolph and Jérome were thrown +off the scent, it must have been done on purpose, and +by a man who had a cogent reason and exceptional resources.”</p> + +<p>“I believe the question is now one between my brother +and myself,” replied Geraldine, with a shade of offence in +his tone.</p> + +<p>“I permit it to be so, Colonel Geraldine,” returned +Prince Florizel. “Perhaps, for that very reason, you +should be all the more ready to accept my counsels. But +enough. That girl in yellow dances well.”</p> + +<p>And the talk veered into the ordinary topics of a Paris +ball-room in the Carnival.</p> + +<p>Silas remembered where he was, and that the hour was +already near at hand when he ought to be upon the scene of +his assignation. The more he reflected the less he liked +the prospect, and as at that moment an eddy in the crowd +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"></a>43</span> +began to draw him in the direction of the door, he suffered +it to carry him away without resistance. The eddy stranded +him in a corner under the gallery, where his ear was immediately +struck with the voice of Madame Zéphyrine. +She was speaking in French with the young man of the blond +locks who had been pointed out by the strange Britisher not +half an hour before.</p> + +<p>“I have a character at stake,” she said, “or I would put +no other condition than my heart recommends. But you +have only to say so much to the porter, and he will let you +go by without a word.”</p> + +<p>“But why this talk of debt?” objected her companion.</p> + +<p>“Heavens!” said she, “do you think I do not understand +my own hotel?”</p> + +<p>And she went by, clinging affectionately to her companion’s +arm.</p> + +<p>This put Silas in mind of his billet.</p> + +<p>“Ten minutes hence,” thought he, “and I may be walking +with as beautiful a woman as that, and even better +dressed—perhaps a real lady, possibly a woman of +title.”</p> + +<p>And then he remembered the spelling, and was a little +downcast.</p> + +<p>“But it may have been written by her maid,” he +imagined.</p> + +<p>The clock was only a few minutes from the hour, and +this immediate proximity set his heart beating at a curious +and rather disagreeable speed. He reflected with relief that +he was in no way bound to put in an appearance. Virtue +and cowardice were together, and he made once more for the +door, but this time, of his own accord, and battling against +the stream of people which was now moving in a contrary +direction. Perhaps this prolonged resistance wearied him, +or perhaps he was in that frame of mind when merely to +continue in the same determination for a certain number of +minutes produces a reaction and a different purpose. Certainly, +at least, he wheeled about for a third time, and did +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"></a>44</span> +not stop until he had found a place of concealment within +a few yards of the appointed place.</p> + +<p>Here he went through an agony of spirit, in which he +several times prayed to God for help, for Silas had been +devoutly educated. He had now not the least inclination +for the meeting; nothing kept him from flight but a silly +fear lest he should be thought unmanly; but this was so +powerful that it kept head against all other motives; and +although it could not decide him to advance, prevented him +from definitely running away. At last the clock indicated +ten minutes past the hour. Young Scuddamore’s spirit +began to rise; he peered round the corner and saw no one +at the place of meeting; doubtless his unknown correspondent +had wearied and gone away. He became as bold as he +had formerly been timid. It seemed to him that if he came +at all to the appointment, however late, he was clear from +the charge of cowardice. Nay, now he began to suspect a +hoax, and actually complimented himself on his shrewdness +in having suspected and out-manœuvred his mystifiers. So +very idle a thing is a boy’s mind!</p> + +<p>Armed with these reflections, he advanced boldly from +his corner; but he had not taken above a couple of steps +before a hand was laid upon his arm. He turned and +beheld a lady cast in a very large mould and with somewhat +stately features, but bearing no mark of severity in her +looks.</p> + +<p>“I see that you are a very self-confident lady-killer,” +said she; “for you make yourself expected. But I was +determined to meet you. When a woman has once so far +forgotten herself as to make the first advance, she has long +ago left behind her all considerations of petty pride.”</p> + +<p>Silas was overwhelmed by the size and attractions of his +correspondent and the suddenness with which she had +fallen upon him. But she soon set him at his ease. She +was very towardly and lenient in her behaviour; she led +him on to make pleasantries, and then applauded him to +the echo; and in a very short time, between blandishments +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45"></a>45</span> +and a liberal exhibition of warm brandy, she had not only +induced him to fancy himself in love, but to declare his +passion with the greatest vehemence.</p> + +<p>“Alas!” she said; “I do not know whether I ought not +to deplore this moment, great as is the pleasure you give me +by your words. Hitherto I was alone to suffer; now, poor +boy, there will be two. I am not my own mistress. I dare +not ask you to visit me at my own house, for I am watched +by jealous eyes. Let me see,” she added; “I am older +than you, although so much weaker; and while I trust in +your courage and determination, I must employ my own +knowledge of the world for our mutual benefit. Where do +you live?”</p> + +<p>He told her that he lodged in a furnished hotel, and +named the street and number.</p> + +<p>She seemed to reflect for some minutes, with an effort of +mind.</p> + +<p>“I see,” she said at last. “You will be faithful and +obedient, will you not?”</p> + +<p>Silas assured her eagerly of his fidelity.</p> + +<p>“To-morrow night, then,” she continued, with an encouraging +smile, “you must remain at home all the evening; +and if any friends should visit you, dismiss them at once on +any pretext that most readily presents itself. Your door is +probably shut by ten?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“By eleven,” answered Silas.</p> + +<p>“At a quarter past eleven,” pursued the lady, “leave +the house. Merely cry for the door to be opened, and be +sure you fall into no talk with the porter, as that might ruin +everything. Go straight to the corner where the Luxembourg +Gardens join the Boulevard; there you will find me +waiting you. I trust you to follow my advice from point to +point: and remember, if you fail me in only one particular, +you will bring the sharpest trouble on a woman whose only +fault is to have seen and loved you.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot see the use of all these instructions,” said +Silas.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page46"></a>46</span></p> + +<p>“I believe you are already beginning to treat me as a +master,” she cried, tapping him with her fan upon the arm. +“Patience, patience! that should come in time. A woman +loves to be obeyed at first, although afterwards she finds her +pleasure in obeying. Do as I ask you, for Heaven’s sake, or +I will answer for nothing. Indeed, now I think of it,” she +added, with a manner of one who has just seen further into a +difficulty, “I find a better plan of keeping importunate +visitors away. Tell the porter to admit no one for you, +except a person who may come that night to claim a debt; +and speak with some feeling, as though you feared the interview, +so that he may take your words in earnest.”</p> + +<p>“I think you may trust me to protect myself against +intruders,” he said, not without a little pique.</p> + +<p>“That is how I should prefer the thing arranged,” she +answered coldly. “I know you men; you think nothing +of a woman’s reputation.”</p> + +<p>Silas blushed and somewhat hung his head; for the +scheme he had in view had involved a little vain-glorying +before his acquaintances.</p> + +<p>“Above all,” she added, “do not speak to the porter +as you come out.”</p> + +<p>“And why?” said he. “Of all your instructions, that +seems to me the least important.”</p> + +<p>“You at first doubted the wisdom of some of the others, +which you now see to be very necessary,” she replied. “Believe +me, this also has its uses; in time you will see them; and +what am I to think of your affection, if you refuse me such +trifles at our first interview?”</p> + +<p>Silas confounded himself in explanations and apologies; +in the middle of these she looked up at the clock and clapped +her hands together with a suppressed scream.</p> + +<p>“Heavens!” she cried, “is it so late? I have not an +instant to lose. Alas, we poor women, what slaves we are! +What have I not risked for you already?”</p> + +<p>And after repeating her directions, which she artfully +combined with caresses and the most abandoned looks, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47"></a>47</span> +she bade him farewell and disappeared among the +crowd.</p> + +<p>The whole of the next day Silas was filled with a sense +of great importance; he was now sure she was a countess; +and when evening came he minutely obeyed her orders and +was at the corner of the Luxembourg Gardens by the hour +appointed. No one was there. He waited nearly half an +hour, looking in the face of every one who passed or loitered +near the spot; he even visited the neighbouring corners of +the Boulevard and made a complete circuit of the garden +railings; but there was no beautiful countess to throw herself +into his arms. At last, and most reluctantly, he began +to retrace his steps towards his hotel. On the way he remembered +the words he had heard pass between Madame +Zéphyrine and the blond young man, and they gave him an +indefinite uneasiness.</p> + +<p>“It appears,” he reflected, “that every one has to tell +lies to our porter.”</p> + +<p>He rang the bell, the door opened before him, and the +porter in his bed-clothes came to offer him a light.</p> + +<p>“Has he gone?” inquired the porter.</p> + +<p>“He? Whom do you mean?” asked Silas, somewhat +sharply, for he was irritated by his disappointment.</p> + +<p>“I did not notice him go out,” continued the porter, +“but I trust you paid him. We do not care, in this house, +to have lodgers who cannot meet their liabilities.”</p> + +<p>“What the devil do you mean?” demanded Silas, +rudely. “I cannot understand a word of this farrago.”</p> + +<p>“The short, blond young man who came for his debt,” +returned the other. “Him it is I mean. Who else should +it be, when I had your orders to admit no one else?”</p> + +<p>“Why, good God! of course he never came,” retorted +Silas.</p> + +<p>“I believe what I believe,” returned the porter, putting +his tongue into his cheek with a most roguish air.</p> + +<p>“You are an insolent scoundrel,” cried Silas, and, feeling +that he had made a ridiculous exhibition of asperity, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"></a>48</span> +and at the same time bewildered by a dozen alarms, he +turned and began to run upstairs.</p> + +<p>“Do you not want a light, then?” cried the porter.</p> + +<p>But Silas only hurried the faster, and did not pause +until he had reached the seventh landing and stood in +front of his own door. There he waited a moment to +recover his breath, assailed by the worst forebodings, and +almost dreading to enter the room.</p> + +<p>When at last he did so he was relieved to find it dark, +and to all appearance untenanted. He drew a long breath. +Here he was, home again in safety, and this should be his +last folly as certainly as it had been his first. The matches +stood on a little table by the bed, and he began to grope +his way in that direction. As he moved, his apprehensions +grew upon him once more, and he was pleased, when his +foot encountered an obstacle, to find it nothing more +alarming than a chair. At last he touched curtains. +From the position of the window, which was faintly visible, +he knew he must be at the foot of the bed, and had only +to feel his way along it in order to reach the table in question.</p> + +<p>He lowered his hand, but what it touched was not +simply a counterpane—it was a counterpane with something +underneath it like the outline of a human leg. Silas +withdrew his arm and stood a moment petrified.</p> + +<p>“What, what,” he thought, “can this betoken?”</p> + +<p>He listened intently, but there was no sound of breathing. +Once more, with a great effort, he reached out the +end of his finger to the spot he had already touched; but +this time he leaped back half a yard, and stood shivering +and fixed with terror. There was something in his bed. +What it was he knew not, but there was something there.</p> + +<p>It was some seconds before he could move. Then, +guided by an instinct, he fell straight upon the matches, +and, keeping his back towards the bed, lighted a candle. +As soon as the flame had kindled, he turned slowly round +and looked for what he feared to see. Sure enough, there +was the worst of his imaginations realised. The coverlid +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49"></a>49</span> +was drawn carefully up over the pillow, but it moulded +the outline of a human body lying motionless; and when +he dashed forward and flung aside the sheets, he beheld +the blond young man whom he had seen in the Bullier +Ball the night before, his eyes open and without speculation, +his face swollen and blackened, and a thin stream of +blood trickling from his nostrils.</p> + +<p>Silas uttered a long, tremulous wail, dropped the candle +and fell on his knees beside the bed.</p> + +<p>Silas was awakened from the stupor into which his +terrible discovery had plunged him, by a prolonged but +discreet tapping at the door. It took him some seconds +to remember his position; and when he hastened to prevent +any one from entering it was already too late. Dr. +Noel, in a tall nightcap, carrying a lamp which lighted up +his long white countenance, sidling in his gait, and peering +and cocking his head like some sort of bird, pushed the +door slowly open, and advanced into the middle of the room.</p> + +<p>“I thought I heard a cry,” began the Doctor, “and +fearing you might be unwell I did not hesitate to offer +this intrusion.”</p> + +<p>Silas, with a flushed face and a fearful beating heart, +kept between the Doctor and the bed; but he found no +voice to answer.</p> + +<p>“You are in the dark,” pursued the Doctor; “and yet +you have not even begun to prepare for rest. You will not +easily persuade me against my own eyesight; and your face +declares most eloquently that you require either a friend or a +physician—which is it to be? Let me feel your pulse, for +that is often a just reporter of the heart.”</p> + +<p>He advanced to Silas, who still retreated before him +backwards, and sought to take him by the wrist; but the +strain on the young American’s nerves had become too great +for endurance. He avoided the Doctor with a febrile +movement, and, throwing himself upon the floor, burst into +a flood of weeping.</p> + +<p>As soon as Dr. Noel perceived the dead man in the bed his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50"></a>50</span> +face darkened; and hurrying back to the door, which he had +left ajar, he hastily closed and double-locked it.</p> + +<p>“Up!” he cried, addressing Silas in strident tones; “this +is no time for weeping. What have you done? How came +this body in your room? Speak freely to one who may be +helpful. Do you imagine I would ruin you? Do you think +this piece of dead flesh on your pillow can alter in any degree +the sympathy with which you have inspired me? Credulous +youth, the horror with which blind and unjust law regards +an action never attaches to the doer in the eyes of those who +love him; and if I saw the friend of my heart return to me +out of seas of blood he would be in no way changed in my +affection. Raise yourself,” he said; “good and ill are a +chimera; there is nought in life except destiny, and however +you may be circumstanced there is one at your side who +will help you to the last.”</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, Silas gathered himself together, and in +a broken voice, and helped out by the Doctor’s interrogations, +contrived at last to put him in possession of the facts. +But the conversation between the Prince and Geraldine he +altogether omitted, as he had understood little of its purport, +and had no idea that it was in any way related to his own +misadventure.</p> + +<p>“Alas!” cried Dr. Noel, “I am much abused, or you +have fallen innocently into the most dangerous hands in +Europe. Poor boy, what a pit has been dug for your simplicity! +into what a deadly peril have your unwary feet been +conducted! This man,” he said, “this Englishman, whom +you twice saw, and whom I suspect to be the soul of the contrivance, +can you describe him? Was he young or old? +tall or short?”</p> + +<p>But Silas, who, for all his curiosity, had not a seeing eye +in his head, was able to supply nothing but meagre generalities, +which it was impossible to recognise.</p> + +<p>“I would have it a piece of education in all schools!” +cried the Doctor angrily. “Where is the use of eyesight +and articulate speech if a man cannot observe and recollect +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"></a>51</span> +the features of his enemy? I, who know all the gangs of +Europe, might have identified him, and gained new weapons +for your defence. Cultivate this art in future, my poor boy; +you may find it of momentous service.”</p> + +<p>“The future!” repeated Silas. “What future is there +left for me except the gallows?”</p> + +<p>“Youth is but a cowardly season,” returned the Doctor; +“and a man’s own troubles look blacker than they are. I +am old, and yet I never despair.”</p> + +<p>“Can I tell such a story to the police?” demanded Silas.</p> + +<p>“Assuredly not,” replied the Doctor. “From what I +see already of the machination in which you have been involved, +your case is desperate upon that side; and for the +narrow eye of the authorities you are infallibly the guilty +person. And remember that we only know a portion of the +plot; and the same infamous contrivers have doubtless arranged +many other circumstances which would be elicited +by a police inquiry, and help to fix the guilt more certainly +upon your innocence.”</p> + +<p>“I am then lost, indeed!” cried Silas.</p> + +<p>“I have not said so,” answered Dr. Noel, “for I am a +cautious man.”</p> + +<p>“But look at this!” objected Silas, pointing to the +body. “Here is this object in my bed: not to be explained, +not to be disposed of, not to be regarded without horror.”</p> + +<p>“Horror?” replied the Doctor. “No. When this sort +of clock has run down, it is no more to me than an ingenious +piece of mechanism, to be investigated with the bistoury. +When blood is once cold and stagnant, it is no longer human +blood; when flesh is once dead, it is no longer that flesh +which we desire in our lovers and respect in our friends. +The grace, the attraction, the terror, have all gone from it +with the animating spirit. Accustom yourself to look upon +it with composure; for if my scheme is practicable you will +have to live some days in constant proximity to that which +now so greatly horrifies you.”</p> + +<p>“Your scheme?” cried Silas. “What is that? Tell +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52"></a>52</span> +me speedily, Doctor; for I have scarcely courage enough to +continue to exist.”</p> + +<p>Without replying, Dr. Noel turned towards the bed, and +proceeded to examine the corpse.</p> + +<p>“Quite dead,” he murmured. “Yes, as I had supposed, +the pockets empty. Yes, and the name cut off the shirt. +Their work has been done thoroughly and well. Fortunately, +he is of small stature.”</p> + +<p>Silas followed these words with an extreme anxiety. At +last the Doctor, his autopsy completed, took a chair and +addressed the young American with a smile.</p> + +<p>“Since I came into your room,” said he, “although my +ears and my tongue have been so busy, I have not suffered +my eyes to remain idle. I noted a little while ago that you +have there, in the corner, one of those monstrous constructions +which your fellow-countrymen carry with them into +all quarters of the globe—in a word, a Saratoga trunk. +Until this moment I have never been able to conceive the +utility of these erections; but then I began to have a glimmer. +Whether it was for convenience in the slave-trade, or +to obviate the results of too ready an employment of the +bowie-knife, I cannot bring myself to decide. But one +thing I see plainly—the object of such a box is to contain a +human body.”</p> + +<p>“Surely,” cried Silas, “surely this is not a time for +jesting.”</p> + +<p>“Although I may express myself with some degree of +pleasantry,” replied the Doctor, “the purport of my words +is entirely serious. And the first thing we have to do, my +young friend, is to empty your coffer of all that it contains.”</p> + +<p>Silas, obeying the authority of Dr. Noel, put himself at +his disposition. The Saratoga trunk was soon gutted of its +contents, which made a considerable litter on the floor; and +then—Silas taking the heels and the Doctor supporting the +shoulders—the body of the murdered man was carried from +the bed, and, after some difficulty, doubled up and inserted +whole into the empty box. With an effort on the part of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"></a>53</span> +both, the lid was forced down upon this unusual baggage, +and the trunk was locked and corded by the Doctor’s own +hand, while Silas disposed of what had been taken out between +the closet and a chest of drawers.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said the Doctor, “the first step has been taken +on the way to your deliverance. To-morrow, or rather +to-day, it must be your task to allay the suspicions of your +porter, paying him all that you owe; while you may trust +me to make the arrangements necessary to a safe conclusion. +Meantime, follow me to my room, where I shall give you a +safe and powerful opiate; for, whatever you do, you must +have rest.”</p> + +<p>The next day was the longest in Silas’s memory; it +seemed as if it would never be done. He denied himself +to his friends, and sat in a corner with his eyes fixed upon +the Saratoga trunk in dismal contemplation. His own +former indiscretions were now returned upon him in kind; +for the observatory had been once more opened, and he was +conscious of an almost continual study from Madame +Zéphyrine’s apartment. So distressing did this become that +he was at last obliged to block up the spy-hole from his own +side; and when he was thus secured from observation he +spent a considerable portion of his time in contrite tears and +prayer.</p> + +<p>Late in the evening Dr. Noel entered the room carrying +in his hand a pair of sealed envelopes without address, one +somewhat bulky, and the other so slim as to seem without +enclosure.</p> + +<p>“Silas,” he said, seating himself at the table, “the time +has now come for me to explain my plan for your salvation. +To-morrow morning, at an early hour, Prince Florizel of +Bohemia returns to London, after having diverted himself +for a few days with the Parisian Carnival. It was my fortune, +a good while ago, to do Colonel Geraldine, his Master +of the Horse, one of those services, so common in my profession, +which are never forgotten upon either side. I have no +need to explain to you the nature of the obligation under +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54"></a>54</span> +which he was laid; suffice it to say that I knew him ready to +serve me in any practicable manner. Now, it was necessary +for you to gain London with your trunk unopened. To this +the Custom House seemed to oppose a fatal difficulty; but +I bethought me that the baggage of so considerable a person +as the Prince is, as a matter of courtesy, passed without +examination by the officers of Custom. I applied to Colonel +Geraldine, and succeeded in obtaining a favourable answer. +To-morrow, if you go before six to the hotel where the +Prince lodges, your baggage will be passed over as a part of +his, and you yourself will make the journey as a member of +his suite.”</p> + +<p>“It seems to me, as you speak, that I have already seen +both the Prince and Colonel Geraldine; I even overheard +some of their conversation the other evening at the Bullier +Ball.”</p> + +<p>“It is probable enough; for the Prince loves to mix +with all societies,” replied the Doctor. “Once arrived in +London,” he pursued, “your task is nearly ended. In this +more bulky envelope I have given you a letter which I dare +not address; but in the other you will find the designation +of the house to which you must carry it along with your box, +which will there be taken from you and not trouble you any +more.”</p> + +<p>“Alas!” said Silas, “I have every wish to believe you; +but how is it possible? You open up to me a bright prospect, +but, I ask you, is my mind capable of receiving so unlikely a +solution? Be more generous, and let me further understand +your meaning.”</p> + +<p>The Doctor seemed painfully impressed.</p> + +<p>“Boy,” he answered, “you do not know how hard a +thing you ask of me. But be it so. I am now inured to +humiliation; and it would be strange if I refused you this, +after having granted you so much. Know, then, that +although I now make so quiet an appearance—frugal, solitary, +addicted to study—when I was younger, my name +was once a rallying-cry among the most astute and dangerous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"></a>55</span> +spirits of London; and while I was outwardly an object +for respect and consideration, my true power resided in the +most secret, terrible, and criminal relations. It is to one +of the persons who then obeyed me that I now address +myself to deliver you from your burden. They were men of +many different nations and dexterities, all bound together +by a formidable oath, and working to the same purposes; +the trade of the association was in murder; and I who speak +to you, innocent as I appear, was the chieftain of this redoubtable +crew.”</p> + +<p>“What?” cried Silas. “A murderer? And one with +whom murder was a trade? Can I take your hand? Ought +I so much as to accept your services? Dark and criminal +old man, would you make an accomplice of my youth and +my distress?”</p> + +<p>The Doctor bitterly laughed.</p> + +<p>“You are difficult to please, Mr. Scuddamore,” said he; +“but I now offer you your choice of company between the +murdered man and the murderer. If your conscience is too +nice to accept my aid, say so, and I will immediately leave +you. Thenceforward you can deal with your trunk and its +belongings as best suits your upright conscience.”</p> + +<p>“I own myself wrong,” replied Silas. “I should have +remembered how generously you offered to shield me, even +before I had convinced you of my innocence, and I continue +to listen to your counsels with gratitude.”</p> + +<p>“That is well,” returned the Doctor; “and I perceive +you are beginning to learn some of the lessons of experience.”</p> + +<p>“At the same time,” resumed the New Englander, “as +you confess yourself accustomed to this tragical business, +and the people to whom you recommend me are your own +former associates and friends, could you not yourself undertake +the transport of the box, and rid me at once of its detested +presence?”</p> + +<p>“Upon my word,” replied the Doctor, “I admire you +cordially. If you do not think I have already meddled +sufficiently in your concerns, believe me, from my heart I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"></a>56</span> +think the contrary. Take or leave my services as I offer +them; and trouble me with no more words of gratitude, for +I value your consideration even more lightly than I do your +intellect. A time will come, if you should be spared to see +a number of years in health of mind, when you will think +differently of all this, and blush for your to-night’s behaviour.”</p> + +<p>So saying, the Doctor arose from his chair, repeated his +directions briefly and clearly, and departed from the room +without permitting Silas any time to answer.</p> + +<p>The next morning Silas presented himself at the hotel, +where he was politely received by Colonel Geraldine, and +relieved, from that moment, of all immediate alarm about +his trunk and its grisly contents. The journey passed over +without much incident, although the young man was horrified +to overhear the sailors and railway porters complaining +among themselves about the unusual weight of the Prince’s +baggage. Silas travelled in a carriage with the valets, for +Prince Florizel chose to be alone with his Master of the +Horse. On board the steamer, however, Silas attracted his +Highness’s attention by the melancholy of his air and attitude +as he stood gazing at the pile of baggage; for he was still +full of disquietude about the future.</p> + +<p>“There is a young man,” observed the Prince, “who +must have some cause for sorrow.”</p> + +<p>“That,” replied Geraldine, “is the American for whom +I obtained permission to travel with your suite.”</p> + +<p>“You remind me that I have been remiss in courtesy,” +said Prince Florizel, and advancing to Silas, he addressed +him with the most exquisite condescension in these words:</p> + +<p>“I was charmed, young sir, to be able to gratify the +desire you made known to me through Colonel Geraldine. +Remember, if you please, that I shall be glad at any future +time to lay you under a more serious obligation.”</p> + +<p>And he then put some questions as to the political condition +of America, which Silas answered with sense and +propriety.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"></a>57</span></p> + +<p>“You are still a young man,” said the Prince; “but +I observe you to be very serious for your years. Perhaps +you allow your attention to be too much occupied with grave +studies. But, perhaps, on the other hand, I am myself indiscreet +and touch upon a painful subject.”</p> + +<p>“I have certainly cause to be the most miserable of +men,” said Silas; “never has a more innocent person been +more dismally abused.”</p> + +<p>“I will not ask you for your confidence,” returned Prince +Florizel. “But do not forget that Colonel Geraldine’s recommendation +is an unfailing passport; and that I am not +only willing, but possibly more able than many others, to do +you a service.”</p> + +<p>Silas was delighted with the amiability of this great personage; +but his mind soon returned upon its gloomy preoccupations; +for not even the favour of a Prince to a Republican +can discharge a brooding spirit of its cares.</p> + +<p>The train arrived at Charing Cross, where the officers +of the Revenue respected the baggage of Prince Florizel in +the usual manner. The most elegant equipages were in +waiting; and Silas was driven, along with the rest, to the +Prince’s residence. There Colonel Geraldine sought him +out, and expressed himself pleased to have been of any service +to a friend of the physician’s, for whom he professed a +great consideration.</p> + +<p>“I hope,” he added, “that you will find none of your +porcelain injured. Special orders were given along the line +to deal tenderly with the Prince’s effects.”</p> + +<p>And then, directing the servants to place one of the +carriages at the young gentleman’s disposal, and at once to +charge the Saratoga trunk upon the dickey, the Colonel +shook hands and excused himself on account of his occupations +in the princely household.</p> + +<p>Silas now broke the seal of the envelope containing the +address, and directed the stately footman to drive him to +Box Court, opening off the Strand. It seemed as if the +place were not at all unknown to the man, for he looked +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58"></a>58</span> +startled and begged a repetition of the order. It was with +a heart full of alarms that Silas mounted into the luxurious +vehicle, and was driven to his destination. The entrance +to Box Court was too narrow for the passage of a coach; it +was a mere footway between railings, with a post at either +end. On one of these posts was seated a man, who at once +jumped down and exchanged a friendly sign with the driver, +while the footman opened the door and inquired of Silas +whether he should take down the Saratoga trunk, and to +what number it should be carried.</p> + +<p>“If you please,” said Silas. “To number three.”</p> + +<p>The footman and the man who had been sitting on the +post, even with the aid of Silas himself, had hard work to +carry in the trunk; and before it was deposited at the door +of the house in question, the young American was horrified +to find a score of loiterers looking on. But he knocked with +as good a countenance as he could muster up, and presented +the other envelope to him who opened.</p> + +<p>“He is not at home,” said he, “but if you will leave +your letter and return to-morrow early, I shall be able to +inform you whether and when he can receive your visit. +Would you like to leave your box?” he added.</p> + +<p>“Dearly,” cried Silas; and the next moment he repented +his precipitation, and declared, with equal emphasis, +that he would rather carry the box along with him to the +hotel.</p> + +<p>The crowd jeered at his indecision, and followed him to +the carriage with insulting remarks; and Silas, covered with +shame and terror, implored the servants to conduct him to +some quiet and comfortable house of entertainment in the +immediate neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>The Prince’s equipage deposited Silas at the Craven Hotel +in Craven Street, and immediately drove away, leaving him +alone with the servants of the inn. The only vacant room, it +appeared, was a little den up four pairs of stairs, and looking +towards the back. To this hermitage, with infinite trouble +and complaint, a pair of stout porters carried the Saratoga +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59"></a>59</span> +trunk. It is needless to mention that Silas kept closely at +their heels throughout the ascent, and had his heart in his +mouth at every corner. A single false step, he reflected, +and the box might go over the banisters and land its fatal +contents, plainly discovered, on the pavement of the hall.</p> + +<p>Arrived in the room, he sat down on the edge of his bed +to recover from the agony that he had just endured; but he +had hardly taken his position when he was recalled to a sense +of his peril by the action of the boots, who had knelt beside +the trunk, and was proceeding officiously to undo its elaborate +fastenings.</p> + +<p>“Let it be!” cried Silas. “I shall want nothing from +it while I stay here.”</p> + +<p>“You might have let it lie in the hall, then,” growled +the man; “a thing as big and heavy as a church. What +you have inside I cannot fancy. If it is all money, you are +a richer man than we.”</p> + +<p>“Money?” repeated Silas, in a sudden perturbation. +“What do you mean by money? I have no money, and you +are speaking like a fool.”</p> + +<p>“All right, captain,” retorted the boots with a wink. +“There’s nobody will touch your lordship’s money. I’m as +safe as the bank,” he added; “but as the box is heavy, I +shouldn’t mind drinking something to your lordship’s +health.”</p> + +<p>Silas pressed two Napoleons upon his acceptance, +apologising, at the same time, for being obliged to trouble +him with foreign money, and pleading his recent arrival for +excuse. And the man, grumbling with even greater fervour, +and looking contemptuously from the money in his hand to +the Saratoga trunk, and back again from the one to the other, +at last consented to withdraw.</p> + +<p>For nearly two days the dead body had been packed +into Silas’s box; and as soon as he was alone the unfortunate +New Englander nosed all the cracks and openings with the +most passionate attention. But the weather was cool, and +the trunk still managed to contain his shocking secret.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60"></a>60</span></p> + +<p>He took a chair beside it, and buried his face in his hands, +and his mind in the most profound reflection. If he were +not speedily relieved, no question but he must be speedily +discovered. Alone in a strange city, without friends or accomplices, +if the Doctor’s introduction failed him, he was +indubitably a lost New Englander. He reflected pathetically +over his ambitious designs for the future; he should not +now become the hero and spokesman of his native place of +Bangor, Maine; he should not, as he had fondly anticipated, +move on from office to office, from honour to honour; +he might as well divest himself at once of all hope of being +acclaimed President of the United States, and leaving behind +him a statue, in the worst possible style of art, to adorn the +Capitol at Washington. Here he was, chained to a dead +Englishman doubled up inside a Saratoga trunk; whom he +must get rid of, or perish from the rolls of national glory!</p> + +<p>I should be afraid to chronicle the language employed +by this young man to the Doctor, to the murdered man, to +Madame Zéphyrine, to the boots of the hotel, to the Prince’s +servants, and, in a word, to all who had been ever so remotely +connected with his horrible misfortune.</p> + +<p>He slunk down to dinner about seven at night; but the +yellow coffee-room appalled him, the eyes of the other diners +seemed to rest on his with suspicion, and his mind remained +upstairs with the Saratoga trunk. When the waiter came +to offer him cheese, his nerves were already so much on edge +that he leaped half-way out of his chair and upset the remainder +of a pint of ale upon the table-cloth.</p> + +<p>The fellow offered to show him to the smoking-room +when he had done; and although he would have much preferred +to return at once to his perilous treasure, he had not +the courage to refuse, and was shown downstairs to the black, +gas-lit cellar, which formed, and possibly still forms, the +divan of the Craven Hotel.</p> + +<p>Two very sad betting men were playing billiards, attended +by a moist, consumptive marker; and for the moment +Silas imagined that these were the only occupants of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"></a>61</span> +apartment. But at the next glance his eye fell upon a person +smoking in the farthest corner, with lowered eyes and a +most respectable and modest aspect. He knew at once that +he had seen the face before; and, in spite of the entire change +of clothes, recognised the man whom he had found seated on +a post at the entrance to Box Court, and who had helped him +to carry the trunk to and from the carriage. The New +Englander simply turned and ran, nor did he pause until he +had locked and bolted himself into his bedroom.</p> + +<p>There, all night long, a prey to the most terrible imaginations, +he watched beside the fatal boxful of dead flesh. The +suggestion of the boots that his trunk was full of gold inspired +him with all manner of new terrors, if he so much as +dared to close an eye; and the presence in the smoking-room, +and under an obvious disguise, of the loiterer from Box Court +convinced him that he was once more the centre of obscure +machinations.</p> + +<p>Midnight had sounded some time, when, impelled by +uneasy suspicions, Silas opened his bedroom door and peered +into the passage. It was dimly illuminated by a single jet +of gas; and some distance off he perceived a man sleeping +on the floor in the costume of an hotel under-servant. Silas +drew near the man on tiptoe. He lay partly on his back, +partly on his side, and his right fore-arm concealed his face +from recognition. Suddenly, while the American was still +bending over him, the sleeper removed his arm and opened +his eyes, and Silas found himself once more face to face with +the loiterer of Box Court.</p> + +<p>“Good-night, sir,” said the man pleasantly.</p> + +<p>But Silas was too profoundly moved to find an answer, +and regained his room in silence.</p> + +<p>Towards morning, worn out by apprehension, he fell +asleep on his chair, with his head forward on the trunk. In +spite of so constrained an attitude and such a grisly pillow, +his slumber was sound and prolonged, and he was only +awakened at a late hour and by a sharp tapping at the door.</p> + +<p>He hurried to open, and found the boots without.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page62"></a>62</span></p> + +<p>“You are the gentleman who called yesterday at Box +Court?” he asked.</p> + +<p>Silas, with a quaver, admitted that he had done so.</p> + +<p>“Then this note is for you,” added the servant, proffering +a sealed envelope.</p> + +<p>Silas tore it open, and found inside the words: “Twelve +o’clock.”</p> + +<p>He was punctual to the hour; the trunk was carried +before him by several stout servants; and he was himself +ushered into a room, where a man sat warming himself +before the fire with his back towards the door. The sound +of so many persons entering and leaving, and the scraping of +the trunk as it was deposited upon the bare boards, were +alike unable to attract the notice of the occupant; and Silas +stood waiting, in an agony of fear, until he should deign to +recognise his presence.</p> + +<p>Perhaps five minutes had elapsed before the man turned +leisurely about, and disclosed the features of Prince Florizel +of Bohemia.</p> + +<p>“So, sir,” he said, with great severity, “this is the +manner in which you abuse my politeness. You join yourself +to persons of condition, I perceive, for no other purpose +than to escape the consequences of your crimes; and I can +readily understand your embarrassment when I addressed +myself to you yesterday.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” cried Silas, “I am innocent of everything +except misfortune.”</p> + +<p>And in a hurried voice, and with the greatest ingenuousness, +he recounted to the Prince the whole history of his +calamity.</p> + +<p>“I see I have been mistaken,” said his Highness, when +he had heard him to an end. “You are no other than a +victim, and since I am not to punish you may be sure I shall +do my utmost to help.—And now,” he continued, “to +business. Open your box at once, and let me see what it +contains.”</p> + +<p>Silas changed colour.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"></a>63</span></p> + +<p>“I almost fear to look upon it,” he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>“Nay,” replied the Prince, “have you not looked at +it already? This is a form of sentimentality to be resisted. +The sight of a sick man, whom we can still help, should +appeal more directly to the feelings than that of a dead man +who is equally beyond help or harm, love or hatred. Nerve +yourself, Mr. Scuddamore,”—and then, seeing that Silas still +hesitated, “I do not desire to give another name to my request,” +he added.</p> + +<p>The young American awoke as if out of a dream, and +with a shiver of repugnance addressed himself to loose the +straps and open the lock of the Saratoga trunk. The Prince +stood by, watching with a composed countenance and his +hands behind his back. The body was quite stiff, and it +cost Silas a great effort, both moral and physical, to dislodge +it from its position, and discover the face.</p> + +<p>Prince Florizel started back with an exclamation of +painful surprise.</p> + +<p>“Alas!” he cried, “you little know, Mr. Scuddamore, +what a cruel gift you have brought me. This is a young +man of my own suite, the brother of my trusted friend; +and it was upon matters of my own service that he has +thus perished at the hands of violent and treacherous men. +Poor Geraldine,” he went on, as if to himself, “in what +words am I to tell you of your brother’s fate? How can I +excuse myself in your eyes, or in the eyes of God, for the +presumptuous schemes that led him to this bloody and +unnatural death? Ah, Florizel! Florizel! when will you +learn the discretion that suits mortal life, and be no longer +dazzled with the image of power at your disposal? +Power!” he cried; “who is more powerless? I look +upon this young man whom I have sacrificed, Mr. +Scuddamore, and feel how small a thing it is to be a Prince.”</p> + +<p>Silas was moved at the sight of his emotion. He tried +to murmur some consolatory words, and burst into tears. +The Prince, touched by his obvious intention, came up to +him and took him by the hand.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"></a>64</span></p> + +<p>“Command yourself,” said he. “We have both much +to learn, and we shall both be better men for to-day’s +meeting.”</p> + +<p>Silas thanked him in silence with an affectionate look.</p> + +<p>“Write me the address of Doctor Noel on this piece of +paper,” continued the Prince, leading him towards the +table; “and let me recommend you, when you are again in +Paris, to avoid the society of that dangerous man. He has +acted in this matter on a generous inspiration; that I must +believe; had he been privy to young Geraldine’s death he +would never have despatched the body to the care of the +actual criminal.”</p> + +<p>“The actual criminal!” repeated Silas in astonishment.</p> + +<p>“Even so,” returned the Prince. “This letter, which +the disposition of Almighty Providence has so strangely delivered +into my hands, was addressed to no less a person +than the criminal himself, the infamous President of the +Suicide Club. Seek to pry no further in these perilous +affairs, but content yourself with your own miraculous +escape, and leave this house at once. I have pressing affairs, +and must arrange at once about this poor clay, which was so +lately a gallant and handsome youth.”</p> + +<p>Silas took a grateful and submissive leave of Prince +Florizel, but he lingered in Box Court until he saw him +depart in a splendid carriage on a visit to Colonel Henderson +of the police. Republican as he was, the young American +took off his hat with almost a sentiment of devotion to the +retreating carriage. And the same night he started by rail +on his return to Paris.</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p><i>Here</i> (observes my Arabian author) <i>is the end of</i> <span class="sc">The +History of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk</span>. +<i>Omitting some reflections on the power of Providence, highly +pertinent in the original, but little suited to our Occidental +taste, I shall only add that Mr. Scuddamore has already begun +to mount the ladder of political fame, and by last advices was +the Sheriff of his native town.</i></p> + +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page65"></a>65</span></p> +<h5>THE ADVENTURE OF THE HANSOM CABS</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Lieutenant Brackenbury</span> Rich had greatly distinguished +himself in one of the lesser Indian hill wars. He it was who +took the chieftain prisoner with his own hand; his gallantry +was universally applauded; and when he came home, prostrated +by an ugly sabre-cut and a protracted jungle-fever, +society was prepared to welcome the Lieutenant as a celebrity +of minor lustre. But his was a character remarkable +for unaffected modesty; adventure was dear to his heart, +but he cared little for adulation; and he waited at foreign +watering-places and in Algiers until the fame of his exploits +had run through its nine days’ vitality and begun to be +forgotten. He arrived in London at last, in the early season, +with as little observation as he could desire; and as he was +an orphan and had none but distant relatives who lived in +the provinces, it was almost as a foreigner that he installed +himself in the capital of the country for which he had shed +his blood.</p> + +<p>On the day following his arrival he dined alone at a +military club. He shook hands with a few old comrades, +and received their warm congratulations; but as one and all +had some engagement for the evening, he found himself left +entirely to his own resources. He was in dress, for he had +entertained the notion of visiting a theatre. But the great +city was new to him; he had gone from a provincial school +to a military college, and thence direct to the Eastern +Empire; and he promised himself a variety of delights in this +world for exploration. Swinging his cane, he took his way +westward. It was a mild evening, already dark, and now +and then threatening rain. The succession of faces in the +lamplight stirred the Lieutenant’s imagination; and it +seemed to him as if he could walk for ever in that stimulating +city atmosphere and surrounded by the mystery of four +million private lives. He glanced at the houses, and marvelled +what was passing behind those warmly-lighted windows; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"></a>66</span> +he looked into face after face, and saw them each +intent upon some unknown interest, criminal or kindly.</p> + +<p>“They talk of war,” he thought, “but this is the great +battlefield of mankind.”</p> + +<p>And then he began to wonder that he should walk so +long in this complicated scene, and not chance upon so much +as the shadow of an adventure for himself.</p> + +<p>“All in good time,” he reflected. “I am still a stranger, +and perhaps wear a strange air. But I must be drawn into +the eddy before long.”</p> + +<p>The night was already well advanced when a plump of +cold rain fell suddenly out of the darkness. Brackenbury +paused under some trees, and as he did so he caught sight +of a hansom cabman making him a sign that he was disengaged. +The circumstance fell in so happily to the occasion +that he at once raised his cane in answer, and had soon ensconced +himself in the London gondola.</p> + +<p>“Where to, sir?” asked the driver.</p> + +<p>“Where you please,” said Brackenbury.</p> + +<p>And immediately, at a pace of surprising swiftness, the +hansom drove off through the rain into a maze of villas. +One villa was so like another, each with its front garden, and +there was so little to distinguish the deserted lamp-lit streets +and crescents through which the flying hansom took its way, +that Brackenbury soon lost all idea of direction. He would +have been tempted to believe that the cabman was amusing +himself by driving him round and round and in and out +about a small quarter, but there was something business-like +in the speed which convinced him of the contrary. The +man had an object in view, he was hastening towards a definite +end; and Brackenbury was at once astonished at the +fellow’s skill in picking a way through such a labyrinth, and +a little concerned to imagine what was the occasion of his +hurry. He had heard tales of strangers falling ill in London. +Did the driver belong to some bloody and treacherous association? +and was he himself being whirled to a murderous +death?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"></a>67</span></p> + +<p>The thought had scarcely presented itself, when the cab +swung sharply round a corner and pulled up before the +garden gate of a villa in a long and wide road. The house +was brilliantly lighted up. Another hansom had just driven +away, and Brackenbury could see a gentleman being admitted +at the front door and received by several liveried +servants. He was surprised that the cabman should have +stopped so immediately in front of a house where a reception +was being held; but he did not doubt it was the result of +accident, and sat placidly smoking where he was, until he +heard the trap thrown open over his head.</p> + +<p>“Here we are, sir,” said the driver.</p> + +<p>“Here!” repeated Brackenbury. “Where?”</p> + +<p>“You told me to take you where I pleased, sir,” returned +the man with a chuckle, “and here we are.”</p> + +<p>It struck Brackenbury that the voice was wonderfully +smooth and courteous for a man in so inferior a position; +he remembered the speed at which he had been driven; and +now it occurred to him that the hansom was more luxuriously +appointed than the common run of public conveyances.</p> + +<p>“I must ask you to explain,” said he. “Do you mean +to turn me out into the rain? My good man, I suspect the +choice is mine.”</p> + +<p>“The choice is certainly yours,” replied the driver; +“but when I tell you all, I believe I know how a gentleman +of your figure will decide. There is a gentleman’s party in +this house. I do not know whether the master be a stranger +to London and without acquaintances of his own; or whether +he is a man of odd notions. But certainly I was hired to +kidnap single gentlemen in evening dress, as many as I +pleased, but military officers by preference. You have +simply to go in and say that Mr. Morris invited you.”</p> + +<p>“Are you Mr. Morris?” inquired the Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>“Oh, no,” replied the cabman. “Mr. Morris is the +person of the house.”</p> + +<p>“It is not a common way of collecting guests,” said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"></a>68</span> +Brackenbury: “but an eccentric man might very well indulge +the whim without any intention to offend. And suppose +that I refuse Mr. Morris’s invitation,” he went on, +“what then?”</p> + +<p>“My orders are to drive you back where I took you +from,” replied the man, “and set out to look for others up +to midnight. Those who have no fancy for such an adventure, +Mr. Morris said, were not the guests for him.”</p> + +<p>These words decided the Lieutenant on the spot.</p> + +<p>“After all,” he reflected, as he descended from the hansom, +“I have not had long to wait for my adventure.”</p> + +<p>He had hardly found footing on the side-walk, and was +still feeling in his pocket for the fare, when the cab swung +about and drove off by the way it came at the former break-neck +velocity. Brackenbury shouted after the man, who +paid no heed, and continued to drive away; but the sound +of his voice was overheard in the house, the door was again +thrown open, emitting a flood of light upon the garden, and +a servant ran down to meet him holding an umbrella.</p> + +<p>“The cabman has been paid,” observed the servant in a +very civil tone; and he proceeded to escort Brackenbury +along the path and up the steps. In the hall several other +attendants relieved him of his hat, cane, and paletot, gave +him a ticket with a number in return, and politely hurried +him up a stair adorned with tropical flowers, to the door of +an apartment on the first story. Here a grave butler inquired +his name, and announcing, “Lieutenant Brackenbury +Rich,” ushered him into the drawing-room of the +house.</p> + +<p>A young man, slender and singularly handsome, came +forward and greeted him with an air at once courtly and +affectionate. Hundreds of candles, of the finest wax, lit up +a room that was perfumed, like the staircase, with a profusion +of rare and beautiful flowering shrubs, A side-table was +loaded with tempting viands. Several servants went to and +fro with fruits and goblets of champagne. The company +was perhaps sixteen in number, all men, few beyond the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69"></a>69</span> +prime of life, and, with hardly an exception, of a dashing +and capable exterior. They were divided into two groups, +one about a roulette-board, and the other surrounding a +table at which one of their number held a bank of baccarat.</p> + +<p>“I see,” thought Brackenbury, “I am in a private +gambling saloon, and the cabman was a tout.”</p> + +<p>His eye had embraced the details, and his mind formed +the conclusion, while his host was still holding him by the +hand; and to him his looks returned from this rapid survey. +At a second view Mr. Morris surprised him still more than +on the first. The easy elegance of his manners, the distinction, +amiability, and courage that appeared upon his +features, fitted very ill with the Lieutenant’s preconceptions +on the subject of the proprietor of a hell; and the tone +of his conversation seemed to mark him out for a man of +position and merit. Brackenbury found he had an instinctive +liking for his entertainer; and though he chid himself +for the weakness, he was unable to resist a sort of friendly +attraction for Mr. Morris’s person and character.</p> + +<p>“I have heard of you, Lieutenant Rich,” said Mr. +Morris, lowering his tone; “and believe me I am gratified +to make your acquaintance. Your looks accord with the +reputation that has preceded you from India. And if you +will forget for a while the irregularity of your presentation +in my house, I shall feel it not only an honour, but a genuine +pleasure besides. A man who makes a mouthful of barbarian +cavaliers,” he added with a laugh, “should not be appalled +by a breach of etiquette, however serious.”</p> + +<p>And he led him towards the sideboard and pressed him +to partake of some refreshment.</p> + +<p>“Upon my word,” the Lieutenant reflected, “this is +one of the pleasantest fellows and, I do not doubt, one of the +most agreeable societies in London.”</p> + +<p>He partook of some champagne, which he found excellent; +and observing that many of the company were already +smoking, he lit one of his own Manillas, and strolled up to the +roulette-board, where he sometimes made a stake and sometimes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"></a>70</span> +looked on smilingly on the fortune of others. It was +while he was thus idling that he became aware of a sharp +scrutiny to which the whole of the guests were subjected. +Mr. Morris went here and there, ostensibly busied on hospitable +concerns; but he had ever a shrewd glance at disposal; +not a man of the party escaped his sudden, searching looks; +he took stock of the bearing of heavy losers, he valued the +amount of the stakes, he paused behind couples who were +deep in conversation; and, in a word, there was hardly a +characteristic of any one present but he seemed to catch and +make a note of it. Brackenbury began to wonder if this +were indeed a gambling-hell: it had so much the air of a +private inquisition. He followed Mr. Morris in all his +movements; and although the man had a ready smile, he +seemed to perceive, as it were under a mask, a haggard, +careworn, and preoccupied spirit. The fellows around him +laughed and made their game; but Brackenbury had lost +interest in the guests.</p> + +<p>“This Morris,” thought he, “is no idler in the room. +Some deep purpose inspires him; let it be mine to fathom it.”</p> + +<p>Now and then Mr. Morris would call one of his visitors +aside; and after a brief colloquy in an ante-room, he would +return alone, and the visitors in question reappeared no +more. After a certain number of repetitions, this performance +excited Brackenbury’s curiosity to a high degree. He +determined to be at the bottom of this minor mystery at +once; and strolling into the ante-room, found a deep window +recess concealed by curtains of the fashionable green. Here +he hurriedly ensconced himself; nor had he to wait long +before the sound of steps and voices drew near him from the +principal apartment. Peering through the division, he saw +Mr. Morris escorting a fat and ruddy personage, with somewhat +the look of a commercial traveller, whom Brackenbury +had already remarked for his coarse laugh and under-bred +behaviour at the table. The pair halted immediately before +the window, so that Brackenbury lost not a word of the +following discourse:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"></a>71</span></p> + +<p>“I beg you a thousand pardons!” began Mr. Morris, +with the most conciliatory manner; “and, if I appear rude, +I am sure you will readily forgive me. In a place so great +as London accidents must continually happen; and the +best that we can hope is to remedy them with as small delay +as possible. I will not deny that I fear you have made a +mistake and honoured my poor house by inadvertence; for, +to speak openly, I cannot at all remember your appearance. +Let me put the question without unnecessary circumlocution—between +gentlemen of honour a word will suffice—Under +whose roof do you suppose yourself to be?”</p> + +<p>“That of Mr. Morris,” replied the other, with a prodigious +display of confusion, which had been visibly growing +upon him throughout the last few words.</p> + +<p>“Mr. John or Mr. James Morris?” inquired the host.</p> + +<p>“I really cannot tell you,” returned the unfortunate +guest. “I am not personally acquainted with the gentleman, +any more than I am with yourself.”</p> + +<p>“I see,” said Mr. Morris. “There is another person of +the same name farther down the street; and I have no +doubt the policeman will be able to supply you with his +number. Believe me, I felicitate myself on the misunderstanding +which has procured me the pleasure of your company +for so long; and let me express a hope that we may +meet again upon a more regular footing. Meantime, I +would not for the world detain you longer from your friends. +John,” he added, raising his voice, “will you see that this +gentleman finds his great-coat?”</p> + +<p>And with the most agreeable air Mr. Morris escorted his +visitor as far as the ante-room door, where he left him under +conduct of the butler. As he passed the window, on his +return to the drawing-room, Brackenbury could hear him +utter a profound sigh, as though his mind was loaded with a +great anxiety, and his nerves already fatigued with the task +on which he was engaged.</p> + +<p>For perhaps an hour the hansoms kept arriving with such +frequency that Mr. Morris had to receive a new guest for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"></a>72</span> +every old one that he sent away, and the company preserved +its number undiminished. But towards the end of that +time the arrivals grew few and far between, and at length +ceased entirely, while the process of elimination was continued +with unimpaired activity. The drawing-room began +to look empty: the baccarat was discontinued for lack of a +banker; more than one person said good-night of his own +accord, and was suffered to depart without expostulation; +and in the meanwhile Mr. Morris redoubled in agreeable +attentions to those who stayed behind. He went from +group to group and from person to person with looks of the +readiest sympathy and the most pertinent and pleasing talk; +he was not so much like a host as like a hostess, and there +was a feminine coquetry and condescension in his manner +which charmed the hearts of all.</p> + +<p>As the guests grew thinner, Lieutenant Rich strolled +for a moment out of the drawing-room into the hall in quest +of fresher air. But he had no sooner passed the threshold +of the ante-chamber than he was brought to a dead halt by a +discovery of the most surprising nature. The flowering +shrubs had disappeared from the staircase; three large +furniture-waggons stood before the garden gate; the servants +were busy dismantling the house upon all sides; and +some of them had already donned their great-coats and were +preparing to depart. It was like the end of a country ball, +where everything has been supplied by contract. Brackenbury +had indeed some matter for reflection. First, the +guests, who were no real guests, after all, had been dismissed; +and now the servants, who could hardly be genuine servants, +were actively dispersing.</p> + +<p>“Was the whole establishment a sham?” he asked +himself. “The mushroom of a single night which should +disappear before morning?”</p> + +<p>Watching a favourable opportunity, Brackenbury +dashed upstairs to the higher regions of the house. It was +as he had expected. He ran from room to room, and saw +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"></a>73</span> +Although the house had been painted and papered, it was +not only uninhabited at present, but plainly had never been +inhabited at all. The young officer remembered with astonishment +its specious, settled, and hospitable air on his +arrival. It was only at a prodigious cost that the imposture +could have been carried out upon so great a scale.</p> + +<p>Who, then, was Mr. Morris? What was his intention in +thus playing the householder for a single night in the remote +west of London? And why did he collect his visitors at +hazard from the streets?</p> + +<p>Brackenbury remembered that he had already delayed +too long, and hastened to join the company. Many had +left during his absence; and, counting the Lieutenant and +his host, there were not more than five persons in the drawing-room—recently +so thronged. Mr. Morris greeted him, +as he re-entered the apartment, with a smile, and immediately +rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>“It is now time, gentlemen,” said he, “to explain my +purpose in decoying you from your amusements. I trust +you did not find the evening hang very dully on your hands; +but my object, I will confess it, was not to entertain your +leisure, but to help myself in an unfortunate necessity. You +are all gentlemen,” he continued, “your appearance does +you that much justice, and I ask for no better security. +Hence, I speak it without concealment, I ask you to render +me a dangerous and delicate service; dangerous because +you may run the hazard of your lives, and delicate because +I must ask an absolute discretion upon all that you shall see +or hear. From an utter stranger the request is almost +comically extravagant; I am well aware of this; and I would +add at once, if there be any one present who has heard enough, +if there be one among the party who recoils from a dangerous +confidence and a piece of Quixotic devotion to he knows not +whom—here is my hand ready, and I shall wish him good-night +and God-speed with all the sincerity in the world.”</p> + +<p>A very tall, black man, with a heavy stoop, immediately +responded to this appeal.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"></a>74</span></p> + +<p>“I commend your frankness, sir,” said he; “and, for +my part, I go. I make no reflections; but I cannot deny +that you fill me with suspicious thoughts. I go myself, as I +say; and perhaps you will think I have no right to add words +to my example.”</p> + +<p>“On the contrary,” replied Mr. Morris, “I am obliged +to you for all you say. It would be impossible to exaggerate +the gravity of my proposal.”</p> + +<p>“Well, gentlemen, what do you say?” said the +tall man, addressing the others. “We have had our +evening’s frolic; shall we all go homeward peaceably in a +body? You will think well of my suggestion in the +morning, when you see the sun again in innocence and +safety.”</p> + +<p>The speaker pronounced the last words with an intonation +which added to their force; and his face wore a singular +expression, full of gravity and significance. Another of +the company rose hastily, and, with some appearance of +alarm, prepared to take his leave. There were only two +who held their ground, Brackenbury and an old red-nosed +cavalry Major; but these two preserved a nonchalant demeanour, +and, beyond a look of intelligence which they +rapidly exchanged, appeared entirely foreign to the discussion +that had just been terminated.</p> + +<p>Mr. Morris conducted the deserters as far as the door, +which he closed upon their heels; then he turned round, +disclosing a countenance of mingled relief and animation, +and addressed the two officers as follows.</p> + +<p>“I have chosen my men like Joshua in the Bible,” said +Mr. Morris, “and I now believe I have the pick of London. +Your appearance pleased my hansom cabmen; then it delighted +me; I have watched your behaviour in a strange +company, and under the most unusual circumstances: I +have studied how you played and how you bore your losses; +lastly, I have put you to the test of a staggering announcement, +and you received it like an invitation to dinner. It +is not for nothing,” he cried, “that I have been for years the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"></a>75</span> +companion and the pupil of the bravest and wisest potentate +in Europe.”</p> + +<p>“At the affair of Bunderchang,” observed the Major, +“I asked for twelve volunteers, and every trooper in the +ranks replied to my appeal. But a gaming party is not the +same thing as a regiment under fire. You may be pleased, +I suppose, to have found two, and two who will +not fail you at a push. As for the pair who ran away, +I count them among the most pitiful hounds I ever +met with.—Lieutenant Rich,” he added, addressing Brackenbury, +“I have heard much of you of late; and I cannot +doubt but you have also heard of me. I am Major +O’Rooke.”</p> + +<p>And the veteran tendered his hand, which was red and +tremulous, to the young Lieutenant.</p> + +<p>“Who has not?” answered Brackenbury.</p> + +<p>“When this little matter is settled,” said Mr. Morris, +“you will think I have sufficiently rewarded you; for I +could offer neither a more valuable service than to make +him acquainted with the other.”</p> + +<p>“And now,” said Major O’Rooke, “is it a duel?”</p> + +<p>“A duel after a fashion,” replied Mr. Morris, “a duel +with unknown and dangerous enemies, and, as I gravely +fear, a duel to the death. I must ask you,” he continued, +“to call me Morris no longer; call me, if you please, Hammersmith; +my real name, as well as that of another person +to whom I hope to present you before long, you will gratify +me by not asking, and not seeking to discover for yourselves. +Three days ago the person of whom I speak disappeared suddenly +from home; and, until this morning, I received no +hint of his situation. You will fancy my alarm when I tell +you that he is engaged upon a work of private justice. +Bound by an unhappy oath, too lightly sworn, he finds it +necessary, without the help of law, to rid the earth of an +insidious and bloody villain. Already two of our friends, +and one of them my own born brother, have perished in the +enterprise. He himself, or I am much deceived, is taken in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"></a>76</span> +the same fatal toils. But at least he still lives and still +hopes, as this billet sufficiently proves.”</p> + +<p>And the speaker, no other than Colonel Geraldine, +proffered a letter, thus conceived:—</p> + +<div class="quote"> +<p>“<span class="sc">Major Hammersmith</span>,—On Wednesday, at 3 <span class="sc">A.M.</span>, you will +be admitted by the small door to the gardens of Rochester House, +Regent’s Park, by a man who is entirely in my interest. I must +request you not to fail me by a second. Pray bring my case of +swords, and, if you can find them, one or two gentlemen of conduct +and discretion to whom my person is unknown. My name must +not be used in this affair.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;" class="sc">T. Godall.”</p> +</div> + +<p>“From his wisdom alone, if he had no other title,” pursued +Colonel Geraldine, when the others had each satisfied +his curiosity, “my friend is a man whose directions should +implicitly be followed. I need not tell you, therefore, that I +have not so much as visited the neighbourhood of Rochester +House; and that I am still as wholly in the dark as either +of yourselves as to the nature of my friend’s dilemma. I +betook myself, as soon as I had received this order, to a +furnishing contractor, and, in a few hours, the house in +which we now are had assumed its late air of festival. My +scheme was at least original; and I am far from regretting +an action which has procured me the services of Major +O’Rooke and Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich. But the +servants in the street will have a strange awakening. The +house which this evening was full of lights and visitors they +will find uninhabited and for sale to-morrow morning. Thus +even the most serious concerns,” added the Colonel, “have a +merry side.”</p> + +<p>“And let us add a merry ending,” said Brackenbury.</p> + +<p>The Colonel consulted his watch.</p> + +<p>“It is now hard on two,” he said. “We have an hour +before us, and a swift cab is at the door. Tell me if I may +count upon your help.”</p> + +<p>“During a long life,” replied Major O’Rooke, “I never +took back my hand from anything, nor so much as hedged +a bet.”</p> + +<p>Brackenbury signified his readiness in the most becoming +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"></a>77</span> +terms; and after they had drunk a glass or two of wine, +the Colonel gave each of them a loaded revolver, and the +three mounted into the cab and drove off for the address in +question.</p> + +<p>Rochester House was a magnificent residence on the +banks of the canal. The large extent of the garden isolated +it in an unusual degree from the annoyances of neighbourhood. +It seemed the <i>parc aux cerfs</i> of some great nobleman +or millionaire. As far as could be seen from the street, +there was not a glimmer of light in any of the numerous +windows of the mansion; and the place had a look of +neglect, as though the master had been long from home.</p> + +<p>The cab was discharged, and the three gentlemen were +not long in discovering the small door, which was a sort of +postern in a lane between two garden walls. It still wanted +ten or fifteen minutes of the appointed time; the rain fell +heavily, and the adventurers sheltered themselves below +some pendent ivy, and spoke in low tones of the approaching +trial.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Geraldine raised his finger to command silence, +and all three bent their hearing to the utmost. Through +the continuous noise of the rain, the steps and voices of two +men became audible from the other side of the wall; and, +as they drew nearer, Brackenbury, whose sense of hearing +was remarkably acute, could even distinguish some fragments +of their talk.</p> + +<p>“Is the grave dug?” asked one.</p> + +<p>“It is,” replied the other; “behind the laurel hedge. +When the job is done, we can cover it with a pile of stakes.”</p> + +<p>The first speaker laughed, and the sound of his merriment +was shocking to the listeners on the other side.</p> + +<p>“In an hour from now,” he said.</p> + +<p>And by the sound of the steps it was obvious that the +pair had separated, and were proceeding in contrary directions.</p> + +<p>Almost immediately after the postern door was cautiously +opened, a white face was protruded into the lane, and a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"></a>78</span> +hand was seen beckoning to the watchers. In dead silence +the three passed the door, which was immediately locked +behind them, and followed their guide through several +garden alleys to the kitchen entrance of the house. A single +candle burned in the great paved kitchen, which was destitute +of the customary furniture; and as the party proceeded +to ascend from thence by a flight of winding stairs, a prodigious +noise of rats testified still more plainly to the dilapidation +of the house.</p> + +<p>Their conductor preceded them, carrying the candle. +He was a lean man, much bent, but still agile; and he turned +from time to time and admonished silence and caution by +his gestures. Colonel Geraldine followed on his heels, the +case of swords under one arm, and a pistol ready in the +other. Brackenbury’s heart beat thickly. He perceived +that they were still in time; but he judged from the alacrity +of the old man that the hour of action must be near at hand; +and the circumstances of this adventure were so obscure and +menacing, the place seemed so well chosen for the darkest +acts, that an older man than Brackenbury might have been +pardoned a measure of emotion as he closed the procession +up the winding stair.</p> + +<p>At the top the guide threw open a door and ushered the +three officers before him into a small apartment, lighted by +a smoky lamp and the glow of a modest fire. At the chimney +corner sat a man in the early prime of life, and of a stout +but courtly and commanding appearance. His attitude and +expression were those of the most unmoved composure; he +was smoking a cheroot with much enjoyment and deliberation, +and on a table by his elbow stood a long glass of some +effervescing beverage which diffused an agreeable odour +through the room.</p> + +<p>“Welcome,” said he, extending his hand to Colonel +Geraldine. “I knew I might count on your exactitude.”</p> + +<p>“On my devotion,” replied the Colonel, with a bow.</p> + +<p>“Present me to your friends,” continued the first; and, +when that ceremony had been performed, “I wish, gentlemen,” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"></a>79</span> +he added, with the most exquisite affability, “that +I could offer you a more cheerful programme; it is ungracious +to inaugurate an acquaintance upon serious affairs; but +the compulsion of events is stronger than the obligations of +good-fellowship. I hope and believe you will be able to +forgive me this unpleasant evening; and for men of your +stamp it will be enough to know that you are conferring a +considerable favour.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” said the Major, “must pardon my +bluntness. I am unable to hide what I know. For some +time back I have suspected Major Hammersmith, but Mr. +Godall is unmistakable. To seek two men in London unacquainted +with Prince Florizel of Bohemia was to ask too +much at Fortune’s hands.”</p> + +<p>“Prince Florizel!” cried Brackenbury in amazement.</p> + +<p>And he gazed with the deepest interest on the features +of the celebrated personage before him.</p> + +<p>“I shall not lament the loss of my incognito,” remarked +the Prince, “for it enables me to thank you with the more +authority. You would have done as much for Mr. Godall, I +feel sure, as for the Prince of Bohemia; but the latter can +perhaps do more for you. The gain is mine,” he added, +with a courteous gesture.</p> + +<p>And the next moment he was conversing with the two +officers about the Indian army and the native troops, a subject +on which, as on all others, he had a remarkable fund of +information and the soundest views.</p> + +<p>There was something so striking in this man’s attitude +at a moment of deadly peril that Brackenbury was overcome +with respectful admiration; nor was he less sensible +to the charm of his conversation or the surprising amenity +of his address. Every gesture, every intonation, was not +only noble in itself, but seemed to ennoble the fortunate +mortal for whom it was intended; and Brackenbury confessed +to himself with enthusiasm that this was a sovereign +for whom a brave man might thankfully lay down his life.</p> + +<p>Many minutes had thus passed, when the person who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80"></a>80</span> +had introduced them into the house, and who had sat ever +since in a corner, and with his watch in his hand, arose and +whispered a word into the Prince’s ear.</p> + +<p>“It is well, Dr. Noel,” replied Florizel aloud; and then +addressing the others, “You will excuse me, gentlemen,” he +added, “if I have to leave you in the dark. The moment +now approaches.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Noel extinguished the lamp. A faint, grey light, +premonitory of the dawn, illuminated the window, but was +not sufficient to illuminate the room; and when the Prince +rose to his feet, it was impossible to distinguish his features +or to make a guess at the nature of the emotion which obviously +affected him as he spoke. He moved towards the +door, and placed himself at one side of it in an attitude of the +wariest attention.</p> + +<p>“You will have the kindness,” he said, “to maintain +the strictest silence, and to conceal yourselves in the densest +of the shadow.”</p> + +<p>The three officers and the physician hastened to obey, +and for nearly ten minutes the only sound in Rochester +House was occasioned by the excursions of the rats behind +the woodwork. At the end of that period, a loud creak of a +hinge broke in with surprising distinctness on the silence; +and shortly after, the watchers could distinguish a slow and +cautious tread approaching up the kitchen stair. At every +second step the intruder seemed to pause and lend an ear, +and during these intervals, which seemed of an incalculable +duration, a profound disquiet possessed the spirit of the +listeners. Dr. Noel, accustomed as he was to dangerous +emotions, suffered an almost pitiful physical prostration; +his breath whistled in his lungs, his teeth grated one upon +another, and his joints cracked aloud as he nervously shifted +his position.</p> + +<p>At last a hand was laid upon the door, and the bolt shot +back with a slight report. There followed another pause, +during which Brackenbury could see the Prince draw himself +together noiselessly as if for some unusual exertion. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"></a>81</span> +Then the door opened, letting in a little more of the light of +the morning; and the figure of a man appeared upon the +threshold and stood motionless. He was tall, and carried +a knife in his hand. Even in the twilight they could see his +upper teeth bare and glistening, for his mouth was open like +that of a hound about to leap. The man had evidently been +over the head in water but a minute or two before; and even +while he stood there the drops kept falling from his wet +clothes and pattered on the floor.</p> + +<p>The next moment he crossed the threshold. There was +a leap, a stifled cry, an instantaneous struggle; and before +Colonel Geraldine could spring to his aid, the Prince held the +man, disarmed and helpless, by the shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Noel,” he said, “you will be so good as to re-light +the lamp.”</p> + +<p>And relinquishing the charge of his prisoner to Geraldine +and Brackenbury, he crossed the room and set his back +against the chimney-piece. As soon as the lamp had kindled +the party beheld an unaccustomed sternness on the Prince’s +features. It was no longer Florizel, the careless gentleman; +it was the Prince of Bohemia, justly incensed and full of +deadly purpose, who now raised his head and addressed the +captive President of the Suicide Club.</p> + +<p>“President,” he said, “you have laid your last snare, +and your own feet are taken in it. The day is beginning; it is +your last morning. You have just swum the Regent’s Canal; +it is your last bathe in this world. Your old accomplice, +Dr. Noel, so far from betraying me, has delivered you into +my hands for judgment. And the grave you had dug for +me this afternoon shall serve, in God’s almighty providence, +to hide your own just doom from the curiosity of mankind. +Kneel and pray, sir, if you have a mind that way; for your +time is short, and God is weary of your iniquities.”</p> + +<p>The President made no answer either by word or sign; +but continued to hang his head and gaze sullenly on the floor, +as though he were conscious of the Prince’s prolonged and +unsparing regard.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"></a>82</span></p> + +<p>“Gentlemen,” continued Florizel, resuming the ordinary +tone of his conversation, “this is a fellow who has long +eluded me, but whom, thanks to Dr. Noel, I now have +tightly by the heels. To tell the story of his misdeeds +would occupy more time than we can now afford; but if the +canal had contained nothing but the blood of his victims, I +believe the wretch would have been no drier than you see +him. Even in an affair of this sort I desire to preserve the +forms of honour. But I make you the judges, gentlemen—this +is more an execution than a duel; and to give the rogue +his choice of weapons would be to push too far a point of +etiquette. I cannot afford to lose my life in such a business,” +he continued, unlocking the case of swords; “and as a +pistol-bullet travels so often on the wings of chance, and +skill and courage may fall by the most trembling marksman, +I have decided, and I feel sure you will approve my determination, +to put this question to the touch of swords.”</p> + +<p>When Brackenbury and Major O’Rooke, to whom these +remarks were particularly addressed, had each intimated +his approval, “Quick, sir,” added Prince Florizel to the +President, “choose a blade and do not keep me waiting; I +have an impatience to be done with you for ever.”</p> + +<p>For the first time since he was captured and disarmed the +President raised his head, and it was plain that he began +instantly to pluck up courage.</p> + +<p>“Is it to be stand up?” he asked eagerly, “and between +you and me?”</p> + +<p>“I mean so far to honour you,” replied the Prince.</p> + +<p>“Oh, come!” cried the President. “With a fair field, +who knows how things may happen? I must add that I +consider it handsome behaviour on your Highness’s part; +and if the worst comes to the worst I shall die by one of the +most gallant gentlemen in Europe.”</p> + +<p>And the President, liberated by those who had detained +him, stepped up to the table and began, with minute attention, +to select a sword. He was highly elated, and seemed +to feel no doubt that he should issue victorious from the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"></a>83</span> +contest. The spectators grew alarmed in the face of so +entire a confidence, and adjured Prince Florizel to reconsider +his intention.</p> + +<p>“It is but a farce,” he answered; “and I think I can +promise you, gentlemen, that it will not be long a-playing.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness will be careful not to overreach,” said +Colonel Geraldine.</p> + +<p>“Geraldine,” returned the Prince, “did you ever know +me fail in a debt of honour? I owe you this man’s death, +and you shall have it.”</p> + +<p>The President at last satisfied himself with one of the +rapiers, and signified his readiness by a gesture that was not +devoid of a rude nobility. The nearness of peril, and the +sense of courage, even to this obnoxious villain, lent an air +of manhood and a certain grace.</p> + +<p>The Prince helped himself at random to a sword.</p> + +<p>“Colonel Geraldine and Doctor Noel,” he said, “will have +the goodness to await me in this room. I wish no personal +friend of mine to be involved in this transaction. Major +O’Rooke, you are a man of some years and a settled reputation—let +me recommend the President to your good graces. +Lieutenant Rich will be so good as lend me his attentions: +a young man cannot have too much experience in such +affairs.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” replied Brackenbury, “it is an +honour I shall prize extremely.”</p> + +<p>“It is well,” returned Prince Florizel; “I shall hope to +stand your friend in more important circumstances.”</p> + +<p>And so saying he led the way out of the apartment and +down the kitchen stairs.</p> + +<p>The two men who were thus left alone threw open the +window and leaned out, straining every sense to catch an +indication of the tragical events that were about to follow. +The rain was now over; day had almost come, and the birds +were piping in the shrubbery and on the forest-trees of the +garden. The Prince and his companions were visible for a +moment as they followed an alley between two flowering +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"></a>84</span> +thickets; but at the first corner a clump of foliage intervened, +and they were again concealed from view. This was +all that the Colonel and the Physician had an opportunity +to see, and the garden was so vast, and the place of combat +evidently so remote from the house, that not even the noise +of sword-play reached their ears.</p> + +<p>“He has taken him towards the grave,” said Dr. Noel, +with a shudder.</p> + +<p>“God,” cried the Colonel, “God defend the right!”</p> + +<p>And they awaited the event in silence, the Doctor shaking +with fear, the Colonel in an agony of sweat. Many +minutes must have elapsed, the day was sensibly broader, +and the birds were singing more heartily in the garden before +a sound of returning footsteps recalled their glances towards +the door. It was the Prince and the two Indian officers who +entered. God had defended the right.</p> + +<p>“I am ashamed of my emotion,” said Prince Florizel; +“I feel it is a weakness unworthy of my station, but the continued +existence of that hound of hell had begun to prey +upon me like a disease, and his death has more refreshed me +than a night of slumber. Look, Geraldine,” he continued, +throwing his sword upon the floor, “there is the blood of the +man who killed your brother. It should be a welcome sight. +And yet,” he added, “see how strangely we men are made! +my revenge is not yet five minutes old, and already I am +beginning to ask myself if even revenge be attainable on this +precarious stage of life. The ill he did, who can undo it? +The career in which he amassed a huge fortune (for the house +itself in which we stand belonged to him)—that career is +now a part of the destiny of mankind for ever; and I might +weary myself making thrusts in carte until the crack of judgment, +and Geraldine’s brother would be none the less dead, +and a thousand other innocent persons would be none the +less dishonoured and debauched! The existence of a man +is so small a thing to take, so mighty a thing to employ! +Alas!” he cried, “is there anything in life so disenchanting +as attainment?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"></a>85</span></p> + +<p>“God’s justice has been done,” replied the Doctor. “So +much I behold. The lesson, your Highness, has been a cruel +one for me; and I await my own turn with deadly apprehension.”</p> + +<p>“What was I saying?” cried the Prince. “I have +punished, and here is the man beside us who can help me to +undo. Ah, Dr. Noel! you and I have before us many a day +of hard and honourable toil; and perhaps, before we have +done, you may have more than redeemed your early errors.”</p> + +<p>“And in the meantime,” said the Doctor, “let me go +and bury my oldest friend.”</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p><i>And this</i> (observes the erudite Arabian) <i>is the fortunate +conclusion of the tale. The Prince, it is superfluous to mention, +forgot none of those who served him in this great exploit; +and to this day his authority and influence help them forward +in their public career, while his condescending friendship adds +a charm to their private life. To collect</i>, continues my +author, <i>all the strange events in which this Prince has played +the part of Providence were to fill the habitable globe with +books. But the stories which relate to the fortunes of</i> <span class="sc">The +Rajah’s Diamond</span> <i>are of too entertaining a description, says +he, to be omitted. Following prudently in the footsteps of this +Oriental, we shall now begin the series to which he refers with +the</i> <span class="sc">Story of the Bandbox</span>.</p> + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"></a>86</span></p> +<h3>THE RAJAH’S DIAMOND</h3> + + +<h5>STORY OF THE BANDBOX</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Up</span> to the age of sixteen, at a private school and afterwards +at one of those great institutions for which England is justly +famous, Mr. Harry Hartley had received the ordinary education +of a gentleman. At that period he manifested a remarkable +distaste for study; and his only surviving parent +being both weak and ignorant, he was permitted thenceforward +to spend his time in the attainment of petty and +purely elegant accomplishments. Two years later, he was +left an orphan and almost a beggar. For all active and +industrious pursuits, Harry was unfitted alike by nature and +training. He could sing romantic ditties, and accompany +himself with discretion on the piano; he was a graceful +although a timid cavalier; he had a pronounced taste for +chess; and nature had sent him into the world with one of +the most engaging exteriors that can well be fancied. Blond +and pink, with dove’s eyes and a gentle smile, he had an air +of agreeable tenderness and melancholy and the most submissive +and caressing manners. But when all is said, he was +not the man to lead armaments of war or direct the councils +of a State.</p> + +<p>A fortunate chance and some influence obtained for +Harry, at the time of his bereavement, the position of private +secretary to Major-General Sir Thomas Vandeleur, C.B. +Sir Thomas was a man of sixty, loud-spoken, boisterous, and +domineering. For some reason, some service the nature of +which had been often whispered and repeatedly denied, the +Rajah of Kashgar had presented this officer with the sixth +known diamond of the world. The gift transformed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"></a>87</span> +General Vandeleur from a poor into a wealthy man, from an +obscure and unpopular soldier into one of the lions of London +society; the possessor of the Rajah’s Diamond was +welcome in the most exclusive circles; and he had found a +lady, young, beautiful, and well-born, who was willing to call +the diamond hers even at the price of marriage with Sir +Thomas Vandeleur. It was commonly said at the time that, +as like draws to like, one jewel had attracted another; certainly +Lady Vandeleur was not only a gem of the finest +water in her own person, but she showed herself to the world +in a very costly setting; and she was considered by many +respectable authorities as one among the three or four best-dressed +women in England.</p> + +<p>Harry’s duty as secretary was not particularly onerous; +but he had a dislike for all prolonged work; it gave him +pain to ink his fingers; and the charms of Lady Vandeleur +and her toilettes drew him often from the library to the +boudoir. He had the prettiest ways among women, could +talk fashions with enjoyment, and was never more happy than +when criticising a shade of ribbon or running on an errand +to the milliner’s. In short, Sir Thomas’s correspondence fell +into pitiful arrears, and my Lady had another lady’s maid.</p> + +<p>At last the General, who was one of the least patient of +military commanders, arose from his place in a violent access +of passion, and indicated to his secretary that he had no +further need for his services, with one of those explanatory +gestures which are most rarely employed between gentlemen. +The door being unfortunately open, Mr. Hartley fell downstairs +head-foremost.</p> + +<p>He arose somewhat hurt and very deeply aggrieved. +The life in the General’s house precisely suited him; he +moved, on a more or less doubtful footing, in very genteel +company, he did little, he ate of the best, and he had a lukewarm +satisfaction in the presence of Lady Vandeleur, which, +in his own heart, he dubbed by a more emphatic name.</p> + +<p>Immediately after he had been outraged by the military +foot, he hurried to the boudoir and recounted his sorrows.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"></a>88</span></p> + +<p>“You know very well, my dear Harry,” replied Lady +Vandeleur, for she called him by name like a child or a +domestic servant, “that you never by any chance do what +the General tells you. No more do I, you may say. But +that is different. A woman can earn her pardon for a good +year of disobedience by a single adroit submission; and, +besides, no one is married to his private secretary. I shall +be sorry to lose you; but since you cannot stay longer in a +house where you have been insulted, I shall wish you good-bye, +and I promise you to make the General smart for his +behaviour.”</p> + +<p>Harry’s countenance fell; tears came into his eyes, and +he gazed on Lady Vandeleur with a tender reproach.</p> + +<p>“My Lady,” said he, “what is an insult? I should +think little indeed of any one who could not forgive them by +the score. But to leave one’s friends; to tear up the bonds +of affection——“</p> + +<p>He was unable to continue, for his emotion choked him, +and he began to weep.</p> + +<p>Lady Vandeleur looked at him with a curious expression.</p> + +<p>“This little fool,” she thought, “imagines himself to +be in love with me. Why should he not become my +servant instead of the General’s? He is good-natured, +obliging, and understands dress; and besides, it will keep +him out of mischief. He is positively too pretty to be +unattached.”</p> + +<p>That night she talked over the General, who was already +somewhat ashamed of his vivacity; and Harry was transferred +to the feminine department, where his life was little +short of heavenly. He was always dressed with uncommon +nicety, wore delicate flowers in his button-hole, and could +entertain a visitor with tact and pleasantry. He took a +pride in servility to a beautiful woman; received Lady Vandeleur’s +commands as so many marks of favour; and was +pleased to exhibit himself before other men, who derided and +despised him, in his character of male lady’s-maid and man-milliner. +Nor could he think enough of his existence from a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"></a>89</span> +moral point of view. Wickedness seemed to him an essentially +male attribute, and to pass one’s days with a delicate +woman, and principally occupied about trimmings, was to +inhabit an enchanted isle among the storms of life.</p> + +<p>One fine morning he came into the drawing-room and +began to arrange some music on the top of the piano. Lady +Vandeleur, at the other end of the apartment, was speaking +somewhat eagerly with her brother, Charlie Pendragon, an +elderly young man, much broken with dissipation, and very +lame of one foot. The private secretary, to whose entrance +they paid no regard, could not avoid overhearing a part of +their conversation.</p> + +<p>“To-day or never,” said the lady. “Once and for all, +it shall be done to-day.”</p> + +<p>“To-day, if it must be,” replied the brother, with a sigh. +“But it is a false step, a ruinous step, Clara; and we shall +live to repent it dismally.”</p> + +<p>Lady Vandeleur looked her brother steadily and somewhat +strangely in the face.</p> + +<p>“You forget,” she said; “the man must die at last.”</p> + +<p>“Upon my word, Clara,” said Pendragon, “I believe +you are the most heartless rascal in England.”</p> + +<p>“You men,” she returned, “are so coarsely built, that +you can never appreciate a shade of meaning. You are +yourselves rapacious, violent, immodest, careless of distinction; +and yet the least thought for the future shocks +you in a woman. I have no patience with such stuff. You +would despise in a common banker the imbecility that you +expect to find in us.”</p> + +<p>“You are very likely right,” replied her brother; “you +were always cleverer than I. And, anyway, you know my +motto: The family before all.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Charlie,” she returned, taking his hand in hers, +“I know your motto better than you know it yourself. +’And Clara before the family!’ Is not that the second part +of it? Indeed, you are the best of brothers, and I love you +dearly.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"></a>90</span></p> + +<p>Mr. Pendragon got up, looking a little confused by these +family endearments.</p> + +<p>“I had better not be seen,” said he. “I understand +my part to a miracle, and I’ll keep an eye on the Tame Cat.”</p> + +<p>“Do,” she replied. “He is an abject creature, and +might ruin all.”</p> + +<p>She kissed the tips of her fingers to him daintily; and +the brother withdrew by the boudoir and the back stair.</p> + +<p>“Harry,” said Lady Vandeleur turning towards the +secretary as soon as they were alone, “I have a commission +for you this morning. But you shall take a cab; I cannot +have my secretary freckled.”</p> + +<p>She spoke the last words with emphasis and a look of +half-motherly pride that caused great contentment to poor +Harry; and he professed himself charmed to find an opportunity +of serving her.</p> + +<p>“It is another of our great secrets,” she went on +archly, “and no one must know of it but my secretary and +me. Sir Thomas would make the saddest disturbance; +and if you only knew how weary I am of these scenes! O +Harry, Harry, can you explain to me what makes you men +so violent and unjust? But, indeed, I know you cannot; +you are the only man in the world who knows nothing of +these shameful passions; you are so good, Harry, and so +kind; you, at least, can be a woman’s friend; and, do you +know? I think you make the others more ugly by comparison.”</p> + +<p>“It is you,” said Harry gallantly, “who are so kind to +me. You treat me like——“</p> + +<p>“Like a mother,” interposed Lady Vandeleur; “I try +to be a mother to you. Or, at least,” she corrected herself +with a smile, “almost a mother. I am afraid I am too +young to be your mother really. Let us say a friend—a +dear friend.”</p> + +<p>She paused long enough to let her words take effect in +Harry’s sentimental quarters, but not long enough to allow +him a reply.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91"></a>91</span></p> + +<p>“But all this is beside our purpose,” she resumed. “You +will find a bandbox in the left-hand side of the oak wardrobe; +it is underneath the pink slip that I wore on Wednesday +with my Mechlin. You will take it immediately to this +address,” and she gave him a paper, “but do not, on any +account, let it out of your hands until you have received +a receipt written by myself. Do you understand? Answer, +if you please—answer! This is extremely important, and +I must ask you to pay some attention.”</p> + +<p>Harry pacified her by repeating her instructions perfectly; +and she was just going to tell him more when +General Vandeleur flung into the apartment, scarlet with +anger, and holding a long and elaborate milliner’s bill in his +hand.</p> + +<p>“Will you look at this, madam?” cried he. “Will, you +have the goodness to look at this document? I know well +enough you married me for my money, and I hope I can +make as great allowances as any other man in the service; +but, as sure as God made me, I mean to put a period to this +disreputable prodigality.”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Hartley,” said Lady Vandeleur, “I think you +understand what you have to do. May I ask you to see to +it at once?”</p> + +<p>“Stop,” said the General, addressing Harry, “one word +before you go.” And then, turning again to Lady Vandeleur, +“What is this precious fellow’s errand?” he demanded. +“I trust him no further than I do yourself, let +me tell you. If he had as much as the rudiments of honesty, +he would scorn to stay in this house; and what he does for +his wages is a mystery to all the world. What is his errand, +madam? and why are you hurrying him away?”</p> + +<p>“I supposed you had something to say to me in private,” +replied the lady.</p> + +<p>“You spoke about an errand,” insisted the General. +“Do not attempt to deceive me in my present state of +temper. You certainly spoke about an errand.”</p> + +<p>“If you insist on making your servants privy to our +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92"></a>92</span> +humiliating dissensions,” replied Lady Vandeleur, “perhaps +I had better ask Mr. Hartley to sit down. No?” she +continued; “then you may go, Mr. Hartley. I trust you +may remember all that you have heard in this room; it may +be useful to you.”</p> + +<p>Harry at once made his escape from the drawing-room; +and as he ran upstairs he could hear the General’s voice upraised +in declamation, and the thin tones of Lady Vandeleur +planting icy repartees at every opening. How cordially he +admired the wife! How skilfully she could evade an awkward +question! with what secure effrontery she repeated +her instructions under the very guns of the enemy! and on +the other hand, how he detested the husband!</p> + +<p>There had been nothing unfamiliar in the morning’s +events, for he was continually in the habit of serving Lady +Vandeleur on secret missions, principally connected with +millinery. There was a skeleton in the house, as he well +knew. The bottomless extravagance and the unknown +liabilities of the wife had long since swallowed her own +fortune, and threatened day by day to engulf that of the +husband. Once or twice in every year exposure and ruin +seemed imminent, and Harry kept trotting round to all sorts +of furnishers’ shops, telling small fibs, and paying small +advances on the gross amount, until another term was tided +over, and the lady and her faithful secretary breathed again. +For Harry, in a double capacity, was heart and soul upon +that side of the war; not only did he adore Lady Vandeleur +and fear and dislike her husband, but he naturally sympathised +with the love of finery, and his own single extravagance +was at the tailor’s.</p> + +<p>He found the bandbox where it had been described, +arranged his toilette with care, and left the house. The sun +shone brightly; the distance he had to travel was considerable, +and he remembered with dismay that the General’s +sudden irruption had prevented Lady Vandeleur from +giving him money for a cab. On this sultry day there was +every chance that his complexion would suffer severely; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93"></a>93</span> +and to walk through so much of London with a bandbox on +his arm was a humiliation almost insupportable to a youth +of his character. He paused, and took counsel with himself. +The Vandeleurs lived in Eaton Place; his destination was +near Notting Hill; plainly, he might cross the Park by +keeping well in the open and avoiding populous alleys; and +he thanked his stars when he reflected that it was still comparatively +early in the day.</p> + +<p>Anxious to be rid of his incubus, he walked somewhat +faster than his ordinary, and he was already some way +through Kensington Gardens when, in a solitary spot among +trees, he found himself confronted by the General.</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas,” observed Harry, +politely falling on one side; for the other stood directly in +his path.</p> + +<p>“Where are you going, sir?” asked the General.</p> + +<p>“I am taking a little walk among the trees,” replied the +lad.</p> + +<p>The General struck the bandbox with his cane.</p> + +<p>“With that thing?” he cried; “you lie, sir, and you +know you lie!”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, Sir Thomas,” returned Harry, “I am not accustomed +to be questioned in so high a key.”</p> + +<p>“You do not understand your position,” said the +General. “You are my servant, and a servant of whom I +have conceived the most serious suspicions. How do I +know but that your box is full of tea-spoons?”</p> + +<p>“It contains a silk hat belonging to a friend,” said Harry.</p> + +<p>“Very well,” replied General Vandeleur. “Then I +want to see your friend’s silk hat. I have,” he added +grimly, “a singular curiosity for hats; and I believe you +know me to be somewhat positive.”</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas; I am exceedingly +grieved,” Harry apologised; “but indeed this is a private +affair.”</p> + +<p>The General caught him roughly by the shoulder with +one hand, while he raised his cane in the most menacing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94"></a>94</span> +manner with the other. Harry gave himself up for lost; +but at the same moment Heaven vouchsafed him an unexpected +defender in the person of Charlie Pendragon, who +now strode forward from behind the trees.</p> + +<p>“Come, come, General, hold your hand,” said he; “this +is neither courteous nor manly.”</p> + +<p>“Aha!” cried the General, wheeling round upon his new +antagonist, “Mr. Pendragon! And do you suppose, Mr. +Pendragon, that because I have had the misfortune to marry +your sister, I shall suffer myself to be dogged and thwarted +by a discredited and bankrupt libertine like you? My +acquaintance with Lady Vandeleur, sir, has taken away all +my appetite for the other members of her family.”</p> + +<p>“And do you fancy, General Vandeleur,” retorted +Charlie, “that because my sister has had the misfortune to +marry you, she there and then forfeited her rights and +privileges as a lady? I own, sir, that by that action she did +as much as anybody could to derogate from her position; +but to me she is still a Pendragon. I make it my business to +protect her from ungentlemanly outrage, and if you were ten +times her husband I would not permit her liberty to be restrained, +nor her private messengers to be violently arrested.”</p> + +<p>“How is that, Mr. Hartley?” interrogated the General. +“Mr. Pendragon is of my opinion, it appears. He too suspects +that Lady Vandeleur has something to do with your +friend’s silk hat.”</p> + +<p>Charlie saw that he had committed an unpardonable +blunder, which he hastened to repair.</p> + +<p>“How, sir?” he cried; “I suspect, do you say? I suspect +nothing. Only where I find strength abused and a +man brutalising his inferiors, I take the liberty to interfere.”</p> + +<p>As he said these words he made a sign to Harry, which +the latter was too dull or too much troubled to understand.</p> + +<p>“In what way am I to construe your attitude, sir?” demanded +Vandeleur.</p> + +<p>“Why, sir, as you please,” returned Pendragon.</p> + +<p>The General once more raised his cane, and made a cut +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95"></a>95</span> +for Charlie’s head; but the latter, lame foot and all, evaded +the blow with his umbrella, ran in, and immediately closed +with his formidable adversary.</p> + +<p>“Run, Harry, run!” he cried; “run, you dolt!”</p> + +<p>Harry stood petrified for a moment, watching the two +men sway together in this fierce embrace; then he turned +and took to his heels. When he cast a glance over his +shoulder he saw the General prostrate under Charlie’s knee, +but still making desperate efforts to reverse the situation; +and the Gardens seemed to have filled with people, who were +running from all directions towards the scene of fight. This +spectacle lent the secretary wings; and he did not relax his +pace until he had gained the Bayswater Road, and plunged +at random into an unfrequented by-street.</p> + +<p>To see two gentlemen of his acquaintance thus brutally +mauling each other was deeply shocking to Harry. He +desired to forget the sight; he desired, above all, to put as +great a distance as possible between himself and General +Vandeleur; and in his eagerness for this he forgot everything +about his destination, and hurried before him headlong +and trembling. When he remembered that Lady +Vandeleur was the wife of one and the sister of the other of +these gladiators, his heart was touched with sympathy for a +woman so distressingly misplaced in life. Even his own +situation in the General’s household looked hardly so pleasing +as usual in the light of these violent transactions.</p> + +<p>He had walked some little distance, busied with these +meditations, before a slight collision with another passenger +reminded him of the bandbox on his arm.</p> + +<p>“Heavens!” cried he, “where was my head? and +whither have I wandered?”</p> + +<p>Thereupon he consulted the envelope which Lady Vandeleur +had given him. The address was there, but without +a name. Harry was simply directed to ask for “the gentleman +who expected a parcel from Lady Vandeleur,” and if he +were not at home to await his return. The gentleman, +added the note, should present a receipt in the handwriting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96"></a>96</span> +of the lady herself. All this seemed mightily mysterious, +and Harry was above all astonished at the omission of the +name and the formality of the receipt. He had thought little +of this last when he heard it dropped in conversation; but +reading it in cold blood, and taking it in connection with the +other strange particulars, he became convinced that he was +engaged in perilous affairs. For half a moment he had a +doubt of Lady Vandeleur herself; for he found these obscure +proceedings somewhat unworthy of so high a lady, and +became more critical when her secrets were preserved +against himself. But her empire over his spirit was too +complete, he dismissed his <span class="correction" title="corrected from supicions">suspicions</span>, and blamed himself +roundly for having so much as entertained them.</p> + +<p>In one thing, however, his duty and interest, his generosity +and his terrors, coincided—to get rid of the bandbox +with the greatest possible despatch.</p> + +<p>He accosted the first policeman and courteously inquired +his way. It turned out that he was already not far +from his destination, and a walk of a few minutes brought +him to a small house in a lane, freshly painted, and kept +with the most scrupulous attention. The knocker and bell-pull +were highly polished: flowering pot-herbs garnished +the sills of the different windows; and curtains of some rich +material concealed the interior from the eyes of curious +passengers. The place had an air of repose and secrecy; +and Harry was so far caught with this spirit that he knocked +with more than usual discretion, and was more than usually +careful to remove all impurity from his boots.</p> + +<p>A servant-maid of some personal attractions immediately +opened the door, and seemed to regard the secretary +with no unkind eyes.</p> + +<p>“This is a parcel from Lady Vandeleur,” said Harry.</p> + +<p>“I know,” replied the maid, with a nod. “But the +gentleman is from home. Will you leave it with me?”</p> + +<p>“I cannot,” answered Harry. “I am directed not to +part with it but upon a certain condition, and I must ask +you, I am afraid, to let me wait.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page97"></a>97</span></p> + +<p>“Well,” said she, “I suppose I may let you wait. I am +lonely enough, I can tell you, and you do not look as though +you would eat a girl. But be sure and do not ask the gentleman’s +name, for that I am not to tell you.”</p> + +<p>“Do you say so?” cried Harry. “Why, how strange! +But indeed for some time back I walk among surprises. +One question I think I may surely ask without indiscretion: +Is he the master of this house?”</p> + +<p>“He is a lodger, and not eight days old at that,” returned +the maid. “And now a question for a question: Do you +know Lady Vandeleur?”</p> + +<p>“I am her private secretary,” replied Harry, with a +glow of modest pride.</p> + +<p>“She is pretty, is she not?” pursued the servant.</p> + +<p>“Oh, beautiful!” cried Harry; “wonderfully lovely, +and not less good and kind!”</p> + +<p>“You look kind enough yourself,” she retorted; “and +I wager you are worth a dozen Lady Vandeleurs.”</p> + +<p>Harry was properly scandalised.</p> + +<p>“I!” he cried. “I am only a secretary!”</p> + +<p>“Do you mean that for me?” said the girl. “Because +I am only a housemaid, if you please.” And then, relenting +at the sight of Harry’s obvious confusion, “I know you mean +nothing of the sort,” she added; “and I like your looks; +but I think nothing of your Lady Vandeleur. Oh, these +mistresses!” she cried. “To send out a real gentleman +like you—with a bandbox—in broad day!”</p> + +<p>During this talk they had remained in their original +positions—she on the doorstep, he on the side-walk, bare-headed +for the sake of coolness, and with the bandbox on +his arm. But upon this last speech Harry, who was unable +to support such point-blank compliments to his appearance, +nor the encouraging look with which they were accompanied, +began to change his attitude, and glance from left to right in +perturbation. In so doing he turned his face towards the +lower end of the lane, and there, to his indescribable dismay, +his eyes encountered those of General Vandeleur. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98"></a>98</span> +General, in a prodigious fluster of heat, hurry, and indignation, +had been scouring the streets in chase of his brother-in-law; +but so soon as he caught a glimpse of the delinquent +secretary, his purpose changed, his anger flowed into a new +channel, and he turned on his heel and came tearing up the +lane with truculent gestures and vociferations.</p> + +<p>Harry made but one bolt of it into the house, driving the +maid before him; and the door was slammed in his pursuer’s +countenance.</p> + +<p>“Is there a bar? Will it lock?” asked Harry, while a +salvo on the knocker made the house echo from wall to wall.</p> + +<p>“Why, what is wrong with you?” asked the maid. +“Is it this old gentleman?”</p> + +<p>“If he gets hold of me,” whispered Harry, “I am as +good as dead. He has been pursuing me all day, carries a +sword-stick, and is an Indian military officer.”</p> + +<p>“These are fine manners,” cried the maid. “And +what, if you please, may be his name?”</p> + +<p>“It is the General, my master,” answered Harry. “He +is after this bandbox.”</p> + +<p>“Did not I tell you?” cried the maid in triumph. “I +told you I thought worse than nothing of your Lady Vandeleur; +and if you had an eye in your head you might see +what she is for yourself. An ungrateful minx, I will be +bound for that!”</p> + +<p>The General renewed his attack upon the knocker, and +his passion growing with delay, began to kick and beat +upon the panels of the door.</p> + +<p>“It is lucky,” observed the girl, “that I am alone in +the house; your General may hammer until he is weary, +and there is none to open for him. Follow me!”</p> + +<p>So saying she led Harry into the kitchen, where she made +him sit down, and stood by him herself in an affectionate +attitude, with a hand upon his shoulder. The din at the door, +so far from abating, continued to increase in volume, and +at each blow the unhappy secretary was shaken to the heart.</p> + +<p>“What is your name?” asked the girl.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page99"></a>99</span></p> + +<p>“Harry Hartley,” he replied.</p> + +<p>“Mine,” she went on, “is Prudence. Do you like it?”</p> + +<p>“Very much,” said Harry. “But hear for a moment +how the General beats upon the door. He will certainly +break it in, and then, in Heaven’s name, what have I to look +for but death?”</p> + +<p>“You put yourself very much about with no occasion,” +answered Prudence. “Let your General knock, he will do +no more than blister his hands. Do you think I would keep +you here if I were not sure to save you? Oh, no, I am a +good friend to those that please me! and we have a back +door upon another lane. But,” she added, checking him, +for he had got upon his feet immediately on this welcome +news, “But I will not show where it is unless you kiss me. +Will you, Harry?”</p> + +<p>“That I will,” he cried, remembering his gallantry, “not +for your back door, but because you are good and pretty.”</p> + +<p>And he administered two or three cordial salutes, which +were returned to him in kind.</p> + +<p>Then Prudence led him to the back gate, and put her +hand upon the key.</p> + +<p>“Will you come and see me?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“I will indeed,” said Harry. “Do not I owe you my +life?”</p> + +<p>“And now,” she added, opening the door, “run as hard +as you can, for I shall let in the General.”</p> + +<p>Harry scarcely required this advice; fear had him by +the forelock; and he addressed himself diligently to flight. +A few steps, and he believed he would escape from his trials, +and return to Lady Vandeleur in honour and safety. But +these few steps had not been taken before he heard a man’s +voice hailing him by name with many execrations, and, +looking over his shoulder, he beheld Charlie Pendragon +waving him with both arms to return. The shock of this +new incident was so sudden and profound, and Harry was +already worked into so high a state of nervous tension, that +he could think of nothing better than to accelerate his pace +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100"></a>100</span> +and continue running. He should certainly have remembered +the scene in Kensington Gardens; he should certainly +have concluded that, where the General was his enemy, +Charlie Pendragon could be no other than a friend. But +such was the fever and perturbation of his mind that he was +struck by none of these considerations, and only continued +to run the faster up the lane.</p> + +<p>Charlie, by the sound of his voice and the vile terms that +he hurled after the secretary, was obviously beside himself +with rage. He, too, ran his very best; but, try as he might, +the physical advantages were not upon his side, and his outcries +and the fall of his lame foot on the macadam began to +fall farther and farther into the wake.</p> + +<p>Harry’s hopes began once more to arise. The lane was +both steep and narrow, but it was exceedingly solitary, +bordered on either hand by garden walls, overhung with +foliage; and, for as far as the fugitive could see in front of +him, there was neither a creature moving nor an open door. +Providence, weary of persecution, was now offering him an +open field for his escape.</p> + +<p>Alas! as he came abreast of a garden door under a tuft +of chestnuts, it was suddenly drawn back, and he could see +inside, upon a garden path, the figure of a butcher’s boy +with his tray upon his arm. He had hardly recognised the +fact before he was some steps beyond upon the other side. But +the fellow had had time to observe him; he was evidently +much surprised to see a gentleman go by at so unusual a +pace; and he came out into the lane and began to call after +Harry with shouts of ironical encouragement.</p> + +<p>His appearance gave a new idea to Charlie Pendragon, +who, although he was now sadly out of breath, once more +upraised his voice.</p> + +<p>“Stop, thief!” he cried.</p> + +<p>And immediately the butcher’s boy had taken up the +cry and joined in the pursuit.</p> + +<p>This was a bitter moment for the hunted secretary. It +is true that his terror enabled him once more to improve his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101"></a>101</span> +pace, and gain with every step on his pursuers; but he was +well aware that he was near the end of his resources, and +should he meet any one coming the other way, his predicament +in the narrow lane would be desperate indeed.</p> + +<p>“I must find a place of concealment,” he thought, “and +that within the next few seconds, or all is over with me in +this world.”</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind than the lane +took a sudden turning, and he found himself hidden from +his enemies. There are circumstances in which even the +least energetic of mankind learn to behave with vigour and +decision, and the most cautious forget their prudence and +embrace foolhardy resolutions. This was one of those +occasions for Harry Hartley; and those who knew him best +would have been the most astonished at the lad’s audacity. +He stopped dead, flung the bandbox over a garden wall, and +leaping upward with incredible agility, and seizing the cope-stone +with his hands, he tumbled headlong after it into the +garden.</p> + +<p>He came to himself a moment afterwards, seated in a +border of small rose-bushes. His hands and knees were cut +and bleeding, for the wall had been protected against such +an escalade by a liberal provision of old bottles; and he was +conscious of a general dislocation and a painful swimming +in the head. Facing him across the garden, which was in +admirable order, and set with flowers of the most delicious +perfume, he beheld the back of a house. It was of considerable +extent, and plainly habitable; but, in odd contrast to +the grounds, it was crazy, ill-kept, and of a mean appearance. +On all other sides the circuit of the garden wall appeared +unbroken.</p> + +<p>He took in these features of the scene with mechanical +glances, but his mind was still unable to piece together or +draw a rational conclusion from what he saw. And when +he heard footsteps advancing on the gravel, although he +turned his eyes in that direction, it was with no thought +either for defence or flight.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page102"></a>102</span></p> + +<p>The new-comer was a large, coarse, and very sordid +personage, in gardening clothes, and with a watering-pot +in his left hand. One less confused would have been affected +with some alarm at the sight of this man’s huge proportions +and black and lowering eyes. But Harry was too gravely +shaken by his fall to be so much as terrified; and if he was +unable to divert his glances from the gardener, he remained +absolutely passive, and suffered him to draw near, to take +him by the shoulder, and to plant him roughly on his feet, +without a motion of resistance.</p> + +<p>For a moment the two stared into each other’s eyes, +Harry fascinated, the man filled with wrath and a cruel, +sneering humour.</p> + +<p>“Who are you?” he demanded at last. “Who are you +to come flying over my wall and break my <i>Gloire de Dijons</i>? +What is your name?” he added, shaking him; “and what +may be your business here?”</p> + +<p>Harry could not as much as proffer a word in explanation.</p> + +<p>But just at that moment Pendragon and the butcher’s +boy went clumping past, and the sound of their feet and +their hoarse cries echoed loudly in the narrow lane. The +gardener had received his answer; and he looked down into +Harry’s face with an obnoxious smile.</p> + +<p>“A thief!” he said. “Upon my word, and a very +good thing you must make of it; for I see you dressed like a +gentleman from top to toe. Are you not ashamed to go +about the world in such a trim, with honest folk, I daresay, +glad to buy your cast-off finery second-hand? Speak up, +you dog,” the man went on; “you can understand English, +I suppose; and I mean to have a bit of talk with you before +I march you to the station.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, sir,” said Harry, “this is all a dreadful misconception; +and if you will go with me to Sir Thomas +Vandeleur’s in Eaton Place, I can promise that all will be +made plain. The most upright person, as I now perceive, +can be led into suspicious positions.”</p> + +<p>“My little man,” replied the gardener, “I will go with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103"></a>103</span> +you no farther than the station-house in the next street. +The inspector, no doubt, will be glad to take a stroll with +you as far as Eaton Place, and have a bit of afternoon tea +with your great acquaintances. Or would you prefer to go +direct to the Home Secretary? Sir Thomas Vandeleur, +indeed! Perhaps you think I don’t know a gentleman +when I see one, from a common run-the-hedge like you? +Clothes or no clothes, I can read you like a book. Here is a +shirt that maybe cost as much as my Sunday hat; and that +coat, I take it, has never seen the inside of Rag-fair, and +then your boots——“</p> + +<p>The man, whose eyes had fallen upon the ground, stopped +short in his insulting commentary, and remained for a +moment looking intently upon something at his feet. When +he spoke his voice was strangely altered.</p> + +<p>“What, in God’s name,” said he, “is all this?”</p> + +<p>Harry, following the direction of the man’s eyes, beheld +a spectacle that struck him dumb with terror and amazement. +In his fall he had descended vertically upon the +bandbox, and burst it open from end to end; thence a great +treasure of diamonds had poured forth, and now lay abroad, +part trodden in the soil, part scattered on the surface in +regal and glittering profusion. There was a magnificent +coronet which he had often admired on Lady Vandeleur; +there were rings and brooches, ear-drops and bracelets, and +even unset brilliants rolling here and there among the rose-bushes +like drops of morning dew. A princely fortune lay +between the two men upon the ground—a fortune in the +most inviting, solid, and durable form, capable of being +carried in an apron, beautiful in itself, and scattering the +sunlight in a million rainbow flashes.</p> + +<p>“Good God!” said Harry, “I am lost!”</p> + +<p>His mind racked backwards into the past with the incalculable +velocity of thought, and he began to comprehend +his day’s adventures, to conceive them as a whole, and to +recognise the sad imbroglio in which his own character and +fortunes had become involved. He looked round him as if +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104"></a>104</span> +for help, but he was alone in the garden, with his scattered +diamonds and his redoubtable interlocutor; and when he +gave ear, there was no sound but the rustle of the leaves +and the hurried pulsation of his heart. It was little wonder +if the young man felt himself deserted by his spirits, and with +a broken voice repeated his last ejaculation—</p> + +<p>“I am lost!”</p> + +<p>The gardener peered in all directions with an air of guilt; +but there was no face at any of the windows, and he seemed +to breathe again.</p> + +<p>“Pick up a heart,” he said, “you fool! The worst of it +is done. Why could you not say at first there was enough +for two? Two?” he repeated, “ay, and for two hundred! +But come away from here, where we may be observed; and, +for the love of wisdom, straighten out your hat and brush +your clothes. You could not travel two steps the figure of +fun you look just now.”</p> + +<p>While Harry mechanically adopted these suggestions, +the gardener, getting upon his knees, hastily drew together +the scattered jewels and returned them to the bandbox. +The touch of these costly crystals sent a shiver of emotion +through the man’s stalwart frame; his face was transfigured, +and his eyes shone with concupiscence; indeed, it seemed +as if he luxuriously prolonged his occupation, and dallied +with every diamond that he handled. At last, however, it +was done; and concealing the bandbox in his smock, the +gardener beckoned to Harry and preceded him in the direction +of the house.</p> + +<p>Near the door they were met by a young man, evidently +in holy orders, dark and strikingly handsome, with a look of +mingled weakness and resolution, and very neatly attired +after the manner of his caste. The gardener was plainly +annoyed by this encounter; but he put as good a face upon +it as he could, and accosted the clergyman with an obsequious +and smiling air.</p> + +<p>“Here is a fine afternoon, Mr. Rolles,” said he: “a fine +afternoon, as sure as God made it! And here is a young +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105"></a>105</span> +friend of mine who had a fancy to look at my roses. I took +the liberty to bring him in, for I thought none of the lodgers +would object.”</p> + +<p>“Speaking for myself,” replied the Reverend Mr. Rolles, +“I do not; nor do I fancy any of the rest of us would be +more difficult upon so small a matter. The garden is your +own, Mr. Raeburn; we must none of us forget that; and +because you give us liberty to walk there we should be +indeed ungracious if we so far presumed upon your politeness +as to interfere with the convenience of your friends. +But, on second thoughts,” he added, “I believe that this +gentleman and I have met before. Mr. Hartley, I think. I +regret to observe that you have had a fall.”</p> + +<p>And he offered his hand.</p> + +<p>A sort of maiden dignity, and a desire to delay as +long as possible the necessity for explanation, moved Harry +to refuse this chance of help, and to deny his own identity. +He chose the tender mercies of the gardener, who was at +least unknown to him, rather than the curiosity and perhaps +the doubts of an acquaintance.</p> + +<p>“I fear there is some mistake,” said he. “My name is +Thomlinson and I am a friend of Mr. Raeburn’s.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed?” said Mr. Rolles. “The likeness is amazing.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Raeburn, who had been upon thorns throughout +this colloquy, now felt it high time to bring it to a period.</p> + +<p>“I wish you a pleasant saunter, sir,” said he.</p> + +<p>And with that he dragged Harry after him into the +house, and then into a chamber on the garden. His first +care was to draw down the blind, for Mr. Rolles still remained +where they had left him, in an attitude of perplexity +and thought. Then he emptied the broken bandbox on the +table, and stood before the treasure, thus fully displayed, +with an expression of rapturous greed, and rubbing his hands +upon his thighs. For Harry, the sight of the man’s face +under the influence of this base emotion added another pang +to those he was already suffering. It seemed incredible +that, from his life of pure and delicate trifling, he should be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106"></a>106</span> +plunged in a breath among sordid and criminal relations. +He could reproach his conscience with no sinful act; and +yet he was now suffering the punishment of sin in its most +acute and cruel forms—the dread of punishment, the suspicions +of the good, and the companionship and contamination +of vile and brutal natures. He felt he could lay his life +down with gladness to escape from the room and the society +of Mr. Raeburn.</p> + +<p>“And now,” said the latter, after he had separated +the jewels into two nearly equal parts, and drawn one +of them nearer to himself; “and now,” said he, “everything +in this world has to be paid for, and some things +sweetly. You must know, Mr. Hartley, if such be your +name, that I am a man of a very easy temper, and good-nature +has been my stumbling-block from first to last. I +could pocket the whole of these pretty pebbles, if I chose, +and I should like to see you dare to say a word; but I think +I must have taken a liking to you; for I declare I have not +the heart to shave you so close. So, do you see, in pure kind +feeling, I propose that we divide; and these,” indicating the +two heaps, “are the proportions that seem to me just and +friendly. Do you see any objection, Mr. Hartley, may I +ask? I am not the man to stick upon a brooch.”</p> + +<p>“But, sir,” cried Harry, “what you propose to me is +impossible. The jewels are not mine, and I cannot share +what is another’s, no matter with whom, nor in what proportions.”</p> + +<p>“They are not yours, are they not?” returned Raeburn. +“And you could not share them with anybody, couldn’t you? +Well, now, that is what I call a pity; for here am I obliged +to take you to the station. The police—think of that,” +he continued; “think of the disgrace for your respectable +parents; think,” he went on, taking Harry by the wrist; +“think of the Colonies and the Day of Judgment.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot help it,” wailed Harry. “It is not my fault. +You will not come with me to Eaton Place.”</p> + +<p>“No,” replied the man; “I will not, that is certain. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107"></a>107</span> +And I mean to divide these playthings with you +here.”</p> + +<p>And so saying he applied a sudden and severe torsion to +the lad’s wrist.</p> + +<p>Harry could not suppress a scream, and the perspiration +burst forth upon his face. Perhaps pain and terror quickened +his intelligence, but certainly at that moment the +whole business flashed across him in another light; and he +saw that there was nothing for it but to accede to the +ruffian’s proposal, and trust to find the house and force him +to disgorge, under more favourable circumstances, and +when he himself was clear from all suspicion.</p> + +<p>“I agree,” he said.</p> + +<p>“There is a lamb,” sneered the gardener. “I thought +you would recognise your interests at last. This bandbox,” +he continued, “I shall burn with my rubbish; +it is a thing that curious folk might recognise; and +as for you, scrape up your gaieties and put them in +your pocket.”</p> + +<p>Harry proceeded to obey, Raeburn watching him, and +every now and again, his greed rekindled by some bright +scintillation, abstracting another jewel from the secretary’s +share, and adding it to his own.</p> + +<p>When this was finished, both proceeded to the front door, +which Raeburn cautiously opened to observe the street. +This was apparently clear of passengers; for he suddenly +seized Harry by the nape of the neck, and holding his face +downward so that he could see nothing but the roadway and +the door steps of the houses, pushed him violently before +him down one street and up another for the space of perhaps +a minute and a half. Harry had counted three corners +before the bully relaxed his grasp, and crying, “Now be off +with you!” sent the lad flying head-foremost with a well-directed +and athletic kick.</p> + +<p>When Harry gathered himself up, half-stunned and +bleeding freely at the nose, Mr. Raeburn had entirely disappeared. +For the first time, anger and pain so completely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108"></a>108</span> +overcame the lad’s spirits that he burst into a fit of tears and +remained sobbing in the middle of the road.</p> + +<p>After he had thus somewhat assuaged his emotion, he +began to look about him and read the names of the streets +at whose intersection he had been deserted by the gardener. +He was still in an unfrequented portion of West London, +among villas and large gardens; but he could see some persons +at a window who had evidently witnessed his misfortune; +and almost immediately after a servant came running +from the house and offered him a glass of water. At the +same time, a dirty rogue, who had been slouching somewhere +in the neighbourhood, drew near him from the other side.</p> + +<p>“Poor fellow,” said the maid, “how vilely you have +been handled, to be sure! Why, your knees are all cut, and +your clothes ruined! Do you know the wretch who used +you so?”</p> + +<p>“That I do!” cried Harry, who was somewhat refreshed +by the water; “and shall run him home in spite of his precautions. +He shall pay dearly for this day’s work, I promise +you.”</p> + +<p>“You had better come into the house and have yourself +washed and brushed,” continued the maid. “My mistress +will make you welcome, never fear. And see, I will pick up +your hat. Why, love of mercy!” she screamed, “if you +have not dropped diamonds all over the street!”</p> + +<p>Such was the case; a good half of what remained to him +after the depredations of Mr. Raeburn had been shaken out +of his pockets by the summersault, and once more lay glittering +on the ground. He blessed his fortune that the maid +had been so quick of eye; “there is nothing so bad but it +might be worse,” thought he; and the recovery of these few +seemed to him almost as great an affair as the loss of all the +rest. But, alas! as he stooped to pick up his treasures, the +loiterer made a rapid onslaught, overset both Harry and the +maid with a movement of his arms, swept up a double-handful +of the diamonds, and made off along the street with +an amazing swiftness.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page109"></a>109</span></p> + +<p>Harry, as soon as he could get upon his feet, gave chase +to the miscreant with many cries, but the latter was too +fleet of foot, and probably too well acquainted with the +locality; for turn where the pursuer would he could find no +traces of the fugitive.</p> + +<p>In the deepest despondency, Harry revisited the scene of +his mishap, where the maid, who was still waiting, very +honestly returned him his hat and the remainder of the +fallen diamonds. Harry thanked her from his heart, and +being now in no humour for economy, made his way to the +nearest cabstand and set off for Eaton Place by coach.</p> + +<p>The house, on his arrival, seemed in some confusion, as if +a catastrophe had happened in the family; and the servants +clustered together in the hall, and were unable, or perhaps +not altogether anxious, to suppress their merriment at the +tatterdemalion figure of the secretary. He passed them +with as good an air of dignity as he could assume, and made +directly for the boudoir. When he opened the door an astonishing +and even menacing spectacle presented itself to +his eyes; for he beheld the General and his wife and, of all +people, Charlie Pendragon, closeted together and speaking +with earnestness and gravity on some important subject. +Harry saw at once that there was little left for him to explain—plenary +confession had plainly been made to the +General of the intended fraud upon his pocket, and the unfortunate +miscarriage of the scheme; and they had all +made common cause against a common danger.</p> + +<p>“Thank Heaven!” cried Lady Vandeleur, “here he is! +The bandbox, Harry—the bandbox!”</p> + +<p>But Harry stood before them silent and downcast.</p> + +<p>“Speak!” she cried. “Speak! Where is the bandbox?”</p> + +<p>And the men, with threatening gestures, repeated the +demand.</p> + +<p>Harry drew a handful of jewels from his pocket. He +was very white.</p> + +<p>“This is all that remains,” said he. “I declare before +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110"></a>110</span> +Heaven it was through no fault of mine; and if you will +have patience, although some are lost, I am afraid, for ever, +others, I am sure, may be still recovered.”</p> + +<p>“Alas!” cried Lady Vandeleur, “all our diamonds are +gone, and I owe ninety thousand pounds for dress!”</p> + +<p>“Madam,” said the General, “you might have paved +the gutter with your own trash; you might have made debts +to fifty times the sum you mention; you might have robbed +me of my mother’s coronet and ring; and Nature might +have still so far prevailed that I could have forgiven you at +last. But, madam, you have taken the Rajah’s Diamond—the +Eye of Light, as the Orientals poetically termed it—the +Pride of Kashgar! You have taken from me the Rajah’s +Diamond,” he cried, raising his hands, “and all, madam, all +is at an end between us!”</p> + +<p>“Believe me, General Vandeleur,” she replied, “that +is one of the most agreeable speeches that ever I heard from +your lips; and since we are to be ruined, I could almost +welcome the change, if it delivers me from you. You have +told me often enough that I married you for your money; +let me tell you now that I always bitterly repented the bargain; +and if you were still marriageable, and had a diamond +bigger than your head, I should counsel even my maid +against a union so uninviting and disastrous.—As for you, +Mr. Hartley,” she continued, turning on the secretary, “you +have sufficiently exhibited your valuable qualities in this +house; we are now persuaded that you equally lack manhood, +sense, and self-respect; and I can see only one course +open for you—to withdraw instanter, and, if possible, return +no more. For your wages you may rank as a creditor in my +late husband’s bankruptcy.”</p> + +<p>Harry had scarcely comprehended this insulting address +before the General was down upon him with another.</p> + +<p>“And in the meantime,” said that personage, “follow +me before the nearest Inspector of Police. You may impose +upon a simple-minded soldier, sir, but the eye of the law will +read your disreputable secret. If I must spend my old age +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111"></a>111</span> +in poverty through your underhand intriguing with my wife, +I mean at least that you shall not remain unpunished for +your pains; and God, sir, will deny me a very considerable +satisfaction if you do not pick oakum from now until your +dying day.”</p> + +<p>With that, the General dragged Harry from the apartment, +and hurried him down-stairs and along the street to +the police-station of the district.</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p><i>Here</i> (says my Arabian author) <i>ended this deplorable +business of the bandbox. But to the unfortunate secretary the +whole affair was the beginning of a new and manlier life. The +police were easily persuaded of his innocence; and, after he +had given what help he could in the subsequent investigations, +he was even complimented by one of the chiefs of the detective +department on the probity and simplicity of his behaviour. +Several persons interested themselves in one so unfortunate; +and soon after he inherited a sum of money from a maiden aunt +in Worcestershire. With this he married Prudence, and set +sail for Bendigo, or, according to another account, for Trincomalee, +exceedingly content, and with the best of prospects.</i></p> + +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h5>STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">The</span> Reverend Mr. Simon Rolles had distinguished himself +in the Moral Sciences, and was more than usually proficient +in the study of Divinity. His essay “On the Christian +Doctrine of the Social Obligations” obtained for him, at the +moment of its production, a certain celebrity in the University +of Oxford; and it was understood in clerical and +learned circles that young Mr. Rolles had in contemplation a +considerable work—a folio, it was said—on the authority +of the Fathers of the Church. These attainments, these +ambitious designs, however, were far from helping him to +any preferment; and he was still in quest of his first curacy +when a chance ramble in that part of London, the peaceful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112"></a>112</span> +and rich aspect of the garden, a desire for solitude and study, +and the cheapness of the lodging, led him to take up his +abode with Mr. Raeburn, the nurseryman of Stockdove +Lane.</p> + +<p>It was his habit every afternoon, after he had worked +seven or eight hours on St. Ambrose or St. Chrysostom, to +walk for a while in meditation among the roses. And this +was usually one of the most productive moments of his day. +But even a sincere appetite for thought, and the excitement +of grave problems awaiting solution, are not always sufficient +to preserve the mind of the philosopher against the petty +shocks and contacts of the world. And when Mr. Rolles +found General Vandeleur’s secretary, ragged and bleeding, +in the company of his landlord; when he saw both change +colour and seek to avoid his questions; and, above all, when +the former denied his own identity with the most unmoved +assurance, he speedily forgot the Saints and Fathers in the +vulgar interest of curiosity.</p> + +<p>“I cannot be mistaken,” thought he. “That is Mr. +Hartley beyond a doubt. How comes he in such a pickle? +why does he deny his name? and what can be his business +with that black-looking ruffian, my landlord?”</p> + +<p>As he was thus reflecting, another peculiar circumstance +attracted his attention. The face of Mr. Raeburn appeared +at a low window next the door; and, as chance directed, his +eyes met those of Mr. Rolles. The nurseryman seemed disconcerted, +and even alarmed; and immediately after the +blind of the apartment was pulled sharply down.</p> + +<p>“This may all be very well,” reflected Mr. Rolles; “it +may be all excellently well; but I confess freely that I do +not think so. Suspicious, underhand, untruthful, fearful of +observation—I believe upon my soul,” he thought, “the +pair are plotting some disgraceful action.”</p> + +<p>The detective that there is in all of us awoke and became +clamant in the bosom of Mr. Rolles; and with a brisk, eager +step, that bore no resemblance to his usual gait, he proceeded +to make the circuit of the garden. When he came to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113"></a>113</span> +scene of Harry’s escalade, his eye was at once arrested by a +broken rose-bush and marks of trampling on the mould. He +looked up, and saw scratches on the brick, and a rag of +trouser floating from a broken bottle. This, then, was the +mode of entrance chosen by Mr. Raeburn’s particular friend! +It was thus that General Vandeleur’s secretary came to +admire a flower-garden! The young clergyman whistled +softly to himself as he stooped to examine the ground. He +could make out where Harry had landed from his perilous +leap; he recognised the flat foot of Mr. Raeburn where it +had sunk deeply in the soil as he pulled up the secretary by +the collar; nay, on a closer inspection, he seemed to distinguish +the marks of groping fingers, as though something +had been spilt abroad and eagerly collected.</p> + +<p>“Upon my word,” he thought, “the thing grows vastly +interesting.”</p> + +<p>And just then he caught sight of something almost +entirely buried in the earth. In an instant he had disinterred +a dainty morocco case, ornamented and clasped in +gilt. It had been trodden heavily underfoot, and thus +escaped the hurried search of Mr. Raeburn. Mr. Rolles +opened the case, and drew a long breath of almost horrified +astonishment; for there lay before him, in a cradle of green +velvet, a diamond of prodigious magnitude and of the finest +water. It was of the bigness of a duck’s egg; beautifully +shaped, and without a flaw; and as the sun shone upon it, +it gave forth a lustre like that of electricity, and seemed to +burn in his hand with a thousand internal fires.</p> + +<p>He knew little of precious stones; but the Rajah’s +Diamond was a wonder that explained itself; a village +child, if he found it, would run screaming for the nearest +cottage; and a savage would prostrate himself in adoration +before so imposing a fetich. The beauty of the stone +flattered the young clergyman’s eyes; the thought of its +incalculable value overpowered his intellect. He knew that +what he held in his hand was worth more than many years’ +purchase of an archiepiscopal see; that it would build +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114"></a>114</span> +cathedrals more stately than Ely or Cologne; that he who +possessed it was set free for ever from the primal curse, and +might follow his own inclinations without concern or hurry, +without let or hindrance. And as he suddenly turned it, the +rays leaped forth again with renewed brilliancy, and seemed +to pierce his very heart.</p> + +<p>Decisive actions are often taken in a moment and without +any conscious deliverance from the rational parts of +man. So it was now with Mr. Rolles. He glanced hurriedly +round; beheld, like Mr. Raeburn before him, nothing but +the sunlit flower-garden, the tall tree-tops, and the house +with blinded windows; and in a trice he had shut the case, +thrust it into his pocket, and was hastening to his study +with the speed of guilt.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Simon Rolles had stolen the Rajah’s +Diamond.</p> + +<p>Early in the afternoon the police arrived with Harry +Hartley. The nurseryman, who was beside himself with +terror, readily discovered his hoard; and the jewels were +identified and inventoried in the presence of the secretary. +As for Mr. Rolles, he showed himself in a most obliging +temper, communicated what he knew with freedom, and +professed regret that he could do no more to help the officers +in their duty.</p> + +<p>“Still,” he added, “I suppose your business is nearly at +an end.”</p> + +<p>“By no means,” replied the man from Scotland Yard; +and he narrated the second robbery of which Harry had +been the immediate victim, and gave the young clergyman +a description of the more important jewels that were still +not found, dilating particularly on the Rajah’s Diamond.</p> + +<p>“It must be worth a fortune,” observed Mr. Rolles.</p> + +<p>“Ten fortunes—twenty fortunes,” cried the officer.</p> + +<p>“The more it is worth,” remarked Simon shrewdly, +“the more difficult it must be to sell. Such a thing has a +physiognomy not to be disguised, and I should fancy a man +might as easily negotiate St. Paul’s Cathedral.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page115"></a>115</span></p> + +<p>“Oh, truly!” said the officer; “but if the thief be a +man of any intelligence, he will cut it into three or four, and +there will be still enough to make him rich.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” said the clergyman. “You cannot +imagine how much your conversation interests me.”</p> + +<p>Whereupon the functionary admitted that they knew +many strange things in his profession, and immediately +after took his leave.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rolles regained his apartment. It seemed smaller +and barer than usual; the materials for his great work had +never presented so little interest; and he looked upon his +library with the eye of scorn. He took down, volume by +volume, several Fathers of the Church, and glanced them +through; but they contained nothing to his purpose.</p> + +<p>“These old gentlemen,” thought he, “are no doubt very +valuable writers, but they seem to me conspicuously ignorant +of life. Here am I, with learning enough to be a +Bishop, and I positively do not know how to dispose of a +stolen diamond. I glean a hint from a common policeman, +and, with all my folios, I cannot so much as put it into execution. +This inspires me with very low ideas of University +training.”</p> + +<p>Herewith he kicked over his book-shelf and, putting on +his hat, hastened from the house to the club of which he was +a member. In such a place of mundane resort he hoped to +find some man of good counsel and a shrewd experience in +life. In the reading-room he saw many of the country +clergy and an Archdeacon; there were three journalists and +a writer upon the Higher Metaphysic, playing pool; and at +dinner only the raff of ordinary club frequenters showed +their commonplace and obliterated countenances. None +of these, thought Mr. Rolles, would know more on dangerous +topics than he knew himself; none of them were fit to give +him guidance in his present strait. At length, in the smoking-room, +up many weary stairs, he hit upon a gentleman of +somewhat portly build and dressed with conspicuous plainness. +He was smoking a cigar and reading the <i>Fortnightly</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116"></a>116</span> +<i>Review</i>; his face was singularly free from all sign of preoccupation +or fatigue; and there was something in his air which +seemed to invite confidence and to expect submission. The +more the young clergyman scrutinised his features, the more +he was convinced that he had fallen on one capable of giving +pertinent advice.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said he, “you will excuse my abruptness; but +I judge you from your appearance to be pre-eminently a +man of the world.”</p> + +<p>“I have indeed considerable claims to that distinction,” +replied the stranger, laying aside his magazine with a look +of mingled amusement and surprise.</p> + +<p>“I, sir,” continued the curate, “am a recluse, a student, +a creature of ink-bottles and patristic folios. A recent +event has brought my folly vividly before my eyes, and I +desire to instruct myself in life. By life,” he added, “I do +not mean Thackeray’s novels; but the crimes and secret +possibilities of our society, and the principles of wise conduct +among exceptional events. I am a patient reader; can the +thing be learnt in books?”</p> + +<p>“You put me in a difficulty,” said the stranger. “I +confess I have no great notion of the use of books, except to +amuse a railway journey; although, I believe, there are some +very exact treatises on astronomy, the use of the globes, +agriculture, and the art of making paper-flowers. Upon the +less apparent provinces of life I fear you will find nothing +truthful. Yet stay,” he added, “have you read Gaboriau?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Rolles admitted that he had never even heard the +name.</p> + +<p>“You may gather some notions from Gaboriau,” resumed +the stranger. “He is at least suggestive; and as he +is an author much studied by Prince Bismarck, you will, at +the worst, lose your time in good society.”</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said the curate, “I am infinitely obliged by your +politeness.”</p> + +<p>“You have already more than repaid me,” returned the +other.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page117"></a>117</span></p> + +<p>“How?” inquired Simon.</p> + +<p>“By the novelty of your request,” replied the gentleman; +and with a polite gesture, as though to ask permission, +he resumed the study of the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>.</p> + +<p>On his way home Mr. Rolles purchased a work on precious +stones and several of Gaboriau’s novels. These last he +eagerly skimmed until an advanced hour in the morning; +but although they introduced him to many new ideas, he +could nowhere discover what to do with a stolen diamond. +He was annoyed, moreover, to find the information scattered +amongst romantic story-telling, instead of soberly set forth +after the manner of a manual; and he concluded that, even +if the writer had thought much upon these subjects, he was +totally lacking in educational method. For the character +and attainments of Lecoq, however, he was unable to contain +his admiration.</p> + +<p>“He was truly a great creature,” ruminated Mr. Rolles. +“He knew the world as I know Paley’s Evidences. There +was nothing that he could not carry to a termination with +his own hand, and against the largest odds. Heavens!” he +broke out suddenly, “is not this the lesson? Must I not +learn to cut diamonds for myself?”</p> + +<p>It seemed to him as if he had sailed at once out of his +perplexities; he remembered that he knew a jeweller, one +B. Macculloch, in Edinburgh, who would be glad to put him +in the way of the necessary training; a few months, perhaps +a few years, of sordid toil, and he would be sufficiently expert +to divide and sufficiently cunning to dispose with advantage +of the Rajah’s Diamond. That done, he might return to +pursue his researches at leisure, a wealthy and luxurious +student, envied and respected by all. Golden visions attended +him through his slumber, and he awoke refreshed +and light-hearted with the morning sun.</p> + +<p>Mr. Raeburn’s house was on that day to be closed by +the police, and this afforded a pretext for his departure. +He cheerfully prepared his baggage, transported it to +King’s Cross, where he left it in the cloak-room, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118"></a>118</span> +returned to the club to while away the afternoon and +dine.</p> + +<p>“If you dine here to-day, Rolles,” observed an acquaintance, +“you may see two of the most remarkable men in +England—Prince Florizel of Bohemia, and old Jack Vandeleur.”</p> + +<p>“I have heard of the Prince,” replied Mr. Rolles; “and +General Vandeleur I have even met in society.”</p> + +<p>“General Vandeleur is an ass!” returned the other. +“This is his brother John, the biggest adventurer, the best +judge of precious stones, and one of the most acute diplomatists +in Europe. Have you never heard of his duel +with the Duc de Val d’Orge? of his exploits and atrocities +when he was Dictator of Paraguay? of his dexterity in +recovering Sir Samuel Levi’s jewellery? nor of his services +in the Indian Mutiny—services by which the Government +profited, but which the Government dared not recognise? +You make me wonder what we mean by fame, or even by +infamy; for Jack Vandeleur has prodigious claims to both. +Run down-stairs,” he continued, “take a table near them, +and keep your ears open. You will hear some strange talk, +or I am much misled.”</p> + +<p>“But how shall I know them?” inquired the clergyman.</p> + +<p>“Know them!” cried his friend; “why, the Prince is +the finest gentleman in Europe, the only living creature who +looks like a king; and as for Jack Vandeleur, if you can +imagine Ulysses at seventy years of age, and with a sabre-cut +across his face, you have the man before you! Know +them, indeed! Why, you could pick either of them out of a +Derby day!”</p> + +<p>Rolles eagerly hurried to the dining-room. It was as +his friend had asserted; it was impossible to mistake the +pair in question. Old John Vandeleur was of a remarkable +force of body, and obviously broken to the most difficult +exercises. He had neither the carriage of a swordsman, nor +of a sailor, nor yet of one much inured to the saddle; but +something made up of all these, and the result and expression +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119"></a>119</span> +of many different habits and dexterities. His features +were bold and aquiline; his expression arrogant and predatory; +his whole appearance that of a swift, violent, unscrupulous +man of action; and his copious white hair and +the deep sabre-cut that traversed his nose and temple added +a note of savagery to a head already remarkable and menacing +in itself.</p> + +<p>In his companion, the Prince of Bohemia, Mr. Rolles +was astonished to recognise the gentleman who had recommended +him the study of Gaboriau. Doubtless Prince +Florizel, who rarely visited the club, of which, as of most +others, he was an honorary member, had been waiting for +John Vandeleur when Simon accosted him on the previous +evening.</p> + +<p>The other diners had modestly retired into the angles of +the room, and left the distinguished pair in a certain isolation, +but the young clergyman was unrestrained by any sentiment +of awe, and, marching boldly up, took his place at the +nearest table.</p> + +<p>The conversation was, indeed, new to the student’s ears. +The ex-Dictator of Paraguay stated many extraordinary +experiences in different quarters of the world; and the +Prince supplied a commentary which, to a man of thought, +was even more interesting than the events themselves. +Two forms of experience were thus brought together and +laid before the young clergyman; and he did not know +which to admire the most—the desperate actor or the skilled +expert in life; the man who spoke boldly of his own deeds +and perils, or the man who seemed, like a god, to know all +things and to have suffered nothing. The manner of each +aptly fitted with his part in the discourse. The Dictator +indulged in brutalities alike of speech and gesture; his hand +opened and shut and fell roughly on the table; and his voice +was loud and heady. The Prince, on the other hand, +seemed the very type of urbane docility and quiet; the +least movement, the least inflection, had with him a weightier +significance than all the shouts and pantomime of his companion; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120"></a>120</span> +and if ever, as must frequently have been the case, +he described some experience personal to himself, it was so +aptly dissimulated as to pass unnoticed with the rest.</p> + +<p>At length the talk wandered on to the late robberies and +the Rajah’s Diamond.</p> + +<p>“That diamond would be better in the sea,” observed +Prince Florizel.</p> + +<p>“As a Vandeleur,” replied the Dictator, “your Highness +may imagine my dissent.”</p> + +<p>“I speak on grounds of public policy,” pursued the +Prince. “Jewels so valuable should be reserved for the +collection of a Prince or the treasury of a great nation. To +hand them about among the common sort of men is to set +a price on Virtue’s head; and if the Rajah of Kashgar—a +Prince, I understand, of great enlightenment—desired +vengeance upon the men of Europe, he could hardly have +gone more efficaciously about his purpose than by sending +us this apple of discord. There is no honesty too robust for +such a trial. I myself, who have many duties and many +privileges of my own—I myself, Mr. Vandeleur, could scarce +handle the intoxicating crystal and be safe. As for you, +who are a diamond-hunter by taste and profession, I do not +believe there is a crime in the calendar you would not perpetrate—I +do not believe you have a friend in the world +whom you would not eagerly betray—I do not know if you +have a family, but if you have I declare you would sacrifice +your children—and all this for what? Not to be richer, nor +to have more comforts or more respect, but simply to call +this diamond yours for a year or two until you die, and now +and again to open a safe and look at it as one looks at a +picture.”</p> + +<p>“It is true,” replied Vandeleur. “I have hunted most +things, from men and women down to mosquitoes; I have +dived for coral; I have followed both whales and tigers; +and a diamond is the tallest quarry of the lot. It has +beauty and worth; it alone can properly reward the ardours +of the chase. At this moment, as your Highness may fancy, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121"></a>121</span> +I am upon the trail; I have a sure knack, a wide experience; +I know every stone of price in my brother’s collection as a +shepherd knows his sheep; and I wish I may die if I do not +recover them every one.”</p> + +<p>“Sir Thomas Vandeleur will have great cause to thank +you,” said the Prince.</p> + +<p>“I am not so sure,” returned the Dictator, with a laugh. +“One of the Vandeleurs will. Thomas or John—Peter or +Paul—we are all apostles.”</p> + +<p>“I did not catch your observation,” said the Prince, with +some disgust.</p> + +<p>And at the same moment the waiter informed Mr. +Vandeleur that his cab was at the door.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rolles glanced at the clock, and saw that he also +must be moving; and the coincidence struck him sharply +and unpleasantly, for he desired to see no more of the +diamond-hunter.</p> + +<p>Much study having somewhat shaken the young man’s +nerves, he was in the habit of travelling in the most luxurious +manner; and for the present journey he had taken a +sofa in the sleeping carriage.</p> + +<p>“You will be very comfortable,” said the guard; “there +is no one in your compartment, and only one old gentleman +in the other end.”</p> + +<p>It was close upon the hour, and the tickets were being +examined, when Mr. Rolles beheld this other fellow-passenger +ushered by several porters into his place; certainly, +there was not another man in the world whom he would +not have preferred—for it was old John Vandeleur, the ex-Dictator.</p> + +<p>The sleeping carriages on the Great Northern line were +divided into three compartments—one at each end for +travellers, and one in the centre fitted with the conveniences +of a lavatory. A door running in grooves separated each +of the others from the lavatory; but as there were neither +bolts nor locks, the whole suite was practically common +ground.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page122"></a>122</span></p> + +<p>When Mr. Rolles had studied his position, he perceived +himself without defence. If the Dictator chose to pay him +a visit in the course of the night, he could do no less than +receive it; he had no means of fortification, and lay open to +attack as if he had been lying in the fields. This situation +caused him some agony of mind. He recalled with alarm +the boastful statements of his fellow-traveller across the +dining-table, and the professions of immorality which he +had heard him offering to the disgusted Prince. Some +persons, he remembered to have read, are endowed with a +singular quickness of perception for the neighbourhood of +precious metals; through walls and even at considerable +distances they are said to divine the presence of gold. +Might it not be the same with diamonds? he wondered; and +if so, who was more likely to enjoy this transcendental sense +than the person who gloried in the appellation of the Diamond +Hunter? From such a man he recognised that he had +everything to fear, and longed eagerly for the arrival of the +day.</p> + +<p>In the meantime he neglected no precaution, concealed +his diamond in the most internal pocket of a system of great-coats, +and devoutly recommended himself to the care of +Providence.</p> + +<p>The train pursued its usual even and rapid course; and +nearly half the journey had been accomplished before +slumber began to triumph over uneasiness in the breast of +Mr. Rolles. For some time he resisted its influence; but +it grew upon him more and more, and a little before York +he was fain to stretch himself upon one of the couches and +suffer his eyes to close; and almost at the same instant consciousness +deserted the young clergyman. His last thought +was of his terrifying neighbour.</p> + +<p>When he awoke it was still pitch dark, except for the +flicker of the veiled lamp; and the continual roaring and +oscillation testified to the unrelaxed velocity of the train. +He sat upright in a panic, for he had been tormented by the +most uneasy dreams; it was some seconds before he recovered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page123"></a>123</span> +his self-command; and even after he had resumed a recumbent +attitude sleep continued to flee him, and he lay awake +with his brain in a state of violent agitation, and his eyes +fixed upon the lavatory door. He pulled his clerical felt hat +over his brow still further to shield him from the light; and +he adopted the usual expedients, such as counting a thousand +or banishing thought, by which experienced invalids +are accustomed to woo the approach of sleep. In the case +of Mr. Rolles they proved one and all vain; he was harassed +by a dozen different anxieties—the old man in the other end +of the carriage haunted him in the most alarming shapes; +and in whatever attitude he chose to lie, the diamond +in his pocket occasioned him a sensible physical distress. +It burned, it was too large; it bruised his ribs; and there +were infinitesimal fractions of a second in which he had half +a mind to throw it from the window.</p> + +<p>While he was thus lying, a strange incident took place.</p> + +<p>The sliding-door into the lavatory stirred a little, and +then a little more, and was finally drawn back for the space +of about twenty inches. The lamp in the lavatory was unshaded, +and in the lighted aperture thus disclosed Mr. +Rolles could see the head of Mr. Vandeleur in an attitude of +deep attention. He was conscious that the gaze of the +Dictator rested intently on his own face; and the instinct +of self-preservation moved him to hold his breath, to refrain +from the least movement, and, keeping his eyes lowered, to +watch his visitor from underneath the lashes. After about a +moment, the head was withdrawn and the door of the +lavatory replaced.</p> + +<p>The Dictator had not come to attack, but to observe; +his action was not that of a man threatening another, but +that of a man who was himself threatened; if Mr. Rolles +was afraid of him, it appeared that he, in his turn, was not +quite easy on the score of Mr. Rolles. He had come, it +would seem, to make sure that his only fellow-traveller was +asleep; and, when satisfied on that point, he had at once +withdrawn.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page124"></a>124</span></p> + +<p>The clergyman leaped to his feet. The extreme of +terror had given place to a reaction of foolhardy daring. +He reflected that the rattle of the flying train concealed all +other sounds, and determined, come what might, to return +the visit he had just received. Divesting himself of his +cloak, which might have interfered with the freedom of his +action, he entered the lavatory and paused to listen. As he +had expected, there was nothing to be heard above the roar +of the train’s progress; and laying his hand on the door at +the farther side, he proceeded cautiously to draw it back for +about six inches. Then he stopped, and could not contain +an ejaculation of surprise.</p> + +<p>John Vandeleur wore a fur travelling-cap with lappets +to protect his ears; and this may have combined with the +sound of the express to keep him in ignorance of what was +going forward. It is certain, at least, that he did not raise +his head, but continued without interruption to pursue his +strange employment. Between his feet stood an open hat-box; +in one hand he held the sleeve of his sealskin greatcoat; +in the other a formidable knife, with which he had just slit +up the lining of the sleeve. Mr. Rolles had read of persons +carrying money in a belt; and as he had no acquaintance with +any but cricket-belts, he had never been able rightly to conceive +how this was managed. But here was a stranger +thing before his eyes; for John Vandeleur, it appeared, +carried diamonds in the lining of his sleeve; and even as the +young clergyman gazed, he could see one glittering brilliant +drop after another into the hat-box.</p> + +<p>He stood riveted to the spot, following this unusual +business with his eyes. The diamonds were, for the most +part, small, and not easily distinguishable either in shape or +fire. Suddenly the Dictator appeared to find a difficulty; +he employed both hands and stooped over his task; but it +was not until after considerable manœuvring that he extricated +a large tiara of diamonds from the lining, and held +it up for some seconds’ examination before he placed it with +the others in the hat-box. The tiara was a ray of light to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125"></a>125</span> +Mr. Rolles; he immediately recognised it for a part of the +treasure stolen from Harry Hartley by the loiterer. There +was no room for mistake; it was exactly as the detective +had described it; there were the ruby stars, with a great +emerald in the centre; there were the interlacing crescents; +and there were the pear-shaped pendants, each a single stone, +which gave a special value to Lady Vandeleur’s tiara.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rolles was hugely relieved. The Dictator was as +deeply in the affair as he was; neither could tell tales upon +the other. In the first glow of happiness, the clergyman +suffered a deep sigh to escape him; and as his bosom had +become choked and his throat dry during his previous suspense, +the sigh was followed by a cough.</p> + +<p>Mr. Vandeleur looked up; his face contracted with the +blackest and most deadly passion; his eyes opened widely, +and his under jaw dropped in an astonishment that was +upon the brink of fury. By an instinctive movement he +had covered the hat-box with the coat. For half a minute +the two men stared upon each other in silence. It was not +a long interval, but it sufficed for Mr. Rolles; he was one of +those who think swiftly on dangerous occasions; he decided +on a course of action of a singularly daring nature; and +although he felt he was setting his life upon the hazard, he +was the first to break silence.</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon,” said he.</p> + +<p>The Dictator shivered slightly, and when he spoke his +voice was hoarse.</p> + +<p>“What do you want here?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“I take a particular interest in diamonds,” replied Mr. +Rolles, with an air of perfect self-possession. “Two connoisseurs +should be acquainted. I have here a trifle of my +own which may perhaps serve for an introduction.”</p> + +<p>And so saying, he quietly took the case from his pocket, +showed the Rajah’s Diamond to the Dictator for an instant, +and replaced it in security.</p> + +<p>“It was once your brother’s,” he added.</p> + +<p>John Vandeleur continued to regard him with a look of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126"></a>126</span> +almost painful amazement; but he neither spoke nor +moved.</p> + +<p>“I was pleased to observe,” resumed the young man, +“that we have gems from the same collection.”</p> + +<p>The Dictator’s surprise overpowered him.</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon,” he said; “I begin to perceive +that I am growing old! I am positively not prepared for +little incidents like this. But set my mind at rest upon one +point: do my eyes deceive me, or are you indeed a parson?”</p> + +<p>“I am in holy orders,” answered Mr. Rolles.</p> + +<p>“Well,” cried the other, “as long as I live I will never +hear another word against the cloth!”</p> + +<p>“You flatter me,” said Mr. Rolles.</p> + +<p>“Pardon me,” replied Vandeleur; “pardon me, young +man. You are no coward, but it still remains to be seen +whether you are not the worst of fools. Perhaps,” he continued, +leaning back upon his seat, “perhaps you would +oblige me with a few particulars. I must suppose you had +some object in the stupefying impudence of your proceedings, +and I confess I have a curiosity to know it.”</p> + +<p>“It is very simple,” replied the clergyman; “it proceeds +from my great inexperience of life.”</p> + +<p>“I shall be glad to be persuaded,” answered Vandeleur.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Mr. Rolles told him the whole story of his +connection with the Rajah’s Diamond, from the time he +found it in Raeburn’s garden to the time when he left +London in the Flying Scotchman. He added a brief sketch +of his feelings and thoughts during the journey, and concluded +in these words:—</p> + +<p>“When I recognised the tiara I knew we were in the +same attitude towards Society, and this inspired me with a +hope, which I trust you will not say was ill-founded, that +you might become in some sense my partner in the difficulties +and, of course, the profits of my situation. To one +of your special knowledge and obviously great experience +the negotiation of the diamond would give but little trouble, +while to me it was a matter of impossibility. On the other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127"></a>127</span> +part, I judged that I might lose nearly as much by cutting +the diamond, and that not improbably with an unskilful +hand, as might enable me to pay you with proper generosity +for your assistance. The subject was a delicate one to +broach; and perhaps I fell short in delicacy. But I must +ask you to remember that for me the situation was a new +one, and I was entirely unacquainted with the etiquette in +use. I believe without vanity that I could have married or +baptised you in a very acceptable manner; but every man +has his own aptitudes, and this sort of bargain was not +among the lists of my accomplishments.”</p> + +<p>“I do not wish to flatter you,” replied Vandeleur; +“but upon my word, you have an unusual disposition for a +life of crime. You have more accomplishments than you +imagine; and though I have encountered a number of +rogues in different quarters of the world, I never met with +one so unblushing as yourself. Cheer up, Mr. Rolles, you +are in the right profession at last! As for helping you, you +may command me as you will. I have only a day’s business +in Edinburgh on a little matter for my brother; and once +that is concluded, I return to Paris, where I usually reside. +If you please, you may accompany me thither. And before +the end of a month I believe I shall have brought your little +business to a satisfactory conclusion.”</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p><i>At this point, contrary to all the canons of his art, our +Arabian Author breaks off the</i> <span class="sc">Story of the Young Man in +Holy Orders</span>. <i>I regret and condemn such practices; but I +must follow my original, and refer the reader for the conclusion +of Mr. Rolles’ adventures to the next number of the cycle.</i></p> + +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h5>THE STORY OF THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Francis Scrymgeour</span>, a clerk in the Bank of Scotland at +Edinburgh, had attained the age of twenty-five in a sphere +of quiet, creditable, and domestic life. His mother died +while he was young; but his father, a man of sense and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128"></a>128</span> +probity, had given him an excellent education at school, +and brought him up at home to orderly and frugal habits. +Francis, who was of a docile and affectionate disposition, +profited by these advantages with zeal, and devoted himself +heart and soul to his employment. A walk upon Saturday +afternoon, an occasional dinner with members of his family, +and a yearly tour of a fortnight in the Highlands or even on +the continent of Europe were his principal distractions, and +he grew rapidly in favour with his superiors, and enjoyed +already a salary of nearly two hundred pounds a year, with +the prospect of an ultimate advance to almost double that +amount. Few young men were more contented, few more +willing and laborious, than Francis Scrymgeour. Sometimes +at night, when he had read the daily paper, he would +play upon the flute to amuse his father, for whose qualities +he entertained a great respect.</p> + +<p>One day he received a note from a well-known firm of +Writers to the Signet, requesting the favour of an immediate +interview with him. The letter was marked “Private and +Confidential,” and had been addressed to him at the bank, +instead of at home—two unusual circumstances which made +him obey the summons with the more alacrity. The senior +member of the firm, a man of much austerity of manner, +made him gravely welcome, requested him to take a seat, +and proceeded to explain the matter in hand in the picked +expressions of a veteran man of business. A person, who +must remain nameless, but of whom the lawyer had every +reason to think well—a man, in short, of some station in the +country,—desired to make Francis an annual allowance of +five hundred pounds. The capital was to be placed under +the control of the lawyer’s firm and two trustees who must +also remain anonymous. There were conditions annexed to +this liberality, but he was of opinion that his new client would +find nothing either excessive or dishonourable in the terms; +and he repeated these two words with emphasis, as though +he desired to commit himself to nothing more.</p> + +<p>Francis asked their nature.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page129"></a>129</span></p> + +<p>“The conditions,” said the Writer to the Signet, “are, +as I have twice remarked, neither dishonourable nor excessive. +At the same time I cannot conceal from you that they +are most unusual. Indeed, the whole case is very much +out of our way; and I should certainly have refused it had +it not been for the reputation of the gentleman who entrusted +it to my care, and, let me add, Mr. Scrymgeour, the interest +I have been led to take in yourself by many complimentary +and, I have no doubt, well-deserved reports.”</p> + +<p>Francis entreated him to be more specific.</p> + +<p>“You cannot picture my uneasiness as to these conditions,” +he said.</p> + +<p>“They are two,” replied the lawyer, “only two; and +the sum, as you will remember, is five hundred a year—and +unburdened, I forgot to add, unburdened.”</p> + +<p>And the lawyer raised his eyebrows at him with solemn +gusto.</p> + +<p>“The first,” he resumed, “is of remarkable simplicity. +You must be in Paris by the afternoon of Sunday, the 15th; +there you will find, at the box-office of the Comédie Française +a ticket for admission taken in your name and waiting you. +You are requested to sit out the whole performance in the +seat provided, and that is all.”</p> + +<p>“I should certainly have preferred a week-day,” replied +Francis. “But, after all, once in a way—“</p> + +<p>“And in Paris, my dear sir,” added the lawyer soothingly. +“I believe I am something of a precisian myself, +but upon such a consideration, and in Paris, I should not +hesitate an instant.”</p> + +<p>And the pair laughed pleasantly together.</p> + +<p>“The other is of more importance,” continued the +Writer to the Signet. “It regards your marriage. My +client, taking a deep interest in your welfare, desires to +advise you absolutely in the choice of a wife. Absolutely, +you understand,” he repeated.</p> + +<p>“Let us be more explicit, if you please,” returned +Francis. “Am I to marry any one, maid or widow, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130"></a>130</span> +black or white, whom this invisible person chooses to propose?”</p> + +<p>“I was to assure you that suitability of age and position +should be a principle with your benefactor,” replied the +lawyer. “As to race, I confess the difficulty had not occurred +to me, and I failed to inquire; but if you like I will +make a note of it at once, and advise you on the earliest +opportunity.”</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said Francis, “it remains to be seen whether this +whole affair is not a most unworthy fraud. The circumstances +are inexplicable—I had almost said incredible; and +until I see a little more daylight, and some plausible motive, +I confess I should be very sorry to put a hand to the transaction. +I appeal to you in this difficulty for information. +I must learn what is at the bottom of it all. If you do not +know, cannot guess, or are not at liberty to tell me, I shall +take my hat and go back to my bank as I came.”</p> + +<p>“I do not know,” answered the lawyer, “but I have an +excellent guess. Your father, and no one else, is at the root +of this apparently unnatural business.”</p> + +<p>“My father!” cried Francis, in extreme disdain. +“Worthy man, I know every thought of his mind, every +penny of his fortune!”</p> + +<p>“You misinterpret my words,” said the lawyer. “I +do not refer to Mr. Scrymgeour, senior; for he is not your +father. When he and his wife came to Edinburgh, you were +already nearly one year old, and you had not yet been three +months in their care. The secret has been well kept; but +such is the fact. Your father is unknown, and I say again +that I believe him to be the original of the offers I am +charged at present to transmit to you.”</p> + +<p>It would be impossible to exaggerate the astonishment +of Francis Scrymgeour at this unexpected information. +He pled this confusion to the lawyer.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said he, “after a piece of news so startling, you +must grant me some hours for thought. You shall know +this evening what conclusion I have reached.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page131"></a>131</span></p> + +<p>The lawyer commended his prudence; and Francis, excusing +himself upon some pretext at the bank, took a long +walk into the country, and fully considered the different +steps and aspects of the case. A pleasant sense of his own +importance rendered him the more deliberate: but the issue +was from the first not doubtful. His whole carnal man +leaned irresistibly towards the five hundred a year, and the +strange conditions with which it was burdened; he discovered +in his heart an invincible repugnance to the name of Scrymgeour, +which he had never hitherto disliked; he began to +despise the narrow and unromantic interests of his former +life; and when once his mind was fairly made up, he walked +with a new feeling of strength and freedom, and nourished +himself with the gayest anticipations.</p> + +<p>He said but a word to the lawyer, and immediately +received a cheque for two quarters’ arrears; for the allowance +was ante-dated from the first of January. With this +in his pocket, he walked home. The flat in Scotland Street +looked mean in his eyes; his nostrils, for the first time, rebelled +against the odour of broth; and he observed little +defects of manner in his adoptive father which filled him +with surprise, and almost with disgust. The next day, he +determined, should see him on his way to Paris.</p> + +<p>In that city, where he arrived long before the appointed +date, he put up at a modest hotel frequented by English and +Italians, and devoted himself to improvement in the French +tongue. For this purpose he had a master twice a week, +entered into conversation with loiterers in the Champs +Elysées, and nightly frequented the theatre. He had his +whole toilette fashionably renewed; and was shaved and +had his hair dressed every morning by a barber in a +neighbouring street. This gave him something of a +foreign air, and seemed to wipe off the reproach of his past +years.</p> + +<p>At length, on the Saturday afternoon, he betook himself +to the box-office of the theatre in the Rue Richelieu. No +sooner had he mentioned his name than the clerk produced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132"></a>132</span> +the order in an envelope of which the address was scarcely +dry.</p> + +<p>“It has been taken this moment,” said the clerk.</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” said Francis. “May I ask what the gentleman +was like?”</p> + +<p>“Your friend is easy to describe,” replied the official. +“He is old and strong and beautiful, with white hair and a +sabre-cut across his face. You cannot fail to recognise so +marked a person.”</p> + +<p>“No, indeed,” returned Francis; “and I thank you for +your politeness.”</p> + +<p>“He cannot yet be far distant,” added the clerk. “If +you make haste you might still overtake him.”</p> + +<p>Francis did not wait to be twice told; he ran precipitately +from the theatre into the middle of the street and +looked in all directions. More than one white-haired man +was within sight; but though he overtook each of them in +succession, all wanted the sabre-cut. For nearly half an +hour he tried one street after another in the neighbourhood, +until at length, recognising the folly of continued search, he +started on a walk to compose his agitated feelings; for this +proximity of an encounter with him to whom he could not +doubt he owed the day had profoundly moved the young man.</p> + +<p>It chanced that his way lay up the Rue Drouot and +thence up the Rue des Martyrs; and chance, in this case, +served him better than all the forethought in the world. +For on the outer boulevard he saw two men in earnest colloquy +upon a seat. One was dark, young, and handsome, +secularly dressed, but with an indelible clerical stamp; the +other answered in every particular to the description given +him by the clerk. Francis felt his heart beat high in his +bosom; he knew he was now about to hear the voice of his +father; and making a wide circuit, he noiselessly took his +place behind the couple in question, who were too much +interested in their talk to observe much else. As Francis +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133"></a>133</span> +had expected, the conversation was conducted in the English +language.</p> + +<p>“Your suspicions begin to annoy me, Rolles,” said the +older man. “I tell you I am doing my utmost; a man +cannot lay his hand on millions in a moment. Have I not +taken you up, a mere stranger, out of pure good-will? Are +you not living largely on my bounty?”</p> + +<p>“On your advances, Mr. Vandeleur,” corrected the other.</p> + +<p>“Advances, if you choose; and interest instead of good-will, +if you prefer it,” returned Vandeleur angrily. “I am +not here to pick expressions. Business is business; and +your business, let me remind you, is too muddy for such airs. +Trust me, or leave me alone and find someone else; but let +us have an end, for God’s sake, of your jeremiads.”</p> + +<p>“I am beginning to learn the world,” replied the other, +“and I see that you have every reason to play me false, and +not one to deal honestly. I am not here to pick expressions +either; you wish the diamond for yourself; you know you +do—you dare not deny it. Have you not already forged my +name, and searched my lodging in my absence? I understand +the cause of your delays; you are lying in wait; you +are the diamond-hunter, forsooth; and sooner or later, by +fair means or foul, you’ll lay your hands upon it. I tell +you, it must stop; push me much further and I promise you +a surprise.”</p> + +<p>“It does not become you to use threats,” returned Vandeleur. +“Two can play at that. My brother is here in +Paris; the police are on the alert; and if you persist in wearying +me with your caterwauling, I will arrange a little astonishment +for you, Mr. Rolles. But mine shall be once and +for all. Do you understand, or would you prefer me to tell +it you in Hebrew? There is an end to all things, and you +have come to the end of my patience. Tuesday, at seven; +not a day, not an hour sooner, not the least part of a second, +if it were to save your life. And if you do not choose to +wait, you may go to the bottomless pit for me, and welcome.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page134"></a>134</span></p> + +<p>And so saying, the Dictator arose from the bench, and +marched off in the direction of Montmartre, shaking his +head and swinging his cane with a most furious air; while +his companion remained where he was, in an attitude of +great dejection.</p> + +<p>Francis was at the pitch of surprise and horror; his +sentiments had been shocked to the last degree; the hopeful +tenderness with which he had taken his place upon the +bench was transformed into repulsion and despair; old Mr. +Scrymgeour, he reflected, was a far more kindly and creditable +parent than this dangerous and violent intriguer; but +he retained his presence of mind, and suffered not a moment +to elapse before he was on the trail of the Dictator.</p> + +<p>That gentleman’s fury carried him forward at a brisk +pace, and he was so completely occupied in his angry +thoughts that he never so much as cast a look behind him till +he reached his own door.</p> + +<p>His house stood high up in the Rue Lepic, commanding +a view of all Paris, and enjoying the pure air of the heights. +It was two stories high, with green blinds and shutters; and +all the windows looking on the street were hermetically +closed. Tops of trees showed over the high garden wall, +and the wall was protected by <i>chevaux-de-frise</i>. The +Dictator paused a moment while he searched his pocket for +a key; and then, opening a gate, disappeared within the +enclosure.</p> + +<p>Francis looked about him; the neighbourhood was very +lonely, the house isolated in its garden. It seemed as if his +observation must here come to an abrupt end. A second +glance, however, showed him a tall house next door presenting +a gable to the garden, and in this gable a single +window. He passed to the front and saw a ticket offering +unfurnished lodgings by the month; and, on inquiry, the +room which commanded the Dictator’s garden proved to +be one of those to let. Francis did not hesitate a moment; +he took the room, paid an advance upon the rent, and returned +to his hotel to seek his baggage.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page135"></a>135</span></p> + +<p>The old man with the sabre-cut might or might not be +his father; he might or he might not be upon the true scent; +but he was certainly on the edge of an exciting mystery, and +he promised himself that he would not relax his observation +until he had got to the bottom of the secret.</p> + +<p>From the window of his new apartment Francis Scrymgeour +commanded a complete view into the garden of the +house with the green blinds. Immediately below him a very +comely chestnut with wide boughs sheltered a pair of rustic +tables where people might dine in the height of summer. On +all sides save one a dense vegetation concealed the soil; but +there, between the tables and the house, he saw a patch of +gravel walk leading from the verandah to the garden gate. +Studying the place from between the boards of the Venetian +shutters, which he durst not open for fear of attracting +attention, Francis observed but little to indicate the manners +of the inhabitants, and that little argued no more than a +close reserve and a taste for solitude. The garden was conventual, +the house had the air of a prison. The green +blinds were all drawn down upon the outside; the door into +the verandah was closed; the garden, as far as he could see +it, was left entirely to itself in the evening sunshine. A +modest curl of smoke from a single chimney alone testified +to the presence of living people.</p> + +<p>In order that he might not be entirely idle, and to give +a certain colour to his way of life, Francis had purchased +Euclid’s Geometry in French, which he set himself to copy +and translate on the top of his portmanteau and seated on +the floor against the wall; for he was equally without chair +or table. From time to time he would rise and cast a glance +into the enclosure of the house with the green blinds; but the +windows remained obstinately closed and the garden empty.</p> + +<p>Only late in the evening did anything occur to reward +his continued attention. Between nine and ten the sharp +tinkle of a bell aroused him from a fit of dozing; and he +sprang to his observatory in time to hear an important noise +of locks being opened and bars removed, and to see Mr. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136"></a>136</span> +Vandeleur, carrying a lantern and clothed in a flowing robe +of black velvet with a skull-cap to match, issue from under +the verandah and proceed leisurely towards the garden gate. +The sound of bolts and bars was then repeated; and a +moment after, Francis perceived the Dictator escorting into +the house, in the mobile light of the lantern, an individual +of the lowest and most despicable appearance.</p> + +<p>Half an hour afterwards the visitor was reconducted to +the street; and Mr. Vandeleur, setting his light upon one of +the rustic tables, finished a cigar with great deliberation +under the foliage of the chestnut. Francis, peering through +a clear space among the leaves, was able to follow his gestures +as he threw away the ash or enjoyed a copious inhalation; +and beheld a cloud upon the old man’s brow and a forcible +action of the lips, which testified to some deep and probably +painful train of thought. The cigar was already almost at +an end, when the voice of a young girl was heard suddenly +crying the hour from the interior of the house.</p> + +<p>“In a moment,” replied John Vandeleur.</p> + +<p>And, with that, he threw away the stump, and, taking +up the lantern, sailed away under the verandah for the +night. As soon as the door was closed, absolute darkness +fell upon the house; Francis might try his eyesight as much +as he pleased, he could not detect so much as a single chink +of light below a blind; and he concluded, with great good +sense, that the bed-chambers were all upon the other side.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning (for he was early awake after an +uncomfortable night upon the floor) he saw cause to adopt +a different explanation. The blinds rose, one after another, +by means of a spring in the interior, and disclosed steel +shutters such as we see on the front of shops; these in their +turn were rolled up by a similar contrivance; and for the +space of about an hour the chambers were left open to the +morning air. At the end of that time Mr. Vandeleur, with +his own hand, once more closed the shutters and replaced +the blinds from within.</p> + +<p>While Francis was still marvelling at these precautions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137"></a>137</span> +the door opened and a young girl came forth to look about +her in the garden. It was not two minutes before she re-entered +the house, but even in that short time he saw +enough to convince him that she possessed the most unusual +attractions. His curiosity was not only highly excited by +this incident, but his spirits were improved to a still more +notable degree. The alarming manners and more than +equivocal life of his father ceased from that moment to prey +upon his mind; from that moment he embraced his new +family with ardour; and whether the young lady should +prove his sister or his wife, he felt convinced she was an +angel in disguise. So much was this the case that he was +seized with a sudden horror when he reflected how little he +really knew, and how possible it was that he had followed +the wrong person when he followed Mr. Vandeleur.</p> + +<p>The porter, whom he consulted, could afford him little +information; but, such as it was, it had a mysterious and +questionable sound. The person next door was an English +gentleman of extraordinary wealth, and proportionately +eccentric in his tastes and habits. He possessed great collections, +which he kept in the house beside him; and it was +to protect these that he had fitted the place with steel +shutters, elaborate fastenings, and <i>chevaux-de-frise</i> along +the garden wall. He lived much alone, in spite of some +strange visitors, with whom, it seemed, he had business to +transact; and there was no one else in the house, except +Mademoiselle and an old woman servant.</p> + +<p>“Is Mademoiselle his daughter?” inquired Francis.</p> + +<p>“Certainly,” replied the porter. “Mademoiselle is the +daughter of the house; and strange it is to see how she is +made to work. For all his riches, it is she who goes to +market; and every day in the week you may see her going +by with a basket on her arm.”</p> + +<p>“And the collections?” asked the other.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said the man, “they are immensely valuable. +More I cannot tell you. Since M. de Vandeleur’s arrival +no one in the quarter has so much as passed the door.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page138"></a>138</span></p> + +<p>“Suppose not,” returned Francis, “you must surely +have some notion what these famous galleries contain. Is +it pictures, silks, statues, jewels, or what?”</p> + +<p>“My faith, sir,” said the fellow, with a shrug, “it might +be carrots, and still I could not tell you. How should I +know? The house is kept like a garrison, as you perceive.”</p> + +<p>And then as Francis was returning disappointed to his +room, the porter called him back.</p> + +<p>“I have just remembered, sir,” said he. “M. de +Vandeleur has been in all parts of the world, and I once heard +the old woman declare that he had brought many diamonds +back with him. If that be the truth, there must be a fine +show behind those shutters.”</p> + +<p>By an early hour on Sunday Francis was in his place at +the theatre. The seat which had been taken for him was +only two or three numbers from the left-hand side, and +directly opposite one of the lower boxes. As the seat had +been specially chosen there was doubtless something to be +learned from its position; and he judged by an instinct that +the box upon his right was, in some way or other, to be +connected with the drama in which he ignorantly played a part. +Indeed, it was so situated that its occupants could safely +observe him from beginning to end of the piece, if they were +so minded; while, profiting by the depth, they could screen +themselves sufficiently well from any counter-examination +on his side. He promised himself not to leave it for a +moment out of sight; and whilst he scanned the rest of the +theatre, or made a show of attending to the business of the +stage, he always kept a corner of an eye upon the empty +box.</p> + +<p>The second act had been some time in progress, and was +even drawing towards a close, when the door opened and +two persons entered and ensconced themselves in the darkest +of the shade. Francis could hardly control his emotion. It +was Mr. Vandeleur and his daughter. The blood came and +went in his arteries and veins with stunning activity; his +ears sang; his head turned. He dared not look lest he should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139"></a>139</span> +awake suspicion; his play-bill, which he kept reading from +end to end and over and over again, turned from white to +red before his eyes; and when he cast a glance upon the +stage, it seemed incalculably far away, and he found the +voices and gestures of the actors to the last degree impertinent +and absurd.</p> + +<p>From time to time he risked a momentary look in the +direction which principally interested him; and once at +least he felt certain that his eyes encountered those of the +young girl. A shock passed over his body, and he saw all +the colours of the rainbow. What would he not have given +to overhear what passed between the Vandeleurs? What +would he not have given for the courage to take up his opera-glass +and steadily inspect their attitude and expression? +There, for aught he knew, his whole life was being decided—and +he not able to interfere, not able even to follow the +debate, but condemned to sit and suffer where he was, in +impotent anxiety.</p> + +<p>At last the act came to an end. The curtain fell, and the +people around him began to leave their places for the interval. +It was only natural that he should follow their example; +and if he did so, it was not only natural but necessary +that he should pass immediately in front of the box in +question. Summoning all his courage, but keeping his +eyes lowered, Francis drew near the spot. His progress was +slow, for the old gentleman before him moved with incredible +deliberation, wheezing as he went. What was he to do? +Should he address the Vandeleurs by name as he went by? +Should he take the flower from his button-hole and throw it +into the box? Should he raise his face and direct one long +and affectionate look upon the lady who was either his sister +or his betrothed? As he found himself thus struggling +among so many alternatives, he had a vision of his old +equable existence in the bank, and was assailed by a thought +of regret for the past.</p> + +<p>By this time he had arrived directly opposite the box; +and although he was still undetermined what to do or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140"></a>140</span> +whether to do anything, he turned his head and lifted his +eyes. No sooner had he done so than he uttered a cry of +disappointment and remained rooted to the spot. The box +was empty. During his slow advance Mr. Vandeleur and +his daughter had quietly slipped away.</p> + +<p>A polite person in his rear reminded him that he was +stopping the path; and he moved on again with mechanical +footsteps, and suffered the crowd to carry him unresisting +out of the theatre. Once in the street, the pressure ceasing, he +came to a halt, and the cool night air speedily restored him +to the possession of his faculties. He was surprised to find +that his head ached violently, and that he remembered not +one word of the two acts which he had witnessed. As the +excitement wore away, it was succeeded by an overmastering +appetite for sleep, and he hailed a cab and drove to his +lodging in a state of extreme exhaustion and some disgust +of life.</p> + +<p>Next morning he lay in wait for Miss Vandeleur on her +road to market, and by eight o’clock beheld her stepping +down a lane. She was simply, and even poorly, attired; +but in the carriage of her head and body there was something +flexible and noble that would have lent distinction to the +meanest toilette. Even her basket, so aptly did she carry +it, became her like an ornament. It seemed to Francis, as +he slipped into a doorway, that the sunshine followed and +the shadows fled before her as she walked; and he was conscious, +for the first time, of a bird singing in a cage above the +lane.</p> + +<p>He suffered her to pass the doorway, and then, coming +forth once more, addressed her by name from behind.</p> + +<p>“Miss Vandeleur,” said he.</p> + +<p>She turned and, when she saw who he was, became deadly pale.</p> + +<p>“Pardon me,” he continued; “Heaven knows I had +no will to startle you; and, indeed, there should be nothing +startling in the presence of one who wishes you so well as I +do. And, believe me, I am acting rather from necessity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141"></a>141</span> +than choice. We have many things in common, and I am +sadly in the dark. There is much that I should be doing, +and my hands are tied. I do not know even what to feel, +nor who are my friends and enemies.”</p> + +<p>She found her voice with an effort.</p> + +<p>“I do not know who you are,” she said.</p> + +<p>“Ah, yes! Miss Vandeleur, you do,” returned Francis; +“better than I do myself. Indeed, it is on that, above all, +that I seek light. Tell me what you know,” he pleaded. +“Tell me who I am, who you are, and how our destinies are +intermixed. Give me a little help with my life, Miss Vandeleur—only +a word or two to guide me, only the name of +my father, if you will—and I shall be grateful and content.”</p> + +<p>“I will not attempt to deceive you,” she replied. “I +know who you are, but I am not at liberty to say.”</p> + +<p>“Tell me, at least, that you have forgiven my presumption, +and I shall wait with all the patience I have,” he said. +“If I am not to know, I must do without. It is cruel, but I +can bear more upon a push. Only do not add to my +troubles the thought that I have made an enemy of +you.”</p> + +<p>“You did only what was natural,” she said, “and I +have nothing to forgive you. Farewell.”</p> + +<p>“Is it to be <i>farewell</i>?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Nay, that I do not know myself,” she answered. +“Farewell for the present, if you like.”</p> + +<p>And with these words she was gone.</p> + +<p>Francis returned to his lodging in a state of considerable +commotion of mind. He made the most trifling progress +with his Euclid for that forenoon, and was more often at +the window than at his improvised writing-table. But +beyond seeing the return of Miss Vandeleur, and the meeting +between her and her father, who was smoking a Trichinopoli +cigar in the verandah, there was nothing notable in the +neighbourhood of the house with the green blinds before the +time of the mid-day meal. The young man hastily allayed +his appetite in a neighbouring restaurant, and returned with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142"></a>142</span> +the speed of unallayed curiosity to the house in the Rue +Lepic. A mounted servant was leading a saddle-horse to +and fro before the garden wall; and the porter of Francis’s +lodging was smoking a pipe against the door-post, absorbed +in contemplation of the livery and the steeds.</p> + +<p>“Look!” he cried to the young man, “what fine cattle! +what an elegant costume! They belong to the brother of +M. de Vandeleur, who is now within upon a visit. He is a +great man, a general, in your country; and you doubtless +know him well by reputation.”</p> + +<p>“I confess,” returned Francis, “that I have never +heard of General Vandeleur before. We have many officers +of that grade, and my pursuits have been exclusively civil.”</p> + +<p>“It is he,” replied the porter, “who lost the great diamond +of the Indies. Of that at least you must have read +often in the papers.”</p> + +<p>As soon as Francis could disengage himself from the +porter he ran upstairs and hurried to the window. Immediately +below the clear space in the chestnut leaves, the two +gentlemen were seated in conversation over a cigar. The +General, a red, military-looking man, offered some traces +of a family resemblance to his brother; he had something of +the same features, something, although very little, of the +same free and powerful carriage; but he was older, smaller, +and more common in air; his likeness was that of a caricature, +and he seemed altogether a poor and debile being by +the side of the Dictator.</p> + +<p>They spoke in tones so low, leaning over the table with +every appearance of interest, that Francis could catch no +more than a word or two on an occasion. For as little as he +heard, he was convinced that the conversation turned upon +himself and his own career; several times the name of +Scrymgeour reached his ear, for it was easy to distinguish +and still more frequently he fancied he could distinguish the +name Francis.</p> + +<p>At length the General, as if in a hot anger, broke forth +into several violent exclamations.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page143"></a>143</span></p> + +<p>“Francis Vandeleur!” he cried, accentuating the last +word. “Francis Vandeleur, I tell you.”</p> + +<p>The Dictator made a movement of his whole body, half +affirmative, half contemptuous, but his answer was inaudible +to the young man.</p> + +<p>Was he the Francis Vandeleur in question? he wondered. +Were they discussing the name under which he was +to be married? Or was the whole affair a dream and a +delusion of his own conceit and self-absorption?</p> + +<p>After another interval of inaudible talk, dissension +seemed again to rise between the couple underneath the +chestnut, and again the General raised his voice angrily so as +to be audible to Francis.</p> + +<p>“My wife?” he cried. “I have done with my wife for +good. I will not hear her name. I am sick of her very +name.”</p> + +<p>And he swore aloud and beat the table with his fist.</p> + +<p>The Dictator appeared, by his gestures, to pacify him +after a paternal fashion; and a little after he conducted +him to the garden gate. The pair shook hands affectionately +enough; but as soon as the door had closed behind +his visitor, John Vandeleur fell into a fit of laughter which +sounded unkindly and even devilish in the ears of Francis +Scrymgeour.</p> + +<p>So another day had passed, and little more learnt. But +the young man remembered that the morrow was Tuesday, +and promised himself some curious discoveries; all might +be well, or all might be ill; he was sure, at least, to glean +some curious information, and perhaps, by good luck, get at +the heart of the mystery which surrounded his father and +his family.</p> + +<p>As the hour of the dinner drew near many preparations +were made in the garden of the house with the green blinds. +That table, which was partly visible to Francis through the +chestnut leaves, was destined to serve as a sideboard, and +carried relays of plates and the materials for salad: the other, +which was almost entirely concealed, had been set apart for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144"></a>144</span> +the diners, and Francis could catch glimpses of white cloth +and silver plate.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rolles arrived, punctual to the minute; he looked +like a man upon his guard, and spoke low and sparingly. +The Dictator, on the other hand, appeared to enjoy an +unusual flow of spirits; his laugh, which was youthful and +pleasant to hear, sounded frequently from the garden; by +the modulation and the changes of his voice it was obvious +that he told many droll stories and imitated the accents of a +variety of different nations; and before he and the young +clergyman had finished their vermouth all feeling of distrust +was at an end, and they were talking together like a pair of +school companions.</p> + +<p>At length Miss Vandeleur made her appearance, carrying +the soup-tureen. Mr. Rolles ran to offer her assistance, +which she laughingly refused; and there was an interchange +of pleasantries among the trio which seemed to have reference +to this primitive manner of waiting by one of the company.</p> + +<p>“One is more at one’s ease,” Mr. Vandeleur was heard +to declare.</p> + +<p>Next moment they were all three in their places, and +Francis could see as little as he could hear of what passed. +But the dinner seemed to go merrily; there was a perpetual +babble of voices and sound of knives and forks below the +chestnut; and Francis, who had no more than a roll to +gnaw, was affected with envy by the comfort and deliberation +of the meal. The party lingered over one dish after +another, and then over a delicate dessert, with a bottle of +cold wine, carefully uncorked by the hand of the Dictator +himself. As it began to grow dark a lamp was set upon the +table and a couple of candles on the sideboard; for the night +was perfectly pure, starry, and windless. Light overflowed +besides from the door and window in the verandah, +so that the garden was fairly illuminated and the leaves +twinkled in the darkness.</p> + +<p>For perhaps the tenth time Miss Vandeleur entered the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145"></a>145</span> +house; and on this occasion she returned with the coffee-tray, +which she placed upon the sideboard. At the same +moment her father rose from his seat.</p> + +<p>“The coffee is my province,” Francis heard him say.</p> + +<p>And the next moment he saw his supposed father standing +by the sideboard in the light of the candles.</p> + +<p>Talking over his shoulder all the while, Mr. Vandeleur +poured out two cups of the brown stimulant, and then, by +a rapid act of prestidigitation, emptied the contents of a +tiny phial into the smaller of the two. The thing was so +swiftly done that even Francis, who looked straight into +his face, had hardly time to perceive the movement before +it was completed. And next instant, and still laughing, +Mr. Vandeleur had turned again towards the table with a +cup in either hand.</p> + +<p>“Ere we have done with this,” said he, “we may expect +our famous Hebrew.”</p> + +<p>It would be impossible to depict the confusion and distress +of Francis Scrymgeour. He saw foul play going forward +before his eyes, and he felt bound to interfere, but +knew not how. It might be a mere pleasantry, and then +how should he look if he were to offer an unnecessary +warning? Or again, if it were serious, the criminal might +be his own father, and then how should he not lament if he +were to bring ruin on the author of his days? For the first +time he became conscious of his own position as a spy. To +wait inactive at such a juncture and with such a conflict +of sentiments in his bosom was to suffer the most acute torture; +he clung to the bars of the shutters, his heart beat fast +and with irregularity, and he felt a strong sweat break +forth upon his body.</p> + +<p>Several minutes passed.</p> + +<p>He seemed to perceive the conversation die away and +grow less and less in vivacity and volume; but still no sign +of any alarming or even notable event.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the ring of a glass breaking was followed by a +faint and dull sound, as of a person who should have fallen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146"></a>146</span> +forward with his head upon the table. At the same moment +a piercing scream rose from the garden.</p> + +<p>“What have you done?” cried Miss Vandeleur. “He +is dead!”</p> + +<p>The Dictator replied in a violent whisper, so strong and +sibilant that every word was audible to the watcher at the +window.</p> + +<p>“Silence!” said Mr. Vandeleur; “the man is as well as +I am. Take him by the heels whilst I carry him by the +shoulders.”</p> + +<p>Francis heard Miss Vandeleur break forth into a passion +of tears.</p> + +<p>“Do you hear what I say?” resumed the Dictator, in +the same tones. “Or do you wish to quarrel with me? I +give you your choice, Miss Vandeleur.”</p> + +<p>There was another pause, and the Dictator spoke again.</p> + +<p>“Take that man by the heels,” he said. “I must have +him brought into the house. If I were a little younger, I +could help myself against the world. But now that years +and dangers are upon me, and my hands are weakened, I +must turn to you for aid.”</p> + +<p>“It is a crime,” replied the girl.</p> + +<p>“I am your father,” said Mr. Vandeleur.</p> + +<p>This appeal seemed to produce its effect. A scuffling +noise followed upon the gravel, a chair was overset, and then +Francis saw the father and daughter stagger across the walk +and disappear under the verandah, bearing the inanimate +body of Mr. Rolles embraced about the knees and shoulders. +The young clergyman was limp and pallid, and his head +rolled upon his shoulders at every step.</p> + +<p>Was he alive or dead? Francis, in spite of the Dictator’s +declaration, inclined to the latter view. A great crime had +been committed; a great calamity had fallen upon the inhabitants +of the house with the green blinds. To his surprise, +Francis found all horror for the deed swallowed up in +sorrow for a girl and an old man whom he judged to be in +the height of peril. A tide of generous feeling swept into his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147"></a>147</span> +heart; he, too, would help his father against man and mankind, +against fate and justice; and casting open the shutters +he closed his eyes and threw himself with outstretched arms +into the foliage of the chestnut.</p> + +<p>Branch after branch slipped from his grasp or broke +under his weight; then he caught a stalwart bough under +his armpit, and hung suspended for a second; and then he +let himself drop and fell heavily against the table. A cry of +alarm from the house warned him that his entrance had not +been effected unobserved. He recovered himself with a +stagger, and in three bounds crossed the intervening space +and stood before the door in the verandah.</p> + +<p>In a small apartment, carpeted with matting and surrounded +by glazed cabinets full of rare and costly curios, Mr. +Vandeleur was stooping over the body of Mr. Rolles. He +raised himself as Francis entered, and there was an instantaneous +passage of hands. It was the business of a second; +as fast as an eye can wink the thing was done; the young +man had not the time to be sure, but it seemed to him as if +the Dictator had taken something from the curate’s breast, +looked at it for the least fraction of time as it lay in his hand, +and then suddenly and swiftly passed it to his daughter.</p> + +<p>All this was over while Francis had still one foot upon the +threshold, and the other raised in air. The next instant he +was on his knees to Mr. Vandeleur.</p> + +<p>“Father!” he cried. “Let me too help you. I will +do what you wish and ask no questions; I will obey you +with my life; treat me as a son, and you will find I have a +son’s devotion.”</p> + +<p>A deplorable explosion of oaths was the Dictator’s first reply.</p> + +<p>“Son and father?” he cried. “Father and son? What +d——d unnatural comedy is all this? How do you come in +my garden? What do you want? And who, in God’s name, are you?”</p> + +<p>Francis, with a stunned and shamefaced aspect, got +upon his feet again, and stood in silence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page148"></a>148</span></p> + +<p>Then a light seemed to break upon Mr. Vandeleur, and +he laughed aloud.</p> + +<p>“I see,” cried he. “It is the Scrymgeour. Very well, +Mr. Scrymgeour. Let me tell you in a few words how you +stand. You have entered my private residence by force, +or perhaps by fraud, but certainly with no encouragement +from me; and you come at a moment of some annoyance, a +guest having fainted at my table, to besiege me with your +protestations. You are no son of mine. You are my +brother’s bastard by a fishwife, if you want to know. I regard +you with an indifference closely bordering on aversion; +and from what I now see of your conduct, I judge your mind +to be exactly suitable to your exterior. I recommend you +these mortifying reflections for your leisure; and, in the +meantime, let me beseech you to rid us of your presence. If +I were not occupied,” added the Dictator, with a terrifying +oath, “I should give you the unholiest drubbing ere you went!”</p> + +<p>Francis listened in profound humiliation. He would +have fled had it been possible; but as he had no means of +leaving the residence into which he had so unfortunately +penetrated, he could do no more than stand foolishly where +he was.</p> + +<p>It was Miss Vandeleur who broke the silence.</p> + +<p>“Father,” she said, “you speak in anger. Mr. Scrymgeour +may have been mistaken, but he meant well and kindly.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you for speaking,” returned the Dictator. +“You remind me of some other observations which I hold +it a point of honour to make to Mr. Scrymgeour. My +brother,” he continued, addressing the young man, “has +been foolish enough to give you an allowance; he was +foolish enough and presumptuous enough to propose a match +between you and this young lady. You were exhibited to +her two nights ago; and I rejoice to tell you that she rejected +the idea with disgust. Let me add that I have considerable +influence with your father; and it shall not be my fault if +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149"></a>149</span> +you are not beggared of your allowance and sent back to +your scrivening ere the week be out.”</p> + +<p>The tones of the old man’s voice were, if possible, +more wounding than his language; Francis felt himself +exposed to the most cruel, blighting, and unbearable +contempt; his head turned, and he covered his face with +his hands, uttering at the same time a tearless sob of +agony. But Miss Vandeleur once again interfered in his +behalf.</p> + +<p>“Mr Scrymgeour,” she said, speaking in clear and even +tones, “you must not be concerned at my father’s harsh +expressions. I felt no disgust for you; on the contrary, I +asked an opportunity to make your better acquaintance. +As for what has passed to-night, believe me it has filled my +mind with both pity and esteem.”</p> + +<p>Just then Mr. Rolles made a convulsive movement with +his arm, which convinced Francis that he was only drugged, +and was beginning to throw off the influence of the opiate. +Mr. Vandeleur stooped over him and examined his face for +an instant.</p> + +<p>“Come, come!” cried he, raising his head. “Let there +be an end of this. And since you are so pleased with his +conduct, Miss Vandeleur, take a candle and show the bastard +out.”</p> + +<p>The young lady hastened to obey.</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” said Francis, as soon as he was alone with +her in the garden. “I thank you from my soul. This has +been the bitterest evening of my life, but it will have always +one pleasant recollection.”</p> + +<p>“I spoke as I felt,” she replied, “and in justice to you. +It made my heart sorry that you should be so unkindly used.”</p> + +<p>By this time they had reached the garden gate; and Miss +Vandeleur, having set the candle on the ground, was +already unfastening the bolts.</p> + +<p>“One word more,” said Francis. “This is not for the +last time—I shall see you again, shall I not?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page150"></a>150</span></p> + +<p>“Alas!” she answered. “You have heard my father. +What can I do but obey?”</p> + +<p>“Tell me at least that it is not with your consent,” +returned Francis; “tell me that you have no wish to see the +last of me.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” replied she, “I have none. You seem to me +both brave and honest.”</p> + +<p>“Then,” said Francis, “give me a keepsake.”</p> + +<p>She paused for a moment, with her hand upon the key; +for the various bars and bolts were all undone, and there was +nothing left but to open the lock.</p> + +<p>“If I agree,” she said, “will you promise to do as I tell +you from point to point?”</p> + +<p>“Can you ask?” replied Francis. “I would do so +willingly on your bare word.”</p> + +<p>She turned the key and threw open the door.</p> + +<p>“Be it so,” said she. “You do not know what you ask, +but be it so. Whatever you hear,” she continued, “whatever +happens, do not return to this house; hurry fast until +you reach the lighted and populous quarters of the city; +even there be upon your guard. You are in a greater +danger than you fancy. Promise me you will not so much +as look at my keepsake until you are in a place of safety.”</p> + +<p>“I promise,” replied Francis.</p> + +<p>She put something loosely wrapped in a handkerchief +into the young man’s hand; and at the same time, with +more strength than he could have anticipated, she pushed +him into the street.</p> + +<p>“Now, run!” she cried.</p> + +<p>He heard the door close behind him, and the noise of the +bolts being replaced.</p> + +<p>“My faith,” said he, “since I have promised!”</p> + +<p>And he took to his heels down the lane that leads into +the Rue Ravignan.</p> + +<p>He was not fifty paces from the house with the green +blinds when the most diabolical outcry suddenly arose out +of the stillness of the night. Mechanically he stood still; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151"></a>151</span> +another passenger followed his example; in the neighbouring +floors he saw people crowding to the windows; a conflagration +could not have produced more disturbance in this +empty quarter. And yet it seemed to be all the work of a +single man, roaring between grief and rage, like a lioness +robbed of her whelps; and Francis was surprised and alarmed +to hear his own name shouted with English imprecations to +the wind.</p> + +<p>His first movement was to return to the house; his +second, as he remembered Miss Vandeleur’s advice, to continue +his flight with greater expedition than before; and he +was in the act of turning to put his thought in action, when +the Dictator, bare-headed, bawling aloud, his white hair +blowing about his head, shot past him like a ball out of the +cannon’s mouth, and went careering down the street.</p> + +<p>“That was a close shave,” thought Francis to himself. +“What he wants with me, and why he should be so disturbed, +I cannot think; but he is plainly not good company for the +moment, and I cannot do better than follow Miss Vandeleur’s +advice.”</p> + +<p>So saying, he turned to retrace his steps, thinking to +double and descend by the Rue Lepic itself while his pursuer +should continue to follow after him on the other line of +street. The plan was ill-devised: as a matter of fact, he +should have taken his seat in the nearest café, and waited +there until the first heat of the pursuit was over. But +besides that Francis had no experience and little natural +aptitude for the small war of private life, he was so unconscious +of any evil on his part, that he saw nothing to fear +beyond a disagreeable interview. And to disagreeable +interviews he felt he had already served his apprenticeship +that evening; nor could he suppose that Miss Vandeleur +had left anything unsaid. Indeed, the young man was sore +both in body and mind—the one was all bruised, the other +was full of smarting arrows; and he owned to himself that +Mr. Vandeleur was master of a very deadly tongue.</p> + +<p>The thought of his bruises reminded him that he had not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152"></a>152</span> +only come without a hat, but that his clothes had considerably +suffered in his descent through the chestnut. At the +first magazine he purchased a cheap wideawake, and had +the disorder of his toilet summarily repaired. The keepsake, +still rolled in the handkerchief, he thrust in the meantime +into his trousers pocket.</p> + +<p>Not many steps beyond the shop he was conscious of a +sudden shock, a hand upon his throat, an infuriated face +close to his own, and an open mouth bawling curses in his +ear. The Dictator, having found no trace of his quarry, +was returning by the other way. Francis was a stalwart +young fellow; but he was no match for his adversary, +whether in strength or skill; and after a few ineffectual +struggles he resigned himself entirely to his captor.</p> + +<p>“What do you want with me?” said he.</p> + +<p>“We will talk of that at home,” returned the Dictator grimly.</p> + +<p>And he continued to march the young man up hill in the +direction of the house with the green blinds.</p> + +<p>But Francis, although he no longer struggled, was only +waiting an opportunity to make a bold push for freedom. +With a sudden jerk he left the collar of his coat in the hands +of Mr. Vandeleur, and once more made off at his best speed +in the direction of the Boulevards.</p> + +<p>The tables were now turned. If the Dictator was the +stronger, Francis, in the top of his youth, was the more fleet +of foot, and he had soon effected his escape among the +crowds. Relieved for a moment, but with a growing sentiment +of alarm and wonder in his mind, he walked briskly +until he debouched upon the Place de l’Opéra lit up like day +with electric lamps.</p> + +<p>“This, at least,” thought he, “should satisfy Miss Vandeleur.”</p> + +<p>And turning to his right along the Boulevards, he entered +the Café Américain and ordered some beer. It was both +late and early for the majority of the frequenters of the +establishment. Only two or three persons, all men, were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153"></a>153</span> +dotted here and there at separate tables in the hall; and +Francis was too much occupied by his own thoughts to +observe their presence.</p> + +<p>He drew the handkerchief from his pocket. The object +wrapped in it proved to be a morocco case, clasped and ornamented +in gilt, which opened by means of a spring, and disclosed +to the horrified young man a diamond of monstrous +bigness and extraordinary brilliancy. The circumstance +was so inexplicable, the value of the stone was plainly so +enormous, that Francis sat staring into the open casket +without movement, without conscious thought, like a man +stricken suddenly with idiocy.</p> + +<p>A hand was laid upon his shoulder, lightly but firmly, +and a quiet voice, which yet had in it the ring of command, +uttered these words in his ear—</p> + +<p>“Close the casket, and compose your face.”</p> + +<p>Looking up, he beheld a man, still young, of an urbane +and tranquil presence, and dressed with rich simplicity. +This personage had risen from a neighbouring table, and, +bringing his glass with him, had taken a seat beside Francis.</p> + +<p>“Close the casket,” repeated the stranger, “and put it +quietly back into your pocket, where I feel persuaded it +should never have been. Try, if you please, to throw off +your bewildered air, and act as though I were one of your +acquaintances whom you had met by chance. So! Touch +glasses with me. That is better. I fear, sir, you must be +an amateur.”</p> + +<p>And the stranger pronounced these last words with a +smile of peculiar meaning, leaned back in his seat and enjoyed +a deep inhalation of tobacco.</p> + +<p>“For God’s sake,” said Francis, “tell me who you are +and what this means! Why I should obey your most unusual +suggestions I am sure I know not; but the truth is, I +have fallen this evening into so many perplexing adventures, +and all I meet conduct themselves so strangely, that I think +I must either have gone mad or wandered into another +planet. Your face inspires me with confidence; you seem +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154"></a>154</span> +wise, good, and experienced; tell me, for heaven’s sake, +why you accost me in so odd a fashion.”</p> + +<p>“All in due time,” replied the stranger. “But I have +the first hand, and you must begin by telling me how the +Rajah’s Diamond is in your possession.”</p> + +<p>“The Rajah’s Diamond!” echoed Francis.</p> + +<p>“I would not speak so loud, if I were you,” returned the +other. “But most certainly you have the Rajah’s Diamond +in your pocket. I have seen and handled it a score of times +in Sir Thomas Vandeleur’s collection.”</p> + +<p>“Sir Thomas Vandeleur! The General! My father!” +cried Francis.</p> + +<p>“Your father?” repeated the stranger. “I was not +aware the General had any family.”</p> + +<p>“I am illegitimate, sir,” replied Francis, with a flush.</p> + +<p>The other bowed with gravity. It was a respectful bow, +as of a man silently apologising to his equal; and Francis +felt relieved and comforted, he scarce knew why. The +society of this person did him good; he seemed to touch firm +ground; a strong feeling of respect grew up in his bosom, +and mechanically he removed his wideawake as though in +the presence of a superior.</p> + +<p>“I perceive,” said the stranger, “that your adventures +have not at all been peaceful. Your collar is torn, your face +is scratched, you have a cut upon your temple; you will, +perhaps, pardon my curiosity when I ask you to explain how +you come by these injuries, and how you happen to have +stolen property to an enormous value in your pocket.”</p> + +<p>“I must differ from you!” returned Francis hotly. “I +possess no stolen property. And if you refer to the diamond, +it was given to me not an hour ago by Miss Vandeleur +in the Rue Lepic.”</p> + +<p>“By Miss Vandeleur in the Rue Lepic!” repeated the +other. “You interest me more than you suppose. Pray +continue.”</p> + +<p>“Heavens!” cried Francis.</p> + +<p>His memory had made a sudden bound. He had seen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155"></a>155</span> +Mr. Vandeleur take an article from the breast of his drugged +visitor, and that article, he was now persuaded, was a +morocco case.</p> + +<p>“You have a light?” inquired the stranger.</p> + +<p>“Listen,” replied Francis. “I know not who you are, +but I believe you to be worthy of confidence and helpful; I +find myself in strange waters; I must have counsel and support, +and since you invite me I shall tell you all.”</p> + +<p>And he briefly recounted his experience since the day +when he was summoned from the bank by his lawyer.</p> + +<p>“Yours is indeed a remarkable history,” said the +stranger, after the young man had made an end of his narrative; +“and your position is full of difficulty and peril. +Many would counsel you to seek out your father, and give +the diamond to him; but I have other views.—Waiter!” +he cried.</p> + +<p>The waiter drew near.</p> + +<p>“Will you ask the manager to speak with me a moment?” +said he; and Francis observed once more, both in his tone +and manner, the evidence of a habit of command.</p> + +<p>The waiter withdrew, and returned in a moment with +the manager, who bowed with obsequious respect.</p> + +<p>“What,” said he, “can I do to serve you?”</p> + +<p>“Have the goodness,” replied the stranger, indicating +Francis, “to tell this gentleman my name.”</p> + +<p>“You have the honour, sir,” said the functionary, addressing +young Scrymgeour, “to occupy the same table +with His Highness Prince Florizel of Bohemia.”</p> + +<p>Francis rose with precipitation, and made a grateful +reverence to the Prince, who bade him resume his seat.</p> + +<p>“I thank you,” said Florizel, once more addressing the +functionary; “I am sorry to have deranged you for so +small a matter.”</p> + +<p>And he dismissed him with a movement of his hand.</p> + +<p>“And now,” added the Prince, turning to Francis, +“give me the diamond.”</p> + +<p>Without a word the casket was handed over.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page156"></a>156</span></p> + +<p>“You have done right,” said Florizel; “your sentiments +have properly inspired you, and you will live to be +grateful for the misfortunes of to-night. A man, Mr. +Scrymgeour, may fall into a thousand perplexities, but if +his heart be upright and his intelligence unclouded, he will +issue from them all without dishonour. Let your mind be +at rest; your affairs are in my hand; and with the aid of +Heaven I am strong enough to bring them to a good end. +Follow me, if you please, to my carriage.”</p> + +<p>So saying the Prince arose, and, having left a piece of +gold for the waiter, conducted the young man from the café +and along the Boulevard to where an unpretentious brougham +and a couple of servants out of livery awaited his +arrival.</p> + +<p>“This carriage,” said he, “is at your disposal; collect +your baggage as rapidly as you can make it convenient, and +my servants will conduct you to a villa in the neighbourhood +of Paris where you can wait in some degree of comfort +until I have had time to arrange your situation. You will +find there a pleasant garden, a library of good authors, a +cook, a cellar, and some good cigars, which I recommend to +your attention. Jérome,” he added, turning to one of the +servants, “you have heard what I say; I leave Mr. Scrymgeour +in your charge; you will, I know, be careful of my +friend.”</p> + +<p>Francis uttered some broken phrases of gratitude.</p> + +<p>“It will be time enough to thank me,” said the Prince, +“when you are acknowledged by your father and married +to Miss Vandeleur.”</p> + +<p>And with that the Prince turned away and strolled +leisurely in the direction of Montmartre. He hailed the +first passing cab, gave an address, and a quarter of an hour +afterwards, having discharged the driver some distance +lower, he was knocking at Mr. Vandeleur’s garden +gate.</p> + +<p>It was opened with singular precautions by the Dictator +in person.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page157"></a>157</span></p> + +<p>“Who are you?” he demanded.</p> + +<p>“You must pardon me this late visit, Mr. Vandeleur,” +replied the Prince.</p> + +<p>“Your Highness is always welcome,” returned Mr. +Vandeleur, stepping back.</p> + +<p>The Prince profited by the open space, and without waiting +for his host walked right into the house and opened the +door of the <i>salon</i>. Two people were seated there; one was +Miss Vandeleur, who bore the marks of weeping about her +eyes, and was still shaken from time to time by a sob; in +the other the Prince recognised the young man who had consulted +him on literary matters about a month before, in a +club smoking-room.</p> + +<p>“Good-evening, Miss Vandeleur,” said Florizel; “you +look fatigued. Mr. Rolles, I believe? I hope you have +profited by the study of Gaboriau, Mr. Rolles.”</p> + +<p>But the young clergyman’s temper was too much embittered +for speech; and he contented himself with bowing +stiffly, and continued to gnaw his lip.</p> + +<p>“To what good wind,” said Mr. Vandeleur, following +his guest, “am I to attribute the honour of your Highness’s +presence?”</p> + +<p>“I am come on business,” returned the Prince; “on +business with you; as soon as that is settled I shall request +Mr. Rolles to accompany me for a walk.—Mr. Rolles,” he +added, with severity, “let me remind you that I have not +yet sat down.”</p> + +<p>The clergyman sprang to his feet with an apology; +whereupon the Prince took an arm-chair beside the table, +handed his hat to Mr. Vandeleur, his cane to Mr. Rolles, +and, leaving them standing and thus menially employed +upon his service, spoke as follows:—</p> + +<p>“I have come here, as I said, upon business; but, had +I come looking for pleasure, I could not have been more +displeased with my reception nor more dissatisfied with my +company. You, sir,” addressing Mr. Rolles, “you have +treated your superior in station with discourtesy; you, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158"></a>158</span> +Vandeleur, receive me with a smile, but you know right +well that your hands are not yet cleansed from misconduct.—I +do not desire to be interrupted, sir,” he added imperiously; +“I am here to speak, and not to listen; and I have +to ask you to hear me with respect, and to obey punctiliously. +At the earliest possible date your daughter shall be +married at the Embassy to my friend, Francis Scrymgeour, +your brother’s acknowledged son. You will oblige me by +offering not less than ten thousand pounds dowry. For +yourself, I will indicate to you in writing a mission of some +importance in Siam which I destine to your care. And now, +sir, you will answer me in two words whether or not you +agree to these conditions.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness will pardon me,” said Mr. Vandeleur, +“and permit me, with all respect, to submit to him two +queries?”</p> + +<p>“The permission is granted,” replied the Prince.</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” resumed the Dictator, “has called +Mr. Scrymgeour his friend. Believe me, had I known he +was thus honoured, I should have treated him with proportional +respect.”</p> + +<p>“You interrogate adroitly,” said the Prince; “but it +will not serve your turn. You have my commands; if I +had never seen that gentleman before to-night, it would not +render them less absolute.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness interprets my meaning with his usual +subtlety,” returned Vandeleur. “Once more: I have, unfortunately, +put the police upon the track of Mr. Scrymgeour +on a charge of theft; am I to withdraw or to uphold the +accusation?”</p> + +<p>“You will please yourself,” replied Florizel. “The +question is one between your conscience and the laws of this +land. Give me my hat; and you, Mr. Rolles, give me my +cane and follow me. Miss Vandeleur, I wish you good-evening. +I judge,” he added to Vandeleur, “that your +silence means unqualified assent.”</p> + +<p>“If I can do no better,” replied the old man, “I shall +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159"></a>159</span> +submit; but I warn you openly it shall not be without a +struggle.”</p> + +<p>“You are old,” said the Prince; “but years are disgraceful +to the wicked. Your age is more unwise than the youth +of others. Do not provoke me, or you may find me harder +than you dream. This is the first time that I have fallen +across your path in anger; take care that it be the last.”</p> + +<p>With these words, motioning the clergyman to follow, +Florizel left the apartment and directed his steps towards +the garden gate; and the Dictator, following with a candle, +gave them light, and once more undid the elaborate fastenings +with which he sought to protect himself from intrusion.</p> + +<p>“Your daughter is no longer present,” said the Prince, +turning on the threshold. “Let me tell you that I understand +your threats; and you have only to lift your hand to +bring upon yourself sudden and irremediable ruin.”</p> + +<p>The Dictator made no reply; but as the Prince turned +his back upon him in the lamplight he made a gesture full +of menace and insane fury; and the next moment, slipping +round a corner, he was running at full speed for the nearest +cab-stand.</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p><i>Here</i> (says my Arabian) <i>the thread of events is finally +diverted from</i> <span class="sc">The House with the Green Blinds</span>. <i>One +more adventure, he adds, and we have done with</i> <span class="sc">The +Rajah’s Diamond</span>. <i>That last link in the chain is known +among the inhabitants of Bagdad by the name of</i></p> + +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h5>THE ADVENTURE OF PRINCE FLORIZEL AND A +DETECTIVE</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Prince Florizel</span> walked with Mr. Rolles to the door of a +small hotel where the latter resided. They spoke much +together, and the clergyman was more than once affected to +tears by the mingled severity and tenderness of Florizel’s +reproaches.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page160"></a>160</span></p> + +<p>“I have made ruin of my life,” he said at last. “Help +me; tell me what I am to do; I have, alas! neither the +virtues of a priest nor the dexterity of a rogue.”</p> + +<p>“Now that you are humbled,” said the Prince, “I command +no longer; the repentant have to do with God, and +not with Princes. But if you will let me advise you, go to +Australia as a colonist, seek menial labour in the open air, +and try to forget that you have ever been a clergyman, or +that you ever set eyes on that accursed stone.”</p> + +<p>“Accurst indeed!” replied Mr. Rolles. “Where is it +now? What further hurt is it not working for mankind?”</p> + +<p>“It will do no more evil,” returned the Prince. “It is +here in my pocket. And this,” he added kindly, “will +show that I place some faith in your penitence, young as +it is.”</p> + +<p>“Suffer me to touch your hand,” pleaded Mr. Rolles.</p> + +<p>“No,” replied Prince Florizel, “not yet.”</p> + +<p>The tone in which he uttered these last words was eloquent +in the ears of the young clergyman; and for some +minutes after the Prince had turned away he stood on the +threshold following with his eyes the retreating figure and +invoking the blessing of Heaven upon a man so excellent in +counsel.</p> + +<p>For several hours the Prince walked alone in unfrequented +streets. His mind was full of concern; what to do +with the diamond, whether to return it to its owner, whom +he judged unworthy of this rare possession, or to take some +sweeping and courageous measure and put it out of the reach +of all mankind at once and for ever, was a problem too grave +to be decided in a moment. The manner in which it had +come into his hands appeared manifestly providential; and +as he took out the jewel and looked at it under the street +lamps, its size and surprising brilliancy inclined him more +and more to think of it as of an unmixed and dangerous evil +for the world.</p> + +<p>“God help me!” he thought; “if I look at it much +oftener I shall begin to grow covetous myself.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page161"></a>161</span></p> + +<p>At last, though still uncertain in his mind, he turned +his steps towards the small but elegant mansion on the +river-side which had belonged for centuries to his royal +family. The arms of Bohemia are deeply graved over the +door and upon the tall chimneys; passengers have a look +into a green court set with the most costly flowers; and a +stork, the only one in Paris, perches on the gable all day +long and keeps a crowd before the house. Grave servants +are seen passing to and fro within; and from time to time +the great gate is thrown open and a carriage rolls below the +arch. For many reasons this residence was especially dear +to the heart of Prince Florizel; he never drew near to it +without enjoying that sentiment of home-coming so rare in +the lives of the great; and on the present evening he beheld +its tall roof and mildly illuminated windows with unfeigned +relief and satisfaction.</p> + +<p>As he was approaching the postern door by which he +always entered when alone, a man stepped forth from the +shadow and presented himself with an obeisance in the +Prince’s path.</p> + +<p>“I have the honour of addressing Prince Florizel of +Bohemia?” said he.</p> + +<p>“Such is my title,” replied the Prince. “What do you +want with me?”</p> + +<p>“I am,” said the man, “a detective, and I have to +present your Highness with this billet from the Prefect of +Police.”</p> + +<p>The Prince took the letter and glanced it through by the +light of the street lamp. It was highly apologetic, but +requested him to follow the bearer to the Prefecture without +delay.</p> + +<p>“In short,” said Florizel, “I am arrested.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” replied the officer, “nothing, I am +certain, could be further from the intention of the Prefect. +You will observe that he has not granted a warrant. It is +mere formality, or call it, if you prefer, an obligation that +your Highness lays on the authorities.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page162"></a>162</span></p> + +<p>“At the same time,” asked the Prince, “if I were to +refuse to follow you?”</p> + +<p>“I will not conceal from your Highness that a considerable +discretion has been granted me,” replied the detective, +with a bow.</p> + +<p>“Upon my word,” cried Florizel, “your effrontery +astounds me! Yourself, as an agent, I must pardon; but +your superiors shall dearly smart for their misconduct. +What, have you any idea, is the cause of this impolitic and +unconstitutional act? You will observe that I have as yet +neither refused nor consented, and much may depend on +your prompt and ingenuous answer. Let me remind you, +officer, that this is an affair of some gravity.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness,” said the detective humbly, “General +Vandeleur and his brother have had the incredible presumption +to accuse you of theft. The famous diamond, they +declare, is in your hands. A word from you in denial will +most amply satisfy the Prefect; nay, I go further: if your +Highness would so far honour a subaltern as to declare his +ignorance of the matter even to myself, I should ask permission +to retire upon the spot.”</p> + +<p>Florizel, up to the last moment, had regarded his adventure +in the light of a trifle, only serious upon international +considerations. At the name of Vandeleur the horrible +truth broke upon him in a moment; he was not only +arrested, but he was guilty. This was not only an annoying +incident—it was a peril to his honour. What was he to say? +What was he to do? The Rajah’s Diamond was indeed an +accursed stone; and it seemed as if he were to be the last +victim to its influence.</p> + +<p>One thing was certain. He could not give the required +assurance to the detective. He must gain time.</p> + +<p>His hesitation had not lasted a second.</p> + +<p>“Be it so,” said he, “let us walk together to the Prefecture.”</p> + +<p>The man once more bowed, and proceeded to follow +Florizel at a respectful distance in the rear.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page163"></a>163</span></p> + +<p>“Approach,” said the Prince. “I am in a humour to +talk, and, if I mistake not, now I look at you again, this is +not the first time that we have met.”</p> + +<p>“I count it an honour,” replied the officer, “that your +Highness should recollect my face. It is eight years since I +had the pleasure of an interview.”</p> + +<p>“To remember faces,” returned Florizel, “is as much a +part of my profession as it is of yours. Indeed, rightly +looked upon, a Prince and a detective serve in the same +corps. We are both combatants against crime; only mine +is the more lucrative and yours the more dangerous rank, +and there is a sense in which both may be made equally +honourable to a good man. I had rather, strange as you +may think it, be a detective of character and parts than a +weak and ignoble sovereign.”</p> + +<p>The officer was overwhelmed.</p> + +<p>“Your Highness returns good for evil,” said he. “To +an act of presumption he replies by the most amiable condescension.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know,” replied Florizel, “that I am not +seeking to corrupt you?”</p> + +<p>“Heaven preserve me from the temptation!” cried the +detective.</p> + +<p>“I applaud your answer,” returned the Prince. “It +is that of a wise and honest man. The world is a great +place, and stocked with wealth and beauty, and there is no +limit to the rewards that may be offered. Such an one who +would refuse a million of money may sell his honour for an +empire or the love of a woman; and I myself, who speak to +you, have seen occasions so tempting, provocations so irresistible +to the strength of human virtue, that I have been +glad to tread in your steps and recommend myself to the +grace of God. It is thus, thanks to that modest and becoming +habit alone,” he added, “that you and I can walk this +town together with untarnished hearts.”</p> + +<p>“I had always heard that you were brave,” replied +the officer, “but I was not aware that you were wise and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164"></a>164</span> +pious. You speak the truth, and you speak it with an +accent that moves me to the heart. This world is indeed a +place of trial.”</p> + +<p>“We are now,” said Florizel, “in the middle of the +bridge. Lean your elbows on the parapet and look over. +As the water rushing below, so the passions and complications +of life carry away the honesty of weak men. Let me +tell you a story.”</p> + +<p>“I receive your Highness’s commands,” replied the man.</p> + +<p>And, imitating the Prince, he leaned against the parapet, +and disposed himself to listen. The city was already +sunk in slumber; had it not been for the infinity of lights +and the outline of buildings on the starry sky, they might +have been alone beside some country river.</p> + +<p>“An officer,” began Prince Florizel, “a man of courage +and conduct, who had already risen by merit to an eminent +rank, and won not only admiration but respect, visited, in an +unfortunate hour for his peace of mind, the collections of an +Indian Prince. Here he beheld a diamond so extraordinary +for size and beauty that from that instant he had only one +desire in life: honour, reputation, friendship, the love of +country—he was ready to sacrifice all for this lump of sparkling +crystal. For three years he served this semi-barbarian +potentate as Jacob served Laban; he falsified frontiers, he +connived at murders, he unjustly condemned and executed +a brother-officer who had the misfortune to displease the +Rajah by some honest freedoms; lastly, at a time of great +danger to his native land, he betrayed a body of his fellow-soldiers, +and suffered them to be defeated and massacred by +thousands. In the end he had amassed a magnificent +fortune, and brought home with him the coveted diamond.</p> + +<p>“Years passed,” continued the Prince, “and at length +the diamond is accidentally lost. It falls into the hands +of a simple and laborious youth, a student, a minister of +God, just entering on a career of usefulness and even distinction. +Upon him also the spell is cast; he deserts everything, +his holy calling, his studies, and flees with the gem +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165"></a>165</span> +into a foreign country. The officer has a brother, an astute, +daring, unscrupulous man, who learns the clergyman’s +secret. What does he do? Tell his brother, inform the +police? No; upon this man also the Satanic charm has +fallen; he must have the stone for himself. At the risk of +murder, he drugs the young priest and seizes the prey. And +now, by an accident which is not important to my moral, +the jewel passes out of his custody into that of another, +who, terrified at what he sees, gives it into the keeping of a +man in high station and above reproach.</p> + +<p>“The officer’s name is Thomas Vandeleur,” continued +Florizel. “The stone is called the Rajah’s Diamond. +And“—suddenly opening his hand—“you behold it here +before your eyes.”</p> + +<p>The officer started back with a cry.</p> + +<p>“We have spoken of corruption,” said the Prince. “To +me this nugget of bright crystal is as loathsome as though it +were crawling with the worms of death; it is as shocking as +though it were compacted out of innocent blood. I see it +here in my hand, and I know it is shining with hell-fire. I +have told you but a hundredth part of its story; what +passed in former ages, to what crimes and treacheries it +incited men of yore, the imagination trembles to conceive; +for years and years it has faithfully served the powers of +hell; enough, I say, of blood, enough of disgrace, enough of +broken lives and friendships; all things come to an end, +the evil like the good; pestilence as well as beautiful music; +and as for this diamond, God forgive me if I do wrong, but +its empire ends to-night.”</p> + +<p>The Prince made a sudden movement with his hand, +and the jewel, describing an arc of light, dived with a splash +into the flowing river.</p> + +<p>“Amen,” said Florizel, with gravity. “I have slain a +cockatrice!”</p> + +<p>“God pardon me!” cried the detective. “What have +you done? I am a ruined man.”</p> + +<p>“I think,” returned the Prince, with a smile, “that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166"></a>166</span> +many well-to-do people in this city might envy you your +ruin.”</p> + +<p>“Alas! your Highness!” said the officer, “and you +corrupt me after all?”</p> + +<p>“It seems there was no help for it,” replied Florizel.—“And +now let us go forward to the Prefecture.”</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p>Not long after, the marriage of Francis Scrymgeour and +Miss Vandeleur was celebrated in great privacy; and the +Prince acted on that occasion as groom’s man. The two +Vandeleurs surprised some rumour of what had happened +to the diamond; and their vast diving operations on the +River Seine are the wonder and amusement of the idle. It is +true that through some miscalculation they have chosen the +wrong branch of the river. As for the Prince, that sublime +person, having now served his turn, may go, along with the +<i>Arabian Author</i>, topsy-turvy into space. But if the reader +insists on more specific information, I am happy to say that +a recent revolution hurled him from the throne of Bohemia, +in consequence of his continued absence and edifying neglect +of public business; and that his Highness now keeps a cigar +store in Rupert Street, much frequented by other foreign +refugees. I go there from time to time to smoke and have a +chat, and find him as great a creature as in the days of his +prosperity; he has an Olympian air behind the counter; and +although a sedentary life is beginning to tell upon his waistcoat, +he is probably, take him for all in all, the handsomest +tobacconist in London.</p> + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page167"></a>167</span></p> +<h3>THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS</h3> + +<h4>CHAPTER I</h4> + +<h5>TELLS HOW I CAMPED IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD, AND +BEHELD A LIGHT IN THE PAVILION</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I was</span> a great solitary when I was young. I made it my +pride to keep aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; +and I may say that I had neither friends nor acquaintances +until I met that friend who became my wife and the mother +of my children. With one man only was I on private terms: +this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of Graden-Easter, in Scotland. +We had met at college; and though there was not +much liking between us, nor even much intimacy, we were +so nearly of a humour that we could associate with ease to +both. Misanthropes we believed ourselves to be; but I have +thought since that we were only sulky fellows. It was scarcely +a companionship, but a co-existence in unsociability. +Northmour’s exceptional violence of temper made it no +easy affair for him to keep the peace with any one but me; +and as he respected my silent ways, and let me come and go +as I pleased, I could tolerate his presence without concern. +I think we called each other friends.</p> + +<p>When Northmour took his degree and I decided to leave +the University without one, he invited me on a long visit to +Graden-Easter; and it was thus that I first became acquainted +with the scene of my adventures. The mansion-house +of Graden stood in a bleak stretch of country some +three miles from the shore of the German Ocean. It was as +large as a barrack; and as it had been built of a soft stone, +liable to consume in the eager air of the seaside, it was damp +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page168"></a>168</span> +and draughty within and half-ruinous without. It was +impossible for two young men to lodge with comfort in such +a dwelling. But there stood in the northern part of the +estate, in a wilderness of links and blowing sand-hills, and +between a plantation and the sea, a small Pavilion or Belvidere, +of modern design, which was exactly suited to our +wants; and in this hermitage, speaking little, reading much, +and rarely associating except at meals, Northmour and I +spent four tempestuous winter months. I might have +stayed longer; but one March night there sprang up between +us a dispute, which rendered my departure necessary. +Northmour spoke hotly, I remember, and I suppose I must +have made some tart rejoinder. He leaped from his chair +and grappled me; I had to fight, without exaggeration, for +my life; and it was only with a great effort that I mastered +him, for he was near as strong in body as myself, and seemed +filled with the devil. The next morning we met on our usual +terms; but I judged it more delicate to withdraw; nor did +he attempt to dissuade me.</p> + +<p>It was nine years before I revisited the neighbourhood. +I travelled at that time with a tilt-cart, a tent, and a cooking-stove, +tramping all day beside the waggon, and at night, +whenever it was possible, gipsying in a cove of the hills, or +by the side of a wood. I believe I visited in this manner +most of the wild and desolate regions both in England and +Scotland; and, as I had neither friends nor relations, I was +troubled with no correspondence, and had nothing in the +nature of headquarters, unless it was the office of my solicitors, +from whom I drew my income twice a year. It was a +life in which I delighted; and I fully thought to have grown +old upon the march, and at last died in a ditch.</p> + +<p>It was my whole business to find desolate corners, +where I could camp without the fear of interruption; and +hence, being in another part of the same shire, I bethought +me suddenly of the Pavilion on the Links. No thoroughfare +passed within three miles of it. The nearest town, and that +was but a fisher village, was at a distance of six or seven. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169"></a>169</span> +For ten miles of length, and from a depth varying from +three miles to half a mile, this belt of barren country lay +along the sea. The beach, which was the natural approach, +was full of quicksands. Indeed, I may say there is hardly a +better place of concealment in the United Kingdom. I +determined to pass a week in the Sea-Wood of Graden-Easter, +and making a long stage, reached it about sundown +on a wild September day.</p> + +<p>The country, I have said, was mixed sand-hill and links; +<i>links</i> being a Scottish name for sand which has ceased +drifting and become more or less solidly covered with turf. +The pavilion stood on an even space; a little behind it, the +wood began in a hedge of elders huddled together by the +wind; in front, a few tumbled sand-hills stood between it +and the sea. An outcropping of rock had formed a bastion +for the sand, so that there was here a promontory in the +coast-line between two shallow bays; and just beyond the +tides, the rock again cropped out and formed an islet of +small dimensions but strikingly designed. The quicksands +were of great extent at low water, and had an infamous reputation +in the country. Close inshore, between the islet +and the promontory, it was said they would swallow a man +in four minutes and a half; but there may have been little +ground for this precision. The district was alive with +rabbits, and haunted by gulls which made a continual piping +about the pavilion. On summer days the outlook was +bright, and even gladsome; but at sundown in September, +with a high wind, and a heavy surf rolling in close along the +links, the place told of nothing but dead mariners and sea +disaster. A ship beating to windward on the horizon, and +a huge truncheon of wreck half-buried in the sands at my +feet, completed the innuendo of the scene.</p> + +<p>The pavilion—it had been built by the last proprietor, +Northmour’s uncle, a silly and prodigal virtuoso—presented +little signs of age. It was two stories in height, +Italian in design, surrounded by a patch of garden in which +nothing had prospered but a few coarse flowers, and looked, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170"></a>170</span> +with its shuttered windows, not like a house that had been +deserted, but like one that had never been tenanted by man. +Northmour was plainly from home; whether, as usual, +sulking in the cabin of his yacht, or in one of his fitful and +extravagant appearances in the world of society, I had, of +course, no means of guessing. The place had an air of +solitude that daunted even a solitary like myself; the wind +cried in the chimneys with a strange and wailing note; and +it was with a sense of escape, as if I were going indoors, that +I turned away and, driving my cart before me, entered the +skirts of the wood.</p> + +<p>The Sea-Wood of Graden had been planted to shelter the +cultivated fields behind, and check the encroachments of the +blowing sand. As you advanced into it from coastward, +elders were succeeded by other hardy shrubs; but the +timber was all stunted and bushy; it led a life of conflict; the +trees were accustomed to swing there all night long in fierce +winter tempests; and even in early spring the leaves were +already flying, and autumn was beginning, in this exposed +plantation. Inland the ground rose into a little hill, which, +along with the islet, served as a sailing mark for seamen. +When the hill was open of the islet to the north, vessels must +bear well to the eastward to clear Graden Ness and the +Graden Bullers. In the lower ground, a streamlet ran +among the trees, and, being dammed with dead leaves and +clay of its own carrying, spread out every here and there, +and lay in stagnant pools. One or two ruined cottages were +dotted about the wood; and, according to Northmour, +these were ecclesiastical foundations, and in their time had +sheltered pious hermits.</p> + +<p>I found a den, or small hollow, where there was a spring +of pure water; and there, clearing away the brambles, I +pitched the tent, and made a fire to cook my supper. My +horse I picketed farther in the wood where there was a patch +of sward. The banks of the den not only concealed the +light of my fire, but sheltered me from the wind, which was +cold as well as high.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page171"></a>171</span></p> + +<p>The life I was leading made me both hardy and frugal. +I never drank but water, and rarely ate anything more +costly than oatmeal; and I required so little sleep that, +although I rose with the peep of day, I would often lie long +awake in the dark or starry watches of the night. Thus in +Graden Sea-Wood, although I fell thankfully asleep by +eight in the evening, I was awake again before eleven with +a full possession of my faculties, and no sense of drowsiness +or fatigue. I rose and sat by the fire, watching the trees and +clouds tumultuously tossing and fleeing overhead, and +hearkening to the wind and the rollers along the shore; till +at length, growing weary of inaction, I quitted the den, and +strolled towards the borders of the wood. A young moon, +buried in mist, gave a faint illumination to my steps; and +the light grew brighter as I walked forth into the links. At +the same moment, the wind, smelling salt of the open ocean, +and carrying particles of sand, struck me with its full force, +so that I had to bow my head.</p> + +<p>When I raised it again to look about me, I was aware of a +light in the pavilion. It was not stationary; but passed +from one window to another as though some one were reviewing +the different apartments with a lamp or candle. I +watched it for some seconds in great surprise. When I had +arrived in the afternoon the house had been plainly deserted; +now it was as plainly occupied. It was my first idea that +a gang of thieves might have broken in and be now ransacking +Northmour’s cupboards, which were many and not ill +supplied. But what should bring thieves to Graden-Easter? +And, again, all the shutters had been thrown open, and it +would have been more in the character of such gentry to +close them. I dismissed the notion, and fell back upon +another: Northmour himself must have arrived, and was +now airing and inspecting the pavilion.</p> + +<p>I have said that there was no real affection between this +man and me; but, had I loved him like a brother, I was then +so much more in love with solitude that I should none the +less have shunned his company. As it was, I turned and ran +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172"></a>172</span> +for it; and it was with genuine satisfaction that I found +myself safely back beside the fire. I had escaped an acquaintance: +I should have one more night in comfort. In +the morning I might either slip away before Northmour was +abroad, or pay him as short a visit as I chose.</p> + +<p>But when morning came I thought the situation so diverting +that I forgot my shyness. Northmour was at my mercy; +I arranged a good practical jest, though I knew well that my +neighbour was not the man to jest with in security; and, +chuckling beforehand over its success, took my place among +the elders at the edge of the wood, whence I could command +the door of the pavilion. The shutters were all +once more closed, which I remember thinking odd; and the +house, with its white walls and green venetians, looked +spruce and habitable in the morning light. Hour after hour +passed, and still no sign of Northmour. I knew him for a +sluggard in the morning; but, as it drew on towards noon, +I lost my patience. To say the truth, I had promised myself +to break my fast in the pavilion, and hunger began to prick +me sharply. It was a pity to let the opportunity go by +without some cause for mirth; but the grosser appetite prevailed, +and I relinquished my jest with regret, and sallied +from the wood.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the house affected me, as I drew near, +with disquietude. It seemed unchanged since last evening; +and I had expected it, I scarce knew why, to wear some +external signs of habitation. But no: the windows were +all closely shuttered, the chimneys breathed no smoke, and +the front door itself was closely padlocked. Northmour +therefore had entered by the back; this was the natural, +and indeed the necessary, conclusion; and you may judge +of my surprise when, on turning the house, I found the back-door +similarly secured.</p> + +<p>My mind at once reverted to the original theory of thieves; +and I blamed myself sharply for my last night’s inaction. +I examined all the windows on the lower story, but none of +them had been tampered with; I tried the padlocks, but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173"></a>173</span> +they were both secure. It thus became a problem how the +thieves, if thieves they were, had managed to enter the house. +They must have got, I reasoned, upon the roof of the outhouse +where Northmour used to keep his photographic +battery; and from thence, either by the window of the study +or that of my old bedroom, completed their burglarious +entry.</p> + +<p>I followed what I supposed was their example; and, +getting on the roof, tried the shutters of each room. Both +were secure; but I was not to be beaten; and, with a little +force, one of them flew open, grazing, as it did so, the back of +my hand. I remember I put the wound to my mouth and +stood for perhaps half a minute licking it like a dog, and +mechanically gazing behind me over the waste links and the +sea; and in that space of time my eye made note of a large +schooner yacht some miles to the north-east. Then I threw +up the window and climbed in.</p> + +<p>I went over the house, and nothing can express my +mystification. There was no sign of disorder, but, on the +contrary, the rooms were unusually clean and pleasant. I +found fires laid ready for lighting; three bedrooms prepared +with a luxury quite foreign to Northmour’s habits, and with +water in the ewers and the beds turned down; a table set +for three in the dining-room; and an ample supply of cold +meats, game, and vegetables on the pantry shelves. There +were guests expected, that was plain; but why guests when +Northmour hated society? And, above all, why was the +house thus stealthily prepared at dead of night? and why +were the shutters closed and the doors padlocked?</p> + +<p>I effaced all traces of my visit, and came forth from the +window feeling sobered and concerned.</p> + +<p>The schooner yacht was still in the same place; and it +flashed for a moment through my mind that this might be +the <i>Red Earl</i> bringing the owner of the pavilion and his +guests. But the vessel’s head was set the other way.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page174"></a>174</span></p> +<h4>CHAPTER II</h4> + +<h5>TELLS OF THE NOCTURNAL LANDING FROM THE +YACHT</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I returned</span> to the den to cook myself a meal, of which I +stood in great need, as well as to care for my horse, which I +had somewhat neglected in the morning. From time to time +I went down to the edge of the wood; but there was no +change in the pavilion, and not a human creature was seen +all day upon the links. The schooner in the offing was the +one touch of life within my range of vision. She, apparently +with no set object, stood off and on or lay to, hour after +hour; but as the evening deepened she drew steadily nearer. +I became more convinced that she carried Northmour and +his friends, and that they would probably come ashore after +dark; not only because that was of a piece with the secrecy +of the preparations, but because the tide would not have +flowed sufficiently before eleven to cover Graden Floe and +the other sea quags that fortified the shore against invaders.</p> + +<p>All day the wind had been going down, and the sea along +with it; but there was a return towards sunset of the heavy +weather of the day before. The night set in pitch dark. +The wind came off the sea in squalls, like the firing of a +battery of cannon; now and then there was a flaw of rain +and the surf rolled heavier with the rising tide. I was +down at my observatory among the elders, when a light +was run up to the mast-head of the schooner, and showed +she was closer in than when I had last seen her by the dying +daylight. I concluded that this must be a signal to Northmour’s +associates on shore; and, stepping forth into the +links, looked around me for something in response.</p> + +<p>A small footpath ran along the margin of the wood, +and formed the most direct communication between the +pavilion and the mansion-house; and as I cast my eyes to +that side I saw a spark of light, not a quarter of a mile away, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175"></a>175</span> +and rapidly approaching. From its uneven course it appeared +to be the light of a lantern carried by a person who +followed the windings of the path, and was often staggered +and taken aback by the more violent squalls. I concealed +myself once more among the elders, and waited eagerly for +the new-comer’s advance. It proved to be a woman; and +as she passed within half a rod of my ambush I was able to +recognise the features. The deaf and silent old dame who +had nursed Northmour in his childhood was his associate in +this underhand affair.</p> + +<p>I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of +the innumerable heights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, +and favoured not only by the nurse’s deafness, but by +the uproar of the wind and surf. She entered the pavilion, +and, going at once to the upper story, opened and set a light +in one of the windows that looked towards the sea. Immediately +afterwards the light at the schooner’s mast-head +was run down and extinguished. Its purpose had been +attained, and those on board were sure that they were expected. +The old woman resumed her preparations; although +the other shutters remained closed, I could see a glimmer +going to and fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from +one chimney after another soon told me that the fires were +being kindled.</p> + +<p>Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would +come ashore as soon as there was water on the floe. It was +a wild night for boat service; and I felt some alarm mingle +with my curiosity as I reflected on the danger of the landing. +My old acquaintance, it was true, was the most eccentric of +men; but the present eccentricity was both disquieting and +lugubrious to consider. A variety of feelings thus led me +towards the beach, where I lay flat on my face in a hollow +within six feet of the track that led to the pavilion. Thence, +I should have the satisfaction of recognising the arrivals, and, +if they should prove to be acquaintances, greeting them as +soon as they had landed.</p> + +<p>Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176"></a>176</span> +low, a boat’s lantern appeared close inshore; and, my +attention being thus awakened, I could perceive another +still far to seaward, violently tossed, and sometimes hidden +by the billows. The weather, which was getting dirtier as +the night went on, and the perilous situation of the yacht +upon a lee-shore, had probably driven them to attempt a +landing at the earliest possible moment.</p> + +<p>A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very +heavy chest, and guided by a fifth with a lantern, passed +close in front of me as I lay, and were admitted to the +pavilion by the nurse. They returned to the beach, and +passed me a second time with another chest, larger but apparently +not so heavy as the first. A third time they made +the transit; and on this occasion one of the yachtsmen +carried a leather portmanteau, and the others a lady’s +trunk and carriage bag. My curiosity was sharply excited. +If a woman were among the guests of Northmour, it would +show a change in his habits and an apostasy from his pet +theories of life, well calculated to fill me with surprise. When +he and I dwelt there together, the pavilion had been a temple +of misogyny. And now, one of the detested sex was to be +installed under its roof. I remembered one or two particulars, +a few notes of daintiness and almost of coquetry which +had struck me the day before as I surveyed the preparations +in the house; their purpose was now clear, and I thought +myself dull not to have perceived it from the first.</p> + +<p>While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near +me from the beach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom +I had not yet seen, and who was conducting two other +persons to the pavilion. These two persons were unquestionably +the guests for whom the house was made ready; +and, straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them as they +passed. One was an unusually tall man, in a travelling hat +slouched over his eyes, and a highland cape closely buttoned +and turned up so as to conceal his face. You could make out +no more of him than that he was, as I have said, unusually +tall, and walked feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177"></a>177</span> +and either clinging to him or giving him support—I could +not make out which—was a young, tall, and slender figure +of a woman. She was extremely pale; but in the light of +the lantern her face was so marred by strong and changing +shadows that she might equally well have been as ugly as +sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be.</p> + +<p>When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some +remark which was drowned by the noise of the wind.</p> + +<p>“Hush!” said her companion; and there was something +in the tone with which the word was uttered that +thrilled and rather shook my spirits. It seemed to breathe +from a bosom labouring under the deadliest terror; I have +never heard another syllable so expressive; and I still hear +it again when I am feverish at night, and my mind runs upon +old times. The man turned towards the girl as he spoke; I +had a glimpse of much red beard and a nose which seemed +to have been broken in youth; and his light eyes seemed +shining in his face with some strong and unpleasant +emotion.</p> + +<p>But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn +to the pavilion.</p> + +<p>One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the +beach. The wind brought me the sound of a rough voice +crying, “Shove off!” Then, after a pause, another lantern +drew near. It was Northmour alone.</p> + +<p>My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed +to wonder how a person could be, at the same time, so handsome +and so repulsive as Northmour. He had the appearance +of a finished gentleman; his face bore every mark of +intelligence and courage; but you had only to look at him, +even in the most amiable moment, to see that he had the +temper of a slaver captain. I never knew a character that +was both explosive and revengeful to the same degree; he +combined the vivacity of the South with the sustained and +deadly hatreds of the North; and both traits were plainly +written on his face, which was a sort of danger-signal. +In person he was tall, strong, and active; his hair and complexion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178"></a>178</span> +very dark; his features handsomely designed, but +spoiled by a menacing expression.</p> + +<p>At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; +he wore a heavy frown; and his lips worked, and he looked +sharply round him as he walked, like a man besieged with +apprehensions. And yet I thought he had a look of triumph +underlying all, as though he had already done much, and +was near the end of an achievement.</p> + +<p>Partly from a scruple of delicacy—which I daresay came +too late—partly from the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, +I desired to make my presence known to him without +delay.</p> + +<p>I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward.</p> + +<p>“Northmour!” said I.</p> + +<p>I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. +He leaped on me without a word; something shone in his +hand; and he struck for my heart with a dagger. At the +same moment I knocked him head over heels. Whether it +was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, I know not; but +the blade only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt and his +fist struck me violently on the mouth.</p> + +<p>I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the +capabilities of the sand-hills for protracted ambush or +stealthy advances and retreats; and, not ten yards from the +scene of the scuffle, plumped down again upon the grass. The +lantern had fallen and gone out. But what was my astonishment +to see Northmour slip at a bound into the pavilion, +and hear him bar the door behind him with a clang of iron!</p> + +<p>He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, +whom I knew for the most implacable and daring of +men, had run away! I could scarcely believe my reason; +and yet in this strange business, where all was incredible, +there was nothing to make a work about in an incredibility +more or less. For why was the pavilion secretly +prepared? Why had Northmour landed with his guests +at dead of night, in half a gale of wind, and with the floe +scarce covered? Why had he sought to kill me? Had he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179"></a>179</span> +not recognised my voice? I wondered. And, above all, +how had he come to have a dagger ready in his hand? A +dagger, or even a sharp knife, seemed out of keeping with +the age in which we lived; and a gentleman landing from +his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even although it +was at night and with some mysterious circumstances, does +not usually, as a matter of fact, walk thus prepared for +deadly onslaught. The more I reflected, the further I felt +at sea. I recapitulated the elements of mystery, counting +them on my fingers: the pavilion secretly prepared for +guests; the guests landed at the risk of their lives and to +the imminent peril of the yacht; the guests, or at least one +of them, in undisguised and seemingly causeless terror; +Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmour stabbing his +most intimate acquaintance at a word; last, and not least +strange, Northmour fleeing from the man whom he had +sought to murder, and barricading himself, like a hunted +creature, behind the door of the pavilion. Here were at +least six separate causes for extreme surprise; each part +and parcel with the others, and forming all together one consistent +story. I felt almost ashamed to believe my own senses.</p> + +<p>As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow +painfully conscious of the injuries I had received in the +scuffle; skulked round among the sand-hills; and, by a +devious path, regained the shelter of the wood. On the +way, the old nurse passed again within several yards of me, +still carrying her lantern, on the return journey to the +mansion-house of Graden. This made a seventh suspicious +feature in the case. Northmour and his guests, it appeared, +were to cook and do the cleaning for themselves, while the +old woman continued to inhabit the big empty barrack +among the policies. There must surely be great cause for +secrecy when so many inconveniences were confronted to +preserve it.</p> + +<p>So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater +security I trod out the embers of the fire, and lit my lantern +to examine the wound upon my shoulder. It was a trifling +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180"></a>180</span> +hurt, although it bled somewhat freely, and I dressed it as +well as I could (for its position made it difficult to reach) +with some rag and cold water from the spring. While I +was thus busied I mentally declared war against Northmour +and his mystery. I am not an angry man by nature, +and I believe there was more curiosity than resentment in +my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way of +preparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the +charges, cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. +Next I became preoccupied about my horse. It might +break loose, or fall to neighing, and so betray my camp in +the Sea-Wood. I determined to rid myself of its neighbourhood; +and long before dawn I was leading it over the links +in the direction of the fisher village.</p> + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + + +<h4>CHAPTER III</h4> + +<h5>TELLS HOW I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH MY WIFE</h5> + + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">For</span> two days I skulked round the pavilion, profiting by the +uneven surface of the links. I became an adept in the +necessary tactics. These low hillocks and shallow dells, +running one into another, became a kind of cloak of darkness +for my enthralling, but perhaps dishonourable, pursuit. +Yet, in spite of this advantage, I could learn but little of +Northmour or his guests.</p> + +<p>Fresh provisions were brought under cover of darkness +by the old woman from the mansion-house. Northmour +and the young lady, sometimes together, but more often +singly, would walk for an hour or two at a time on the beach +beside the quicksand. I could not but conclude that this +promenade was chosen with an eye to secrecy; for the spot +was open only to the seaward. But it suited me not less +excellently; the highest and most accidented of the sand-hills +immediately adjoined; and from these, lying flat in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181"></a>181</span> +hollow, I could overlook Northmour or the young lady as +they walked.</p> + +<p>The tall man seemed to have disappeared. Not only +did he never cross the threshold, but he never so much as +showed face at a window; or, at least, not so far as I could +see; for I dared not creep forward beyond a certain distance +in the day, since the upper floor commanded the bottoms +of the links; and at night, when I could venture farther, the +lower windows were barricaded as if to stand a siege. +Sometimes I thought the tall man must be confined to bed, +for I remembered the feebleness of his gait; and sometimes +I thought he must have gone clear away, and that Northmour +and the young lady remained alone together in the +pavilion. The idea, even then, displeased me.</p> + +<p>Whether or not this pair were man and wife, I had seen +abundant reason to doubt the friendliness of their relation. +Although I could hear nothing of what they said, and rarely +so much as glean a decided expression on the face of either, +there was a distance, almost a stiffness, in their bearing +which showed them to be either unfamiliar or at enmity. +The girl walked faster when she was with Northmour than +when she was alone; and I conceived that any inclination +between a man and a woman would rather delay than accelerate +the step. Moreover, she kept a good yard free of +him, and trailed her umbrella, as if it were a barrier, on the +side between them. Northmour kept sidling closer; and, +as the girl retired from his advance, their course lay at a +sort of diagonal across the beach, and would have landed +them in the surf had it been long enough continued. But +when this was imminent, the girl would unostentatiously +change sides and put Northmour between her and the sea. +I watched these manœuvres, for my part, with high enjoyment +and approval, and chuckled to myself at every move.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the third day she walked alone for +some time, and I perceived, to my great concern, that she +was more than once in tears. You will see that my heart +was already interested more than I supposed. She had a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182"></a>182</span> +firm yet airy motion of the body, and carried her head with +unimaginable grace; every step was a thing to look at, and +she seemed in my eyes to breathe sweetness and distinction.</p> + +<p>The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, +with a tranquil sea, and yet with a healthful piquancy and +vigour in the air, that, contrary to custom, she was tempted +forth a second time to walk. On this occasion she was +accompanied by Northmour, and they had been but a short +while on the beach, when I saw him take forcible possession +of her hand. She struggled, and uttered a cry that was +almost a scream. I sprang to my feet, unmindful of my +strange position; but, ere I had taken a step, I saw Northmour +bareheaded and bowing very low, as if to apologise; +and dropped again at once into my ambush. A few words +were interchanged; and then, with another bow, he left the +beach to return to the pavilion. He passed not far from +me, and I could see him, flushed and lowering, and cutting +savagely with his cane among the grass. It was not without +satisfaction that I recognised my own handiwork in a +great cut under his right eye, and a considerable discoloration +round the socket.</p> + +<p>For some time the girl remained where he had left her, +looking out past the islet and over the bright sea. Then +with a start, as one who throws off preoccupation and puts +energy again upon its mettle, she broke into a rapid and +decisive walk. She also was much incensed by what had +passed. She had forgotten where she was. And I beheld +her walk straight into the borders of the quicksand where it +is more abrupt and dangerous. Two or three steps farther +and her life would have been in serious jeopardy, when I +slid down the face of the sand-hill, which is there precipitous, +and, running half-way forward, called to her to stop.</p> + +<p>She did so, and turned round. There was not a tremor +of fear in her behaviour, and she marched directly up to me +like a queen. I was barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, +save for an Egyptian scarf round my waist; and she probably +took me at first for some one from the fisher village, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183"></a>183</span> +straying after bait. As for her, when I thus saw her face to +face, her eyes set steadily and imperiously upon mine, I was +filled with admiration and astonishment, and thought her +even more beautiful than I had looked to find her. Nor +could I think enough of one who, acting with so much boldness, +yet preserved a maidenly air that was both quaint and +engaging; for my wife kept an old-fashioned precision of +manner through all her admirable life—an excellent thing +in woman, since it sets another value on her sweet familiarities.</p> + +<p>“What does this mean?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“You were walking,” I told her, “directly into Graden +Floe.”</p> + +<p>“You do not belong to these parts,” she said again. +“You speak like an educated man.”</p> + +<p>“I believe I have right to that name,” said I, “although +in this disguise.”</p> + +<p>But her woman’s eye had already detected the sash.</p> + +<p>“Oh!” she said; “your sash betrays you.”</p> + +<p>“You have said the word <i>betray</i>,” I resumed. “May +I ask you not to betray me? I was obliged to disclose +myself in your interest; but if Northmour learned my +presence it might be worse than disagreeable for me.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know,” she asked, “to whom you are speaking?”</p> + +<p>“Not to Mr. Northmour’s wife?” I asked, by way of +answer.</p> + +<p>She shook her head. All this while she was studying my +face with an embarrassing intentness. Then she broke out—</p> + +<p>“You have an honest face. Be honest like your face, +sir, and tell me what you want and what you are afraid of. +Do you think I could hurt you? I believe you have far +more power to injure me! And yet you do not look unkind. +What do you mean—you, a gentleman—by skulking like +a spy about this desolate place? Tell me,” she said, “who +is it you hate?”</p> + +<p>“I hate no one,” I answered; “and I fear no one face +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184"></a>184</span> +to face. My name is Cassilis—Frank Cassilis. I lead the +life of a vagabond for my own good pleasure. I am one of +Northmour’s oldest friends; and three nights ago, when I +addressed him on these links, he stabbed me in the shoulder +with a knife.”</p> + +<p>“It was you!” she said.</p> + +<p>“Why he did so,” I continued, disregarding the interruption, +“is more than I can guess, and more than I care to +know. I have not many friends, nor am I very susceptible +to friendship; but no man shall drive me from a place by +terror. I had camped in Graden Sea-Wood ere he came; I +camp in it still. If you think I mean harm to you or yours, +madam, the remedy is in your hand. Tell him that my +camp is in the Hemlock Den, and to-night he can stab me in +safety while I sleep.”</p> + +<p>With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once +more among the sand-hills. I do not know why, but I felt +a prodigious sense of injustice, and felt like a hero and a +martyr; while, as a matter of fact, I had not a word to say +in my defence, nor so much as one plausible reason to offer +for my conduct. I had stayed at Graden out of a curiosity +natural enough, but undignified; and though there was +another motive growing in along with the first, it was not one +which, at that period, I could have properly explained to the +lady of my heart.</p> + +<p>Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, +though her whole conduct and position seemed suspicious, +I could not find it in my heart to entertain a doubt of her +integrity. I could have staked my life that she was clear +of blame, and, though all was dark at the present, that the +explanation of the mystery would show her part in these +events to be both right and needful. It was true, let me +cudgel my imagination as I pleased, that I could invent no +theory of her relations to Northmour; but I felt none the +less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on instinct +in place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that +night with the thought of her under my pillow.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page185"></a>185</span></p> + +<p>Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, +as soon as the sand-hills concealed her from the pavilion, +drew nearer to the edge, and called me by name in guarded +tones. I was astonished to observe that she was deadly +pale, and seemingly under the influence of strong emotion.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Cassilis!” she cried; “Mr. Cassilis!”</p> + +<p>I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. +A remarkable air of relief overspread her countenance as +soon as she saw me.</p> + +<p>“Oh!” she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose +bosom has been lightened of a weight. And then, “Thank +God you are still safe!” she added; “I knew, if you were, +you would be here.” (Was not this strange? So swiftly +and wisely does Nature prepare our hearts for these great +life-long intimacies, that both my wife and I had been given +a presentiment on this the second day of our acquaintance. +I had even then hoped that she would seek me; she had felt +sure that she would find me.) “Do not,” she went on +swiftly, “do not stay in this place. Promise me that you +will sleep no longer in that wood. You do not know how +I suffer; all last night I could not sleep for thinking of your +peril.”</p> + +<p>“Peril?” I repeated. “Peril from whom? From +Northmour?”</p> + +<p>“Not so,” she said. “Did you think I would tell him +after what you said?”</p> + +<p>“Not from Northmour?” I repeated. “Then how? +From whom? I see none to be afraid of.”</p> + +<p>“You must not ask me,” was her reply, “for I am not +free to tell you. Only believe me, and go hence—believe +me, and go away quickly, quickly, for your life!”</p> + +<p>An appeal to his alarm is never a good plan to rid oneself +of a spirited young man. My obstinacy was but increased +by what she said, and I made it a point of honour to remain. +And her solicitude for my safety still more confirmed me in +the resolve.</p> + +<p>“You must not think me inquisitive, madam,” I replied; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186"></a>186</span> +“but, if Graden is so dangerous a place, you yourself +perhaps remain here at some risk.”</p> + +<p>She only looked at me reproachfully.</p> + +<p>“You and your father——” I resumed; but she interrupted +me almost with a gasp.</p> + +<p>“My father! How do you know that?” she cried.</p> + +<p>“I saw you together when you landed,” was my answer; +and I do not know why, but it seemed satisfactory to both +of us, as indeed it was the truth. “But,” I continued, +“you need have no fear from me. I see you have some +reason to be secret, and, you may believe me, your secret is +as safe with me as if I were in Graden Floe. I have scarce +spoken to any one for years; my horse is my only companion, +and even he, poor beast, is not beside me. You see, +then, you may count on me for silence. So tell me the +truth, my dear young lady, are you not in danger?”</p> + +<p>“Mr. Northmour says you are an honourable man,” she +returned, “and I believe it when I see you. I will tell you +so much; you are right; we are in dreadful, dreadful +danger, and you share it by remaining where you are.”</p> + +<p>“Ah!” said I; “you have heard of me from Northmour? +And he gives me a good character?”</p> + +<p>“I asked him about you last night,” was her reply. “I +pretended,” she hesitated, “I pretended to have met you +long ago, and spoken to you of him. It was not true; but +I could not help myself without betraying you, and you +had put me in a difficulty. He praised you highly.”</p> + +<p>“And—you may permit me one question—does this +danger come from Northmour?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“From Mr. Northmour?” she cried. “Oh, no; he +stays with us to share it.”</p> + +<p>“While you propose that I should run away?” I said. +“You do not rate me very high.”</p> + +<p>“Why should you stay?” she asked. “You are no +friend of ours.”</p> + +<p>I know not what came over me, for I had not been conscious +of a similar weakness since I was a child, but I was so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187"></a>187</span> +mortified by this retort that my eyes pricked and filled with +tears, as I continued to gaze upon her face.</p> + +<p>“No, no,” she said, in a changed voice; “I did not +mean the words unkindly.”</p> + +<p>“It was I who offended,” I said; and I held out my +hand with a look of appeal that somehow touched her, for +she gave me hers at once, and even eagerly. I held it for a +while in mine, and gazed into her eyes. It was she who first +tore her hand away, and, forgetting all about her request +and the promise she had sought to extort, ran at the top of +her speed, and without turning, till she was out of sight. +And then I knew that I loved her, and thought in my +glad heart that she—she herself—was not indifferent to +my suit. Many a time she has denied it in after days, +but it was with a smiling and not a serious denial. For my +part, I am sure our hands would not have lain so closely in +each other if she had not begun to melt to me already. And, +when all is said, it is no great contention, since, by her own +avowal, she began to love me on the morrow.</p> + +<p>And yet on the morrow very little took place. She +came and called me down as on the day before, upbraided +me for lingering at Graden, and, when she found I was still +obdurate, began to ask me more particularly as to my +arrival. I told her by what series of accidents I had come +to witness their disembarkation, and how I had determined +to remain, partly from the interest which had been wakened +in me by Northmour’s guests, and partly because of his own +murderous attack. As to the former, I fear I was disingenuous, +and led her to regard herself as having been an +attraction to me from the first moment that I saw her on the +links. It relieves my heart to make this confession even +now, when my wife is with God, and already knows all +things, and the honesty of my purpose even in this; for +while she lived, although it often pricked my conscience, I +had never the hardihood to undeceive her. Even a little +secret, in such a married life as ours, is like the rose-leaf +which kept the Princess from her sleep.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page188"></a>188</span></p> + +<p>From this the talk branched into other subjects, and +I told her much about my lonely and wandering existence; +she, for her part, giving ear and saying little. Although we +spoke very naturally, and latterly on topics that might +seem indifferent, we were both sweetly agitated. Too soon +it was time for her to go; and we separated, as if by mutual +consent, without shaking hands, for both knew that, between +us, it was no idle ceremony.</p> + +<p>The next, and that was the fourth day of our acquaintance, +we met in the same spot, but early in the morning, +with much familiarity and yet much timidity on either side. +When she had once more spoken about my danger—and +that, I understood, was her excuse for coming—I, who had +prepared a great deal of talk during the night, began to tell +her how highly I valued her kind interest, and how no one +had ever cared to hear about my life, nor had I ever cared +to relate it, before yesterday. Suddenly she interrupted +me, saying with vehemence—</p> + +<p>“And yet, if you knew who I was, you would not so +much as speak to me!”</p> + +<p>I told her such a thought was madness, and, little as we +had met, I counted her already a dear friend; but my +protestations seemed only to make her more desperate.</p> + +<p>“My father is in hiding!” she cried.</p> + +<p>“My dear,” I said, forgetting for the first time to add +“young lady,” “what do I care? If he were in hiding +twenty times over, would it make one thought of change +in you?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, but the cause!” she cried, “the cause! It is——“ +she faltered for a second—“it is disgraceful to us.”</p> + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page189"></a>189</span></p> +<h4>CHAPTER IV</h4> + +<h5>TELLS IN WHAT A STARTLING MANNER I LEARNED +THAT I WAS NOT ALONE IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">This</span> was my wife’s story, as I drew it from her among +tears and sobs. Her name was Clara Huddlestone: it +sounded very beautiful in my ears; but not so beautiful as +that other name of Clara Cassilis, which she wore during the +longer, and I thank God the happier, portion of her life. +Her father, Bernard Huddlestone, had been a private banker +in a very large way of business. Many years before, his +affairs becoming disordered, he had been led to try dangerous, +and at last criminal, expedients to retrieve himself from +ruin. All was in vain; he became more and more cruelly +involved, and found his honour lost at the same moment +with his fortune. About this period Northmour had been +courting his daughter with great assiduity, though with +small encouragement; and to him, knowing him thus disposed +in his favour, Bernard Huddlestone turned for help +in his extremity. It was not merely ruin and dishonour, +nor merely a legal condemnation, that the unhappy man had +brought upon his head. It seems he could have gone to +prison with a light heart. What he feared, what kept him +awake at night or recalled him from slumber into frenzy, +was some secret, sudden, and unlawful attempt upon his life. +Hence he desired to bury his existence and escape to one +of the islands in the South Pacific, and it was in Northmour’s +yacht, the <i>Red Earl</i>, that he designed to go. The yacht +picked them up clandestinely upon the coast of Wales, and +had once more deposited them at Graden, till she could be +refitted and provisioned for the longer voyage. Nor could +Clara doubt that her hand had been stipulated as the price +of passage. For, although Northmour was neither unkind +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190"></a>190</span> +nor even discourteous, he had shown himself in several instances +somewhat over-bold in speech and manner.</p> + +<p>I listened, I need not say, with fixed attention, and put +many questions as to the more mysterious part. It was in +vain. She had no clear idea of what the blow was, nor of +how it was expected to fall. Her father’s alarm was unfeigned +and physically prostrating, and he had thought more +than once of making an unconditional surrender to the +police. But the scheme was finally abandoned, for he was +convinced that not even the strength of our English prisons +could shelter him from his pursuers. He had had many +affairs with Italy, and with Italians resident in London, in +the later years of his business, and these last, as Clara +fancied, were somehow connected with the doom that +threatened him. He had shown great terror at the presence +of an Italian seaman on board the <i>Red Earl</i>, and had bitterly +and repeatedly accused Northmour in consequence. The +latter had protested that Beppo (that was the seaman’s +name) was a capital fellow, and could be trusted to the +death; but Mr. Huddlestone had continued ever since to +declare that all was lost, that it was only a question of days, +and that Beppo would be the ruin of him yet.</p> + +<p>I regarded the whole story as the hallucination of a mind +shaken by calamity. He had suffered heavy loss by his +Italian transactions; and hence the sight of an Italian was +hateful to him, and the principal part in his nightmare +would naturally enough be played by one of that nation.</p> + +<p>“What your father wants,” I said, “is a good doctor +and some calming medicine.”</p> + +<p>“But Mr. Northmour?” objected your mother. “He +is untroubled by losses, and yet he shares in this terror.”</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing at what I considered her +simplicity.</p> + +<p>“My dear,” said I, “you have told me yourself what +reward he has to look for. All is fair in love, you must +remember; and if Northmour foments your father’s terrors, +it is not at all because he is afraid of any Italian man, but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191"></a>191</span> +simply because he is infatuated with a charming English +woman.”</p> + +<p>She reminded me of his attack upon myself on the night +of the disembarkation, and this I was unable to explain. +In short, and from one thing to another, it was agreed between +us that I should set out at once for the fisher village, +Graden-Wester, as it is called, look up all the newspapers I +could find, and see for myself if there seemed any basis of +fact for these continued alarms. The next morning, at the +same hour and place, I was to make my report to Clara. +She said no more on that occasion about my departure; nor, +indeed, did she make it a secret that she clung to the thought +of my proximity as something helpful and pleasant; and, +for my part, I could not have left her, if she had gone upon +her knees to ask it.</p> + +<p>I reached Graden-Wester before ten in the forenoon; +for in those days I was an excellent pedestrian, and the distance, +as I think I have said, was little over seven miles; +fine walking all the way upon the springy turf. The village +is one of the bleakest on that coast, which is saying much: +there is a church in a hollow; a miserable haven in the rocks, +where many boats have been lost as they returned from fishing; +two or three score of stone houses arranged along the +beach and in two streets, one leading from the harbour, and +another striking out from it at right angles; and, at the +corner of these two, a very dark and cheerless tavern, by +way of principal hotel.</p> + +<p>I had dressed myself somewhat more suitably to my +station in life, and at once called upon the minister in his +little manse beside the graveyard. He knew me, although +it was more than nine years since we had met; and when I +told him that I had been long upon a walking tour, and was +behind with the news, readily lent me an armful of newspapers, +dating from a month back to the day before. With +these I sought the tavern, and, ordering some breakfast, sat +down to study the “Huddlestone Failure.”</p> + +<p>It had been, it appeared, a very flagrant case. Thousands +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page192"></a>192</span> +of persons were reduced to poverty; and one in particular +had blown out his brains as soon as payment was suspended. +It was strange to myself that, while I read these +details, I continued rather to sympathise with Mr. Huddlestone +than with his victims; so complete already was the +empire of my love for my wife. A price was naturally set +upon the banker’s head; and, as the case was inexcusable +and the public indignation thoroughly aroused, the unusual +figure of Ł750 was offered for his capture. He was reported +to have large sums of money in his possession. One day he +had been heard of in Spain; the next, there was sure intelligence +that he was still lurking between Manchester and Liverpool, +or along the border of Wales; and the day after, a +telegram would announce his arrival in Cuba or Yucatan. +But in all this there was no word of an Italian, nor any sign +of mystery.</p> + +<p>In the very last paper, however, there was one item not +so clear. The accountants who were charged to verify the +failure had, it seemed, come upon the traces of a very large +number of thousands, which figured for some time in the +transactions of the house of Huddlestone; but which came +from nowhere, and disappeared in the same mysterious +fashion. It was only once referred to by name, and then +under the initials “X.X.”; but it had plainly been floated +for the first time into the business at a period of great depression +some six years ago. The name of a distinguished +Royal personage had been mentioned by rumour in +connection with this sum. “The cowardly desperado“—such, +I remember, was the editorial expression—was supposed +to have escaped with a large part of this mysterious +fund still in his possession.</p> + +<p>I was still brooding over the fact, and trying to torture +it into some connection with Mr. Huddlestone’s danger, +when a man entered the tavern and asked for some bread +and cheese with a decided foreign accent.</p> + +<p>“<i>Siete Italiano?</i>” said I.</p> + +<p>“<i>Si, signor</i>,” was his reply.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page193"></a>193</span></p> + +<p>I said it was unusually far north to find one of his compatriots; +at which he shrugged his shoulders, and replied +that a man would go anywhere to find work. What work +he could hope to find at Graden-Wester, I was totally unable +to conceive; and the incident struck so unpleasantly upon +my mind that I asked the landlord, while he was counting +me some change, whether he had ever before seen an Italian +in the village. He said he had once seen some Norwegians, +who had been shipwrecked on the other side of Graden Ness +and rescued by the lifeboat from Cauldhaven.</p> + +<p>“No!” said I; “but an Italian, like the man who had +just had bread and cheese.”</p> + +<p>“What?” cried he, “yon black-avised fellow wi’ the +teeth? Was he an I-talian? Weel, yon’s the first that +ever I saw, an’ I daresay he’s like to be the last.”</p> + +<p>Even as he was speaking, I raised my eyes, and, casting a +glance into the street, beheld three men in earnest conversation +together, and not thirty yards away. One of them was +my recent companion in the tavern parlour; the other two, by +their handsome, sallow features and soft hats, should evidently +belong to the same race. A crowd of village children +stood around them, gesticulating and talking gibberish in +imitation. The trio looked singularly foreign to the bleak +dirty street in which they were standing, and the dark grey +heaven that overspread them; and I confess my incredulity +received at that moment a shock from which it never recovered. +I might reason with myself as I pleased, but I +could not argue down the effect of what I had seen, and I +began to share in the Italian terror.</p> + +<p>It was already drawing towards the close of the day +before I had returned, the newspapers at the manse, and got +well forward on to the links on my way home. I shall +never forget that walk. It grew very cold and boisterous; +the wind sang in the short grass about my feet; thin rain +showers came running on the gusts; and an immense mountain +range of clouds began to arise out of the bosom of the +sea. It would be hard to imagine a more dismal evening; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page194"></a>194</span> +and whether it was from these external influences, or because +my nerves were already affected by what I had heard and +seen, my thoughts were as gloomy as the weather.</p> + +<p>The upper windows of the pavilion commanded a considerable +spread of links in the direction of Graden-Wester. +To avoid observation, it was necessary to hug the beach +until I had gained cover from the higher sand-hills on the +little headland, when I might strike across, through the +hollows, for the margin of the wood. The sun was about +setting; the tide was low, and all the quicksands uncovered; +and I was moving along, lost in unpleasant thought, when I +was suddenly thunderstruck to perceive the prints of human +feet. They ran parallel to my own course, but low down +upon the beach instead of along the border of the turf; and, +when I examined them, I saw at once, by the size and +coarseness of the impression, that it was a stranger to me +and to those in the pavilion who had recently passed that +way. Not only so; but from the recklessness of the course +which he had followed, steering near to the most formidable +portions of the sand, he was as evidently a stranger to the +country and to the ill-repute of Graden beach.</p> + +<p>Step by step I followed the prints; until, a quarter of a +mile farther, I beheld them die away into the south-eastern +boundary of Graden Floe. There, whoever he was, the +miserable man had perished. One or two gulls, who had, +perhaps, seen him disappear, wheeled over his sepulchre +with their usual melancholy piping. The sun had broken +through the clouds by a last effort, and coloured the wide +level of quicksands with a dusky purple. I stood for some +time gazing at the spot, chilled and disheartened by my own +reflections, and with a strong and commanding consciousness +of death. I remember wondering how long the tragedy +had taken, and whether his screams had been audible at the +pavilion. And then, making a strong resolution, I was +about to tear myself away, when a gust fiercer than usual +fell upon this quarter of the beach, and I saw, now whirling +high in air, now skimming lightly across the surface of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195"></a>195</span> +sands, a soft, black, felt hat, somewhat conical in shape, such +as I had remarked already on the heads of the Italians.</p> + +<p>I believe, but I am not sure, that I uttered a cry. The +wind was driving the hat shoreward, and I ran round the +border of the floe to be ready against its arrival. The gust +fell, dropping the hat for a while upon the quicksand, and +then, once more freshening, landed it a few yards from where +I stood. I seized it with the interest you may imagine. It +had seen some service; indeed, it was rustier than either of +those I had seen that day upon the street. The lining was +red, stamped with the name of the maker, which I have forgotten, +and that of the place of manufacture, <i>Venedig</i>. +This (it is not yet forgotten) was the name given by the +Austrians to the beautiful city of Venice, then, and for long +after, a part of their dominions.</p> + +<p>The shock was complete. I saw imaginary Italians upon +every side; and, for the first, and, I may say, for the last +time in my experience, became overpowered by what is +called a panic terror. I knew nothing, that is, to be afraid +of, and yet I submit that I was heartily afraid; and it was +with a sensible reluctance that I returned to my exposed and +solitary camp in the Sea-Wood.</p> + +<p>There I ate some cold porridge which had been left over +from the night before, for I was disinclined to make a fire; +and, feeling strengthened and reassured, dismissed all these +fanciful terrors from my mind, and lay down to sleep with +composure.</p> + +<p>How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to +guess; but I was awakened at last by a sudden, blinding +flash of light into my face. It woke me like a blow. In +an instant I was upon my knees. But the light had gone +as suddenly as it came. The darkness was intense. And, +as it was blowing great guns from the sea and pouring +with rain, the noises of the storm effectually concealed all +others.</p> + +<p>It was, I daresay, half a minute before I regained my +self-possession. But for two circumstances, I should have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196"></a>196</span> +thought I had been awakened by some new and vivid form +of nightmare. First, the flap of my tent, which I had shut +carefully when I retired, was now unfastened; and, second, +I could still perceive, with a sharpness that excluded any +theory of hallucination, the smell of hot metal and of burning +oil. The conclusion was obvious. I had been wakened +by some one flashing a bull’s-eye lantern in my face. It had +been but a flash, and away. He had seen my face, and then +gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a proceeding, +and the answer came pat. The man, whoever he was, had +thought to recognise me, and he had not. There was yet +another question unresolved: and to this, I may say, I +feared to give an answer; if he had recognised me, what +would he have done?</p> + +<p>My fears were immediately diverted from myself, for +I saw that I had been visited in a mistake; and I became +persuaded that some dreadful danger threatened the pavilion. +It required some nerve to issue forth into the black and +intricate thicket which surrounded and overhung the den; +but I groped my way to the links, drenched with rain, +beaten upon and deafened by the gusts, and fearing at every +step to lay my hand upon some lurking adversary. The +darkness was so complete that I might have been surrounded +by an army and yet none the wiser, and the uproar of the +gale so loud that my hearing was as useless as my sight.</p> + +<p>For the rest of that night, which seemed interminably +long, I patrolled the vicinity of the pavilion, without seeing +a living creature or hearing any noise but the concert of +the wind, the sea, and the rain. A light in the upper story +filtered through a cranny of the shutter, and kept me company +till the approach of dawn.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page197"></a>197</span></p> +<h4>CHAPTER V</h4> + +<h5>TELLS OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN NORTHMOUR, +CLARA, AND MYSELF</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">With</span> the first peep of day, I retired from the open to my +old lair among the sand-hills, there to await the coming of +my wife. The morning was grey, wild, and melancholy; +the wind moderated before sunrise, and then went about, +and blew in puffs from the shore; the sea began to go down, +but the rain still fell without mercy. Over all the wilderness +of links there was not a creature to be seen. Yet I felt +sure the neighbourhood was alive with skulking foes. +The light had been so suddenly and surprisingly flashed +upon my face as I lay sleeping, and the hat that had been +blown ashore by the wind from over Graden Floe, were two +speaking signals of the peril that environed Clara and the +party in the pavilion.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps half-past seven, or nearer eight, before I +saw the door open, and that dear figure come towards me +in the rain. I was waiting for her on the beach before she +had crossed the sand-hills.</p> + +<p>“I have had such trouble to come!” she cried. “They +did not wish me to go walking in the rain.”</p> + +<p>“Clara,” I said, “you are not frightened!”</p> + +<p>“No,” said she, with a simplicity that filled my heart +with confidence. For my wife was the bravest as well as +the best of women; in my experience I have not found the +two go always together, but with her they did; and she +combined the extreme of fortitude with the most endearing +and beautiful virtues.</p> + +<p>I told her what had happened; and, though her cheek +grew visibly paler, she retained perfect control over her +senses.</p> + +<p>“You see now that I am safe,” said I, in conclusion. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198"></a>198</span> +“They do not mean to harm me; for, had they chosen, I +was a dead man last night.”</p> + +<p>She laid her hand upon my arm.</p> + +<p>“And I had no presentiment!” she cried.</p> + +<p>Her accent thrilled me with delight. I put my arm +about her, and strained her to my side; and before either +of us was aware, her hands were on my shoulders, and my +lips upon her mouth. Yet up to that moment no word of +love had passed between us. To this day I remember the +touch of her cheek, which was wet and cold with the rain; +and many a time since, when she has been washing her +face, I have kissed it again for the sake of that morning on +the beach. Now that she is taken from me, and I finish my +pilgrimage alone, I recall our old loving-kindnesses and the +deep honesty and affection which united us, and my present +loss seems but a trifle in comparison.</p> + +<p>We may have thus stood for some seconds—for time +passes quickly with lovers—before we were startled by a +peal of laughter close at hand. It was not natural mirth, +but seemed to be affected in order to conceal an angrier +feeling. We both turned, though I still kept my left arm +about Clara’s waist; nor did she seek to withdraw herself; +and there, a few paces off upon the beach, stood Northmour, +his head lowered, his hands behind his back, his +nostrils white with passion.</p> + +<p>“Ah! Cassilis!” he said, as I disclosed my face.</p> + +<p>“That same,” said I; for I was not at all put about.</p> + +<p>“And so, Miss Huddlestone,” he continued slowly but +savagely, “this is how you keep your faith to your father +and to me? This is the value you set upon your father’s +life? And you are so infatuated with this young gentleman +that you must brave ruin, and decency, and common human +caution——“</p> + +<p>“Miss Huddlestone——” I was beginning to interrupt +him, when he, in his turn, cut in brutally—</p> + +<p>“You hold your tongue,” said he; “I am speaking to +that girl.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page199"></a>199</span></p> + +<p>“That girl, as you call her, is my wife,” said I; and my +wife only leaned a little nearer, so that I knew she had +affirmed my words.</p> + +<p>“Your what?” he cried. “You lie!”</p> + +<p>“Northmour,” I said, “we all know you have a bad +temper, and I am the last man to be irritated by words. +For all that, I propose that you speak lower, for I am convinced +that we are not alone.”</p> + +<p>He looked round him, and it was plain my remark had +in some degree sobered his passion. “What do you mean?” +he asked.</p> + +<p>I only said one word: “Italians.”</p> + +<p>He swore a round oath, and looked at us, from one to +the other.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Cassilis knows all that I know,” said my wife.</p> + +<p>“What I want to know,” he broke out, “is where the +devil Mr. Cassilis comes from, and what the devil Mr. +Cassilis is doing here. You say you are married; that I +do not believe. If you were, Graden Floe would soon +divorce you; four minutes and a half, Cassilis. I keep my +private cemetery for my friends.”</p> + +<p>“It took somewhat longer,” said I, “for that Italian.”</p> + +<p>He looked at me for a moment half-daunted, and then, +almost civilly, asked me to tell my story. “You have too +much the advantage of me, Cassilis,” he added. I complied, +of course; and he listened, with several ejaculations, +while I told him how I had come to Graden: that it was I +whom he had tried to murder on the night of landing; and +what I had subsequently seen and heard of the Italians.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said he, when I had done, “it is here at last; +there is no mistake about that. And what, may I ask, do +you propose to do?”</p> + +<p>“I propose to stay with you and lend a hand,” said I.</p> + +<p>“You are a brave man,” he returned, with a peculiar +intonation.</p> + +<p>“I am not afraid,” said I.</p> + +<p>“And so,” he continued, “I am to understand that you +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200"></a>200</span> +two are married? And you stand up to it before my face, +Miss Huddlestone?”</p> + +<p>“We are not yet married,” said Clara; “but we shall +be as soon as we can.”</p> + +<p>“Bravo!” cried Northmour. “And the bargain? +D—n it, you’re not a fool, young woman; I may call a +spade a spade with you. How about the bargain? You +know as well as I do what your father’s life depends upon. +I have only to put my hands under my coat-tails and walk +away, and his throat would be cut before the evening.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Mr. Northmour,” returned Clara, with great +spirit; “but that is what you will never do. You made a +bargain that was unworthy of a gentleman; but you are +gentleman for all that, and you will never desert a man +whom you have begun to help.”</p> + +<p>“Aha!” said he. “You think I will give my yacht for +nothing? You think I will risk my life and liberty for love +of the old gentleman; and then, I suppose, be best-man at +the wedding, to wind up? Well,” he added, with an odd +smile, “perhaps you are not altogether wrong. But ask +Cassilis here. <i>He</i> knows me. Am I a man to trust? Am +I safe and scrupulous? Am I kind?”</p> + +<p>“I know you talk a great deal, and sometimes, I think, +very foolishly,” replied Clara, “but I know you are a gentleman, +and I am not the least afraid.”</p> + +<p>He looked at her with a peculiar approval and admiration; +then, turning to me, “Do you think I would give her +up without a struggle, Frank?” said he. “I tell you plainly, +you look out. The next time we come to blows——“</p> + +<p>“Will make the third,” I interrupted, smiling.</p> + +<p>“Ay, true; so it will,” he said. “I had forgotten. +Well, the third time’s lucky.”</p> + +<p>“The third time, you mean, you will have the crew of +the <i>Red Earl</i> to help,” I said.</p> + +<p>“Do you hear him?” he asked, turning to my wife.</p> + +<p>“I hear two men speaking like cowards,” said she. “I +should despise myself either to think or speak like that. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201"></a>201</span> +And neither of you believe one word that you are saying, +which makes it the more wicked and silly.”</p> + +<p>“She’s a trump!” cried Northmour. “But she’s not yet +Mrs. Cassilis. I say no more. The present is not for me.”</p> + +<p>Then my wife surprised me.</p> + +<p>“I leave you here,” she said suddenly. “My father +has been too long alone. But remember this: you are to +be friends, for you are both good friends to me.”</p> + +<p>She has since told me her reason for this step. As long +as she remained, she declares that we two should have continued +to quarrel; and I suppose that she was right, for +when she was gone we fell at once into a sort of confidentiality.</p> + +<p>Northmour stared after her as she went away over the +sand-hill.</p> + +<p>“She is the only woman in the world!” he exclaimed, +with an oath. “Look at her action.”</p> + +<p>I, for my part, leaped at this opportunity for a little +further light.</p> + +<p>“See here, Northmour,” said I; “we are all in a tight +place, are we not?”</p> + +<p>“I believe you, my boy,” he answered, looking me in +the eyes, and with great emphasis. “We have all hell upon +us, that’s the truth. You may believe me or not, but I’m +afraid of my life.”</p> + +<p>“Tell me one thing,” said I. “What are they after, +these Italians? What do they want with Mr. Huddlestone?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you know?” he cried. “The black old scamp +had <i>carbonaro</i> funds on a deposit—two hundred and eighty +thousand; and of course he gambled it away on stocks. +There was to have been a revolution in the Tridentino, or +Parma; but the revolution is off, and the whole wasps’ +nest is after Huddlestone. We shall all be lucky if we can +save our skins.”</p> + +<p>“The <i>carbonari</i>!” I exclaimed; “God help him indeed!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"></a>202</span></p> + +<p>“Amen!” said Northmour. “And now, look here: +I have said that we are in a fix; and, frankly, I shall be +glad of your help. If I can’t save Huddlestone, I want at +least to save the girl. Come and stay in the pavilion; and, +there’s my hand on it, I shall act as your friend until the old +man is either clear or dead. But,” he added, “once that is +settled, you become my rival once again, and I warn you—mind +yourself.”</p> + +<p>“Done!” said I; and we shook hands.</p> + +<p>“And now let us go directly to the fort,” said Northmour; +and he began to lead the way through the rain.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER VI</h4> + +<h5>TELLS OF MY INTRODUCTION TO THE TALL MAN</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">We</span> were admitted to the pavilion by Clara, and I was surprised +by the completeness and security of the defences. +A barricade of great strength, and yet easy to displace, +supported the door against any violence from without; +and the shutters of the dining-room, into which I was led +directly, and which was feebly illuminated by a lamp, were +even more elaborately fortified. The panels were +strengthened by bars and cross-bars; and these, in their +turn, were kept in position by a system of braces and struts, +some abutting on the floor, some on the roof, and others, in +fine, against the opposite wall of the apartment. It was +at once a solid and well-designed piece of carpentry; and +I did not seek to conceal my admiration.</p> + +<p>“I am the engineer,” said Northmour. “You remember +the planks in the garden? Behold them!”</p> + +<p>“I did not know you had so many talents,” said I.</p> + +<p>“Are you armed?” he continued, pointing to an array +of guns and pistols, all in admirable order, which stood in +line against the wall or were displayed upon the sideboard.</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” I returned; “I have gone armed since +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203"></a>203</span> +our last encounter. But, to tell you the truth, I have had +nothing to eat since early yesterday evening.”</p> + +<p>Northmour produced some cold meat, to which I +eagerly set myself, and a bottle of good Burgundy, by which, +wet as I was, I did not scruple to profit. I have always +been an extreme temperance man on principle; but it is +useless to push principle to excess, and on this occasion I +believe that I finished three-quarters of the bottle. As I +ate, I still continued to admire the preparations for defence.</p> + +<p>“We could stand a siege,” I said at length.</p> + +<p>“Ye—es,” drawled Northmour; “a very little one, +per—haps. It is not so much the strength of the pavilion +I misdoubt; it is the double danger that kills me. If we +get to shooting, wild as the country is, some one is sure to +hear it, and then—why, then it’s the same thing, only different, +as they say: caged by law, or killed by <i>carbonari</i>. +There’s the choice. It is a devilish bad thing to have the +law against you in this world, and so I tell the old gentleman +upstairs. He is quite of my way of thinking.”</p> + +<p>“Speaking of that,” said I, “what kind of person is +he?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he!” cried the other; “he’s a rancid fellow, as +far as he goes. I should like to have his neck wrung to-morrow +by all the devils in Italy. I am not in this affair +for him. You take me? I made a bargain for Missy’s +hand, and I mean to have it too.”</p> + +<p>“That by the way,” said I. “I understand. But how +will Mr. Huddlestone take my intrusion?”</p> + +<p>“Leave that to Clara,” returned Northmour.</p> + +<p>I could have struck him in the face for this coarse +familiarity; but I respected the truce, as, I am bound to +say, did Northmour, and so long as the danger continued +not a cloud arose in our relation. I bear him this testimony +with the most unfeigned satisfaction; nor am I without +pride when I look back upon my own behaviour. For +surely no two men were ever left in a position so invidious +and irritating.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page204"></a>204</span></p> + +<p>As soon as I had done eating, we proceeded to inspect +the lower floor. Window by window we tried the different +supports, now and then making an inconsiderable change; +and the strokes of the hammer sounded with startling loudness +through the house. I proposed, I remember, to make +loopholes; but he told me they were already made in the +windows of the upper story. It was an anxious business, +this inspection, and left me down-hearted. There were +two doors and five windows to protect, and, counting Clara, +only four of us to defend them against an unknown number +of foes. I communicated my doubts to Northmour, who +assured me, with unmoved composure, that he entirely +shared them.</p> + +<p>“Before morning,” said he, “we shall all be butchered +and buried in Graden Floe. For me, that is written.”</p> + +<p>I could not help shuddering at the mention of the quicksand, +but reminded Northmour that our enemies had spared +me in the wood.</p> + +<p>“Do not flatter yourself,” said he. “Then you were +not in the same boat with the old gentleman; now you are. +It’s the floe for all of us, mark my words.”</p> + +<p>I trembled for Clara; and just then her dear voice was +heard calling us to come upstairs. Northmour showed me +the way, and, when he had reached the landing, knocked +at the door of what used to be called <i>My Uncle’s Bedroom</i>, +as the founder of the pavilion had designed it especially for +himself.</p> + +<p>“Come in, Northmour; come in, dear Mr. Cassilis,” +said a voice from within.</p> + +<p>Pushing open the door, Northmour admitted me before +him into the apartment. As I came in I could see the +daughter slipping out by the side-door into the study, which +had been prepared as her bedroom. In the bed, which was +drawn back against the wall, instead of standing, as I had +last seen it, boldly across the window, sat Bernard Huddlestone, +the defaulting banker. Little as I had seen of him +by the shifting light of the lantern on the links, I had no +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205"></a>205</span> +difficulty in recognising him for the same. He had a long +and sallow countenance, surrounded by a long red beard +and side-whiskers. His broken nose and high cheek-bones +gave him somewhat the air of a Kalmuck, and his light eyes +shone with the excitement of a high fever. He wore a skull-cap +of black silk; a huge Bible lay open before him on the +bed, with a pair of gold spectacles in the place, and a pile of +other books lay on the stand by his side. The green curtains +lent a cadaverous shade to his cheek; and, as he sat +propped on pillows, his great stature was painfully hunched, +and his head protruded till it overhung his knees. I believe +if he had not died otherwise, he must have fallen a victim to +consumption in the course of but a very few weeks.</p> + +<p>He held out to me a hand, long, thin, and disagreeably +hairy.</p> + +<p>“Come in, come in, Mr. Cassilis,” said he. “Another +protector—ahem!—another protector. Always welcome +as a friend of my daughter’s, Mr. Cassilis. How they have +rallied about me, my daughter’s friends! May God in +Heaven bless and reward them for it!”</p> + +<p>I gave him my hand, of course, because I could not help +it; but the sympathy I had been prepared to feel for Clara’s +father was immediately soured by his appearance, and the +wheedling, unreal tones in which he spoke.</p> + +<p>“Cassilis is a good man,” said Northmour; “worth +ten.”</p> + +<p>“So I hear,” cried Mr. Huddlestone eagerly; “so my +girl tells me. Ah, Mr. Cassilis, my sin has found me out, +you see! I am very low, very low; but I hope equally +penitent. We must all come to the throne of grace at last, +Mr. Cassilis. For my part, I come late indeed; but with +unfeigned humility, I trust.”</p> + +<p>“Fiddle-de-dee!” said Northmour roughly.</p> + +<p>“No, no, dear Northmour!” cried the banker. “You +must not say that; you must not try to shake me. You +forget, my dear, good boy, you forget I may be called this +very night before my Maker.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page206"></a>206</span></p> + +<p>His excitement was pitiful to behold; and I felt myself +grow indignant with Northmour, whose infidel opinions I +well knew, and heartily derided, as he continued to taunt +the poor sinner out of his humour of repentance.</p> + +<p>“Pooh, my dear Huddlestone!” said he. “You do +yourself injustice. You are a man of the world, inside and +out, and were up to all kinds of mischief before I was born. +Your conscience is tanned like South American leather—only +you forgot to tan your liver, and that, if you will believe +me, is the seat of the annoyance.”</p> + +<p>“Rogue, rogue! bad boy!” said Mr. Huddlestone, +shaking his finger, “I am no precisian, if you come to that; +I always hated a precisian; but I never lost hold of something +better through it all. I have been a bad boy, Mr. +Cassilis; I do not seek to deny that; but it was after my +wife’s death, and you know, with a widower, it’s a different +thing: sinful—I won’t say no; but there is a gradation, we +shall hope. And talking of that—— Hark!” he broke +out suddenly, his hand raised, his fingers spread, his face +racked with interest and terror. “Only the rain, bless +God!” he added, after a pause, and with indescribable +relief.</p> + +<p>For some seconds he lay back among the pillows like a +man near to fainting; then he gathered himself together, +and, in somewhat tremulous tones, began once more to +thank me for the share I was prepared to take in his defence.</p> + +<p>“One question, sir,” said I, when he had paused. “Is +it true that you have money with you?”</p> + +<p>He seemed annoyed by the question, but admitted with +reluctance that he had a little.</p> + +<p>“Well,” I continued, “it is their money they are after, +is it not? Why not give it up to them?”</p> + +<p>“Ah!” replied he, shaking his head, “I have tried that +already, Mr. Cassilis; and alas that it should be so! but it +is blood they want.”</p> + +<p>“Huddlestone, that’s a little less than fair,” said Northmour. +“You should mention that what you offered them +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207"></a>207</span> +was upwards of two hundred thousand short. The deficit +is worth a reference; it is for what they call a cool sum, +Frank. Then, you see, the fellows reason in their clear +Italian way; and it seems to them, as indeed it seems to +me, that they may just as well have both while they’re +about it—money and blood together, by George, and no +more trouble for the extra pleasure.”</p> + +<p>“Is it in the pavilion?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“It is; and I wish it were in the bottom of the sea instead,” +said Northmour; and then suddenly—“What are +you making faces at me for?” he cried to Mr. Huddlestone, +on whom I had unconsciously turned my back. “Do you +think Cassilis would sell you?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone protested that nothing had been +further from his mind.</p> + +<p>“It is a good thing,” retorted Northmour in his ugliest +manner. “You might end by wearying us.—What were +you going to say?” he added, turning to me.</p> + +<p>“I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon,” +said I. “Let us carry that money out, piece by +piece, and lay it down before the pavilion door. If the +<i>carbonari</i> come, why, it’s theirs at any rate.”</p> + +<p>“No, no,” cried Mr. Huddlestone; “it does not, it cannot +belong to them! It should be distributed <i>pro rata</i> +among all my creditors.”</p> + +<p>“Come now, Huddlestone,” said Northmour, “none of +that.”</p> + +<p>“Well, but my daughter,” moaned the wretched man.</p> + +<p>“Your daughter will do well enough. Here are two +suitors, Cassilis and I, neither of us beggars, between whom +she has to choose. And as for yourself, to make an end of +arguments, you have no right to a farthing, and, unless I’m +much mistaken, you are going to die.”</p> + +<p>It was certainly very cruelly said; but Mr. Huddlestone +was a man who attracted little sympathy; and, although +I saw him wince and shudder, I mentally endorsed the rebuke; +nay, I added a contribution of my own.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page208"></a>208</span></p> + +<p>“Northmour and I,” I said, “are willing enough to help +you to save your life, but not to escape with stolen property.”</p> + +<p>He struggled for a while with himself, as though he were +on the point of giving way to anger, but prudence had the +best of the controversy.</p> + +<p>“My dear boys,” he said, “do with me or my money +what you will. I leave all in your hands. Let me compose +myself.”</p> + +<p>And so we left him, gladly enough I am sure. The last +that I saw, he had once more taken up his great Bible, and +with tremulous hands was adjusting his spectacles to read.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER VII</h4> + +<h5>TELLS HOW A WORD WAS CRIED THROUGH THE +PAVILION WINDOW</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">The</span> recollection of that afternoon will always be graven on +my mind. Northmour and I were persuaded that an attack +was imminent; and if it had been in our power to alter in +any way the order of events, that power would have been +used to precipitate rather than delay the critical moment. +The worst was to be anticipated; yet we could conceive no +extremity so miserable as the suspense we were now suffering. +I have never been an eager, though always a great, +reader; but I never knew books so insipid as those which I +took up and cast aside that afternoon in the pavilion. +Even talk became impossible as the hours went on. One +or other was always listening for some sound, or peering +from an upstairs window over the links. And yet not a sign +indicated the presence of our foes.</p> + +<p>We debated over and over again my proposal with regard +to the money; and had we been in complete possession +of our faculties, I am sure we should have condemned it as +unwise; but we were flustered with alarm, grasped at a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209"></a>209</span> +straw, and determined, although it was as much as advertising +Mr. Huddlestone’s presence in the pavilion, to carry +my proposal into effect.</p> + +<p>The sum was part in specie, part in bank paper, and +part in circular notes payable to the name of James Gregory. +We took it out, counted it, enclosed it once more in a despatch-box +belonging to Northmour, and prepared a letter +in Italian which he tied to the handle. It was signed by +both of us under oath, and declared that this was all the +money which had escaped the failure of the house of Huddlestone. +This was, perhaps, the maddest action ever perpetrated +by two persons professing to be sane. Had the +despatch-box fallen into other hands than those for which it +was intended, we stood criminally convicted on our own +written testimony; but as I have said, we were neither of us +in a condition to judge soberly, and had a thirst for action +that drove us to do something, right or wrong, rather than +endure the agony of waiting. Moreover, as we were both +convinced that the hollows of the links were alive with +hidden spies upon our movements, we hoped that our +appearance with the box might lead to a parley, and perhaps +a compromise.</p> + +<p>It was nearly three when we issued from the pavilion. +The rain had taken off; the sun shone quite cheerfully. I +have never seen the gulls fly so close about the house or +approach so fearlessly to human beings. On the very doorstep +one flapped heavily past our heads, and uttered its +wild cry in my very ear.</p> + +<p>“There is an omen for you,” said Northmour, who, like +all freethinkers, was much under the influence of superstition. +“They think we are already dead.”</p> + +<p>I made some light rejoinder, but it was with half my +heart; for the circumstance had impressed me.</p> + +<p>A yard or two before the gate, on a patch of smooth +turf, we set down the despatch-box; and Northmour waved +a white handkerchief over his head. Nothing replied. +We raised our voices, and cried aloud in Italian that we were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210"></a>210</span> +there as ambassadors to arrange the quarrel; but the stillness +remained unbroken save by the sea-gulls and the surf. +I had a weight at my heart when we desisted; and I saw +that even Northmour was unusually pale. He looked over +his shoulder nervously, as though he feared that some one +had crept between him and the pavilion door.</p> + +<p>“By God,” he said in a whisper, “this is too much for +me!”</p> + +<p>I replied in the same key: “Suppose there should be +none, after all?”</p> + +<p>“Look there,” he returned, nodding with his head, as +though he had been afraid to point.</p> + +<p>I glanced in the direction indicated; and there, from the +northern quarter of the Sea-Wood, beheld a thin column of +smoke rising steadily against the now cloudless sky.</p> + +<p>“Northmour,” I said (we still continued to talk in +whispers), “it is not possible to endure this suspense. I +prefer death fifty times over. Stay you here to watch the +pavilion; I will go forward and make sure, if I have to walk +right into their camp.”</p> + +<p>He looked once again all round him with puckered eyes, +and then nodded assentingly to my proposal.</p> + +<p>My heart beat like a sledge-hammer as I set out walking +rapidly in the direction of the smoke; and, though up to +that moment I had felt chill and shivering, I was suddenly +conscious of a glow of heat over all my body. The ground +in this direction was very uneven; a hundred men might +have lain hidden in as many square yards about my path. +But I had not practised the business in vain, chose such +routes as cut at the very root of concealment, and, by keeping +along the most convenient ridges, commanded several +hollows at a time. It was not long before I was rewarded +for my caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound somewhat +more elevated than the surrounding hummocks, I +saw, not thirty yards away, a man bent almost double, and +running as fast as his attitude permitted along the bottom +of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from his ambush. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211"></a>211</span> +As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in +English and Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no +longer possible, straightened himself out, leaped from the +gully, and made off as straight as an arrow for the borders +of the wood.</p> + +<p>It was none of my business to pursue; I had learned +what I wanted—that we were beleaguered and watched in +the pavilion; and I returned at once, and walking as nearly +as possible in my old footsteps, to where Northmour awaited +me beside the despatch-box. He was even paler than when +I had left him, and his voice shook a little.</p> + +<p>“Could you see what he was like?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“He kept his back turned,” I replied.</p> + +<p>“Let us get into the house, Frank. I don’t think I’m +a coward, but I can stand no more of this,” he whispered.</p> + +<p>All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion as we +turned to re-enter it; even the gulls had flown in a wider +circuit, and were seen flickering along the beach and sand-hills; +and this loneliness terrified me more than a regiment +under arms. It was not until the door was barricaded that +I could draw a full inspiration and relieve the weight that +lay upon my bosom. Northmour and I exchanged a steady +glance; and I suppose each made his own reflections on the +white and startled aspect of the other.</p> + +<p>“You were right,” I said. “All is over. Shake hands, +old man, for the last time.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied he, “I will shake hands; for, as sure as +I am here, I bear no malice. But remember, if, by some +impossible accident, we should give the slip to these blackguards, +I’ll take the upper hand of you by fair or foul.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said I, “you weary me.”</p> + +<p>He seemed hurt, and walked away in silence to the foot +of the stairs, where he paused.</p> + +<p>“You do not understand,” said he. “I am not a +swindler, and I guard myself; that is all. It may weary +you or not, Mr. Cassilis, I do not care a rush; I speak for +my own satisfaction, and not for your amusement. You +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212"></a>212</span> +had better go upstairs and court the girl; for my part, I +stay here.”</p> + +<p>“And I stay with you,” I returned. “Do you think I +would steal a march, even with your permission?”</p> + +<p>“Frank,” he said, smiling, “it’s a pity you are an ass, +for you have the makings of a man. I think I must be <i>fey</i> +to-day; you cannot irritate me even when you try. Do +you know,” he continued softly, “I think we are the two +most miserable men in England, you and I? we have got +on to thirty without wife or child, or so much as a shop to +look after—poor, pitiful, lost devils, both! And now we +clash about a girl! As if there were not several millions in +the United Kingdom! Ah, Frank, Frank, the one who +loses this throw, be it you or me, he has my pity! It were +better for him—how does the Bible say?—that a millstone +were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the depth +of the sea. Let us take a drink,” he concluded suddenly, +but without any levity of tone.</p> + +<p>I was touched by his words and consented. He sat down +on the table in the dining-room, and held up the glass of +sherry to his eye.</p> + +<p>“If you beat me, Frank,” he said, “I shall take to drink. +What will you do, if it goes the other way?”</p> + +<p>“God knows,” I returned.</p> + +<p>“Well,” said he, “here is a toast in the meantime: +’<i>Italia irredenta!</i>’“</p> + +<p>The remainder of the day was passed in the same +dreadful tedium and suspense. I laid the table for dinner, +while Northmour and Clara prepared the meal together in +the kitchen. I could hear their talk as I went to and fro, +and was surprised to find it ran all the time upon myself. +Northmour again bracketed us together, and rallied Clara +on a choice of husbands; but he continued to speak of me +with some feeling, and uttered nothing to my prejudice +unless he included himself in the condemnation. This +awakened a sense of gratitude in my heart, which combined +with the immediateness of our peril to fill my eye with tears. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213"></a>213</span> +After all, I thought—and perhaps the thought was laughably +vain—we were here three very noble human beings to +perish in defence of a thieving banker.</p> + +<p>Before we sat down to table I looked forth from an +upstairs window. The day was beginning to decline; the +links were utterly deserted; the despatch-box still lay untouched +where we had left it hours before.</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone, in a long yellow dressing-gown, took +one end of the table, Clara the other; while Northmour and +I faced each other from the sides. The lamp was brightly +trimmed; the wine was good; the viands, although mostly +cold, excellent of their sort. We seemed to have agreed +tacitly; all reference to the impending catastrophe was +carefully avoided; and, considering our tragic circumstances, +we made a merrier party than could have been expected. +From time to time, it is true, Northmour or I would rise +from table and make a round of the defences; and, on each +of these occasions, Mr. Huddlestone was recalled to a sense +of his tragic predicament, glanced up with ghastly eyes, +and bore for an instant on his countenance the stamp of +terror. But he hastened to empty his glass, wiped his forehead +with his handkerchief, and joined again in the conversation.</p> + +<p>I was astonished at the wit and information he displayed. +Mr. Huddlestone’s was certainly no ordinary +character; he had read and observed for himself; his gifts +were sound; and, though I could never have learned to love +the man, I began to understand his success in business, and +the great respect in which he had been held before his +failure. He had, above all, the talent of society; and +though I never heard him speak but on this one and most +unfavourable occasion, I set him down among the most +brilliant conversationalists I ever met.</p> + +<p>He was relating with great gusto, and seemingly no +feeling of shame, the manœuvres of a scoundrelly commission +merchant whom he had known and studied in his +youth, and we were all listening with an odd mixture of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214"></a>214</span> +mirth and embarrassment, when our little party was +brought abruptly to an end in the most startling manner.</p> + +<p>A noise like that of a wet finger on the window-pane +interrupted Mr. Huddlestone’s tale; and in an instant we +were all four as white as paper, and sat tongue-tied and +motionless round the table.</p> + +<p>“A snail,” I said at last; for I had heard that these +animals make a noise somewhat similar in character.</p> + +<p>“Snail be d—d!” said Northmour. “Hush!”</p> + +<p>The same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals; +and then a formidable voice shouted through the shutters +the Italian word “<i>Traditore!</i>“</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone threw his head in the air; his eyelids +quivered; next moment he fell insensible below the table. +Northmour and I had each run to the armoury and seized +a gun. Clara was on her feet with her hand at her throat.</p> + +<p>So we stood waiting, for we thought the hour of attack +was certainly come; but second passed after second, and +all but the surf remained silent in the neighbourhood of the +pavilion.</p> + +<p>“Quick,” said Northmour; “upstairs with him before +they come.”</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER VIII</h4> + +<h5>TELLS THE LAST OF THE TALL MAN</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Somehow</span> or other, by hook and crook, and between the +three of us, we got Bernard Huddlestone bundled upstairs +and laid upon the bed in <i>My Uncle’s Room</i>. During the +whole process, which was rough enough, he gave no sign of +consciousness, and he remained, as we had thrown him, +without changing the position of a finger. His daughter +opened his shirt and began to wet his head and bosom; +while Northmour and I ran to the window. The weather +continued clear; the moon, which was now about full, had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215"></a>215</span> +risen and shed a very clear light upon the links; yet, strain +our eyes as we might, we could distinguish nothing moving. +A few dark spots, more or less, on the uneven expanse, were +not to be identified; they might be crouching men, they +might be shadows; it was impossible to be sure.</p> + +<p>“Thank God,” said Northmour, “Aggie is not coming +to-night.”</p> + +<p>Aggie was the name of the old nurse; he had not thought +of her till now; but that he should think of her at all was a +trait that surprised me in the man.</p> + +<p>We were again reduced to waiting. Northmour went to +the fireplace and spread his hands before the red embers, as +if he were cold. I followed him mechanically with my eyes, +and in so doing turned my back upon the window. At that +moment a very faint report was audible from without, and +a ball shivered a pane of glass, and buried itself in the shutter +two inches from my head. I heard Clara scream; and +though I whipped instantly out of range and into a corner, +she was there, so to speak, before me, beseeching to know if +I were hurt. I felt that I could stand to be shot at every +day and all day long, with such marks of solicitude for a +reward; and I continued to reassure her, with the tenderest +caresses and in complete forgetfulness of our situation, till +the voice of Northmour recalled me to myself.</p> + +<p>“An air-gun,” he said. “They wish to make no noise.”</p> + +<p>I put Clara aside, and looked at him. He was standing +with his back to the fire and his hands clasped behind him; +and I knew by the black look on his face that passion was +boiling within. I had seen just such a look before he +attacked me, that March night, in the adjoining chamber; +and, though I could make every allowance for his anger, +I confess I trembled for the consequences. He gazed +straight before him; but he could see us with the tail of his +eye, and his temper kept rising like a gale of wind. With +regular battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an internecine +strife within the walls began to daunt me.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216"></a>216</span> +and prepared against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a +look of relief, upon his face. He took up the lamp which +stood beside him on the table, and turned to us with an air +of some excitement.</p> + +<p>“There is one point that we must know,” said he. +“Are they going to butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? +Did they take you for him, or fire at you for your +own <i>beaux yeux</i>?”</p> + +<p>“They took me for him, for certain,” I replied. “I +am near as tall, and my head is fair.”</p> + +<p>“I am going to make sure,” returned Northmour; and +he stepped up to the window, holding the lamp above his +head, and stood there, quietly affronting death, for half a +minute.</p> + +<p>Clara sought to rush forward and pull him from the place +of danger; but I had the pardonable selfishness to hold her +back by force.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Northmour, turning coolly from the window; +“it’s only Huddlestone they want.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Mr. Northmour!” cried Clara; but found no more +to add; the temerity she had just witnessed seeming beyond +the reach of words.</p> + +<p>He, on his part, looked at me, cocking his head, with +a fire of triumph in his eyes; and I understood at once that +he had thus hazarded his life, merely to attract Clara’s +notice, and depose me from my position as the hero of the +hour. He snapped his fingers.</p> + +<p>“The fire is only beginning,” said he. “When they +warm up to their work they won’t be so particular.”</p> + +<p>A voice was now heard hailing us from the entrance. +From the window we could see the figure of a man in the +moonlight; he stood motionless, his face uplifted to ours, +and a rag of something white on his extended arm; and as +we looked right down upon him, though he was a good many +yards distant on the links, we could see the moonlight glitter +on his eyes.</p> + +<p>He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217"></a>217</span> +on end, in a key so loud that he might have been heard in +every corner of the pavilion, and as far away as the borders +of the wood. It was the same voice that had already +shouted “<i>Traditore!</i>” through the shutters of the dining-room; +this time it made a complete and clear statement. +If the traitor “Oddlestone” were given up, all others should +be spared; if not, no one should escape to tell the tale.</p> + +<p>“Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?” asked +Northmour, turning to the bed.</p> + +<p>Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, +and I, at least, had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; +but he replied at once, and in such tones as I have never +heard elsewhere, save from a delirious patient, adjured and +besought us not to desert him. It was the most hideous +and abject performance that my imagination can conceive.</p> + +<p>“Enough,” cried Northmour; and then he threw open +the window, leaned out into the night, and in a tone of exultation, +and with a total forgetfulness of what was due to the +presence of a lady, poured out upon the ambassador a string +of the most abominable raillery both in English and Italian, +and bade him be gone where he had come from. I believe +that nothing so delighted Northmour at that moment as +the thought that we must all infallibly perish before the +night was out.</p> + +<p>Meantime the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, +and disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand-hills.</p> + +<p>“They make honourable war,” said Northmour. +“They are all gentlemen and soldiers. For the credit of +the thing, I wish we could change sides—you and I, Frank, +and you too, Missy my darling—and leave that being on +the bed to some one else. Tut! Don’t look shocked! +We are all going post to what they call eternity, and may as +well be above-board while there’s time. As far as I’m concerned, +if I could first strangle Huddlestone and then get +Clara in my arms, I could die with some pride and satisfaction. +And as it is, by God, I’ll have a kiss!”</p> + +<p>Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218"></a>218</span> +embraced and repeatedly kissed the resisting girl. Next +moment I had pulled him away with fury, and flung him +heavily against the wall. He laughed loud and long, and I +feared his wits had given way under the strain; for even in +the best of days he had been a sparing and a quiet laugher.</p> + +<p>“Now, Frank,” said he, when his mirth was somewhat +appeased, “it’s your turn. Here’s my hand. Good-bye; +farewell!” Then, seeing me stand rigid and indignant, and +holding Clara to my side—“Man!” he broke out, “are you +angry? Did you think we were going to die with all the airs +and graces of society? I took a kiss; I’m glad I had it; +and now you can take another if you like, and square +accounts.”</p> + +<p>I turned from him with a feeling of contempt which I +did not seek to dissemble.</p> + +<p>“As you please,” said he. “You’ve been a prig in life; +a prig you’ll die.”</p> + +<p>And with that he sat down on a chair, a rifle over his +knee, and amused himself with snapping the lock; but I +could see that his ebullition of light spirits (the only one I +ever knew him to display) had already come to an end, and +was succeeded by a sullen, scowling humour.</p> + +<p>All this time our assailants might have been entering +the house, and we been none the wiser; we had in truth +almost forgotten the danger that so imminently overhung +our days. But just then Mr. Huddlestone uttered a cry, +and leaped from the bed.</p> + +<p>I asked him what was wrong.</p> + +<p>“Fire!” he cried. “They have set the house on +fire!”</p> + +<p>Northmour was on his feet in an instant, and he and I +ran through the door of communication with the study. +The room was illuminated by a red and angry light. Almost +at the moment of our entrance, a tower of flame arose in +front of the window, and, with a tingling report, a pane +fell inwards on the carpet. They had set fire to the lean-to +outhouse, where Northmour used to nurse his negatives.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page219"></a>219</span></p> + +<p>“Hot work,” said Northmour. “Let us try in your old +room.”</p> + +<p>We ran thither in a breath, threw up the casement, and +looked forth. Along the whole back wall of the pavilion +piles of fuel had been arranged and kindled; and it is probable +they had been drenched with mineral oil, for, in spite +of the morning’s rain, they all burned bravely. The fire +had taken a firm hold already on the outhouse, which blazed +higher and higher every moment; the back-door was in the +centre of a red-hot bonfire; the eaves, we could see, as we +looked upward, were already smouldering, for the roof +overhung, and was supported by considerable beams of +wood. At the same time, hot, pungent, and choking +volumes of smoke began to fill the house. There was not a +human being to be seen to right or left.</p> + +<p>“Ah, well!” said Northmour, “here’s the end, thank +God.”</p> + +<p>And we returned to <i>My Uncle’s Room</i>. Mr. Huddlestone +was putting on his boots, still violently trembling, +but with an air of determination such as I had not hitherto +observed. Clara stood close by him, with her cloak in both +hands ready to throw about her shoulders, and a strange +look in her eyes, as if she were half-hopeful, half-doubtful of +her father.</p> + +<p>“Well, boys and girls,” said Northmour, “how about +a sally? The oven is heating; it is not good to stay here +and be baked; and, for my part, I want to come to my +hands with them, and be done.”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing else left,” I replied.</p> + +<p>And both Clara and Mr. Huddlestone, though with a +very different intonation, added, “Nothing.”</p> + +<p>As we went downstairs the heat was excessive, and the +roaring of the fire filled our ears; and we had scarce reached +the passage before the stairs window fell in, a branch of +flame shot brandishing through the aperture, and the interior +of the pavilion became lit up with that dreadful and +fluctuating glare. At the same moment we heard the fall +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page220"></a>220</span> +of something heavy and inelastic in the upper story. The +whole pavilion, it was plain, had gone alight like a box of +matches, and now not only flamed sky-high to land and sea, +but threatened with every moment to crumble and fall in +about our ears.</p> + +<p>Northmour and I cocked our revolvers. Mr. Huddlestone, +who had already refused a firearm, put us behind him +with a manner of command.</p> + +<p>“Let Clara open the door,” said he. “So, if they fire +a volley, she will be protected. And in the meantime +stand behind me. I am the scapegoat; my sins have found +me out.”</p> + +<p>I heard him, as I stood breathless by his shoulder, with +my pistol ready, pattering off prayers in a tremulous, rapid +whisper; and I confess, horrid as the thought may seem, +I despised him for thinking of supplications in a moment so +critical and thrilling. In the meantime, Clara, who was +dead white, but still possessed her faculties, had displaced +the barricade from the front door. Another moment, and +she had pulled it open. Firelight and moonlight illuminated +the links with confused and changeful lustre, and far +away against the sky we could see a long trail of glowing +smoke.</p> + +<p>Mr. Huddlestone, filled for the moment with a strength +greater than his own, struck Northmour and myself a back-hander +in the chest; and while we were thus for the moment +incapacitated from action, lifting his arms above his head +like one about to dive, he ran straight forward out of the +pavilion.</p> + +<p>“Here am I!” he cried—“Huddlestone! Kill me, and +spare the others!”</p> + +<p>His sudden appearance daunted, I suppose, our hidden +enemies; for Northmour and I had time to recover, to seize +Clara between us, one by each arm, and to rush forth to his +assistance, ere anything further had taken place. But +scarce had we passed the threshold when there came near a +dozen reports and flashes from every direction among the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221"></a>221</span> +hollows of the links. Mr. Huddlestone staggered, uttered +a weird and freezing cry, threw up his arms over his head, +and fell backward on the turf.</p> + +<p>“<i>Traditore! Traditore!</i>” cried the invisible avengers.</p> + +<p>And just then a part of the roof of the pavilion fell in, +so rapid was the progress of the fire. A loud, vague, and +horrible noise accompanied the collapse, and a vast volume +of flame went soaring up to heaven. It must have been +visible at that moment from twenty miles out at sea, from +the shore at Graden-Wester, and far inland from the peak +of Graystiel, the most eastern summit of the Caulder Hills. +Bernard Huddlestone, although God knows what were his +obsequies, had a fine pyre at the moment of his death.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER IX</h4> + +<h5>TELLS HOW NORTHMOUR CARRIED OUT HIS THREAT</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">I should</span> have the greatest difficulty to tell you what +followed next after this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, +as I look back upon it, mixed, strenuous, and ineffectual, +like the struggles of a sleeper in a nightmare. Clara, I +remember, uttered a broken sigh and would have fallen +forward to earth, had not Northmour and I supported her +insensible body. I do not think we were attacked; I do +not remember even to have seen an assailant; and I believe +we deserted Mr. Huddlestone without a glance. I only +remember running like a man in a panic, now carrying Clara +altogether in my own arms, now sharing her weight with +Northmour, now scuffling confusedly for the possession of +that dear burden. Why we should have made for my camp +in the Hemlock Den, or how we reached it, are points lost +for ever to my recollection. The first moment at which I +became definitely sure, Clara had been suffered to fall +against the outside of my little tent, Northmour and I were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222"></a>222</span> +tumbling together on the ground, and he, with contained +ferocity, was striking for my head with the butt of his +revolver. He had already twice wounded me on the scalp; +and it is to the subsequent loss of blood that I am tempted +to attribute the sudden clearness of my mind.</p> + +<p>I caught him by the wrist.</p> + +<p>“Northmour,” I remember saying, “you can kill me +afterwards. Let us first attend to Clara.”</p> + +<p>He was at that moment uppermost. Scarcely had the +words passed my lips, when he had leaped to his feet and +ran towards the tent; and the next moment he was straining +Clara to his heart and covering her unconscious hands +and face with his caresses.</p> + +<p>“Shame!” I cried. “Shame to you, Northmour!”</p> + +<p>And, giddy though I still was, I struck him repeatedly +upon the head and shoulders.</p> + +<p>He relinquished his grasp, and faced me in the broken +moonlight.</p> + +<p>“I had you under, and I let you go,” said he; “and +now you strike me! Coward!”</p> + +<p>“You are the coward,” I retorted. “Did she wish your +kisses while she was still sensible of what she wanted? Not +she! And now she may be dying; and you waste this +precious time, and abuse her helplessness. Stand aside, +and let me help her.”</p> + +<p>He confronted me for a moment, white and menacing; +then suddenly he stepped aside.</p> + +<p>“Help her, then,” said he.</p> + +<p>I threw myself on my knees beside her, and loosened, +as well as I was able, her dress and corset; but while I was +thus engaged, a grasp descended on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>“Keep your hands off her,” said Northmour fiercely. +“Do you think I have no blood in my veins?”</p> + +<p>“Northmour,” I cried, “if you will neither help her +yourself, nor let me do so, do you know that I shall have to +kill you?”</p> + +<p>“That is better!” he cried. “Let her die also—where’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223"></a>223</span> +the harm? Step aside from that girl, and stand up +to fight!”</p> + +<p>“You will observe,” said I, half-rising, “that I have not +kissed her yet.”</p> + +<p>“I dare you to,” he cried.</p> + +<p>I do not know what possessed me; it was one of the +things I am most ashamed of in my life, though, as my wife +used to say, I knew that my kisses would be always welcome +were she dead or living; down I fell again upon my knees, +parted the hair from her forehead, and, with the dearest +respect, laid my lips for a moment on that cold brow. It +was such a caress as a father might have given; it was such +a one as was not unbecoming from a man soon to die to a +woman already dead.</p> + +<p>“And now,” said I, “I am at your service, Mr Northmour.”</p> + +<p>But I saw, to my surprise, that he had turned his back +upon me.</p> + +<p>“Do you hear?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said he, “I do. If you wish to fight, I am ready. +If not, go on and save Clara. All is one to me.”</p> + +<p>I did not wait to be twice bidden; but, stooping again +over Clara, continued my efforts to revive her. She still +lay white and lifeless; I began to fear that her sweet spirit +had indeed fled beyond recall, and horror and a sense of +utter desolation seized upon my heart. I called her by +name with the most endearing inflections; I chafed and beat +her hands; now I laid her head low, now supported it +against my knee; but all seemed to be in vain, and the lids +still lay heavy on her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Northmour,” I said, “there is my hat. For God’s +sake bring some water from the spring.”</p> + +<p>Almost in a moment he was by my side with the water.</p> + +<p>“I have brought it in my own,” he said. “You do +not grudge me the privilege?”</p> + +<p>“Northmour,” I was beginning to say, as I laved her +head and breast; but he interrupted me savagely.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page224"></a>224</span></p> + +<p>“Oh, you hush up!” he said. “The best thing you can +do is to say nothing.”</p> + +<p>I had certainly no desire to talk, my mind being +swallowed up in concern for my dear love and her condition; +so I continued in silence to do my best towards her +recovery, and, when the hat was empty, returned it to him +with one word—“More.” He had, perhaps, gone several +times upon this errand, when Clara reopened her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said he, “since she is better, you can spare me, +can you not? I wish you a good-night, Mr. Cassilis.”</p> + +<p>And with that he was gone among the thicket. I made +a fire, for I had now no fear of the Italians, who had even +spared all the little possessions left in my encampment; +and, broken as she was by the excitement and the hideous +catastrophe of the evening, I managed, in one way or +another—by persuasion, encouragement, warmth, and such +simple remedies as I could lay my hand on—to bring her +back to some composure of mind and strength of body.</p> + +<p>Day had already come, when a sharp “Hist!” sounded +from the thicket. I started from the ground; but the +voice of Northmour was heard adding, in the most tranquil +tones: “Come here, Cassilis, and alone; I want to show +you something.”</p> + +<p>I consulted Clara with my eyes, and, receiving her tacit +permission, left her alone, and clambered out of the den. +At some distance off I saw Northmour leaning against an +elder; and, as soon as he perceived me, he began walking +seaward. I had almost overtaken him as he reached the +outskirts of the wood.</p> + +<p>“Look,” said he, pausing.</p> + +<p>A couple of steps more brought me out of the foliage. +The light of the morning lay cold and clear over that well-known +scene. The pavilion was but a blackened wreck; +the roof had fallen in, one of the gables had fallen out; and, +far and near, the face of the links was cicatrised with little +patches of burnt furze. Thick smoke still went straight +upwards in the windless air of the morning, and a great pile +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225"></a>225</span> +of ardent cinders filled the bare walls of the house, like coals +in an open grate. Close by the islet a schooner yacht lay-to, +and a well-manned boat was pulling vigorously for the +shore.</p> + +<p>“The <i>Red Earl</i>!” I cried. “The <i>Red Earl</i> twelve hours +too late!”</p> + +<p>“Feel in your pocket, Frank. Are you armed?” asked +Northmour.</p> + +<p>I obeyed him, and I think I must have become deadly +pale. My revolver had been taken from me.</p> + +<p>“You see I have you in my power,” he continued. +“I disarmed you last night while you were nursing Clara; +but this morning—here—take your pistol. No thanks!” +he cried, holding up his hand. “I do not like them; that +is the only way you can annoy me now.”</p> + +<p>He began to walk forward across the links to meet the +boat, and I followed a step or two behind. In front of the +pavilion I paused to see where Mr. Huddlestone had fallen; +but there was no sign of him, nor so much as a trace of +blood.</p> + +<p>“Graden Floe,” said Northmour.</p> + +<p>He continued to advance till we had come to the head +of the beach.</p> + +<p>“No farther, please,” said he. “Would you like to +take her to Graden House?”</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” I replied; “I shall try to get her to the +minister’s at Graden-Wester.”</p> + +<p>The prow of the boat here grated on the beach, and a +sailor jumped ashore with a line in his hand.</p> + +<p>“Wait a minute, lads!” cried Northmour; and then +lower and to my private ear: “You had better say nothing +of all this to her,” he added.</p> + +<p>“On the contrary!” I broke out, “she shall know +everything that I can tell.”</p> + +<p>“You do not understand,” he returned, with an air of +great dignity. “It will be nothing to her; she expects it +of me. Good-bye!” he added, with a nod.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page226"></a>226</span></p> + +<p>I offered him my hand.</p> + +<p>“Excuse me,” said he. “It’s small, I know; but I +can’t push things quite so far as that. I don’t wish any +sentimental business, to sit by your hearth a white-haired +wanderer, and all that. Quite the contrary: I hope to +God I shall never again clap eyes on either one of you.”</p> + +<p>“Well, God bless you, Northmour!” I said heartily.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes,” he returned.</p> + +<p>He walked down the beach; and the man who was +ashore gave him an arm on board, and then shoved off and +leaped into the bows himself. Northmour took the tiller; +the boat rose to the waves, and the oars between the thole-pins +sounded crisp and measured in the morning air.</p> + +<p>They were not yet half-way to the <i>Red Earl</i>, and I was +still watching their progress, when the sun rose out of the +sea.</p> + +<p>One word more, and my story is done. Years after, +Northmour was killed fighting under the colours of Garibaldi +for the liberation of the Tyrol.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page227"></a>227</span></p> +<h3>A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT</h3> + +<h5>A STORY OF FRANCIS VILLON</h5> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">It</span> was late in November 1456. The snow fell over Paris +with rigorous, relentless persistence; sometimes the wind +made a sally and scattered it in flying vortices; sometimes +there was a lull, and flake after flake descended out of the +black night air, silent, circuitous, interminable. To poor +people, looking up under moist eyebrows, it seemed a +wonder where it all came from. Master Francis Villon had +propounded an alternative that afternoon at a tavern +window: was it only Pagan Jupiter plucking geese upon +Olympus? or were the holy angels moulting? He was only +a poor Master of Arts, he went on; and as the question somewhat +touched upon divinity, he durst not venture to conclude. +A silly old priest from Montargis, who was among +the company, treated the young rascal to a bottle of wine +in honour of the jest and the grimaces with which it was +accompanied, and swore on his own white beard that he had +been just such another irreverent dog when he was Villon’s +age.</p> + +<p>The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; +and the flakes were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole +city was sheeted up. An army might have marched from +end to end and not a footfall given the alarm. If there +were any belated birds in heaven, they saw the island like a +large white patch, and the bridges like slim white spars, on +the black ground of the river. High up overhead the snow +settled among the tracery of the cathedral towers. Many +a niche was drifted full; many a statue wore a long white +bonnet on its grotesque or sainted head. The gargoyles +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228"></a>228</span> +had been transformed into great false noses, drooping towards +the point. The crockets were like upright pillows +swollen on one side. In the intervals of the wind there was +a dull sound of dripping about the precincts of the church.</p> + +<p>The cemetery of St. John had taken its own share of the +snow. All the graves were decently covered; tall white +housetops stood around in grave array; worthy burghers +were long ago in bed, be-nightcapped like their domiciles; +there was no light in all the neighbourhood but a little peep +from a lamp that hung swinging in the church choir, and +tossed the shadows to and fro in time to its oscillations. +The clock was hard on ten when the patrol went by with +halberds and a lantern, beating their hands; and they saw +nothing suspicious about the cemetery of St. John.</p> + +<p>Yet there was a small house, backed up against the +cemetery wall, which was still awake, and awake to evil +purpose, in that snoring district. There was not much to +betray it from without; only a stream of warm vapour +from the chimney-top, a patch where the snow melted on +the roof, and a few half-obliterated footprints at the door. +But within, behind the shuttered windows, Master Francis +Villon the poet, and some of the thievish crew with whom +he consorted, were keeping the night alive and passing round +the bottle.</p> + +<p>A great pile of living embers diffused a strong and ruddy +glow from the arched chimney. Before this straddled +Dom Nicolas, the Picardy monk, with his skirts picked up +and his fat legs bared to the comfortable warmth. His +dilated shadow cut the room in half; and the firelight only +escaped on either side of his broad person, and in a little +pool between his outspread feet. His face had the beery, +bruised appearance of the continual drinker’s; it was +covered with a network of congested veins, purple in +ordinary circumstances, but now pale violet, for even with +his back to the fire the cold pinched him on the other side. +His cowl had half-fallen back, and made a strange excrescence +on either side of his bull-neck. So he straddled, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229"></a>229</span> +grumbling, and cut the room in half with the shadow of his +portly frame.</p> + +<p>On the right, Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled +together over a scrap of parchment; Villon making a ballade +which he was to call the “Ballade of Roast Fish,” and +Tabary spluttering admiration at his shoulder. The poet +was a rag of a man, dark, little, and lean, with hollow cheeks +and thin black locks. He carried his four-and-twenty years +with feverish animation. Greed had made folds about his +eyes, evil smiles had puckered his mouth. The wolf and +pig struggled together in his face. It was an eloquent, +sharp, ugly, earthly countenance. His hands were small +and prehensile, with fingers knotted like a cord; and they +were continually flickering in front of him in violent and +expressive pantomime. As for Tabary, a broad, complacent, +admiring imbecility breathed from his squash nose and +slobbering lips: he had become a thief, just as he might +have become the most decent of burgesses, by the imperious +chance that rules the lives of human geese and human +donkeys.</p> + +<p>At the monk’s other hand, Montigny and Thevenin +Pensete played a game of chance. About the first there +clung some flavour of good birth and training, as about a +fallen angel; something long, lithe, and courtly in the +person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. +Thevenin, poor soul, was in great feather: he had done a +good stroke of knavery that afternoon in the Faubourg St. +Jacques, and all night he had been gaining from Montigny. +A flat smile illuminated his face; his bald head shone rosily +in a garland of red curls; his little protuberant stomach +shook with silent chucklings as he swept in his gains.</p> + +<p>“Doubles or quits?” said Thevenin.</p> + +<p>Montigny nodded grimly.</p> + +<p>“<i>Some may prefer to dine in state</i>,” wrote Villon, “<i>On +bread and cheese on silver plate</i>. Or—or—help me out, +Guido!”</p> + +<p>Tabary giggled.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page230"></a>230</span></p> + +<p>“<i>Or parsley on a golden dish</i>,” scribbled the poet.</p> + +<p>The wind was freshening without; it drove the snow +before it, and sometimes raised its voice in a victorious +whoop, and made sepulchral grumblings in the chimney. +The cold was growing sharper as the night went on. Villon, +protruding his lips, imitated the gust with something between +a whistle and a groan. It was an eerie, uncomfortable +talent of the poet’s, much detested by the Picardy +monk.</p> + +<p>“Can’t you hear it rattle in the gibbet?” said Villon. +“They are all dancing the devil’s jig on nothing, up there. +You may dance, my gallants, you’ll be none the warmer! +Whew! what a gust! Down went somebody just now! +A medlar the fewer on the three-legged medlar-tree!—I say, +Dom Nicolas, it’ll be cold to-night on the St. Denis Road?” +he asked.</p> + +<p>Dom Nicolas winked both his big eyes, and seemed to +choke upon his Adam’s apple. Montfaucon, the great +grisly Paris gibbet, stood hard by the St. Denis Road, and +the pleasantry touched him on the raw. As for Tabary, +he laughed immoderately over the medlars; he had never +heard anything more light-hearted; and he held his sides +and crowed. Villon fetched him a fillip on the nose, which +turned his mirth into an attack of coughing.</p> + +<p>“Oh, stop that row,” said Villon, “and think of rhymes +to ‘fish.’“</p> + +<p>“Doubles or quits?” said Montigny doggedly.</p> + +<p>“With all my heart,” quoth Thevenin.</p> + +<p>“Is there any more in that bottle?” asked the monk.</p> + +<p>“Open another,” said Villon. “How do you ever hope +to fill that big hogshead, your body, with little things like +bottles? And how do you expect to get to heaven? How +many angels, do you fancy, can be spared to carry up a +single monk from Picardy? Or do you think yourself +another Elias—and they’ll send the coach for you?”</p> + +<p>“<i>Hominibus impossibile</i>,” replied the monk, as he filled +his glass.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page231"></a>231</span></p> + +<p>Tabary was in ecstasies.</p> + +<p>Villon filliped his nose again.</p> + +<p>“Laugh at my jokes, if you like,” he said.</p> + +<p>“It was very good,” objected Tabary.</p> + +<p>Villon made a face at him. “Think of rhymes to +’fish’,” he said, “What have you to do with Latin? +You’ll wish you knew none of it at the great assizes, when +the devil calls for Guido Tabary, clericus—the devil with +the hump-back and red-hot finger-nails. Talking of the +devil,” he added in a whisper, “look at Montigny!”</p> + +<p>All three peered covertly at the gamester. He did not +seem to be enjoying his luck. His mouth was a little to a +side; one nostril nearly shut, and the other much inflated. +The black dog was on his back, as people say, in terrifying +nursery metaphor; and he breathed hard under the gruesome +burden.</p> + +<p>“He looks as if he could knife him,” whispered Tabary, +with round eyes.</p> + +<p>The monk shuddered, and turned his face and spread +his open hands to the red embers. It was the cold that +thus affected Dom Nicolas, and not any excess of moral +sensibility.</p> + +<p>“Come now,” said Villon—“about this ballade. How +does it run so far?” And beating time with his hand, he +read it aloud to Tabary.</p> + +<p>They were interrupted at the fourth rhyme by a brief +and fatal movement among the gamesters. The round was +completed, and Thevenin was just opening his mouth to +claim another victory, when Montigny leaped up, swift as +an adder, and stabbed him to the heart. The blow took +effect before he had time to utter a cry, before he had time +to move. A tremor or two convulsed his frame; his hands +opened and shut, his heels rattled on the floor; then his +head rolled backwards over one shoulder with the eyes wide +open; and Thevenin Pensete’s spirit had returned to Him +who made it.</p> + +<p>Every one sprang to his feet; but the business was over +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232"></a>232</span> +in two twos. The four living fellows looked at each other +in rather a ghastly fashion; the dead man contemplating +a corner of the roof with a singular and ugly leer.</p> + +<p>“My God!” said Tabary; and he began to pray in +Latin.</p> + +<p>Villon broke out into hysterical laughter. He came +a step forward and ducked a ridiculous bow at Thevenin, +and laughed still louder. Then he sat down suddenly, all +of a heap, upon a stool, and continued laughing bitterly as +though he would shake himself to pieces.</p> + +<p>Montigny recovered his composure first.</p> + +<p>“Let’s see what he has about him,” he remarked; +and he picked the dead man’s pockets with a practised +hand, and divided the money into four equal portions on +the table. “There’s for you,” he said.</p> + +<p>The monk received his share with a deep sigh, and a +single stealthy glance at the dead Thevenin, who was beginning +to sink into himself and topple sideways off the +chair.</p> + +<p>“We’re all in for it,” cried Villon, swallowing his mirth. +“It’s a hanging job for every man jack of us that’s here—not +to speak of those who aren’t.” He made a shocking +gesture in the air with his raised right hand, and put out his +tongue and threw his head on one side, so as to counterfeit +the appearance of one who has been hanged. Then he +pocketed his share of the spoil, and executed a shuffle with +his feet as if to restore the circulation.</p> + +<p>Tabary was the last to help himself; he made a dash +at the money, and retired to the other end of the apartment.</p> + +<p>Montigny stuck Thevenin upright in the chair, and drew +out the dagger, which was followed by a jet of blood.</p> + +<p>“You fellows had better be moving,” he said, as he +wiped the blade on his victim’s doublet.</p> + +<p>“I think we had,” returned Villon, with a gulp. +“Damn his fat head!” he broke out. “It sticks in my +throat like phlegm. What right has a man to have red +hair when he is dead?” And he fell all of a heap again +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233"></a>233</span> +upon the stool, and fairly covered his face with his +hands.</p> + +<p>Montigny and Dom Nicolas laughed aloud, even Tabary +feebly chiming in.</p> + +<p>“Cry baby,” said the monk.</p> + +<p>“I always said he was a woman,” added Montigny with +a sneer. “Sit up, can’t you?” he went on, giving another +shake to the murdered body. “Tread out that fire, +Nick!”</p> + +<p>But Nick was better employed; he was quietly taking +Villon’s purse, as the poet sat, limp and trembling, on the +stool where he had been making a ballade not three minutes +before. Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded a share +of the booty, which the monk silently promised as he passed +the little bag into the bosom of his gown. In many ways +an artistic nature unfits a man for practical existence.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the theft been accomplished than Villon +shook himself, jumped to his feet, and began helping to +scatter and extinguish the embers. Meanwhile Montigny +opened the door and cautiously peered into the street. +The coast was clear; there was no meddlesome patrol in +sight. Still it was judged wiser to slip out severally; and +as Villon was himself in a hurry to escape from the neighbourhood +of the dead Thevenin, and the rest were in a still +greater hurry to get rid of him before he should discover +the loss of his money, he was the first by general consent to +issue forth into the street.</p> + +<p>The wind had triumphed and swept all the clouds from +heaven. Only a few vapours, as thin as moonlight, fleeted +rapidly across the stars. It was bitter cold; and by a +common optical effect, things seemed almost more definite +than in the broadest daylight. The sleeping city was +absolutely still: a company of white hoods, a field full of +little Alps, below the twinkling stars. Villon cursed his +fortune. Would it were still snowing! Now, wherever he +went, he left an indelible trail behind him on the glittering +streets; wherever he went he was still tethered to the house +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page234"></a>234</span> +by the cemetery of St. John; wherever he went he must +weave, with his own plodding feet, the rope that bound him +to the crime and would bind him to the gallows. The leer +of the dead man came back to him with a new significance. +He snapped his fingers as if to pluck up his own spirits, +and choosing a street at random, stepped boldly forward in +the snow.</p> + +<p>Two things preoccupied him as he went: the aspect of +the gallows at Montfaucon in this bright windy phase of +the night’s existence, for one; and for another, the look of +the dead man with his bald head and garland of red curls. +Both struck cold upon his heart, and he kept quickening his +pace as if he could escape from unpleasant thoughts by +mere fleetness of foot. Sometimes he looked back over his +shoulder with a sudden nervous jerk; but he was the only +moving thing in the white streets, except when the wind +swooped round a corner and threw up the snow, which was +beginning to freeze, in spouts of glittering dust.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he saw, a long way before him, a black clump +and a couple of lanterns. The clump was in motion, and +the lanterns swung as though carried by men walking. It +was a patrol. And though it was merely crossing his line +of march, he judged it wiser to get out of eyeshot as speedily +as he could. He was not in the humour to be challenged, +and he was conscious of making a very conspicuous mark +upon the snow. Just on his left hand there stood a great +hotel, with some turrets and a large porch before the door; +it was half-ruinous, he remembered, and had long stood +empty; and so he made three steps of it and jumped into +the shelter of the porch. It was pretty dark inside, after +the glimmer of the snowy streets, and he was groping forward +with outspread hands, when he stumbled over some +substance which offered an indescribable mixture of resistances, +hard and soft, firm and loose. His heart gave a +leap, and he sprang two steps back and stared dreadfully +at the obstacle. Then he gave a little laugh of relief. It +was only a woman, and she dead. He knelt beside her to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235"></a>235</span> +make sure upon this latter point. She was freezing cold, +and rigid like a stick. A little ragged finery fluttered in +the wind about her hair, and her cheeks had been heavily +rouged that same afternoon. Her pockets were quite +empty; but in her stocking, underneath the garter, Villon +found two of the small coins that went by the name of whites. +It was little enough; but it was always something; and the +poet was moved with a deep sense of pathos that she should +have died before she had spent her money. That seemed +to him a dark and pitiable mystery; and he looked from +the coins in his hand to the dead woman, and back again +to the coins, shaking his head over the riddle of man’s life. +Henry V. of England, dying at Vincennes just after he had +conquered France, and this poor jade cut off by a cold +draught in a great man’s doorway, before she had time to +spend her couple of whites—it seemed a cruel way to carry +on the world. Two whites would have taken such a little +while to squander; and yet it would have been one more +good taste in the mouth, one more smack of the lips, before +the devil got the soul, and the body was left to birds and +vermin. He would like to use all his tallow before the light +was blown out and the lantern broken.</p> + +<p>While these thoughts were passing through his mind, +he was feeling, half mechanically, for his purse. Suddenly +his heart stopped beating; a feeling of cold scales passed +up the back of his legs, and a cold blow seemed to fall upon +his scalp. He stood petrified for a moment; then he felt +again with one feverish movement; and then his loss burst +upon him, and he was covered at once with perspiration. +To spendthrifts money is so living and actual—it is such a +thin veil between them and their pleasures! There is only +one limit to their fortune—that of time; and a spendthrift +with only a few crowns is the Emperor of Rome until they +are spent. For such a person to lose his money is to suffer +the most shocking reverse, and fall from heaven to hell, +from all to nothing, in a breath. And all the more if he has +put his head in the halter for it; if he may be hanged to-morrow +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236"></a>236</span> +for that same purse so dearly earned, so foolishly +departed! Villon stood and cursed; he threw the two +whites into the street; he shook his fist at heaven; he +stamped, and was not horrified to find himself trampling +the poor corpse. Then he began rapidly to retrace his +steps towards the house beside the cemetery. He had forgotten +all fear of the patrol, which was long gone by at any +rate, and had no idea but that of his lost purse. It was in +vain that he looked right and left upon the snow: nothing +was to be seen. He had not dropped it in the streets. Had +it fallen in the house? He would have liked dearly to go in +and see; but the idea of the grisly occupant unmanned him. +And he saw besides, as he drew near, that their efforts to put +out the fire had been unsuccessful; on the contrary, it had +broken into a blaze, and a changeful light played in the +chinks of door and window, and revived his terror for the +authorities and Paris gibbet.</p> + +<p>He returned to the hotel with the porch, and groped +about upon the snow for the money he had thrown away +in his childish passion. But he could only find one white; +the other had probably struck sideways and sunk deeply in. +With a single white in his pocket, all his projects for a +rousing night in some wild tavern vanished utterly away. +And it was not only pleasure that fled laughing from his +grasp; positive discomfort, positive pain, attacked him as +he stood ruefully before the porch. His perspiration had +dried upon him; and though the wind had now fallen, a +binding frost was setting in stronger with every hour, and +he felt benumbed and sick at heart. What was to be done? +Late as was the hour, improbable as was success, he would +try the house of his adopted father, the chaplain of St. +Benoît.</p> + +<p>He ran there all the way, and knocked timidly. There +was no answer. He knocked again and again, taking heart +with every stroke; and at last steps were heard approaching +from within. A barred wicket fell open in the iron-studded +door, and emitted a gush of yellow light.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page237"></a>237</span></p> + +<p>“Hold up your face to the wicket,” said the chaplain +from within.</p> + +<p>“It’s only me,” whimpered Villon.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it’s only you, is it?” returned the chaplain; and +he cursed him with foul unpriestly oaths for disturbing him +at such an hour, and bade him be off to hell, where he came +from.</p> + +<p>“My hands are blue to the wrist,” pleaded Villon; +“my feet are dead and full of twinges: my nose aches with +the sharp air; the cold lies at my heart. I may be dead +before morning. Only this once, father, and before God +I will never ask again!”</p> + +<p>“You should have come earlier,” said the ecclesiastic +coolly. “Young men require a lesson now and then.” +He shut the wicket and retired deliberately into the interior +of the house.</p> + +<p>Villon was beside himself; he beat upon the door with +his hands and feet, and shouted hoarsely after the chaplain.</p> + +<p>“Wormy old fox!” he cried. “If I had my hand +under your twist, I would send you flying headlong into the +bottomless pit.”</p> + +<p>A door shut in the interior, faintly audible to the poet +down long passages. He passed his hand over his mouth +with an oath. And then the humour of the situation struck +him, and he laughed and looked lightly up to heaven, where +the stars seemed to be winking over his discomfiture.</p> + +<p>What was to be done? It looked very like a night in +the frosty streets. The idea of the dead woman popped +into his imagination, and gave him a hearty fright; what +had happened to her in the early night might very well +happen to him before morning. And he so young! and +with such immense possibilities of disorderly amusement +before him! He felt quite pathetic over the notion of his +own fate, as if it had been some one else’s, and made a little +imaginative vignette of the scene in the morning, when they +should find his body.</p> + +<p>He passed all his chances under review, turning the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238"></a>238</span> +white between his thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately +he was on bad terms with some old friends who would once +have taken pity on him in such a plight. He had lampooned +them in verses, he had beaten and cheated them; +and yet now, when he was in so close a pinch, he thought +there was at least one who might perhaps relent. It was +a chance. It was worth trying at least, and he would go +and see.</p> + +<p>On the way, two little accidents happened to him which +coloured his musings in a very different manner. For, +first, he fell in with the track of a patrol, and walked in it +for some hundred yards, although it lay out of his direction. +And this spirited him up; at least he had confused his trail; +for he was still possessed with the idea of people tracking +him all about Paris over the snow, and collaring him next +morning before he was awake. The other matter affected +him very differently. He passed a street corner, where, +not so long before, a woman and her child had been devoured +by wolves. This was just the kind of weather, he reflected, +when wolves might take it into their heads to enter Paris +again; and a lone man in these deserted streets would run +the chance of something worse than a mere scare. He +stopped and looked upon the place with an unpleasant +interest—it was a centre where several lanes intersected each +other; and he looked down them all one after another, and +held his breath to listen, lest he should detect some galloping +black things on the snow, or hear the sound of howling between +him and the river. He remembered his mother +telling him the story and pointing out the spot, while he was +yet a child. His mother! If he only knew where she lived, +he might make sure at least of shelter. He determined he +would inquire upon the morrow; nay, he would go and see +her too, poor old girl! So thinking, he arrived at his +destination—his last hope for the night.</p> + +<p>The house was quite dark, like its neighbours, and yet +after a few taps, he heard a movement overhead, a door +opening, and a cautious voice asking who was there. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239"></a>239</span> +poet named himself in a loud whisper, and waited, not without +some trepidation, the result. Nor had he to wait long. +A window was suddenly opened, and a pailful of slops +splashed down upon the doorstep. Villon had not been +unprepared for something of the sort, and had put himself +as much in shelter as the nature of the porch admitted; +but for all that, he was deplorably drenched below the waist. +His hose began to freeze almost at once. Death from cold +and exposure stared him in the face; he remembered he +was of phthisical tendency, and began coughing tentatively. +But the gravity of the danger steadied his nerves. He +stopped a few hundred yards from the door where he had +been so rudely used, and reflected with his finger to his nose. +He could only see one way of getting a lodging, and that was +to take it. He had noticed a house not far away, which +looked as if it might be easily broken into, and thither he +betook himself promptly, entertaining himself on the way +with the idea of a room still hot, with a table still loaded +with the remains of supper, where he might pass the rest of +the black hours, and whence he should issue, on the morrow, +with an armful of valuable plate. He even considered on +what viands and what wines he should prefer; and as he was +calling the roll of his favourite dainties, roast fish presented +itself to his mind with an odd mixture of amusement and +horror.</p> + +<p>“I shall never finish that ballade,” he thought to himself; +and then, with another shudder at the recollection, +“Oh, damn his fat head!” he repeated fervently, and spat +upon the snow.</p> + +<p>The house in question looked dark at first sight; but +as Villon made a preliminary inspection in search of the +handiest point of attack, a little twinkle of light caught his +eye from behind a curtained window.</p> + +<p>“The devil!” he thought. “People awake! Some +student or some saint, confound the crew! Can’t they get +drunk and lie in bed snoring like their neighbours! What’s +the good of curfew, and poor devils of bell-ringers jumping +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240"></a>240</span> +at a rope’s-end in bell-towers? What’s the use of day, if +people sit up all night? The gripes to them!” He grinned +as he saw where his logic was leading him. “Every man +to his business, after all,” added he, “and if they’re awake, +by the lord, I may come by a supper honestly for this once, +and cheat the devil.”</p> + +<p>He went boldly to the door and knocked with an assured +hand. On both previous occasions, he had knocked timidly +and with some dread of attracting notice; but now, when +he had just discarded the thought of a burglarious entry, +knocking at a door seemed a mighty simple and innocent +proceeding. The sound of his blows echoed through the +house with thin, phantasmal reverberations, as though it +were quite empty; but these had scarcely died away before +a measured tread drew near, a couple of bolts were withdrawn, +and one wing was opened broadly, as though no +guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall +figure of a man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted +Villon. The head was in massive bulk, but finely +sculptured; the nose blunt at the bottom, but refining upward +to where it joined a pair of strong and honest eyebrows; +the mouth and eyes surrounded with delicate +markings, and the whole face based upon a thick white +beard, boldly and squarely trimmed. Seen as it was +by the light of a flickering hand-lamp, it looked perhaps +nobler than it had a right to do; but it was a fine face, +honourable rather than intelligent, strong, simple, and +righteous.</p> + +<p>“You knock late, sir,” said the old man in resonant, +courteous tones.</p> + +<p>Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of +apology; at a crisis of this sort the beggar was uppermost +in him, and the man of genius hid his head with confusion.</p> + +<p>“You are cold,” repeated the old man, “and hungry? +Well, step in.” And he ordered him into the house with a +noble enough gesture.</p> + +<p>“Some great seigneur,” thought Villon, as his host +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241"></a>241</span> +setting down the lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry, +shot the bolts once more into their places.</p> + +<p>“You will pardon me if I go in front,” he said, when +this was done; and he preceded the poet upstairs into a +large apartment, warmed with a pan of charcoal and lit +by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It was very bare +of furniture: only some gold plate on a sideboard; some +folios; and a stand of armour between the windows. Some +smart tapestry hung upon the walls, representing the crucifixion +of our Lord in one piece, and in another a scene of +shepherds and shepherdesses by a running stream. Over +the chimney was a shield of arms.</p> + +<p>“Will you seat yourself,” said the old man, “and forgive +me if I leave you? I am alone in my house to-night, +and if you are to eat I must forage for you myself.”</p> + +<p>No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from +the chair on which he had just seated himself, and began +examining the room, with the stealth and passion of a cat. +He weighed the gold flagons in his hand, opened all the +folios, and investigated the arms upon the shield, and the +stuff with which the seats were lined. He raised the window +curtains, and saw that the windows were set with rich +stained glass in figures, so far as he could see, of martial +import. Then he stood in the middle of the room, drew a +long breath, and retaining it with puffed cheeks, looked +round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to impress +every feature of the apartment on his memory.</p> + +<p>“Seven pieces of plate,” he said. “If there had been +ten, I would have risked it. A fine house, and a fine old +master, so help me all the saints!”</p> + +<p>And just then, hearing the old man’s tread returning +along the corridor, he stole back to his chair, and began +humbly toasting his wet legs before the charcoal pan.</p> + +<p>His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a +jug of wine in the other. He set down the plate upon the +table, motioning Villon to draw in his chair, and going to +the sideboard, brought back two goblets, which he filled.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page242"></a>242</span></p> + +<p>“I drink to your better fortune,” he said, gravely touching +Villon’s cup with his own.</p> + +<p>“To our better acquaintance,” said the poet, growing +bold. A mere man of the people would have been awed +by the courtesy of the old seigneur, but Villon was +hardened in that matter; he had made mirth for great +lords before now, and found them as black rascals as himself. +And so he devoted himself to the viands with a +ravenous gusto, while the old man, leaning backward, +watched him with steady, curious eyes.</p> + +<p>“You have blood on your shoulder, my man,” he +said.</p> + +<p>Montigny must have laid his wet right hand upon him +as he left the house. He cursed Montigny in his heart.</p> + +<p>“It was none of my shedding,” he stammered.</p> + +<p>“I had not supposed so,” returned his host quietly. +“A brawl?”</p> + +<p>“Well, something of that sort,” Villon admitted with a +quaver.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps a fellow murdered?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no—not murdered,” said the poet, more and +more confused. “It was all fair play—murdered by +accident. I had no hand in it, God strike me dead!” he +added fervently.</p> + +<p>“One rogue the fewer, I daresay,” observed the master +of the house.</p> + +<p>“You may dare to say that,” agreed Villon, infinitely +relieved. “As big a rogue as there is between here and +Jerusalem. He turned up his toes like a lamb. But it +was a nasty thing to look at. I daresay you’ve seen dead +men in your time, my lord?” he added, glancing at the +armour.</p> + +<p>“Many,” said the old man. “I have followed the wars, +as you imagine.”</p> + +<p>Villon laid down his knife and fork, which he had just +taken up again.</p> + +<p>“Were any of them bald?” he asked.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page243"></a>243</span></p> + +<p>“Oh yes, and with hair as white as mine.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think I should mind the white so much,” said +Villon. “His was red.” And he had a return of his +shuddering and tendency to laughter, which he drowned +with a great draught of wine. “I’m a little put out when +I think of it,” he went on. “I knew him—damn him! +And then the cold gives a man fancies—or the fancies give +a man cold, I don’t know which.”</p> + +<p>“Have you any money?” asked the old man.</p> + +<p>“I have one white,” returned the poet, laughing. “I +got it out of a dead jade’s stocking in a porch. She was as +dead as Cćsar, poor wench, and as cold as a church, with +bits of ribbon sticking in her hair. This is a hard world in +winter for wolves and wenches and poor rogues like +me.”</p> + +<p>“I,” said the old man, “am Enguerrand de la Feuillée, +seigneur de Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. Who and what +may you be?”</p> + +<p>Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. “I am +called Francis Villon,” he said, “a poor Master of Arts of +this university. I know some Latin, and a deal of vice. I +can make chansons, ballades, lais, virelais, and roundels, +and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a garret, and I +shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, +my lord, that from this night forward I am your lordship’s +very obsequious servant to command.”</p> + +<p>“No servant of mine,” said the knight; “my guest for +this evening, and no more.”</p> + +<p>“A very grateful guest,” said Villon politely; and he +drank in dumb show to his entertainer.</p> + +<p>“You are shrewd,” began the old man, tapping his forehead, +“very shrewd; you have learning; you are a clerk; +and yet you take a small piece of money off a dead woman +in the street. Is it not a kind of theft?”</p> + +<p>“It is a kind of theft much practised in the wars, my +lord.”</p> + +<p>“The wars are the field of honour,” returned the old +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244"></a>244</span> +man proudly. “There a man plays his life upon the cast; +he fights in the name of his lord the king, his Lord God, and +all their lordships the holy saints and angels.”</p> + +<p>“Put it,” said Villon, “that I were really a thief, should +I not play my life also, and against heavier odds?”</p> + +<p>“For gain, but not for honour.”</p> + +<p>“Gain?” repeated Villon, with a shrug. “Gain! +The poor fellow wants supper, and takes it. So does the +soldier in a campaign. Why, what are all these requisitions +we hear so much about? If they are not gain to those +who take them, they are loss enough to the others. The +men-at-arms drink by a good fire, while the burgher bites +his nails to buy them wine and wood. I have seen a good +many ploughmen swinging on trees about the country; ay, +I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very poor figure they +made; and when I asked some one how all these came +to be hanged, I was told it was because they could not +scrape together enough crowns to satisfy the men-at-arms.”</p> + +<p>“These things are a necessity of war, which the low-born +must endure with constancy. It is true that some +captains drive overhard; there are spirits in every rank not +easily moved by pity; and indeed many follow arms who +are no better than brigands.”</p> + +<p>“You see,” said the poet, “you cannot separate the +soldier from the brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated +brigand with circumspect manners? I steal a couple of +mutton chops, without so much as disturbing people’s +sleep; the farmer grumbles a bit, but sups none the less +wholesomely on what remains. You come up blowing +gloriously on a trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and +beat the farmer pitifully into the bargain. I have no +trumpet; I am only Tom, Dick, or Harry; I am a rogue +and a dog, and hanging’s too good for me—with all my +heart; but just you ask the farmer which of us he prefers, +just find out which of us he lies awake to curse on cold +nights.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page245"></a>245</span></p> + +<p>“Look at us two,” said his lordship. “I am old, strong, +and honoured. If I were turned from my house to-morrow, +hundreds would be proud to shelter me. Poor people +would go out and pass the night in the streets with their +children if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. And +I find you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off +dead women by the wayside! I fear no man and nothing; +I have seen you tremble and lose countenance at a word. +I wait God’s summons contentedly in my own house, or, +if it please the king to call me out again, upon the field of +battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, swift death, +without hope or honour. Is there no difference between +these two?”</p> + +<p>“As far as to the moon,” Villon acquiesced. “But if I +had been born lord of Brisetout, and you had been the poor +scholar Francis, would the difference have been any the less? +Should not I have been warming my knees at this charcoal +pan, and would not you have been groping for farthings in +the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the +thief?”</p> + +<p>“A thief!” cried the old man. “I a thief! If you +understood your words, you would repent them.”</p> + +<p>Villon turned out his hands with a gesture of inimitable +impudence. “If your lordship had done me the honour +to follow my argument!” he said.</p> + +<p>“I do you too much honour in submitting to your +presence,” said the knight. “Learn to curb your tongue +when you speak with old and honourable men, or some one +hastier than I may reprove you in a sharper fashion.” And +he rose and paced the lower end of the apartment, struggling +with anger and antipathy. Villon surreptitiously refilled +his cup, and settled himself more comfortably in the chair, +crossing his knees and leaning his head upon one hand and +the elbow against the back of the chair. He was now replete +and warm; and he was in nowise frightened for his +host, having gauged him as justly as was possible between +two such different characters. The night was far spent, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246"></a>246</span> +and in a very comfortable fashion after all; and he felt +morally certain of a safe departure on the morrow.</p> + +<p>“Tell me one thing,” said the old man, pausing in his +walk. “Are you really a thief?”</p> + +<p>“I claim the sacred rights of hospitality,” returned the +poet. “My lord, I am.”</p> + +<p>“You are very young,” the knight continued.</p> + +<p>“I should never have been so old,” replied Villon, +showing his fingers, “if I had not helped myself with these +ten talents. They have been my nursing-mothers and my +nursing-fathers.”</p> + +<p>“You may still repent and change.”</p> + +<p>“I repent daily,” said the poet. “There are few people +more given to repentance than poor Francis. As for change, +let somebody change my circumstances. A man must continue +to eat, if it were only that he may continue to repent.”</p> + +<p>“The change must begin in the heart,” returned the +old man solemnly.</p> + +<p>“My dear lord,” answered Villon, “do you really fancy +that I steal for pleasure? I hate stealing, like any other +piece of work or of danger. My teeth chatter when I see a +gallows. But I must eat, I must drink, I must mix in +society of some sort. What the devil! Man is not a solitary +animal—<i>Cui Deus fœminam tradit</i>. Make me king’s +pantler—make me abbot of St. Denis; make me bailly of +the Patatrac; and then I shall be changed indeed. But +as long as you leave me the poor scholar Francis Villon, +without a farthing, why, of course, I remain the same.”</p> + +<p>“The grace of God is all-powerful.”</p> + +<p>“I should be a heretic to question it,” said Francis. +“It has made you lord of Brisetout and bailly of the +Patatrac; it has given me nothing but the quick wits under +my hat and these ten toes upon my hands. May I help +myself to wine? I thank you respectfully. By God’s +grace, you have a very superior vintage.”</p> + +<p>The lord of Brisetout walked to and fro with his hands +behind his back. Perhaps he was not yet quite settled in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247"></a>247</span> +his mind about the parallel between thieves and soldiers; +perhaps Villon had interested him by some cross-thread of +sympathy; perhaps his wits were simply muddled by so +much unfamiliar reasoning; but whatever the cause, he +somehow yearned to convert the young man to a better +way of thinking, and could not make up his mind to drive +him forth again into the street.</p> + +<p>“There is something more than I can understand in +this,” he said at length. “Your mouth is full of subtleties, +and the devil has led you very far astray; but the devil is +only a very weak spirit before God’s truth, and all his +subtleties vanish at a word of true honour, like darkness at +morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago +that a gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to +God, and the king, and his lady; and though I have seen +many strange things done, I have still striven to command +my ways upon that rule. It is not only written in all noble +histories, but in every man’s heart, if he will take care to +read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well +that hunger is a difficult trial to endure; but you do not +speak of other wants; you say nothing of honour, of faith +to God and other men, of courtesy, of love without reproach. +It may be that I am not very wise—and yet I think I am—but +you seem to me like one who has lost his way and +made a great error in life. You are attending to the little +wants, and you have totally forgotten the great and only +real ones, like a man who should be doctoring a toothache +on the Judgment Day. For such things as honour and love +and faith are not only nobler than food and drink, but indeed +I think that we desire them more, and suffer more +sharply for their absence. I speak to you as I think you +will most easily understand me. Are you not, while careful +to fill your belly, disregarding another appetite in your +heart, which spoils the pleasure of your life and keeps you +continually wretched?”</p> + +<p>Villon was sensibly nettled under all this sermonising. +“You think I have no sense of honour!” he cried. “I’m +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page248"></a>248</span> +poor enough, God knows! It’s hard to see rich people with +their gloves, and you blowing in your hands. An empty +belly is a bitter thing, although you speak so lightly of it. +If you had had as many as I, perhaps you would change +your tune. Any way I’m a thief—make the most of that—but +I’m not a devil from hell, God strike me dead! I +would have you to know I’ve an honour of my own, as good +as yours, though I don’t prate about it all day long, as if it +was a God’s miracle to have any. It seems quite natural +to me; I keep it in its box till it’s wanted. Why now, look +you here, how long have I been in this room with you? Did +you not tell me you were alone in the house? Look at your +gold plate! You’re strong, if you like, but you’re old and +unarmed, and I have my knife. What did I want but a +jerk of the elbow and here would have been you with the +cold steel in your bowels, and there would have been me, +linking in the streets, with an armful of gold cups! Did +you suppose I hadn’t wit enough to see that? And I +scorned the action. There are your damned goblets, as +safe as in a church; there are you, with your heart ticking +as good as new; and here am I, ready to go out again as +poor as I came in, with my one white that you threw in my +teeth! And you think I have no sense of honour—God +strike me dead!”</p> + +<p>The old man stretched out his right arm. “I will tell +you what you are,” he said. “You are a rogue, my man, +an impudent and a black-hearted rogue and vagabond. +I have passed an hour with you. Oh! believe me, I feel +myself disgraced! And you have eaten and drunk at my +table. But now I am sick at your presence; the day has +come, and the night-bird should be off to his roost. Will +you go before, or after?”</p> + +<p>“Which you please,” returned the poet, rising. “I +believe you to be strictly honourable.” He thoughtfully +emptied his cup. “I wish I could add you were intelligent,” +he went on, knocking on his head with his knuckles. “Age, +age! the brains stiff and rheumatic.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page249"></a>249</span></p> + +<p>The old man preceded him from a point of self-respect; +Villon followed, whistling, with his thumbs in his girdle.</p> + +<p>“God pity you,” said the lord of Brisetout at the door.</p> + +<p>“Good-bye, papa,” returned Villon, with a yawn. +“Many thanks for the cold mutton.”</p> + +<p>The door closed behind him. The dawn was breaking +over the white roofs. A chill, uncomfortable morning +ushered in the day. Villon stood and heartily stretched +himself in the middle of the road.</p> + +<p>“A very dull old gentleman,” he thought. “I wonder +what his goblets may be worth.”</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page250"></a>250</span></p> +<h3>THE SIRE DE MALÉTROIT’S DOOR</h3> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Denis de Beaulieu</span> was not yet two-and-twenty, but he +counted himself a grown man, and a very accomplished +cavalier into the bargain. Lads were early formed in that +rough, war-faring epoch; and when one has been in a +pitched battle and a dozen raids, has killed one’s man in +an honourable fashion, and knows a thing or two of strategy +and mankind, a certain swagger in the gait is surely to be +pardoned. He had put up his horse with due care, and +supped with due deliberation; and then, in a very agreeable +frame of mind, went out to pay a visit in the grey of the +evening. It was not a very wise proceeding on the young +man’s part. He would have done better to remain beside +the fire or go decently to bed. For the town was full of the +troops of Burgundy and England under a mixed command; +and though Denis was there on safe-conduct, his safe-conduct +was like to serve him little on a chance encounter.</p> + +<p>It was September 1429; the weather had fallen sharp; +a flighty piping wind, laden with showers, beat about the +township; and the dead leaves ran riot along the streets. +Here and there a window was already lighted up; and the +noise of men-at-arms making merry over supper within +came forth in fits and was swallowed up and carried away +by the wind. The night fell swiftly; the flag of England, +fluttering on the spire-top, grew ever fainter and fainter +against the flying clouds—a black speck like a swallow in +the tumultuous, leaden chaos of the sky. As the night fell +the wind rose, and began to hoot under archways and roar +amid the tree-tops in the valley below the town.</p> + +<p>Denis de Beaulieu walked fast, and was soon knocking +at his friend’s door; but though he promised himself to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251"></a>251</span> +stay only a little while and make an early return, his +welcome was so pleasant, and he found so much to delay +him, that it was already long past midnight before he said +good-bye upon the threshold. The wind had fallen again +in the meanwhile; the night was as black as the grave; +not a star, nor a glimmer of moonshine, slipped through the +canopy of cloud. Denis was ill-acquainted with the intricate +lanes of Château Landon; even by daylight he had +found some trouble in picking his way; and in this absolute +darkness he soon lost it altogether. He was certain of one +thing only—to keep mounting the hill; for his friend’s +house lay at the lower end, or tail, of Château Landon, while +the inn was up at the head, under the great church spire. +With this clue to go upon he stumbled and groped forward, +now breathing more freely in open places where there was +a good slice of sky overhead, now feeling along the wall in +stifling closes. It is an eerie and mysterious position to be +thus submerged in opaque blackness in an almost unknown +town. The silence is terrifying in its possibilities. The +touch of cold window-bars to the exploring hand startles +the man like the touch of a toad; the inequalities of the +pavement shake his heart into his mouth; a piece of denser +darkness threatens an ambuscade or a chasm in the pathway; +and where the air is brighter, the houses put on strange +and bewildering appearances, as if to lead him farther from +his way. For Denis, who had to regain his inn without +attracting notice, there was real danger as well as mere discomfort +in the walk; and he went warily and boldly at +once, and at every corner paused to make an observation.</p> + +<p>He had been for some time threading a lane so narrow +that he could touch a wall with either hand, when it began +to open out and go sharply downward. Plainly this lay +no longer in the direction of his inn; but the hope of a little +more light tempted him forward to reconnoitre. The lane +ended in a terrace with a bartizan wall, which gave an outlook +between high houses, as out of an embrasure, into the +valley lying dark and formless several hundred feet below. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252"></a>252</span> +Denis looked down, and could discern a few tree-tops waving +and a single speck of brightness where the river ran across a +weir. The weather was clearing up, and the sky had +lightened, so as to show the outline of the heavier clouds and +the dark margin of the hills. By the uncertain glimmer, +the house on his left hand should be a place of some pretensions; +it was surmounted by several pinnacles and turret-tops; +the round stern of a chapel, with a fringe of flying +buttresses, projected boldly from the main block; and the +door was sheltered under a deep porch carved with figures +and overhung by two long gargoyles. The windows of the +chapel gleamed through their intricate tracery with a light +as of many tapers, and threw out the buttresses and the +peaked roof in a more intense blackness against the sky. +It was plainly the hotel of some great family of the neighbourhood; +and as it reminded Denis of a town-house of his +own at Bourges, he stood for some time gazing up at it and +mentally gauging the skill of the architects and the consideration +of the two families.</p> + +<p>There seemed to be no issue to the terrace but the lane +by which he had reached it; he could only retrace his steps, +but he had gained some notion of his whereabouts, and +hoped by this means to hit the main thoroughfare and +speedily regain the inn. He was reckoning without that +chapter of accidents which was to make this night memorable +above all others in his career; for he had not gone back +above a hundred yards before he saw a light coming to meet +him, and heard loud voices speaking together in the echoing +narrows of the lane. It was a party of men-at-arms going +the night-round with torches. Denis assured himself that +they had all been making free with the wine-bowl, and were +in no mood to be particular about safe-conducts or the +niceties of chivalrous war. It was as like as not that they +would kill him like a dog and leave him where he fell. The +situation was inspiriting, but nervous. Their own torches +would conceal him from sight, he reflected; and he hoped +that they would drown the noise of his footsteps with their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253"></a>253</span> +own empty voices. If he were but fleet and silent, he might +evade their notice altogether.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, as he turned to beat a retreat, his foot +rolled upon a pebble; he fell against the wall with an ejaculation, +and his sword rang loudly on the stones. Two or +three voices demanded who went there—some in French, +some in English; but Denis made no reply, and ran the +faster down the lane. Once upon the terrace, he paused to +look back. They still kept calling after him, and just then +began to double the pace in pursuit, with a considerable +clank of armour, and great tossing of the torchlight to and +fro in the narrow jaws of the passage.</p> + +<p>Denis cast a look around and darted into the porch. +There he might escape observation, or—if that were too +much to expect—was in a capital posture whether for parley +or defence. So thinking, he drew his sword and tried to +set his back against the door. To his surprise, it yielded +behind his weight; and though he turned in a moment, +continued to swing back on oiled and noiseless hinges, until +it stood wide open on a black interior. When things fall +out opportunely for the person concerned, he is not apt to +be critical about the how or why, his own immediate +personal convenience seeming a sufficient reason for the +strangest oddities and revolutions in our sublunary things; +and so Denis, without a moment’s hesitation, stepped within +and partly closed the door behind him to conceal his place +of refuge. Nothing was further from his thoughts than to +close it altogether; but for some inexplicable reason—perhaps +by a spring or a weight—the ponderous mass of oak +whipped itself out of his fingers and clanked to, with a +formidable rumble and noise like the falling of an automatic +bar.</p> + +<p>The round, at that very moment, debouched upon the +terrace, and proceeded to summon him with shouts and +curses. He heard them ferreting in the dark corners; the +stock of a lance even rattled along the outer surface of the +door behind which he stood; but these gentlemen were in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page254"></a>254</span> +too high a humour to be long delayed, and soon made off +down a corkscrew pathway which had escaped Denis’s +observation, and passed out of sight and hearing along the +battlements of the town.</p> + +<p>Denis breathed again. He gave them a few minutes’ +grace for fear of accidents, and then groped about for some +means of opening the door and slipping forth again. The +inner surface was quite smooth, not a handle, not a moulding, +not a projection of any sort. He got his finger-nails +round the edges and pulled, but the mass was immovable. +He shook it; it was as firm as a rock. Denis de Beaulieu +frowned and gave vent to a little noiseless whistle. What +ailed the door? he wondered. Why was it open? How +came it to shut so easily and so effectually after him? +There was something obscure and underhand about all this +that was little to the young man’s fancy. It looked like a +snare; and yet who could suppose a snare in such a quiet +by-street and in a house of so prosperous and even noble an +exterior? And yet—snare or no snare, intentionally or +unintentionally—here he was, prettily trapped; and for +the life of him he could see no way out of it again. The +darkness began to weigh upon him. He gave ear; all was +silent without, but within and close by he seemed to catch +a faint sighing, a faint sobbing rustle, a little stealthy creak—as +though many persons were at his side, holding themselves +quite still, and governing even their respiration with +the extreme of slyness. The idea went to his vitals with a +shock, and he faced about suddenly as if to defend his life. +Then, for the first time, he became aware of a light about +the level of his eyes, and at some distance in the interior +of the house—a vertical thread of light, widening towards +the bottom, such as might escape between two wings of arras +over a doorway. To see anything was a relief to Denis; +it was like a piece of solid ground to a man labouring in a +morass; his mind seized upon it with avidity; and he stood +staring at it and trying to piece together some logical conception +of his surroundings. Plainly there was a flight of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255"></a>255</span> +steps ascending from his own level to that of this illuminated +doorway; and indeed he thought he could make out +another thread of light, as fine as a needle, and as faint as +phosphorescence, which might very well be reflected along +the polished wood of a handrail. Since he had begun to +suspect that he was not alone, his heart had continued to +beat with smothering violence, and an intolerable desire +for action of any sort had possessed itself of his spirit. +He was in deadly peril, he believed. What could be more +natural than to mount the staircase, lift the curtain, and +confront his difficulty at once? At least he would be dealing +with something tangible; at least he would be no longer +in the dark. He stepped slowly forward with outstretched +hands, until his foot struck the bottom step; then he rapidly +scaled the stairs, stood for a moment to compose his expression, +lifted the arras, and went in.</p> + +<p>He found himself in a large apartment of polished stone. +There were three doors; one on each of three sides; all +similarly curtained with tapestry. The fourth side was +occupied by two large windows and a great stone chimney-piece, +carved with the arms of the Malétroits. Denis +recognised the bearings, and was gratified to find himself +in such good hands. The room was strongly illuminated; +but it contained little furniture except a heavy table and a +chair or two, the hearth was innocent of fire, and the pavement +was but sparsely strewn with rushes clearly many days +old.</p> + +<p>On a high chair beside the chimney, and directly facing +Denis as he entered, sat a little old gentleman in a fur +tippet. He sat with his legs crossed and his hands folded, +and a cup of spiced wine stood by his elbow on a bracket +on the wall. His countenance had a strongly masculine +cast; not properly human, but such as we see in the bull, +the goat, or the domestic boar; something equivocal and +wheedling, something greedy, brutal, and dangerous. The +upper lip was inordinately full, as though swollen by a blow +or a toothache; and the smile, the peaked eyebrows, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256"></a>256</span> +the small, strong eyes were quaintly and almost comically +evil in expression. Beautiful white hair hung straight all +round his head, like a saint’s, and fell in a single curl upon +the tippet. His beard and moustache were the pink of +venerable sweetness. Age, probably in consequence of +inordinate precautions, had left no mark upon his hands; +and the Malétroit hand was famous. It would be difficult +to imagine anything at once so fleshy and so delicate in +design; the taper, sensual fingers were like those of one +of Leonardo’s women; the fork of the thumb made a dimple +protuberance when closed; the nails were perfectly shaped, +and of a dead, surprising whiteness. It rendered his aspect +tenfold more redoubtable, that a man with hands like these +should keep them devoutly folded in his lap like a virgin +martyr—that a man with so intense and startling an expression +of face should sit patiently on his seat and contemplate +people with an unwinking stare, like a god, or a +god’s statue. His quiescence seemed ironical and treacherous, +it fitted so poorly with his looks.</p> + +<p>Such was Alain, Sire de Malétroit.</p> + +<p>Denis and he looked silently at each other for a second +or two.</p> + +<p>“Pray step in,” said the Sire de Malétroit. “I have +been expecting you all the evening.”</p> + +<p>He had not risen, but he accompanied his words with a +smile and a slight but courteous inclination of the head. +Partly from the smile, partly from the strange musical +murmur with which the Sire prefaced his observation, +Denis felt a strong shudder of disgust go through his marrow. +And what with disgust and honest confusion of mind, he +could scarcely get words together in reply.</p> + +<p>“I fear,” he said, “that this is a double accident. I +am not the person you suppose me. It seems you were +looking for a visit; but for my part, nothing was further +from my thoughts—nothing could be more contrary to my +wishes—than this intrusion.”</p> + +<p>“Well, well,” replied the old gentleman indulgently, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257"></a>257</span> +“here you are, which is the main point. Seat yourself, my +friend, and put yourself entirely at your ease. We shall +arrange our little affairs presently.”</p> + +<p>Denis perceived that the matter was still complicated +with some misconception, and he hastened to continue his +explanations.</p> + +<p>“Your door ——” he began.</p> + +<p>“About my door?” asked the other, raising his peaked +eyebrows. “A little piece of ingenuity.” And he shrugged +his shoulders. “A hospitable fancy! By your own +account, you were not desirous of making my acquaintance. +We old people look for such reluctance now and then; and +when it touches our honour, we cast about until we find +some way of overcoming it. You arrive uninvited, but +believe me, very welcome.”</p> + +<p>“You persist in error, sir,” said Denis. “There can be +no question between you and me. I am a stranger in this +countryside. My name is Denis, damoiseau de Beaulieu. +If you see me in your house, it is only ——“</p> + +<p>“My young friend,” interrupted the other, “you will +permit me to have my own ideas on that subject. They +probably differ from yours at the present moment,” he +added, with a leer, “but time will show which of us is in +the right.”</p> + +<p>Denis was convinced he had to do with a lunatic. He +seated himself with a shrug, content to wait the upshot; +and a pause ensued, during which he thought he could distinguish +a hurried gabbling as of prayer from behind the +arras immediately opposite him. Sometimes there seemed +to be but one person engaged, sometimes two; and the +vehemence of the voice, low as it was, seemed to indicate +either haste or an agony of spirit. It occurred to him that +this piece of tapestry covered the entrance to the chapel he +had noticed from without.</p> + +<p>The old gentleman meanwhile surveyed Denis from +head to foot with a smile, and from time to time emitted +little noises like a bird or a mouse, which seemed to indicate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258"></a>258</span> +a high degree of satisfaction. This state of matters became +rapidly insupportable; and Denis, to put an end to it, +remarked politely that the wind had gone down.</p> + +<p>The old gentleman fell into a fit of silent laughter, so +prolonged and violent that he became quite red in the face. +Denis got upon his feet at once, and put on his hat with a +flourish.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” he said, “if you are in your wits, you have +affronted me grossly. If you are out of them, I flatter +myself I can find better employment for my brains than to +talk with lunatics. My conscience is clear; you have made +a fool of me from the first moment; you have refused to +hear my explanations; and now there is no power under +God will make me stay here any longer; and if I cannot +make my way out in a more decent fashion, I will hack your +door in pieces with my sword.”</p> + +<p>The Sire de Malétroit raised his right hand and wagged +it at Denis with the fore and little fingers extended.</p> + +<p>“My dear nephew,” he said, “sit down.”</p> + +<p>“Nephew!” retorted Denis, “you lie in your throat“; +and he snapped his fingers in his face.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, you rogue!” cried the old gentleman, in a +sudden, harsh voice, like the barking of a dog. “Do you +fancy,” he went on, “that when I made my little contrivance +for the door I had stopped short with that? If you +prefer to be bound hand and foot till your bones ache, rise +and try to go away. If you choose to remain a free young +buck, agreeably conversing with an old gentleman—why, +sit where you are in peace, and God be with you.”</p> + +<p>“Do you mean I am a prisoner?” demanded Denis.</p> + +<p>“I state the facts,” replied the other. “I would rather +leave the conclusion to yourself.”</p> + +<p>Denis sat down again. Externally he managed to keep +pretty calm; but within, he was now boiling with anger, +now chilled with apprehension. He no longer felt convinced +that he was dealing with a madman. And if the old +gentleman was sane, what, in God’s name, had he to look +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259"></a>259</span> +for? What absurd or tragical adventure had befallen him? +What countenance was he to assume?</p> + +<p>While he was thus unpleasantly reflecting, the arras +that overhung the chapel door was raised, and a tall priest +in his robes came forth, and; giving a long, keen stare at +Denis, said something in an undertone to Sire de Malétroit.</p> + +<p>“She is in a better frame of spirit?” asked the latter.</p> + +<p>“She is more resigned, messire,” replied the priest.</p> + +<p>“Now the Lord help her, she is hard to please!” sneered +the old gentleman. “A likely stripling—not ill-born—and +of her own choosing too? Why, what more would the +jade have?”</p> + +<p>“The situation is not usual for a young damsel,” said +the other, “and somewhat trying to her blushes.”</p> + +<p>“She should have thought of that before she began the +dance! It was none of my choosing, God knows that: +but since she is in it, by Our Lady, she shall carry it to the +end.” And then addressing Denis, “Monsieur de Beaulieu,” +he asked, “may I present you to my niece? She +has been waiting your arrival, I may say, with even greater +impatience than myself.”</p> + +<p>Denis had resigned himself with a good grace—all he +desired was to know the worst of it as speedily as possible; +so he rose at once, and bowed in acquiescence. The Sire +de Malétroit followed his example, and limped, with the +assistance of the chaplain’s arm, towards the chapel door. +The priest pulled aside the arras, and all three entered. +The building had considerable architectural pretensions. +A light groining sprang from six stout columns, and hung +down in two rich pendants from the centre of the vault. +The place terminated behind the altar in a round end, embossed +and honeycombed with a superfluity of ornament +in relief, and pierced by many little windows shaped like +stars, trefoils, or wheels. These windows were imperfectly +glazed, so that the night-air circulated freely in the chapel. +The tapers, of which there must have been half a hundred +burning on the altar, were unmercifully blown about; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260"></a>260</span> +the light went through many different phases of brilliancy +and semi-eclipse. On the steps in front of the altar knelt +a young girl richly attired as a bride. A chill settled over +Denis as he observed her costume; he fought with desperate +energy against the conclusion that was being thrust +upon his mind; it could not—it should not—be as he +feared.</p> + +<p>“Blanche,” said the Sire, in his most flute-like tones, +“I have brought a friend to see you, my little girl; turn +round and give him your pretty hand. It is good to be +devout; but it is necessary to be polite, my niece.”</p> + +<p>The girl rose to her feet and turned towards the newcomers. +She moved all of a piece; and shame and exhaustion +were expressed in every line of her fresh young +body; and she held her head down and kept her eyes upon +the pavement, as she came slowly forward. In the course +of her advance, her eyes fell upon Denis de Beaulieu’s feet—feet +of which he was justly vain, be it remarked, and wore +in the most elegant accoutrement even while travelling. +She paused—started, as if his yellow boots had conveyed +some shocking meaning—and glanced suddenly up into the +wearer’s countenance. Their eyes met; shame gave place +to horror and terror in her looks; the blood left her lips; +with a piercing scream she covered her face with her hands +and sank upon the chapel floor.</p> + +<p>“That is not the man!” she cried. “My uncle, that +is not the man!”</p> + +<p>The Sire de Malétroit chirped agreeably. “Of course +not,” he said, “I expected as much. It was so unfortunate +you could not remember his name.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed,” she cried, “indeed, I have never seen this +person till this moment—I have never so much as set eyes +upon him—I never wish to see him again. Sir,” she said, +turning to Denis, “if you are a gentleman, you will bear +me out. Have I ever seen you—have you ever seen me—before +this accursed hour?”</p> + +<p>“To speak for myself, I have never had that pleasure,” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page261"></a>261</span> +answered the young man. “This is the first time, messire, +that I have met with your engaging niece.”</p> + +<p>The old gentleman shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>“I am distressed to hear it,” he said. “But it is never +too late to begin. I had little more acquaintance with my +own late lady ere I married her; which proves,” he added +with a grimace, “that these impromptu marriages may +often produce an excellent understanding in the long-run. +As the bridegroom is to have a voice in the matter, I will +give him two hours to make up for lost time before we proceed +with the ceremony.” And he turned towards the door, +followed by the clergyman.</p> + +<p>The girl was on her feet in a moment. “My uncle, you +cannot be in earnest,” she said. “I declare before God I +will stab myself rather than be forced on that young man. +The heart rises at it; God forbids such marriages; you dishonour +your white hair. Oh, my uncle, pity me! There +is not a woman in all the world but would prefer death to +such a nuptial. Is it possible,” she added, faltering—“is +it possible that you do not believe me—that you still think +this“—and she pointed at Denis with a tremor of anger +and contempt—“that you still think <i>this</i> to be the man?”</p> + +<p>“Frankly,” said the old gentleman, pausing on the +threshold, “I do. But let me explain to you once for all, +Blanche de Malétroit, my way of thinking about this affair. +When you took it into your head to dishonour my family +and the name that I have borne, in peace and war, for +more than threescore years, you forfeited, not only the right +to question my designs, but that of looking me in the face. +If your father had been alive, he would have spat on you +and turned you out of doors. His was the hand of iron. +You may bless your God you have only to deal with the +hand of velvet, mademoiselle. It was my duty to get you +married without delay. Out of pure goodwill, I have tried +to find your own gallant for you. And I believe I have +succeeded. But before God and all the holy angels, Blanche +de Malétroit, if I have not, I care not one jack-straw. So +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262"></a>262</span> +let me recommend you to be polite to our young friend; for +upon my word, your next groom may be less appetising.”</p> + +<p>And with that he went out, with the chaplain at his +heels; and the arras fell behind the pair.</p> + +<p>The girl turned upon Denis with flashing eyes.</p> + +<p>“And what, sir,” she demanded, “may be the meaning +of all this?”</p> + +<p>“God knows,” returned Denis gloomily. “I am a +prisoner in this house, which seems full of mad people. +More I know not, and nothing do I understand.”</p> + +<p>“And pray how came you here?” she asked.</p> + +<p>He told her as briefly as he could. “For the rest,” he +added, “perhaps you will follow my example, and tell me +the answer to all these riddles, and what, in God’s name, is +like to be the end of it.”</p> + +<p>She stood silent for a little, and he could see her lips +tremble and her tearless eyes burn with a feverish lustre. +Then she pressed her forehead in both hands.</p> + +<p>“Alas, how my head aches!” she said wearily—“to +say nothing of my poor heart! But it is due to you to +know my story, unmaidenly as it must seem. I am called +Blanche de Malétroit; I have been without father or +mother for—oh! for as long as I can recollect, and indeed +I have been most unhappy all my life. Three months ago +a young captain began to stand near me every day in church. +I could see that I pleased him; I am much to blame, but I +was so glad that any one should love me; and when he +passed me a letter, I took it home with me and read it with +great pleasure. Since that time he has written many. He +was so anxious to speak with me, poor fellow! and kept +asking me to leave the door open some evening that we +might have two words upon the stair. For he knew how +much my uncle trusted me.” She gave something like a +sob at that, and it was a moment before she could go on. +“My uncle is a hard man, but he is very shrewd,” she said +at last. “He has performed many feats in war, and was a +great person at court, and much trusted by Queen Isabeau +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page263"></a>263</span> +in old days. How he came to suspect me I cannot tell; +but it is hard to keep anything from his knowledge; and +this morning, as we came from mass, he took my hand in +his, forced it open, and read my little billet, walking by my +side all the while. When he had finished, he gave it back +to me with great politeness. It contained another request +to have the door left open; and this has been the ruin of +us all. My uncle kept me strictly in my room until evening, +and then ordered me to dress myself as you see me—a hard +mockery for a young girl, do you not think so? I suppose, +when he could not prevail with me to tell him the young +captain’s name, he must have laid a trap for him: into +which, alas! you have fallen in the anger of God. I looked +for much confusion; for how could I tell whether he was +willing to take me for his wife on these sharp terms? He +might have been trifling with me from the first; or I might +have made myself too cheap in his eyes. But truly I had +not looked for such a shameful punishment as this! I +could not think that God would let a girl be so disgraced +before a young man. And now I have told you all; and I +can scarcely hope that you will not despise me.”</p> + +<p>Denis made her a respectful inclination.</p> + +<p>“Madam,” he said, “you have honoured me by your +confidence. It remains for me to prove that I am not unworthy +of the honour. Is Messire de Malétroit at hand?”</p> + +<p>“I believe he is writing in the salle without,” she +answered.</p> + +<p>“May I lead you thither, madam?” asked Denis, offering +his hand with his most courtly bearing.</p> + +<p>She accepted it; and the pair passed out of the chapel, +Blanche in a very drooping and shamefaced condition, but +Denis strutting and ruffling in the consciousness of a mission, +and a boyish certainty of accomplishing it with honour.</p> + +<p>The Sire de Malétroit rose to meet them with an ironical +obeisance.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said Denis, with the grandest possible air, “I +believe I am to have some say in the matter of this marriage; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264"></a>264</span> +and let me tell you at once, I will be no party to forcing +the inclination of this young lady. Had it been freely +offered to me, I should have been proud to accept her hand, +for I perceive she is as good as she is beautiful; but as things +are, I have now the honour, messire, of refusing.”</p> + +<p>Blanche looked at him with gratitude in her eyes; but +the old gentleman only smiled and smiled, until his smile +grew positively sickening to Denis.</p> + +<p>“I am afraid,” he said, “Monsieur de Beaulieu, that you +do not perfectly understand the choice I have to offer you. +Follow me, I beseech you, to this window.” And he led +the way to one of the large windows which stood open on +the night. “You observe,” he went on, “there is an iron +ring in the upper masonry, and reeved through that a very +efficacious rope. Now, mark my words: if you should find +your disinclination to my niece’s person insurmountable, +I shall have you hanged out of this window before sunrise. +I shall only proceed to such an extremity with the greatest +regret, you may believe me. For it is not at all your death +that I desire, but my niece’s establishment in life. At the +same time, it must come to that if you prove obstinate. +Your family, Monsieur de Beaulieu, is very well in its way; +but if you sprang from Charlemagne, you should not refuse +the hand of a Malétroit with impunity—not if she had been +as common as the Paris road—not if she were as hideous as +the gargoyle over my door. Neither my niece nor you, nor +my own private feelings, move me at all in this matter. +The honour of my house has been compromised; I believe +you to be the guilty person; at least you are now in the +secret; and you can hardly wonder if I request you to wipe +out the stain. If you will not, your blood be on your own +head! It will be no great satisfaction to me to have your +interesting relics kicking their heels in the breeze below my +windows; but half a loaf is better than no bread, and if I +cannot cure the dishonour, I shall at least stop the scandal.”</p> + +<p>There was a pause.</p> + +<p>“I believe there are other ways of settling such imbroglios +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page265"></a>265</span> +among gentlemen,” said Denis. “You wear a +sword, and I hear you have used it with distinction.”</p> + +<p>The Sire de Malétroit made a signal to the chaplain, +who crossed the room with long, silent strides and raised +the arras over the third of the three doors. It was only a +moment before he let it fall again; but Denis had time to +see a dusky passage full of armed men.</p> + +<p>“When I was a little younger, I should have been delighted +to honour you, Monsieur de Beaulieu,” said Sire +Alain; “but I am now too old. Faithful retainers are the +sinews of age, and I must employ the strength I have. +This is one of the hardest things to swallow as a man grows +up in years; but with a little patience, even this becomes +habitual. You and the lady seem to prefer the salle for +what remains of your two hours; and as I have no desire +to cross your preference, I shall resign it to your use with +all the pleasure in the world. No haste!” he added, holding +up his hand, as he saw a dangerous look come into Denis +de Beaulieu’s face. “If your mind revolts against hanging, +it will be time enough two hours hence to throw yourself +out of the window or upon the pikes of my retainers. Two +hours of life are always two hours. A great many things +may turn up in even as little a while as that. And, besides, +if I understand her appearance, my niece has still something +to say to you. You will not disfigure your last hours by a +want of politeness to a lady?”</p> + +<p>Denis looked at Blanche, and she made him an imploring +gesture.</p> + +<p>It is likely that the old gentleman was hugely pleased +at this symptom of an understanding; for he smiled on +both, and added sweetly: “If you will give me your word +of honour, Monsieur de Beaulieu, to await my return at the +end of the two hours before attempting anything desperate, +I shall withdraw my retainers, and let you speak in greater +privacy with mademoiselle.”</p> + +<p>Denis again glanced at the girl, who seemed to beseech +him to agree.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page266"></a>266</span></p> + +<p>“I give you my word of honour,” he said.</p> + +<p>Messire de Malétroit bowed, and proceeded to limp +about the apartment, clearing his throat the while with that +odd musical chirp which had already grown so irritating in +the ears of Denis de Beaulieu. He first possessed himself +of some papers which lay upon the table; then he went to +the mouth of the passage and appeared to give an order to +the men behind the arras; and lastly he hobbled out through +the door by which Denis had come in, turning upon the +threshold to address a last smiling bow to the young +couple, and followed by the chaplain with a hand-lamp.</p> + +<p>No sooner were they alone than Blanche advanced towards +Denis with her hands extended. Her face was +flushed and excited, and her eyes shone with tears.</p> + +<p>“You shall not die!” she cried, “you shall marry me +after all.”</p> + +<p>“You seem to think, madam,” replied Denis, “that I +stand much in fear of death.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no, no,” she said; “I see you are no poltroon. It +is for my own sake—I could not bear to have you slain for +such a scruple.”</p> + +<p>“I am afraid,” returned Denis, “that you underrate +the difficulty, madam. What you may be too generous to +refuse, I may be too proud to accept. In a moment of +noble feeling towards me, you forget what you perhaps owe +to others.”</p> + +<p>He had the decency to keep his eyes upon the floor as +he said this, and after he had finished, so as not to spy upon +her confusion. She stood silent for a moment, then walked +suddenly away, and falling on her uncle’s chair, fairly burst +out sobbing. Denis was in the acme of embarrassment. +He looked round, as if to seek for inspiration, and seeing a +stool, plumped down upon it for something to do. There +he sat, playing with the guard of his rapier, and wishing +himself dead a thousand times over, and buried in the +nastiest kitchen-heap in France. His eyes wandered round +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267"></a>267</span> +the apartment, but found nothing to arrest them. There +were such wide spaces between the furniture, the light fell so +baldly and cheerlessly over all, the dark outside air looked +in so coldly through the windows, that he thought he had +never seen a church so vast nor a tomb so melancholy. The +regular sobs of Blanche de Malétroit measured out the time +like the ticking of a clock. He read the device upon the +shield over and over again, until his eyes became obscured; +he stared into shadowy corners until he imagined they were +swarming with horrible animals; and every now and again +he awoke with a start, to remember that his last two hours +were running, and death was on the march.</p> + +<p>Oftener and oftener, as the time went on, did his glance +settle on the girl herself. Her face was bowed forward and +covered with her hands, and she was shaken at intervals +by the convulsive hiccup of grief. Even thus she was not +an unpleasant object to dwell upon, so plump, and yet so +fine, with a warm brown skin, and the most beautiful hair, +Denis thought, in the whole world of womankind. Her +hands were like her uncle’s; but they were more in place +at the end of her young arms, and looked infinitely soft and +caressing. He remembered how her blue eyes had shone +upon him full of anger, pity, and innocence. And the more +he dwelt on her perfections, the uglier death looked, and the +more deeply was he smitten with penitence at her continued +tears. Now he felt that no man could have the courage to +leave a world which contained so beautiful a creature; and +now he would have given forty minutes of his last hour to +have unsaid his cruel speech.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a hoarse and ragged peal of cockcrow rose to +their ears from the dark valley below the windows. And +this shattering noise in the silence of all around was like a +light in a dark place, and shook them both out of their +reflections.</p> + +<p>“Alas, can I do nothing to help you?” she said, looking +up.</p> + +<p>“Madam,” replied Denis, with a fine irrelevancy, “if +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268"></a>268</span> +I have said anything to wound you, believe me it was for +your own sake and not for mine.”</p> + +<p>She thanked him with a tearful look.</p> + +<p>“I feel your position cruelly,” he went on. “The world +has been bitter hard on you. Your uncle is a disgrace to +mankind. Believe me, madam, there is no young gentleman +in all France but would be glad of my opportunity, to +die in doing you a momentary service.”</p> + +<p>“I know already that you can be very brave and +generous,” she answered. “What I <i>want</i> to know is +whether I can serve you—now or afterwards,” she added, +with a quaver.</p> + +<p>“Most certainly,” he answered, with a smile. “Let +me sit beside you as if I were a friend, instead of a foolish +intruder; try to forget how awkwardly we are placed to +one another; make my last moments go pleasantly; and +you will do me the chief service possible.”</p> + +<p>“You are very gallant,” she added, with a yet deeper +sadness; “very gallant——and it somehow pains me. +But draw nearer, if you please; and if you find anything to +say to me, you will at least make certain of a very friendly +listener. Ah! Monsieur de Beaulieu,” she broke forth—“ah! +Monsieur de Beaulieu, how can I look you in the +face?” And she fell to weeping again with a renewed effusion.</p> + +<p>“Madam,” said Denis, taking her hand in both of his, +“reflect on the little time I have before me, and the great +bitterness into which I am cast by the sight of your distress. +Spare me, in my last moments, the spectacle of what I cannot +cure even with the sacrifice of my life.”</p> + +<p>“I am very selfish,” answered Blanche. “I will be +braver, Monsieur de Beaulieu, for your sake. But think if +I can do you no kindness in the future—if you have no +friends to whom I could carry your adieux. Charge me as +heavily as you can: every burden will lighten, by so little, +the invaluable gratitude I owe you. Put it in my power +to do something more for you than weep.”</p> + +<p>“My mother is married again, and has a young family +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269"></a>269</span> +to care for. My brother Guichard will inherit my fiefs: +and if I am not in error, that will content him amply for my +death. Life is a little vapour that passeth away, as we are +told by those in holy orders. When a man is in a fair way +and sees all life open in front of him, he seems to himself +to make a very important figure in the world. His horse +whinnies to him; the trumpets blow and the girls look out +of window as he rides into town before his company; he +receives many assurances of trust and regard—sometimes +by express in a letter—sometimes face to face, with persons +of great consequence falling on his neck. It is not wonderful +if his head is turned for a time. But once he is dead, were +he as brave as Hercules or as wise as Solomon, he is soon +forgotten. It is not ten years since my father fell, with +many other knights around him, in a very fierce encounter, +and I do not think that any one of them, nor so much as +the name of the fight, is now remembered. No, no, madam, +the nearer you come to it, you see that death is a dark and +dusty corner, where a man gets into his tomb and has the +door shut after him till the judgment-day. I have few +friends just now, and once I am dead I shall have none.”</p> + +<p>“Ah, Monsieur de Beaulieu!” she exclaimed, “you forget +Blanche de Malétroit.”</p> + +<p>“You have a sweet nature, madam, and you are pleased +to estimate a little service far beyond its worth.”</p> + +<p>“It is not that,” she answered. “You mistake me if +you think I am so easily touched by my own concerns. I +say so, because you are the noblest man I have ever met; +because I recognise in you a spirit that would have made +even a common person famous in the land.”</p> + +<p>“And yet here I die in a mousetrap—with no more +noise about it than my own squeaking,” answered he.</p> + +<p>A look of pain crossed her face, and she was silent for a +little while. Then a light came into her eyes, and with a +smile she spoke again.</p> + +<p>“I cannot have my champion think meanly of himself. +Any one who gives his life for another will be met in Paradise +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270"></a>270</span> +by all the heralds and angels of the Lord God. And +you have no cause to hang your head. For——Pray, +do you think me beautiful?” she asked, with a deep +flush.</p> + +<p>“Indeed, madam, I do,” he said.</p> + +<p>“I am glad of that,” she answered heartily. “Do you +think there are many men in France who have been asked +in marriage by a beautiful maiden—with her own lips—and +who have refused her to her face? I know you men +would half-despise such a triumph; but believe me, we +women know more of what is precious in love. There is +nothing that should set a person higher in his own esteem; +and we women would prize nothing more dearly.”</p> + +<p>“You are very good,” he said; “but you cannot make +me forget that I was asked in pity and not for love.”</p> + +<p>“I am not so sure of that,” she replied, holding down +her head. “Hear me to an end, Monsieur de Beaulieu. +I know how you must despise me; I feel you are right to do +so; I am too poor a creature to occupy one thought of your +mind, although, alas! you must die for me this morning. +But when I asked you to marry me, indeed, and indeed, it +was because I respected and admired you, and loved you +with my whole soul, from the very moment that you took +my part against my uncle. If you had seen yourself, and +how noble you looked, you would pity rather than despise +me. And now,” she went on, hurriedly checking him with +her hand, “although I have laid aside all reserve and told +you so much, remember that I know your sentiments towards +me already. I would not, believe me, being nobly +born, weary you with importunities into consent. I too +have a pride of my own: and I declare before the holy +Mother of God, if you should now go back from your word +already given, I would no more marry you than I would +marry my uncle’s groom.”</p> + +<p>Denis smiled a little bitterly.</p> + +<p>“It is a small love,” he said, “that shies at a little +pride.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page271"></a>271</span></p> + +<p>She made no answer, although she probably had her +own thoughts.</p> + +<p>“Come hither to the window,” he said, with a sigh. +“Here is the dawn.”</p> + +<p>And indeed the dawn was already beginning. The +hollow of the sky was full of essential daylight, colourless +and clean; and the valley underneath was flooded with a +grey reflection. A few thin vapours clung in the coves of +the forest or lay along the winding course of the river. +The scene disengaged a surprising effect of stillness, which +was hardly interrupted when the cocks began once more to +crow among the steadings. Perhaps the same fellow who +had made so horrid a clangour in the darkness not half an +hour before now sent up the merriest cheer to greet the +coming day. A little wind went bustling and eddying +among the tree-tops underneath the windows. And still +the daylight kept flooding insensibly out of the east, which +was soon to grow incandescent and cast up that red-hot +cannon-ball, the rising sun.</p> + +<p>Denis looked out over all this with a bit of a shiver. +He had taken her hand, and retained it in his almost unconsciously.</p> + +<p>“Has the day begun already?” she said; and then, +illogically enough: “the night has been so long! Alas! +what shall we say to my uncle when he returns?”</p> + +<p>“What you will,” said Denis, and he pressed her fingers +in his.</p> + +<p>She was silent.</p> + +<p>“Blanche,” he said, with a swift, uncertain, passionate +utterance, “you have seen whether I fear death. You +must know well enough that I would as gladly leap out of +that window into the empty air as lay a finger on you without +your free and full consent. But if you care for me at +all do not let me lose my life in a misapprehension; for I +love you better than the whole world; and though I will +die for you blithely, it would be like all the joys of Paradise +to live on and spend my life in your service.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page272"></a>272</span></p> + +<p>As he stopped speaking, a bell began to ring loudly in +the interior of the house; and a clatter of armour in the +corridor showed that the retainers were returning to their +post, and the two hours were at an end.</p> + +<p>“After all that you have heard?” she whispered, +leaning towards him with her lips and eyes.</p> + +<p>“I have heard nothing,” he <span class="correction" title="missing period">replied.</span></p> + +<p>“The captain’s name was Florimond de Champdivers,” +she said in his ear.</p> + +<p>“I did not hear it,” he answered, taking her supple +body in his arms and covered her wet face with kisses.</p> + +<p>A melodious chirping was audible behind, followed by +a beautiful chuckle, and the voice of Messire de Malétroit +wished his new nephew a good morning.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page273"></a>273</span></p> +<h3>PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR</h3> + +<h4>CHAPTER I</h4> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Monsieur Léon Berthelini</span> had a great care of his appearance, +and sedulously suited his deportment to the +costume of the hour. He affected something Spanish in his +air, and something of the bandit, with a flavour of Rembrandt +at home. In person he was decidedly small, and +inclined to be stout; his face was the picture of good-humour; +his dark eyes, which were very expressive, told +of a kind heart, a brisk, merry nature, and the most indefatigable +spirits. If he had worn the clothes of the period +you would have set him down for a hitherto undiscovered +hybrid between the barber, the innkeeper, and the affable +dispensing chemist. But in the outrageous bravery of +velvet jacket and flapped hat, with trousers that were more +accurately described as fleshings, a white handkerchief +cavalierly knotted at his neck, a shock of Olympian curls +upon his brow, and his feet shod through all weathers in +the slenderest of Moličre shoes—you had but to look at him +and you knew you were in the presence of a Great Creature. +When he wore an overcoat he scorned to pass the sleeves; +a single button held it round his shoulders; it was tossed +backwards after the manner of a cloak, and carried with +the gait and presence of an Almaviva. I am of opinion +that M. Berthelini was nearing forty. But he had a boy’s +heart, gloried in his finery, and walked through life like a +child in a perpetual dramatic performance. If he were not +Almaviva after all, it was not for lack of making believe. +And he enjoyed the artist’s compensation. If he were not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274"></a>274</span> +really Almaviva, he was sometimes just as happy as though +he were.</p> + +<p>I have seen him, at moments when he has fancied himself +alone with his Maker, adopt so gay and chivalrous a +bearing, and represent his own part with so much warmth +and conscience, that the illusion became catching, and I +believed implicitly in the Great Creature’s pose.</p> + +<p>But, alas! life cannot be entirely conducted on these +principles; man cannot live by Almavivery alone; and the +Great Creature, having failed upon several theatres, was +obliged to step down every evening from his heights, and +sing from half a dozen to a dozen comic songs, twang a +guitar, keep a country audience in good humour, and preside +finally over the mysteries of a tombola.</p> + +<p>Madame Berthelini, who was art and part with him in +these undignified labours, had perhaps a higher position in +the scale of beings, and enjoyed a natural dignity of her own. +But her heart was not any more rightly placed, for that +would have been impossible; and she had acquired a little +air of melancholy, attractive enough in its way, but not +good to see like the wholesome, sky-scraping, boyish spirits +of her lord.</p> + +<p>He, indeed, swam like a kite on a fair wind, high above +earthly troubles. Detonations of temper were not unfrequent +in the zones he travelled; but sulky fogs and +tearful depressions were there alike unknown. A well-delivered +blow upon a table, or a noble attitude, imitated +from Mélingue or Frédéric, relieved his irritation like a +vengeance. Though the heaven had fallen, if he had played +his part with propriety, Berthelini had been content! And +the man’s atmosphere, if not his example, reacted on his +wife; for the couple doated on each other, and although you +would have thought they walked in different worlds, yet +continued to walk hand in hand.</p> + +<p>It chanced one day that Monsieur and Madame Berthelini +descended with two boxes and a guitar in a fat case at +the station of the little town of Castel-le-Gâchis, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275"></a>275</span> +omnibus carried them with their effects to the Hotel of the +Black Head. This was a dismal, conventual building in a +narrow street, capable of standing siege when once the gates +were shut, and smelling strangely in the interior of straw +and chocolate and old feminine apparel. Berthelini paused +upon the threshold with a painful premonition. In some +former state, it seemed to him, he had visited a hostelry that +smelt not otherwise, and been ill received.</p> + +<p>The landlord, a tragic person in a large felt hat, rose +from a business-table under the key-rack, and came forward, +removing his hat with both hands as he did so.</p> + +<p>“Sir, I salute you. May I inquire what is your charge +for artists?” inquired Berthelini, with a courtesy at once +splendid and insinuating.</p> + +<p>“For artists?” said the landlord. His countenance +fell and the smile of welcome disappeared. “Oh, artists!” +he added brutally; “four francs a day.” And he turned +his back upon these inconsiderable customers.</p> + +<p>A commercial traveller is received, he also, upon a reduction—yet +is he welcome, yet can he command the fatted +calf; but an artist, had he the manners of an Almaviva, +were he dressed like Solomon in all his glory, is received like +a dog and served like a timid lady travelling alone.</p> + +<p>Accustomed as he was to the rubs of his profession, +Berthelini was unpleasantly affected by the landlord’s +manner.</p> + +<p>“Elvira,” said he to his wife, “mark my words: +Castel-le-Gâchis is a tragic folly.”</p> + +<p>“Wait till we see what we take,” replied Elvira.</p> + +<p>“We shall take nothing,” replied Berthelini; “we shall +feed upon insults. I have an eye, Elvira; I have a spirit +of divination; and this place is accursed. The landlord +has been discourteous, the Commissary will be brutal, the +audience will be sordid and uproarious, and you will take a +cold upon your throat. We have been besotted enough to +come; the die is cast—it will be a second Sedan.”</p> + +<p>Sedan was a town hateful to the Berthelinis, not only +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page276"></a>276</span> +from patriotism (for they were French, and answered after +the flesh to the somewhat homely name of Duval), but because +it had been the scene of their most sad reverses. In +that place they had lain three weeks in pawn for their hotel +bill, and had it not been for a surprising stroke of fortune +they might have been lying there in pawn until this day. +To mention the name of Sedan was for the Berthelinis to +dip the brush in earthquake and eclipse. Count Almaviva +slouched his hat with a gesture expressive of despair, and +even Elvira felt as if ill-fortune had been personally evoked.</p> + +<p>“Let us ask for breakfast,” said she, with a woman’s tact.</p> + +<p>The Commissary of Police of Castel-le-Gâchis was a +large red Commissary, pimpled, and subject to a strong +cutaneous transpiration. I have repeated the name of his +office because he was so very much more a Commissary than +a man. The spirit of his dignity had entered into him. +He carried his corporation as if it were something official. +Whenever he insulted a common citizen it seemed to him +as if he were adroitly flattering the Government by a side-wind; +in default of dignity he was brutal from an over-weening +sense of duty. His office was a den, whence passers-by +could hear rude accents laying down, not the law, but the +good pleasure of the Commissary.</p> + +<p>Six several times in the course of the day did M. Berthelini +hurry thither in quest of the requisite permission for +his evening’s entertainment; six several times he found the +official was abroad. Léon Berthelini began to grow quite a +familiar figure in the streets of Castel-le-Gâchis; he became +a local celebrity, and was pointed out as “the man who +was looking for the Commissary.” Idle children attached +themselves to his footsteps, and trotted after him back and +forward between the hotel and the office. Léon might try +as he liked; he might roll cigarettes, he might straddle, he +might cock his hat at a dozen different jaunty inclinations—the +part of Almaviva was, under the circumstances, +difficult to play.</p> + +<p>As he passed the market-place upon the seventh excursion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277"></a>277</span> +the Commissary was pointed out to him, where he stood, +with his waistcoat unbuttoned and his hands behind his +back, to superintend the sale and measurement of butter. +Berthelini threaded his way through the market-stalls and +baskets, and accosted the dignitary with a bow which was +a triumph of the histrionic art.</p> + +<p>“I have the honour,” he asked, “of meeting M. le +Commissaire?”</p> + +<p>The Commissary was affected by the nobility of his +address. He excelled Léon in the depth if not in the airy +grace of his salutation.</p> + +<p>“The honour,” said he, “is mine!”</p> + +<p>“I am,” continued the strolling player, “I am, sir, an +artist, and I have permitted myself to interrupt you on an +affair of business. To-night I give a trifling musical entertainment +at the Café of the Triumphs of the Plough—permit +me to offer you this little programme—and I have +come to ask you for the necessary authorisation.”</p> + +<p>At the word “artist” the Commissary had replaced his +hat with the air of a person who, having condescended too +far, should suddenly remember the duties of his rank.</p> + +<p>“Go, go,” said he, “I am busy; I am measuring +butter.”</p> + +<p>“Heathen Jew!” thought Léon. “Permit me, sir,” +he resumed, aloud. “I have gone six times already—“</p> + +<p>“Put up your bills if you choose,” interrupted the +Commissary. “In an hour or so I will examine your papers +at the office. But now go; I am busy.”</p> + +<p>“Measuring butter!” thought Berthelini. “O France, +and it is for this that we made ’93!”</p> + +<p>The preparations were soon made; the bills posted, +programmes laid on the dinner-table of every hotel in the +town, and a stage erected at one end of the Café of the +Triumphs of the Plough; but when Léon returned to the +office, the Commissary was once more abroad.</p> + +<p>“He is like Madame Benoîton,” thought Léon: “Fichu +Commissaire!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page278"></a>278</span></p> + +<p>And just then he met the man face to face.</p> + +<p>“Here, sir,” said he, “are my papers. Will you be +pleased to verify?”</p> + +<p>But the Commissary was now intent upon dinner.</p> + +<p>“No use,” he replied, “no use; I am busy; I am quite +satisfied. Give your entertainment.”</p> + +<p>And he hurried on.</p> + +<p>“Fichu Commissaire!” thought Léon.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER II</h4> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">The</span> audience was pretty large; and the proprietor of the +café made a good thing of it in beer. But the Berthelinis +exerted themselves in vain.</p> + +<p>Léon was radiant in velveteen; he had a rakish way of +smoking a cigarette between his songs that was worth +money in itself; he underlined his comic points so that the +dullest numskull in Castel-le-Gâchis had a notion when to +laugh; and he handled his guitar in a manner worthy of +himself. Indeed, his play with that instrument was as +good as a whole romantic drama; it was so dashing, so +florid, and so cavalier.</p> + +<p>Elvira, on the other hand, sang her patriotic and +romantic songs with more than usual expression; her voice +had charm and plangency; and as Léon looked at her, in +her low-bodied maroon dress, with her arms bare to the +shoulder, and a red flower set provocatively in her corset, +he repeated to himself for the many hundredth time that +she was one of the loveliest creatures in the world of women.</p> + +<p>Alas! when she went round with the tambourine, the +golden youth of Castel-le-Gâchis turned from her coldly. +Here and there a single halfpenny was forthcoming; the +net result of a collection never exceeded half a franc; and +the Maire himself, after seven different applications, had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279"></a>279</span> +contributed exactly twopence. A certain chill began to +settle upon the artists themselves; it seemed as if they +were singing to slugs; Apollo himself might have lost heart +with such an audience. The Berthelinis struggled against +the impression; they put their back into their work, they +sang louder and louder, the guitar twanged like a living +thing; and at last Léon arose in his might, and burst with +inimitable conviction into his great song, “Y a des honnętes +gens partout!” Never had he given more proof of his +artistic mastery; it was his intimate, indefeasible conviction +that Castel-le-Gâchis formed an exception to the law he +was now lyrically proclaiming, and was peopled exclusively +by thieves and bullies; and yet, as I say, he flung it down +like a challenge, he trolled it forth like an article of faith; +and his face so beamed the while that you would have +thought he must make converts of the benches.</p> + +<p>He was at the top of his register, with his head thrown +back and his mouth open, when the door was thrown +violently open, and a pair of new-comers marched noisily +into the café. It was the Commissary, followed by the +Garde Champętre.</p> + +<p>The undaunted Berthelini still continued to proclaim, +“Y a des honnętes gens partout!” But now the sentiment +produced an audible titter among the audience. +Berthelini wondered why; he did not know the antecedents +of the Garde Champętre; he had never heard of a little +story about postage-stamps. But the public knew all +about the postage-stamps and enjoyed the coincidence +hugely.</p> + +<p>The Commissary planted himself upon a vacant chair +with somewhat the air of Cromwell visiting the Rump, and +spoke in occasional whispers to the Garde Champętre, who +remained respectfully standing at his back. The eyes of +both were directed upon Berthelini, who persisted in his +statement.</p> + +<p>“Y a des honnętes gens partout,” he was just chanting +for the twentieth time; when up got the Commissary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page280"></a>280</span> +upon his feet and waved brutally to the singer with his +cane.</p> + +<p>“Is it me you want?” inquired Léon, stopping in his +song.</p> + +<p>“It is you,” replied the potentate.</p> + +<p>“Fichu Commissaire!” thought Léon, and he descended +from the stage and made his way to the functionary.</p> + +<p>“How does it happen, sir,” said the Commissary, +swelling in person, “that I find you mountebanking in a +public café without my permission?”</p> + +<p>“Without?” cried the indignant Léon. “Permit me +to remind you——“</p> + +<p>“Come, come, sir!” said the Commissary, “I desire no +explanations.”</p> + +<p>“I care nothing about what you desire,” returned the +singer. “I choose to give them, and I will not be gagged. +I am an artist, sir, a distinction that you cannot comprehend. +I received your permission and stand here upon the +strength of it; interfere with me who dare.”</p> + +<p>“You have not got my signature, I tell you,” cried the +Commissary. “Show me my signature! Where is my +signature?”</p> + +<p>That was just the question; where was his signature? +Léon recognised that he was in a hole; but his spirit rose +with the occasion, and he blustered nobly, tossing back his +curls. The Commissary played up to him in the character +of tyrant; and as the one leaned farther forward, the other +leaned farther back—majesty confronting fury. The +audience had transferred their attention to this new performance, +and listened with that silent gravity common to +all Frenchmen in the neighbourhood of the Police. Elvira +had sat down, she was used to these distractions, and it +was rather melancholy than fear that now oppressed her.</p> + +<p>“Another word,” cried the Commissary, “and I arrest +you.”</p> + +<p>“Arrest me?” shouted Léon. “I defy you!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page281"></a>281</span></p> + +<p>“I am the Commissary of Police,” said the official.</p> + +<p>Léon commanded his feelings, and replied, with great +delicacy of innuendo—</p> + +<p>“So it would appear.”</p> + +<p>The point was too refined for Castel-le-Gâchis; it did +not raise a smile; and as for the Commissary, he simply +bade the singer follow him to his office, and directed his +proud footsteps towards the door. There was nothing for +it but to obey. Léon did so with a proper pantomime of +indifference, but it was a leek to eat, and there was no +denying it.</p> + +<p>The Maire had slipped out and was already waiting at +the Commissary’s door. Now the Maire, in France, is the +refuge of the oppressed. He stands between his people +and the boisterous rigours of the Police. He can sometimes +understand what is said to him; he is not always +puffed up beyond measure by his dignity. ’Tis a thing +worth the knowledge of travellers. When all seems over, +and a man has made up his mind to injustice, he has still, +like the heroes of romance, a little bugle at his belt whereon +to blow; and the Maire, a comfortable <i>deus ex machinâ</i>, +may still descend to deliver him from the minions of the +law. The Maire of Castel-le-Gâchis, although inaccessible +to the charms of music as retailed by the Berthelinis, had +no hesitation whatever as to the rights of the matter. He +instantly fell foul of the Commissary in very high terms, and +the Commissary, pricked by this humiliation, accepted +battle on the point of fact. The argument lasted some little +while with varying success, until at length victory inclined +so plainly to the Commissary’s side that the Maire was fain +to re-assert himself by an exercise of authority. He had +been out-argued, but he was still the Maire. And so, turning +from his interlocutor, he briefly but kindly recommended +Léon to get back instanter to his concert.</p> + +<p>“It is already growing late,” he added.</p> + +<p>Léon did not wait to be told twice. He returned to the +Café of the Triumphs of the Plough with all expedition. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282"></a>282</span> +Alas! the audience had melted away during his absence; +Elvira was sitting in a very disconsolate attitude on the +guitar-box; she had watched the company dispersing by +twos and threes, and the prolonged spectacle had somewhat +overwhelmed her spirits. Each man, she reflected, retired +with a certain proportion of her earnings in his pocket, and +she saw to-night’s board and to-morrow’s railway expenses, +and finally even to-morrow’s dinner, walk one after another +out of the café-door and disappear into the night.</p> + +<p>“What was it?” she asked languidly.</p> + +<p>But Léon did not answer. He was looking round him +on the scene of defeat. Scarce a score of listeners remained, +and these of the least promising sort. The minute-hand +of the clock was already climbing upward towards +eleven.</p> + +<p>“It’s a lost battle,” said he, and then taking up the +money-box, he turned it out. “Three francs seventy-five!” +he cried, “as against four of board and six of railway fares; +and no time for the tombola! Elvira, this is Waterloo!” +And he sat down and passed both hands desperately among +his curls. “O fichu Commissaire!” he cried, “fichu Commissaire!”</p> + +<p>“Let us get the things together and be off,” returned +Elvira. “We might try another song, but there is not six +halfpence in the room.”</p> + +<p>“Six halfpence?” cried Leon, “six hundred thousand +devils! There is not a human creature in the town—nothing +but pigs and dogs and commissaries! Pray heaven +we get safe to bed.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t imagine things!” exclaimed Elvira, with a +shudder.</p> + +<p>And with that they set to work on their preparations. +The tobacco-jar, the cigarette-holder, the three papers of +shirt-studs, which were to have been the prizes of the +tombola had the tombola come off, were made into a bundle +with the music; the guitar was stowed into the fat guitar-case; +and Elvira having thrown a thin shawl about her neck +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page283"></a>283</span> +and shoulders, the pair issued from the café and set off for +the Black Head.</p> + +<p>As they crossed the market-place the church bell rang +out eleven. It was a dark, mild night, and there was no +one in the streets.</p> + +<p>“It is all very fine,” said Léon: “but I have a presentiment. +The night is not yet done.”</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER III</h4> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">The</span> Black Head presented not a single chink of light upon +the street, and the carriage gate was closed.</p> + +<p>“This is unprecedented,” observed Léon. “An inn +closed by five minutes after eleven! And there were several +commercial travellers in the café up to a late hour. Elvira, +my heart misgives me. Let us ring the bell.”</p> + +<p>The bell had a potent note; and being swung under the +arch it filled the house from top to bottom with surly, +clanging reverberations. The sound accentuated the conventual +appearance of the building; a wintry sentiment, +a thought of prayer and mortification, took hold upon +Elvira’s mind; and, as for Léon, he seemed to be reading +the stage directions for a lugubrious fifth act.</p> + +<p>“This is your fault,” said Elvira; “this is what comes +of fancying things!”</p> + +<p>Again Léon pulled the bell-rope; again the solemn +tocsin awoke the echoes of the inn; and ere they had died +away, a light glimmered in the carriage entrance, and a +powerful voice was heard upraised and tremulous with +wrath.</p> + +<p>“What’s all this?” cried the tragic host through the +spars of the gate. “Hard upon twelve, and you come +clamouring like Prussians at the door of a respectable +hotel? Oh!” he cried, “I know you now! Common +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284"></a>284</span> +singers! People in trouble with the Police! And you +present yourselves at midnight like lords and ladies? Be +off with you!”</p> + +<p>“You will permit me to remind you,” replied Léon, in +thrilling tones, “that I am a guest in your house, that I +am properly inscribed, and that I have deposited baggage +to the value of four hundred francs.”</p> + +<p>“You cannot get in at this hour,” returned the man. +“This is no thieves’ tavern, for mohocks and night-rakes +and organ-grinders.”</p> + +<p>“Brute!” cried Elvira, for the organ-grinders touched +her home.</p> + +<p>“Then I demand my baggage,” said Léon, with unabated +dignity.</p> + +<p>“I know nothing of your baggage,” replied the landlord.</p> + +<p>“You detain my baggage? You dare to detain my +baggage?” cried the singer.</p> + +<p>“Who are you?” returned the landlord. “It is dark—I +cannot recognise you.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, then—you detain my baggage,” concluded +Léon. “You shall smart for this. I will weary out your +life with persecutions; I will drag you from court to court; +if there is justice to be had in France, it shall be rendered +between you and me. And I will make you a by-word—I +will put you in a song—a scurrilous song—an indecent song—a +popular song—which the boys shall sing to you in the +street, and come and howl through these spars at midnight!”</p> + +<p>He had gone on raising his voice at every phrase, for all +the while the landlord was very placidly retiring; and now, +when the last glimmer of light had vanished from the arch, +and the last footstep died away in the interior, Léon turned +to his wife with a heroic countenance.</p> + +<p>“Elvira,” said he, “I have now a duty in life. I shall +destroy that man as Eugčne Sue destroyed the concierge. +Let us come at once to the Gendarmerie and begin our +vengeance.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page285"></a>285</span></p> + +<p>He picked up the guitar-case, which had been propped +against the wall, and they set forth through the silent and +ill-lighted town with burning hearts.</p> + +<p>The Gendarmerie was concealed beside the telegraph-office +at the bottom of a vast court, which was partly laid +out in gardens; and here all the shepherds of the public +lay locked in grateful sleep. It took a deal of knocking to +waken one; and he, when he came at last to the door, could +find no other remark but that “it was none of his business.” +Léon reasoned with him, threatened him, besought him; +“here,” he said, “was Madame Berthelini in evening dress—a +delicate woman—in an interesting condition“—the last +was thrown in, I fancy, for effect; and to all this the man-at-arms +made the same answer—</p> + +<p>“It is none of my business,” said he.</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Léon, “then we shall go to the Commissary.” +Thither they went; the office was closed and +dark; but the house was close by, and Leon was soon +swinging the bell like a madman. The Commissary’s wife +appeared at the window. She was a thread-paper creature, +and informed them that the Commissary had not yet come +home.</p> + +<p>“Is he at the Maire’s?” demanded Léon.</p> + +<p>She thought that was not unlikely.</p> + +<p>“Where is the Maire’s house?” he asked.</p> + +<p>And she gave him some rather vague information on +that point.</p> + +<p>“Stay you here, Elvira,” said Léon, “lest I should miss +him by the way. If, when I return, I find you here no +longer, I shall follow at once to the Black Head.”</p> + +<p>And he set out to find the Maire’s. It took him some +ten minutes’ wandering among blind lanes, and when he +arrived it was already half an hour past midnight. A long +white garden wall overhung by some thick chestnuts, a +door with a letter-box, and an iron bell-pull—that was all +that could be seen of the Maire’s domicile. Léon took the +bell-pull in both hands, and danced furiously upon the side-walk. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286"></a>286</span> +The bell itself was just upon the other side of the +wall; it responded to his activity, and scattered an alarming +clangour far and wide into the night.</p> + +<p>A window was thrown open in a house across the street, +and a voice inquired the cause of this untimely uproar.</p> + +<p>“I wish the Maire,” said Léon.</p> + +<p>“He has been in bed this hour,” returned the voice.</p> + +<p>“He must get up again,” retorted Léon, and he was for +tackling the bell-pull once more.</p> + +<p>“You will never make him hear,” responded the voice. +“The garden is of great extent, the house is at the farther +end, and both the Maire and his housekeeper are deaf.”</p> + +<p>“Aha!” said Léon, pausing. “The Maire is deaf, is +he? That explains.” And he thought of the evening’s +concert with a momentary feeling of relief. “Ah!” he +continued, “and so the Maire is deaf, and the garden vast, +and the house at the far end?”</p> + +<p>“And you might ring all night,” added the voice, “and +be none the better for it. You would only keep me awake.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, neighbour,” replied the singer. “You +shall sleep.”</p> + +<p>And he made off again at his best pace for the Commissary’s. +Elvira was still walking to and fro before the +door.</p> + +<p>“He has not come?” asked Léon.</p> + +<p>“Not he,” she replied.</p> + +<p>“Good,” returned Léon. “I am sure our man’s inside. +Let me see the guitar-case. I shall lay this siege in +form, Elvira; I am angry; I am indignant: I am truculently +inclined; but I thank my Maker I have still a sense +of fun. The unjust judge shall be importuned in a serenade, +Elvira. Set him up—and set him up.”</p> + +<p>He had the case opened by this time, struck a few +chords, and fell into an attitude which was irresistibly +Spanish.</p> + +<p>“Now,” he continued, “feel your voice. Are you +ready? Follow me!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page287"></a>287</span></p> + +<p>The guitar twanged, and the two voices upraised, in +harmony and with a startling loudness, the chorus of a song +of old Béranger’s:—</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Commissaire! Commissaire!</p> +<p class="i05">Colin bat sa ménagčre.”</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + +<p>The stones of Castel-le-Gâchis thrilled at this audacious +innovation. Hitherto had the night been sacred to repose +and night-caps; and now what was this? Window after +window was opened; matches scratched, and candles began +to flicker; swollen, sleepy faces peered forth into the starlight. +There were the two figures before the Commissary’s +house, each bolt upright, with head thrown back and eyes +interrogating the starry heavens; the guitar wailed, shouted, +and reverberated like half an orchestra; and the voices, +with a crisp and spirited delivery, hurled the appropriate +burden at the Commissary’s window. All the echoes repeated +the functionary’s name. It was more like an +entr’acte in a farce of Moličre’s than a passage of real life +in Castel-le-Gâchis.</p> + +<p>The Commissary, if he was not the first, was not the +last of the neighbours to yield to the influence of music, and +furiously threw open the window of his bedroom. He was +beside himself with rage. He leaned far over the window-sill, +raving and gesticulating; the tassel of his white nightcap +danced like a thing of life: he opened his mouth to +dimensions hitherto unprecedented, and yet his voice, +instead of escaping from it in a roar, came forth shrill and +choked and tottering. A little more serenading, and it was +clear he would be better acquainted with the apoplexy.</p> + +<p>I scorn to reproduce his language; he touched upon too +many serious topics by the way for a quiet story-teller. +Although he was known for a man who was prompt with +his tongue, and had a power of strong expression at command, +he excelled himself so remarkably this night that +one maiden lady, who had got out of bed like the rest to +hear the serenade, was obliged to shut her window at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288"></a>288</span> +second clause. Even what she had heard disquieted her +conscience; and next day she said she scarcely reckoned +as a maiden lady any longer.</p> + +<p>Léon tried to explain his predicament, but he received +nothing but threats of arrest by way of answer.</p> + +<p>“If I come down to you!” cried the Commissary.</p> + +<p>“Ay,” said Léon, “do!”</p> + +<p>“I will not!” cried the Commissary.</p> + +<p>“You dare not!” answered Léon.</p> + +<p>At that the Commissary closed his window.</p> + +<p>“All is over,” said the singer. “The serenade was perhaps +ill-judged. These boors have no sense of humour.”</p> + +<p>“Let us get away from here,” said Elvira, with a shiver. +“All these people looking—it is so rude and so brutal.” +And then giving way once more to passion—“Brutes!” +she cried aloud to the candle-lit spectators—“brutes! +brutes! brutes!”</p> + +<p>“<i>Sauve qui peut</i>,” said Léon. “You have done it now!”</p> + +<p>And taking the guitar in one hand and the case in the +other, he led the way with something too precipitate to be +merely called precipitation from the scene of this absurd +adventure.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER IV</h4> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">To</span> the west of Castel-le-Gâchis four rows of venerable lime-trees +formed, in this starry night, a twilit avenue with two +side aisles of pitch darkness. Here and there stone benches +were disposed between the trunks. There was not a breath +of wind; a heavy atmosphere of perfume hung about the +alleys; and every leaf stood stock-still upon its twig. +Hither, after vainly knocking at an inn or two, the Berthelinis +came at length to pass the night. After an amiable +contention, Léon insisted on giving his coat to Elvira, and +they sat down together on the first bench in silence. Léon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289"></a>289</span> +made a cigarette, which he smoked to an end, looking up +into the trees, and beyond them at the constellations, of +which he tried vainly to recall the names. The silence was +broken by the church bell; it rang the four quarters on a +light and tinkling measure; then followed a single deep +stroke that died slowly away with a thrill; and stillness +resumed its empire.</p> + +<p>“One,” said Léon. “Four hours till daylight. It is +warm; it is starry; I have matches and tobacco. Do not +let us exaggerate, Elvira—the experience is positively +charming. I feel a glow within me; I am born again. This +is the poetry of life. Think of Cooper’s novels, my dear.”</p> + +<p>“Léon,” she said fiercely, “how can you talk such +wicked, infamous nonsense? To pass all night out of doors—it +is like a nightmare! We shall die!”</p> + +<p>“You suffer yourself to be led away,” he replied soothingly. +“It is not unpleasant here; only you brood. Come, +now, let us repeat a scene. Shall we try Alceste and +Célimčne? No? Or a passage from the <i>Two Orphans</i>? +Come, now, it will occupy your mind; I will play up to you +as I never have played before; I feel art moving in my +bones.”</p> + +<p>“Hold your tongue,” she cried, “or you will drive me +mad! Will nothing solemnise you—not even this hideous +situation?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, hideous!” objected Léon. “Hideous is not the +word. Why, where would you be? ‘<i>Dites, la jeune belle, +oů voulez-vous aller?</i>’” he carolled. “Well, now,” he +went on, opening the guitar-case, “there’s another idea +for you—sing. Sing ‘<i>Dites, la jeune belle</i>’! It will compose +your spirits, Elvira, I am sure.”</p> + +<p>And without waiting an answer he began to strum the +symphony. The first chords awoke a young man who was +lying asleep upon a neighbouring bench.</p> + +<p>“Hullo!” cried the young man, “who are you?”</p> + +<p>“Under which king, Bezonian?” declaimed the artist. +“Speak or die!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page290"></a>290</span></p> + +<p>Or if it was not exactly that, it was something to much +the same purpose from a French tragedy.</p> + +<p>The young man drew near in the twilight. He was a +tall, powerful, gentlemanly fellow, with a somewhat puffy +face, dressed in a grey tweed suit, with a deer-stalker hat +of the same material; and as he now came forward he +carried a knapsack slung upon one arm.</p> + +<p>“Are you camping out here too?” he asked, with a +strong English accent. “I’m not sorry for company.”</p> + +<p>Léon explained their misadventure; and the other told +them that he was a Cambridge undergraduate on a walking +tour, that he had run short of money, could no longer pay +for his night’s lodging, had already been camping out for +two nights, and feared he should require to continue the +same manœuvre for at least two nights more.</p> + +<p>“Luckily, it’s jolly weather,” he concluded.</p> + +<p>“You hear that, Elvira,” said Léon.—“Madame +Berthelini,” he went on, “is ridiculously affected by this +trifling occurrence. For my part, I find it romantic and far +from uncomfortable; or at least,” he added, shifting on the +stone bench, “not quite so uncomfortable as might have +been expected. But pray be seated.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” returned the undergraduate, sitting down, “it’s +rather nice than otherwise when once you’re used to it; +only it’s devilish difficult to get washed. I like the fresh +air and these stars and things.”</p> + +<p>“Aha!” said Léon, “Monsieur is an artist.”</p> + +<p>“An artist?” returned the other, with a blank stare. +“Not if I know it!”</p> + +<p>“Pardon me,” said the actor. “What you said this +moment about the orbs of heaven—“</p> + +<p>“Oh, nonsense!” cried the Englishman. “A fellow +may admire the stars and be anything he likes.”</p> + +<p>“You have an artist’s nature, however, Mr. —— I +beg your pardon; may I, without indiscretion, inquire +your name?” asked Léon.</p> + +<p>“My name is Stubbs,” replied the Englishman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page291"></a>291</span></p> + +<p>“I thank you,” returned Léon. “Mine is Berthelini—Léon +Berthelini, ex-artist of the theatres of Montrouge, +Belleville, and Montmartre. Humble as you see me, I +have created with applause more than one important <i>rôle</i>. +The Press were unanimous in praise of my Howling Devil +of the Mountains, in the piece of the same name. Madame, +whom I now present to you, is herself an artist, and I must +not omit to state, a better artist than her husband. She +also is a creator; she created nearly twenty successful songs +at one of the principal Parisian music-halls. But to continue: +I was saying you had an artist’s nature, Monsieur +Stubbs, and you must permit me to be a judge in such a +question. I trust you will not falsify your instincts; let +me beseech you to follow the career of an artist.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” returned Stubbs, with a chuckle. “I’m +going to be a banker.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Leon, “do not say so. Not that. A man +with such a nature as yours should not derogate so far. +What are a few privations here and there, so long as you +are working for a high and noble goal?”</p> + +<p>“This fellow’s mad,” thought Stubbs: “but the +woman’s rather pretty, and he’s not bad fun himself, if you +come to that.” What he said was different: “I thought +you said you were an actor?”</p> + +<p>“I certainly did so,” replied Léon. “I am one, or, +alas! I was.”</p> + +<p>“And so you want me to be an actor, do you?” continued +the undergraduate. “Why, man, I could never so +much as learn the stuff; my memory’s like a sieve; and as +for acting, I’ve no more idea than a cat.”</p> + +<p>“The stage is not the only course,” said Léon. “Be +a sculptor, be a dancer, be a poet or a novelist; follow your +heart, in short, and do some thorough work before you die.”</p> + +<p>“And do you call all these things art?” inquired +Stubbs.</p> + +<p>“Why, certainly!” returned Léon. “Are they not all +branches?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page292"></a>292</span></p> + +<p>“Oh! I didn’t know,” replied the Englishman. “I +thought an artist meant a fellow who painted.”</p> + +<p>The singer stared at him in some surprise.</p> + +<p>“It is the difference of language,” he said at last. +“This Tower of Babel, when shall we have paid for it? If +I could speak English you would follow me more readily.”</p> + +<p>“Between you and me, I don’t believe I should,” replied +the other. “You seem to have thought a devil of a +lot about this business. For my part, I admire the stars, +and like to have them shining—it’s so cheery—but hang +me if I had an idea it had anything to do with art! It’s not +in my line, you see. I’m not intellectual; I have no end of +trouble to scrape through my exams., I can tell you! But +I’m not a bad sort at bottom,” he added, seeing his interlocutor +looked distressed even in the dim star-shine, +“and I rather like the play, and music, and guitars, and +things.”</p> + +<p>Léon had a perception that the understanding was incomplete. +He changed the subject.</p> + +<p>“And so you travel on foot?” he continued. “How +romantic! How courageous! And how are you pleased +with my land? How does the scenery affect you among +these wild hills of ours?”</p> + +<p>“Well, the fact is,” began Stubbs—he was about to say +that he didn’t care for scenery, which was not at all true, +being, on the contrary, only an athletic undergraduate pretension; +but he had begun to suspect that Berthelini liked +a different sort of meat, and substituted something else: +“The fact is, I think it jolly. They told me it was no good +up here; even the guide-book said so; but I don’t know +what they meant. I think it is deuced pretty—upon my +word, I do.”</p> + +<p>At this moment, in the most unexpected manner, +Elvira burst into tears.</p> + +<p>“My voice!” she cried. “Léon, if I stay here longer +I shall lose my voice!”</p> + +<p>“You shall not stay another moment,” cried the actor.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page293"></a>293</span></p> + +<p>“If I have to beat in a door, if I have to burn the town, I +shall find you shelter.”</p> + +<p>With that, he replaced the guitar, and, comforting her +with some caresses, drew her arm through his.</p> + +<p>“Monsieur Stubbs,” said he, taking off his hat, “the +reception I offer you is rather problematical; but let me +beseech you to give us the pleasure of your society. You +are a little embarrassed for the moment; you must, indeed, +permit me to advance what may be necessary. I ask it as +a favour; we must not part so soon after having met so +strangely.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, come, you know,” said Stubbs, “I can’t let a +fellow like you——” And there he paused, feeling somehow +or other on a wrong tack.</p> + +<p>“I do not wish to employ menaces,” continued Léon, +with a smile; “but if you refuse, indeed I shall not take it +kindly.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t quite see my way out of it,” thought the undergraduate; +and then, after a pause, he said, aloud and ungraciously +enough, “All right. I—I’m very much obliged, +of course.” And he proceeded to follow them, thinking in +his heart, “But it’s bad form, all the same, to force an +obligation on a fellow.”</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER V</h4> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Léon</span> strode ahead as if he knew exactly where he was going; +the sobs of Madame were still faintly audible, and no +one uttered a word. A dog barked furiously in a courtyard +as they went by; then the church clock struck two, and +many domestic clocks followed or preceded it in piping +tones. And just then Berthelini spied a light. It burned +in a small house on the outskirts of the town, and thither +the party now directed their steps.</p> + +<p>“It is always a chance,” said Léon.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page294"></a>294</span></p> + +<p>The house in question stood back from the street behind +an open space, part garden, part turnip-field; and several +outhouses stood forward from either wing at right angles +to the front. One of these had recently undergone some +change. An enormous window, looking towards the north, +had been effected in the wall and roof, and Léon began to +hope it was a studio.</p> + +<p>“If it’s only a painter,” he said, with a chuckle, “ten +to one we get as good a welcome as we want.”</p> + +<p>“I thought painters were principally poor,” said +Stubbs.</p> + +<p>“Ah!” cried Leon, “you do not know the world as I +do. The poorer the better for us!”</p> + +<p>And the trio advanced into the turnip-field.</p> + +<p>The light was in the ground floor; as one window was +brightly illuminated and two others more faintly, it might +be supposed that there was a single lamp in one corner of a +large apartment; and a certain tremulousness and temporary +dwindling showed that a live fire contributed to the +effect. The sound of a voice now became audible; and the +trespassers paused to listen. It was pitched in a high, +angry key, but had still a good, full, and masculine note in +it. The utterance was voluble, too voluble even to be quite +distinct; a stream of words, rising and falling, with ever +and again a phrase thrown out by itself, as if the speaker +reckoned on its virtue.</p> + +<p>Suddenly another voice joined in. This time it was a +woman’s; and if the man were angry, the woman was incensed +to the degree of fury. There was that absolutely +blank composure known to suffering males; that colourless +unnatural speech which shows a spirit accurately balanced +between homicide and hysterics; the tone in which the best +of women sometimes utter words worse than death to those +most dear to them. If Abstract Bones-and-Sepulchre were +to be endowed with the gift of speech, thus, and not otherwise, +would it discourse. Léon was a brave man, and I +fear he was somewhat sceptically given (he had been educated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295"></a>295</span> +in a Papistical country), but the habit of childhood +prevailed, and he crossed himself devoutly. He had met +several women in his career. It was obvious that his instinct +had not deceived him, for the male voice broke forth +instantly in a towering passion.</p> + +<p>The undergraduate, who had not understood the significance +of the woman’s contribution, pricked up his ears at +the change upon the man.</p> + +<p>“There’s going to be a free fight,” he opined.</p> + +<p>There was another retort from the woman, still calm, +but a little higher.</p> + +<p>“Hysterics?” asked Léon of his wife. “Is that the +stage direction?”</p> + +<p>“How should I know?” returned Elvira, somewhat +tartly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, woman, woman!” said Léon, beginning to open +the guitar-case. “It is one of the burdens of my life, Monsieur +Stubbs; they support each other; they always pretend +there is no system; they say it’s nature. Even Madame +Berthelini, who is a dramatic artist!”</p> + +<p>“You are heartless, Léon,” said Elvira; “that woman +is in trouble.”</p> + +<p>“And the man, my angel?” inquired Berthelini, passing +the ribbon of his guitar. “And the man, <i>m’amour</i>?”</p> + +<p>“He is a man,” she answered.</p> + +<p>“You hear that?” said Léon to Stubbs. “It is not +too late for you. Mark the intonation. And now,” he +continued, “what are we to give them?”</p> + +<p>“Are you going to sing?” asked Stubbs.</p> + +<p>“I am a troubadour,” replied Léon. “I claim a +welcome by and for my art. If I were a banker, could I do +as much?”</p> + +<p>“Well, you wouldn’t need, you know,” answered the +undergraduate.</p> + +<p>“Egad,” said Léon, “but that’s true. Elvira, that is +true.”</p> + +<p>“Of course it is,” she replied. “Did you not know it?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page296"></a>296</span></p> + +<p>“My dear,” answered Léon impressively, “I know +nothing but what is agreeable. Even my knowledge of life +is a work of art superiorly composed. But what are we to +give them? It should be something appropriate.”</p> + +<p>Visions of “Let dogs delight” passed through the under-graduate’s +mind; but it occurred to him that the poetry +was English and that he did not know the air. Hence he +contributed no suggestion.</p> + +<p>“Something about our houselessness,” said Elvira.</p> + +<p>“I have it,” cried Léon. And he broke forth into a +song of Pierre Dupont’s:—</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“Savez-vous oů gite</p> +<p class="i05">Mai, ce joli <span class="correction" title="originally single quote">mois?”</span></p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + +<p>Elvira joined in; so did Stubbs, with a good ear and +voice, but an imperfect acquaintance with the music. +Léon and the guitar were equal to the situation. The actor +dispensed his throat-notes with prodigality and enthusiasm; +and, as he looked up to heaven in his heroic way, tossing +the black ringlets, it seemed to him that the very stars +contributed a dumb applause to his efforts, and the universe +lent him its silence for a chorus. That is one of the best +features of the heavenly bodies, that they belong to everybody +in particular; and a man like Léon, a chronic Endymion +who managed to get along without encouragement, is +always the world’s centre for himself.</p> + +<p>He alone—and it is to be noted, he was the worst singer +of the three—took the music seriously to heart, and judged +the serenade from a high artistic point of view. Elvira, on +the other hand, was preoccupied about their reception; and +as for Stubbs, he considered the whole affair in the light of +a broad joke.</p> + +<p>“Know you the lair of May, the lovely month?” went +the three voices in the turnip-field.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants were plainly fluttered; the light moved +to and fro, strengthening in one window, paling in another; +and then the door was thrown open, and a man in a blouse +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297"></a>297</span> +appeared on the threshold carrying a lamp. He was a +powerful young fellow, with bewildered hair and beard, +wearing his neck open; his blouse was stained with oil-colours +in a harlequinesque disorder; and there was something +rural in the droop and bagginess of his belted trousers.</p> + +<p>From immediately behind him, and indeed over his +shoulder, a woman’s face looked out into the darkness; it +was pale and a little weary, although still young; it wore a +dwindling, disappearing prettiness, soon to be quite gone, +and the expression was both gentle and sour, and reminded +one faintly of the taste of certain drugs. For all that, it +was not a face to dislike; when the prettiness had vanished, +it seemed as if a certain pale beauty might step in to take +its place; and as both the mildness and the asperity were +characters of youth, it might be hoped that, with years, both +would merge into a constant, brave, and not unkindly +temper.</p> + +<p>“What is all this?” cried the man.</p> + + +<hr class="short" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h4>CHAPTER VI</h4> + +<p class="noind"><span class="sc">Léon</span> had his hat in his hand at once. He came forward +with his customary grace; it was a moment which would +have earned him a round of cheering on the stage. Elvira +and Stubbs advanced behind him, like a couple of Admetus’s +sheep following the god Apollo.</p> + +<p>“Sir,” said Léon, “the hour is unpardonably late, and +our little serenade has the air of an impertinence. Believe +me, sir, it is an appeal. Monsieur is an artist, I perceive. +We are here three artists benighted and without shelter, +one a woman—a delicate woman—in evening dress—in an +interesting situation. This will not fail to touch the woman’s +heart of Madame, whom I perceive indistinctly behind Monsieur +her husband, and whose face speaks eloquently of +a well-regulated mind. Ah! Monsieur, Madame—one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298"></a>298</span> +generous movement, and you make three people happy! +Two or three hours beside your fire—I ask it of Monsieur +in the name of Art—I ask it of Madame by the sanctity of +womanhood.”</p> + +<p>The two, as by a tacit consent, drew back from the door.</p> + +<p>“Come in,” said the man.</p> + +<p>“<i>Entrez</i>, Madame,” said the woman.</p> + +<p>The door opened directly upon the kitchen of the house, +which was to all appearance the only sitting-room. The +furniture was both plain and scanty; but there were one or +two landscapes on the wall, handsomely framed, as if they +had already visited the committee-rooms of an exhibition +and been thence extruded. Léon walked up to the pictures +and represented the part of a connoisseur before each in +turn, with his usual dramatic insight and force. The +master of the house, as if irresistibly attracted, followed him +from canvas to canvas with the lamp. Elvira was led +directly to the fire, where she proceeded to warm herself, +while Stubbs stood in the middle of the floor and followed +the proceedings of Léon with mild astonishment in his +eyes.</p> + +<p>“You should see them by daylight,” said the artist.</p> + +<p>“I promise myself that pleasure,” said Léon. “You +possess, sir, if you will permit me an observation, the art of +composition to a T.”</p> + +<p>“You are very good,” returned the other. “But +should you not draw nearer to the fire?”</p> + +<p>“With all my heart,” said Léon.</p> + +<p>And the whole party was soon gathered at the table over +a hasty and not an elegant cold supper, washed down with +the least of small wines. Nobody liked the meal, but nobody +complained; they put a good face upon it, one and all, +and made a great clattering of knives and forks. To see +Léon eating a single cold sausage was to see a triumph; by +the time he had done he had got through as much pantomime +as would have sufficed for a baron of beef, and he had +the relaxed expression of the over-eaten.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page299"></a>299</span></p> + +<p>As Elvira had naturally taken a place by the side of +Léon, and Stubbs as naturally, although I believe unconsciously, +by the side of Elvira, the host and hostess were +left together. Yet it was to be noted that they never addressed +a word to each other, nor so much as suffered their +eyes to meet. The interrupted skirmish still survived in +ill-feeling; and the instant the guests departed it would +break forth again as bitterly as ever. The talk wandered +from this to that subject—for with one accord the party +had declared it was too late to go to bed; but those two +never relaxed towards each other; Goneril and Regan in a +sisterly tiff were not more bent on enmity.</p> + +<p>It chanced that Elvira was so much tired by all the little +excitements of the night, that for once she laid aside her +company manners, which were both easy and correct, and +in the most natural manner in the world leaned her head on +Léon’s shoulder. At the same time, fatigue suggesting +tenderness, she locked the fingers of her right hand into +those of her husband’s left; and, half-closing her eyes, dozed +off into a golden borderland between sleep and waking. +But all the time she was not unaware of what was passing, +and saw the painter’s wife studying her with looks between +contempt and envy.</p> + +<p>It occurred to Léon that his constitution demanded the +use of some tobacco; and he undid his fingers from Elvira’s +in order to roll a cigarette. It was gently done, and he took +care that his indulgence should in no other way disturb his +wife’s position. But it seemed to catch the eye of the +painter’s wife with a special significancy. She looked +straight before her for an instant, and then, with a swift +and stealthy movement, took hold of her husband’s hand +below the table. Alas! she might have spared herself the +dexterity. For the poor fellow was so overcome by this +caress that he stopped with his mouth open in the middle +of a word, and by the expression of his face plainly declared +to all the company that his thoughts had been diverted into +softer channels.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page300"></a>300</span></p> + +<p>If it had not been rather amiable, it would have been +absurdly droll. His wife at once withdrew her touch; but +it was plain she had to exert some force. Thereupon the +young man coloured and looked for a moment beautiful.</p> + +<p>Léon and Elvira both observed the by-play, and a shock +passed from one to the other; for they were inveterate +match-makers, especially between those who were already +married.</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon,” said Léon suddenly. “I see no +use in pretending. Before we came in here we heard sounds +indicating—if I may so express myself—an imperfect +harmony.”</p> + +<p>“Sir——” began the man.</p> + +<p>But the woman was beforehand.</p> + +<p>“It is quite true,” she said. “I see no cause to be +ashamed. If my husband is mad I shall at least do my +utmost to prevent the consequences. Picture to yourself, +Monsieur and Madame,” she went on, for she passed Stubbs +over, “that this wretched person—a dauber, an incompetent, +not fit to be a sign-painter—receives this morning an +admirable offer from an uncle—an uncle of my own, my +mother’s brother, and tenderly beloved—of a clerkship with +nearly a hundred and fifty pounds a year, and that he—picture +to yourself!—he refuses it! Why? For the sake +of Art, he says. Look at his art, I say—look at it! Is it +fit to be seen? Ask him—is it fit to be sold? And it is for +this, Monsieur and Madame, that he condemns me to the +most deplorable existence, without luxuries, without comforts, +in a vile suburb of a country town. <i>O non!</i>” she +cried, “<i>non—je ne me tairai pas—c’est plus fort que moi!</i> +I take these gentlemen and this lady for judges—is this +kind? is it decent? is it manly? Do I not deserve better +at his hands after having married him and“—(a visible +hitch)—“done everything in the world to please him?”</p> + +<p>I doubt if there ever were a more embarrassed company +at a table; every one looked like a fool; and the husband +like the biggest.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page301"></a>301</span></p> + +<p>“The art of Monsieur, however,” said Elvira, breaking +the silence, “is not wanting in distinction.”</p> + +<p>“It has this distinction,” said the wife, “that nobody +will buy it.”</p> + +<p>“I should have supposed a clerkship——” began +Stubbs.</p> + +<p>“Art is Art,” swept in Léon. “I salute Art. It is the +beautiful, the divine; it is the spirit of the world and the +pride of life. But——” And the actor paused.</p> + +<p>“A clerkship——” began Stubbs.</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell you what it is,” said the painter. “I am +an artist, and as this gentleman says, Art is this and the +other; but of course, if my wife is going to make my life a +piece of perdition all day long, I prefer to go and drown +myself out of <span class="correction" title="originally single quote">hand.”</span></p> + +<p>“Go!” said his wife. “I should like to see +you!”</p> + +<p>“I was going to say,” resumed Stubbs, “that a fellow +may be a clerk and paint almost as much as he likes. I +know a fellow in a bank who makes capital water-colour +sketches; he even sold one for seven-and-six.”</p> + +<p>To both the women this seemed a plank of safety; each +hopefully interrogated the countenance of her lord; even +Elvira, an artist herself!—but indeed there must be something +permanently mercantile in the female nature. The +two men exchanged a glance; it was tragic; not otherwise +might two philosophers salute, as at the end of a laborious +life each recognised that he was still a mystery to his +disciples.</p> + +<p>Léon arose.</p> + +<p>“Art is Art,” he repeated sadly. “It is not water-colour +sketches, nor practising on a piano. It is a life to be +lived.”</p> + +<p>“And in the meantime people starve!” observed the +woman of the house. “If that’s a life, it is not one for me.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell you what,” burst forth Léon; “you, Madame, +go into another room and talk it over with my wife; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302"></a>302</span> +I’ll stay here and talk it over with your husband. It may +come to nothing, but let’s try.”</p> + +<p>“I am very willing,” replied the young woman; and she +proceeded to light a candle. “This way, if you please.” +And she led Elvira upstairs into a bedroom. “The fact +is,” said she, sitting down, “that my husband cannot +paint.”</p> + +<p>“No more can mine act,” replied Elvira.</p> + +<p>“I should have thought he could,” returned the other; +“he seems clever.”</p> + +<p>“He is so, and the best of men besides,” said Elvira; +“but he cannot act.”</p> + +<p>“At least he is not a sheer humbug like mine; he can at +least sing.”</p> + +<p>“You mistake Léon,” returned his wife warmly. “He +does not even pretend to sing; he has too fine a taste; he +does so for a living. And, believe me, neither of the men +are humbugs. They are people with a mission—which +they cannot carry out.”</p> + +<p>“Humbug or not,” replied the other, “you came very +near passing the night in the fields; and, for my part, I live +in terror of starvation. I should think it was a man’s +mission to think twice about his wife. But it appears not. +Nothing is their mission but to play the fool. Oh!” she +broke out, “is it not something dreary to think of that man +of mine? If he could only do it, who would care? But no—not +he—no more than I can!”</p> + +<p>“Have you any children?” asked Elvira.</p> + +<p>“No; but then I may.”</p> + +<p>“Children change so much,” said Elvira, with a sigh.</p> + +<p>And just then from the room below there flew up a +sudden snapping chord on the guitar; one followed after +another; then the voice of Léon joined in; and there was +an air being played and sung that stopped the speech of the +two women. The wife of the painter stood like a person +transfixed; Elvira, looking into her eyes, could see all +manner of beautiful memories and kind thoughts that were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page303"></a>303</span> +passing in and out of her soul with every note; it was a piece +of her youth that went before her; a green French plain, +the smell of apple-flowers, the far and shining ringlets of a +river, and the words and presence of love.</p> + +<p>“Léon has hit the nail,” thought Elvira to herself. <span class="correction" title="missing text">“I</span> +wonder how.”</p> + +<p>The how was plain enough. Léon had asked the painter +if there were no air connected with courtship and pleasant +times; and having learned what he wished, and allowed an +interval to pass, he had soared forth into</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> +<div class="poemr"> + +<p>“O mon amante,</p> + <p class="i15">O mon désir,</p> + <p class="i15">Sachons cueillir</p> +<p class="i05">L’heure charmante!”</p> + +</div> +</td></tr></table> + +<p>“Pardon me, Madame,” said the painter’s wife, “your +husband sings admirably well.”</p> + +<p>“He sings that with some feeling,” replied Elvira critically, +although she was a little moved herself, for the song +cut both ways in the upper chamber; “but it is as an actor +and not as a musician.”</p> + +<p>“Life is very sad,” said the other; “it so wastes away +under one’s fingers.”</p> + +<p>“I have not found it so,” replied Elvira. “I think the +good parts of it last and grow greater every day.”</p> + +<p>“Frankly, how would you advise me?”</p> + +<p>“Frankly, I would let my husband do what he wished. +He is obviously a very loving painter; you have not yet +tried him as a clerk. And you know—if it were only as the +possible father of your children—it is as well to keep him +at his best.”</p> + +<p>“He is an excellent fellow,” said the wife.</p> + +<div class="pt05"> </div> + +<p>They kept it up till sunrise with music and all manner +of good-fellowship; and at sunrise, while the sky was still +temperate and clear, they separated on the threshold with +a thousand excellent wishes for each other’s welfare. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page304"></a>304</span> +Castel-le-Gâchis was beginning to send up its smoke against +the golden east; and the church bell was ringing six.</p> + +<p>“My guitar is a familiar spirit,” said Léon, as he and +Elvira took the nearest way towards the inn; “it resuscitated +a Commissary, created an English tourist, and reconciled +a man and wife.”</p> + +<p>Stubbs, on his part, went off into the morning with +reflections of his own.</p> + +<p>“They are all mad,” thought he, “all mad—but wonderfully +decent.”</p> + +<hr class="art" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<h5>END OF VOL. IV</h5> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p class="center noind" style="font-size: 65%;">PRINTED BY CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.</p> +<hr class="full" /> +<div class="pt2"> </div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - +Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS--R.L. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30700-h/images/img1.jpg b/30700-h/images/img1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03901fd --- /dev/null +++ b/30700-h/images/img1.jpg diff --git a/30700.txt b/30700.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1db6e45 --- /dev/null +++ b/30700.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11559 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - +Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson + +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 Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 4 (of 25) + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Other: Andrew Lang + +Release Date: December 17, 2009 [EBook #30700] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS--R.L. STEVENSON, VOL 4 (OF 25) *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE WORKS OF + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + SWANSTON EDITION + + VOLUME IV + + + _Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five + Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS + STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies + have been printed, of which only Two Thousand + Copies are for sale._ + + _This is No._ ....... + + + [Illustration: TREE AT SWANSTON BEARING INITIALS OF R. L. S.] + + THE WORKS OF + ROBERT LOUIS + STEVENSON + + VOLUME FOUR + + + LONDON : PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND + WINDUS : IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL + AND COMPANY LIMITED : WILLIAM + HEINEMANN : AND LONGMANS GREEN + AND COMPANY MDCCCCXI + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + +CONTENTS + + +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS + + + THE SUICIDE CLUB + PAGE + + STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS 5 + + THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK 37 + + THE ADVENTURE OF THE HANSOM CABS 65 + + + THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND + + STORY OF THE BANDBOX 86 + + STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS 111 + + THE STORY OF THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS 127 + + THE ADVENTURE OF PRINCE FLORIZEL AND A DETECTIVE 159 + + + THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS + + CHAPTER + + I. TELLS HOW I CAMPED IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD, AND BEHELD A + LIGHT IN THE PAVILION 167 + + II. TELLS OF THE NOCTURNAL LANDING FROM THE YACHT 174 + + III. TELLS HOW I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH MY WIFE 180 + + IV. TELLS IN WHAT A STARTLING MANNER I LEARNED THAT I WAS + NOT ALONE IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD 189 + + V. TELLS OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN NORTHMOUR, CLARA, AND + MYSELF 197 + + VI. TELLS OF MY INTRODUCTION TO THE TALL MAN 202 + + VII. TELLS HOW A WORD WAS CRIED THROUGH THE PAVILION WINDOW 208 + + VIII. TELLS THE LAST OF THE TALL MAN 214 + + IX. TELLS HOW NORTHMOUR CARRIED OUT HIS THREAT 221 + + + A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT 227 + + THE SIRE DE MALETROIT'S DOOR 250 + + PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR 273 + + + + +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS + + + + +TO + +ROBERT ALAN MOWBRAY STEVENSON + +IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR YOUTH AND THEIR ALREADY OLD AFFECTION + + + + +NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS + + + + +THE SUICIDE CLUB + + +STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS + +During his residence in London, the accomplished Prince Florizel of +Bohemia gained the affection of all classes by the seduction of his +manner and by a well-considered generosity. He was a remarkable man even +by what was known of him; and that was but a small part of what he +actually did. Although of a placid temper in ordinary circumstances, and +accustomed to take the world with as much philosophy as any ploughman, +the Prince of Bohemia was not without a taste for ways of life more +adventurous and eccentric than that to which he was destined by his +birth. Now and then, when he fell into a low humour, when there was no +laughable play to witness in any of the London theatres, and when the +season of the year was unsuitable to those field sports in which he +excelled all competitors, he would summon his confidant and Master of +the Horse, Colonel Geraldine, and bid him prepare himself against an +evening ramble. The Master of the Horse was a young officer of a brave +and even temerarious disposition. He greeted the news with delight, and +hastened to make ready. Long practice and a varied acquaintance of life +had given him a singular facility in disguise; he could adapt, not only +his face and bearing, but his voice and almost his thoughts, to those of +any rank, character, or nation; and in this way he diverted attention +from the Prince, and sometimes gained admission for the pair into +strange societies. The civil authorities were never taken into the +secret of these adventures; the imperturbable courage of the one and the +ready invention and chivalrous devotion of the other had brought them +through a score of dangerous passes; and they grew in confidence as time +went on. + +One evening in March they were driven by a sharp fall of sleet into an +Oyster Bar in the immediate neighbourhood of Leicester Square. Colonel +Geraldine was dressed and painted to represent a person connected with +the Press in reduced circumstances; while the Prince had, as usual, +travestied his appearance by the addition of false whiskers and a pair +of large adhesive eyebrows. These lent him a shaggy and weather-beaten +air, which, for one of his urbanity, formed the most impenetrable +disguise. Thus equipped, the commander and his satellite sipped their +brandy and soda in security. + +The bar was full of guests, male and female; but though more than one of +these offered to fall into talk with our adventurers, none of them +promised to grow interesting upon a nearer acquaintance. There was +nothing present but the lees of London and the commonplace of +disrespectability; and the Prince had already fallen to yawning, and was +beginning to grow weary of the whole excursion, when the swing doors +were pushed violently open, and a young man, followed by a couple of +commissionaires, entered the bar. Each of the commissionaires carried a +large dish of cream tarts under a cover, which they at once removed; and +the young man made the round of the company, and pressed these +confections upon every one's acceptance with an exaggerated courtesy. +Sometimes the offer was laughingly accepted; sometimes it was firmly, or +even harshly, rejected. In these latter cases the new-comer always ate +the tart himself, with some more or less humorous commentary. + +At last he accosted Prince Florizel. + +"Sir," said he, with a profound obeisance, proffering the tart at the +same time between his thumb and forefinger, "will you so far honour an +entire stranger? I can answer for the quality of the pastry, having +eaten two dozen and three of them myself since five o'clock." + +"I am in the habit," replied the Prince, "of looking not so much to the +nature of a gift as to the spirit in which it is offered." + +"The spirit, sir," returned the young man, with another bow, "is one of +mockery." + +"Mockery!" repeated Florizel. "And whom do you propose to mock?" + +"I am not here to expound my philosophy," replied the other, "but to +distribute these cream tarts. If I mention that I heartily include +myself in the ridicule of the transaction, I hope you will consider +honour satisfied and condescend. If not, you will constrain me to eat my +twenty-eighth, and I own to being weary of the exercise." + +"You touch me," said the Prince, "and I have all the will in the world +to rescue you from this dilemma, but upon one condition. If my friend +and I eat your cakes--for which we have neither of us any natural +inclination--we shall expect you to join us at supper by way of +recompense." + +The young man seemed to reflect. + +"I have still several dozen upon hand," he said at last; "and that will +make it necessary for me to visit several more bars before my great +affair is concluded. This will take some time; and if you are +hungry----" + +The Prince interrupted him with a polite gesture. + +"My friend and I will accompany you," he said; "for we have already a +deep interest in your very agreeable mode of passing an evening. And now +that the preliminaries of peace are settled, allow me to sign the treaty +for both." + +And the Prince swallowed the tart with the best grace imaginable. + +"It is delicious," said he. + +"I perceive you are a connoisseur," replied the young man. + +Colonel Geraldine likewise did honour to the pastry; and every one in +that bar having now either accepted or refused his delicacies, the young +man with the cream tarts led the way to another and similar +establishment. The two commissionaires, who seemed to have grown +accustomed to their absurd employment, followed immediately after; and +the Prince and the Colonel brought up the rear, arm-in-arm, and smiling +to each other as they went. In this order the company visited two other +taverns, where scenes were enacted of a like nature to that already +described--some refusing, some accepting, the favours of this vagabond +hospitality, and the young man himself eating each rejected tart. + +On leaving the third saloon the young man counted his store. There were +but nine remaining, three in one tray and six in the other. + +"Gentlemen," said he, addressing himself to his two new followers, "I am +unwilling to delay your supper. I am positively sure you must be hungry. +I feel that I owe you a special consideration. And on this great day for +me, when I am closing a career of folly by my most conspicuously silly +action, I wish to behave handsomely to all who give me countenance. +Gentlemen, you shall wait no longer. Although my constitution is +shattered by previous excesses, at the risk of my life I liquidate the +suspensory condition." + +With these words he crushed the nine remaining tarts into his mouth, and +swallowed them at a single movement each. Then, turning to the +commissionaires, he gave them a couple of sovereigns. + +"I have to thank you," said he, "for your extraordinary patience." + +And he dismissed them with a bow apiece. For some seconds he stood +looking at the purse from which he had just paid his assistants, then, +with a laugh, he tossed it into the middle of the street, and signified +his readiness for supper. + +In a small French restaurant in Soho, which had enjoyed an exaggerated +reputation for some little while, but had already begun to be forgotten, +and in a private room up two pair of stairs, the three companions made a +very elegant supper, and drank three or four bottles of champagne, +talking the while upon indifferent subjects. The young man was fluent +and gay, but he laughed louder than was natural in a person of polite +breeding; his hands trembled violently, and his voice took sudden and +surprising inflections, which seemed to be independent of his will. The +dessert had been cleared away, and all three had lighted their cigars, +when the Prince addressed him in these words:-- + +"You will, I am sure, pardon my curiosity. What I have seen of you has +greatly pleased but even more puzzled me. And though I should be loth to +seem indiscreet, I must tell you that my friend and I are persons very +well worthy to be entrusted with a secret. We have many of our own, +which we are continually revealing to improper ears. And if, as I +suppose, your story is a silly one, you need have no delicacy with us, +who are two of the silliest men in England. My name is Godall, +Theophilus Godall; my friend is Major Alfred Hammersmith--or at least, +such is the name by which he chooses to be known. We pass our lives +entirely in the search for extravagant adventures; and there is no +extravagance with which we are not capable of sympathy." + +"I like you, Mr. Godall," returned the young man; "you inspire me with a +natural confidence; and I have not the slightest objection to your +friend the Major, whom I take to be a nobleman in masquerade. At least, +I am sure he is no soldier." + +The Colonel smiled at this compliment to the perfection of his art; and +the young man went on in a more animated manner. + +"There is every reason why I should not tell you my story. Perhaps that +is just the reason why I am going to do so. At least, you seem so well +prepared to hear a tale of silliness that I cannot find it in my heart +to disappoint you. My name, in spite of your example, I shall keep to +myself. My age is not essential to the narrative. I am descended from my +ancestors by ordinary generation, and from them I inherited the very +eligible human tenement which I still occupy and a fortune of three +hundred pounds a year. I suppose they also handed on to me a harebrain +humour, which it has been my chief delight to indulge. I received a good +education. I can play the violin nearly well enough to earn money in the +orchestra of a penny gaff, but not quite. The same remark applies to the +flute and the French horn. I learned enough of whist to lose about a +hundred a year at that scientific game. My acquaintance with French was +sufficient to enable me to squander money in Paris with almost the same +facility as in London. In short, I am a person full of manly +accomplishments. I have had every sort of adventure, including a duel +about nothing. Only two months ago I met a young lady exactly suited to +my taste in mind and body; I found my heart melt; I saw that I had come +upon my fate at last, and was in the way to fall in love. But when I +came to reckon up what remained to me of my capital, I found it amounted +to something less than four hundred pounds! I ask you fairly--can a man +who respects himself fall in love on four hundred pounds? I concluded, +certainly not; left the presence of my charmer, and slightly +accelerating my usual rate of expenditure, came this morning to my last +eighty pounds. This I divided into two equal parts; forty I reserved for +a particular purpose; the remaining forty I was to dissipate before the +night. I have passed a very entertaining day, and played many farces +besides that of the cream tarts which procured me the advantage of your +acquaintance; for I was determined, as I told you, to bring a foolish +career to a still more foolish conclusion; and when you saw me throw my +purse into the street the forty pounds were at an end. Now you know me +as well as I know myself: a fool, but consistent in his folly; and, as I +will ask you to believe, neither a whimperer nor a coward." + +From the whole tone of the young man's statement it was plain that he +harboured very bitter and contemptuous thoughts about himself. His +auditors were led to imagine that his love affair was nearer his heart +than he admitted, and that he had a design on his own life. The farce of +the cream tarts began to have very much the air of a tragedy in +disguise. + +"Why, is this not odd," broke out Geraldine, giving a look to Prince +Florizel, "that we three fellows should have met by the merest accident +in so large a wilderness as London, and should be so nearly in the same +condition?" + +"How?" cried the young man. "Are you, too, ruined? Is this supper a +folly like my cream tarts? Has the devil brought three of his own +together for a last carouse?" + +"The devil, depend upon it, can sometimes do a very gentlemanly thing," +returned Prince Florizel; "and I am so much touched by this coincidence +that, although we are not entirely in the same case, I am going to put +an end to the disparity. Let your heroic treatment of the last cream +tarts be my example." + +So saying, the Prince drew out his purse and took from it a small bundle +of bank-notes. + +"You see, I was a week or so behind you, but I mean to catch you up and +come neck-and-neck into the winning-post," he continued. "This," laying +one of the notes upon the table, "will suffice for the bill. As for the +rest----" + +He tossed them into the fire, and they went up the chimney in a single +blaze. + +The young man tried to catch his arm, but as the table was between them +his interference came too late. + +"Unhappy man," he cried, "you should not have burned them all! You +should have kept forty pounds." + +"Forty pounds!" repeated the Prince. "Why, in Heaven's name, forty +pounds?" + +"Why not eighty?" cried the Colonel; "for to my certain knowledge there +must have been a hundred in the bundle." + +"It was only forty pounds he needed," said the young man gloomily. "But +without them there is no admission. The rule is strict. Forty pounds for +each. Accursed life, where a man cannot even die without money!" + +The Prince and the Colonel exchanged glances. + +"Explain yourself," said the latter. "I have still a pocket-book +tolerably well lined, and I need not say how readily I should share my +wealth with Godall. But I must know to what end: you must certainly tell +us what you mean." + +The young man seemed to awaken: he looked uneasily from one to the +other, and his face flushed deeply. + +"You are not fooling me?" he asked. "You are indeed ruined men like me?" + +"Indeed, I am for my part," replied the Colonel. + +"And for mine," said the Prince, "I have given you proof. Who but a +ruined man would throw his notes into the fire? The action speaks for +itself." + +"A ruined man--yes," returned the other suspiciously, "or else a +millionaire." + +"Enough, sir," said the Prince; "I have said so, and I am not accustomed +to have my word remain in doubt." + +"Ruined?" said the young man. "Are you ruined, like me? Are you, after a +life of indulgence, come to such a pass that you can only indulge +yourself in one thing more? Are you"--he kept lowering his voice as he +went on--"are you going to give yourselves that last indulgence? Are you +going to avoid the consequences of your folly by the one infallible and +easy path? Are you going to give the slip to the sheriff's officers of +conscience by the one open door?" + +Suddenly he broke off and attempted to laugh. + +"Here is your health!" he cried, emptying his glass, "and good-night to +you, my merry ruined men." + +Colonel Geraldine caught him by the arm as he was about to rise. + +"You lack confidence in us," he said, "and you are wrong. To all your +questions I make answer in the affirmative. But I am not so timid, and +can speak the Queen's English plainly. We too, like yourself, have had +enough of life, and are determined to die. Sooner or later, alone or +together, we meant to seek out death and beard him where he lies ready. +Since we have met you, and your case is more pressing, let it be +to-night--and at once--and, if you will, all three together. Such a +penniless trio," he cried, "should go arm-in-arm into the halls of +Pluto, and give each other some countenance among the shades!" + +Geraldine had hit exactly on the manners and intonations that became the +part he was playing. The Prince himself was disturbed, and looked over +at his confidant with a shade of doubt. As for the young man, the flush +came back darkly into his cheek, and his eyes threw out a spark of +light. + +"You are the men for me!" he cried, with an almost terrible gaiety. +"Shake hands upon the bargain!" (his hand was cold and wet). "You little +know in what a company you will begin the march! You little know in what +a happy moment for yourselves you partook of my cream tarts! I am only a +unit, but I am a unit in an army. I know Death's private door. I am one +of his familiars, and can show you into eternity without ceremony and +yet without scandal." + +They called upon him eagerly to explain his meaning. + +"Can you muster eighty pounds between you?" he demanded. + +Geraldine ostentatiously consulted his pocket-book, and replied in the +affirmative. + +"Fortunate beings!" cried the young man. "Forty pounds is the +entry-money of the Suicide Club." + +"The Suicide Club," said the Prince, "why, what the devil is that?" + +"Listen," said the young man; "this is the age of conveniences, and I +have to tell you of the last perfection of the sort. We have affairs in +different places; and hence railways were invented. Railways separated +us infallibly from our friends; and so telegraphs were made that we +might communicate speedily at great distances. Even in hotels we have +lifts to spare us a climb of some hundred steps. Now, we know that life +is only a stage to play the fool upon as long as the part amuses us. +There was one more convenience lacking to modern comfort: a decent, easy +way to quit that stage; the back stairs to liberty; or, as I said this +moment, Death's private door. This, my two fellow-rebels, is supplied by +the Suicide Club. Do not suppose that you and I are alone, or even +exceptional, in the highly reasonable desire that we profess. A large +number of our fellowmen, who have grown heartily sick of the performance +in which they are expected to join daily, and all their lives long, are +only kept from flight by one or two considerations. Some have families +who would be shocked, or even blamed, if the matter became public; +others have a weakness at heart and recoil from the circumstances of +death. That is, to some extent, my own experience. I cannot put a pistol +to my head and draw the trigger; for something stronger than myself +withholds the act; and although I loathe life, I have not strength +enough in my body to take hold of death and be done with it. For such as +I, and for all who desire to be out of the coil without posthumous +scandal, the Suicide Club has been inaugurated. How this has been +managed, what is its history, or what may be its ramifications in other +lands, I am myself uninformed; and what I know of its constitution, I +am not at liberty to communicate to you. To this extent, however, I am +at your service. If you are truly tired of life, I will introduce you +to-night to a meeting; and if not to-night, at least some time within +the week, you will be easily relieved of your existences. It is now +(consulting his watch) eleven; by half-past, at latest, we must leave +this place; so that you have half an hour before you to consider my +proposal. It is more serious than a cream tart," he added, with a smile; +"and I suspect more palatable." + +"More serious, certainly," returned Colonel Geraldine; "and as it is so +much more so, will you allow me five minutes' speech in private with my +friend Mr. Godall?" + +"It is only fair," answered the young man. "If you will permit, I will +retire." + +"You will be very obliging," said the Colonel. + +As soon as the two were alone--"What," said Prince Florizel, "is the use +of this confabulation, Geraldine? I see you are flurried, whereas my +mind is very tranquilly made up. I will see the end of this." + +"Your Highness," said the Colonel, turning pale; "let me ask you to +consider the importance of your life, not only to your friends, but to +the public interest. 'If not to-night,' said this madman; but supposing +that to-night some irreparable disaster were to overtake your Highness's +person, what, let me ask you, what would be my despair, and what the +concern and disaster of a great nation?" + +"I will see the end of this," repeated the Prince in his most deliberate +tones; "and have the kindness, Colonel Geraldine, to remember and +respect your word of honour as a gentleman. Under no circumstances, +recollect, nor without my special authority, are you to betray the +incognito under which I choose to go abroad. These were my commands, +which I now reiterate. And now," he added, "let me ask you to call for +the bill." + +Colonel Geraldine bowed in submission; but he had a very white face as +he summoned the young man of the cream tarts, and issued his directions +to the waiter. The Prince preserved his undisturbed demeanour, and +described a Palais-Royal farce to the young suicide with great humour +and gusto. He avoided the Colonel's appealing looks without ostentation, +and selected another cheroot with more than usual care. Indeed, he was +now the only man of the party who kept any command over his nerves. + +The bill was discharged, the Prince giving the whole change of the note +to the astonished waiter; and the three drove off in a four-wheeler. +They were not long upon the way before the cab stopped at the entrance +to a rather dark court. Here all descended. + +After Geraldine had paid the fare, the young man turned, and addressed +Prince Florizel as follows:-- + +"It is still time, Mr. Godall, to make good your escape into thraldom. +And for you too, Major Hammersmith. Reflect well before you take another +step; and if your hearts say no--here are the cross-roads." + +"Lead on, sir," said the Prince, "I am not the man to go back from a +thing once said." + +"Your coolness does me good," replied their guide. "I have never seen +any one so unmoved at this conjuncture; and yet you are not the first +whom I have escorted to this door. More than one of my friends has +preceded me, where I knew I must shortly follow. But this is of no +interest to you. Wait me here for only a few moments; I shall return as +soon as I have arranged the preliminaries of your introduction." + +And with that the young man, waving his hand to his companions, turned +into the court, entered a doorway and disappeared. + +"Of all our follies," said Colonel Geraldine in a low voice, "this is +the wildest and most dangerous." + +"I perfectly believe so," returned the Prince. + +"We have still," pursued the Colonel, "a moment to ourselves. Let me +beseech your Highness to profit by the opportunity and retire. The +consequences of this step are so dark, and may be so grave, that I feel +myself justified in pushing a little further than usual the liberty +which your Highness is so condescending as to allow me in private." + +"Am I to understand that Colonel Geraldine is afraid?" asked his +Highness, taking his cheroot from his lips, and looking keenly into the +other's face. + +"My fear is certainly not personal," replied the other proudly; "of that +your Highness may rest well assured." + +"I had supposed as much," returned the Prince, with undisturbed +good-humour; "but I was unwilling to remind you of the difference in our +stations. No more--no more," he added, seeing Geraldine about to +apologise; "you stand excused." + +And he smoked placidly, leaning against a railing, until the young man +returned. + +"Well," he asked, "has our reception been arranged?" + +"Follow me," was the reply. "The President will see you in the cabinet. +And let me warn you to be frank in your answers. I have stood your +guarantee; but the club requires a searching inquiry before admission; +for the indiscretion of a single member would lead to the dispersion of +the whole society for ever." + +The Prince and Geraldine put their heads together for a moment. "Bear me +out in this," said the one; and "bear me out in that," said the other; +and by boldly taking up the characters of men with whom both were +acquainted, they had come to an agreement in a twinkling, and were ready +to follow their guide into the President's cabinet. + +There were no formidable obstacles to pass. The outer door stood open; +the door of the cabinet was ajar; and there, in a small but very high +apartment, the young man left them once more. + +"He will be here immediately," he said with a nod, as he disappeared. + +Voices were audible in the cabinet through the folding-doors which +formed one end; and now and then the noise of a champagne cork, followed +by a burst of laughter, intervened among the sounds of conversation. A +single tall window looked out upon the river and the embankment; and by +the disposition of the lights they judged themselves not far from +Charing Cross station. The furniture was scanty, and the coverings worn +to the thread; and there was nothing movable except a hand-bell in the +centre of a round table, and the hats and coats of a considerable party +hung round the wall on pegs. + +"What sort of a den is this?" said Geraldine. + +"That is what I have come to see," replied the Prince. "If they keep +live devils on the premises, the thing may grow amusing." + +Just then the folding-door was opened no more than was necessary for the +passage of a human body; and there entered at the same moment a louder +buzz of talk, and the redoubtable President of the Suicide Club. The +President was a man of fifty or upwards; large and rambling in his gait, +with shaggy side whiskers, a bald top to his head, and a veiled grey +eye, which now and then emitted a twinkle. His mouth, which embraced a +large cigar, he kept continually screwing round and round and from side +to side, as he looked sagaciously and coldly at the strangers. He was +dressed in light tweeds, with his neck very open in a striped shirt +collar; and carried a minute-book under one arm. + +"Good-evening," said he, after he had closed the door behind him. "I am +told you wish to speak with me." + +"We have a desire, sir, to join the Suicide Club," replied the Colonel. + +The President rolled his cigar about in his mouth. + +"What is that?" he said abruptly. + +"Pardon me," returned the Colonel, "but I believe you are the person +best qualified to give us information on that point." + +"I?" cried the President. "A Suicide Club? Come, come! this is a frolic +for All Fools' Day. I can make allowances for gentlemen who get merry +in their liquor; but let there be an end to this." + +"Call your club what you will," said the Colonel; "you have some company +behind these doors, and we insist on joining it." + +"Sir," returned the President curtly, "you have made a mistake. This is +a private house, and you must leave it instantly." + +The Prince had remained quietly in his seat throughout this little +colloquy; but now, when the Colonel looked over to him, as much as to +say, "Take your answer and come away, for God's sake!" he drew his +cheroot from his mouth, and spoke-- + +"I have come here," said he, "upon the invitation of a friend of yours. +He has doubtless informed you of my intention in thus intruding on your +party. Let me remind you that a person in my circumstances has +exceedingly little to bind him, and is not at all likely to tolerate +much rudeness. I am a very quiet man, as a usual thing; but, my dear +sir, you are either going to oblige me in the little matter of which you +are aware, or you shall very bitterly repent that you ever admitted me +to your ante-chamber." + +The President laughed aloud. + +"That is the way to speak," said he. "You are a man who is a man. You +know the way to my heart, and can do what you like with me. Will you," +he continued, addressing Geraldine, "will you step aside for a few +minutes? I shall finish first with your companion, and some of the +club's formalities require to be fulfilled in private." + +With the words he opened the door of a small closet, into which he shut +the Colonel. + +"I believe in you," he said to Florizel, as soon as they were alone; +"but are you sure of your friend?" + +"Not so sure as I am of myself, though he has more cogent reasons," +answered Florizel, "but sure enough to bring him here without alarm. He +has had enough to cure the most tenacious man of life. He was cashiered +the other day for cheating at cards." + +"A good reason, I daresay," replied the President; "at least, we have +another in the same case, and I feel sure of him. Have you also been in +the Service, may I ask?" + +"I have," was the reply; "but I was too lazy--I left it early." + +"What is your reason for being tired of life?" pursued the President. + +"The same, as near as I can make out," answered the Prince: +"unadulterated laziness." + +The President started. "D--n it," said he, "you must have something +better than that." + +"I have no more money," added Florizel. "That is also a vexation, +without doubt. It brings my sense of idleness to an acute point." + +The President rolled his cigar round in his mouth for some seconds, +directing his gaze straight into the eyes of this unusual neophyte; but +the Prince supported his scrutiny with unabashed good temper. + +"If I had not a deal of experience," said the President at last, "I +should turn you off. But I know the world; and this much any way, that +the most frivolous excuses for a suicide are often the toughest to stand +by. And when I downright like a man, as I do you, sir, I would rather +strain the regulation than deny him." + +The Prince and the Colonel, one after the other, were subjected to a +long and particular interrogatory: the Prince alone; but Geraldine in +the presence of the Prince, so that the President might observe the +countenance of the one while the other was being warmly cross-examined. +The result was satisfactory; and the President, after having booked a +few details of each case, produced a form of oath to be accepted. +Nothing could be conceived more passive than the obedience promised, or +more stringent than the terms by which the juror bound himself. The man +who forfeited a pledge so awful could scarcely have a rag of honour or +any of the consolations of religion left to him. Florizel signed the +document, but not without a shudder; the Colonel followed his example +with an air of great depression. Then the President received the entry +money; and without more ado, introduced the two friends into the +smoking-room of the Suicide Club. + +The smoking-room of the Suicide Club was the same height as the cabinet +into which it opened, but much larger, and papered from top to bottom +with an imitation of oak wainscot. A large and cheerful fire and a +number of gas-jets illuminated the company. The Prince and his follower +made the number up to eighteen. Most of the party were smoking, and +drinking champagne; a feverish hilarity reigned, with sudden and rather +ghastly pauses. + +"Is this a full meeting?" asked the Prince. + +"Middling," said the President.--"By the way," he added, "if you have +any money, it is usual to offer some champagne. It keeps up a good +spirit, and is one of my own little perquisites." + +"Hammersmith," said Florizel, "I may leave the champagne to you." + +And with that he turned away and began to go round among the guests. +Accustomed to play the host in the highest circles, he charmed and +dominated all whom he approached; there was something at once winning +and authoritative in his address; and his extraordinary coolness gave +him yet another distinction in this half-maniacal society. As he went +from one to another he kept both his eyes and ears open, and soon began +to gain a general idea of the people among whom he found himself. As in +all other places of resort, one type predominated: people in the prime +of youth, with every show of intelligence and sensibility in their +appearance, but with little promise of strength or the quality that +makes success. Few were much above thirty, and not a few were still in +their teens. They stood, leaning on tables and shifting on their feet; +sometimes they smoked extraordinarily fast, and sometimes they let +their cigars go out; some talked well, but the conversation of others +was plainly the result of nervous tension, and was equally without wit +or purport. As each new bottle of champagne was opened, there was a +manifest improvement in gaiety. Only two were seated--one in a chair in +the recess of the window, with his head hanging and his hands plunged +deep into his trousers pockets, pale, visibly moist with perspiration, +saying never a word, a very wreck of soul and body; the other sat on the +divan close by the chimney, and attracted notice by a trenchant +dissimilarity from all the rest. He was probably upwards of forty, but +he looked fully ten years older; and Florizel thought he had never seen +a man more naturally hideous, nor one more ravaged by disease and +ruinous excitements. He was no more than skin and bone, was partly +paralysed, and wore spectacles of such unusual power that his eyes +appeared through the glasses greatly magnified and distorted in shape. +Except the Prince and the President, he was the only person in the room +who preserved the composure of ordinary life. + +There was little decency among the members of the club. Some boasted of +the disgraceful actions, the consequences of which had reduced them to +seek refuge in death; and the others listened without disapproval. There +was a tacit understanding against moral judgments; and whoever passed +the club doors enjoyed already some of the immunities of the tomb. They +drank to each other's memories, and to those of notable suicides in the +past. They compared and developed their different views of death--some +declaring that it was no more than blackness and cessation; others full +of a hope that that very night they should be scaling the stars and +commercing with the mighty dead. + +"To the eternal memory of Baron Trenck, the type of suicides!" cried +one. "He went out of a small cell into a smaller, that he might come +forth again to freedom." + +"For my part," said a second, "I wish no more than a bandage for my eyes +and cotton for my ears. Only they have no cotton thick enough in this +world." + +A third was for reading the mysteries of life in a future state; and a +fourth professed that he would never have joined the club if he had not +been induced to believe in Mr. Darwin. + +"I could not bear," said this remarkable suicide, "to be descended from +an ape." + +Altogether, the Prince was disappointed by the bearing and conversation +of the members. + +"It does not seem to me," he thought, "a matter of so much disturbance. +If a man has made up his mind to kill himself, let him do it, in God's +name, like a gentleman. This flutter and big talk is out of place." + +In the meanwhile Colonel Geraldine was a prey to the blackest +apprehensions; the club and its rules were still a mystery, and he +looked round the room for some one who should be able to set his mind at +rest. In this survey his eye lighted on the paralytic person with the +strong spectacles; and seeing him so exceedingly tranquil, he besought +the President, who was going in and out of the room under a pressure of +business, to present him to the gentleman on the divan. + +The functionary explained the needlessness of all such formalities +within the club, but nevertheless presented Mr. Hammersmith to Mr. +Malthus. + +Mr. Malthus looked at the Colonel curiously, and then requested him to +take a seat upon his right. + +"You are a new-comer," he said, "and wish information? You have come to +the proper source. It is two years since I first visited this charming +club." + +The Colonel breathed again. If Mr. Malthus had frequented the place for +two years there could be little danger for the Prince in a single +evening. But Geraldine was none the less astonished, and began to +suspect a mystification. + +"What!" cried he, "two years! I thought--but indeed I see I have been +made the subject of a pleasantry." + +"By no means," replied Mr. Malthus mildly. "My case is peculiar. I am +not, properly speaking, a suicide at all; but, as it were, an honorary +member. I rarely visit the club twice in two months. My infirmity and +the kindness of the President have procured me these little immunities, +for which besides I pay at an advanced rate. Even as it is, my luck has +been extraordinary." + +"I am afraid," said the Colonel, "that I must ask you to be more +explicit. You must remember that I am still most imperfectly acquainted +with the rules of the club." + +"An ordinary member who comes here in search of death, like yourself," +replied the paralytic, "returns every evening until fortune favours him. +He can even, if he is penniless, get board and lodging from the +President: very fair, I believe, and clean, although, of course, not +luxurious; that could hardly be, considering the exiguity (if I may so +express myself) of the subscription. And then the President's company is +a delicacy in itself." + +"Indeed!" cried Geraldine, "he had not greatly prepossessed me." + +"Ah!" said Mr. Malthus, "you do not know the man: the drollest fellow! +What stories! What cynicism! He knows life to admiration, and, between +ourselves, is probably the most corrupt rogue in Christendom." + +"And he also," asked the Colonel, "is a permanency--like yourself, if I +may say so without offence?" + +"Indeed, he is a permanency in a very different sense from me," replied +Mr. Malthus. "I have been graciously spared, but I must go at last. Now +he never plays. He shuffles and deals for the club, and makes the +necessary arrangements. That man, my dear Mr. Hammersmith, is the very +soul of ingenuity. For three years he has pursued in London his useful +and, I think I may add, his artistic calling; and not so much as a +whisper of suspicion has been once aroused. I believe himself to be +inspired. You doubtless remember the celebrated case, six months ago, +of the gentleman who was accidentally poisoned in a chemist's shop? That +was one of the least rich, one of the least racy, of his notions; but +then, how simple! and how safe!" + +"You astound me," said the Colonel. "Was that unfortunate gentleman one +of the----" He was about to say "victims"; but bethinking himself in +time, he substituted--"members of the club?" + +In the same flash of thought it occurred to him that Mr. Malthus himself +had not at all spoken in the tone of one who is in love with death; and +he added hurriedly-- + +"But I perceive I am still in the dark. You speak of shuffling and +dealing; pray, for what end? And since you seem rather unwilling to die +than otherwise, I must own that I cannot conceive what brings you here +at all." + +"You say truly that you are in the dark," replied Mr. Malthus with more +animation. "Why, my dear sir, this club is the temple of intoxication. +If my enfeebled health could support the excitement more often, you may +depend upon it I should be more often here. It requires all the sense of +duty engendered by a long habit of ill-health and careful regimen, to +keep me from excess in this, which is, I may say, my last dissipation. I +have tried them all, sir," he went on, laying his hand on Geraldine's +arm, "all, without exception, and I declare to you, upon my honour, +there is not one of them that has not been grossly and untruthfully +overrated. People trifle with love. Now, I deny that love is a strong +passion. Fear is the strong passion; it is with fear that you must +trifle if you wish to taste the intensest joys of living. Envy me--envy +me, sir," he added with a chuckle, "I am a coward!" + +Geraldine could scarcely repress a movement of repulsion for this +deplorable wretch; but he commanded himself with an effort, and +continued his inquiries. + +"How, sir," he asked, "is the excitement so artfully prolonged? and +where is there any element of uncertainty?" + +"I must tell you how the victim for every evening is selected," returned +Mr. Malthus; "and not only the victim, but another member, who is to be +the instrument in the club's hands, and death's high priest for that +occasion." + +"Good God!" said the Colonel, "do they then kill each other?" + +"The trouble of suicide is removed in that way," returned Malthus with a +nod. + +"Merciful heavens!" ejaculated the Colonel, "and may you--may I--may +the--my friend, I mean--may any of us be pitched upon this evening as +the slayer of another man's body and immortal spirit? Can such things be +possible among men born of women? Oh! infamy of infamies!" + +He was about to rise in his horror, when he caught the Prince's eye. It +was fixed upon him from across the room with a frowning and angry stare. +And in a moment Geraldine recovered his composure. + +"After all," he added, "why not? and since you say the game is +interesting, _vogue la galere_--I follow the club!" + +Mr. Malthus had keenly enjoyed the Colonel's amazement and disgust. He +had the vanity of wickedness; and it pleased him to see another man give +way to a generous movement, while he felt himself, in his entire +corruption, superior to such emotions. + +"You now, after your first moment of surprise," said he, "are in a +position to appreciate the delights of our society. You can see how it +combines the excitement of a gaming-table, a duel, and a Roman +amphitheatre. The Pagans did well enough; I cordially admire the +refinement of their minds; but it has been reserved for a Christian +country to attain this extreme, this quintessence, this absolute of +poignancy. You will understand how vapid are all amusements to a man who +has acquired a taste for this one. The game we play," he continued, "is +one of extreme simplicity. A full pack--but I perceive you are about to +see the thing in progress. Will you lend me the help of your arm? I am +unfortunately paralysed." + +Indeed, just as Mr. Malthus was beginning his description, another pair +of folding-doors was thrown open, and the whole club began to pass, not +without some hurry, into the adjoining room. It was similar in every +respect to the one from which it was entered, but somewhat differently +furnished. The centre was occupied by a long green table, at which the +President sat shuffling a pack of cards with great particularity. Even +with the stick and the Colonel's arm, Mr. Malthus walked with so much +difficulty that everyone was seated before this pair and the Prince, who +had waited for them, entered the apartment; and, in consequence, the +three took seats close together at the lower end of the board. + +"It is a pack of fifty-two," whispered Mr. Malthus. "Watch for the ace +of spades, which is the sign of death, and the ace of clubs, which +designates the official of the night. Happy, happy young men!" he added. +"You have good eyes, and can follow the game. Alas! I cannot tell an ace +from a deuce across the table." + +And he proceeded to equip himself with a second pair of spectacles. + +"I must at least watch the faces," he explained. + +The Colonel rapidly informed his friend of all that he had learned from +the honorary member, and of the horrible alternative that lay before +them. The Prince was conscious of a deadly chill and a contraction about +his heart; he swallowed with difficulty, and looked from side to side +like a man in a maze. + +"One bold stroke," whispered the Colonel, "and we may still escape." + +But the suggestion recalled the Prince's spirits. + +"Silence!" said he. "Let me see that you can play like a gentleman for +any stake, however serious." + +And he looked about him, once more to all appearance at his ease, +although his heart beat thickly, and he was conscious of an unpleasant +heat in his bosom. The members were all very quiet and intent; every one +was pale, but none so pale as Mr. Malthus. His eyes protruded; his head +kept nodding involuntarily upon his spine; his hands found their way, +one after the other, to his mouth, where they made clutches at his +tremulous and ashen lips. It was plain that the honorary member enjoyed +his membership on very startling terms. + +"Attention, gentlemen!" said the President. + +And he began slowly dealing the cards about the table in the reverse +direction, pausing until each man had shown his card. Nearly every one +hesitated; and sometimes you would see a player's fingers stumble more +than once before he could turn over the momentous slip of pasteboard. As +the Prince's turn drew nearer, he was conscious of a growing and almost +suffocating excitement; but he had somewhat of the gambler's nature, and +recognised almost with astonishment that there was a degree of pleasure +in his sensations. The nine of clubs fell to his lot; the three of +spades was dealt to Geraldine; and the queen of hearts to Mr. Malthus, +who was unable to suppress a sob of relief. The young man of the cream +tarts almost immediately afterwards turned over the ace of clubs, and +remained frozen with horror, the card still resting on his finger; he +had not come there to kill, but to be killed; and the Prince in his +generous sympathy with his position almost forgot the peril that still +hung over himself and his friend. + +The deal was coming round again, and still Death's card had not come +out. The players held their respiration, and only breathed by gasps. The +Prince received another club; Geraldine had a diamond; but when Mr. +Malthus turned up his card a horrible noise, like that of something +breaking, issued from his mouth; and he rose from his seat and sat down +again, with no sign of his paralysis. It was the ace of spades. The +honorary member had trifled once too often with his terrors. + +Conversation broke out again almost at once. The players relaxed their +rigid attitudes, and began to rise from the table and stroll back by +twos and threes into the smoking-room. The President stretched his arms +and yawned, like a man who has finished his day's work. But Mr. Malthus +sat in his place, with his head in his hands, and his hands upon the +table, drunk and motionless--a thing stricken down. + +The Prince and Geraldine made their escape at once. In the cold night +air their horror of what they had witnessed was redoubled. + +"Alas!" cried the Prince, "to be bound by an oath in such a matter! to +allow this wholesale trade in murder to be continued with profit and +impunity! If I but dared to forfeit my pledge!" + +"That is impossible for your Highness," replied the Colonel, "whose +honour is the honour of Bohemia. But I dare, and may with propriety, +forfeit mine." + +"Geraldine," said the Prince, "if your honour suffers in any of the +adventures into which you follow me, not only will I never pardon you, +but--what I believe will much more sensibly affect you--I should never +forgive myself." + +"I receive your Highness's commands," replied the Colonel. "Shall we go +from this accursed spot?" + +"Yes," said the Prince. "Call a cab in Heaven's name, and let me try to +forget in slumber the memory of this night's disgrace." + +But it was notable that he carefully read the name of the court before +he left it. + +The next morning, as soon as the Prince was stirring, Colonel Geraldine +brought him a daily newspaper, with the following paragraph marked:-- + + "MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.--This morning, about two o'clock, Mr. + Bartholomew Malthus, of 16 Chepstow Place, Westbourne Grove, on his + way home from a party at a friend's house, fell over the upper + parapet in Trafalgar Square, fracturing his skull and breaking a leg + and an arm. Death was instantaneous. Mr. Malthus, accompanied by a + friend, was engaged in looking for a cab at the time of the + unfortunate occurrence. As Mr. Malthus was paralytic, it is thought + that his fall may have been occasioned by another seizure. The + unhappy gentleman was well known in the most respectable circles, and + his loss will be widely and deeply deplored." + +"If ever a soul went straight to Hell," said Geraldine solemnly, "it was +that paralytic man's." + +The Prince buried his face in his hands, and remained silent. + +"I am almost rejoiced," continued the Colonel, "to know that he is dead. +But for our young man of the cream tarts I confess my heart bleeds." + +"Geraldine," said the Prince, raising his face, "that unhappy lad was +last night as innocent as you and I; and this morning the guilt of blood +is on his soul. When I think of the President, my heart grows sick +within me. I do not know how it shall be done, but I shall have that +scoundrel at my mercy as there is a God in heaven. What an experience, +what a lesson, was that game of cards!" + +"One," said the Colonel, "never to be repeated." + +The Prince remained so long without replying that Geraldine grew +alarmed. + +"You cannot mean to return," he said. "You have suffered too much and +seen too much horror already. The duties of your high position forbid +the repetition of the hazard." + +"There is much in what you say," replied Prince Florizel, "and I am not +altogether pleased with my own determination. Alas! in the clothes of +the greatest potentate what is there but a man? I never felt my weakness +more acutely than now, Geraldine, but it is stronger than I. Can I +cease to interest myself in the fortunes of the unhappy young man who +supped with us some hours ago? Can I leave the President to follow his +nefarious career unwatched? Can I begin an adventure so entrancing, and +not follow it to an end? No, Geraldine, you ask of the Prince more than +the man is able to perform. To-night, once more, we take our places at +the table of the Suicide Club." + +Colonel Geraldine fell upon his knees. + +"Will your Highness take my life?" he cried. "It is his--his freely; but +do not, O do not! let him ask me to countenance so terrible a risk." + +"Colonel Geraldine," replied the Prince, with some haughtiness of +manner, "your life is absolutely your own. I only looked for obedience; +and when that is unwillingly rendered, I shall look for that no longer. +I add one word: your importunity in this affair has been sufficient." + +The Master of the Horse regained his feet at once. + +"Your Highness," he said, "may I be excused in my attendance this +afternoon? I dare not, as an honourable man, venture a second time into +that fatal house until I have perfectly ordered my affairs. Your +Highness shall meet, I promise him, with no more opposition from the +most devoted and grateful of his servants." + +"My dear Geraldine," returned Prince Florizel, "I always regret when you +oblige me to remember my rank. Dispose of your day as you think fit, but +be here before eleven in the same disguise." + +The club, on this second evening, was not so fully attended; and when +Geraldine and the Prince arrived there were not above half a dozen +persons in the smoking-room. His Highness took the President aside and +congratulated him warmly on the demise of Mr. Malthus. + +"I like," he said, "to meet with capacity, and certainly find much of it +in you. Your profession is of a very delicate nature, but I see you are +well qualified to conduct it with success and secrecy." + +The President was somewhat affected by these compliments from one of his +Highness's superior bearing. He acknowledged them almost with humility. + +"Poor Malthy!" he added, "I shall hardly know the club without him. The +most of my patrons are boys, sir, and poetical boys, who are not much +company for me. Not but what Malthy had some poetry too; but it was of a +kind that I could understand." + +"I can readily imagine you should find yourself in sympathy with Mr. +Malthus," returned the Prince. "He struck me as a man of a very original +disposition." + +The young man of the cream tarts was in the room, but painfully +depressed and silent. His late companions sought in vain to lead him +into conversation. + +"How bitterly I wish," he cried, "that I had never brought you to this +infamous abode! Begone, while you are clean-handed. If you could have +heard the old man scream as he fell, and the noise of his bones upon the +pavement! Wish me, if you have any kindness to so fallen a being--wish +the ace of spades for me to-night!" + +A few more members dropped in as the evening went on, but the club did +not muster more than the devil's dozen when they took their places at +the table. The Prince was again conscious of a certain joy in his +alarms; but he was astonished to see Geraldine so much more +self-possessed than on the night before. + +"It is extraordinary," thought the Prince, "that a will, made or unmade, +should so greatly influence a young man's spirit." + +"Attention, gentlemen!" said the President, and he began to deal. + +Three times the cards went all round the table, and neither of the +marked cards had yet fallen from his hand. The excitement as he began +the fourth distribution was overwhelming. There were just cards enough +to go once more entirely round. The Prince, who sat second from the +dealer's left, would receive, in the reverse mode of dealing practised +at the club, the second last card. The third player turned up a black +ace--it was the ace of clubs. The next received a diamond, the next a +heart, and so on; but the ace of spades was still undelivered. At last +Geraldine, who sat upon the Prince's left, turned his card; it was an +ace, but the ace of hearts. + +When Prince Florizel saw his fate upon the table in front of him, his +heart stood still. He was a brave man, but the sweat poured off his +face. There were exactly fifty chances out of a hundred that he was +doomed. He reversed the card; it was the ace of spades. A loud roaring +filled his brain, and the table swam before his eyes. He heard the +player on his right break into a fit of laughter that sounded between +mirth and disappointment; he saw the company rapidly dispersing, but his +mind was full of other thoughts. He recognised how foolish, how +criminal, had been his conduct. In perfect health, in the prime of his +years, the heir to a throne, he had gambled away his future and that of +a brave and loyal country. "God," he cried, "God forgive me!" And with +that the confusion of his senses passed away, and he regained his +self-possession in a moment. + +To his surprise, Geraldine had disappeared. There was no one in the +card-room but his destined butcher consulting with the President, and +the young man of the cream tarts, who slipped up to the Prince and +whispered in his ear-- + +"I would give a million, if I had it, for your luck." + +His Highness could not help reflecting, as the young man departed, that +he would have sold his opportunity for a much more moderate sum. + +The whispered conference now came to an end. The holder of the ace of +clubs left the room with a look of intelligence, and the President, +approaching the unfortunate Prince, proffered him his hand. + +"I am pleased to have met you, sir," said he, "and pleased to have been +in a position to do you this trifling service. At least, you cannot +complain of delay. On the second evening--what a stroke of luck!" + +The Prince endeavoured in vain to articulate something in response, but +his mouth was dry and his tongue seemed paralysed. + +"You feel a little sickish?" asked the President, with some show of +solicitude. "Most gentlemen do. Will you take a little brandy?" + +The Prince signified in the affirmative, and the other immediately +filled some of the spirit into a tumbler. + +"Poor old Malthy!" ejaculated the President, as the Prince drained the +glass. "He drank near upon a pint, and little enough good it seemed to +do him!" + +"I am more amenable to treatment," said the Prince, a good deal revived. +"I am my own man again at once, as you perceive. And so, let me ask you, +what are my directions?" + +"You will proceed along the Strand in the direction of the City, and on +the left-hand pavement, until you meet the gentleman who has just left +the room. He will continue your instructions, and him you will have the +kindness to obey; the authority of the club is vested in his person for +the night. And now," added the President, "I wish you a pleasant walk." + +Florizel acknowledged the salutation rather awkwardly, and took his +leave. He passed through the smoking-room, where the bulk of the players +were still consuming champagne, some of which he had himself ordered and +paid for; and he was surprised to find himself cursing them in his +heart. He put on his hat and greatcoat in the cabinet, and selected his +umbrella from a corner. The familiarity of these acts, and the thought +that he was about them for the last time, betrayed him into a fit of +laughter which sounded unpleasantly in his own ears. He conceived a +reluctance to leave the cabinet, and turned instead to the window. The +sight of the lamps and the darkness recalled him to himself. + +"Come, come, I must be a man," he thought, "and tear myself away." + +At the corner of Box Court three men fell upon Prince Florizel, and he +was unceremoniously thrust into a carriage, which at once drove rapidly +away. There was already an occupant. + +"Will your Highness pardon my zeal?" said a well-known voice. + +The Prince threw himself upon the Colonel's neck in a passion of relief. + +"How can I ever thank you?" he cried. "And how was this effected?" + +Although he had been willing to march upon his doom, he was overjoyed to +yield to friendly violence, and return once more to life and hope. + +"You can thank me effectually enough," replied the Colonel, "by avoiding +all such dangers in the future. And as for your second question, all has +been managed by the simplest means. I arranged this afternoon with a +celebrated detective. Secrecy has been promised and paid for. Your own +servants have been principally engaged in the affair. The house in Box +Court has been surrounded since nightfall, and this, which is one of +your own carriages, has been awaiting you for nearly an hour." + +"And the miserable creature who was to have slain me--what of him?" +inquired the Prince. + +"He was pinioned as he left the club," replied the Colonel, "and now +awaits your sentence at the Palace, where he will soon be joined by his +accomplices." + +"Geraldine," said the Prince, "you have saved me against my explicit +orders, and you have done well. I owe you not only my life, but a +lesson; and I should be unworthy of my rank if I did not show myself +grateful to my teacher. Let it be yours to choose the manner." + +There was a pause, during which the carriage continued to speed through +the streets, and the two men were each buried in his own reflections. +The silence was broken by Colonel Geraldine. + +"Your Highness," said he, "has by this time a considerable body of +prisoners. There is at least one criminal among the number to whom +justice should be dealt. Our oath forbids us all recourse to law; and +discretion would forbid it equally if the oath were loosened. May I +inquire your Highness's intention?" + +"It is decided," answered Florizel; "the President must fall in duel. It +only remains to choose his adversary." + +"Your Highness has permitted me to name my own recompense," said the +Colonel. "Will he permit me to ask the appointment of my brother? It is +an honourable post, but I dare assure your Highness that the lad will +acquit himself with credit." + +"You ask me an ungracious favour," said the Prince, "but I must refuse +you nothing." + +The Colonel kissed his hand with the greatest affection; and at that +moment the carriage rolled under the archway of the Prince's splendid +residence. + +An hour after, Florizel in his official robes, and covered with all the +orders of Bohemia, received the members of the Suicide Club. + +"Foolish and wicked men," said he, "as many of you as have been driven +into this strait by the lack of fortune shall receive employment and +remuneration from my officers. Those who suffer under a sense of guilt +must have recourse to a higher and more generous Potentate than I. I +feel pity for all of you, deeper than you can imagine; to-morrow you +shall tell me your stories; and as you answer more frankly, I shall be +the more able to remedy your misfortunes. As for you," he added, turning +to the President, "I should only offend a person of your parts by any +offer of assistance; but I have instead a piece of diversion to propose +to you. Here," laying his hand on the shoulder of Colonel Geraldine's +young brother, "is an officer of mine who desires to make a little tour +upon the Continent; and I ask you, as a favour, to accompany him on +this excursion. Do you," he went on, changing his tone, "do you shoot +well with the pistol? Because you may have need of that accomplishment. +When two men go travelling together, it is best to be prepared for all. +Let me add that, if by any chance you should lose young Mr. Geraldine +upon the way, I shall always have another member of my household to +place at your disposal; and I am known, Mr. President, to have long +eyesight, and as long an arm." + +With these words, said with much sternness, the Prince concluded his +address. Next morning the members of the club were suitably provided for +by his munificence, and the President set forth upon his travels, under +the supervision of Mr. Geraldine, and a pair of faithful and adroit +lackeys, well trained in the Prince's household. Not content with this, +discreet agents were put in possession of the house in Box Court, and +all letters or visitors for the Suicide Club or its officials were to be +examined by Prince Florizel in person. + + +_Here_ (says my Arabian author) _ends The Story of_ THE YOUNG MAN WITH +THE CREAM TARTS, _who is now a comfortable householder in Wigmore +Street, Cavendish Square. The number, for obvious reasons, I suppress. +Those who care to pursue the adventures of Prince Florizel and the +President of the Suicide Club, may read_ + + +THE STORY OF THE PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK + +Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore was a young American of a simple and harmless +disposition, which was the more to his credit as he came from New +England--a quarter of the New World not precisely famous for those +qualities. Although he was exceedingly rich, he kept a note of all his +expenses in a little paper pocket-book; and he had chosen to study the +attractions of Paris from the seventh story of what is called a +furnished hotel in the Latin Quarter. There was a great deal of habit in +his penuriousness; and his virtue, which was very remarkable among his +associates, was principally founded upon diffidence and youth. + +The next room to his was inhabited by a lady, very attractive in her air +and very elegant in toilette, whom, on his first arrival, he had taken +for a Countess. In course of time he had learned that she was known by +the name of Madame Zephyrine, and that whatever station she occupied in +life it was not that of a person of title. Madame Zephyrine, probably in +the hope of enchanting the young American, used to flaunt by him on the +stairs with a civil inclination, a word of course, and a knock-down look +out of her black eyes, and disappear in a rustle of silk, and with the +revelation of an admirable foot and ankle. But these advances, so far +from encouraging Mr. Scuddamore, plunged him into the depths of +depression and bashfulness. She had come to him several times for a +light, or to apologise for imaginary depredations of her poodle; but his +mouth was closed in the presence of so superior a being, his French +promptly left him, and he could only stare and stammer until she was +gone. The slenderness of their intercourse did not prevent him from +throwing out insinuations of a very glorious order when he was safely +alone with a few males. + +The room on the other side of the American's--for there were three rooms +on a floor in the hotel--was tenanted by an old English physician of +rather doubtful reputation. Dr. Noel, for that was his name, had been +forced to leave London, where he enjoyed a large and increasing +practice; and it was hinted that the police had been the instigators of +this change of scene. At least he, who had made something of a figure in +earlier life, now dwelt in the Latin Quarter in great simplicity and +solitude, and devoted much of his time to study. Mr. Scuddamore had made +his acquaintance, and the pair would now and then dine together +frugally in a restaurant across the street. + +Silas Q. Scuddamore had many little vices of the more respectable order, +and was not restrained by delicacy from indulging them in many rather +doubtful ways. Chief among his foibles stood curiosity. He was a born +gossip; and life, and especially those parts of it in which he had no +experience, interested him to the degree of passion. He was a pert, +invincible questioner, pushing his inquiries with equal pertinacity and +indiscretion; he had been observed, when he took a letter to the post, +to weigh it in his hand, to turn it over and over, and to study the +address with care; and when he found a flaw in the partition between his +room and Madame Zephyrine's, instead of filling it up, he enlarged and +improved the opening, and made use of it as a spy-hole on his +neighbour's affairs. + +One day, in the end of March, his curiosity growing as it was indulged, +he enlarged the hole a little further, so that he might command another +corner of the room. That evening, when he went as usual to inspect +Madame Zephyrine's movements, he was astonished to find the aperture +obscured in an odd manner on the other side, and still more abashed when +the obstacle was suddenly withdrawn and a titter of laughter reached his +ears. Some of the plaster had evidently betrayed the secret of his +spy-hole, and his neighbour had been returning the compliment in kind. +Mr. Scuddamore was moved to a very acute feeling of annoyance; he +condemned Madame Zephyrine unmercifully: he even blamed himself; but +when he found, next day, that she had taken no means to baulk him of his +favourite pastime, he continued to profit by her carelessness, and +gratify his idle curiosity. + +That next day Madame Zephyrine received a long visit from a tall, +loosely-built man of fifty or upwards, whom Silas had not hitherto seen. +His tweed suit and coloured shirt, no less than his shaggy +side-whiskers, identified him as a Britisher, and his dull grey eye +affected Silas with a sense of cold. He kept screwing his mouth from +side to side and round and round during the whole colloquy, which was +carried on in whispers. More than once it seemed to the young New +Englander as if their gestures indicated his own apartment; but the only +thing definite he could gather by the most scrupulous attention was this +remark, made by the Englishman in a somewhat higher key, as if in answer +to some reluctance or opposition-- + +"I have studied his taste to a nicety, and I tell you again and again +you are the only woman of the sort that I can lay my hands on." + +In answer to this, Madame Zephyrine sighed, and appeared by a gesture to +resign herself, like one yielding to unqualified authority. + +That afternoon the observatory was finally blinded, a wardrobe having +been drawn in front of it upon the other side; and while Silas was still +lamenting over this misfortune, which he attributed to the Britisher's +malign suggestion, the _concierge_ brought him up a letter in a female +handwriting. It was conceived in French of no very rigorous orthography, +bore no signature, and in the most encouraging terms invited the young +American to be present in a certain part of the Bullier Ball at eleven +o'clock that night. Curiosity and timidity fought a long battle in his +heart; sometimes he was all virtue, sometimes all fire and daring; and +the result of it was that, long before ten, Mr. Silas Q. Scuddamore +presented himself in unimpeachable attire at the door of the Bullier +Ball Rooms, and paid his entry money with a sense of reckless devilry +that was not without its charm. + +It was Carnival time, and the Ball was very full and noisy. The lights +and the crowd at first rather abashed our young adventurer, and then, +mounting to his brain with a sort of intoxication, put him in possession +of more than his own share of manhood. He felt ready to face the devil, +and strutted in the ball-room with the swagger of a cavalier. While he +was thus parading, he became aware of Madame Zephyrine and her +Britisher in conference behind a pillar. The cat-like spirit of +eavesdropping overcame him at once. He stole nearer and nearer on the +couple from behind, until he was within earshot. + +"That is the man," the Britisher was saying; "there--with the long blond +hair--speaking to a girl in green." + +Silas identified a very handsome young fellow of small stature, who was +plainly the object of this designation. + +"It is well," said Madame Zephyrine. "I shall do my utmost. But, +remember, the best of us may fail in such a matter." + +"Tut!" returned her companion; "I answer for the result. Have I not +chosen you from thirty? Go; but be wary of the Prince. I cannot think +what cursed accident has brought him here to-night. As if there were not +a dozen balls in Paris better worth his notice than this riot of +students and counter-jumpers! See him where he sits, more like a +reigning Emperor at home than a Prince upon his holidays!" + +Silas was again lucky. He observed a person of rather a full build, +strikingly handsome, and of a very stately and courteous demeanour, +seated at table with another handsome young man, several years his +junior, who addressed him with conspicuous deference. The name of Prince +struck gratefully on Silas's Republican hearing, and the aspect of the +person to whom that name was applied exercised its usual charm upon his +mind. He left Madame Zephyrine and her Englishman to take care of each +other, and threading his way through the assembly, approached the table +which the Prince and his confidant had honoured with their choice. + +"I tell you, Geraldine," the former was saying, "the action is madness. +Yourself (I am glad to remember it) chose your brother for this perilous +service, and you are bound in duty to have a guard upon his conduct. He +has consented to delay so many days in Paris; that was already an +imprudence, considering the character of the man he has to deal with; +but now, when he is within eight-and-forty hours of his departure, when +he is within two or three days of the decisive trial, I ask you, is this +a place for him to spend his time? He should be in a gallery at +practice; he should be sleeping long hours and taking moderate exercise +on foot; he should be on a rigorous diet, without white wines or brandy. +Does the dog imagine we are all playing comedy? The thing is deadly +earnest, Geraldine." + +"I know the lad too well to interfere," replied Colonel Geraldine, "and +well enough not to be alarmed. He is more cautious than you fancy, and +of an indomitable spirit. If it had been a woman I should not say so +much, but I trust the President to him and the two valets without an +instant's apprehension." + +"I am gratified to hear you say so," replied the Prince; "but my mind is +not at rest. These servants are well-trained spies, and already has not +this miscreant succeeded three times in eluding their observation and +spending several hours on each in private, and most likely dangerous, +affairs? An amateur might have lost him by accident, but if Rudolph and +Jerome were thrown off the scent, it must have been done on purpose, and +by a man who had a cogent reason and exceptional resources." + +"I believe the question is now one between my brother and myself," +replied Geraldine, with a shade of offence in his tone. + +"I permit it to be so, Colonel Geraldine," returned Prince Florizel. +"Perhaps, for that very reason, you should be all the more ready to +accept my counsels. But enough. That girl in yellow dances well." + +And the talk veered into the ordinary topics of a Paris ball-room in the +Carnival. + +Silas remembered where he was, and that the hour was already near at +hand when he ought to be upon the scene of his assignation. The more he +reflected the less he liked the prospect, and as at that moment an eddy +in the crowd began to draw him in the direction of the door, he +suffered it to carry him away without resistance. The eddy stranded him +in a corner under the gallery, where his ear was immediately struck with +the voice of Madame Zephyrine. She was speaking in French with the young +man of the blond locks who had been pointed out by the strange Britisher +not half an hour before. + +"I have a character at stake," she said, "or I would put no other +condition than my heart recommends. But you have only to say so much to +the porter, and he will let you go by without a word." + +"But why this talk of debt?" objected her companion. + +"Heavens!" said she, "do you think I do not understand my own hotel?" + +And she went by, clinging affectionately to her companion's arm. + +This put Silas in mind of his billet. + +"Ten minutes hence," thought he, "and I may be walking with as beautiful +a woman as that, and even better dressed--perhaps a real lady, possibly +a woman of title." + +And then he remembered the spelling, and was a little downcast. + +"But it may have been written by her maid," he imagined. + +The clock was only a few minutes from the hour, and this immediate +proximity set his heart beating at a curious and rather disagreeable +speed. He reflected with relief that he was in no way bound to put in an +appearance. Virtue and cowardice were together, and he made once more +for the door, but this time, of his own accord, and battling against the +stream of people which was now moving in a contrary direction. Perhaps +this prolonged resistance wearied him, or perhaps he was in that frame +of mind when merely to continue in the same determination for a certain +number of minutes produces a reaction and a different purpose. +Certainly, at least, he wheeled about for a third time, and did not +stop until he had found a place of concealment within a few yards of the +appointed place. + +Here he went through an agony of spirit, in which he several times +prayed to God for help, for Silas had been devoutly educated. He had now +not the least inclination for the meeting; nothing kept him from flight +but a silly fear lest he should be thought unmanly; but this was so +powerful that it kept head against all other motives; and although it +could not decide him to advance, prevented him from definitely running +away. At last the clock indicated ten minutes past the hour. Young +Scuddamore's spirit began to rise; he peered round the corner and saw no +one at the place of meeting; doubtless his unknown correspondent had +wearied and gone away. He became as bold as he had formerly been timid. +It seemed to him that if he came at all to the appointment, however +late, he was clear from the charge of cowardice. Nay, now he began to +suspect a hoax, and actually complimented himself on his shrewdness in +having suspected and out-manoeuvred his mystifiers. So very idle a +thing is a boy's mind! + +Armed with these reflections, he advanced boldly from his corner; but he +had not taken above a couple of steps before a hand was laid upon his +arm. He turned and beheld a lady cast in a very large mould and with +somewhat stately features, but bearing no mark of severity in her looks. + +"I see that you are a very self-confident lady-killer," said she; "for +you make yourself expected. But I was determined to meet you. When a +woman has once so far forgotten herself as to make the first advance, +she has long ago left behind her all considerations of petty pride." + +Silas was overwhelmed by the size and attractions of his correspondent +and the suddenness with which she had fallen upon him. But she soon set +him at his ease. She was very towardly and lenient in her behaviour; she +led him on to make pleasantries, and then applauded him to the echo; and +in a very short time, between blandishments and a liberal exhibition of +warm brandy, she had not only induced him to fancy himself in love, but +to declare his passion with the greatest vehemence. + +"Alas!" she said; "I do not know whether I ought not to deplore this +moment, great as is the pleasure you give me by your words. Hitherto I +was alone to suffer; now, poor boy, there will be two. I am not my own +mistress. I dare not ask you to visit me at my own house, for I am +watched by jealous eyes. Let me see," she added; "I am older than you, +although so much weaker; and while I trust in your courage and +determination, I must employ my own knowledge of the world for our +mutual benefit. Where do you live?" + +He told her that he lodged in a furnished hotel, and named the street +and number. + +She seemed to reflect for some minutes, with an effort of mind. + +"I see," she said at last. "You will be faithful and obedient, will you +not?" + +Silas assured her eagerly of his fidelity. + +"To-morrow night, then," she continued, with an encouraging smile, "you +must remain at home all the evening; and if any friends should visit +you, dismiss them at once on any pretext that most readily presents +itself. Your door is probably shut by ten?" she asked. + +"By eleven," answered Silas. + +"At a quarter past eleven," pursued the lady, "leave the house. Merely +cry for the door to be opened, and be sure you fall into no talk with +the porter, as that might ruin everything. Go straight to the corner +where the Luxembourg Gardens join the Boulevard; there you will find me +waiting you. I trust you to follow my advice from point to point: and +remember, if you fail me in only one particular, you will bring the +sharpest trouble on a woman whose only fault is to have seen and loved +you." + +"I cannot see the use of all these instructions," said Silas. + +"I believe you are already beginning to treat me as a master," she +cried, tapping him with her fan upon the arm. "Patience, patience! that +should come in time. A woman loves to be obeyed at first, although +afterwards she finds her pleasure in obeying. Do as I ask you, for +Heaven's sake, or I will answer for nothing. Indeed, now I think of it," +she added, with a manner of one who has just seen further into a +difficulty, "I find a better plan of keeping importunate visitors away. +Tell the porter to admit no one for you, except a person who may come +that night to claim a debt; and speak with some feeling, as though you +feared the interview, so that he may take your words in earnest." + +"I think you may trust me to protect myself against intruders," he said, +not without a little pique. + +"That is how I should prefer the thing arranged," she answered coldly. +"I know you men; you think nothing of a woman's reputation." + +Silas blushed and somewhat hung his head; for the scheme he had in view +had involved a little vain-glorying before his acquaintances. + +"Above all," she added, "do not speak to the porter as you come out." + +"And why?" said he. "Of all your instructions, that seems to me the +least important." + +"You at first doubted the wisdom of some of the others, which you now +see to be very necessary," she replied. "Believe me, this also has its +uses; in time you will see them; and what am I to think of your +affection, if you refuse me such trifles at our first interview?" + +Silas confounded himself in explanations and apologies; in the middle of +these she looked up at the clock and clapped her hands together with a +suppressed scream. + +"Heavens!" she cried, "is it so late? I have not an instant to lose. +Alas, we poor women, what slaves we are! What have I not risked for you +already?" + +And after repeating her directions, which she artfully combined with +caresses and the most abandoned looks, she bade him farewell and +disappeared among the crowd. + +The whole of the next day Silas was filled with a sense of great +importance; he was now sure she was a countess; and when evening came he +minutely obeyed her orders and was at the corner of the Luxembourg +Gardens by the hour appointed. No one was there. He waited nearly half +an hour, looking in the face of every one who passed or loitered near +the spot; he even visited the neighbouring corners of the Boulevard and +made a complete circuit of the garden railings; but there was no +beautiful countess to throw herself into his arms. At last, and most +reluctantly, he began to retrace his steps towards his hotel. On the way +he remembered the words he had heard pass between Madame Zephyrine and +the blond young man, and they gave him an indefinite uneasiness. + +"It appears," he reflected, "that every one has to tell lies to our +porter." + +He rang the bell, the door opened before him, and the porter in his +bed-clothes came to offer him a light. + +"Has he gone?" inquired the porter. + +"He? Whom do you mean?" asked Silas, somewhat sharply, for he was +irritated by his disappointment. + +"I did not notice him go out," continued the porter, "but I trust you +paid him. We do not care, in this house, to have lodgers who cannot meet +their liabilities." + +"What the devil do you mean?" demanded Silas, rudely. "I cannot +understand a word of this farrago." + +"The short, blond young man who came for his debt," returned the other. +"Him it is I mean. Who else should it be, when I had your orders to +admit no one else?" + +"Why, good God! of course he never came," retorted Silas. + +"I believe what I believe," returned the porter, putting his tongue into +his cheek with a most roguish air. + +"You are an insolent scoundrel," cried Silas, and, feeling that he had +made a ridiculous exhibition of asperity, and at the same time +bewildered by a dozen alarms, he turned and began to run upstairs. + +"Do you not want a light, then?" cried the porter. + +But Silas only hurried the faster, and did not pause until he had +reached the seventh landing and stood in front of his own door. There he +waited a moment to recover his breath, assailed by the worst +forebodings, and almost dreading to enter the room. + +When at last he did so he was relieved to find it dark, and to all +appearance untenanted. He drew a long breath. Here he was, home again in +safety, and this should be his last folly as certainly as it had been +his first. The matches stood on a little table by the bed, and he began +to grope his way in that direction. As he moved, his apprehensions grew +upon him once more, and he was pleased, when his foot encountered an +obstacle, to find it nothing more alarming than a chair. At last he +touched curtains. From the position of the window, which was faintly +visible, he knew he must be at the foot of the bed, and had only to feel +his way along it in order to reach the table in question. + +He lowered his hand, but what it touched was not simply a +counterpane--it was a counterpane with something underneath it like the +outline of a human leg. Silas withdrew his arm and stood a moment +petrified. + +"What, what," he thought, "can this betoken?" + +He listened intently, but there was no sound of breathing. Once more, +with a great effort, he reached out the end of his finger to the spot he +had already touched; but this time he leaped back half a yard, and stood +shivering and fixed with terror. There was something in his bed. What it +was he knew not, but there was something there. + +It was some seconds before he could move. Then, guided by an instinct, +he fell straight upon the matches, and, keeping his back towards the +bed, lighted a candle. As soon as the flame had kindled, he turned +slowly round and looked for what he feared to see. Sure enough, there +was the worst of his imaginations realised. The coverlid was drawn +carefully up over the pillow, but it moulded the outline of a human body +lying motionless; and when he dashed forward and flung aside the sheets, +he beheld the blond young man whom he had seen in the Bullier Ball the +night before, his eyes open and without speculation, his face swollen +and blackened, and a thin stream of blood trickling from his nostrils. + +Silas uttered a long, tremulous wail, dropped the candle and fell on his +knees beside the bed. + +Silas was awakened from the stupor into which his terrible discovery had +plunged him, by a prolonged but discreet tapping at the door. It took +him some seconds to remember his position; and when he hastened to +prevent any one from entering it was already too late. Dr. Noel, in a +tall nightcap, carrying a lamp which lighted up his long white +countenance, sidling in his gait, and peering and cocking his head like +some sort of bird, pushed the door slowly open, and advanced into the +middle of the room. + +"I thought I heard a cry," began the Doctor, "and fearing you might be +unwell I did not hesitate to offer this intrusion." + +Silas, with a flushed face and a fearful beating heart, kept between the +Doctor and the bed; but he found no voice to answer. + +"You are in the dark," pursued the Doctor; "and yet you have not even +begun to prepare for rest. You will not easily persuade me against my +own eyesight; and your face declares most eloquently that you require +either a friend or a physician--which is it to be? Let me feel your +pulse, for that is often a just reporter of the heart." + +He advanced to Silas, who still retreated before him backwards, and +sought to take him by the wrist; but the strain on the young American's +nerves had become too great for endurance. He avoided the Doctor with a +febrile movement, and, throwing himself upon the floor, burst into a +flood of weeping. + +As soon as Dr. Noel perceived the dead man in the bed his face +darkened; and hurrying back to the door, which he had left ajar, he +hastily closed and double-locked it. + +"Up!" he cried, addressing Silas in strident tones; this is no time for +weeping. "What have you done? How came this body in your room? Speak +freely to one who may be helpful. Do you imagine I would ruin you? Do +you think this piece of dead flesh on your pillow can alter in any +degree the sympathy with which you have inspired me? Credulous youth, +the horror with which blind and unjust law regards an action never +attaches to the doer in the eyes of those who love him; and if I saw the +friend of my heart return to me out of seas of blood he would be in no +way changed in my affection. Raise yourself," he said; "good and ill are +a chimera; there is nought in life except destiny, and however you may +be circumstanced there is one at your side who will help you to the +last." + +Thus encouraged, Silas gathered himself together, and in a broken voice, +and helped out by the Doctor's interrogations, contrived at last to put +him in possession of the facts. But the conversation between the Prince +and Geraldine he altogether omitted, as he had understood little of its +purport, and had no idea that it was in any way related to his own +misadventure. + +"Alas!" cried Dr. Noel, "I am much abused, or you have fallen innocently +into the most dangerous hands in Europe. Poor boy, what a pit has been +dug for your simplicity! into what a deadly peril have your unwary feet +been conducted! This man," he said, "this Englishman, whom you twice +saw, and whom I suspect to be the soul of the contrivance, can you +describe him? Was he young or old? tall or short?" + +But Silas, who, for all his curiosity, had not a seeing eye in his head, +was able to supply nothing but meagre generalities, which it was +impossible to recognise. + +"I would have it a piece of education in all schools!" cried the Doctor +angrily. "Where is the use of eyesight and articulate speech if a man +cannot observe and recollect the features of his enemy? I, who know all +the gangs of Europe, might have identified him, and gained new weapons +for your defence. Cultivate this art in future, my poor boy; you may +find it of momentous service." + +"The future!" repeated Silas. "What future is there left for me except +the gallows?" + +"Youth is but a cowardly season," returned the Doctor; "and a man's own +troubles look blacker than they are. I am old, and yet I never despair." + +"Can I tell such a story to the police?" demanded Silas. + +"Assuredly not," replied the Doctor. "From what I see already of the +machination in which you have been involved, your case is desperate upon +that side; and for the narrow eye of the authorities you are infallibly +the guilty person. And remember that we only know a portion of the plot; +and the same infamous contrivers have doubtless arranged many other +circumstances which would be elicited by a police inquiry, and help to +fix the guilt more certainly upon your innocence." + +"I am then lost, indeed!" cried Silas. + +"I have not said so," answered Dr. Noel, "for I am a cautious man." + +"But look at this!" objected Silas, pointing to the body. "Here is this +object in my bed: not to be explained, not to be disposed of, not to be +regarded without horror." + +"Horror?" replied the Doctor. "No. When this sort of clock has run down, +it is no more to me than an ingenious piece of mechanism, to be +investigated with the bistoury. When blood is once cold and stagnant, it +is no longer human blood; when flesh is once dead, it is no longer that +flesh which we desire in our lovers and respect in our friends. The +grace, the attraction, the terror, have all gone from it with the +animating spirit. Accustom yourself to look upon it with composure; for +if my scheme is practicable you will have to live some days in constant +proximity to that which now so greatly horrifies you." + +"Your scheme?" cried Silas. "What is that? Tell me speedily, Doctor; +for I have scarcely courage enough to continue to exist." + +Without replying, Dr. Noel turned towards the bed, and proceeded to +examine the corpse. + +"Quite dead," he murmured. "Yes, as I had supposed, the pockets empty. +Yes, and the name cut off the shirt. Their work has been done thoroughly +and well. Fortunately, he is of small stature." + +Silas followed these words with an extreme anxiety. At last the Doctor, +his autopsy completed, took a chair and addressed the young American +with a smile. + +"Since I came into your room," said he, "although my ears and my tongue +have been so busy, I have not suffered my eyes to remain idle. I noted a +little while ago that you have there, in the corner, one of those +monstrous constructions which your fellow-countrymen carry with them +into all quarters of the globe--in a word, a Saratoga trunk. Until this +moment I have never been able to conceive the utility of these +erections; but then I began to have a glimmer. Whether it was for +convenience in the slave-trade, or to obviate the results of too ready +an employment of the bowie-knife, I cannot bring myself to decide. But +one thing I see plainly--the object of such a box is to contain a human +body." + +"Surely," cried Silas, "surely this is not a time for jesting." + +"Although I may express myself with some degree of pleasantry," replied +the Doctor, "the purport of my words is entirely serious. And the first +thing we have to do, my young friend, is to empty your coffer of all +that it contains." + +Silas, obeying the authority of Dr. Noel, put himself at his +disposition. The Saratoga trunk was soon gutted of its contents, which +made a considerable litter on the floor; and then--Silas taking the +heels and the Doctor supporting the shoulders--the body of the murdered +man was carried from the bed, and, after some difficulty, doubled up and +inserted whole into the empty box. With an effort on the part of both, +the lid was forced down upon this unusual baggage, and the trunk was +locked and corded by the Doctor's own hand, while Silas disposed of what +had been taken out between the closet and a chest of drawers. + +"Now," said the Doctor, "the first step has been taken on the way to +your deliverance. To-morrow, or rather to-day, it must be your task to +allay the suspicions of your porter, paying him all that you owe; while +you may trust me to make the arrangements necessary to a safe +conclusion. Meantime, follow me to my room, where I shall give you a +safe and powerful opiate; for, whatever you do, you must have rest." + +The next day was the longest in Silas's memory; it seemed as if it would +never be done. He denied himself to his friends, and sat in a corner +with his eyes fixed upon the Saratoga trunk in dismal contemplation. His +own former indiscretions were now returned upon him in kind; for the +observatory had been once more opened, and he was conscious of an almost +continual study from Madame Zephyrine's apartment. So distressing did +this become that he was at last obliged to block up the spy-hole from +his own side; and when he was thus secured from observation he spent a +considerable portion of his time in contrite tears and prayer. + +Late in the evening Dr. Noel entered the room carrying in his hand a +pair of sealed envelopes without address, one somewhat bulky, and the +other so slim as to seem without enclosure. + +"Silas," he said, seating himself at the table, "the time has now come +for me to explain my plan for your salvation. To-morrow morning, at an +early hour, Prince Florizel of Bohemia returns to London, after having +diverted himself for a few days with the Parisian Carnival. It was my +fortune, a good while ago, to do Colonel Geraldine, his Master of the +Horse, one of those services, so common in my profession, which are +never forgotten upon either side. I have no need to explain to you the +nature of the obligation under which he was laid; suffice it to say +that I knew him ready to serve me in any practicable manner. Now, it was +necessary for you to gain London with your trunk unopened. To this the +Custom House seemed to oppose a fatal difficulty; but I bethought me +that the baggage of so considerable a person as the Prince is, as a +matter of courtesy, passed without examination by the officers of +Custom. I applied to Colonel Geraldine, and succeeded in obtaining a +favourable answer. To-morrow, if you go before six to the hotel where +the Prince lodges, your baggage will be passed over as a part of his, +and you yourself will make the journey as a member of his suite." + +"It seems to me, as you speak, that I have already seen both the Prince +and Colonel Geraldine; I even overheard some of their conversation the +other evening at the Bullier Ball." + +"It is probable enough; for the Prince loves to mix with all societies," +replied the Doctor. "Once arrived in London," he pursued, "your task is +nearly ended. In this more bulky envelope I have given you a letter +which I dare not address; but in the other you will find the designation +of the house to which you must carry it along with your box, which will +there be taken from you and not trouble you any more." + +"Alas!" said Silas, "I have every wish to believe you; but how is it +possible? You open up to me a bright prospect, but, I ask you, is my +mind capable of receiving so unlikely a solution? Be more generous, and +let me further understand your meaning." + +The Doctor seemed painfully impressed. + +"Boy," he answered, "you do not know how hard a thing you ask of me. But +be it so. I am now inured to humiliation; and it would be strange if I +refused you this, after having granted you so much. Know, then, that +although I now make so quiet an appearance--frugal, solitary, addicted +to study--when I was younger, my name was once a rallying-cry among the +most astute and dangerous spirits of London; and while I was outwardly +an object for respect and consideration, my true power resided in the +most secret, terrible, and criminal relations. It is to one of the +persons who then obeyed me that I now address myself to deliver you from +your burden. They were men of many different nations and dexterities, +all bound together by a formidable oath, and working to the same +purposes; the trade of the association was in murder; and I who speak to +you, innocent as I appear, was the chieftain of this redoubtable crew." + +"What?" cried Silas. "A murderer? And one with whom murder was a trade? +Can I take your hand? Ought I so much as to accept your services? Dark +and criminal old man, would you make an accomplice of my youth and my +distress?" + +The Doctor bitterly laughed. + +"You are difficult to please, Mr. Scuddamore," said he; "but I now offer +you your choice of company between the murdered man and the murderer. If +your conscience is too nice to accept my aid, say so, and I will +immediately leave you. Thenceforward you can deal with your trunk and +its belongings as best suits your upright conscience." + +"I own myself wrong," replied Silas. "I should have remembered how +generously you offered to shield me, even before I had convinced you of +my innocence, and I continue to listen to your counsels with gratitude." + +"That is well," returned the Doctor; "and I perceive you are beginning +to learn some of the lessons of experience." + +"At the same time," resumed the New Englander, "as you confess yourself +accustomed to this tragical business, and the people to whom you +recommend me are your own former associates and friends, could you not +yourself undertake the transport of the box, and rid me at once of its +detested presence?" + +"Upon my word," replied the Doctor, "I admire you cordially. If you do +not think I have already meddled sufficiently in your concerns, believe +me, from my heart I think the contrary. Take or leave my services as I +offer them; and trouble me with no more words of gratitude, for I value +your consideration even more lightly than I do your intellect. A time +will come, if you should be spared to see a number of years in health of +mind, when you will think differently of all this, and blush for your +to-night's behaviour." + +So saying, the Doctor arose from his chair, repeated his directions +briefly and clearly, and departed from the room without permitting Silas +any time to answer. + +The next morning Silas presented himself at the hotel, where he was +politely received by Colonel Geraldine, and relieved, from that moment, +of all immediate alarm about his trunk and its grisly contents. The +journey passed over without much incident, although the young man was +horrified to overhear the sailors and railway porters complaining among +themselves about the unusual weight of the Prince's baggage. Silas +travelled in a carriage with the valets, for Prince Florizel chose to be +alone with his Master of the Horse. On board the steamer, however, Silas +attracted his Highness's attention by the melancholy of his air and +attitude as he stood gazing at the pile of baggage; for he was still +full of disquietude about the future. + +"There is a young man," observed the Prince, "who must have some cause +for sorrow." + +"That," replied Geraldine, "is the American for whom I obtained +permission to travel with your suite." + +"You remind me that I have been remiss in courtesy," said Prince +Florizel, and advancing to Silas, he addressed him with the most +exquisite condescension in these words: + +"I was charmed, young sir, to be able to gratify the desire you made +known to me through Colonel Geraldine. Remember, if you please, that I +shall be glad at any future time to lay you under a more serious +obligation." + +And he then put some questions as to the political condition of America, +which Silas answered with sense and propriety. + +"You are still a young man," said the Prince; "but I observe you to be +very serious for your years. Perhaps you allow your attention to be too +much occupied with grave studies. But, perhaps, on the other hand, I am +myself indiscreet and touch upon a painful subject." + +"I have certainly cause to be the most miserable of men," said Silas; +"never has a more innocent person been more dismally abused." + +"I will not ask you for your confidence," returned Prince Florizel. "But +do not forget that Colonel Geraldine's recommendation is an unfailing +passport; and that I am not only willing, but possibly more able than +many others, to do you a service." + +Silas was delighted with the amiability of this great personage; but his +mind soon returned upon its gloomy preoccupations; for not even the +favour of a Prince to a Republican can discharge a brooding spirit of +its cares. + +The train arrived at Charing Cross, where the officers of the Revenue +respected the baggage of Prince Florizel in the usual manner. The most +elegant equipages were in waiting; and Silas was driven, along with the +rest, to the Prince's residence. There Colonel Geraldine sought him out, +and expressed himself pleased to have been of any service to a friend of +the physician's, for whom he professed a great consideration. + +"I hope," he added, "that you will find none of your porcelain injured. +Special orders were given along the line to deal tenderly with the +Prince's effects." + +And then, directing the servants to place one of the carriages at the +young gentleman's disposal, and at once to charge the Saratoga trunk +upon the dickey, the Colonel shook hands and excused himself on account +of his occupations in the princely household. + +Silas now broke the seal of the envelope containing the address, and +directed the stately footman to drive him to Box Court, opening off the +Strand. It seemed as if the place were not at all unknown to the man, +for he looked startled and begged a repetition of the order. It was +with a heart full of alarms that Silas mounted into the luxurious +vehicle, and was driven to his destination. The entrance to Box Court +was too narrow for the passage of a coach; it was a mere footway between +railings, with a post at either end. On one of these posts was seated a +man, who at once jumped down and exchanged a friendly sign with the +driver, while the footman opened the door and inquired of Silas whether +he should take down the Saratoga trunk, and to what number it should be +carried. + +"If you please," said Silas. "To number three." + +The footman and the man who had been sitting on the post, even with the +aid of Silas himself, had hard work to carry in the trunk; and before it +was deposited at the door of the house in question, the young American +was horrified to find a score of loiterers looking on. But he knocked +with as good a countenance as he could muster up, and presented the +other envelope to him who opened. + +"He is not at home," said he, "but if you will leave your letter and +return to-morrow early, I shall be able to inform you whether and when +he can receive your visit. Would you like to leave your box?" he added. + +"Dearly," cried Silas; and the next moment he repented his +precipitation, and declared, with equal emphasis, that he would rather +carry the box along with him to the hotel. + +The crowd jeered at his indecision, and followed him to the carriage +with insulting remarks; and Silas, covered with shame and terror, +implored the servants to conduct him to some quiet and comfortable house +of entertainment in the immediate neighbourhood. + +The Prince's equipage deposited Silas at the Craven Hotel in Craven +Street, and immediately drove away, leaving him alone with the servants +of the inn. The only vacant room, it appeared, was a little den up four +pairs of stairs, and looking towards the back. To this hermitage, with +infinite trouble and complaint, a pair of stout porters carried the +Saratoga trunk. It is needless to mention that Silas kept closely at +their heels throughout the ascent, and had his heart in his mouth at +every corner. A single false step, he reflected, and the box might go +over the banisters and land its fatal contents, plainly discovered, on +the pavement of the hall. + +Arrived in the room, he sat down on the edge of his bed to recover from +the agony that he had just endured; but he had hardly taken his position +when he was recalled to a sense of his peril by the action of the boots, +who had knelt beside the trunk, and was proceeding officiously to undo +its elaborate fastenings. + +"Let it be!" cried Silas. "I shall want nothing from it while I stay +here." + +"You might have let it lie in the hall, then," growled the man; "a thing +as big and heavy as a church. What you have inside I cannot fancy. If it +is all money, you are a richer man than we." + +"Money?" repeated Silas, in a sudden perturbation. "What do you mean by +money? I have no money, and you are speaking like a fool." + +"All right, captain," retorted the boots with a wink. "There's nobody +will touch your lordship's money. I'm as safe as the bank," he added; +"but as the box is heavy, I shouldn't mind drinking something to your +lordship's health." + +Silas pressed two Napoleons upon his acceptance, apologising, at the +same time, for being obliged to trouble him with foreign money, and +pleading his recent arrival for excuse. And the man, grumbling with even +greater fervour, and looking contemptuously from the money in his hand +to the Saratoga trunk, and back again from the one to the other, at last +consented to withdraw. + +For nearly two days the dead body had been packed into Silas's box; and +as soon as he was alone the unfortunate New Englander nosed all the +cracks and openings with the most passionate attention. But the weather +was cool, and the trunk still managed to contain his shocking secret. + +He took a chair beside it, and buried his face in his hands, and his +mind in the most profound reflection. If he were not speedily relieved, +no question but he must be speedily discovered. Alone in a strange city, +without friends or accomplices, if the Doctor's introduction failed him, +he was indubitably a lost New Englander. He reflected pathetically over +his ambitious designs for the future; he should not now become the hero +and spokesman of his native place of Bangor, Maine; he should not, as he +had fondly anticipated, move on from office to office, from honour to +honour; he might as well divest himself at once of all hope of being +acclaimed President of the United States, and leaving behind him a +statue, in the worst possible style of art, to adorn the Capitol at +Washington. Here he was, chained to a dead Englishman doubled up inside +a Saratoga trunk; whom he must get rid of, or perish from the rolls of +national glory! + +I should be afraid to chronicle the language employed by this young man +to the Doctor, to the murdered man, to Madame Zephyrine, to the boots of +the hotel, to the Prince's servants, and, in a word, to all who had been +ever so remotely connected with his horrible misfortune. + +He slunk down to dinner about seven at night; but the yellow coffee-room +appalled him, the eyes of the other diners seemed to rest on his with +suspicion, and his mind remained upstairs with the Saratoga trunk. When +the waiter came to offer him cheese, his nerves were already so much on +edge that he leaped half-way out of his chair and upset the remainder of +a pint of ale upon the table-cloth. + +The fellow offered to show him to the smoking-room when he had done; and +although he would have much preferred to return at once to his perilous +treasure, he had not the courage to refuse, and was shown downstairs to +the black, gas-lit cellar, which formed, and possibly still forms, the +divan of the Craven Hotel. + +Two very sad betting men were playing billiards, attended by a moist, +consumptive marker; and for the moment Silas imagined that these were +the only occupants of the apartment. But at the next glance his eye +fell upon a person smoking in the farthest corner, with lowered eyes and +a most respectable and modest aspect. He knew at once that he had seen +the face before; and, in spite of the entire change of clothes, +recognised the man whom he had found seated on a post at the entrance to +Box Court, and who had helped him to carry the trunk to and from the +carriage. The New Englander simply turned and ran, nor did he pause +until he had locked and bolted himself into his bedroom. + +There, all night long, a prey to the most terrible imaginations, he +watched beside the fatal boxful of dead flesh. The suggestion of the +boots that his trunk was full of gold inspired him with all manner of +new terrors, if he so much as dared to close an eye; and the presence in +the smoking-room, and under an obvious disguise, of the loiterer from +Box Court convinced him that he was once more the centre of obscure +machinations. + +Midnight had sounded some time, when, impelled by uneasy suspicions, +Silas opened his bedroom door and peered into the passage. It was dimly +illuminated by a single jet of gas; and some distance off he perceived a +man sleeping on the floor in the costume of an hotel under-servant. +Silas drew near the man on tiptoe. He lay partly on his back, partly on +his side, and his right fore-arm concealed his face from recognition. +Suddenly, while the American was still bending over him, the sleeper +removed his arm and opened his eyes, and Silas found himself once more +face to face with the loiterer of Box Court. + +"Good-night, sir," said the man pleasantly. + +But Silas was too profoundly moved to find an answer, and regained his +room in silence. + +Towards morning, worn out by apprehension, he fell asleep on his chair, +with his head forward on the trunk. In spite of so constrained an +attitude and such a grisly pillow, his slumber was sound and prolonged, +and he was only awakened at a late hour and by a sharp tapping at the +door. + +He hurried to open, and found the boots without. + +"You are the gentleman who called yesterday at Box Court?" he asked. + +Silas, with a quaver, admitted that he had done so. + +"Then this note is for you," added the servant, proffering a sealed +envelope. + +Silas tore it open, and found inside the words: "Twelve o'clock." + +He was punctual to the hour; the trunk was carried before him by several +stout servants; and he was himself ushered into a room, where a man sat +warming himself before the fire with his back towards the door. The +sound of so many persons entering and leaving, and the scraping of the +trunk as it was deposited upon the bare boards, were alike unable to +attract the notice of the occupant; and Silas stood waiting, in an agony +of fear, until he should deign to recognise his presence. + +Perhaps five minutes had elapsed before the man turned leisurely about, +and disclosed the features of Prince Florizel of Bohemia. + +"So, sir," he said, with great severity, "this is the manner in which +you abuse my politeness. You join yourself to persons of condition, I +perceive, for no other purpose than to escape the consequences of your +crimes; and I can readily understand your embarrassment when I addressed +myself to you yesterday." + +"Indeed," cried Silas, "I am innocent of everything except misfortune." + +And in a hurried voice, and with the greatest ingenuousness, he +recounted to the Prince the whole history of his calamity. + +"I see I have been mistaken," said his Highness, when he had heard him +to an end. "You are no other than a victim, and since I am not to punish +you may be sure I shall do my utmost to help.--And now," he continued, +"to business. Open your box at once, and let me see what it contains." + +Silas changed colour. + +"I almost fear to look upon it," he exclaimed. + +"Nay," replied the Prince, "have you not looked at it already? This is a +form of sentimentality to be resisted. The sight of a sick man, whom we +can still help, should appeal more directly to the feelings than that of +a dead man who is equally beyond help or harm, love or hatred. Nerve +yourself, Mr. Scuddamore,"--and then, seeing that Silas still hesitated, +"I do not desire to give another name to my request," he added. + +The young American awoke as if out of a dream, and with a shiver of +repugnance addressed himself to loose the straps and open the lock of +the Saratoga trunk. The Prince stood by, watching with a composed +countenance and his hands behind his back. The body was quite stiff, and +it cost Silas a great effort, both moral and physical, to dislodge it +from its position, and discover the face. + +Prince Florizel started back with an exclamation of painful surprise. + +"Alas!" he cried, "you little know, Mr. Scuddamore, what a cruel gift +you have brought me. This is a young man of my own suite, the brother of +my trusted friend; and it was upon matters of my own service that he has +thus perished at the hands of violent and treacherous men. Poor +Geraldine," he went on, as if to himself, "in what words am I to tell +you of your brother's fate? How can I excuse myself in your eyes, or in +the eyes of God, for the presumptuous schemes that led him to this +bloody and unnatural death? Ah, Florizel! Florizel! when will you learn +the discretion that suits mortal life, and be no longer dazzled with the +image of power at your disposal? Power!" he cried; "who is more +powerless? I look upon this young man whom I have sacrificed, Mr. +Scuddamore, and feel how small a thing it is to be a Prince." + +Silas was moved at the sight of his emotion. He tried to murmur some +consolatory words, and burst into tears. The Prince, touched by his +obvious intention, came up to him and took him by the hand. + +"Command yourself," said he. "We have both much to learn, and we shall +both be better men for to-day's meeting." + +Silas thanked him in silence with an affectionate look. + +"Write me the address of Doctor Noel on this piece of paper," continued +the Prince, leading him towards the table; "and let me recommend you, +when you are again in Paris, to avoid the society of that dangerous man. +He has acted in this matter on a generous inspiration; that I must +believe; had he been privy to young Geraldine's death he would never +have despatched the body to the care of the actual criminal." + +"The actual criminal!" repeated Silas in astonishment. + +"Even so," returned the Prince. "This letter, which the disposition of +Almighty Providence has so strangely delivered into my hands, was +addressed to no less a person than the criminal himself, the infamous +President of the Suicide Club. Seek to pry no further in these perilous +affairs, but content yourself with your own miraculous escape, and leave +this house at once. I have pressing affairs, and must arrange at once +about this poor clay, which was so lately a gallant and handsome youth." + +Silas took a grateful and submissive leave of Prince Florizel, but he +lingered in Box Court until he saw him depart in a splendid carriage on +a visit to Colonel Henderson of the police. Republican as he was, the +young American took off his hat with almost a sentiment of devotion to +the retreating carriage. And the same night he started by rail on his +return to Paris. + + +_Here_ (observes my Arabian author) _is the end of_ THE HISTORY OF THE +PHYSICIAN AND THE SARATOGA TRUNK. _Omitting some reflections on the +power of Providence, highly pertinent in the original, but little suited +to our Occidental taste, I shall only add that Mr. Scuddamore has +already begun to mount the ladder of political fame, and by last advices +was the Sheriff of his native town._ + + +THE ADVENTURE OF THE HANSOM CABS + +Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich had greatly distinguished himself in one of +the lesser Indian hill wars. He it was who took the chieftain prisoner +with his own hand; his gallantry was universally applauded; and when he +came home, prostrated by an ugly sabre-cut and a protracted +jungle-fever, society was prepared to welcome the Lieutenant as a +celebrity of minor lustre. But his was a character remarkable for +unaffected modesty; adventure was dear to his heart, but he cared little +for adulation; and he waited at foreign watering-places and in Algiers +until the fame of his exploits had run through its nine days' vitality +and begun to be forgotten. He arrived in London at last, in the early +season, with as little observation as he could desire; and as he was an +orphan and had none but distant relatives who lived in the provinces, it +was almost as a foreigner that he installed himself in the capital of +the country for which he had shed his blood. + +On the day following his arrival he dined alone at a military club. He +shook hands with a few old comrades, and received their warm +congratulations; but as one and all had some engagement for the evening, +he found himself left entirely to his own resources. He was in dress, +for he had entertained the notion of visiting a theatre. But the great +city was new to him; he had gone from a provincial school to a military +college, and thence direct to the Eastern Empire; and he promised +himself a variety of delights in this world for exploration. Swinging +his cane, he took his way westward. It was a mild evening, already dark, +and now and then threatening rain. The succession of faces in the +lamplight stirred the Lieutenant's imagination; and it seemed to him as +if he could walk for ever in that stimulating city atmosphere and +surrounded by the mystery of four million private lives. He glanced at +the houses, and marvelled what was passing behind those warmly-lighted +windows; he looked into face after face, and saw them each intent upon +some unknown interest, criminal or kindly. + +"They talk of war," he thought, "but this is the great battlefield of +mankind." + +And then he began to wonder that he should walk so long in this +complicated scene, and not chance upon so much as the shadow of an +adventure for himself. + +"All in good time," he reflected. "I am still a stranger, and perhaps +wear a strange air. But I must be drawn into the eddy before long." + +The night was already well advanced when a plump of cold rain fell +suddenly out of the darkness. Brackenbury paused under some trees, and +as he did so he caught sight of a hansom cabman making him a sign that +he was disengaged. The circumstance fell in so happily to the occasion +that he at once raised his cane in answer, and had soon ensconced +himself in the London gondola. + +"Where to, sir?" asked the driver. + +"Where you please," said Brackenbury. + +And immediately, at a pace of surprising swiftness, the hansom drove off +through the rain into a maze of villas. One villa was so like another, +each with its front garden, and there was so little to distinguish the +deserted lamp-lit streets and crescents through which the flying hansom +took its way, that Brackenbury soon lost all idea of direction. He would +have been tempted to believe that the cabman was amusing himself by +driving him round and round and in and out about a small quarter, but +there was something business-like in the speed which convinced him of +the contrary. The man had an object in view, he was hastening towards a +definite end; and Brackenbury was at once astonished at the fellow's +skill in picking a way through such a labyrinth, and a little concerned +to imagine what was the occasion of his hurry. He had heard tales of +strangers falling ill in London. Did the driver belong to some bloody +and treacherous association? and was he himself being whirled to a +murderous death? + +The thought had scarcely presented itself, when the cab swung sharply +round a corner and pulled up before the garden gate of a villa in a long +and wide road. The house was brilliantly lighted up. Another hansom had +just driven away, and Brackenbury could see a gentleman being admitted +at the front door and received by several liveried servants. He was +surprised that the cabman should have stopped so immediately in front of +a house where a reception was being held; but he did not doubt it was +the result of accident, and sat placidly smoking where he was, until he +heard the trap thrown open over his head. + +"Here we are, sir," said the driver. + +"Here!" repeated Brackenbury. "Where?" + +"You told me to take you where I pleased, sir," returned the man with a +chuckle, "and here we are." + +It struck Brackenbury that the voice was wonderfully smooth and +courteous for a man in so inferior a position; he remembered the speed +at which he had been driven; and now it occurred to him that the hansom +was more luxuriously appointed than the common run of public +conveyances. + +"I must ask you to explain," said he. "Do you mean to turn me out into +the rain? My good man, I suspect the choice is mine." + +"The choice is certainly yours," replied the driver; "but when I tell +you all, I believe I know how a gentleman of your figure will decide. +There is a gentleman's party in this house. I do not know whether the +master be a stranger to London and without acquaintances of his own; or +whether he is a man of odd notions. But certainly I was hired to kidnap +single gentlemen in evening dress, as many as I pleased, but military +officers by preference. You have simply to go in and say that Mr. Morris +invited you." + +"Are you Mr. Morris?" inquired the Lieutenant. + +"Oh, no," replied the cabman. "Mr. Morris is the person of the house." + +"It is not a common way of collecting guests," said Brackenbury: "but +an eccentric man might very well indulge the whim without any intention +to offend. And suppose that I refuse Mr. Morris's invitation," he went +on, "what then?" + +"My orders are to drive you back where I took you from," replied the +man, "and set out to look for others up to midnight. Those who have no +fancy for such an adventure, Mr. Morris said, were not the guests for +him." + +These words decided the Lieutenant on the spot. + +"After all," he reflected, as he descended from the hansom, "I have not +had long to wait for my adventure." + +He had hardly found footing on the side-walk, and was still feeling in +his pocket for the fare, when the cab swung about and drove off by the +way it came at the former break-neck velocity. Brackenbury shouted after +the man, who paid no heed, and continued to drive away; but the sound of +his voice was overheard in the house, the door was again thrown open, +emitting a flood of light upon the garden, and a servant ran down to +meet him holding an umbrella. + +"The cabman has been paid," observed the servant in a very civil tone; +and he proceeded to escort Brackenbury along the path and up the steps. +In the hall several other attendants relieved him of his hat, cane, and +paletot, gave him a ticket with a number in return, and politely hurried +him up a stair adorned with tropical flowers, to the door of an +apartment on the first story. Here a grave butler inquired his name, and +announcing, "Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich," ushered him into the +drawing-room of the house. + +A young man, slender and singularly handsome, came forward and greeted +him with an air at once courtly and affectionate. Hundreds of candles, +of the finest wax, lit up a room that was perfumed, like the staircase, +with a profusion of rare and beautiful flowering shrubs, A side-table +was loaded with tempting viands. Several servants went to and fro with +fruits and goblets of champagne. The company was perhaps sixteen in +number, all men, few beyond the prime of life, and, with hardly an +exception, of a dashing and capable exterior. They were divided into two +groups, one about a roulette-board, and the other surrounding a table at +which one of their number held a bank of baccarat. + +"I see," thought Brackenbury, "I am in a private gambling saloon, and +the cabman was a tout." + +His eye had embraced the details, and his mind formed the conclusion, +while his host was still holding him by the hand; and to him his looks +returned from this rapid survey. At a second view Mr. Morris surprised +him still more than on the first. The easy elegance of his manners, the +distinction, amiability, and courage that appeared upon his features, +fitted very ill with the Lieutenant's preconceptions on the subject of +the proprietor of a hell; and the tone of his conversation seemed to +mark him out for a man of position and merit. Brackenbury found he had +an instinctive liking for his entertainer; and though he chid himself +for the weakness, he was unable to resist a sort of friendly attraction +for Mr. Morris's person and character. + +"I have heard of you, Lieutenant Rich," said Mr. Morris, lowering his +tone; "and believe me I am gratified to make your acquaintance. Your +looks accord with the reputation that has preceded you from India. And +if you will forget for a while the irregularity of your presentation in +my house, I shall feel it not only an honour, but a genuine pleasure +besides. A man who makes a mouthful of barbarian cavaliers," he added +with a laugh, "should not be appalled by a breach of etiquette, however +serious." + +And he led him towards the sideboard and pressed him to partake of some +refreshment. + +"Upon my word," the Lieutenant reflected, "this is one of the +pleasantest fellows and, I do not doubt, one of the most agreeable +societies in London." + +He partook of some champagne, which he found excellent; and observing +that many of the company were already smoking, he lit one of his own +Manillas, and strolled up to the roulette-board, where he sometimes made +a stake and sometimes looked on smilingly on the fortune of others. It +was while he was thus idling that he became aware of a sharp scrutiny to +which the whole of the guests were subjected. Mr. Morris went here and +there, ostensibly busied on hospitable concerns; but he had ever a +shrewd glance at disposal; not a man of the party escaped his sudden, +searching looks; he took stock of the bearing of heavy losers, he valued +the amount of the stakes, he paused behind couples who were deep in +conversation; and, in a word, there was hardly a characteristic of any +one present but he seemed to catch and make a note of it. Brackenbury +began to wonder if this were indeed a gambling-hell: it had so much the +air of a private inquisition. He followed Mr. Morris in all his +movements; and although the man had a ready smile, he seemed to +perceive, as it were under a mask, a haggard, careworn, and preoccupied +spirit. The fellows around him laughed and made their game; but +Brackenbury had lost interest in the guests. + +"This Morris," thought he, "is no idler in the room. Some deep purpose +inspires him; let it be mine to fathom it." + +Now and then Mr. Morris would call one of his visitors aside; and after +a brief colloquy in an ante-room, he would return alone, and the +visitors in question reappeared no more. After a certain number of +repetitions, this performance excited Brackenbury's curiosity to a high +degree. He determined to be at the bottom of this minor mystery at once; +and strolling into the ante-room, found a deep window recess concealed +by curtains of the fashionable green. Here he hurriedly ensconced +himself; nor had he to wait long before the sound of steps and voices +drew near him from the principal apartment. Peering through the +division, he saw Mr. Morris escorting a fat and ruddy personage, with +somewhat the look of a commercial traveller, whom Brackenbury had +already remarked for his coarse laugh and under-bred behaviour at the +table. The pair halted immediately before the window, so that +Brackenbury lost not a word of the following discourse:-- + +"I beg you a thousand pardons!" began Mr. Morris, with the most +conciliatory manner; "and, if I appear rude, I am sure you will readily +forgive me. In a place so great as London accidents must continually +happen; and the best that we can hope is to remedy them with as small +delay as possible. I will not deny that I fear you have made a mistake +and honoured my poor house by inadvertence; for, to speak openly, I +cannot at all remember your appearance. Let me put the question without +unnecessary circumlocution--between gentlemen of honour a word will +suffice--Under whose roof do you suppose yourself to be?" + +"That of Mr. Morris," replied the other, with a prodigious display of +confusion, which had been visibly growing upon him throughout the last +few words. + +"Mr. John or Mr. James Morris?" inquired the host. + +"I really cannot tell you," returned the unfortunate guest. "I am not +personally acquainted with the gentleman, any more than I am with +yourself." + +"I see," said Mr. Morris. "There is another person of the same name +farther down the street; and I have no doubt the policeman will be able +to supply you with his number. Believe me, I felicitate myself on the +misunderstanding which has procured me the pleasure of your company for +so long; and let me express a hope that we may meet again upon a more +regular footing. Meantime, I would not for the world detain you longer +from your friends. John," he added, raising his voice, "will you see +that this gentleman finds his great-coat?" + +And with the most agreeable air Mr. Morris escorted his visitor as far +as the ante-room door, where he left him under conduct of the butler. As +he passed the window, on his return to the drawing-room, Brackenbury +could hear him utter a profound sigh, as though his mind was loaded with +a great anxiety, and his nerves already fatigued with the task on which +he was engaged. + +For perhaps an hour the hansoms kept arriving with such frequency that +Mr. Morris had to receive a new guest for every old one that he sent +away, and the company preserved its number undiminished. But towards the +end of that time the arrivals grew few and far between, and at length +ceased entirely, while the process of elimination was continued with +unimpaired activity. The drawing-room began to look empty: the baccarat +was discontinued for lack of a banker; more than one person said +good-night of his own accord, and was suffered to depart without +expostulation; and in the meanwhile Mr. Morris redoubled in agreeable +attentions to those who stayed behind. He went from group to group and +from person to person with looks of the readiest sympathy and the most +pertinent and pleasing talk; he was not so much like a host as like a +hostess, and there was a feminine coquetry and condescension in his +manner which charmed the hearts of all. + +As the guests grew thinner, Lieutenant Rich strolled for a moment out of +the drawing-room into the hall in quest of fresher air. But he had no +sooner passed the threshold of the ante-chamber than he was brought to a +dead halt by a discovery of the most surprising nature. The flowering +shrubs had disappeared from the staircase; three large furniture-waggons +stood before the garden gate; the servants were busy dismantling the +house upon all sides; and some of them had already donned their +great-coats and were preparing to depart. It was like the end of a +country ball, where everything has been supplied by contract. +Brackenbury had indeed some matter for reflection. First, the guests, +who were no real guests, after all, had been dismissed; and now the +servants, who could hardly be genuine servants, were actively +dispersing. + +"Was the whole establishment a sham?" he asked himself. "The mushroom of +a single night which should disappear before morning?" + +Watching a favourable opportunity, Brackenbury dashed upstairs to the +higher regions of the house. It was as he had expected. He ran from room +to room, and saw Although the house had been painted and papered, it +was not only uninhabited at present, but plainly had never been +inhabited at all. The young officer remembered with astonishment its +specious, settled, and hospitable air on his arrival. It was only at a +prodigious cost that the imposture could have been carried out upon so +great a scale. + +Who, then, was Mr. Morris? What was his intention in thus playing the +householder for a single night in the remote west of London? And why did +he collect his visitors at hazard from the streets? + +Brackenbury remembered that he had already delayed too long, and +hastened to join the company. Many had left during his absence; and, +counting the Lieutenant and his host, there were not more than five +persons in the drawing-room--recently so thronged. Mr. Morris greeted +him, as he re-entered the apartment, with a smile, and immediately rose +to his feet. + +"It is now time, gentlemen," said he, "to explain my purpose in decoying +you from your amusements. I trust you did not find the evening hang very +dully on your hands; but my object, I will confess it, was not to +entertain your leisure, but to help myself in an unfortunate necessity. +You are all gentlemen," he continued, "your appearance does you that +much justice, and I ask for no better security. Hence, I speak it +without concealment, I ask you to render me a dangerous and delicate +service; dangerous because you may run the hazard of your lives, and +delicate because I must ask an absolute discretion upon all that you +shall see or hear. From an utter stranger the request is almost +comically extravagant; I am well aware of this; and I would add at once, +if there be any one present who has heard enough, if there be one among +the party who recoils from a dangerous confidence and a piece of +Quixotic devotion to he knows not whom--here is my hand ready, and I +shall wish him good-night and God-speed with all the sincerity in the +world." + +A very tall, black man, with a heavy stoop, immediately responded to +this appeal. + +"I commend your frankness, sir," said he; "and, for my part, I go. I +make no reflections; but I cannot deny that you fill me with suspicious +thoughts. I go myself, as I say; and perhaps you will think I have no +right to add words to my example." + +"On the contrary," replied Mr. Morris, "I am obliged to you for all you +say. It would be impossible to exaggerate the gravity of my proposal." + +"Well, gentlemen, what do you say?" said the tall man, addressing the +others. "We have had our evening's frolic; shall we all go homeward +peaceably in a body? You will think well of my suggestion in the +morning, when you see the sun again in innocence and safety." + +The speaker pronounced the last words with an intonation which added to +their force; and his face wore a singular expression, full of gravity +and significance. Another of the company rose hastily, and, with some +appearance of alarm, prepared to take his leave. There were only two who +held their ground, Brackenbury and an old red-nosed cavalry Major; but +these two preserved a nonchalant demeanour, and, beyond a look of +intelligence which they rapidly exchanged, appeared entirely foreign to +the discussion that had just been terminated. + +Mr. Morris conducted the deserters as far as the door, which he closed +upon their heels; then he turned round, disclosing a countenance of +mingled relief and animation, and addressed the two officers as follows. + +"I have chosen my men like Joshua in the Bible," said Mr. Morris, "and I +now believe I have the pick of London. Your appearance pleased my hansom +cabmen; then it delighted me; I have watched your behaviour in a strange +company, and under the most unusual circumstances: I have studied how +you played and how you bore your losses; lastly, I have put you to the +test of a staggering announcement, and you received it like an +invitation to dinner. It is not for nothing," he cried, "that I have +been for years the companion and the pupil of the bravest and wisest +potentate in Europe." + +"At the affair of Bunderchang," observed the Major, "I asked for twelve +volunteers, and every trooper in the ranks replied to my appeal. But a +gaming party is not the same thing as a regiment under fire. You may be +pleased, I suppose, to have found two, and two who will not fail you at +a push. As for the pair who ran away, I count them among the most +pitiful hounds I ever met with.--Lieutenant Rich," he added, addressing +Brackenbury, "I have heard much of you of late; and I cannot doubt but +you have also heard of me. I am Major O'Rooke." + +And the veteran tendered his hand, which was red and tremulous, to the +young Lieutenant. + +"Who has not?" answered Brackenbury. + +"When this little matter is settled," said Mr. Morris, "you will think I +have sufficiently rewarded you; for I could offer neither a more +valuable service than to make him acquainted with the other." + +"And now," said Major O'Rooke, "is it a duel?" + +"A duel after a fashion," replied Mr. Morris, "a duel with unknown and +dangerous enemies, and, as I gravely fear, a duel to the death. I must +ask you," he continued, "to call me Morris no longer; call me, if you +please, Hammersmith; my real name, as well as that of another person to +whom I hope to present you before long, you will gratify me by not +asking, and not seeking to discover for yourselves. Three days ago the +person of whom I speak disappeared suddenly from home; and, until this +morning, I received no hint of his situation. You will fancy my alarm +when I tell you that he is engaged upon a work of private justice. Bound +by an unhappy oath, too lightly sworn, he finds it necessary, without +the help of law, to rid the earth of an insidious and bloody villain. +Already two of our friends, and one of them my own born brother, have +perished in the enterprise. He himself, or I am much deceived, is taken +in the same fatal toils. But at least he still lives and still hopes, +as this billet sufficiently proves." + +And the speaker, no other than Colonel Geraldine, proffered a letter, +thus conceived:-- + + "MAJOR HAMMERSMITH,--On Wednesday, at 3 A.M., you will be admitted by + the small door to the gardens of Rochester House, Regent's Park, by a + man who is entirely in my interest. I must request you not to fail me + by a second. Pray bring my case of swords, and, if you can find them, + one or two gentlemen of conduct and discretion to whom my person is + unknown. My name must not be used in this affair. + + T. GODALL." + +"From his wisdom alone, if he had no other title," pursued Colonel +Geraldine, when the others had each satisfied his curiosity, "my friend +is a man whose directions should implicitly be followed. I need not tell +you, therefore, that I have not so much as visited the neighbourhood of +Rochester House; and that I am still as wholly in the dark as either of +yourselves as to the nature of my friend's dilemma. I betook myself, as +soon as I had received this order, to a furnishing contractor, and, in a +few hours, the house in which we now are had assumed its late air of +festival. My scheme was at least original; and I am far from regretting +an action which has procured me the services of Major O'Rooke and +Lieutenant Brackenbury Rich. But the servants in the street will have a +strange awakening. The house which this evening was full of lights and +visitors they will find uninhabited and for sale to-morrow morning. Thus +even the most serious concerns," added the Colonel, "have a merry side." + +"And let us add a merry ending," said Brackenbury. + +The Colonel consulted his watch. + +"It is now hard on two," he said. "We have an hour before us, and a +swift cab is at the door. Tell me if I may count upon your help." + +"During a long life," replied Major O'Rooke, "I never took back my hand +from anything, nor so much as hedged a bet." + +Brackenbury signified his readiness in the most becoming terms; and +after they had drunk a glass or two of wine, the Colonel gave each of +them a loaded revolver, and the three mounted into the cab and drove off +for the address in question. + +Rochester House was a magnificent residence on the banks of the canal. +The large extent of the garden isolated it in an unusual degree from the +annoyances of neighbourhood. It seemed the _parc aux cerfs_ of some +great nobleman or millionaire. As far as could be seen from the street, +there was not a glimmer of light in any of the numerous windows of the +mansion; and the place had a look of neglect, as though the master had +been long from home. + +The cab was discharged, and the three gentlemen were not long in +discovering the small door, which was a sort of postern in a lane +between two garden walls. It still wanted ten or fifteen minutes of the +appointed time; the rain fell heavily, and the adventurers sheltered +themselves below some pendent ivy, and spoke in low tones of the +approaching trial. + +Suddenly Geraldine raised his finger to command silence, and all three +bent their hearing to the utmost. Through the continuous noise of the +rain, the steps and voices of two men became audible from the other side +of the wall; and, as they drew nearer, Brackenbury, whose sense of +hearing was remarkably acute, could even distinguish some fragments of +their talk. + +"Is the grave dug?" asked one. + +"It is," replied the other; "behind the laurel hedge. When the job is +done, we can cover it with a pile of stakes." + +The first speaker laughed, and the sound of his merriment was shocking +to the listeners on the other side. + +"In an hour from now," he said. + +And by the sound of the steps it was obvious that the pair had +separated, and were proceeding in contrary directions. + +Almost immediately after the postern door was cautiously opened, a white +face was protruded into the lane, and a hand was seen beckoning to the +watchers. In dead silence the three passed the door, which was +immediately locked behind them, and followed their guide through several +garden alleys to the kitchen entrance of the house. A single candle +burned in the great paved kitchen, which was destitute of the customary +furniture; and as the party proceeded to ascend from thence by a flight +of winding stairs, a prodigious noise of rats testified still more +plainly to the dilapidation of the house. + +Their conductor preceded them, carrying the candle. He was a lean man, +much bent, but still agile; and he turned from time to time and +admonished silence and caution by his gestures. Colonel Geraldine +followed on his heels, the case of swords under one arm, and a pistol +ready in the other. Brackenbury's heart beat thickly. He perceived that +they were still in time; but he judged from the alacrity of the old man +that the hour of action must be near at hand; and the circumstances of +this adventure were so obscure and menacing, the place seemed so well +chosen for the darkest acts, that an older man than Brackenbury might +have been pardoned a measure of emotion as he closed the procession up +the winding stair. + +At the top the guide threw open a door and ushered the three officers +before him into a small apartment, lighted by a smoky lamp and the glow +of a modest fire. At the chimney corner sat a man in the early prime of +life, and of a stout but courtly and commanding appearance. His attitude +and expression were those of the most unmoved composure; he was smoking +a cheroot with much enjoyment and deliberation, and on a table by his +elbow stood a long glass of some effervescing beverage which diffused an +agreeable odour through the room. + +"Welcome," said he, extending his hand to Colonel Geraldine. "I knew I +might count on your exactitude." + +"On my devotion," replied the Colonel, with a bow. + +"Present me to your friends," continued the first; and, when that +ceremony had been performed, "I wish, gentlemen," he added, with the +most exquisite affability, "that I could offer you a more cheerful +programme; it is ungracious to inaugurate an acquaintance upon serious +affairs; but the compulsion of events is stronger than the obligations +of good-fellowship. I hope and believe you will be able to forgive me +this unpleasant evening; and for men of your stamp it will be enough to +know that you are conferring a considerable favour." + +"Your Highness," said the Major, "must pardon my bluntness. I am unable +to hide what I know. For some time back I have suspected Major +Hammersmith, but Mr. Godall is unmistakable. To seek two men in London +unacquainted with Prince Florizel of Bohemia was to ask too much at +Fortune's hands." + +"Prince Florizel!" cried Brackenbury in amazement. + +And he gazed with the deepest interest on the features of the celebrated +personage before him. + +"I shall not lament the loss of my incognito," remarked the Prince, "for +it enables me to thank you with the more authority. You would have done +as much for Mr. Godall, I feel sure, as for the Prince of Bohemia; but +the latter can perhaps do more for you. The gain is mine," he added, +with a courteous gesture. + +And the next moment he was conversing with the two officers about the +Indian army and the native troops, a subject on which, as on all others, +he had a remarkable fund of information and the soundest views. + +There was something so striking in this man's attitude at a moment of +deadly peril that Brackenbury was overcome with respectful admiration; +nor was he less sensible to the charm of his conversation or the +surprising amenity of his address. Every gesture, every intonation, was +not only noble in itself, but seemed to ennoble the fortunate mortal for +whom it was intended; and Brackenbury confessed to himself with +enthusiasm that this was a sovereign for whom a brave man might +thankfully lay down his life. + +Many minutes had thus passed, when the person who had introduced them +into the house, and who had sat ever since in a corner, and with his +watch in his hand, arose and whispered a word into the Prince's ear. + +"It is well, Dr. Noel," replied Florizel aloud; and then addressing the +others, "You will excuse me, gentlemen," he added, "if I have to leave +you in the dark. The moment now approaches." + +Dr. Noel extinguished the lamp. A faint, grey light, premonitory of the +dawn, illuminated the window, but was not sufficient to illuminate the +room; and when the Prince rose to his feet, it was impossible to +distinguish his features or to make a guess at the nature of the emotion +which obviously affected him as he spoke. He moved towards the door, and +placed himself at one side of it in an attitude of the wariest +attention. + +"You will have the kindness," he said, "to maintain the strictest +silence, and to conceal yourselves in the densest of the shadow." + +The three officers and the physician hastened to obey, and for nearly +ten minutes the only sound in Rochester House was occasioned by the +excursions of the rats behind the woodwork. At the end of that period, a +loud creak of a hinge broke in with surprising distinctness on the +silence; and shortly after, the watchers could distinguish a slow and +cautious tread approaching up the kitchen stair. At every second step +the intruder seemed to pause and lend an ear, and during these +intervals, which seemed of an incalculable duration, a profound disquiet +possessed the spirit of the listeners. Dr. Noel, accustomed as he was to +dangerous emotions, suffered an almost pitiful physical prostration; his +breath whistled in his lungs, his teeth grated one upon another, and his +joints cracked aloud as he nervously shifted his position. + +At last a hand was laid upon the door, and the bolt shot back with a +slight report. There followed another pause, during which Brackenbury +could see the Prince draw himself together noiselessly as if for some +unusual exertion. Then the door opened, letting in a little more of the +light of the morning; and the figure of a man appeared upon the +threshold and stood motionless. He was tall, and carried a knife in his +hand. Even in the twilight they could see his upper teeth bare and +glistening, for his mouth was open like that of a hound about to leap. +The man had evidently been over the head in water but a minute or two +before; and even while he stood there the drops kept falling from his +wet clothes and pattered on the floor. + +The next moment he crossed the threshold. There was a leap, a stifled +cry, an instantaneous struggle; and before Colonel Geraldine could +spring to his aid, the Prince held the man, disarmed and helpless, by +the shoulders. + +"Dr. Noel," he said, "you will be so good as to re-light the lamp." + +And relinquishing the charge of his prisoner to Geraldine and +Brackenbury, he crossed the room and set his back against the +chimney-piece. As soon as the lamp had kindled the party beheld an +unaccustomed sternness on the Prince's features. It was no longer +Florizel, the careless gentleman; it was the Prince of Bohemia, justly +incensed and full of deadly purpose, who now raised his head and +addressed the captive President of the Suicide Club. + +"President," he said, "you have laid your last snare, and your own feet +are taken in it. The day is beginning; it is your last morning. You have +just swum the Regent's Canal; it is your last bathe in this world. Your +old accomplice, Dr. Noel, so far from betraying me, has delivered you +into my hands for judgment. And the grave you had dug for me this +afternoon shall serve, in God's almighty providence, to hide your own +just doom from the curiosity of mankind. Kneel and pray, sir, if you +have a mind that way; for your time is short, and God is weary of your +iniquities." + +The President made no answer either by word or sign; but continued to +hang his head and gaze sullenly on the floor, as though he were +conscious of the Prince's prolonged and unsparing regard. + +"Gentlemen," continued Florizel, resuming the ordinary tone of his +conversation, "this is a fellow who has long eluded me, but whom, thanks +to Dr. Noel, I now have tightly by the heels. To tell the story of his +misdeeds would occupy more time than we can now afford; but if the canal +had contained nothing but the blood of his victims, I believe the wretch +would have been no drier than you see him. Even in an affair of this +sort I desire to preserve the forms of honour. But I make you the +judges, gentlemen--this is more an execution than a duel; and to give +the rogue his choice of weapons would be to push too far a point of +etiquette. I cannot afford to lose my life in such a business," he +continued, unlocking the case of swords; "and as a pistol-bullet travels +so often on the wings of chance, and skill and courage may fall by the +most trembling marksman, I have decided, and I feel sure you will +approve my determination, to put this question to the touch of swords." + +When Brackenbury and Major O'Rooke, to whom these remarks were +particularly addressed, had each intimated his approval, "Quick, sir," +added Prince Florizel to the President, "choose a blade and do not keep +me waiting; I have an impatience to be done with you for ever." + +For the first time since he was captured and disarmed the President +raised his head, and it was plain that he began instantly to pluck up +courage. + +"Is it to be stand up?" he asked eagerly, "and between you and me?" + +"I mean so far to honour you," replied the Prince. + +"Oh, come!" cried the President. "With a fair field, who knows how +things may happen? I must add that I consider it handsome behaviour on +your Highness's part; and if the worst comes to the worst I shall die by +one of the most gallant gentlemen in Europe." + +And the President, liberated by those who had detained him, stepped up +to the table and began, with minute attention, to select a sword. He was +highly elated, and seemed to feel no doubt that he should issue +victorious from the contest. The spectators grew alarmed in the face of +so entire a confidence, and adjured Prince Florizel to reconsider his +intention. + +"It is but a farce," he answered; "and I think I can promise you, +gentlemen, that it will not be long a-playing." + +"Your Highness will be careful not to overreach," said Colonel +Geraldine. + +"Geraldine," returned the Prince, "did you ever know me fail in a debt +of honour? I owe you this man's death, and you shall have it." + +The President at last satisfied himself with one of the rapiers, and +signified his readiness by a gesture that was not devoid of a rude +nobility. The nearness of peril, and the sense of courage, even to this +obnoxious villain, lent an air of manhood and a certain grace. + +The Prince helped himself at random to a sword. + +"Colonel Geraldine and Doctor Noel," he said, "will have the goodness to +await me in this room. I wish no personal friend of mine to be involved +in this transaction. Major O'Rooke, you are a man of some years and a +settled reputation--let me recommend the President to your good graces. +Lieutenant Rich will be so good as lend me his attentions: a young man +cannot have too much experience in such affairs." + +"Your Highness," replied Brackenbury, "it is an honour I shall prize +extremely." + +"It is well," returned Prince Florizel; "I shall hope to stand your +friend in more important circumstances." + +And so saying he led the way out of the apartment and down the kitchen +stairs. + +The two men who were thus left alone threw open the window and leaned +out, straining every sense to catch an indication of the tragical events +that were about to follow. The rain was now over; day had almost come, +and the birds were piping in the shrubbery and on the forest-trees of +the garden. The Prince and his companions were visible for a moment as +they followed an alley between two flowering thickets; but at the first +corner a clump of foliage intervened, and they were again concealed from +view. This was all that the Colonel and the Physician had an opportunity +to see, and the garden was so vast, and the place of combat evidently so +remote from the house, that not even the noise of sword-play reached +their ears. + +"He has taken him towards the grave," said Dr. Noel, with a shudder. + +"God," cried the Colonel, "God defend the right!" + +And they awaited the event in silence, the Doctor shaking with fear, the +Colonel in an agony of sweat. Many minutes must have elapsed, the day +was sensibly broader, and the birds were singing more heartily in the +garden before a sound of returning footsteps recalled their glances +towards the door. It was the Prince and the two Indian officers who +entered. God had defended the right. + +"I am ashamed of my emotion," said Prince Florizel; "I feel it is a +weakness unworthy of my station, but the continued existence of that +hound of hell had begun to prey upon me like a disease, and his death +has more refreshed me than a night of slumber. Look, Geraldine," he +continued, throwing his sword upon the floor, "there is the blood of the +man who killed your brother. It should be a welcome sight. And yet," he +added, "see how strangely we men are made! my revenge is not yet five +minutes old, and already I am beginning to ask myself if even revenge be +attainable on this precarious stage of life. The ill he did, who can +undo it? The career in which he amassed a huge fortune (for the house +itself in which we stand belonged to him)--that career is now a part of +the destiny of mankind for ever; and I might weary myself making thrusts +in carte until the crack of judgment, and Geraldine's brother would be +none the less dead, and a thousand other innocent persons would be none +the less dishonoured and debauched! The existence of a man is so small a +thing to take, so mighty a thing to employ! Alas!" he cried, "is there +anything in life so disenchanting as attainment?" + +"God's justice has been done," replied the Doctor. "So much I behold. +The lesson, your Highness, has been a cruel one for me; and I await my +own turn with deadly apprehension." + +"What was I saying?" cried the Prince. "I have punished, and here is the +man beside us who can help me to undo. Ah, Dr. Noel! you and I have +before us many a day of hard and honourable toil; and perhaps, before we +have done, you may have more than redeemed your early errors." + +"And in the meantime," said the Doctor, "let me go and bury my oldest +friend." + + +_And this_ (observes the erudite Arabian) _is the fortunate conclusion +of the tale. The Prince, it is superfluous to mention, forgot none of +those who served him in this great exploit; and to this day his +authority and influence help them forward in their public career, while +his condescending friendship adds a charm to their private life. To +collect_, continues my author, _all the strange events in which this +Prince has played the part of Providence were to fill the habitable +globe with books. But the stories which relate to the fortunes of_ THE +RAJAH'S DIAMOND _are of too entertaining a description, says he, to be +omitted. Following prudently in the footsteps of this Oriental, we shall +now begin the series to which he refers with the_ STORY OF THE BANDBOX. + + + + +THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND + + +STORY OF THE BANDBOX + +Up to the age of sixteen, at a private school and afterwards at one of +those great institutions for which England is justly famous, Mr. Harry +Hartley had received the ordinary education of a gentleman. At that +period he manifested a remarkable distaste for study; and his only +surviving parent being both weak and ignorant, he was permitted +thenceforward to spend his time in the attainment of petty and purely +elegant accomplishments. Two years later, he was left an orphan and +almost a beggar. For all active and industrious pursuits, Harry was +unfitted alike by nature and training. He could sing romantic ditties, +and accompany himself with discretion on the piano; he was a graceful +although a timid cavalier; he had a pronounced taste for chess; and +nature had sent him into the world with one of the most engaging +exteriors that can well be fancied. Blond and pink, with dove's eyes and +a gentle smile, he had an air of agreeable tenderness and melancholy and +the most submissive and caressing manners. But when all is said, he was +not the man to lead armaments of war or direct the councils of a State. + +A fortunate chance and some influence obtained for Harry, at the time of +his bereavement, the position of private secretary to Major-General Sir +Thomas Vandeleur, C.B. Sir Thomas was a man of sixty, loud-spoken, +boisterous, and domineering. For some reason, some service the nature of +which had been often whispered and repeatedly denied, the Rajah of +Kashgar had presented this officer with the sixth known diamond of the +world. The gift transformed General Vandeleur from a poor into a +wealthy man, from an obscure and unpopular soldier into one of the lions +of London society; the possessor of the Rajah's Diamond was welcome in +the most exclusive circles; and he had found a lady, young, beautiful, +and well-born, who was willing to call the diamond hers even at the +price of marriage with Sir Thomas Vandeleur. It was commonly said at the +time that, as like draws to like, one jewel had attracted another; +certainly Lady Vandeleur was not only a gem of the finest water in her +own person, but she showed herself to the world in a very costly +setting; and she was considered by many respectable authorities as one +among the three or four best-dressed women in England. + +Harry's duty as secretary was not particularly onerous; but he had a +dislike for all prolonged work; it gave him pain to ink his fingers; and +the charms of Lady Vandeleur and her toilettes drew him often from the +library to the boudoir. He had the prettiest ways among women, could +talk fashions with enjoyment, and was never more happy than when +criticising a shade of ribbon or running on an errand to the milliner's. +In short, Sir Thomas's correspondence fell into pitiful arrears, and my +Lady had another lady's maid. + +At last the General, who was one of the least patient of military +commanders, arose from his place in a violent access of passion, and +indicated to his secretary that he had no further need for his services, +with one of those explanatory gestures which are most rarely employed +between gentlemen. The door being unfortunately open, Mr. Hartley fell +downstairs head-foremost. + +He arose somewhat hurt and very deeply aggrieved. The life in the +General's house precisely suited him; he moved, on a more or less +doubtful footing, in very genteel company, he did little, he ate of the +best, and he had a lukewarm satisfaction in the presence of Lady +Vandeleur, which, in his own heart, he dubbed by a more emphatic name. + +Immediately after he had been outraged by the military foot, he hurried +to the boudoir and recounted his sorrows. + +"You know very well, my dear Harry," replied Lady Vandeleur, for she +called him by name like a child or a domestic servant, "that you never +by any chance do what the General tells you. No more do I, you may say. +But that is different. A woman can earn her pardon for a good year of +disobedience by a single adroit submission; and, besides, no one is +married to his private secretary. I shall be sorry to lose you; but +since you cannot stay longer in a house where you have been insulted, I +shall wish you good-bye, and I promise you to make the General smart for +his behaviour." + +Harry's countenance fell; tears came into his eyes, and he gazed on Lady +Vandeleur with a tender reproach. + +"My Lady," said he, "what is an insult? I should think little indeed of +any one who could not forgive them by the score. But to leave one's +friends; to tear up the bonds of affection----" + +He was unable to continue, for his emotion choked him, and he began to +weep. + +Lady Vandeleur looked at him with a curious expression. + +"This little fool," she thought, "imagines himself to be in love with +me. Why should he not become my servant instead of the General's? He is +good-natured, obliging, and understands dress; and besides, it will keep +him out of mischief. He is positively too pretty to be unattached." + +That night she talked over the General, who was already somewhat ashamed +of his vivacity; and Harry was transferred to the feminine department, +where his life was little short of heavenly. He was always dressed with +uncommon nicety, wore delicate flowers in his button-hole, and could +entertain a visitor with tact and pleasantry. He took a pride in +servility to a beautiful woman; received Lady Vandeleur's commands as so +many marks of favour; and was pleased to exhibit himself before other +men, who derided and despised him, in his character of male lady's-maid +and man-milliner. Nor could he think enough of his existence from a +moral point of view. Wickedness seemed to him an essentially male +attribute, and to pass one's days with a delicate woman, and principally +occupied about trimmings, was to inhabit an enchanted isle among the +storms of life. + +One fine morning he came into the drawing-room and began to arrange some +music on the top of the piano. Lady Vandeleur, at the other end of the +apartment, was speaking somewhat eagerly with her brother, Charlie +Pendragon, an elderly young man, much broken with dissipation, and very +lame of one foot. The private secretary, to whose entrance they paid no +regard, could not avoid overhearing a part of their conversation. + +"To-day or never," said the lady. "Once and for all, it shall be done +to-day." + +"To-day, if it must be," replied the brother, with a sigh. "But it is a +false step, a ruinous step, Clara; and we shall live to repent it +dismally." + +Lady Vandeleur looked her brother steadily and somewhat strangely in the +face. + +"You forget," she said; "the man must die at last." + +"Upon my word, Clara," said Pendragon, "I believe you are the most +heartless rascal in England." + +"You men," she returned, "are so coarsely built, that you can never +appreciate a shade of meaning. You are yourselves rapacious, violent, +immodest, careless of distinction; and yet the least thought for the +future shocks you in a woman. I have no patience with such stuff. You +would despise in a common banker the imbecility that you expect to find +in us." + +"You are very likely right," replied her brother; "you were always +cleverer than I. And, anyway, you know my motto: The family before all." + +"Yes, Charlie," she returned, taking his hand in hers, "I know your +motto better than you know it yourself. 'And Clara before the family!' +Is not that the second part of it? Indeed, you are the best of brothers, +and I love you dearly." + +Mr. Pendragon got up, looking a little confused by these family +endearments. + +"I had better not be seen," said he. "I understand my part to a miracle, +and I'll keep an eye on the Tame Cat." + +"Do," she replied. "He is an abject creature, and might ruin all." + +She kissed the tips of her fingers to him daintily; and the brother +withdrew by the boudoir and the back stair. + +"Harry," said Lady Vandeleur turning towards the secretary as soon as +they were alone, "I have a commission for you this morning. But you +shall take a cab; I cannot have my secretary freckled." + +She spoke the last words with emphasis and a look of half-motherly pride +that caused great contentment to poor Harry; and he professed himself +charmed to find an opportunity of serving her. + +"It is another of our great secrets," she went on archly, "and no one +must know of it but my secretary and me. Sir Thomas would make the +saddest disturbance; and if you only knew how weary I am of these +scenes! O Harry, Harry, can you explain to me what makes you men so +violent and unjust? But, indeed, I know you cannot; you are the only man +in the world who knows nothing of these shameful passions; you are so +good, Harry, and so kind; you, at least, can be a woman's friend; and, +do you know? I think you make the others more ugly by comparison." + +"It is you," said Harry gallantly, "who are so kind to me. You treat me +like----" + +"Like a mother," interposed Lady Vandeleur; "I try to be a mother to +you. Or, at least," she corrected herself with a smile, "almost a +mother. I am afraid I am too young to be your mother really. Let us say +a friend--a dear friend." + +She paused long enough to let her words take effect in Harry's +sentimental quarters, but not long enough to allow him a reply. + +"But all this is beside our purpose," she resumed. "You will find a +bandbox in the left-hand side of the oak wardrobe; it is underneath the +pink slip that I wore on Wednesday with my Mechlin. You will take it +immediately to this address," and she gave him a paper, "but do not, on +any account, let it out of your hands until you have received a receipt +written by myself. Do you understand? Answer, if you please--answer! +This is extremely important, and I must ask you to pay some attention." + +Harry pacified her by repeating her instructions perfectly; and she was +just going to tell him more when General Vandeleur flung into the +apartment, scarlet with anger, and holding a long and elaborate +milliner's bill in his hand. + +"Will you look at this, madam?" cried he. "Will, you have the goodness +to look at this document? I know well enough you married me for my +money, and I hope I can make as great allowances as any other man in the +service; but, as sure as God made me, I mean to put a period to this +disreputable prodigality." + +"Mr. Hartley," said Lady Vandeleur, "I think you understand what you +have to do. May I ask you to see to it at once?" + +"Stop," said the General, addressing Harry, "one word before you go." +And then, turning again to Lady Vandeleur, "What is this precious +fellow's errand?" he demanded. "I trust him no further than I do +yourself, let me tell you. If he had as much as the rudiments of +honesty, he would scorn to stay in this house; and what he does for his +wages is a mystery to all the world. What is his errand, madam? and why +are you hurrying him away?" + +"I supposed you had something to say to me in private," replied the +lady. + +"You spoke about an errand," insisted the General. "Do not attempt to +deceive me in my present state of temper. You certainly spoke about an +errand." + +"If you insist on making your servants privy to our humiliating +dissensions," replied Lady Vandeleur, "perhaps I had better ask Mr. +Hartley to sit down. No?" she continued; "then you may go, Mr. Hartley. +I trust you may remember all that you have heard in this room; it may be +useful to you." + +Harry at once made his escape from the drawing-room; and as he ran +upstairs he could hear the General's voice upraised in declamation, and +the thin tones of Lady Vandeleur planting icy repartees at every +opening. How cordially he admired the wife! How skilfully she could +evade an awkward question! with what secure effrontery she repeated her +instructions under the very guns of the enemy! and on the other hand, +how he detested the husband! + +There had been nothing unfamiliar in the morning's events, for he was +continually in the habit of serving Lady Vandeleur on secret missions, +principally connected with millinery. There was a skeleton in the house, +as he well knew. The bottomless extravagance and the unknown liabilities +of the wife had long since swallowed her own fortune, and threatened day +by day to engulf that of the husband. Once or twice in every year +exposure and ruin seemed imminent, and Harry kept trotting round to all +sorts of furnishers' shops, telling small fibs, and paying small +advances on the gross amount, until another term was tided over, and the +lady and her faithful secretary breathed again. For Harry, in a double +capacity, was heart and soul upon that side of the war; not only did he +adore Lady Vandeleur and fear and dislike her husband, but he naturally +sympathised with the love of finery, and his own single extravagance was +at the tailor's. + +He found the bandbox where it had been described, arranged his toilette +with care, and left the house. The sun shone brightly; the distance he +had to travel was considerable, and he remembered with dismay that the +General's sudden irruption had prevented Lady Vandeleur from giving him +money for a cab. On this sultry day there was every chance that his +complexion would suffer severely; and to walk through so much of London +with a bandbox on his arm was a humiliation almost insupportable to a +youth of his character. He paused, and took counsel with himself. The +Vandeleurs lived in Eaton Place; his destination was near Notting Hill; +plainly, he might cross the Park by keeping well in the open and +avoiding populous alleys; and he thanked his stars when he reflected +that it was still comparatively early in the day. + +Anxious to be rid of his incubus, he walked somewhat faster than his +ordinary, and he was already some way through Kensington Gardens when, +in a solitary spot among trees, he found himself confronted by the +General. + +"I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas," observed Harry, politely falling on one +side; for the other stood directly in his path. + +"Where are you going, sir?" asked the General. + +"I am taking a little walk among the trees," replied the lad. + +The General struck the bandbox with his cane. + +"With that thing?" he cried; "you lie, sir, and you know you lie!" + +"Indeed, Sir Thomas," returned Harry, "I am not accustomed to be +questioned in so high a key." + +"You do not understand your position," said the General. "You are my +servant, and a servant of whom I have conceived the most serious +suspicions. How do I know but that your box is full of tea-spoons?" + +"It contains a silk hat belonging to a friend," said Harry. + +"Very well," replied General Vandeleur. "Then I want to see your +friend's silk hat. I have," he added grimly, "a singular curiosity for +hats; and I believe you know me to be somewhat positive." + +"I beg your pardon, Sir Thomas; I am exceedingly grieved," Harry +apologised; "but indeed this is a private affair." + +The General caught him roughly by the shoulder with one hand, while he +raised his cane in the most menacing manner with the other. Harry gave +himself up for lost; but at the same moment Heaven vouchsafed him an +unexpected defender in the person of Charlie Pendragon, who now strode +forward from behind the trees. + +"Come, come, General, hold your hand," said he; "this is neither +courteous nor manly." + +"Aha!" cried the General, wheeling round upon his new antagonist, "Mr. +Pendragon! And do you suppose, Mr. Pendragon, that because I have had +the misfortune to marry your sister, I shall suffer myself to be dogged +and thwarted by a discredited and bankrupt libertine like you? My +acquaintance with Lady Vandeleur, sir, has taken away all my appetite +for the other members of her family." + +"And do you fancy, General Vandeleur," retorted Charlie, "that because +my sister has had the misfortune to marry you, she there and then +forfeited her rights and privileges as a lady? I own, sir, that by that +action she did as much as anybody could to derogate from her position; +but to me she is still a Pendragon. I make it my business to protect her +from ungentlemanly outrage, and if you were ten times her husband I +would not permit her liberty to be restrained, nor her private +messengers to be violently arrested." + +"How is that, Mr. Hartley?" interrogated the General. "Mr. Pendragon is +of my opinion, it appears. He too suspects that Lady Vandeleur has +something to do with your friend's silk hat." + +Charlie saw that he had committed an unpardonable blunder, which he +hastened to repair. + +"How, sir?" he cried; "I suspect, do you say? I suspect nothing. Only +where I find strength abused and a man brutalising his inferiors, I take +the liberty to interfere." + +As he said these words he made a sign to Harry, which the latter was too +dull or too much troubled to understand. + +"In what way am I to construe your attitude, sir?" demanded Vandeleur. + +"Why, sir, as you please," returned Pendragon. + +The General once more raised his cane, and made a cut for Charlie's +head; but the latter, lame foot and all, evaded the blow with his +umbrella, ran in, and immediately closed with his formidable adversary. + +"Run, Harry, run!" he cried; "run, you dolt!" + +Harry stood petrified for a moment, watching the two men sway together +in this fierce embrace; then he turned and took to his heels. When he +cast a glance over his shoulder he saw the General prostrate under +Charlie's knee, but still making desperate efforts to reverse the +situation; and the Gardens seemed to have filled with people, who were +running from all directions towards the scene of fight. This spectacle +lent the secretary wings; and he did not relax his pace until he had +gained the Bayswater Road, and plunged at random into an unfrequented +by-street. + +To see two gentlemen of his acquaintance thus brutally mauling each +other was deeply shocking to Harry. He desired to forget the sight; he +desired, above all, to put as great a distance as possible between +himself and General Vandeleur; and in his eagerness for this he forgot +everything about his destination, and hurried before him headlong and +trembling. When he remembered that Lady Vandeleur was the wife of one +and the sister of the other of these gladiators, his heart was touched +with sympathy for a woman so distressingly misplaced in life. Even his +own situation in the General's household looked hardly so pleasing as +usual in the light of these violent transactions. + +He had walked some little distance, busied with these meditations, +before a slight collision with another passenger reminded him of the +bandbox on his arm. + +"Heavens!" cried he, "where was my head? and whither have I wandered?" + +Thereupon he consulted the envelope which Lady Vandeleur had given him. +The address was there, but without a name. Harry was simply directed to +ask for "the gentleman who expected a parcel from Lady Vandeleur," and +if he were not at home to await his return. The gentleman, added the +note, should present a receipt in the handwriting of the lady herself. +All this seemed mightily mysterious, and Harry was above all astonished +at the omission of the name and the formality of the receipt. He had +thought little of this last when he heard it dropped in conversation; +but reading it in cold blood, and taking it in connection with the other +strange particulars, he became convinced that he was engaged in perilous +affairs. For half a moment he had a doubt of Lady Vandeleur herself; for +he found these obscure proceedings somewhat unworthy of so high a lady, +and became more critical when her secrets were preserved against +himself. But her empire over his spirit was too complete, he dismissed +his suspicions, and blamed himself roundly for having so much as +entertained them. + +In one thing, however, his duty and interest, his generosity and his +terrors, coincided--to get rid of the bandbox with the greatest possible +despatch. + +He accosted the first policeman and courteously inquired his way. It +turned out that he was already not far from his destination, and a walk +of a few minutes brought him to a small house in a lane, freshly +painted, and kept with the most scrupulous attention. The knocker and +bell-pull were highly polished: flowering pot-herbs garnished the sills +of the different windows; and curtains of some rich material concealed +the interior from the eyes of curious passengers. The place had an air +of repose and secrecy; and Harry was so far caught with this spirit that +he knocked with more than usual discretion, and was more than usually +careful to remove all impurity from his boots. + +A servant-maid of some personal attractions immediately opened the door, +and seemed to regard the secretary with no unkind eyes. + +"This is a parcel from Lady Vandeleur," said Harry. + +"I know," replied the maid, with a nod. "But the gentleman is from home. +Will you leave it with me?" + +"I cannot," answered Harry. "I am directed not to part with it but upon +a certain condition, and I must ask you, I am afraid, to let me wait." + +"Well," said she, "I suppose I may let you wait. I am lonely enough, I +can tell you, and you do not look as though you would eat a girl. But be +sure and do not ask the gentleman's name, for that I am not to tell +you." + +"Do you say so?" cried Harry. "Why, how strange! But indeed for some +time back I walk among surprises. One question I think I may surely ask +without indiscretion: Is he the master of this house?" + +"He is a lodger, and not eight days old at that," returned the maid. +"And now a question for a question: Do you know Lady Vandeleur?" + +"I am her private secretary," replied Harry, with a glow of modest +pride. + +"She is pretty, is she not?" pursued the servant. + +"Oh, beautiful!" cried Harry; "wonderfully lovely, and not less good and +kind!" + +"You look kind enough yourself," she retorted; "and I wager you are +worth a dozen Lady Vandeleurs." + +Harry was properly scandalised. + +"I!" he cried. "I am only a secretary!" + +"Do you mean that for me?" said the girl. "Because I am only a +housemaid, if you please." And then, relenting at the sight of Harry's +obvious confusion, "I know you mean nothing of the sort," she added; +"and I like your looks; but I think nothing of your Lady Vandeleur. Oh, +these mistresses!" she cried. "To send out a real gentleman like +you--with a bandbox--in broad day!" + +During this talk they had remained in their original positions--she on +the doorstep, he on the side-walk, bare-headed for the sake of coolness, +and with the bandbox on his arm. But upon this last speech Harry, who +was unable to support such point-blank compliments to his appearance, +nor the encouraging look with which they were accompanied, began to +change his attitude, and glance from left to right in perturbation. In +so doing he turned his face towards the lower end of the lane, and +there, to his indescribable dismay, his eyes encountered those of +General Vandeleur. The General, in a prodigious fluster of heat, hurry, +and indignation, had been scouring the streets in chase of his +brother-in-law; but so soon as he caught a glimpse of the delinquent +secretary, his purpose changed, his anger flowed into a new channel, and +he turned on his heel and came tearing up the lane with truculent +gestures and vociferations. + +Harry made but one bolt of it into the house, driving the maid before +him; and the door was slammed in his pursuer's countenance. + +"Is there a bar? Will it lock?" asked Harry, while a salvo on the +knocker made the house echo from wall to wall. + +"Why, what is wrong with you?" asked the maid. "Is it this old +gentleman?" + +"If he gets hold of me," whispered Harry, "I am as good as dead. He has +been pursuing me all day, carries a sword-stick, and is an Indian +military officer." + +"These are fine manners," cried the maid. "And what, if you please, may +be his name?" + +"It is the General, my master," answered Harry. "He is after this +bandbox." + +"Did not I tell you?" cried the maid in triumph. "I told you I thought +worse than nothing of your Lady Vandeleur; and if you had an eye in your +head you might see what she is for yourself. An ungrateful minx, I will +be bound for that!" + +The General renewed his attack upon the knocker, and his passion growing +with delay, began to kick and beat upon the panels of the door. + +"It is lucky," observed the girl, "that I am alone in the house; your +General may hammer until he is weary, and there is none to open for him. +Follow me!" + +So saying she led Harry into the kitchen, where she made him sit down, +and stood by him herself in an affectionate attitude, with a hand upon +his shoulder. The din at the door, so far from abating, continued to +increase in volume, and at each blow the unhappy secretary was shaken to +the heart. + +"What is your name?" asked the girl. + +"Harry Hartley," he replied. + +"Mine," she went on, "is Prudence. Do you like it?" + +"Very much," said Harry. "But hear for a moment how the General beats +upon the door. He will certainly break it in, and then, in Heaven's +name, what have I to look for but death?" + +"You put yourself very much about with no occasion," answered Prudence. +"Let your General knock, he will do no more than blister his hands. Do +you think I would keep you here if I were not sure to save you? Oh, no, +I am a good friend to those that please me! and we have a back door upon +another lane. But," she added, checking him, for he had got upon his +feet immediately on this welcome news, "But I will not show where it is +unless you kiss me. Will you, Harry?" + +"That I will," he cried, remembering his gallantry, "not for your back +door, but because you are good and pretty." + +And he administered two or three cordial salutes, which were returned to +him in kind. + +Then Prudence led him to the back gate, and put her hand upon the key. + +"Will you come and see me?" she asked. + +"I will indeed," said Harry. "Do not I owe you my life?" + +"And now," she added, opening the door, "run as hard as you can, for I +shall let in the General." + +Harry scarcely required this advice; fear had him by the forelock; and +he addressed himself diligently to flight. A few steps, and he believed +he would escape from his trials, and return to Lady Vandeleur in honour +and safety. But these few steps had not been taken before he heard a +man's voice hailing him by name with many execrations, and, looking over +his shoulder, he beheld Charlie Pendragon waving him with both arms to +return. The shock of this new incident was so sudden and profound, and +Harry was already worked into so high a state of nervous tension, that +he could think of nothing better than to accelerate his pace and +continue running. He should certainly have remembered the scene in +Kensington Gardens; he should certainly have concluded that, where the +General was his enemy, Charlie Pendragon could be no other than a +friend. But such was the fever and perturbation of his mind that he was +struck by none of these considerations, and only continued to run the +faster up the lane. + +Charlie, by the sound of his voice and the vile terms that he hurled +after the secretary, was obviously beside himself with rage. He, too, +ran his very best; but, try as he might, the physical advantages were +not upon his side, and his outcries and the fall of his lame foot on the +macadam began to fall farther and farther into the wake. + +Harry's hopes began once more to arise. The lane was both steep and +narrow, but it was exceedingly solitary, bordered on either hand by +garden walls, overhung with foliage; and, for as far as the fugitive +could see in front of him, there was neither a creature moving nor an +open door. Providence, weary of persecution, was now offering him an +open field for his escape. + +Alas! as he came abreast of a garden door under a tuft of chestnuts, it +was suddenly drawn back, and he could see inside, upon a garden path, +the figure of a butcher's boy with his tray upon his arm. He had hardly +recognised the fact before he was some steps beyond upon the other side. +But the fellow had had time to observe him; he was evidently much +surprised to see a gentleman go by at so unusual a pace; and he came out +into the lane and began to call after Harry with shouts of ironical +encouragement. + +His appearance gave a new idea to Charlie Pendragon, who, although he +was now sadly out of breath, once more upraised his voice. + +"Stop, thief!" he cried. + +And immediately the butcher's boy had taken up the cry and joined in the +pursuit. + +This was a bitter moment for the hunted secretary. It is true that his +terror enabled him once more to improve his pace, and gain with every +step on his pursuers; but he was well aware that he was near the end of +his resources, and should he meet any one coming the other way, his +predicament in the narrow lane would be desperate indeed. + +"I must find a place of concealment," he thought, "and that within the +next few seconds, or all is over with me in this world." + +Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind than the lane took a sudden +turning, and he found himself hidden from his enemies. There are +circumstances in which even the least energetic of mankind learn to +behave with vigour and decision, and the most cautious forget their +prudence and embrace foolhardy resolutions. This was one of those +occasions for Harry Hartley; and those who knew him best would have been +the most astonished at the lad's audacity. He stopped dead, flung the +bandbox over a garden wall, and leaping upward with incredible agility, +and seizing the cope-stone with his hands, he tumbled headlong after it +into the garden. + +He came to himself a moment afterwards, seated in a border of small +rose-bushes. His hands and knees were cut and bleeding, for the wall had +been protected against such an escalade by a liberal provision of old +bottles; and he was conscious of a general dislocation and a painful +swimming in the head. Facing him across the garden, which was in +admirable order, and set with flowers of the most delicious perfume, he +beheld the back of a house. It was of considerable extent, and plainly +habitable; but, in odd contrast to the grounds, it was crazy, ill-kept, +and of a mean appearance. On all other sides the circuit of the garden +wall appeared unbroken. + +He took in these features of the scene with mechanical glances, but his +mind was still unable to piece together or draw a rational conclusion +from what he saw. And when he heard footsteps advancing on the gravel, +although he turned his eyes in that direction, it was with no thought +either for defence or flight. + +The new-comer was a large, coarse, and very sordid personage, in +gardening clothes, and with a watering-pot in his left hand. One less +confused would have been affected with some alarm at the sight of this +man's huge proportions and black and lowering eyes. But Harry was too +gravely shaken by his fall to be so much as terrified; and if he was +unable to divert his glances from the gardener, he remained absolutely +passive, and suffered him to draw near, to take him by the shoulder, and +to plant him roughly on his feet, without a motion of resistance. + +For a moment the two stared into each other's eyes, Harry fascinated, +the man filled with wrath and a cruel, sneering humour. + +"Who are you?" he demanded at last. "Who are you to come flying over my +wall and break my _Gloire de Dijons_? What is your name?" he added, +shaking him; "and what may be your business here?" + +Harry could not as much as proffer a word in explanation. + +But just at that moment Pendragon and the butcher's boy went clumping +past, and the sound of their feet and their hoarse cries echoed loudly +in the narrow lane. The gardener had received his answer; and he looked +down into Harry's face with an obnoxious smile. + +"A thief!" he said. "Upon my word, and a very good thing you must make +of it; for I see you dressed like a gentleman from top to toe. Are you +not ashamed to go about the world in such a trim, with honest folk, I +daresay, glad to buy your cast-off finery second-hand? Speak up, you +dog," the man went on; "you can understand English, I suppose; and I +mean to have a bit of talk with you before I march you to the station." + +"Indeed, sir," said Harry, "this is all a dreadful misconception; and if +you will go with me to Sir Thomas Vandeleur's in Eaton Place, I can +promise that all will be made plain. The most upright person, as I now +perceive, can be led into suspicious positions." + +"My little man," replied the gardener, "I will go with you no farther +than the station-house in the next street. The inspector, no doubt, will +be glad to take a stroll with you as far as Eaton Place, and have a bit +of afternoon tea with your great acquaintances. Or would you prefer to +go direct to the Home Secretary? Sir Thomas Vandeleur, indeed! Perhaps +you think I don't know a gentleman when I see one, from a common +run-the-hedge like you? Clothes or no clothes, I can read you like a +book. Here is a shirt that maybe cost as much as my Sunday hat; and that +coat, I take it, has never seen the inside of Rag-fair, and then your +boots----" + +The man, whose eyes had fallen upon the ground, stopped short in his +insulting commentary, and remained for a moment looking intently upon +something at his feet. When he spoke his voice was strangely altered. + +"What, in God's name," said he, "is all this?" + +Harry, following the direction of the man's eyes, beheld a spectacle +that struck him dumb with terror and amazement. In his fall he had +descended vertically upon the bandbox, and burst it open from end to +end; thence a great treasure of diamonds had poured forth, and now lay +abroad, part trodden in the soil, part scattered on the surface in regal +and glittering profusion. There was a magnificent coronet which he had +often admired on Lady Vandeleur; there were rings and brooches, +ear-drops and bracelets, and even unset brilliants rolling here and +there among the rose-bushes like drops of morning dew. A princely fortune +lay between the two men upon the ground--a fortune in the most inviting, +solid, and durable form, capable of being carried in an apron, beautiful +in itself, and scattering the sunlight in a million rainbow flashes. + +"Good God!" said Harry, "I am lost!" + +His mind racked backwards into the past with the incalculable velocity +of thought, and he began to comprehend his day's adventures, to conceive +them as a whole, and to recognise the sad imbroglio in which his own +character and fortunes had become involved. He looked round him as if +for help, but he was alone in the garden, with his scattered diamonds +and his redoubtable interlocutor; and when he gave ear, there was no +sound but the rustle of the leaves and the hurried pulsation of his +heart. It was little wonder if the young man felt himself deserted by +his spirits, and with a broken voice repeated his last ejaculation-- + +"I am lost!" + +The gardener peered in all directions with an air of guilt; but there +was no face at any of the windows, and he seemed to breathe again. + +"Pick up a heart," he said, "you fool! The worst of it is done. Why +could you not say at first there was enough for two? Two?" he repeated, +"ay, and for two hundred! But come away from here, where we may be +observed; and, for the love of wisdom, straighten out your hat and brush +your clothes. You could not travel two steps the figure of fun you look +just now." + +While Harry mechanically adopted these suggestions, the gardener, +getting upon his knees, hastily drew together the scattered jewels and +returned them to the bandbox. The touch of these costly crystals sent a +shiver of emotion through the man's stalwart frame; his face was +transfigured, and his eyes shone with concupiscence; indeed, it seemed +as if he luxuriously prolonged his occupation, and dallied with every +diamond that he handled. At last, however, it was done; and concealing +the bandbox in his smock, the gardener beckoned to Harry and preceded +him in the direction of the house. + +Near the door they were met by a young man, evidently in holy orders, +dark and strikingly handsome, with a look of mingled weakness and +resolution, and very neatly attired after the manner of his caste. The +gardener was plainly annoyed by this encounter; but he put as good a +face upon it as he could, and accosted the clergyman with an obsequious +and smiling air. + +"Here is a fine afternoon, Mr. Rolles," said he: "a fine afternoon, as +sure as God made it! And here is a young friend of mine who had a fancy +to look at my roses. I took the liberty to bring him in, for I thought +none of the lodgers would object." + +"Speaking for myself," replied the Reverend Mr. Rolles, "I do not; nor +do I fancy any of the rest of us would be more difficult upon so small a +matter. The garden is your own, Mr. Raeburn; we must none of us forget +that; and because you give us liberty to walk there we should be indeed +ungracious if we so far presumed upon your politeness as to interfere +with the convenience of your friends. But, on second thoughts," he +added, "I believe that this gentleman and I have met before. Mr. +Hartley, I think. I regret to observe that you have had a fall." + +And he offered his hand. + +A sort of maiden dignity, and a desire to delay as long as possible the +necessity for explanation, moved Harry to refuse this chance of help, +and to deny his own identity. He chose the tender mercies of the +gardener, who was at least unknown to him, rather than the curiosity and +perhaps the doubts of an acquaintance. + +"I fear there is some mistake," said he. "My name is Thomlinson and I am +a friend of Mr. Raeburn's." + +"Indeed?" said Mr. Rolles. "The likeness is amazing." + +Mr. Raeburn, who had been upon thorns throughout this colloquy, now felt +it high time to bring it to a period. + +"I wish you a pleasant saunter, sir," said he. + +And with that he dragged Harry after him into the house, and then into a +chamber on the garden. His first care was to draw down the blind, for +Mr. Rolles still remained where they had left him, in an attitude of +perplexity and thought. Then he emptied the broken bandbox on the table, +and stood before the treasure, thus fully displayed, with an expression +of rapturous greed, and rubbing his hands upon his thighs. For Harry, +the sight of the man's face under the influence of this base emotion +added another pang to those he was already suffering. It seemed +incredible that, from his life of pure and delicate trifling, he should +be plunged in a breath among sordid and criminal relations. He could +reproach his conscience with no sinful act; and yet he was now suffering +the punishment of sin in its most acute and cruel forms--the dread of +punishment, the suspicions of the good, and the companionship and +contamination of vile and brutal natures. He felt he could lay his life +down with gladness to escape from the room and the society of Mr. +Raeburn. + +"And now," said the latter, after he had separated the jewels into two +nearly equal parts, and drawn one of them nearer to himself; "and now," +said he, "everything in this world has to be paid for, and some things +sweetly. You must know, Mr. Hartley, if such be your name, that I am a +man of a very easy temper, and good-nature has been my stumbling-block +from first to last. I could pocket the whole of these pretty pebbles, if +I chose, and I should like to see you dare to say a word; but I think I +must have taken a liking to you; for I declare I have not the heart to +shave you so close. So, do you see, in pure kind feeling, I propose that +we divide; and these," indicating the two heaps, "are the proportions +that seem to me just and friendly. Do you see any objection, Mr. +Hartley, may I ask? I am not the man to stick upon a brooch." + +"But, sir," cried Harry, "what you propose to me is impossible. The +jewels are not mine, and I cannot share what is another's, no matter +with whom, nor in what proportions." + +"They are not yours, are they not?" returned Raeburn. "And you could not +share them with anybody, couldn't you? Well, now, that is what I call a +pity; for here am I obliged to take you to the station. The +police--think of that," he continued; "think of the disgrace for your +respectable parents; think," he went on, taking Harry by the wrist; +"think of the Colonies and the Day of Judgment." + +"I cannot help it," wailed Harry. "It is not my fault. You will not come +with me to Eaton Place." + +"No," replied the man; "I will not, that is certain. And I mean to +divide these playthings with you here." + +And so saying he applied a sudden and severe torsion to the lad's wrist. + +Harry could not suppress a scream, and the perspiration burst forth upon +his face. Perhaps pain and terror quickened his intelligence, but +certainly at that moment the whole business flashed across him in +another light; and he saw that there was nothing for it but to accede to +the ruffian's proposal, and trust to find the house and force him to +disgorge, under more favourable circumstances, and when he himself was +clear from all suspicion. + +"I agree," he said. + +"There is a lamb," sneered the gardener. "I thought you would recognise +your interests at last. This bandbox," he continued, "I shall burn with +my rubbish; it is a thing that curious folk might recognise; and as for +you, scrape up your gaieties and put them in your pocket." + +Harry proceeded to obey, Raeburn watching him, and every now and again, +his greed rekindled by some bright scintillation, abstracting another +jewel from the secretary's share, and adding it to his own. + +When this was finished, both proceeded to the front door, which Raeburn +cautiously opened to observe the street. This was apparently clear of +passengers; for he suddenly seized Harry by the nape of the neck, and +holding his face downward so that he could see nothing but the roadway +and the door steps of the houses, pushed him violently before him down +one street and up another for the space of perhaps a minute and a half. +Harry had counted three corners before the bully relaxed his grasp, and +crying, "Now be off with you!" sent the lad flying head-foremost with a +well-directed and athletic kick. + +When Harry gathered himself up, half-stunned and bleeding freely at the +nose, Mr. Raeburn had entirely disappeared. For the first time, anger +and pain so completely overcame the lad's spirits that he burst into a +fit of tears and remained sobbing in the middle of the road. + +After he had thus somewhat assuaged his emotion, he began to look about +him and read the names of the streets at whose intersection he had been +deserted by the gardener. He was still in an unfrequented portion of +West London, among villas and large gardens; but he could see some +persons at a window who had evidently witnessed his misfortune; and +almost immediately after a servant came running from the house and +offered him a glass of water. At the same time, a dirty rogue, who had +been slouching somewhere in the neighbourhood, drew near him from the +other side. + +"Poor fellow," said the maid, "how vilely you have been handled, to be +sure! Why, your knees are all cut, and your clothes ruined! Do you know +the wretch who used you so?" + +"That I do!" cried Harry, who was somewhat refreshed by the water; "and +shall run him home in spite of his precautions. He shall pay dearly for +this day's work, I promise you." + +"You had better come into the house and have yourself washed and +brushed," continued the maid. "My mistress will make you welcome, never +fear. And see, I will pick up your hat. Why, love of mercy!" she +screamed, "if you have not dropped diamonds all over the street!" + +Such was the case; a good half of what remained to him after the +depredations of Mr. Raeburn had been shaken out of his pockets by the +summersault, and once more lay glittering on the ground. He blessed his +fortune that the maid had been so quick of eye; "there is nothing so bad +but it might be worse," thought he; and the recovery of these few seemed +to him almost as great an affair as the loss of all the rest. But, alas! +as he stooped to pick up his treasures, the loiterer made a rapid +onslaught, overset both Harry and the maid with a movement of his arms, +swept up a double-handful of the diamonds, and made off along the street +with an amazing swiftness. + +Harry, as soon as he could get upon his feet, gave chase to the +miscreant with many cries, but the latter was too fleet of foot, and +probably too well acquainted with the locality; for turn where the +pursuer would he could find no traces of the fugitive. + +In the deepest despondency, Harry revisited the scene of his mishap, +where the maid, who was still waiting, very honestly returned him his +hat and the remainder of the fallen diamonds. Harry thanked her from his +heart, and being now in no humour for economy, made his way to the +nearest cabstand and set off for Eaton Place by coach. + +The house, on his arrival, seemed in some confusion, as if a catastrophe +had happened in the family; and the servants clustered together in the +hall, and were unable, or perhaps not altogether anxious, to suppress +their merriment at the tatterdemalion figure of the secretary. He passed +them with as good an air of dignity as he could assume, and made +directly for the boudoir. When he opened the door an astonishing and +even menacing spectacle presented itself to his eyes; for he beheld the +General and his wife and, of all people, Charlie Pendragon, closeted +together and speaking with earnestness and gravity on some important +subject. Harry saw at once that there was little left for him to +explain--plenary confession had plainly been made to the General of the +intended fraud upon his pocket, and the unfortunate miscarriage of the +scheme; and they had all made common cause against a common danger. + +"Thank Heaven!" cried Lady Vandeleur, "here he is! The bandbox, +Harry--the bandbox!" + +But Harry stood before them silent and downcast. + +"Speak!" she cried. "Speak! Where is the bandbox?" + +And the men, with threatening gestures, repeated the demand. + +Harry drew a handful of jewels from his pocket. He was very white. + +"This is all that remains," said he. "I declare before Heaven it was +through no fault of mine; and if you will have patience, although some +are lost, I am afraid, for ever, others, I am sure, may be still +recovered." + +"Alas!" cried Lady Vandeleur, "all our diamonds are gone, and I owe +ninety thousand pounds for dress!" + +"Madam," said the General, "you might have paved the gutter with your +own trash; you might have made debts to fifty times the sum you mention; +you might have robbed me of my mother's coronet and ring; and Nature +might have still so far prevailed that I could have forgiven you at +last. But, madam, you have taken the Rajah's Diamond--the Eye of Light, +as the Orientals poetically termed it--the Pride of Kashgar! You have +taken from me the Rajah's Diamond," he cried, raising his hands, "and +all, madam, all is at an end between us!" + +"Believe me, General Vandeleur," she replied, "that is one of the most +agreeable speeches that ever I heard from your lips; and since we are to +be ruined, I could almost welcome the change, if it delivers me from +you. You have told me often enough that I married you for your money; +let me tell you now that I always bitterly repented the bargain; and if +you were still marriageable, and had a diamond bigger than your head, I +should counsel even my maid against a union so uninviting and +disastrous.--As for you, Mr. Hartley," she continued, turning on the +secretary, "you have sufficiently exhibited your valuable qualities in +this house; we are now persuaded that you equally lack manhood, sense, +and self-respect; and I can see only one course open for you--to +withdraw instanter, and, if possible, return no more. For your wages you +may rank as a creditor in my late husband's bankruptcy." + +Harry had scarcely comprehended this insulting address before the +General was down upon him with another. + +"And in the meantime," said that personage, "follow me before the +nearest Inspector of Police. You may impose upon a simple-minded +soldier, sir, but the eye of the law will read your disreputable secret. +If I must spend my old age in poverty through your underhand intriguing +with my wife, I mean at least that you shall not remain unpunished for +your pains; and God, sir, will deny me a very considerable satisfaction +if you do not pick oakum from now until your dying day." + +With that, the General dragged Harry from the apartment, and hurried him +down-stairs and along the street to the police-station of the district. + + +_Here_ (says my Arabian author) _ended this deplorable business of the +bandbox. But to the unfortunate secretary the whole affair was the +beginning of a new and manlier life. The police were easily persuaded of +his innocence; and, after he had given what help he could in the +subsequent investigations, he was even complimented by one of the chiefs +of the detective department on the probity and simplicity of his +behaviour. Several persons interested themselves in one so unfortunate; +and soon after he inherited a sum of money from a maiden aunt in +Worcestershire. With this he married Prudence, and set sail for Bendigo, +or, according to another account, for Trincomalee, exceedingly content, +and with the best of prospects._ + + +STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS + +The Reverend Mr. Simon Rolles had distinguished himself in the Moral +Sciences, and was more than usually proficient in the study of Divinity. +His essay "On the Christian Doctrine of the Social Obligations" obtained +for him, at the moment of its production, a certain celebrity in the +University of Oxford; and it was understood in clerical and learned +circles that young Mr. Rolles had in contemplation a considerable +work--a folio, it was said--on the authority of the Fathers of the +Church. These attainments, these ambitious designs, however, were far +from helping him to any preferment; and he was still in quest of his +first curacy when a chance ramble in that part of London, the peaceful +and rich aspect of the garden, a desire for solitude and study, and the +cheapness of the lodging, led him to take up his abode with Mr. Raeburn, +the nurseryman of Stockdove Lane. + +It was his habit every afternoon, after he had worked seven or eight +hours on St. Ambrose or St. Chrysostom, to walk for a while in +meditation among the roses. And this was usually one of the most +productive moments of his day. But even a sincere appetite for thought, +and the excitement of grave problems awaiting solution, are not always +sufficient to preserve the mind of the philosopher against the petty +shocks and contacts of the world. And when Mr. Rolles found General +Vandeleur's secretary, ragged and bleeding, in the company of his +landlord; when he saw both change colour and seek to avoid his +questions; and, above all, when the former denied his own identity with +the most unmoved assurance, he speedily forgot the Saints and Fathers in +the vulgar interest of curiosity. + +"I cannot be mistaken," thought he. "That is Mr. Hartley beyond a doubt. +How comes he in such a pickle? why does he deny his name? and what can +be his business with that black-looking ruffian, my landlord?" + +As he was thus reflecting, another peculiar circumstance attracted his +attention. The face of Mr. Raeburn appeared at a low window next the +door; and, as chance directed, his eyes met those of Mr. Rolles. The +nurseryman seemed disconcerted, and even alarmed; and immediately after +the blind of the apartment was pulled sharply down. + +"This may all be very well," reflected Mr. Rolles; "it may be all +excellently well; but I confess freely that I do not think so. +Suspicious, underhand, untruthful, fearful of observation--I believe +upon my soul," he thought, "the pair are plotting some disgraceful +action." + +The detective that there is in all of us awoke and became clamant in the +bosom of Mr. Rolles; and with a brisk, eager step, that bore no +resemblance to his usual gait, he proceeded to make the circuit of the +garden. When he came to the scene of Harry's escalade, his eye was at +once arrested by a broken rose-bush and marks of trampling on the mould. +He looked up, and saw scratches on the brick, and a rag of trouser +floating from a broken bottle. This, then, was the mode of entrance +chosen by Mr. Raeburn's particular friend! It was thus that General +Vandeleur's secretary came to admire a flower-garden! The young +clergyman whistled softly to himself as he stooped to examine the +ground. He could make out where Harry had landed from his perilous leap; +he recognised the flat foot of Mr. Raeburn where it had sunk deeply in +the soil as he pulled up the secretary by the collar; nay, on a closer +inspection, he seemed to distinguish the marks of groping fingers, as +though something had been spilt abroad and eagerly collected. + +"Upon my word," he thought, "the thing grows vastly interesting." + +And just then he caught sight of something almost entirely buried in the +earth. In an instant he had disinterred a dainty morocco case, +ornamented and clasped in gilt. It had been trodden heavily underfoot, +and thus escaped the hurried search of Mr. Raeburn. Mr. Rolles opened +the case, and drew a long breath of almost horrified astonishment; for +there lay before him, in a cradle of green velvet, a diamond of +prodigious magnitude and of the finest water. It was of the bigness of a +duck's egg; beautifully shaped, and without a flaw; and as the sun shone +upon it, it gave forth a lustre like that of electricity, and seemed to +burn in his hand with a thousand internal fires. + +He knew little of precious stones; but the Rajah's Diamond was a wonder +that explained itself; a village child, if he found it, would run +screaming for the nearest cottage; and a savage would prostrate himself +in adoration before so imposing a fetich. The beauty of the stone +flattered the young clergyman's eyes; the thought of its incalculable +value overpowered his intellect. He knew that what he held in his hand +was worth more than many years' purchase of an archiepiscopal see; that +it would build cathedrals more stately than Ely or Cologne; that he who +possessed it was set free for ever from the primal curse, and might +follow his own inclinations without concern or hurry, without let or +hindrance. And as he suddenly turned it, the rays leaped forth again +with renewed brilliancy, and seemed to pierce his very heart. + +Decisive actions are often taken in a moment and without any conscious +deliverance from the rational parts of man. So it was now with Mr. +Rolles. He glanced hurriedly round; beheld, like Mr. Raeburn before him, +nothing but the sunlit flower-garden, the tall tree-tops, and the house +with blinded windows; and in a trice he had shut the case, thrust it +into his pocket, and was hastening to his study with the speed of guilt. + +The Reverend Simon Rolles had stolen the Rajah's Diamond. + +Early in the afternoon the police arrived with Harry Hartley. The +nurseryman, who was beside himself with terror, readily discovered his +hoard; and the jewels were identified and inventoried in the presence of +the secretary. As for Mr. Rolles, he showed himself in a most obliging +temper, communicated what he knew with freedom, and professed regret +that he could do no more to help the officers in their duty. + +"Still," he added, "I suppose your business is nearly at an end." + +"By no means," replied the man from Scotland Yard; and he narrated the +second robbery of which Harry had been the immediate victim, and gave +the young clergyman a description of the more important jewels that were +still not found, dilating particularly on the Rajah's Diamond. + +"It must be worth a fortune," observed Mr. Rolles. + +"Ten fortunes--twenty fortunes," cried the officer. + +"The more it is worth," remarked Simon shrewdly, "the more difficult it +must be to sell. Such a thing has a physiognomy not to be disguised, and +I should fancy a man might as easily negotiate St. Paul's Cathedral." + +"Oh, truly!" said the officer; "but if the thief be a man of any +intelligence, he will cut it into three or four, and there will be still +enough to make him rich." + +"Thank you," said the clergyman. "You cannot imagine how much your +conversation interests me." + +Whereupon the functionary admitted that they knew many strange things in +his profession, and immediately after took his leave. + +Mr. Rolles regained his apartment. It seemed smaller and barer than +usual; the materials for his great work had never presented so little +interest; and he looked upon his library with the eye of scorn. He took +down, volume by volume, several Fathers of the Church, and glanced them +through; but they contained nothing to his purpose. + +"These old gentlemen," thought he, "are no doubt very valuable writers, +but they seem to me conspicuously ignorant of life. Here am I, with +learning enough to be a Bishop, and I positively do not know how to +dispose of a stolen diamond. I glean a hint from a common policeman, +and, with all my folios, I cannot so much as put it into execution. This +inspires me with very low ideas of University training." + +Herewith he kicked over his book-shelf and, putting on his hat, hastened +from the house to the club of which he was a member. In such a place of +mundane resort he hoped to find some man of good counsel and a shrewd +experience in life. In the reading-room he saw many of the country +clergy and an Archdeacon; there were three journalists and a writer upon +the Higher Metaphysic, playing pool; and at dinner only the raff of +ordinary club frequenters showed their commonplace and obliterated +countenances. None of these, thought Mr. Rolles, would know more on +dangerous topics than he knew himself; none of them were fit to give him +guidance in his present strait. At length, in the smoking-room, up many +weary stairs, he hit upon a gentleman of somewhat portly build and +dressed with conspicuous plainness. He was smoking a cigar and reading +the _Fortnightly_ _Review_; his face was singularly free from all sign +of preoccupation or fatigue; and there was something in his air which +seemed to invite confidence and to expect submission. The more the young +clergyman scrutinised his features, the more he was convinced that he +had fallen on one capable of giving pertinent advice. + +"Sir," said he, "you will excuse my abruptness; but I judge you from +your appearance to be pre-eminently a man of the world." + +"I have indeed considerable claims to that distinction," replied the +stranger, laying aside his magazine with a look of mingled amusement and +surprise. + +"I, sir," continued the curate, "am a recluse, a student, a creature of +ink-bottles and patristic folios. A recent event has brought my folly +vividly before my eyes, and I desire to instruct myself in life. By +life," he added, "I do not mean Thackeray's novels; but the crimes and +secret possibilities of our society, and the principles of wise conduct +among exceptional events. I am a patient reader; can the thing be learnt +in books?" + +"You put me in a difficulty," said the stranger. "I confess I have no +great notion of the use of books, except to amuse a railway journey; +although, I believe, there are some very exact treatises on astronomy, +the use of the globes, agriculture, and the art of making paper-flowers. +Upon the less apparent provinces of life I fear you will find nothing +truthful. Yet stay," he added, "have you read Gaboriau?" + +Mr. Rolles admitted that he had never even heard the name. + +"You may gather some notions from Gaboriau," resumed the stranger. "He +is at least suggestive; and as he is an author much studied by Prince +Bismarck, you will, at the worst, lose your time in good society." + +"Sir," said the curate, "I am infinitely obliged by your politeness." + +"You have already more than repaid me," returned the other. + +"How?" inquired Simon. + +"By the novelty of your request," replied the gentleman; and with a +polite gesture, as though to ask permission, he resumed the study of the +_Fortnightly Review_. + +On his way home Mr. Rolles purchased a work on precious stones and +several of Gaboriau's novels. These last he eagerly skimmed until an +advanced hour in the morning; but although they introduced him to many +new ideas, he could nowhere discover what to do with a stolen diamond. +He was annoyed, moreover, to find the information scattered amongst +romantic story-telling, instead of soberly set forth after the manner of +a manual; and he concluded that, even if the writer had thought much +upon these subjects, he was totally lacking in educational method. For +the character and attainments of Lecoq, however, he was unable to +contain his admiration. + +"He was truly a great creature," ruminated Mr. Rolles. "He knew the +world as I know Paley's Evidences. There was nothing that he could not +carry to a termination with his own hand, and against the largest odds. +Heavens!" he broke out suddenly, "is not this the lesson? Must I not +learn to cut diamonds for myself?" + +It seemed to him as if he had sailed at once out of his perplexities; he +remembered that he knew a jeweller, one B. Macculloch, in Edinburgh, who +would be glad to put him in the way of the necessary training; a few +months, perhaps a few years, of sordid toil, and he would be +sufficiently expert to divide and sufficiently cunning to dispose with +advantage of the Rajah's Diamond. That done, he might return to pursue +his researches at leisure, a wealthy and luxurious student, envied and +respected by all. Golden visions attended him through his slumber, and +he awoke refreshed and light-hearted with the morning sun. + +Mr. Raeburn's house was on that day to be closed by the police, and this +afforded a pretext for his departure. He cheerfully prepared his +baggage, transported it to King's Cross, where he left it in the +cloak-room, and returned to the club to while away the afternoon and +dine. + +"If you dine here to-day, Rolles," observed an acquaintance, "you may +see two of the most remarkable men in England--Prince Florizel of +Bohemia, and old Jack Vandeleur." + +"I have heard of the Prince," replied Mr. Rolles; "and General Vandeleur +I have even met in society." + +"General Vandeleur is an ass!" returned the other. "This is his brother +John, the biggest adventurer, the best judge of precious stones, and one +of the most acute diplomatists in Europe. Have you never heard of his +duel with the Duc de Val d'Orge? of his exploits and atrocities when he +was Dictator of Paraguay? of his dexterity in recovering Sir Samuel +Levi's jewellery? nor of his services in the Indian Mutiny--services by +which the Government profited, but which the Government dared not +recognise? You make me wonder what we mean by fame, or even by infamy; +for Jack Vandeleur has prodigious claims to both. Run down-stairs," he +continued, "take a table near them, and keep your ears open. You will +hear some strange talk, or I am much misled." + +"But how shall I know them?" inquired the clergyman. + +"Know them!" cried his friend; "why, the Prince is the finest gentleman +in Europe, the only living creature who looks like a king; and as for +Jack Vandeleur, if you can imagine Ulysses at seventy years of age, and +with a sabre-cut across his face, you have the man before you! Know +them, indeed! Why, you could pick either of them out of a Derby day!" + +Rolles eagerly hurried to the dining-room. It was as his friend had +asserted; it was impossible to mistake the pair in question. Old John +Vandeleur was of a remarkable force of body, and obviously broken to the +most difficult exercises. He had neither the carriage of a swordsman, +nor of a sailor, nor yet of one much inured to the saddle; but something +made up of all these, and the result and expression of many different +habits and dexterities. His features were bold and aquiline; his +expression arrogant and predatory; his whole appearance that of a swift, +violent, unscrupulous man of action; and his copious white hair and the +deep sabre-cut that traversed his nose and temple added a note of +savagery to a head already remarkable and menacing in itself. + +In his companion, the Prince of Bohemia, Mr. Rolles was astonished to +recognise the gentleman who had recommended him the study of Gaboriau. +Doubtless Prince Florizel, who rarely visited the club, of which, as of +most others, he was an honorary member, had been waiting for John +Vandeleur when Simon accosted him on the previous evening. + +The other diners had modestly retired into the angles of the room, and +left the distinguished pair in a certain isolation, but the young +clergyman was unrestrained by any sentiment of awe, and, marching boldly +up, took his place at the nearest table. + +The conversation was, indeed, new to the student's ears. The ex-Dictator +of Paraguay stated many extraordinary experiences in different quarters +of the world; and the Prince supplied a commentary which, to a man of +thought, was even more interesting than the events themselves. Two forms +of experience were thus brought together and laid before the young +clergyman; and he did not know which to admire the most--the desperate +actor or the skilled expert in life; the man who spoke boldly of his own +deeds and perils, or the man who seemed, like a god, to know all things +and to have suffered nothing. The manner of each aptly fitted with his +part in the discourse. The Dictator indulged in brutalities alike of +speech and gesture; his hand opened and shut and fell roughly on the +table; and his voice was loud and heady. The Prince, on the other hand, +seemed the very type of urbane docility and quiet; the least movement, +the least inflection, had with him a weightier significance than all the +shouts and pantomime of his companion; and if ever, as must frequently +have been the case, he described some experience personal to himself, it +was so aptly dissimulated as to pass unnoticed with the rest. + +At length the talk wandered on to the late robberies and the Rajah's +Diamond. + +"That diamond would be better in the sea," observed Prince Florizel. + +"As a Vandeleur," replied the Dictator, "your Highness may imagine my +dissent." + +"I speak on grounds of public policy," pursued the Prince. "Jewels so +valuable should be reserved for the collection of a Prince or the +treasury of a great nation. To hand them about among the common sort of +men is to set a price on Virtue's head; and if the Rajah of Kashgar--a +Prince, I understand, of great enlightenment--desired vengeance upon the +men of Europe, he could hardly have gone more efficaciously about his +purpose than by sending us this apple of discord. There is no honesty +too robust for such a trial. I myself, who have many duties and many +privileges of my own--I myself, Mr. Vandeleur, could scarce handle the +intoxicating crystal and be safe. As for you, who are a diamond-hunter +by taste and profession, I do not believe there is a crime in the +calendar you would not perpetrate--I do not believe you have a friend in +the world whom you would not eagerly betray--I do not know if you have a +family, but if you have I declare you would sacrifice your children--and +all this for what? Not to be richer, nor to have more comforts or more +respect, but simply to call this diamond yours for a year or two until +you die, and now and again to open a safe and look at it as one looks at +a picture." + +"It is true," replied Vandeleur. "I have hunted most things, from men +and women down to mosquitoes; I have dived for coral; I have followed +both whales and tigers; and a diamond is the tallest quarry of the lot. +It has beauty and worth; it alone can properly reward the ardours of the +chase. At this moment, as your Highness may fancy, I am upon the trail; +I have a sure knack, a wide experience; I know every stone of price in +my brother's collection as a shepherd knows his sheep; and I wish I may +die if I do not recover them every one." + +"Sir Thomas Vandeleur will have great cause to thank you," said the +Prince. + +"I am not so sure," returned the Dictator, with a laugh. "One of the +Vandeleurs will. Thomas or John--Peter or Paul--we are all apostles." + +"I did not catch your observation," said the Prince, with some disgust. + +And at the same moment the waiter informed Mr. Vandeleur that his cab +was at the door. + +Mr. Rolles glanced at the clock, and saw that he also must be moving; +and the coincidence struck him sharply and unpleasantly, for he desired +to see no more of the diamond-hunter. + +Much study having somewhat shaken the young man's nerves, he was in the +habit of travelling in the most luxurious manner; and for the present +journey he had taken a sofa in the sleeping carriage. + +"You will be very comfortable," said the guard; "there is no one in your +compartment, and only one old gentleman in the other end." + +It was close upon the hour, and the tickets were being examined, when +Mr. Rolles beheld this other fellow-passenger ushered by several porters +into his place; certainly, there was not another man in the world whom +he would not have preferred--for it was old John Vandeleur, the +ex-Dictator. + +The sleeping carriages on the Great Northern line were divided into +three compartments--one at each end for travellers, and one in the +centre fitted with the conveniences of a lavatory. A door running in +grooves separated each of the others from the lavatory; but as there +were neither bolts nor locks, the whole suite was practically common +ground. + +When Mr. Rolles had studied his position, he perceived himself without +defence. If the Dictator chose to pay him a visit in the course of the +night, he could do no less than receive it; he had no means of +fortification, and lay open to attack as if he had been lying in the +fields. This situation caused him some agony of mind. He recalled with +alarm the boastful statements of his fellow-traveller across the +dining-table, and the professions of immorality which he had heard him +offering to the disgusted Prince. Some persons, he remembered to have +read, are endowed with a singular quickness of perception for the +neighbourhood of precious metals; through walls and even at considerable +distances they are said to divine the presence of gold. Might it not be +the same with diamonds? he wondered; and if so, who was more likely to +enjoy this transcendental sense than the person who gloried in the +appellation of the Diamond Hunter? From such a man he recognised that he +had everything to fear, and longed eagerly for the arrival of the day. + +In the meantime he neglected no precaution, concealed his diamond in the +most internal pocket of a system of great-coats, and devoutly +recommended himself to the care of Providence. + +The train pursued its usual even and rapid course; and nearly half the +journey had been accomplished before slumber began to triumph over +uneasiness in the breast of Mr. Rolles. For some time he resisted its +influence; but it grew upon him more and more, and a little before York +he was fain to stretch himself upon one of the couches and suffer his +eyes to close; and almost at the same instant consciousness deserted the +young clergyman. His last thought was of his terrifying neighbour. + +When he awoke it was still pitch dark, except for the flicker of the +veiled lamp; and the continual roaring and oscillation testified to the +unrelaxed velocity of the train. He sat upright in a panic, for he had +been tormented by the most uneasy dreams; it was some seconds before he +recovered his self-command; and even after he had resumed a recumbent +attitude sleep continued to flee him, and he lay awake with his brain in +a state of violent agitation, and his eyes fixed upon the lavatory door. +He pulled his clerical felt hat over his brow still further to shield +him from the light; and he adopted the usual expedients, such as +counting a thousand or banishing thought, by which experienced invalids +are accustomed to woo the approach of sleep. In the case of Mr. Rolles +they proved one and all vain; he was harassed by a dozen different +anxieties--the old man in the other end of the carriage haunted him in +the most alarming shapes; and in whatever attitude he chose to lie, the +diamond in his pocket occasioned him a sensible physical distress. It +burned, it was too large; it bruised his ribs; and there were +infinitesimal fractions of a second in which he had half a mind to throw +it from the window. + +While he was thus lying, a strange incident took place. + +The sliding-door into the lavatory stirred a little, and then a little +more, and was finally drawn back for the space of about twenty inches. +The lamp in the lavatory was unshaded, and in the lighted aperture thus +disclosed Mr. Rolles could see the head of Mr. Vandeleur in an attitude +of deep attention. He was conscious that the gaze of the Dictator rested +intently on his own face; and the instinct of self-preservation moved +him to hold his breath, to refrain from the least movement, and, keeping +his eyes lowered, to watch his visitor from underneath the lashes. After +about a moment, the head was withdrawn and the door of the lavatory +replaced. + +The Dictator had not come to attack, but to observe; his action was not +that of a man threatening another, but that of a man who was himself +threatened; if Mr. Rolles was afraid of him, it appeared that he, in his +turn, was not quite easy on the score of Mr. Rolles. He had come, it +would seem, to make sure that his only fellow-traveller was asleep; and, +when satisfied on that point, he had at once withdrawn. + +The clergyman leaped to his feet. The extreme of terror had given place +to a reaction of foolhardy daring. He reflected that the rattle of the +flying train concealed all other sounds, and determined, come what +might, to return the visit he had just received. Divesting himself of +his cloak, which might have interfered with the freedom of his action, +he entered the lavatory and paused to listen. As he had expected, there +was nothing to be heard above the roar of the train's progress; and +laying his hand on the door at the farther side, he proceeded cautiously +to draw it back for about six inches. Then he stopped, and could not +contain an ejaculation of surprise. + +John Vandeleur wore a fur travelling-cap with lappets to protect his +ears; and this may have combined with the sound of the express to keep +him in ignorance of what was going forward. It is certain, at least, +that he did not raise his head, but continued without interruption to +pursue his strange employment. Between his feet stood an open hat-box; +in one hand he held the sleeve of his sealskin greatcoat; in the other a +formidable knife, with which he had just slit up the lining of the +sleeve. Mr. Rolles had read of persons carrying money in a belt; and as +he had no acquaintance with any but cricket-belts, he had never been +able rightly to conceive how this was managed. But here was a stranger +thing before his eyes; for John Vandeleur, it appeared, carried diamonds +in the lining of his sleeve; and even as the young clergyman gazed, he +could see one glittering brilliant drop after another into the hat-box. + +He stood riveted to the spot, following this unusual business with his +eyes. The diamonds were, for the most part, small, and not easily +distinguishable either in shape or fire. Suddenly the Dictator appeared +to find a difficulty; he employed both hands and stooped over his task; +but it was not until after considerable manoeuvring that he extricated +a large tiara of diamonds from the lining, and held it up for some +seconds' examination before he placed it with the others in the hat-box. +The tiara was a ray of light to Mr. Rolles; he immediately recognised +it for a part of the treasure stolen from Harry Hartley by the loiterer. +There was no room for mistake; it was exactly as the detective had +described it; there were the ruby stars, with a great emerald in the +centre; there were the interlacing crescents; and there were the +pear-shaped pendants, each a single stone, which gave a special value to +Lady Vandeleur's tiara. + +Mr. Rolles was hugely relieved. The Dictator was as deeply in the affair +as he was; neither could tell tales upon the other. In the first glow of +happiness, the clergyman suffered a deep sigh to escape him; and as his +bosom had become choked and his throat dry during his previous suspense, +the sigh was followed by a cough. + +Mr. Vandeleur looked up; his face contracted with the blackest and most +deadly passion; his eyes opened widely, and his under jaw dropped in an +astonishment that was upon the brink of fury. By an instinctive movement +he had covered the hat-box with the coat. For half a minute the two men +stared upon each other in silence. It was not a long interval, but it +sufficed for Mr. Rolles; he was one of those who think swiftly on +dangerous occasions; he decided on a course of action of a singularly +daring nature; and although he felt he was setting his life upon the +hazard, he was the first to break silence. + +"I beg your pardon," said he. + +The Dictator shivered slightly, and when he spoke his voice was hoarse. + +"What do you want here?" he asked. + +"I take a particular interest in diamonds," replied Mr. Rolles, with an +air of perfect self-possession. "Two connoisseurs should be acquainted. +I have here a trifle of my own which may perhaps serve for an +introduction." + +And so saying, he quietly took the case from his pocket, showed the +Rajah's Diamond to the Dictator for an instant, and replaced it in +security. + +"It was once your brother's," he added. + +John Vandeleur continued to regard him with a look of almost painful +amazement; but he neither spoke nor moved. + +"I was pleased to observe," resumed the young man, "that we have gems +from the same collection." + +The Dictator's surprise overpowered him. + +"I beg your pardon," he said; "I begin to perceive that I am growing +old! I am positively not prepared for little incidents like this. But +set my mind at rest upon one point: do my eyes deceive me, or are you +indeed a parson?" + +"I am in holy orders," answered Mr. Rolles. + +"Well," cried the other, "as long as I live I will never hear another +word against the cloth!" + +"You flatter me," said Mr. Rolles. + +"Pardon me," replied Vandeleur; "pardon me, young man. You are no +coward, but it still remains to be seen whether you are not the worst of +fools. Perhaps," he continued, leaning back upon his seat, "perhaps you +would oblige me with a few particulars. I must suppose you had some +object in the stupefying impudence of your proceedings, and I confess I +have a curiosity to know it." + +"It is very simple," replied the clergyman; "it proceeds from my great +inexperience of life." + +"I shall be glad to be persuaded," answered Vandeleur. + +Whereupon Mr. Rolles told him the whole story of his connection with the +Rajah's Diamond, from the time he found it in Raeburn's garden to the +time when he left London in the Flying Scotchman. He added a brief +sketch of his feelings and thoughts during the journey, and concluded in +these words:-- + +"When I recognised the tiara I knew we were in the same attitude towards +Society, and this inspired me with a hope, which I trust you will not +say was ill-founded, that you might become in some sense my partner in +the difficulties and, of course, the profits of my situation. To one of +your special knowledge and obviously great experience the negotiation of +the diamond would give but little trouble, while to me it was a matter +of impossibility. On the other part, I judged that I might lose nearly +as much by cutting the diamond, and that not improbably with an +unskilful hand, as might enable me to pay you with proper generosity for +your assistance. The subject was a delicate one to broach; and perhaps I +fell short in delicacy. But I must ask you to remember that for me the +situation was a new one, and I was entirely unacquainted with the +etiquette in use. I believe without vanity that I could have married or +baptised you in a very acceptable manner; but every man has his own +aptitudes, and this sort of bargain was not among the lists of my +accomplishments." + +"I do not wish to flatter you," replied Vandeleur; "but upon my word, +you have an unusual disposition for a life of crime. You have more +accomplishments than you imagine; and though I have encountered a number +of rogues in different quarters of the world, I never met with one so +unblushing as yourself. Cheer up, Mr. Rolles, you are in the right +profession at last! As for helping you, you may command me as you will. +I have only a day's business in Edinburgh on a little matter for my +brother; and once that is concluded, I return to Paris, where I usually +reside. If you please, you may accompany me thither. And before the end +of a month I believe I shall have brought your little business to a +satisfactory conclusion." + + +_At this point, contrary to all the canons of his art, our Arabian +Author breaks off the_ STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN IN HOLY ORDERS. _I regret +and condemn such practices; but I must follow my original, and refer the +reader for the conclusion of Mr. Rolles' adventures to the next number +of the cycle._ + + +THE STORY OF THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS + +Francis Scrymgeour, a clerk in the Bank of Scotland at Edinburgh, had +attained the age of twenty-five in a sphere of quiet, creditable, and +domestic life. His mother died while he was young; but his father, a man +of sense and probity, had given him an excellent education at school, +and brought him up at home to orderly and frugal habits. Francis, who +was of a docile and affectionate disposition, profited by these +advantages with zeal, and devoted himself heart and soul to his +employment. A walk upon Saturday afternoon, an occasional dinner with +members of his family, and a yearly tour of a fortnight in the Highlands +or even on the continent of Europe were his principal distractions, and +he grew rapidly in favour with his superiors, and enjoyed already a +salary of nearly two hundred pounds a year, with the prospect of an +ultimate advance to almost double that amount. Few young men were more +contented, few more willing and laborious, than Francis Scrymgeour. +Sometimes at night, when he had read the daily paper, he would play upon +the flute to amuse his father, for whose qualities he entertained a +great respect. + +One day he received a note from a well-known firm of Writers to the +Signet, requesting the favour of an immediate interview with him. The +letter was marked "Private and Confidential," and had been addressed to +him at the bank, instead of at home--two unusual circumstances which +made him obey the summons with the more alacrity. The senior member of +the firm, a man of much austerity of manner, made him gravely welcome, +requested him to take a seat, and proceeded to explain the matter in +hand in the picked expressions of a veteran man of business. A person, +who must remain nameless, but of whom the lawyer had every reason to +think well--a man, in short, of some station in the country,--desired to +make Francis an annual allowance of five hundred pounds. The capital was +to be placed under the control of the lawyer's firm and two trustees who +must also remain anonymous. There were conditions annexed to this +liberality, but he was of opinion that his new client would find nothing +either excessive or dishonourable in the terms; and he repeated these +two words with emphasis, as though he desired to commit himself to +nothing more. + +Francis asked their nature. + +"The conditions," said the Writer to the Signet, "are, as I have twice +remarked, neither dishonourable nor excessive. At the same time I cannot +conceal from you that they are most unusual. Indeed, the whole case is +very much out of our way; and I should certainly have refused it had it +not been for the reputation of the gentleman who entrusted it to my +care, and, let me add, Mr. Scrymgeour, the interest I have been led to +take in yourself by many complimentary and, I have no doubt, +well-deserved reports." + +Francis entreated him to be more specific. + +"You cannot picture my uneasiness as to these conditions," he said. + +"They are two," replied the lawyer, "only two; and the sum, as you will +remember, is five hundred a year--and unburdened, I forgot to add, +unburdened." + +And the lawyer raised his eyebrows at him with solemn gusto. + +"The first," he resumed, "is of remarkable simplicity. You must be in +Paris by the afternoon of Sunday, the 15th; there you will find, at the +box-office of the Comedie Francaise a ticket for admission taken in your +name and waiting you. You are requested to sit out the whole performance +in the seat provided, and that is all." + +"I should certainly have preferred a week-day," replied Francis. "But, +after all, once in a way--" + +"And in Paris, my dear sir," added the lawyer soothingly. "I believe I +am something of a precisian myself, but upon such a consideration, and +in Paris, I should not hesitate an instant." + +And the pair laughed pleasantly together. + +"The other is of more importance," continued the Writer to the Signet. +"It regards your marriage. My client, taking a deep interest in your +welfare, desires to advise you absolutely in the choice of a wife. +Absolutely, you understand," he repeated. + +"Let us be more explicit, if you please," returned Francis. "Am I to +marry any one, maid or widow, black or white, whom this invisible +person chooses to propose?" + +"I was to assure you that suitability of age and position should be a +principle with your benefactor," replied the lawyer. "As to race, I +confess the difficulty had not occurred to me, and I failed to inquire; +but if you like I will make a note of it at once, and advise you on the +earliest opportunity." + +"Sir," said Francis, "it remains to be seen whether this whole affair is +not a most unworthy fraud. The circumstances are inexplicable--I had +almost said incredible; and until I see a little more daylight, and some +plausible motive, I confess I should be very sorry to put a hand to the +transaction. I appeal to you in this difficulty for information. I must +learn what is at the bottom of it all. If you do not know, cannot guess, +or are not at liberty to tell me, I shall take my hat and go back to my +bank as I came." + +"I do not know," answered the lawyer, "but I have an excellent guess. +Your father, and no one else, is at the root of this apparently +unnatural business." + +"My father!" cried Francis, in extreme disdain. "Worthy man, I know +every thought of his mind, every penny of his fortune!" + +"You misinterpret my words," said the lawyer. "I do not refer to Mr. +Scrymgeour, senior; for he is not your father. When he and his wife came +to Edinburgh, you were already nearly one year old, and you had not yet +been three months in their care. The secret has been well kept; but such +is the fact. Your father is unknown, and I say again that I believe him +to be the original of the offers I am charged at present to transmit to +you." + +It would be impossible to exaggerate the astonishment of Francis +Scrymgeour at this unexpected information. He pled this confusion to the +lawyer. + +"Sir," said he, "after a piece of news so startling, you must grant me +some hours for thought. You shall know this evening what conclusion I +have reached." + +The lawyer commended his prudence; and Francis, excusing himself upon +some pretext at the bank, took a long walk into the country, and fully +considered the different steps and aspects of the case. A pleasant sense +of his own importance rendered him the more deliberate: but the issue +was from the first not doubtful. His whole carnal man leaned +irresistibly towards the five hundred a year, and the strange conditions +with which it was burdened; he discovered in his heart an invincible +repugnance to the name of Scrymgeour, which he had never hitherto +disliked; he began to despise the narrow and unromantic interests of his +former life; and when once his mind was fairly made up, he walked with a +new feeling of strength and freedom, and nourished himself with the +gayest anticipations. + +He said but a word to the lawyer, and immediately received a cheque for +two quarters' arrears; for the allowance was ante-dated from the first +of January. With this in his pocket, he walked home. The flat in +Scotland Street looked mean in his eyes; his nostrils, for the first +time, rebelled against the odour of broth; and he observed little +defects of manner in his adoptive father which filled him with surprise, +and almost with disgust. The next day, he determined, should see him on +his way to Paris. + +In that city, where he arrived long before the appointed date, he put up +at a modest hotel frequented by English and Italians, and devoted +himself to improvement in the French tongue. For this purpose he had a +master twice a week, entered into conversation with loiterers in the +Champs Elysees, and nightly frequented the theatre. He had his whole +toilette fashionably renewed; and was shaved and had his hair dressed +every morning by a barber in a neighbouring street. This gave him +something of a foreign air, and seemed to wipe off the reproach of his +past years. + +At length, on the Saturday afternoon, he betook himself to the +box-office of the theatre in the Rue Richelieu. No sooner had he +mentioned his name than the clerk produced the order in an envelope of +which the address was scarcely dry. + +"It has been taken this moment," said the clerk. + +"Indeed!" said Francis. "May I ask what the gentleman was like?" + +"Your friend is easy to describe," replied the official. "He is old and +strong and beautiful, with white hair and a sabre-cut across his face. +You cannot fail to recognise so marked a person." + +"No, indeed," returned Francis; "and I thank you for your politeness." + +"He cannot yet be far distant," added the clerk. "If you make haste you +might still overtake him." + +Francis did not wait to be twice told; he ran precipitately from the +theatre into the middle of the street and looked in all directions. More +than one white-haired man was within sight; but though he overtook each +of them in succession, all wanted the sabre-cut. For nearly half an hour +he tried one street after another in the neighbourhood, until at length, +recognising the folly of continued search, he started on a walk to +compose his agitated feelings; for this proximity of an encounter with +him to whom he could not doubt he owed the day had profoundly moved the +young man. + +It chanced that his way lay up the Rue Drouot and thence up the Rue des +Martyrs; and chance, in this case, served him better than all the +forethought in the world. For on the outer boulevard he saw two men in +earnest colloquy upon a seat. One was dark, young, and handsome, +secularly dressed, but with an indelible clerical stamp; the other +answered in every particular to the description given him by the clerk. +Francis felt his heart beat high in his bosom; he knew he was now about +to hear the voice of his father; and making a wide circuit, he +noiselessly took his place behind the couple in question, who were too +much interested in their talk to observe much else. As Francis had +expected, the conversation was conducted in the English language. + +"Your suspicions begin to annoy me, Rolles," said the older man. "I tell +you I am doing my utmost; a man cannot lay his hand on millions in a +moment. Have I not taken you up, a mere stranger, out of pure good-will? +Are you not living largely on my bounty?" + +"On your advances, Mr. Vandeleur," corrected the other. + +"Advances, if you choose; and interest instead of good-will, if you +prefer it," returned Vandeleur angrily. "I am not here to pick +expressions. Business is business; and your business, let me remind you, +is too muddy for such airs. Trust me, or leave me alone and find someone +else; but let us have an end, for God's sake, of your jeremiads." + +"I am beginning to learn the world," replied the other, "and I see that +you have every reason to play me false, and not one to deal honestly. I +am not here to pick expressions either; you wish the diamond for +yourself; you know you do--you dare not deny it. Have you not already +forged my name, and searched my lodging in my absence? I understand the +cause of your delays; you are lying in wait; you are the diamond-hunter, +forsooth; and sooner or later, by fair means or foul, you'll lay your +hands upon it. I tell you, it must stop; push me much further and I +promise you a surprise." + +"It does not become you to use threats," returned Vandeleur. "Two can +play at that. My brother is here in Paris; the police are on the alert; +and if you persist in wearying me with your caterwauling, I will arrange +a little astonishment for you, Mr. Rolles. But mine shall be once and +for all. Do you understand, or would you prefer me to tell it you in +Hebrew? There is an end to all things, and you have come to the end of +my patience. Tuesday, at seven; not a day, not an hour sooner, not the +least part of a second, if it were to save your life. And if you do not +choose to wait, you may go to the bottomless pit for me, and welcome." + +And so saying, the Dictator arose from the bench, and marched off in the +direction of Montmartre, shaking his head and swinging his cane with a +most furious air; while his companion remained where he was, in an +attitude of great dejection. + +Francis was at the pitch of surprise and horror; his sentiments had been +shocked to the last degree; the hopeful tenderness with which he had +taken his place upon the bench was transformed into repulsion and +despair; old Mr. Scrymgeour, he reflected, was a far more kindly and +creditable parent than this dangerous and violent intriguer; but he +retained his presence of mind, and suffered not a moment to elapse +before he was on the trail of the Dictator. + +That gentleman's fury carried him forward at a brisk pace, and he was so +completely occupied in his angry thoughts that he never so much as cast +a look behind him till he reached his own door. + +His house stood high up in the Rue Lepic, commanding a view of all +Paris, and enjoying the pure air of the heights. It was two stories +high, with green blinds and shutters; and all the windows looking on the +street were hermetically closed. Tops of trees showed over the high +garden wall, and the wall was protected by _chevaux-de-frise_. The +Dictator paused a moment while he searched his pocket for a key; and +then, opening a gate, disappeared within the enclosure. + +Francis looked about him; the neighbourhood was very lonely, the house +isolated in its garden. It seemed as if his observation must here come +to an abrupt end. A second glance, however, showed him a tall house next +door presenting a gable to the garden, and in this gable a single +window. He passed to the front and saw a ticket offering unfurnished +lodgings by the month; and, on inquiry, the room which commanded the +Dictator's garden proved to be one of those to let. Francis did not +hesitate a moment; he took the room, paid an advance upon the rent, and +returned to his hotel to seek his baggage. + +The old man with the sabre-cut might or might not be his father; he +might or he might not be upon the true scent; but he was certainly on +the edge of an exciting mystery, and he promised himself that he would +not relax his observation until he had got to the bottom of the secret. + +From the window of his new apartment Francis Scrymgeour commanded a +complete view into the garden of the house with the green blinds. +Immediately below him a very comely chestnut with wide boughs sheltered +a pair of rustic tables where people might dine in the height of summer. +On all sides save one a dense vegetation concealed the soil; but there, +between the tables and the house, he saw a patch of gravel walk leading +from the verandah to the garden gate. Studying the place from between +the boards of the Venetian shutters, which he durst not open for fear of +attracting attention, Francis observed but little to indicate the +manners of the inhabitants, and that little argued no more than a close +reserve and a taste for solitude. The garden was conventual, the house +had the air of a prison. The green blinds were all drawn down upon the +outside; the door into the verandah was closed; the garden, as far as he +could see it, was left entirely to itself in the evening sunshine. A +modest curl of smoke from a single chimney alone testified to the +presence of living people. + +In order that he might not be entirely idle, and to give a certain +colour to his way of life, Francis had purchased Euclid's Geometry in +French, which he set himself to copy and translate on the top of his +portmanteau and seated on the floor against the wall; for he was equally +without chair or table. From time to time he would rise and cast a +glance into the enclosure of the house with the green blinds; but the +windows remained obstinately closed and the garden empty. + +Only late in the evening did anything occur to reward his continued +attention. Between nine and ten the sharp tinkle of a bell aroused him +from a fit of dozing; and he sprang to his observatory in time to hear +an important noise of locks being opened and bars removed, and to see +Mr. Vandeleur, carrying a lantern and clothed in a flowing robe of +black velvet with a skull-cap to match, issue from under the verandah +and proceed leisurely towards the garden gate. The sound of bolts and +bars was then repeated; and a moment after, Francis perceived the +Dictator escorting into the house, in the mobile light of the lantern, +an individual of the lowest and most despicable appearance. + +Half an hour afterwards the visitor was reconducted to the street; and +Mr. Vandeleur, setting his light upon one of the rustic tables, finished +a cigar with great deliberation under the foliage of the chestnut. +Francis, peering through a clear space among the leaves, was able to +follow his gestures as he threw away the ash or enjoyed a copious +inhalation; and beheld a cloud upon the old man's brow and a forcible +action of the lips, which testified to some deep and probably painful +train of thought. The cigar was already almost at an end, when the voice +of a young girl was heard suddenly crying the hour from the interior of +the house. + +"In a moment," replied John Vandeleur. + +And, with that, he threw away the stump, and, taking up the lantern, +sailed away under the verandah for the night. As soon as the door was +closed, absolute darkness fell upon the house; Francis might try his +eyesight as much as he pleased, he could not detect so much as a single +chink of light below a blind; and he concluded, with great good sense, +that the bed-chambers were all upon the other side. + +Early the next morning (for he was early awake after an uncomfortable +night upon the floor) he saw cause to adopt a different explanation. The +blinds rose, one after another, by means of a spring in the interior, +and disclosed steel shutters such as we see on the front of shops; these +in their turn were rolled up by a similar contrivance; and for the space +of about an hour the chambers were left open to the morning air. At the +end of that time Mr. Vandeleur, with his own hand, once more closed the +shutters and replaced the blinds from within. + +While Francis was still marvelling at these precautions, the door +opened and a young girl came forth to look about her in the garden. It +was not two minutes before she re-entered the house, but even in that +short time he saw enough to convince him that she possessed the most +unusual attractions. His curiosity was not only highly excited by this +incident, but his spirits were improved to a still more notable degree. +The alarming manners and more than equivocal life of his father ceased +from that moment to prey upon his mind; from that moment he embraced his +new family with ardour; and whether the young lady should prove his +sister or his wife, he felt convinced she was an angel in disguise. So +much was this the case that he was seized with a sudden horror when he +reflected how little he really knew, and how possible it was that he had +followed the wrong person when he followed Mr. Vandeleur. + +The porter, whom he consulted, could afford him little information; but, +such as it was, it had a mysterious and questionable sound. The person +next door was an English gentleman of extraordinary wealth, and +proportionately eccentric in his tastes and habits. He possessed great +collections, which he kept in the house beside him; and it was to +protect these that he had fitted the place with steel shutters, +elaborate fastenings, and _chevaux-de-frise_ along the garden wall. He +lived much alone, in spite of some strange visitors, with whom, it +seemed, he had business to transact; and there was no one else in the +house, except Mademoiselle and an old woman servant. + +"Is Mademoiselle his daughter?" inquired Francis. + +"Certainly," replied the porter. "Mademoiselle is the daughter of the +house; and strange it is to see how she is made to work. For all his +riches, it is she who goes to market; and every day in the week you may +see her going by with a basket on her arm." + +"And the collections?" asked the other. + +"Sir," said the man, "they are immensely valuable. More I cannot tell +you. Since M. de Vandeleur's arrival no one in the quarter has so much +as passed the door." + +"Suppose not," returned Francis, "you must surely have some notion what +these famous galleries contain. Is it pictures, silks, statues, jewels, +or what?" + +"My faith, sir," said the fellow, with a shrug, "it might be carrots, +and still I could not tell you. How should I know? The house is kept +like a garrison, as you perceive." + +And then as Francis was returning disappointed to his room, the porter +called him back. + +"I have just remembered, sir," said he. "M. de Vandeleur has been in all +parts of the world, and I once heard the old woman declare that he had +brought many diamonds back with him. If that be the truth, there must be +a fine show behind those shutters." + +By an early hour on Sunday Francis was in his place at the theatre. The +seat which had been taken for him was only two or three numbers from the +left-hand side, and directly opposite one of the lower boxes. As the +seat had been specially chosen there was doubtless something to be +learned from its position; and he judged by an instinct that the box +upon his right was, in some way or other, to be connected with the drama +in which he ignorantly played a part. Indeed, it was so situated that +its occupants could safely observe him from beginning to end of the +piece, if they were so minded; while, profiting by the depth, they could +screen themselves sufficiently well from any counter-examination on his +side. He promised himself not to leave it for a moment out of sight; and +whilst he scanned the rest of the theatre, or made a show of attending +to the business of the stage, he always kept a corner of an eye upon the +empty box. + +The second act had been some time in progress, and was even drawing +towards a close, when the door opened and two persons entered and +ensconced themselves in the darkest of the shade. Francis could hardly +control his emotion. It was Mr. Vandeleur and his daughter. The blood +came and went in his arteries and veins with stunning activity; his ears +sang; his head turned. He dared not look lest he should awake +suspicion; his play-bill, which he kept reading from end to end and over +and over again, turned from white to red before his eyes; and when he +cast a glance upon the stage, it seemed incalculably far away, and he +found the voices and gestures of the actors to the last degree +impertinent and absurd. + +From time to time he risked a momentary look in the direction which +principally interested him; and once at least he felt certain that his +eyes encountered those of the young girl. A shock passed over his body, +and he saw all the colours of the rainbow. What would he not have given +to overhear what passed between the Vandeleurs? What would he not have +given for the courage to take up his opera-glass and steadily inspect +their attitude and expression? There, for aught he knew, his whole life +was being decided--and he not able to interfere, not able even to follow +the debate, but condemned to sit and suffer where he was, in impotent +anxiety. + +At last the act came to an end. The curtain fell, and the people around +him began to leave their places for the interval. It was only natural +that he should follow their example; and if he did so, it was not only +natural but necessary that he should pass immediately in front of the +box in question. Summoning all his courage, but keeping his eyes +lowered, Francis drew near the spot. His progress was slow, for the old +gentleman before him moved with incredible deliberation, wheezing as he +went. What was he to do? Should he address the Vandeleurs by name as he +went by? Should he take the flower from his button-hole and throw it +into the box? Should he raise his face and direct one long and +affectionate look upon the lady who was either his sister or his +betrothed? As he found himself thus struggling among so many +alternatives, he had a vision of his old equable existence in the bank, +and was assailed by a thought of regret for the past. + +By this time he had arrived directly opposite the box; and although he +was still undetermined what to do or whether to do anything, he turned +his head and lifted his eyes. No sooner had he done so than he uttered a +cry of disappointment and remained rooted to the spot. The box was +empty. During his slow advance Mr. Vandeleur and his daughter had +quietly slipped away. + +A polite person in his rear reminded him that he was stopping the path; +and he moved on again with mechanical footsteps, and suffered the crowd +to carry him unresisting out of the theatre. Once in the street, the +pressure ceasing, he came to a halt, and the cool night air speedily +restored him to the possession of his faculties. He was surprised to +find that his head ached violently, and that he remembered not one word +of the two acts which he had witnessed. As the excitement wore away, it +was succeeded by an overmastering appetite for sleep, and he hailed a +cab and drove to his lodging in a state of extreme exhaustion and some +disgust of life. + +Next morning he lay in wait for Miss Vandeleur on her road to market, +and by eight o'clock beheld her stepping down a lane. She was simply, +and even poorly, attired; but in the carriage of her head and body there +was something flexible and noble that would have lent distinction to the +meanest toilette. Even her basket, so aptly did she carry it, became her +like an ornament. It seemed to Francis, as he slipped into a doorway, +that the sunshine followed and the shadows fled before her as she +walked; and he was conscious, for the first time, of a bird singing in a +cage above the lane. + +He suffered her to pass the doorway, and then, coming forth once more, +addressed her by name from behind. + +"Miss Vandeleur," said he. + +She turned and, when she saw who he was, became deadly pale. + +"Pardon me," he continued; "Heaven knows I had no will to startle you; +and, indeed, there should be nothing startling in the presence of one +who wishes you so well as I do. And, believe me, I am acting rather from +necessity than choice. We have many things in common, and I am sadly in +the dark. There is much that I should be doing, and my hands are tied. I +do not know even what to feel, nor who are my friends and enemies." + +She found her voice with an effort. + +"I do not know who you are," she said. + +"Ah, yes! Miss Vandeleur, you do," returned Francis; "better than I do +myself. Indeed, it is on that, above all, that I seek light. Tell me +what you know," he pleaded. "Tell me who I am, who you are, and how our +destinies are intermixed. Give me a little help with my life, Miss +Vandeleur--only a word or two to guide me, only the name of my father, +if you will--and I shall be grateful and content." + +"I will not attempt to deceive you," she replied. "I know who you are, +but I am not at liberty to say." + +"Tell me, at least, that you have forgiven my presumption, and I shall +wait with all the patience I have," he said. "If I am not to know, I +must do without. It is cruel, but I can bear more upon a push. Only do +not add to my troubles the thought that I have made an enemy of you." + +"You did only what was natural," she said, "and I have nothing to +forgive you. Farewell." + +"Is it to be _farewell_?" he asked. + +"Nay, that I do not know myself," she answered. "Farewell for the +present, if you like." + +And with these words she was gone. + +Francis returned to his lodging in a state of considerable commotion of +mind. He made the most trifling progress with his Euclid for that +forenoon, and was more often at the window than at his improvised +writing-table. But beyond seeing the return of Miss Vandeleur, and the +meeting between her and her father, who was smoking a Trichinopoli cigar +in the verandah, there was nothing notable in the neighbourhood of the +house with the green blinds before the time of the mid-day meal. The +young man hastily allayed his appetite in a neighbouring restaurant, and +returned with the speed of unallayed curiosity to the house in the Rue +Lepic. A mounted servant was leading a saddle-horse to and fro before +the garden wall; and the porter of Francis's lodging was smoking a pipe +against the door-post, absorbed in contemplation of the livery and the +steeds. + +"Look!" he cried to the young man, "what fine cattle! what an elegant +costume! They belong to the brother of M. de Vandeleur, who is now +within upon a visit. He is a great man, a general, in your country; and +you doubtless know him well by reputation." + +"I confess," returned Francis, "that I have never heard of General +Vandeleur before. We have many officers of that grade, and my pursuits +have been exclusively civil." + +"It is he," replied the porter, "who lost the great diamond of the +Indies. Of that at least you must have read often in the papers." + +As soon as Francis could disengage himself from the porter he ran +upstairs and hurried to the window. Immediately below the clear space in +the chestnut leaves, the two gentlemen were seated in conversation over +a cigar. The General, a red, military-looking man, offered some traces +of a family resemblance to his brother; he had something of the same +features, something, although very little, of the same free and powerful +carriage; but he was older, smaller, and more common in air; his +likeness was that of a caricature, and he seemed altogether a poor and +debile being by the side of the Dictator. + +They spoke in tones so low, leaning over the table with every appearance +of interest, that Francis could catch no more than a word or two on an +occasion. For as little as he heard, he was convinced that the +conversation turned upon himself and his own career; several times the +name of Scrymgeour reached his ear, for it was easy to distinguish and +still more frequently he fancied he could distinguish the name Francis. + +At length the General, as if in a hot anger, broke forth into several +violent exclamations. + +"Francis Vandeleur!" he cried, accentuating the last word. "Francis +Vandeleur, I tell you." + +The Dictator made a movement of his whole body, half affirmative, half +contemptuous, but his answer was inaudible to the young man. + +Was he the Francis Vandeleur in question? he wondered. Were they +discussing the name under which he was to be married? Or was the whole +affair a dream and a delusion of his own conceit and self-absorption? + +After another interval of inaudible talk, dissension seemed again to +rise between the couple underneath the chestnut, and again the General +raised his voice angrily so as to be audible to Francis. + +"My wife?" he cried. "I have done with my wife for good. I will not hear +her name. I am sick of her very name." + +And he swore aloud and beat the table with his fist. + +The Dictator appeared, by his gestures, to pacify him after a paternal +fashion; and a little after he conducted him to the garden gate. The +pair shook hands affectionately enough; but as soon as the door had +closed behind his visitor, John Vandeleur fell into a fit of laughter +which sounded unkindly and even devilish in the ears of Francis +Scrymgeour. + +So another day had passed, and little more learnt. But the young man +remembered that the morrow was Tuesday, and promised himself some +curious discoveries; all might be well, or all might be ill; he was +sure, at least, to glean some curious information, and perhaps, by good +luck, get at the heart of the mystery which surrounded his father and +his family. + +As the hour of the dinner drew near many preparations were made in the +garden of the house with the green blinds. That table, which was partly +visible to Francis through the chestnut leaves, was destined to serve as +a sideboard, and carried relays of plates and the materials for salad: +the other, which was almost entirely concealed, had been set apart for +the diners, and Francis could catch glimpses of white cloth and silver +plate. + +Mr. Rolles arrived, punctual to the minute; he looked like a man upon +his guard, and spoke low and sparingly. The Dictator, on the other hand, +appeared to enjoy an unusual flow of spirits; his laugh, which was +youthful and pleasant to hear, sounded frequently from the garden; by +the modulation and the changes of his voice it was obvious that he told +many droll stories and imitated the accents of a variety of different +nations; and before he and the young clergyman had finished their +vermouth all feeling of distrust was at an end, and they were talking +together like a pair of school companions. + +At length Miss Vandeleur made her appearance, carrying the soup-tureen. +Mr. Rolles ran to offer her assistance, which she laughingly refused; +and there was an interchange of pleasantries among the trio which seemed +to have reference to this primitive manner of waiting by one of the +company. + +"One is more at one's ease," Mr. Vandeleur was heard to declare. + +Next moment they were all three in their places, and Francis could see +as little as he could hear of what passed. But the dinner seemed to go +merrily; there was a perpetual babble of voices and sound of knives and +forks below the chestnut; and Francis, who had no more than a roll to +gnaw, was affected with envy by the comfort and deliberation of the +meal. The party lingered over one dish after another, and then over a +delicate dessert, with a bottle of cold wine, carefully uncorked by the +hand of the Dictator himself. As it began to grow dark a lamp was set +upon the table and a couple of candles on the sideboard; for the night +was perfectly pure, starry, and windless. Light overflowed besides from +the door and window in the verandah, so that the garden was fairly +illuminated and the leaves twinkled in the darkness. + +For perhaps the tenth time Miss Vandeleur entered the house; and on +this occasion she returned with the coffee-tray, which she placed upon +the sideboard. At the same moment her father rose from his seat. + +"The coffee is my province," Francis heard him say. + +And the next moment he saw his supposed father standing by the sideboard +in the light of the candles. + +Talking over his shoulder all the while, Mr. Vandeleur poured out two +cups of the brown stimulant, and then, by a rapid act of +prestidigitation, emptied the contents of a tiny phial into the smaller +of the two. The thing was so swiftly done that even Francis, who looked +straight into his face, had hardly time to perceive the movement before +it was completed. And next instant, and still laughing, Mr. Vandeleur +had turned again towards the table with a cup in either hand. + +"Ere we have done with this," said he, "we may expect our famous +Hebrew." + +It would be impossible to depict the confusion and distress of Francis +Scrymgeour. He saw foul play going forward before his eyes, and he felt +bound to interfere, but knew not how. It might be a mere pleasantry, and +then how should he look if he were to offer an unnecessary warning? Or +again, if it were serious, the criminal might be his own father, and +then how should he not lament if he were to bring ruin on the author of +his days? For the first time he became conscious of his own position as +a spy. To wait inactive at such a juncture and with such a conflict of +sentiments in his bosom was to suffer the most acute torture; he clung +to the bars of the shutters, his heart beat fast and with irregularity, +and he felt a strong sweat break forth upon his body. + +Several minutes passed. + +He seemed to perceive the conversation die away and grow less and less +in vivacity and volume; but still no sign of any alarming or even +notable event. + +Suddenly the ring of a glass breaking was followed by a faint and dull +sound, as of a person who should have fallen forward with his head upon +the table. At the same moment a piercing scream rose from the garden. + +"What have you done?" cried Miss Vandeleur. "He is dead!" + +The Dictator replied in a violent whisper, so strong and sibilant that +every word was audible to the watcher at the window. + +"Silence!" said Mr. Vandeleur; "the man is as well as I am. Take him by +the heels whilst I carry him by the shoulders." + +Francis heard Miss Vandeleur break forth into a passion of tears. + +"Do you hear what I say?" resumed the Dictator, in the same tones. "Or +do you wish to quarrel with me? I give you your choice, Miss Vandeleur." + +There was another pause, and the Dictator spoke again. + +"Take that man by the heels," he said. "I must have him brought into the +house. If I were a little younger, I could help myself against the +world. But now that years and dangers are upon me, and my hands are +weakened, I must turn to you for aid." + +"It is a crime," replied the girl. + +"I am your father," said Mr. Vandeleur. + +This appeal seemed to produce its effect. A scuffling noise followed +upon the gravel, a chair was overset, and then Francis saw the father +and daughter stagger across the walk and disappear under the verandah, +bearing the inanimate body of Mr. Rolles embraced about the knees and +shoulders. The young clergyman was limp and pallid, and his head rolled +upon his shoulders at every step. + +Was he alive or dead? Francis, in spite of the Dictator's declaration, +inclined to the latter view. A great crime had been committed; a great +calamity had fallen upon the inhabitants of the house with the green +blinds. To his surprise, Francis found all horror for the deed swallowed +up in sorrow for a girl and an old man whom he judged to be in the +height of peril. A tide of generous feeling swept into his heart; he, +too, would help his father against man and mankind, against fate and +justice; and casting open the shutters he closed his eyes and threw +himself with outstretched arms into the foliage of the chestnut. + +Branch after branch slipped from his grasp or broke under his weight; +then he caught a stalwart bough under his armpit, and hung suspended for +a second; and then he let himself drop and fell heavily against the +table. A cry of alarm from the house warned him that his entrance had +not been effected unobserved. He recovered himself with a stagger, and +in three bounds crossed the intervening space and stood before the door +in the verandah. + +In a small apartment, carpeted with matting and surrounded by glazed +cabinets full of rare and costly curios, Mr. Vandeleur was stooping over +the body of Mr. Rolles. He raised himself as Francis entered, and there +was an instantaneous passage of hands. It was the business of a second; +as fast as an eye can wink the thing was done; the young man had not the +time to be sure, but it seemed to him as if the Dictator had taken +something from the curate's breast, looked at it for the least fraction +of time as it lay in his hand, and then suddenly and swiftly passed it +to his daughter. + +All this was over while Francis had still one foot upon the threshold, +and the other raised in air. The next instant he was on his knees to Mr. +Vandeleur. + +"Father!" he cried. "Let me too help you. I will do what you wish and +ask no questions; I will obey you with my life; treat me as a son, and +you will find I have a son's devotion." + +A deplorable explosion of oaths was the Dictator's first reply. + +"Son and father?" he cried. "Father and son? What d----d unnatural +comedy is all this? How do you come in my garden? What do you want? And +who, in God's name, are you?" + +Francis, with a stunned and shamefaced aspect, got upon his feet again, +and stood in silence. + +Then a light seemed to break upon Mr. Vandeleur, and he laughed aloud. + +"I see," cried he. "It is the Scrymgeour. Very well, Mr. Scrymgeour. Let +me tell you in a few words how you stand. You have entered my private +residence by force, or perhaps by fraud, but certainly with no +encouragement from me; and you come at a moment of some annoyance, a +guest having fainted at my table, to besiege me with your protestations. +You are no son of mine. You are my brother's bastard by a fishwife, if +you want to know. I regard you with an indifference closely bordering on +aversion; and from what I now see of your conduct, I judge your mind to +be exactly suitable to your exterior. I recommend you these mortifying +reflections for your leisure; and, in the meantime, let me beseech you +to rid us of your presence. If I were not occupied," added the Dictator, +with a terrifying oath, "I should give you the unholiest drubbing ere +you went!" + +Francis listened in profound humiliation. He would have fled had it been +possible; but as he had no means of leaving the residence into which he +had so unfortunately penetrated, he could do no more than stand +foolishly where he was. + +It was Miss Vandeleur who broke the silence. + +"Father," she said, "you speak in anger. Mr. Scrymgeour may have been +mistaken, but he meant well and kindly." + +"Thank you for speaking," returned the Dictator. "You remind me of some +other observations which I hold it a point of honour to make to Mr. +Scrymgeour. My brother," he continued, addressing the young man, "has +been foolish enough to give you an allowance; he was foolish enough and +presumptuous enough to propose a match between you and this young lady. +You were exhibited to her two nights ago; and I rejoice to tell you that +she rejected the idea with disgust. Let me add that I have considerable +influence with your father; and it shall not be my fault if you are not +beggared of your allowance and sent back to your scrivening ere the week +be out." + +The tones of the old man's voice were, if possible, more wounding than +his language; Francis felt himself exposed to the most cruel, blighting, +and unbearable contempt; his head turned, and he covered his face with +his hands, uttering at the same time a tearless sob of agony. But Miss +Vandeleur once again interfered in his behalf. + +"Mr Scrymgeour," she said, speaking in clear and even tones, "you must +not be concerned at my father's harsh expressions. I felt no disgust for +you; on the contrary, I asked an opportunity to make your better +acquaintance. As for what has passed to-night, believe me it has filled +my mind with both pity and esteem." + +Just then Mr. Rolles made a convulsive movement with his arm, which +convinced Francis that he was only drugged, and was beginning to throw +off the influence of the opiate. Mr. Vandeleur stooped over him and +examined his face for an instant. + +"Come, come!" cried he, raising his head. "Let there be an end of this. +And since you are so pleased with his conduct, Miss Vandeleur, take a +candle and show the bastard out." + +The young lady hastened to obey. + +"Thank you," said Francis, as soon as he was alone with her in the +garden. "I thank you from my soul. This has been the bitterest evening +of my life, but it will have always one pleasant recollection." + +"I spoke as I felt," she replied, "and in justice to you. It made my +heart sorry that you should be so unkindly used." + +By this time they had reached the garden gate; and Miss Vandeleur, +having set the candle on the ground, was already unfastening the bolts. + +"One word more," said Francis. "This is not for the last time--I shall +see you again, shall I not?" + +"Alas!" she answered. "You have heard my father. What can I do but +obey?" + +"Tell me at least that it is not with your consent," returned Francis; +"tell me that you have no wish to see the last of me." + +"Indeed," replied she, "I have none. You seem to me both brave and +honest." + +"Then," said Francis, "give me a keepsake." + +She paused for a moment, with her hand upon the key; for the various +bars and bolts were all undone, and there was nothing left but to open +the lock. + +"If I agree," she said, "will you promise to do as I tell you from point +to point?" + +"Can you ask?" replied Francis. "I would do so willingly on your bare +word." + +She turned the key and threw open the door. + +"Be it so," said she. "You do not know what you ask, but be it so. +Whatever you hear," she continued, "whatever happens, do not return to +this house; hurry fast until you reach the lighted and populous quarters +of the city; even there be upon your guard. You are in a greater danger +than you fancy. Promise me you will not so much as look at my keepsake +until you are in a place of safety." + +"I promise," replied Francis. + +She put something loosely wrapped in a handkerchief into the young man's +hand; and at the same time, with more strength than he could have +anticipated, she pushed him into the street. + +"Now, run!" she cried. + +He heard the door close behind him, and the noise of the bolts being +replaced. + +"My faith," said he, "since I have promised!" + +And he took to his heels down the lane that leads into the Rue Ravignan. + +He was not fifty paces from the house with the green blinds when the +most diabolical outcry suddenly arose out of the stillness of the night. +Mechanically he stood still; another passenger followed his example; in +the neighbouring floors he saw people crowding to the windows; a +conflagration could not have produced more disturbance in this empty +quarter. And yet it seemed to be all the work of a single man, roaring +between grief and rage, like a lioness robbed of her whelps; and Francis +was surprised and alarmed to hear his own name shouted with English +imprecations to the wind. + +His first movement was to return to the house; his second, as he +remembered Miss Vandeleur's advice, to continue his flight with greater +expedition than before; and he was in the act of turning to put his +thought in action, when the Dictator, bare-headed, bawling aloud, his +white hair blowing about his head, shot past him like a ball out of the +cannon's mouth, and went careering down the street. + +"That was a close shave," thought Francis to himself. "What he wants +with me, and why he should be so disturbed, I cannot think; but he is +plainly not good company for the moment, and I cannot do better than +follow Miss Vandeleur's advice." + +So saying, he turned to retrace his steps, thinking to double and +descend by the Rue Lepic itself while his pursuer should continue to +follow after him on the other line of street. The plan was ill-devised: +as a matter of fact, he should have taken his seat in the nearest cafe, +and waited there until the first heat of the pursuit was over. But +besides that Francis had no experience and little natural aptitude for +the small war of private life, he was so unconscious of any evil on his +part, that he saw nothing to fear beyond a disagreeable interview. And +to disagreeable interviews he felt he had already served his +apprenticeship that evening; nor could he suppose that Miss Vandeleur +had left anything unsaid. Indeed, the young man was sore both in body +and mind--the one was all bruised, the other was full of smarting +arrows; and he owned to himself that Mr. Vandeleur was master of a very +deadly tongue. + +The thought of his bruises reminded him that he had not only come +without a hat, but that his clothes had considerably suffered in his +descent through the chestnut. At the first magazine he purchased a cheap +wideawake, and had the disorder of his toilet summarily repaired. The +keepsake, still rolled in the handkerchief, he thrust in the meantime +into his trousers pocket. + +Not many steps beyond the shop he was conscious of a sudden shock, a +hand upon his throat, an infuriated face close to his own, and an open +mouth bawling curses in his ear. The Dictator, having found no trace of +his quarry, was returning by the other way. Francis was a stalwart young +fellow; but he was no match for his adversary, whether in strength or +skill; and after a few ineffectual struggles he resigned himself +entirely to his captor. + +"What do you want with me?" said he. + +"We will talk of that at home," returned the Dictator grimly. + +And he continued to march the young man up hill in the direction of the +house with the green blinds. + +But Francis, although he no longer struggled, was only waiting an +opportunity to make a bold push for freedom. With a sudden jerk he left +the collar of his coat in the hands of Mr. Vandeleur, and once more made +off at his best speed in the direction of the Boulevards. + +The tables were now turned. If the Dictator was the stronger, Francis, +in the top of his youth, was the more fleet of foot, and he had soon +effected his escape among the crowds. Relieved for a moment, but with a +growing sentiment of alarm and wonder in his mind, he walked briskly +until he debouched upon the Place de l'Opera lit up like day with +electric lamps. + +"This, at least," thought he, "should satisfy Miss Vandeleur." + +And turning to his right along the Boulevards, he entered the Cafe +Americain and ordered some beer. It was both late and early for the +majority of the frequenters of the establishment. Only two or three +persons, all men, were dotted here and there at separate tables in the +hall; and Francis was too much occupied by his own thoughts to observe +their presence. + +He drew the handkerchief from his pocket. The object wrapped in it +proved to be a morocco case, clasped and ornamented in gilt, which +opened by means of a spring, and disclosed to the horrified young man a +diamond of monstrous bigness and extraordinary brilliancy. The +circumstance was so inexplicable, the value of the stone was plainly so +enormous, that Francis sat staring into the open casket without +movement, without conscious thought, like a man stricken suddenly with +idiocy. + +A hand was laid upon his shoulder, lightly but firmly, and a quiet +voice, which yet had in it the ring of command, uttered these words in +his ear-- + +"Close the casket, and compose your face." + +Looking up, he beheld a man, still young, of an urbane and tranquil +presence, and dressed with rich simplicity. This personage had risen +from a neighbouring table, and, bringing his glass with him, had taken a +seat beside Francis. + +"Close the casket," repeated the stranger, "and put it quietly back into +your pocket, where I feel persuaded it should never have been. Try, if +you please, to throw off your bewildered air, and act as though I were +one of your acquaintances whom you had met by chance. So! Touch glasses +with me. That is better. I fear, sir, you must be an amateur." + +And the stranger pronounced these last words with a smile of peculiar +meaning, leaned back in his seat and enjoyed a deep inhalation of +tobacco. + +"For God's sake," said Francis, "tell me who you are and what this +means! Why I should obey your most unusual suggestions I am sure I know +not; but the truth is, I have fallen this evening into so many +perplexing adventures, and all I meet conduct themselves so strangely, +that I think I must either have gone mad or wandered into another +planet. Your face inspires me with confidence; you seem wise, good, and +experienced; tell me, for heaven's sake, why you accost me in so odd a +fashion." + +"All in due time," replied the stranger. "But I have the first hand, and +you must begin by telling me how the Rajah's Diamond is in your +possession." + +"The Rajah's Diamond!" echoed Francis. + +"I would not speak so loud, if I were you," returned the other. "But +most certainly you have the Rajah's Diamond in your pocket. I have seen +and handled it a score of times in Sir Thomas Vandeleur's collection." + +"Sir Thomas Vandeleur! The General! My father!" cried Francis. + +"Your father?" repeated the stranger. "I was not aware the General had +any family." + +"I am illegitimate, sir," replied Francis, with a flush. + +The other bowed with gravity. It was a respectful bow, as of a man +silently apologising to his equal; and Francis felt relieved and +comforted, he scarce knew why. The society of this person did him good; +he seemed to touch firm ground; a strong feeling of respect grew up in +his bosom, and mechanically he removed his wideawake as though in the +presence of a superior. + +"I perceive," said the stranger, "that your adventures have not at all +been peaceful. Your collar is torn, your face is scratched, you have a +cut upon your temple; you will, perhaps, pardon my curiosity when I ask +you to explain how you come by these injuries, and how you happen to +have stolen property to an enormous value in your pocket." + +"I must differ from you!" returned Francis hotly. "I possess no stolen +property. And if you refer to the diamond, it was given to me not an +hour ago by Miss Vandeleur in the Rue Lepic." + +"By Miss Vandeleur in the Rue Lepic!" repeated the other. "You interest +me more than you suppose. Pray continue." + +"Heavens!" cried Francis. + +His memory had made a sudden bound. He had seen Mr. Vandeleur take an +article from the breast of his drugged visitor, and that article, he was +now persuaded, was a morocco case. + +"You have a light?" inquired the stranger. + +"Listen," replied Francis. "I know not who you are, but I believe you to +be worthy of confidence and helpful; I find myself in strange waters; I +must have counsel and support, and since you invite me I shall tell you +all." + +And he briefly recounted his experience since the day when he was +summoned from the bank by his lawyer. + +"Yours is indeed a remarkable history," said the stranger, after the +young man had made an end of his narrative; "and your position is full +of difficulty and peril. Many would counsel you to seek out your father, +and give the diamond to him; but I have other views.--Waiter!" he cried. + +The waiter drew near. + +"Will you ask the manager to speak with me a moment?" said he; and +Francis observed once more, both in his tone and manner, the evidence of +a habit of command. + +The waiter withdrew, and returned in a moment with the manager, who +bowed with obsequious respect. + +"What," said he, "can I do to serve you?" + +"Have the goodness," replied the stranger, indicating Francis, "to tell +this gentleman my name." + +"You have the honour, sir," said the functionary, addressing young +Scrymgeour, "to occupy the same table with His Highness Prince Florizel +of Bohemia." + +Francis rose with precipitation, and made a grateful reverence to the +Prince, who bade him resume his seat. + +"I thank you," said Florizel, once more addressing the functionary; "I +am sorry to have deranged you for so small a matter." + +And he dismissed him with a movement of his hand. + +"And now," added the Prince, turning to Francis, "give me the diamond." + +Without a word the casket was handed over. + +"You have done right," said Florizel; "your sentiments have properly +inspired you, and you will live to be grateful for the misfortunes of +to-night. A man, Mr. Scrymgeour, may fall into a thousand perplexities, +but if his heart be upright and his intelligence unclouded, he will +issue from them all without dishonour. Let your mind be at rest; your +affairs are in my hand; and with the aid of Heaven I am strong enough to +bring them to a good end. Follow me, if you please, to my carriage." + +So saying the Prince arose, and, having left a piece of gold for the +waiter, conducted the young man from the cafe and along the Boulevard to +where an unpretentious brougham and a couple of servants out of livery +awaited his arrival. + +"This carriage," said he, "is at your disposal; collect your baggage as +rapidly as you can make it convenient, and my servants will conduct you +to a villa in the neighbourhood of Paris where you can wait in some +degree of comfort until I have had time to arrange your situation. You +will find there a pleasant garden, a library of good authors, a cook, a +cellar, and some good cigars, which I recommend to your attention. +Jerome," he added, turning to one of the servants, "you have heard what +I say; I leave Mr. Scrymgeour in your charge; you will, I know, be +careful of my friend." + +Francis uttered some broken phrases of gratitude. + +"It will be time enough to thank me," said the Prince, "when you are +acknowledged by your father and married to Miss Vandeleur." + +And with that the Prince turned away and strolled leisurely in the +direction of Montmartre. He hailed the first passing cab, gave an +address, and a quarter of an hour afterwards, having discharged the +driver some distance lower, he was knocking at Mr. Vandeleur's garden +gate. + +It was opened with singular precautions by the Dictator in person. + +"Who are you?" he demanded. + +"You must pardon me this late visit, Mr. Vandeleur," replied the Prince. + +"Your Highness is always welcome," returned Mr. Vandeleur, stepping +back. + +The Prince profited by the open space, and without waiting for his host +walked right into the house and opened the door of the _salon_. Two +people were seated there; one was Miss Vandeleur, who bore the marks of +weeping about her eyes, and was still shaken from time to time by a sob; +in the other the Prince recognised the young man who had consulted him +on literary matters about a month before, in a club smoking-room. + +"Good-evening, Miss Vandeleur," said Florizel; "you look fatigued. Mr. +Rolles, I believe? I hope you have profited by the study of Gaboriau, +Mr. Rolles." + +But the young clergyman's temper was too much embittered for speech; and +he contented himself with bowing stiffly, and continued to gnaw his lip. + +"To what good wind," said Mr. Vandeleur, following his guest, "am I to +attribute the honour of your Highness's presence?" + +"I am come on business," returned the Prince; "on business with you; as +soon as that is settled I shall request Mr. Rolles to accompany me for a +walk.--Mr. Rolles," he added, with severity, "let me remind you that I +have not yet sat down." + +The clergyman sprang to his feet with an apology; whereupon the Prince +took an arm-chair beside the table, handed his hat to Mr. Vandeleur, his +cane to Mr. Rolles, and, leaving them standing and thus menially +employed upon his service, spoke as follows:-- + +"I have come here, as I said, upon business; but, had I come looking for +pleasure, I could not have been more displeased with my reception nor +more dissatisfied with my company. You, sir," addressing Mr. Rolles, +"you have treated your superior in station with discourtesy; you, +Vandeleur, receive me with a smile, but you know right well that your +hands are not yet cleansed from misconduct.--I do not desire to be +interrupted, sir," he added imperiously; "I am here to speak, and not to +listen; and I have to ask you to hear me with respect, and to obey +punctiliously. At the earliest possible date your daughter shall be +married at the Embassy to my friend, Francis Scrymgeour, your brother's +acknowledged son. You will oblige me by offering not less than ten +thousand pounds dowry. For yourself, I will indicate to you in writing a +mission of some importance in Siam which I destine to your care. And +now, sir, you will answer me in two words whether or not you agree to +these conditions." + +"Your Highness will pardon me," said Mr. Vandeleur, "and permit me, with +all respect, to submit to him two queries?" + +"The permission is granted," replied the Prince. + +"Your Highness," resumed the Dictator, "has called Mr. Scrymgeour his +friend. Believe me, had I known he was thus honoured, I should have +treated him with proportional respect." + +"You interrogate adroitly," said the Prince; "but it will not serve your +turn. You have my commands; if I had never seen that gentleman before +to-night, it would not render them less absolute." + +"Your Highness interprets my meaning with his usual subtlety," returned +Vandeleur. "Once more: I have, unfortunately, put the police upon the +track of Mr. Scrymgeour on a charge of theft; am I to withdraw or to +uphold the accusation?" + +"You will please yourself," replied Florizel. "The question is one +between your conscience and the laws of this land. Give me my hat; and +you, Mr. Rolles, give me my cane and follow me. Miss Vandeleur, I wish +you good-evening. I judge," he added to Vandeleur, "that your silence +means unqualified assent." + +"If I can do no better," replied the old man, "I shall submit; but I +warn you openly it shall not be without a struggle." + +"You are old," said the Prince; "but years are disgraceful to the +wicked. Your age is more unwise than the youth of others. Do not provoke +me, or you may find me harder than you dream. This is the first time +that I have fallen across your path in anger; take care that it be the +last." + +With these words, motioning the clergyman to follow, Florizel left the +apartment and directed his steps towards the garden gate; and the +Dictator, following with a candle, gave them light, and once more undid +the elaborate fastenings with which he sought to protect himself from +intrusion. + +"Your daughter is no longer present," said the Prince, turning on the +threshold. "Let me tell you that I understand your threats; and you have +only to lift your hand to bring upon yourself sudden and irremediable +ruin." + +The Dictator made no reply; but as the Prince turned his back upon him +in the lamplight he made a gesture full of menace and insane fury; and +the next moment, slipping round a corner, he was running at full speed +for the nearest cab-stand. + + +_Here_ (says my Arabian) _the thread of events is finally diverted from_ +THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN BLINDS. _One more adventure, he adds, and we +have done with_ THE RAJAH'S DIAMOND. _That last link in the chain is +known among the inhabitants of Bagdad by the name of_ + + +THE ADVENTURE OF PRINCE FLORIZEL AND A DETECTIVE + +Prince Florizel walked with Mr. Rolles to the door of a small hotel +where the latter resided. They spoke much together, and the clergyman +was more than once affected to tears by the mingled severity and +tenderness of Florizel's reproaches. + +"I have made ruin of my life," he said at last. "Help me; tell me what I +am to do; I have, alas! neither the virtues of a priest nor the +dexterity of a rogue." + +"Now that you are humbled," said the Prince, "I command no longer; the +repentant have to do with God, and not with Princes. But if you will let +me advise you, go to Australia as a colonist, seek menial labour in the +open air, and try to forget that you have ever been a clergyman, or that +you ever set eyes on that accursed stone." + +"Accurst indeed!" replied Mr. Rolles. "Where is it now? What further +hurt is it not working for mankind?" + +"It will do no more evil," returned the Prince. "It is here in my +pocket. And this," he added kindly, "will show that I place some faith +in your penitence, young as it is." + +"Suffer me to touch your hand," pleaded Mr. Rolles. + +"No," replied Prince Florizel, "not yet." + +The tone in which he uttered these last words was eloquent in the ears +of the young clergyman; and for some minutes after the Prince had turned +away he stood on the threshold following with his eyes the retreating +figure and invoking the blessing of Heaven upon a man so excellent in +counsel. + +For several hours the Prince walked alone in unfrequented streets. His +mind was full of concern; what to do with the diamond, whether to return +it to its owner, whom he judged unworthy of this rare possession, or to +take some sweeping and courageous measure and put it out of the reach of +all mankind at once and for ever, was a problem too grave to be decided +in a moment. The manner in which it had come into his hands appeared +manifestly providential; and as he took out the jewel and looked at it +under the street lamps, its size and surprising brilliancy inclined him +more and more to think of it as of an unmixed and dangerous evil for the +world. + +"God help me!" he thought; "if I look at it much oftener I shall begin +to grow covetous myself." + +At last, though still uncertain in his mind, he turned his steps towards +the small but elegant mansion on the river-side which had belonged for +centuries to his royal family. The arms of Bohemia are deeply graved +over the door and upon the tall chimneys; passengers have a look into a +green court set with the most costly flowers; and a stork, the only one +in Paris, perches on the gable all day long and keeps a crowd before the +house. Grave servants are seen passing to and fro within; and from time +to time the great gate is thrown open and a carriage rolls below the +arch. For many reasons this residence was especially dear to the heart +of Prince Florizel; he never drew near to it without enjoying that +sentiment of home-coming so rare in the lives of the great; and on the +present evening he beheld its tall roof and mildly illuminated windows +with unfeigned relief and satisfaction. + +As he was approaching the postern door by which he always entered when +alone, a man stepped forth from the shadow and presented himself with an +obeisance in the Prince's path. + +"I have the honour of addressing Prince Florizel of Bohemia?" said he. + +"Such is my title," replied the Prince. "What do you want with me?" + +"I am," said the man, "a detective, and I have to present your Highness +with this billet from the Prefect of Police." + +The Prince took the letter and glanced it through by the light of the +street lamp. It was highly apologetic, but requested him to follow the +bearer to the Prefecture without delay. + +"In short," said Florizel, "I am arrested." + +"Your Highness," replied the officer, "nothing, I am certain, could be +further from the intention of the Prefect. You will observe that he has +not granted a warrant. It is mere formality, or call it, if you prefer, +an obligation that your Highness lays on the authorities." + +"At the same time," asked the Prince, "if I were to refuse to follow +you?" + +"I will not conceal from your Highness that a considerable discretion +has been granted me," replied the detective, with a bow. + +"Upon my word," cried Florizel, "your effrontery astounds me! Yourself, +as an agent, I must pardon; but your superiors shall dearly smart for +their misconduct. What, have you any idea, is the cause of this +impolitic and unconstitutional act? You will observe that I have as yet +neither refused nor consented, and much may depend on your prompt and +ingenuous answer. Let me remind you, officer, that this is an affair of +some gravity." + +"Your Highness," said the detective humbly, "General Vandeleur and his +brother have had the incredible presumption to accuse you of theft. The +famous diamond, they declare, is in your hands. A word from you in +denial will most amply satisfy the Prefect; nay, I go further: if your +Highness would so far honour a subaltern as to declare his ignorance of +the matter even to myself, I should ask permission to retire upon the +spot." + +Florizel, up to the last moment, had regarded his adventure in the light +of a trifle, only serious upon international considerations. At the name +of Vandeleur the horrible truth broke upon him in a moment; he was not +only arrested, but he was guilty. This was not only an annoying +incident--it was a peril to his honour. What was he to say? What was he +to do? The Rajah's Diamond was indeed an accursed stone; and it seemed +as if he were to be the last victim to its influence. + +One thing was certain. He could not give the required assurance to the +detective. He must gain time. + +His hesitation had not lasted a second. + +"Be it so," said he, "let us walk together to the Prefecture." + +The man once more bowed, and proceeded to follow Florizel at a +respectful distance in the rear. + +"Approach," said the Prince. "I am in a humour to talk, and, if I +mistake not, now I look at you again, this is not the first time that we +have met." + +"I count it an honour," replied the officer, "that your Highness should +recollect my face. It is eight years since I had the pleasure of an +interview." + +"To remember faces," returned Florizel, "is as much a part of my +profession as it is of yours. Indeed, rightly looked upon, a Prince and +a detective serve in the same corps. We are both combatants against +crime; only mine is the more lucrative and yours the more dangerous +rank, and there is a sense in which both may be made equally honourable +to a good man. I had rather, strange as you may think it, be a detective +of character and parts than a weak and ignoble sovereign." + +The officer was overwhelmed. + +"Your Highness returns good for evil," said he. "To an act of +presumption he replies by the most amiable condescension." + +"How do you know," replied Florizel, "that I am not seeking to corrupt +you?" + +"Heaven preserve me from the temptation!" cried the detective. + +"I applaud your answer," returned the Prince. "It is that of a wise and +honest man. The world is a great place, and stocked with wealth and +beauty, and there is no limit to the rewards that may be offered. Such +an one who would refuse a million of money may sell his honour for an +empire or the love of a woman; and I myself, who speak to you, have seen +occasions so tempting, provocations so irresistible to the strength of +human virtue, that I have been glad to tread in your steps and recommend +myself to the grace of God. It is thus, thanks to that modest and +becoming habit alone," he added, "that you and I can walk this town +together with untarnished hearts." + +"I had always heard that you were brave," replied the officer, "but I +was not aware that you were wise and pious. You speak the truth, and +you speak it with an accent that moves me to the heart. This world is +indeed a place of trial." + +"We are now," said Florizel, "in the middle of the bridge. Lean your +elbows on the parapet and look over. As the water rushing below, so the +passions and complications of life carry away the honesty of weak men. +Let me tell you a story." + +"I receive your Highness's commands," replied the man. + +And, imitating the Prince, he leaned against the parapet, and disposed +himself to listen. The city was already sunk in slumber; had it not been +for the infinity of lights and the outline of buildings on the starry +sky, they might have been alone beside some country river. + +"An officer," began Prince Florizel, "a man of courage and conduct, who +had already risen by merit to an eminent rank, and won not only +admiration but respect, visited, in an unfortunate hour for his peace of +mind, the collections of an Indian Prince. Here he beheld a diamond so +extraordinary for size and beauty that from that instant he had only one +desire in life: honour, reputation, friendship, the love of country--he +was ready to sacrifice all for this lump of sparkling crystal. For three +years he served this semi-barbarian potentate as Jacob served Laban; he +falsified frontiers, he connived at murders, he unjustly condemned and +executed a brother-officer who had the misfortune to displease the Rajah +by some honest freedoms; lastly, at a time of great danger to his native +land, he betrayed a body of his fellow-soldiers, and suffered them to be +defeated and massacred by thousands. In the end he had amassed a +magnificent fortune, and brought home with him the coveted diamond. + +"Years passed," continued the Prince, "and at length the diamond is +accidentally lost. It falls into the hands of a simple and laborious +youth, a student, a minister of God, just entering on a career of +usefulness and even distinction. Upon him also the spell is cast; he +deserts everything, his holy calling, his studies, and flees with the +gem into a foreign country. The officer has a brother, an astute, +daring, unscrupulous man, who learns the clergyman's secret. What does +he do? Tell his brother, inform the police? No; upon this man also the +Satanic charm has fallen; he must have the stone for himself. At the +risk of murder, he drugs the young priest and seizes the prey. And now, +by an accident which is not important to my moral, the jewel passes out +of his custody into that of another, who, terrified at what he sees, +gives it into the keeping of a man in high station and above reproach. + +"The officer's name is Thomas Vandeleur," continued Florizel. "The stone +is called the Rajah's Diamond. And"--suddenly opening his hand--"you +behold it here before your eyes." + +The officer started back with a cry. + +"We have spoken of corruption," said the Prince. "To me this nugget of +bright crystal is as loathsome as though it were crawling with the worms +of death; it is as shocking as though it were compacted out of innocent +blood. I see it here in my hand, and I know it is shining with +hell-fire. I have told you but a hundredth part of its story; what +passed in former ages, to what crimes and treacheries it incited men of +yore, the imagination trembles to conceive; for years and years it has +faithfully served the powers of hell; enough, I say, of blood, enough of +disgrace, enough of broken lives and friendships; all things come to an +end, the evil like the good; pestilence as well as beautiful music; and +as for this diamond, God forgive me if I do wrong, but its empire ends +to-night." + +The Prince made a sudden movement with his hand, and the jewel, +describing an arc of light, dived with a splash into the flowing river. + +"Amen," said Florizel, with gravity. "I have slain a cockatrice!" + +"God pardon me!" cried the detective. "What have you done? I am a ruined +man." + +"I think," returned the Prince, with a smile, "that many well-to-do +people in this city might envy you your ruin." + +"Alas! your Highness!" said the officer, "and you corrupt me after all?" + +"It seems there was no help for it," replied Florizel.--"And now let us +go forward to the Prefecture." + + +Not long after, the marriage of Francis Scrymgeour and Miss Vandeleur +was celebrated in great privacy; and the Prince acted on that occasion +as groom's man. The two Vandeleurs surprised some rumour of what had +happened to the diamond; and their vast diving operations on the River +Seine are the wonder and amusement of the idle. It is true that through +some miscalculation they have chosen the wrong branch of the river. As +for the Prince, that sublime person, having now served his turn, may go, +along with the _Arabian Author_, topsy-turvy into space. But if the +reader insists on more specific information, I am happy to say that a +recent revolution hurled him from the throne of Bohemia, in consequence +of his continued absence and edifying neglect of public business; and +that his Highness now keeps a cigar store in Rupert Street, much +frequented by other foreign refugees. I go there from time to time to +smoke and have a chat, and find him as great a creature as in the days +of his prosperity; he has an Olympian air behind the counter; and +although a sedentary life is beginning to tell upon his waistcoat, he is +probably, take him for all in all, the handsomest tobacconist in London. + + + + +THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TELLS HOW I CAMPED IN GRADEN SEA-WOOD, AND BEHELD A LIGHT IN THE +PAVILION + + +I was a great solitary when I was young. I made it my pride to keep +aloof and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say that I had +neither friends nor acquaintances until I met that friend who became my +wife and the mother of my children. With one man only was I on private +terms: this was R. Northmour, Esquire, of Graden-Easter, in Scotland. We +had met at college; and though there was not much liking between us, nor +even much intimacy, we were so nearly of a humour that we could +associate with ease to both. Misanthropes we believed ourselves to be; +but I have thought since that we were only sulky fellows. It was +scarcely a companionship, but a co-existence in unsociability. +Northmour's exceptional violence of temper made it no easy affair for +him to keep the peace with any one but me; and as he respected my silent +ways, and let me come and go as I pleased, I could tolerate his presence +without concern. I think we called each other friends. + +When Northmour took his degree and I decided to leave the University +without one, he invited me on a long visit to Graden-Easter; and it was +thus that I first became acquainted with the scene of my adventures. The +mansion-house of Graden stood in a bleak stretch of country some three +miles from the shore of the German Ocean. It was as large as a barrack; +and as it had been built of a soft stone, liable to consume in the eager +air of the seaside, it was damp and draughty within and half-ruinous +without. It was impossible for two young men to lodge with comfort in +such a dwelling. But there stood in the northern part of the estate, in +a wilderness of links and blowing sand-hills, and between a plantation +and the sea, a small Pavilion or Belvidere, of modern design, which was +exactly suited to our wants; and in this hermitage, speaking little, +reading much, and rarely associating except at meals, Northmour and I +spent four tempestuous winter months. I might have stayed longer; but +one March night there sprang up between us a dispute, which rendered my +departure necessary. Northmour spoke hotly, I remember, and I suppose I +must have made some tart rejoinder. He leaped from his chair and +grappled me; I had to fight, without exaggeration, for my life; and it +was only with a great effort that I mastered him, for he was near as +strong in body as myself, and seemed filled with the devil. The next +morning we met on our usual terms; but I judged it more delicate to +withdraw; nor did he attempt to dissuade me. + +It was nine years before I revisited the neighbourhood. I travelled at +that time with a tilt-cart, a tent, and a cooking-stove, tramping all +day beside the waggon, and at night, whenever it was possible, gipsying +in a cove of the hills, or by the side of a wood. I believe I visited in +this manner most of the wild and desolate regions both in England and +Scotland; and, as I had neither friends nor relations, I was troubled +with no correspondence, and had nothing in the nature of headquarters, +unless it was the office of my solicitors, from whom I drew my income +twice a year. It was a life in which I delighted; and I fully thought to +have grown old upon the march, and at last died in a ditch. + +It was my whole business to find desolate corners, where I could camp +without the fear of interruption; and hence, being in another part of +the same shire, I bethought me suddenly of the Pavilion on the Links. No +thoroughfare passed within three miles of it. The nearest town, and that +was but a fisher village, was at a distance of six or seven. For ten +miles of length, and from a depth varying from three miles to half a +mile, this belt of barren country lay along the sea. The beach, which +was the natural approach, was full of quicksands. Indeed, I may say +there is hardly a better place of concealment in the United Kingdom. I +determined to pass a week in the Sea-Wood of Graden-Easter, and making a +long stage, reached it about sundown on a wild September day. + +The country, I have said, was mixed sand-hill and links; _links_ being a +Scottish name for sand which has ceased drifting and become more or less +solidly covered with turf. The pavilion stood on an even space; a little +behind it, the wood began in a hedge of elders huddled together by the +wind; in front, a few tumbled sand-hills stood between it and the sea. +An outcropping of rock had formed a bastion for the sand, so that there +was here a promontory in the coast-line between two shallow bays; and +just beyond the tides, the rock again cropped out and formed an islet of +small dimensions but strikingly designed. The quicksands were of great +extent at low water, and had an infamous reputation in the country. +Close inshore, between the islet and the promontory, it was said they +would swallow a man in four minutes and a half; but there may have been +little ground for this precision. The district was alive with rabbits, +and haunted by gulls which made a continual piping about the pavilion. +On summer days the outlook was bright, and even gladsome; but at sundown +in September, with a high wind, and a heavy surf rolling in close along +the links, the place told of nothing but dead mariners and sea disaster. +A ship beating to windward on the horizon, and a huge truncheon of wreck +half-buried in the sands at my feet, completed the innuendo of the +scene. + +The pavilion--it had been built by the last proprietor, Northmour's +uncle, a silly and prodigal virtuoso--presented little signs of age. It +was two stories in height, Italian in design, surrounded by a patch of +garden in which nothing had prospered but a few coarse flowers, and +looked, with its shuttered windows, not like a house that had been +deserted, but like one that had never been tenanted by man. Northmour +was plainly from home; whether, as usual, sulking in the cabin of his +yacht, or in one of his fitful and extravagant appearances in the world +of society, I had, of course, no means of guessing. The place had an air +of solitude that daunted even a solitary like myself; the wind cried in +the chimneys with a strange and wailing note; and it was with a sense of +escape, as if I were going indoors, that I turned away and, driving my +cart before me, entered the skirts of the wood. + +The Sea-Wood of Graden had been planted to shelter the cultivated fields +behind, and check the encroachments of the blowing sand. As you advanced +into it from coastward, elders were succeeded by other hardy shrubs; but +the timber was all stunted and bushy; it led a life of conflict; the +trees were accustomed to swing there all night long in fierce winter +tempests; and even in early spring the leaves were already flying, and +autumn was beginning, in this exposed plantation. Inland the ground rose +into a little hill, which, along with the islet, served as a sailing +mark for seamen. When the hill was open of the islet to the north, +vessels must bear well to the eastward to clear Graden Ness and the +Graden Bullers. In the lower ground, a streamlet ran among the trees, +and, being dammed with dead leaves and clay of its own carrying, spread +out every here and there, and lay in stagnant pools. One or two ruined +cottages were dotted about the wood; and, according to Northmour, these +were ecclesiastical foundations, and in their time had sheltered pious +hermits. + +I found a den, or small hollow, where there was a spring of pure water; +and there, clearing away the brambles, I pitched the tent, and made a +fire to cook my supper. My horse I picketed farther in the wood where +there was a patch of sward. The banks of the den not only concealed the +light of my fire, but sheltered me from the wind, which was cold as well +as high. + +The life I was leading made me both hardy and frugal. I never drank but +water, and rarely ate anything more costly than oatmeal; and I required +so little sleep that, although I rose with the peep of day, I would +often lie long awake in the dark or starry watches of the night. Thus in +Graden Sea-Wood, although I fell thankfully asleep by eight in the +evening, I was awake again before eleven with a full possession of my +faculties, and no sense of drowsiness or fatigue. I rose and sat by the +fire, watching the trees and clouds tumultuously tossing and fleeing +overhead, and hearkening to the wind and the rollers along the shore; +till at length, growing weary of inaction, I quitted the den, and +strolled towards the borders of the wood. A young moon, buried in mist, +gave a faint illumination to my steps; and the light grew brighter as I +walked forth into the links. At the same moment, the wind, smelling salt +of the open ocean, and carrying particles of sand, struck me with its +full force, so that I had to bow my head. + +When I raised it again to look about me, I was aware of a light in the +pavilion. It was not stationary; but passed from one window to another +as though some one were reviewing the different apartments with a lamp +or candle. I watched it for some seconds in great surprise. When I had +arrived in the afternoon the house had been plainly deserted; now it was +as plainly occupied. It was my first idea that a gang of thieves might +have broken in and be now ransacking Northmour's cupboards, which were +many and not ill supplied. But what should bring thieves to +Graden-Easter? And, again, all the shutters had been thrown open, and it +would have been more in the character of such gentry to close them. I +dismissed the notion, and fell back upon another: Northmour himself must +have arrived, and was now airing and inspecting the pavilion. + +I have said that there was no real affection between this man and me; +but, had I loved him like a brother, I was then so much more in love +with solitude that I should none the less have shunned his company. As +it was, I turned and ran for it; and it was with genuine satisfaction +that I found myself safely back beside the fire. I had escaped an +acquaintance: I should have one more night in comfort. In the morning I +might either slip away before Northmour was abroad, or pay him as short +a visit as I chose. + +But when morning came I thought the situation so diverting that I forgot +my shyness. Northmour was at my mercy; I arranged a good practical jest, +though I knew well that my neighbour was not the man to jest with in +security; and, chuckling beforehand over its success, took my place +among the elders at the edge of the wood, whence I could command the +door of the pavilion. The shutters were all once more closed, which I +remember thinking odd; and the house, with its white walls and green +venetians, looked spruce and habitable in the morning light. Hour after +hour passed, and still no sign of Northmour. I knew him for a sluggard +in the morning; but, as it drew on towards noon, I lost my patience. To +say the truth, I had promised myself to break my fast in the pavilion, +and hunger began to prick me sharply. It was a pity to let the +opportunity go by without some cause for mirth; but the grosser appetite +prevailed, and I relinquished my jest with regret, and sallied from the +wood. + +The appearance of the house affected me, as I drew near, with +disquietude. It seemed unchanged since last evening; and I had expected +it, I scarce knew why, to wear some external signs of habitation. But +no: the windows were all closely shuttered, the chimneys breathed no +smoke, and the front door itself was closely padlocked. Northmour +therefore had entered by the back; this was the natural, and indeed the +necessary, conclusion; and you may judge of my surprise when, on turning +the house, I found the back-door similarly secured. + +My mind at once reverted to the original theory of thieves; and I blamed +myself sharply for my last night's inaction. I examined all the windows +on the lower story, but none of them had been tampered with; I tried the +padlocks, but they were both secure. It thus became a problem how the +thieves, if thieves they were, had managed to enter the house. They must +have got, I reasoned, upon the roof of the outhouse where Northmour +used to keep his photographic battery; and from thence, either by the +window of the study or that of my old bedroom, completed their +burglarious entry. + +I followed what I supposed was their example; and, getting on the roof, +tried the shutters of each room. Both were secure; but I was not to be +beaten; and, with a little force, one of them flew open, grazing, as it +did so, the back of my hand. I remember I put the wound to my mouth and +stood for perhaps half a minute licking it like a dog, and mechanically +gazing behind me over the waste links and the sea; and in that space of +time my eye made note of a large schooner yacht some miles to the +north-east. Then I threw up the window and climbed in. + +I went over the house, and nothing can express my mystification. There +was no sign of disorder, but, on the contrary, the rooms were unusually +clean and pleasant. I found fires laid ready for lighting; three +bedrooms prepared with a luxury quite foreign to Northmour's habits, and +with water in the ewers and the beds turned down; a table set for three +in the dining-room; and an ample supply of cold meats, game, and +vegetables on the pantry shelves. There were guests expected, that was +plain; but why guests when Northmour hated society? And, above all, why +was the house thus stealthily prepared at dead of night? and why were +the shutters closed and the doors padlocked? + +I effaced all traces of my visit, and came forth from the window feeling +sobered and concerned. + +The schooner yacht was still in the same place; and it flashed for a +moment through my mind that this might be the _Red Earl_ bringing the +owner of the pavilion and his guests. But the vessel's head was set the +other way. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TELLS OF THE NOCTURNAL LANDING FROM THE YACHT + + +I returned to the den to cook myself a meal, of which I stood in great +need, as well as to care for my horse, which I had somewhat neglected in +the morning. From time to time I went down to the edge of the wood; but +there was no change in the pavilion, and not a human creature was seen +all day upon the links. The schooner in the offing was the one touch of +life within my range of vision. She, apparently with no set object, +stood off and on or lay to, hour after hour; but as the evening deepened +she drew steadily nearer. I became more convinced that she carried +Northmour and his friends, and that they would probably come ashore +after dark; not only because that was of a piece with the secrecy of the +preparations, but because the tide would not have flowed sufficiently +before eleven to cover Graden Floe and the other sea quags that +fortified the shore against invaders. + +All day the wind had been going down, and the sea along with it; but +there was a return towards sunset of the heavy weather of the day +before. The night set in pitch dark. The wind came off the sea in +squalls, like the firing of a battery of cannon; now and then there was +a flaw of rain and the surf rolled heavier with the rising tide. I was +down at my observatory among the elders, when a light was run up to the +mast-head of the schooner, and showed she was closer in than when I had +last seen her by the dying daylight. I concluded that this must be a +signal to Northmour's associates on shore; and, stepping forth into the +links, looked around me for something in response. + +A small footpath ran along the margin of the wood, and formed the most +direct communication between the pavilion and the mansion-house; and as +I cast my eyes to that side I saw a spark of light, not a quarter of a +mile away, and rapidly approaching. From its uneven course it appeared +to be the light of a lantern carried by a person who followed the +windings of the path, and was often staggered and taken aback by the +more violent squalls. I concealed myself once more among the elders, and +waited eagerly for the new-comer's advance. It proved to be a woman; and +as she passed within half a rod of my ambush I was able to recognise the +features. The deaf and silent old dame who had nursed Northmour in his +childhood was his associate in this underhand affair. + +I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of the innumerable +heights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, and favoured not only by +the nurse's deafness, but by the uproar of the wind and surf. She +entered the pavilion, and, going at once to the upper story, opened and +set a light in one of the windows that looked towards the sea. +Immediately afterwards the light at the schooner's mast-head was run +down and extinguished. Its purpose had been attained, and those on board +were sure that they were expected. The old woman resumed her +preparations; although the other shutters remained closed, I could see a +glimmer going to and fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from one +chimney after another soon told me that the fires were being kindled. + +Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would come ashore as soon +as there was water on the floe. It was a wild night for boat service; +and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I reflected on the +danger of the landing. My old acquaintance, it was true, was the most +eccentric of men; but the present eccentricity was both disquieting and +lugubrious to consider. A variety of feelings thus led me towards the +beach, where I lay flat on my face in a hollow within six feet of the +track that led to the pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfaction +of recognising the arrivals, and, if they should prove to be +acquaintances, greeting them as soon as they had landed. + +Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously low, a +boat's lantern appeared close inshore; and, my attention being thus +awakened, I could perceive another still far to seaward, violently +tossed, and sometimes hidden by the billows. The weather, which was +getting dirtier as the night went on, and the perilous situation of the +yacht upon a lee-shore, had probably driven them to attempt a landing at +the earliest possible moment. + +A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very heavy chest, and +guided by a fifth with a lantern, passed close in front of me as I lay, +and were admitted to the pavilion by the nurse. They returned to the +beach, and passed me a second time with another chest, larger but +apparently not so heavy as the first. A third time they made the +transit; and on this occasion one of the yachtsmen carried a leather +portmanteau, and the others a lady's trunk and carriage bag. My +curiosity was sharply excited. If a woman were among the guests of +Northmour, it would show a change in his habits and an apostasy from his +pet theories of life, well calculated to fill me with surprise. When he +and I dwelt there together, the pavilion had been a temple of misogyny. +And now, one of the detested sex was to be installed under its roof. I +remembered one or two particulars, a few notes of daintiness and almost +of coquetry which had struck me the day before as I surveyed the +preparations in the house; their purpose was now clear, and I thought +myself dull not to have perceived it from the first. + +While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near me from the +beach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom I had not yet seen, and who +was conducting two other persons to the pavilion. These two persons were +unquestionably the guests for whom the house was made ready; and, +straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them as they passed. One +was an unusually tall man, in a travelling hat slouched over his eyes, +and a highland cape closely buttoned and turned up so as to conceal his +face. You could make out no more of him than that he was, as I have +said, unusually tall, and walked feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side, +and either clinging to him or giving him support--I could not make out +which--was a young, tall, and slender figure of a woman. She was +extremely pale; but in the light of the lantern her face was so marred +by strong and changing shadows that she might equally well have been as +ugly as sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be. + +When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some remark which was +drowned by the noise of the wind. + +"Hush!" said her companion; and there was something in the tone with +which the word was uttered that thrilled and rather shook my spirits. It +seemed to breathe from a bosom labouring under the deadliest terror; I +have never heard another syllable so expressive; and I still hear it +again when I am feverish at night, and my mind runs upon old times. The +man turned towards the girl as he spoke; I had a glimpse of much red +beard and a nose which seemed to have been broken in youth; and his +light eyes seemed shining in his face with some strong and unpleasant +emotion. + +But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn to the pavilion. + +One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the beach. The wind +brought me the sound of a rough voice crying, "Shove off!" Then, after a +pause, another lantern drew near. It was Northmour alone. + +My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how a +person could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive as +Northmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face bore +every mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to look at him, +even in the most amiable moment, to see that he had the temper of a +slaver captain. I never knew a character that was both explosive and +revengeful to the same degree; he combined the vivacity of the South +with the sustained and deadly hatreds of the North; and both traits were +plainly written on his face, which was a sort of danger-signal. In +person he was tall, strong, and active; his hair and complexion very +dark; his features handsomely designed, but spoiled by a menacing +expression. + +At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; he wore a heavy +frown; and his lips worked, and he looked sharply round him as he +walked, like a man besieged with apprehensions. And yet I thought he had +a look of triumph underlying all, as though he had already done much, +and was near the end of an achievement. + +Partly from a scruple of delicacy--which I daresay came too late--partly +from the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, I desired to make my +presence known to him without delay. + +I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward. + +"Northmour!" said I. + +I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. He leaped on me +without a word; something shone in his hand; and he struck for my heart +with a dagger. At the same moment I knocked him head over heels. Whether +it was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, I know not; but the blade +only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt and his fist struck me violently +on the mouth. + +I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the capabilities of +the sand-hills for protracted ambush or stealthy advances and retreats; +and, not ten yards from the scene of the scuffle, plumped down again +upon the grass. The lantern had fallen and gone out. But what was my +astonishment to see Northmour slip at a bound into the pavilion, and +hear him bar the door behind him with a clang of iron! + +He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, whom I knew for the +most implacable and daring of men, had run away! I could scarcely +believe my reason; and yet in this strange business, where all was +incredible, there was nothing to make a work about in an incredibility +more or less. For why was the pavilion secretly prepared? Why had +Northmour landed with his guests at dead of night, in half a gale of +wind, and with the floe scarce covered? Why had he sought to kill me? +Had he not recognised my voice? I wondered. And, above all, how had he +come to have a dagger ready in his hand? A dagger, or even a sharp +knife, seemed out of keeping with the age in which we lived; and a +gentleman landing from his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even +although it was at night and with some mysterious circumstances, does +not usually, as a matter of fact, walk thus prepared for deadly +onslaught. The more I reflected, the further I felt at sea. I +recapitulated the elements of mystery, counting them on my fingers: the +pavilion secretly prepared for guests; the guests landed at the risk of +their lives and to the imminent peril of the yacht; the guests, or at +least one of them, in undisguised and seemingly causeless terror; +Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmour stabbing his most intimate +acquaintance at a word; last, and not least strange, Northmour fleeing +from the man whom he had sought to murder, and barricading himself, like +a hunted creature, behind the door of the pavilion. Here were at least +six separate causes for extreme surprise; each part and parcel with the +others, and forming all together one consistent story. I felt almost +ashamed to believe my own senses. + +As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow painfully +conscious of the injuries I had received in the scuffle; skulked round +among the sand-hills; and, by a devious path, regained the shelter of +the wood. On the way, the old nurse passed again within several yards of +me, still carrying her lantern, on the return journey to the +mansion-house of Graden. This made a seventh suspicious feature in the +case. Northmour and his guests, it appeared, were to cook and do the +cleaning for themselves, while the old woman continued to inhabit the +big empty barrack among the policies. There must surely be great cause +for secrecy when so many inconveniences were confronted to preserve it. + +So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater security I trod out +the embers of the fire, and lit my lantern to examine the wound upon my +shoulder. It was a trifling hurt, although it bled somewhat freely, and +I dressed it as well as I could (for its position made it difficult to +reach) with some rag and cold water from the spring. While I was thus +busied I mentally declared war against Northmour and his mystery. I am +not an angry man by nature, and I believe there was more curiosity than +resentment in my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way of +preparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the charges, +cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. Next I became preoccupied +about my horse. It might break loose, or fall to neighing, and so betray +my camp in the Sea-Wood. I determined to rid myself of its +neighbourhood; and long before dawn I was leading it over the links in +the direction of the fisher village. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TELLS HOW I BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH MY WIFE + + +For two days I skulked round the pavilion, profiting by the uneven +surface of the links. I became an adept in the necessary tactics. These +low hillocks and shallow dells, running one into another, became a kind +of cloak of darkness for my enthralling, but perhaps dishonourable, +pursuit. Yet, in spite of this advantage, I could learn but little of +Northmour or his guests. + +Fresh provisions were brought under cover of darkness by the old woman +from the mansion-house. Northmour and the young lady, sometimes +together, but more often singly, would walk for an hour or two at a time +on the beach beside the quicksand. I could not but conclude that this +promenade was chosen with an eye to secrecy; for the spot was open only +to the seaward. But it suited me not less excellently; the highest and +most accidented of the sand-hills immediately adjoined; and from these, +lying flat in a hollow, I could overlook Northmour or the young lady as +they walked. + +The tall man seemed to have disappeared. Not only did he never cross the +threshold, but he never so much as showed face at a window; or, at +least, not so far as I could see; for I dared not creep forward beyond a +certain distance in the day, since the upper floor commanded the bottoms +of the links; and at night, when I could venture farther, the lower +windows were barricaded as if to stand a siege. Sometimes I thought the +tall man must be confined to bed, for I remembered the feebleness of his +gait; and sometimes I thought he must have gone clear away, and that +Northmour and the young lady remained alone together in the pavilion. +The idea, even then, displeased me. + +Whether or not this pair were man and wife, I had seen abundant reason +to doubt the friendliness of their relation. Although I could hear +nothing of what they said, and rarely so much as glean a decided +expression on the face of either, there was a distance, almost a +stiffness, in their bearing which showed them to be either unfamiliar or +at enmity. The girl walked faster when she was with Northmour than when +she was alone; and I conceived that any inclination between a man and a +woman would rather delay than accelerate the step. Moreover, she kept a +good yard free of him, and trailed her umbrella, as if it were a +barrier, on the side between them. Northmour kept sidling closer; and, +as the girl retired from his advance, their course lay at a sort of +diagonal across the beach, and would have landed them in the surf had it +been long enough continued. But when this was imminent, the girl would +unostentatiously change sides and put Northmour between her and the sea. +I watched these manoeuvres, for my part, with high enjoyment and +approval, and chuckled to myself at every move. + +On the morning of the third day she walked alone for some time, and I +perceived, to my great concern, that she was more than once in tears. +You will see that my heart was already interested more than I supposed. +She had a firm yet airy motion of the body, and carried her head with +unimaginable grace; every step was a thing to look at, and she seemed in +my eyes to breathe sweetness and distinction. + +The day was so agreeable, being calm and sunshiny, with a tranquil sea, +and yet with a healthful piquancy and vigour in the air, that, contrary +to custom, she was tempted forth a second time to walk. On this occasion +she was accompanied by Northmour, and they had been but a short while on +the beach, when I saw him take forcible possession of her hand. She +struggled, and uttered a cry that was almost a scream. I sprang to my +feet, unmindful of my strange position; but, ere I had taken a step, I +saw Northmour bareheaded and bowing very low, as if to apologise; and +dropped again at once into my ambush. A few words were interchanged; and +then, with another bow, he left the beach to return to the pavilion. He +passed not far from me, and I could see him, flushed and lowering, and +cutting savagely with his cane among the grass. It was not without +satisfaction that I recognised my own handiwork in a great cut under his +right eye, and a considerable discoloration round the socket. + +For some time the girl remained where he had left her, looking out past +the islet and over the bright sea. Then with a start, as one who throws +off preoccupation and puts energy again upon its mettle, she broke into +a rapid and decisive walk. She also was much incensed by what had +passed. She had forgotten where she was. And I beheld her walk straight +into the borders of the quicksand where it is more abrupt and dangerous. +Two or three steps farther and her life would have been in serious +jeopardy, when I slid down the face of the sand-hill, which is there +precipitous, and, running half-way forward, called to her to stop. + +She did so, and turned round. There was not a tremor of fear in her +behaviour, and she marched directly up to me like a queen. I was +barefoot, and clad like a common sailor, save for an Egyptian scarf +round my waist; and she probably took me at first for some one from the +fisher village, straying after bait. As for her, when I thus saw her +face to face, her eyes set steadily and imperiously upon mine, I was +filled with admiration and astonishment, and thought her even more +beautiful than I had looked to find her. Nor could I think enough of one +who, acting with so much boldness, yet preserved a maidenly air that was +both quaint and engaging; for my wife kept an old-fashioned precision of +manner through all her admirable life--an excellent thing in woman, +since it sets another value on her sweet familiarities. + +"What does this mean?" she asked. + +"You were walking," I told her, "directly into Graden Floe." + +"You do not belong to these parts," she said again. "You speak like an +educated man." + +"I believe I have right to that name," said I, "although in this +disguise." + +But her woman's eye had already detected the sash. + +"Oh!" she said; "your sash betrays you." + +"You have said the word _betray_," I resumed. "May I ask you not to +betray me? I was obliged to disclose myself in your interest; but if +Northmour learned my presence it might be worse than disagreeable for +me." + +"Do you know," she asked, "to whom you are speaking?" + +"Not to Mr. Northmour's wife?" I asked, by way of answer. + +She shook her head. All this while she was studying my face with an +embarrassing intentness. Then she broke out-- + +"You have an honest face. Be honest like your face, sir, and tell me +what you want and what you are afraid of. Do you think I could hurt you? +I believe you have far more power to injure me! And yet you do not look +unkind. What do you mean--you, a gentleman--by skulking like a spy about +this desolate place? Tell me," she said, "who is it you hate?" + +"I hate no one," I answered; "and I fear no one face to face. My name +is Cassilis--Frank Cassilis. I lead the life of a vagabond for my own +good pleasure. I am one of Northmour's oldest friends; and three nights +ago, when I addressed him on these links, he stabbed me in the shoulder +with a knife." + +"It was you!" she said. + +"Why he did so," I continued, disregarding the interruption, "is more +than I can guess, and more than I care to know. I have not many friends, +nor am I very susceptible to friendship; but no man shall drive me from +a place by terror. I had camped in Graden Sea-Wood ere he came; I camp +in it still. If you think I mean harm to you or yours, madam, the remedy +is in your hand. Tell him that my camp is in the Hemlock Den, and +to-night he can stab me in safety while I sleep." + +With this I doffed my cap to her, and scrambled up once more among the +sand-hills. I do not know why, but I felt a prodigious sense of +injustice, and felt like a hero and a martyr; while, as a matter of +fact, I had not a word to say in my defence, nor so much as one +plausible reason to offer for my conduct. I had stayed at Graden out of +a curiosity natural enough, but undignified; and though there was +another motive growing in along with the first, it was not one which, at +that period, I could have properly explained to the lady of my heart. + +Certainly, that night, I thought of no one else; and, though her whole +conduct and position seemed suspicious, I could not find it in my heart +to entertain a doubt of her integrity. I could have staked my life that +she was clear of blame, and, though all was dark at the present, that +the explanation of the mystery would show her part in these events to be +both right and needful. It was true, let me cudgel my imagination as I +pleased, that I could invent no theory of her relations to Northmour; +but I felt none the less sure of my conclusion because it was founded on +instinct in place of reason, and, as I may say, went to sleep that night +with the thought of her under my pillow. + +Next day she came out about the same hour alone, and, as soon as the +sand-hills concealed her from the pavilion, drew nearer to the edge, and +called me by name in guarded tones. I was astonished to observe that she +was deadly pale, and seemingly under the influence of strong emotion. + +"Mr. Cassilis!" she cried; "Mr. Cassilis!" + +I appeared at once, and leaped down upon the beach. A remarkable air of +relief overspread her countenance as soon as she saw me. + +"Oh!" she cried, with a hoarse sound, like one whose bosom has been +lightened of a weight. And then, "Thank God you are still safe!" she +added; "I knew, if you were, you would be here." (Was not this strange? +So swiftly and wisely does Nature prepare our hearts for these great +life-long intimacies, that both my wife and I had been given a +presentiment on this the second day of our acquaintance. I had even then +hoped that she would seek me; she had felt sure that she would find me.) +"Do not," she went on swiftly, "do not stay in this place. Promise me +that you will sleep no longer in that wood. You do not know how I +suffer; all last night I could not sleep for thinking of your peril." + +"Peril?" I repeated. "Peril from whom? From Northmour?" + +"Not so," she said. "Did you think I would tell him after what you +said?" + +"Not from Northmour?" I repeated. "Then how? From whom? I see none to be +afraid of." + +"You must not ask me," was her reply, "for I am not free to tell you. +Only believe me, and go hence--believe me, and go away quickly, quickly, +for your life!" + +An appeal to his alarm is never a good plan to rid oneself of a spirited +young man. My obstinacy was but increased by what she said, and I made +it a point of honour to remain. And her solicitude for my safety still +more confirmed me in the resolve. + +"You must not think me inquisitive, madam," I replied; "but, if Graden +is so dangerous a place, you yourself perhaps remain here at some risk." + +She only looked at me reproachfully. + +"You and your father----" I resumed; but she interrupted me almost with +a gasp. + +"My father! How do you know that?" she cried. + +"I saw you together when you landed," was my answer; and I do not know +why, but it seemed satisfactory to both of us, as indeed it was the +truth. "But," I continued, "you need have no fear from me. I see you +have some reason to be secret, and, you may believe me, your secret is +as safe with me as if I were in Graden Floe. I have scarce spoken to any +one for years; my horse is my only companion, and even he, poor beast, +is not beside me. You see, then, you may count on me for silence. So +tell me the truth, my dear young lady, are you not in danger?" + +"Mr. Northmour says you are an honourable man," she returned, "and I +believe it when I see you. I will tell you so much; you are right; we +are in dreadful, dreadful danger, and you share it by remaining where +you are." + +"Ah!" said I; "you have heard of me from Northmour? And he gives me a +good character?" + +"I asked him about you last night," was her reply. "I pretended," she +hesitated, "I pretended to have met you long ago, and spoken to you of +him. It was not true; but I could not help myself without betraying you, +and you had put me in a difficulty. He praised you highly." + +"And--you may permit me one question--does this danger come from +Northmour?" I asked. + +"From Mr. Northmour?" she cried. "Oh, no; he stays with us to share it." + +"While you propose that I should run away?" I said. "You do not rate me +very high." + +"Why should you stay?" she asked. "You are no friend of ours." + +I know not what came over me, for I had not been conscious of a similar +weakness since I was a child, but I was so mortified by this retort +that my eyes pricked and filled with tears, as I continued to gaze upon +her face. + +"No, no," she said, in a changed voice; "I did not mean the words +unkindly." + +"It was I who offended," I said; and I held out my hand with a look of +appeal that somehow touched her, for she gave me hers at once, and even +eagerly. I held it for a while in mine, and gazed into her eyes. It was +she who first tore her hand away, and, forgetting all about her request +and the promise she had sought to extort, ran at the top of her speed, +and without turning, till she was out of sight. And then I knew that I +loved her, and thought in my glad heart that she--she herself--was not +indifferent to my suit. Many a time she has denied it in after days, but +it was with a smiling and not a serious denial. For my part, I am sure +our hands would not have lain so closely in each other if she had not +begun to melt to me already. And, when all is said, it is no great +contention, since, by her own avowal, she began to love me on the +morrow. + +And yet on the morrow very little took place. She came and called me +down as on the day before, upbraided me for lingering at Graden, and, +when she found I was still obdurate, began to ask me more particularly +as to my arrival. I told her by what series of accidents I had come to +witness their disembarkation, and how I had determined to remain, partly +from the interest which had been wakened in me by Northmour's guests, +and partly because of his own murderous attack. As to the former, I fear +I was disingenuous, and led her to regard herself as having been an +attraction to me from the first moment that I saw her on the links. It +relieves my heart to make this confession even now, when my wife is with +God, and already knows all things, and the honesty of my purpose even in +this; for while she lived, although it often pricked my conscience, I +had never the hardihood to undeceive her. Even a little secret, in such +a married life as ours, is like the rose-leaf which kept the Princess +from her sleep. + +From this the talk branched into other subjects, and I told her much +about my lonely and wandering existence; she, for her part, giving ear +and saying little. Although we spoke very naturally, and latterly on +topics that might seem indifferent, we were both sweetly agitated. Too +soon it was time for her to go; and we separated, as if by mutual +consent, without shaking hands, for both knew that, between us, it was +no idle ceremony. + +The next, and that was the fourth day of our acquaintance, we met in the +same spot, but early in the morning, with much familiarity and yet much +timidity on either side. When she had once more spoken about my +danger--and that, I understood, was her excuse for coming--I, who had +prepared a great deal of talk during the night, began to tell her how +highly I valued her kind interest, and how no one had ever cared to hear +about my life, nor had I ever cared to relate it, before yesterday. +Suddenly she interrupted me, saying with vehemence-- + +"And yet, if you knew who I was, you would not so much as speak to me!" + +I told her such a thought was madness, and, little as we had met, I +counted her already a dear friend; but my protestations seemed only to +make her more desperate. + +"My father is in hiding!" she cried. + +"My dear," I said, forgetting for the first time to add "young lady," +"what do I care? If he were in hiding twenty times over, would it make +one thought of change in you?" + +"Ah, but the cause!" she cried, "the cause! It is----" she faltered for +a second--"it is disgraceful to us." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TELLS IN WHAT A STARTLING MANNER I LEARNED THAT I WAS NOT ALONE IN +GRADEN SEA-WOOD + + +This was my wife's story, as I drew it from her among tears and sobs. +Her name was Clara Huddlestone: it sounded very beautiful in my ears; +but not so beautiful as that other name of Clara Cassilis, which she +wore during the longer, and I thank God the happier, portion of her +life. Her father, Bernard Huddlestone, had been a private banker in a +very large way of business. Many years before, his affairs becoming +disordered, he had been led to try dangerous, and at last criminal, +expedients to retrieve himself from ruin. All was in vain; he became +more and more cruelly involved, and found his honour lost at the same +moment with his fortune. About this period Northmour had been courting +his daughter with great assiduity, though with small encouragement; and +to him, knowing him thus disposed in his favour, Bernard Huddlestone +turned for help in his extremity. It was not merely ruin and dishonour, +nor merely a legal condemnation, that the unhappy man had brought upon +his head. It seems he could have gone to prison with a light heart. What +he feared, what kept him awake at night or recalled him from slumber +into frenzy, was some secret, sudden, and unlawful attempt upon his +life. Hence he desired to bury his existence and escape to one of the +islands in the South Pacific, and it was in Northmour's yacht, the _Red +Earl_, that he designed to go. The yacht picked them up clandestinely +upon the coast of Wales, and had once more deposited them at Graden, +till she could be refitted and provisioned for the longer voyage. Nor +could Clara doubt that her hand had been stipulated as the price of +passage. For, although Northmour was neither unkind nor even +discourteous, he had shown himself in several instances somewhat +over-bold in speech and manner. + +I listened, I need not say, with fixed attention, and put many questions +as to the more mysterious part. It was in vain. She had no clear idea of +what the blow was, nor of how it was expected to fall. Her father's +alarm was unfeigned and physically prostrating, and he had thought more +than once of making an unconditional surrender to the police. But the +scheme was finally abandoned, for he was convinced that not even the +strength of our English prisons could shelter him from his pursuers. He +had had many affairs with Italy, and with Italians resident in London, +in the later years of his business, and these last, as Clara fancied, +were somehow connected with the doom that threatened him. He had shown +great terror at the presence of an Italian seaman on board the _Red +Earl_, and had bitterly and repeatedly accused Northmour in consequence. +The latter had protested that Beppo (that was the seaman's name) was a +capital fellow, and could be trusted to the death; but Mr. Huddlestone +had continued ever since to declare that all was lost, that it was only +a question of days, and that Beppo would be the ruin of him yet. + +I regarded the whole story as the hallucination of a mind shaken by +calamity. He had suffered heavy loss by his Italian transactions; and +hence the sight of an Italian was hateful to him, and the principal part +in his nightmare would naturally enough be played by one of that nation. + +"What your father wants," I said, "is a good doctor and some calming +medicine." + +"But Mr. Northmour?" objected your mother. "He is untroubled by losses, +and yet he shares in this terror." + +I could not help laughing at what I considered her simplicity. + +"My dear," said I, "you have told me yourself what reward he has to look +for. All is fair in love, you must remember; and if Northmour foments +your father's terrors, it is not at all because he is afraid of any +Italian man, but simply because he is infatuated with a charming +English woman." + +She reminded me of his attack upon myself on the night of the +disembarkation, and this I was unable to explain. In short, and from one +thing to another, it was agreed between us that I should set out at once +for the fisher village, Graden-Wester, as it is called, look up all the +newspapers I could find, and see for myself if there seemed any basis of +fact for these continued alarms. The next morning, at the same hour and +place, I was to make my report to Clara. She said no more on that +occasion about my departure; nor, indeed, did she make it a secret that +she clung to the thought of my proximity as something helpful and +pleasant; and, for my part, I could not have left her, if she had gone +upon her knees to ask it. + +I reached Graden-Wester before ten in the forenoon; for in those days I +was an excellent pedestrian, and the distance, as I think I have said, +was little over seven miles; fine walking all the way upon the springy +turf. The village is one of the bleakest on that coast, which is saying +much: there is a church in a hollow; a miserable haven in the rocks, +where many boats have been lost as they returned from fishing; two or +three score of stone houses arranged along the beach and in two streets, +one leading from the harbour, and another striking out from it at right +angles; and, at the corner of these two, a very dark and cheerless +tavern, by way of principal hotel. + +I had dressed myself somewhat more suitably to my station in life, and +at once called upon the minister in his little manse beside the +graveyard. He knew me, although it was more than nine years since we had +met; and when I told him that I had been long upon a walking tour, and +was behind with the news, readily lent me an armful of newspapers, +dating from a month back to the day before. With these I sought the +tavern, and, ordering some breakfast, sat down to study the "Huddlestone +Failure." + +It had been, it appeared, a very flagrant case. Thousands of persons +were reduced to poverty; and one in particular had blown out his brains +as soon as payment was suspended. It was strange to myself that, while I +read these details, I continued rather to sympathise with Mr. +Huddlestone than with his victims; so complete already was the empire of +my love for my wife. A price was naturally set upon the banker's head; +and, as the case was inexcusable and the public indignation thoroughly +aroused, the unusual figure of L750 was offered for his capture. He was +reported to have large sums of money in his possession. One day he had +been heard of in Spain; the next, there was sure intelligence that he +was still lurking between Manchester and Liverpool, or along the border +of Wales; and the day after, a telegram would announce his arrival in +Cuba or Yucatan. But in all this there was no word of an Italian, nor +any sign of mystery. + +In the very last paper, however, there was one item not so clear. The +accountants who were charged to verify the failure had, it seemed, come +upon the traces of a very large number of thousands, which figured for +some time in the transactions of the house of Huddlestone; but which +came from nowhere, and disappeared in the same mysterious fashion. It +was only once referred to by name, and then under the initials "X.X."; +but it had plainly been floated for the first time into the business at +a period of great depression some six years ago. The name of a +distinguished Royal personage had been mentioned by rumour in connection +with this sum. "The cowardly desperado"--such, I remember, was the +editorial expression--was supposed to have escaped with a large part of +this mysterious fund still in his possession. + +I was still brooding over the fact, and trying to torture it into some +connection with Mr. Huddlestone's danger, when a man entered the tavern +and asked for some bread and cheese with a decided foreign accent. + +"_Siete Italiano?_" said I. + +"_Si, signor_," was his reply. + +I said it was unusually far north to find one of his compatriots; at +which he shrugged his shoulders, and replied that a man would go +anywhere to find work. What work he could hope to find at Graden-Wester, +I was totally unable to conceive; and the incident struck so +unpleasantly upon my mind that I asked the landlord, while he was +counting me some change, whether he had ever before seen an Italian in +the village. He said he had once seen some Norwegians, who had been +shipwrecked on the other side of Graden Ness and rescued by the lifeboat +from Cauldhaven. + +"No!" said I; "but an Italian, like the man who had just had bread and +cheese." + +"What?" cried he, "yon black-avised fellow wi' the teeth? Was he an +I-talian? Weel, yon's the first that ever I saw, an' I daresay he's like +to be the last." + +Even as he was speaking, I raised my eyes, and, casting a glance into +the street, beheld three men in earnest conversation together, and not +thirty yards away. One of them was my recent companion in the tavern +parlour; the other two, by their handsome, sallow features and soft +hats, should evidently belong to the same race. A crowd of village +children stood around them, gesticulating and talking gibberish in +imitation. The trio looked singularly foreign to the bleak dirty street +in which they were standing, and the dark grey heaven that overspread +them; and I confess my incredulity received at that moment a shock from +which it never recovered. I might reason with myself as I pleased, but I +could not argue down the effect of what I had seen, and I began to share +in the Italian terror. + +It was already drawing towards the close of the day before I had +returned, the newspapers at the manse, and got well forward on to the +links on my way home. I shall never forget that walk. It grew very cold +and boisterous; the wind sang in the short grass about my feet; thin +rain showers came running on the gusts; and an immense mountain range of +clouds began to arise out of the bosom of the sea. It would be hard to +imagine a more dismal evening; and whether it was from these external +influences, or because my nerves were already affected by what I had +heard and seen, my thoughts were as gloomy as the weather. + +The upper windows of the pavilion commanded a considerable spread of +links in the direction of Graden-Wester. To avoid observation, it was +necessary to hug the beach until I had gained cover from the higher +sand-hills on the little headland, when I might strike across, through +the hollows, for the margin of the wood. The sun was about setting; the +tide was low, and all the quicksands uncovered; and I was moving along, +lost in unpleasant thought, when I was suddenly thunderstruck to +perceive the prints of human feet. They ran parallel to my own course, +but low down upon the beach instead of along the border of the turf; +and, when I examined them, I saw at once, by the size and coarseness of +the impression, that it was a stranger to me and to those in the +pavilion who had recently passed that way. Not only so; but from the +recklessness of the course which he had followed, steering near to the +most formidable portions of the sand, he was as evidently a stranger to +the country and to the ill-repute of Graden beach. + +Step by step I followed the prints; until, a quarter of a mile farther, +I beheld them die away into the south-eastern boundary of Graden Floe. +There, whoever he was, the miserable man had perished. One or two gulls, +who had, perhaps, seen him disappear, wheeled over his sepulchre with +their usual melancholy piping. The sun had broken through the clouds by +a last effort, and coloured the wide level of quicksands with a dusky +purple. I stood for some time gazing at the spot, chilled and +disheartened by my own reflections, and with a strong and commanding +consciousness of death. I remember wondering how long the tragedy had +taken, and whether his screams had been audible at the pavilion. And +then, making a strong resolution, I was about to tear myself away, when +a gust fiercer than usual fell upon this quarter of the beach, and I +saw, now whirling high in air, now skimming lightly across the surface +of the sands, a soft, black, felt hat, somewhat conical in shape, such +as I had remarked already on the heads of the Italians. + +I believe, but I am not sure, that I uttered a cry. The wind was driving +the hat shoreward, and I ran round the border of the floe to be ready +against its arrival. The gust fell, dropping the hat for a while upon +the quicksand, and then, once more freshening, landed it a few yards +from where I stood. I seized it with the interest you may imagine. It +had seen some service; indeed, it was rustier than either of those I had +seen that day upon the street. The lining was red, stamped with the name +of the maker, which I have forgotten, and that of the place of +manufacture, _Venedig_. This (it is not yet forgotten) was the name +given by the Austrians to the beautiful city of Venice, then, and for +long after, a part of their dominions. + +The shock was complete. I saw imaginary Italians upon every side; and, +for the first, and, I may say, for the last time in my experience, +became overpowered by what is called a panic terror. I knew nothing, +that is, to be afraid of, and yet I submit that I was heartily afraid; +and it was with a sensible reluctance that I returned to my exposed and +solitary camp in the Sea-Wood. + +There I ate some cold porridge which had been left over from the night +before, for I was disinclined to make a fire; and, feeling strengthened +and reassured, dismissed all these fanciful terrors from my mind, and +lay down to sleep with composure. + +How long I may have slept it is impossible for me to guess; but I was +awakened at last by a sudden, blinding flash of light into my face. It +woke me like a blow. In an instant I was upon my knees. But the light +had gone as suddenly as it came. The darkness was intense. And, as it +was blowing great guns from the sea and pouring with rain, the noises of +the storm effectually concealed all others. + +It was, I daresay, half a minute before I regained my self-possession. +But for two circumstances, I should have thought I had been awakened by +some new and vivid form of nightmare. First, the flap of my tent, which +I had shut carefully when I retired, was now unfastened; and, second, I +could still perceive, with a sharpness that excluded any theory of +hallucination, the smell of hot metal and of burning oil. The conclusion +was obvious. I had been wakened by some one flashing a bull's-eye +lantern in my face. It had been but a flash, and away. He had seen my +face, and then gone. I asked myself the object of so strange a +proceeding, and the answer came pat. The man, whoever he was, had +thought to recognise me, and he had not. There was yet another question +unresolved: and to this, I may say, I feared to give an answer; if he +had recognised me, what would he have done? + +My fears were immediately diverted from myself, for I saw that I had +been visited in a mistake; and I became persuaded that some dreadful +danger threatened the pavilion. It required some nerve to issue forth +into the black and intricate thicket which surrounded and overhung the +den; but I groped my way to the links, drenched with rain, beaten upon +and deafened by the gusts, and fearing at every step to lay my hand upon +some lurking adversary. The darkness was so complete that I might have +been surrounded by an army and yet none the wiser, and the uproar of the +gale so loud that my hearing was as useless as my sight. + +For the rest of that night, which seemed interminably long, I patrolled +the vicinity of the pavilion, without seeing a living creature or +hearing any noise but the concert of the wind, the sea, and the rain. A +light in the upper story filtered through a cranny of the shutter, and +kept me company till the approach of dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TELLS OF AN INTERVIEW BETWEEN NORTHMOUR, CLARA, AND MYSELF + + +With the first peep of day, I retired from the open to my old lair among +the sand-hills, there to await the coming of my wife. The morning was +grey, wild, and melancholy; the wind moderated before sunrise, and then +went about, and blew in puffs from the shore; the sea began to go down, +but the rain still fell without mercy. Over all the wilderness of links +there was not a creature to be seen. Yet I felt sure the neighbourhood +was alive with skulking foes. The light had been so suddenly and +surprisingly flashed upon my face as I lay sleeping, and the hat that +had been blown ashore by the wind from over Graden Floe, were two +speaking signals of the peril that environed Clara and the party in the +pavilion. + +It was perhaps half-past seven, or nearer eight, before I saw the door +open, and that dear figure come towards me in the rain. I was waiting +for her on the beach before she had crossed the sand-hills. + +"I have had such trouble to come!" she cried. "They did not wish me to +go walking in the rain." + +"Clara," I said, "you are not frightened!" + +"No," said she, with a simplicity that filled my heart with confidence. +For my wife was the bravest as well as the best of women; in my +experience I have not found the two go always together, but with her +they did; and she combined the extreme of fortitude with the most +endearing and beautiful virtues. + +I told her what had happened; and, though her cheek grew visibly paler, +she retained perfect control over her senses. + +"You see now that I am safe," said I, in conclusion. "They do not mean +to harm me; for, had they chosen, I was a dead man last night." + +She laid her hand upon my arm. + +"And I had no presentiment!" she cried. + +Her accent thrilled me with delight. I put my arm about her, and +strained her to my side; and before either of us was aware, her hands +were on my shoulders, and my lips upon her mouth. Yet up to that moment +no word of love had passed between us. To this day I remember the touch +of her cheek, which was wet and cold with the rain; and many a time +since, when she has been washing her face, I have kissed it again for +the sake of that morning on the beach. Now that she is taken from me, +and I finish my pilgrimage alone, I recall our old loving-kindnesses and +the deep honesty and affection which united us, and my present loss +seems but a trifle in comparison. + +We may have thus stood for some seconds--for time passes quickly with +lovers--before we were startled by a peal of laughter close at hand. It +was not natural mirth, but seemed to be affected in order to conceal an +angrier feeling. We both turned, though I still kept my left arm about +Clara's waist; nor did she seek to withdraw herself; and there, a few +paces off upon the beach, stood Northmour, his head lowered, his hands +behind his back, his nostrils white with passion. + +"Ah! Cassilis!" he said, as I disclosed my face. + +"That same," said I; for I was not at all put about. + +"And so, Miss Huddlestone," he continued slowly but savagely, "this is +how you keep your faith to your father and to me? This is the value you +set upon your father's life? And you are so infatuated with this young +gentleman that you must brave ruin, and decency, and common human +caution----" + +"Miss Huddlestone----" I was beginning to interrupt him, when he, in his +turn, cut in brutally-- + +"You hold your tongue," said he; "I am speaking to that girl." + +"That girl, as you call her, is my wife," said I; and my wife only +leaned a little nearer, so that I knew she had affirmed my words. + +"Your what?" he cried. "You lie!" + +"Northmour," I said, "we all know you have a bad temper, and I am the +last man to be irritated by words. For all that, I propose that you +speak lower, for I am convinced that we are not alone." + +He looked round him, and it was plain my remark had in some degree +sobered his passion. "What do you mean?" he asked. + +I only said one word: "Italians." + +He swore a round oath, and looked at us, from one to the other. + +"Mr. Cassilis knows all that I know," said my wife. + +"What I want to know," he broke out, "is where the devil Mr. Cassilis +comes from, and what the devil Mr. Cassilis is doing here. You say you +are married; that I do not believe. If you were, Graden Floe would soon +divorce you; four minutes and a half, Cassilis. I keep my private +cemetery for my friends." + +"It took somewhat longer," said I, "for that Italian." + +He looked at me for a moment half-daunted, and then, almost civilly, +asked me to tell my story. "You have too much the advantage of me, +Cassilis," he added. I complied, of course; and he listened, with +several ejaculations, while I told him how I had come to Graden: that it +was I whom he had tried to murder on the night of landing; and what I +had subsequently seen and heard of the Italians. + +"Well," said he, when I had done, "it is here at last; there is no +mistake about that. And what, may I ask, do you propose to do?" + +"I propose to stay with you and lend a hand," said I. + +"You are a brave man," he returned, with a peculiar intonation. + +"I am not afraid," said I. + +"And so," he continued, "I am to understand that you two are married? +And you stand up to it before my face, Miss Huddlestone?" + +"We are not yet married," said Clara; "but we shall be as soon as we +can." + +"Bravo!" cried Northmour. "And the bargain? D--n it, you're not a fool, +young woman; I may call a spade a spade with you. How about the bargain? +You know as well as I do what your father's life depends upon. I have +only to put my hands under my coat-tails and walk away, and his throat +would be cut before the evening." + +"Yes, Mr. Northmour," returned Clara, with great spirit; "but that is +what you will never do. You made a bargain that was unworthy of a +gentleman; but you are gentleman for all that, and you will never desert +a man whom you have begun to help." + +"Aha!" said he. "You think I will give my yacht for nothing? You think I +will risk my life and liberty for love of the old gentleman; and then, I +suppose, be best-man at the wedding, to wind up? Well," he added, with +an odd smile, "perhaps you are not altogether wrong. But ask Cassilis +here. _He_ knows me. Am I a man to trust? Am I safe and scrupulous? Am I +kind?" + +"I know you talk a great deal, and sometimes, I think, very foolishly," +replied Clara, "but I know you are a gentleman, and I am not the least +afraid." + +He looked at her with a peculiar approval and admiration; then, turning +to me, "Do you think I would give her up without a struggle, Frank?" +said he. "I tell you plainly, you look out. The next time we come to +blows----" + +"Will make the third," I interrupted, smiling. + +"Ay, true; so it will," he said. "I had forgotten. Well, the third +time's lucky." + +"The third time, you mean, you will have the crew of the _Red Earl_ to +help," I said. + +"Do you hear him?" he asked, turning to my wife. + +"I hear two men speaking like cowards," said she. "I should despise +myself either to think or speak like that. And neither of you believe +one word that you are saying, which makes it the more wicked and silly." + +"She's a trump!" cried Northmour. "But she's not yet Mrs. Cassilis. I +say no more. The present is not for me." + +Then my wife surprised me. + +"I leave you here," she said suddenly. "My father has been too long +alone. But remember this: you are to be friends, for you are both good +friends to me." + +She has since told me her reason for this step. As long as she remained, +she declares that we two should have continued to quarrel; and I suppose +that she was right, for when she was gone we fell at once into a sort of +confidentiality. + +Northmour stared after her as she went away over the sand-hill. + +"She is the only woman in the world!" he exclaimed, with an oath. "Look +at her action." + +I, for my part, leaped at this opportunity for a little further light. + +"See here, Northmour," said I; "we are all in a tight place, are we +not?" + +"I believe you, my boy," he answered, looking me in the eyes, and with +great emphasis. "We have all hell upon us, that's the truth. You may +believe me or not, but I'm afraid of my life." + +"Tell me one thing," said I. "What are they after, these Italians? What +do they want with Mr. Huddlestone?" + +"Don't you know?" he cried. "The black old scamp had _carbonaro_ funds +on a deposit--two hundred and eighty thousand; and of course he gambled +it away on stocks. There was to have been a revolution in the +Tridentino, or Parma; but the revolution is off, and the whole wasps' +nest is after Huddlestone. We shall all be lucky if we can save our +skins." + +"The _carbonari_!" I exclaimed; "God help him indeed!" + +"Amen!" said Northmour. "And now, look here: I have said that we are in +a fix; and, frankly, I shall be glad of your help. If I can't save +Huddlestone, I want at least to save the girl. Come and stay in the +pavilion; and, there's my hand on it, I shall act as your friend until +the old man is either clear or dead. But," he added, "once that is +settled, you become my rival once again, and I warn you--mind yourself." + +"Done!" said I; and we shook hands. + +"And now let us go directly to the fort," said Northmour; and he began +to lead the way through the rain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TELLS OF MY INTRODUCTION TO THE TALL MAN + + +We were admitted to the pavilion by Clara, and I was surprised by the +completeness and security of the defences. A barricade of great +strength, and yet easy to displace, supported the door against any +violence from without; and the shutters of the dining-room, into which I +was led directly, and which was feebly illuminated by a lamp, were even +more elaborately fortified. The panels were strengthened by bars and +cross-bars; and these, in their turn, were kept in position by a system +of braces and struts, some abutting on the floor, some on the roof, and +others, in fine, against the opposite wall of the apartment. It was at +once a solid and well-designed piece of carpentry; and I did not seek to +conceal my admiration. + +"I am the engineer," said Northmour. "You remember the planks in the +garden? Behold them!" + +"I did not know you had so many talents," said I. + +"Are you armed?" he continued, pointing to an array of guns and pistols, +all in admirable order, which stood in line against the wall or were +displayed upon the sideboard. + +"Thank you," I returned; "I have gone armed since our last encounter. +But, to tell you the truth, I have had nothing to eat since early +yesterday evening." + +Northmour produced some cold meat, to which I eagerly set myself, and a +bottle of good Burgundy, by which, wet as I was, I did not scruple to +profit. I have always been an extreme temperance man on principle; but +it is useless to push principle to excess, and on this occasion I +believe that I finished three-quarters of the bottle. As I ate, I still +continued to admire the preparations for defence. + +"We could stand a siege," I said at length. + +"Ye--es," drawled Northmour; "a very little one, per--haps. It is not so +much the strength of the pavilion I misdoubt; it is the double danger +that kills me. If we get to shooting, wild as the country is, some one +is sure to hear it, and then--why, then it's the same thing, only +different, as they say: caged by law, or killed by _carbonari_. There's +the choice. It is a devilish bad thing to have the law against you in +this world, and so I tell the old gentleman upstairs. He is quite of my +way of thinking." + +"Speaking of that," said I, "what kind of person is he?" + +"Oh, he!" cried the other; "he's a rancid fellow, as far as he goes. I +should like to have his neck wrung to-morrow by all the devils in Italy. +I am not in this affair for him. You take me? I made a bargain for +Missy's hand, and I mean to have it too." + +"That by the way," said I. "I understand. But how will Mr. Huddlestone +take my intrusion?" + +"Leave that to Clara," returned Northmour. + +I could have struck him in the face for this coarse familiarity; but I +respected the truce, as, I am bound to say, did Northmour, and so long +as the danger continued not a cloud arose in our relation. I bear him +this testimony with the most unfeigned satisfaction; nor am I without +pride when I look back upon my own behaviour. For surely no two men were +ever left in a position so invidious and irritating. + +As soon as I had done eating, we proceeded to inspect the lower floor. +Window by window we tried the different supports, now and then making an +inconsiderable change; and the strokes of the hammer sounded with +startling loudness through the house. I proposed, I remember, to make +loopholes; but he told me they were already made in the windows of the +upper story. It was an anxious business, this inspection, and left me +down-hearted. There were two doors and five windows to protect, and, +counting Clara, only four of us to defend them against an unknown number +of foes. I communicated my doubts to Northmour, who assured me, with +unmoved composure, that he entirely shared them. + +"Before morning," said he, "we shall all be butchered and buried in +Graden Floe. For me, that is written." + +I could not help shuddering at the mention of the quicksand, but +reminded Northmour that our enemies had spared me in the wood. + +"Do not flatter yourself," said he. "Then you were not in the same boat +with the old gentleman; now you are. It's the floe for all of us, mark +my words." + +I trembled for Clara; and just then her dear voice was heard calling us +to come upstairs. Northmour showed me the way, and, when he had reached +the landing, knocked at the door of what used to be called _My Uncle's +Bedroom_, as the founder of the pavilion had designed it especially for +himself. + +"Come in, Northmour; come in, dear Mr. Cassilis," said a voice from +within. + +Pushing open the door, Northmour admitted me before him into the +apartment. As I came in I could see the daughter slipping out by the +side-door into the study, which had been prepared as her bedroom. In the +bed, which was drawn back against the wall, instead of standing, as I +had last seen it, boldly across the window, sat Bernard Huddlestone, the +defaulting banker. Little as I had seen of him by the shifting light of +the lantern on the links, I had no difficulty in recognising him for +the same. He had a long and sallow countenance, surrounded by a long red +beard and side-whiskers. His broken nose and high cheek-bones gave him +somewhat the air of a Kalmuck, and his light eyes shone with the +excitement of a high fever. He wore a skull-cap of black silk; a huge +Bible lay open before him on the bed, with a pair of gold spectacles in +the place, and a pile of other books lay on the stand by his side. The +green curtains lent a cadaverous shade to his cheek; and, as he sat +propped on pillows, his great stature was painfully hunched, and his +head protruded till it overhung his knees. I believe if he had not died +otherwise, he must have fallen a victim to consumption in the course of +but a very few weeks. + +He held out to me a hand, long, thin, and disagreeably hairy. + +"Come in, come in, Mr. Cassilis," said he. "Another +protector--ahem!--another protector. Always welcome as a friend of my +daughter's, Mr. Cassilis. How they have rallied about me, my daughter's +friends! May God in Heaven bless and reward them for it!" + +I gave him my hand, of course, because I could not help it; but the +sympathy I had been prepared to feel for Clara's father was immediately +soured by his appearance, and the wheedling, unreal tones in which he +spoke. + +"Cassilis is a good man," said Northmour; "worth ten." + +"So I hear," cried Mr. Huddlestone eagerly; "so my girl tells me. Ah, +Mr. Cassilis, my sin has found me out, you see! I am very low, very low; +but I hope equally penitent. We must all come to the throne of grace at +last, Mr. Cassilis. For my part, I come late indeed; but with unfeigned +humility, I trust." + +"Fiddle-de-dee!" said Northmour roughly. + +"No, no, dear Northmour!" cried the banker. "You must not say that; you +must not try to shake me. You forget, my dear, good boy, you forget I +may be called this very night before my Maker." + +His excitement was pitiful to behold; and I felt myself grow indignant +with Northmour, whose infidel opinions I well knew, and heartily +derided, as he continued to taunt the poor sinner out of his humour of +repentance. + +"Pooh, my dear Huddlestone!" said he. "You do yourself injustice. You +are a man of the world, inside and out, and were up to all kinds of +mischief before I was born. Your conscience is tanned like South +American leather--only you forgot to tan your liver, and that, if you +will believe me, is the seat of the annoyance." + +"Rogue, rogue! bad boy!" said Mr. Huddlestone, shaking his finger, "I am +no precisian, if you come to that; I always hated a precisian; but I +never lost hold of something better through it all. I have been a bad +boy, Mr. Cassilis; I do not seek to deny that; but it was after my +wife's death, and you know, with a widower, it's a different thing: +sinful--I won't say no; but there is a gradation, we shall hope. And +talking of that---- Hark!" he broke out suddenly, his hand raised, his +fingers spread, his face racked with interest and terror. "Only the +rain, bless God!" he added, after a pause, and with indescribable +relief. + +For some seconds he lay back among the pillows like a man near to +fainting; then he gathered himself together, and, in somewhat tremulous +tones, began once more to thank me for the share I was prepared to take +in his defence. + +"One question, sir," said I, when he had paused. "Is it true that you +have money with you?" + +He seemed annoyed by the question, but admitted with reluctance that he +had a little. + +"Well," I continued, "it is their money they are after, is it not? Why +not give it up to them?" + +"Ah!" replied he, shaking his head, "I have tried that already, Mr. +Cassilis; and alas that it should be so! but it is blood they want." + +"Huddlestone, that's a little less than fair," said Northmour. "You +should mention that what you offered them was upwards of two hundred +thousand short. The deficit is worth a reference; it is for what they +call a cool sum, Frank. Then, you see, the fellows reason in their clear +Italian way; and it seems to them, as indeed it seems to me, that they +may just as well have both while they're about it--money and blood +together, by George, and no more trouble for the extra pleasure." + +"Is it in the pavilion?" I asked. + +"It is; and I wish it were in the bottom of the sea instead," said +Northmour; and then suddenly--"What are you making faces at me for?" he +cried to Mr. Huddlestone, on whom I had unconsciously turned my back. +"Do you think Cassilis would sell you?" + +Mr. Huddlestone protested that nothing had been further from his mind. + +"It is a good thing," retorted Northmour in his ugliest manner. "You +might end by wearying us.--What were you going to say?" he added, +turning to me. + +"I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon," said I. "Let +us carry that money out, piece by piece, and lay it down before the +pavilion door. If the _carbonari_ come, why, it's theirs at any rate." + +"No, no," cried Mr. Huddlestone; "it does not, it cannot belong to them! +It should be distributed _pro rata_ among all my creditors." + +"Come now, Huddlestone," said Northmour, "none of that." + +"Well, but my daughter," moaned the wretched man. + +"Your daughter will do well enough. Here are two suitors, Cassilis and +I, neither of us beggars, between whom she has to choose. And as for +yourself, to make an end of arguments, you have no right to a farthing, +and, unless I'm much mistaken, you are going to die." + +It was certainly very cruelly said; but Mr. Huddlestone was a man who +attracted little sympathy; and, although I saw him wince and shudder, I +mentally endorsed the rebuke; nay, I added a contribution of my own. + +"Northmour and I," I said, "are willing enough to help you to save your +life, but not to escape with stolen property." + +He struggled for a while with himself, as though he were on the point of +giving way to anger, but prudence had the best of the controversy. + +"My dear boys," he said, "do with me or my money what you will. I leave +all in your hands. Let me compose myself." + +And so we left him, gladly enough I am sure. The last that I saw, he had +once more taken up his great Bible, and with tremulous hands was +adjusting his spectacles to read. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TELLS HOW A WORD WAS CRIED THROUGH THE PAVILION WINDOW + + +The recollection of that afternoon will always be graven on my mind. +Northmour and I were persuaded that an attack was imminent; and if it +had been in our power to alter in any way the order of events, that +power would have been used to precipitate rather than delay the critical +moment. The worst was to be anticipated; yet we could conceive no +extremity so miserable as the suspense we were now suffering. I have +never been an eager, though always a great, reader; but I never knew +books so insipid as those which I took up and cast aside that afternoon +in the pavilion. Even talk became impossible as the hours went on. One +or other was always listening for some sound, or peering from an +upstairs window over the links. And yet not a sign indicated the +presence of our foes. + +We debated over and over again my proposal with regard to the money; and +had we been in complete possession of our faculties, I am sure we should +have condemned it as unwise; but we were flustered with alarm, grasped +at a straw, and determined, although it was as much as advertising Mr. +Huddlestone's presence in the pavilion, to carry my proposal into +effect. + +The sum was part in specie, part in bank paper, and part in circular +notes payable to the name of James Gregory. We took it out, counted it, +enclosed it once more in a despatch-box belonging to Northmour, and +prepared a letter in Italian which he tied to the handle. It was signed +by both of us under oath, and declared that this was all the money which +had escaped the failure of the house of Huddlestone. This was, perhaps, +the maddest action ever perpetrated by two persons professing to be +sane. Had the despatch-box fallen into other hands than those for which +it was intended, we stood criminally convicted on our own written +testimony; but as I have said, we were neither of us in a condition to +judge soberly, and had a thirst for action that drove us to do +something, right or wrong, rather than endure the agony of waiting. +Moreover, as we were both convinced that the hollows of the links were +alive with hidden spies upon our movements, we hoped that our appearance +with the box might lead to a parley, and perhaps a compromise. + +It was nearly three when we issued from the pavilion. The rain had taken +off; the sun shone quite cheerfully. I have never seen the gulls fly so +close about the house or approach so fearlessly to human beings. On the +very doorstep one flapped heavily past our heads, and uttered its wild +cry in my very ear. + +"There is an omen for you," said Northmour, who, like all freethinkers, +was much under the influence of superstition. "They think we are already +dead." + +I made some light rejoinder, but it was with half my heart; for the +circumstance had impressed me. + +A yard or two before the gate, on a patch of smooth turf, we set down +the despatch-box; and Northmour waved a white handkerchief over his +head. Nothing replied. We raised our voices, and cried aloud in Italian +that we were there as ambassadors to arrange the quarrel; but the +stillness remained unbroken save by the sea-gulls and the surf. I had a +weight at my heart when we desisted; and I saw that even Northmour was +unusually pale. He looked over his shoulder nervously, as though he +feared that some one had crept between him and the pavilion door. + +"By God," he said in a whisper, "this is too much for me!" + +I replied in the same key: "Suppose there should be none, after all?" + +"Look there," he returned, nodding with his head, as though he had been +afraid to point. + +I glanced in the direction indicated; and there, from the northern +quarter of the Sea-Wood, beheld a thin column of smoke rising steadily +against the now cloudless sky. + +"Northmour," I said (we still continued to talk in whispers), "it is not +possible to endure this suspense. I prefer death fifty times over. Stay +you here to watch the pavilion; I will go forward and make sure, if I +have to walk right into their camp." + +He looked once again all round him with puckered eyes, and then nodded +assentingly to my proposal. + +My heart beat like a sledge-hammer as I set out walking rapidly in the +direction of the smoke; and, though up to that moment I had felt chill +and shivering, I was suddenly conscious of a glow of heat over all my +body. The ground in this direction was very uneven; a hundred men might +have lain hidden in as many square yards about my path. But I had not +practised the business in vain, chose such routes as cut at the very +root of concealment, and, by keeping along the most convenient ridges, +commanded several hollows at a time. It was not long before I was +rewarded for my caution. Coming suddenly on to a mound somewhat more +elevated than the surrounding hummocks, I saw, not thirty yards away, a +man bent almost double, and running as fast as his attitude permitted +along the bottom of a gully. I had dislodged one of the spies from his +ambush. As soon as I sighted him, I called loudly both in English and +Italian; and he, seeing concealment was no longer possible, straightened +himself out, leaped from the gully, and made off as straight as an arrow +for the borders of the wood. + +It was none of my business to pursue; I had learned what I wanted--that +we were beleaguered and watched in the pavilion; and I returned at once, +and walking as nearly as possible in my old footsteps, to where +Northmour awaited me beside the despatch-box. He was even paler than +when I had left him, and his voice shook a little. + +"Could you see what he was like?" he asked. + +"He kept his back turned," I replied. + +"Let us get into the house, Frank. I don't think I'm a coward, but I can +stand no more of this," he whispered. + +All was still and sunshiny about the pavilion as we turned to re-enter +it; even the gulls had flown in a wider circuit, and were seen +flickering along the beach and sand-hills; and this loneliness terrified +me more than a regiment under arms. It was not until the door was +barricaded that I could draw a full inspiration and relieve the weight +that lay upon my bosom. Northmour and I exchanged a steady glance; and I +suppose each made his own reflections on the white and startled aspect +of the other. + +"You were right," I said. "All is over. Shake hands, old man, for the +last time." + +"Yes," replied he, "I will shake hands; for, as sure as I am here, I +bear no malice. But remember, if, by some impossible accident, we should +give the slip to these blackguards, I'll take the upper hand of you by +fair or foul." + +"Oh," said I, "you weary me." + +He seemed hurt, and walked away in silence to the foot of the stairs, +where he paused. + +"You do not understand," said he. "I am not a swindler, and I guard +myself; that is all. It may weary you or not, Mr. Cassilis, I do not +care a rush; I speak for my own satisfaction, and not for your +amusement. You had better go upstairs and court the girl; for my part, +I stay here." + +"And I stay with you," I returned. "Do you think I would steal a march, +even with your permission?" + +"Frank," he said, smiling, "it's a pity you are an ass, for you have the +makings of a man. I think I must be _fey_ to-day; you cannot irritate me +even when you try. Do you know," he continued softly, "I think we are +the two most miserable men in England, you and I? we have got on to +thirty without wife or child, or so much as a shop to look after--poor, +pitiful, lost devils, both! And now we clash about a girl! As if there +were not several millions in the United Kingdom! Ah, Frank, Frank, the +one who loses this throw, be it you or me, he has my pity! It were +better for him--how does the Bible say?--that a millstone were hanged +about his neck and he were cast into the depth of the sea. Let us take a +drink," he concluded suddenly, but without any levity of tone. + +I was touched by his words and consented. He sat down on the table in +the dining-room, and held up the glass of sherry to his eye. + +"If you beat me, Frank," he said, "I shall take to drink. What will you +do, if it goes the other way?" + +"God knows," I returned. + +"Well," said he, "here is a toast in the meantime: '_Italia +irredenta!_'" + +The remainder of the day was passed in the same dreadful tedium and +suspense. I laid the table for dinner, while Northmour and Clara +prepared the meal together in the kitchen. I could hear their talk as I +went to and fro, and was surprised to find it ran all the time upon +myself. Northmour again bracketed us together, and rallied Clara on a +choice of husbands; but he continued to speak of me with some feeling, +and uttered nothing to my prejudice unless he included himself in the +condemnation. This awakened a sense of gratitude in my heart, which +combined with the immediateness of our peril to fill my eye with tears. +After all, I thought--and perhaps the thought was laughably vain--we +were here three very noble human beings to perish in defence of a +thieving banker. + +Before we sat down to table I looked forth from an upstairs window. The +day was beginning to decline; the links were utterly deserted; the +despatch-box still lay untouched where we had left it hours before. + +Mr. Huddlestone, in a long yellow dressing-gown, took one end of the +table, Clara the other; while Northmour and I faced each other from the +sides. The lamp was brightly trimmed; the wine was good; the viands, +although mostly cold, excellent of their sort. We seemed to have agreed +tacitly; all reference to the impending catastrophe was carefully +avoided; and, considering our tragic circumstances, we made a merrier +party than could have been expected. From time to time, it is true, +Northmour or I would rise from table and make a round of the defences; +and, on each of these occasions, Mr. Huddlestone was recalled to a sense +of his tragic predicament, glanced up with ghastly eyes, and bore for an +instant on his countenance the stamp of terror. But he hastened to empty +his glass, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and joined again in +the conversation. + +I was astonished at the wit and information he displayed. Mr. +Huddlestone's was certainly no ordinary character; he had read and +observed for himself; his gifts were sound; and, though I could never +have learned to love the man, I began to understand his success in +business, and the great respect in which he had been held before his +failure. He had, above all, the talent of society; and though I never +heard him speak but on this one and most unfavourable occasion, I set +him down among the most brilliant conversationalists I ever met. + +He was relating with great gusto, and seemingly no feeling of shame, the +manoeuvres of a scoundrelly commission merchant whom he had known and +studied in his youth, and we were all listening with an odd mixture of +mirth and embarrassment, when our little party was brought abruptly to +an end in the most startling manner. + +A noise like that of a wet finger on the window-pane interrupted Mr. +Huddlestone's tale; and in an instant we were all four as white as +paper, and sat tongue-tied and motionless round the table. + +"A snail," I said at last; for I had heard that these animals make a +noise somewhat similar in character. + +"Snail be d--d!" said Northmour. "Hush!" + +The same sound was repeated twice at regular intervals; and then a +formidable voice shouted through the shutters the Italian word +"_Traditore!_" + +Mr. Huddlestone threw his head in the air; his eyelids quivered; next +moment he fell insensible below the table. Northmour and I had each run +to the armoury and seized a gun. Clara was on her feet with her hand at +her throat. + +So we stood waiting, for we thought the hour of attack was certainly +come; but second passed after second, and all but the surf remained +silent in the neighbourhood of the pavilion. + +"Quick," said Northmour; "upstairs with him before they come." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TELLS THE LAST OF THE TALL MAN + + +Somehow or other, by hook and crook, and between the three of us, we got +Bernard Huddlestone bundled upstairs and laid upon the bed in _My +Uncle's Room_. During the whole process, which was rough enough, he gave +no sign of consciousness, and he remained, as we had thrown him, without +changing the position of a finger. His daughter opened his shirt and +began to wet his head and bosom; while Northmour and I ran to the +window. The weather continued clear; the moon, which was now about full, +had risen and shed a very clear light upon the links; yet, strain our +eyes as we might, we could distinguish nothing moving. A few dark spots, +more or less, on the uneven expanse, were not to be identified; they +might be crouching men, they might be shadows; it was impossible to be +sure. + +"Thank God," said Northmour, "Aggie is not coming to-night." + +Aggie was the name of the old nurse; he had not thought of her till now; +but that he should think of her at all was a trait that surprised me in +the man. + +We were again reduced to waiting. Northmour went to the fireplace and +spread his hands before the red embers, as if he were cold. I followed +him mechanically with my eyes, and in so doing turned my back upon the +window. At that moment a very faint report was audible from without, and +a ball shivered a pane of glass, and buried itself in the shutter two +inches from my head. I heard Clara scream; and though I whipped +instantly out of range and into a corner, she was there, so to speak, +before me, beseeching to know if I were hurt. I felt that I could stand +to be shot at every day and all day long, with such marks of solicitude +for a reward; and I continued to reassure her, with the tenderest +caresses and in complete forgetfulness of our situation, till the voice +of Northmour recalled me to myself. + +"An air-gun," he said. "They wish to make no noise." + +I put Clara aside, and looked at him. He was standing with his back to +the fire and his hands clasped behind him; and I knew by the black look +on his face that passion was boiling within. I had seen just such a look +before he attacked me, that March night, in the adjoining chamber; and, +though I could make every allowance for his anger, I confess I trembled +for the consequences. He gazed straight before him; but he could see us +with the tail of his eye, and his temper kept rising like a gale of +wind. With regular battle awaiting us outside, this prospect of an +internecine strife within the walls began to daunt me. + +Suddenly, as I was thus closely watching his expression and prepared +against the worst, I saw a change, a flash, a look of relief, upon his +face. He took up the lamp which stood beside him on the table, and +turned to us with an air of some excitement. + +"There is one point that we must know," said he. "Are they going to +butcher the lot of us, or only Huddlestone? Did they take you for him, +or fire at you for your own _beaux yeux_?" + +"They took me for him, for certain," I replied. "I am near as tall, and +my head is fair." + +"I am going to make sure," returned Northmour; and he stepped up to the +window, holding the lamp above his head, and stood there, quietly +affronting death, for half a minute. + +Clara sought to rush forward and pull him from the place of danger; but +I had the pardonable selfishness to hold her back by force. + +"Yes," said Northmour, turning coolly from the window; "it's only +Huddlestone they want." + +"Oh, Mr. Northmour!" cried Clara; but found no more to add; the temerity +she had just witnessed seeming beyond the reach of words. + +He, on his part, looked at me, cocking his head, with a fire of triumph +in his eyes; and I understood at once that he had thus hazarded his +life, merely to attract Clara's notice, and depose me from my position +as the hero of the hour. He snapped his fingers. + +"The fire is only beginning," said he. "When they warm up to their work +they won't be so particular." + +A voice was now heard hailing us from the entrance. From the window we +could see the figure of a man in the moonlight; he stood motionless, his +face uplifted to ours, and a rag of something white on his extended arm; +and as we looked right down upon him, though he was a good many yards +distant on the links, we could see the moonlight glitter on his eyes. + +He opened his lips again, and spoke for some minutes on end, in a key +so loud that he might have been heard in every corner of the pavilion, +and as far away as the borders of the wood. It was the same voice that +had already shouted "_Traditore!_" through the shutters of the +dining-room; this time it made a complete and clear statement. If the +traitor "Oddlestone" were given up, all others should be spared; if not, +no one should escape to tell the tale. + +"Well, Huddlestone, what do you say to that?" asked Northmour, turning +to the bed. + +Up to that moment the banker had given no sign of life, and I, at least, +had supposed him to be still lying in a faint; but he replied at once, +and in such tones as I have never heard elsewhere, save from a delirious +patient, adjured and besought us not to desert him. It was the most +hideous and abject performance that my imagination can conceive. + +"Enough," cried Northmour; and then he threw open the window, leaned out +into the night, and in a tone of exultation, and with a total +forgetfulness of what was due to the presence of a lady, poured out upon +the ambassador a string of the most abominable raillery both in English +and Italian, and bade him be gone where he had come from. I believe that +nothing so delighted Northmour at that moment as the thought that we +must all infallibly perish before the night was out. + +Meantime the Italian put his flag of truce into his pocket, and +disappeared, at a leisurely pace, among the sand-hills. + +"They make honourable war," said Northmour. "They are all gentlemen and +soldiers. For the credit of the thing, I wish we could change sides--you +and I, Frank, and you too, Missy my darling--and leave that being on the +bed to some one else. Tut! Don't look shocked! We are all going post to +what they call eternity, and may as well be above-board while there's +time. As far as I'm concerned, if I could first strangle Huddlestone and +then get Clara in my arms, I could die with some pride and satisfaction. +And as it is, by God, I'll have a kiss!" + +Before I could do anything to interfere, he had rudely embraced and +repeatedly kissed the resisting girl. Next moment I had pulled him away +with fury, and flung him heavily against the wall. He laughed loud and +long, and I feared his wits had given way under the strain; for even in +the best of days he had been a sparing and a quiet laugher. + +"Now, Frank," said he, when his mirth was somewhat appeased, "it's your +turn. Here's my hand. Good-bye; farewell!" Then, seeing me stand rigid +and indignant, and holding Clara to my side--"Man!" he broke out, "are +you angry? Did you think we were going to die with all the airs and +graces of society? I took a kiss; I'm glad I had it; and now you can +take another if you like, and square accounts." + +I turned from him with a feeling of contempt which I did not seek to +dissemble. + +"As you please," said he. "You've been a prig in life; a prig you'll +die." + +And with that he sat down on a chair, a rifle over his knee, and amused +himself with snapping the lock; but I could see that his ebullition of +light spirits (the only one I ever knew him to display) had already come +to an end, and was succeeded by a sullen, scowling humour. + +All this time our assailants might have been entering the house, and we +been none the wiser; we had in truth almost forgotten the danger that so +imminently overhung our days. But just then Mr. Huddlestone uttered a +cry, and leaped from the bed. + +I asked him what was wrong. + +"Fire!" he cried. "They have set the house on fire!" + +Northmour was on his feet in an instant, and he and I ran through the +door of communication with the study. The room was illuminated by a red +and angry light. Almost at the moment of our entrance, a tower of flame +arose in front of the window, and, with a tingling report, a pane fell +inwards on the carpet. They had set fire to the lean-to outhouse, where +Northmour used to nurse his negatives. + +"Hot work," said Northmour. "Let us try in your old room." + +We ran thither in a breath, threw up the casement, and looked forth. +Along the whole back wall of the pavilion piles of fuel had been +arranged and kindled; and it is probable they had been drenched with +mineral oil, for, in spite of the morning's rain, they all burned +bravely. The fire had taken a firm hold already on the outhouse, which +blazed higher and higher every moment; the back-door was in the centre +of a red-hot bonfire; the eaves, we could see, as we looked upward, were +already smouldering, for the roof overhung, and was supported by +considerable beams of wood. At the same time, hot, pungent, and choking +volumes of smoke began to fill the house. There was not a human being to +be seen to right or left. + +"Ah, well!" said Northmour, "here's the end, thank God." + +And we returned to _My Uncle's Room_. Mr. Huddlestone was putting on his +boots, still violently trembling, but with an air of determination such +as I had not hitherto observed. Clara stood close by him, with her cloak +in both hands ready to throw about her shoulders, and a strange look in +her eyes, as if she were half-hopeful, half-doubtful of her father. + +"Well, boys and girls," said Northmour, "how about a sally? The oven is +heating; it is not good to stay here and be baked; and, for my part, I +want to come to my hands with them, and be done." + +"There is nothing else left," I replied. + +And both Clara and Mr. Huddlestone, though with a very different +intonation, added, "Nothing." + +As we went downstairs the heat was excessive, and the roaring of the +fire filled our ears; and we had scarce reached the passage before the +stairs window fell in, a branch of flame shot brandishing through the +aperture, and the interior of the pavilion became lit up with that +dreadful and fluctuating glare. At the same moment we heard the fall of +something heavy and inelastic in the upper story. The whole pavilion, it +was plain, had gone alight like a box of matches, and now not only +flamed sky-high to land and sea, but threatened with every moment to +crumble and fall in about our ears. + +Northmour and I cocked our revolvers. Mr. Huddlestone, who had already +refused a firearm, put us behind him with a manner of command. + +"Let Clara open the door," said he. "So, if they fire a volley, she will +be protected. And in the meantime stand behind me. I am the scapegoat; +my sins have found me out." + +I heard him, as I stood breathless by his shoulder, with my pistol +ready, pattering off prayers in a tremulous, rapid whisper; and I +confess, horrid as the thought may seem, I despised him for thinking of +supplications in a moment so critical and thrilling. In the meantime, +Clara, who was dead white, but still possessed her faculties, had +displaced the barricade from the front door. Another moment, and she had +pulled it open. Firelight and moonlight illuminated the links with +confused and changeful lustre, and far away against the sky we could see +a long trail of glowing smoke. + +Mr. Huddlestone, filled for the moment with a strength greater than his +own, struck Northmour and myself a back-hander in the chest; and while +we were thus for the moment incapacitated from action, lifting his arms +above his head like one about to dive, he ran straight forward out of +the pavilion. + +"Here am I!" he cried--"Huddlestone! Kill me, and spare the others!" + +His sudden appearance daunted, I suppose, our hidden enemies; for +Northmour and I had time to recover, to seize Clara between us, one by +each arm, and to rush forth to his assistance, ere anything further had +taken place. But scarce had we passed the threshold when there came near +a dozen reports and flashes from every direction among the hollows of +the links. Mr. Huddlestone staggered, uttered a weird and freezing cry, +threw up his arms over his head, and fell backward on the turf. + +"_Traditore! Traditore!_" cried the invisible avengers. + +And just then a part of the roof of the pavilion fell in, so rapid was +the progress of the fire. A loud, vague, and horrible noise accompanied +the collapse, and a vast volume of flame went soaring up to heaven. It +must have been visible at that moment from twenty miles out at sea, from +the shore at Graden-Wester, and far inland from the peak of Graystiel, +the most eastern summit of the Caulder Hills. Bernard Huddlestone, +although God knows what were his obsequies, had a fine pyre at the +moment of his death. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TELLS HOW NORTHMOUR CARRIED OUT HIS THREAT + + +I should have the greatest difficulty to tell you what followed next +after this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, as I look back upon it, +mixed, strenuous, and ineffectual, like the struggles of a sleeper in a +nightmare. Clara, I remember, uttered a broken sigh and would have +fallen forward to earth, had not Northmour and I supported her +insensible body. I do not think we were attacked; I do not remember even +to have seen an assailant; and I believe we deserted Mr. Huddlestone +without a glance. I only remember running like a man in a panic, now +carrying Clara altogether in my own arms, now sharing her weight with +Northmour, now scuffling confusedly for the possession of that dear +burden. Why we should have made for my camp in the Hemlock Den, or how +we reached it, are points lost for ever to my recollection. The first +moment at which I became definitely sure, Clara had been suffered to +fall against the outside of my little tent, Northmour and I were +tumbling together on the ground, and he, with contained ferocity, was +striking for my head with the butt of his revolver. He had already twice +wounded me on the scalp; and it is to the subsequent loss of blood that +I am tempted to attribute the sudden clearness of my mind. + +I caught him by the wrist. + +"Northmour," I remember saying, "you can kill me afterwards. Let us +first attend to Clara." + +He was at that moment uppermost. Scarcely had the words passed my lips, +when he had leaped to his feet and ran towards the tent; and the next +moment he was straining Clara to his heart and covering her unconscious +hands and face with his caresses. + +"Shame!" I cried. "Shame to you, Northmour!" + +And, giddy though I still was, I struck him repeatedly upon the head and +shoulders. + +He relinquished his grasp, and faced me in the broken moonlight. + +"I had you under, and I let you go," said he; "and now you strike me! +Coward!" + +"You are the coward," I retorted. "Did she wish your kisses while she +was still sensible of what she wanted? Not she! And now she may be +dying; and you waste this precious time, and abuse her helplessness. +Stand aside, and let me help her." + +He confronted me for a moment, white and menacing; then suddenly he +stepped aside. + +"Help her, then," said he. + +I threw myself on my knees beside her, and loosened, as well as I was +able, her dress and corset; but while I was thus engaged, a grasp +descended on my shoulder. + +"Keep your hands off her," said Northmour fiercely. "Do you think I have +no blood in my veins?" + +"Northmour," I cried, "if you will neither help her yourself, nor let me +do so, do you know that I shall have to kill you?" + +"That is better!" he cried. "Let her die also--where's the harm? Step +aside from that girl, and stand up to fight!" + +"You will observe," said I, half-rising, "that I have not kissed her +yet." + +"I dare you to," he cried. + +I do not know what possessed me; it was one of the things I am most +ashamed of in my life, though, as my wife used to say, I knew that my +kisses would be always welcome were she dead or living; down I fell +again upon my knees, parted the hair from her forehead, and, with the +dearest respect, laid my lips for a moment on that cold brow. It was +such a caress as a father might have given; it was such a one as was not +unbecoming from a man soon to die to a woman already dead. + +"And now," said I, "I am at your service, Mr Northmour." + +But I saw, to my surprise, that he had turned his back upon me. + +"Do you hear?" I asked. + +"Yes," said he, "I do. If you wish to fight, I am ready. If not, go on +and save Clara. All is one to me." + +I did not wait to be twice bidden; but, stooping again over Clara, +continued my efforts to revive her. She still lay white and lifeless; I +began to fear that her sweet spirit had indeed fled beyond recall, and +horror and a sense of utter desolation seized upon my heart. I called +her by name with the most endearing inflections; I chafed and beat her +hands; now I laid her head low, now supported it against my knee; but +all seemed to be in vain, and the lids still lay heavy on her eyes. + +"Northmour," I said, "there is my hat. For God's sake bring some water +from the spring." + +Almost in a moment he was by my side with the water. + +"I have brought it in my own," he said. "You do not grudge me the +privilege?" + +"Northmour," I was beginning to say, as I laved her head and breast; but +he interrupted me savagely. + +"Oh, you hush up!" he said. "The best thing you can do is to say +nothing." + +I had certainly no desire to talk, my mind being swallowed up in concern +for my dear love and her condition; so I continued in silence to do my +best towards her recovery, and, when the hat was empty, returned it to +him with one word--"More." He had, perhaps, gone several times upon this +errand, when Clara reopened her eyes. + +"Now," said he, "since she is better, you can spare me, can you not? I +wish you a good-night, Mr. Cassilis." + +And with that he was gone among the thicket. I made a fire, for I had +now no fear of the Italians, who had even spared all the little +possessions left in my encampment; and, broken as she was by the +excitement and the hideous catastrophe of the evening, I managed, in one +way or another--by persuasion, encouragement, warmth, and such simple +remedies as I could lay my hand on--to bring her back to some composure +of mind and strength of body. + +Day had already come, when a sharp "Hist!" sounded from the thicket. I +started from the ground; but the voice of Northmour was heard adding, in +the most tranquil tones: "Come here, Cassilis, and alone; I want to show +you something." + +I consulted Clara with my eyes, and, receiving her tacit permission, +left her alone, and clambered out of the den. At some distance off I saw +Northmour leaning against an elder; and, as soon as he perceived me, he +began walking seaward. I had almost overtaken him as he reached the +outskirts of the wood. + +"Look," said he, pausing. + +A couple of steps more brought me out of the foliage. The light of the +morning lay cold and clear over that well-known scene. The pavilion was +but a blackened wreck; the roof had fallen in, one of the gables had +fallen out; and, far and near, the face of the links was cicatrised with +little patches of burnt furze. Thick smoke still went straight upwards +in the windless air of the morning, and a great pile of ardent cinders +filled the bare walls of the house, like coals in an open grate. Close +by the islet a schooner yacht lay-to, and a well-manned boat was pulling +vigorously for the shore. + +"The _Red Earl_!" I cried. "The _Red Earl_ twelve hours too late!" + +"Feel in your pocket, Frank. Are you armed?" asked Northmour. + +I obeyed him, and I think I must have become deadly pale. My revolver +had been taken from me. + +"You see I have you in my power," he continued. "I disarmed you last +night while you were nursing Clara; but this morning--here--take your +pistol. No thanks!" he cried, holding up his hand. "I do not like them; +that is the only way you can annoy me now." + +He began to walk forward across the links to meet the boat, and I +followed a step or two behind. In front of the pavilion I paused to see +where Mr. Huddlestone had fallen; but there was no sign of him, nor so +much as a trace of blood. + +"Graden Floe," said Northmour. + +He continued to advance till we had come to the head of the beach. + +"No farther, please," said he. "Would you like to take her to Graden +House?" + +"Thank you," I replied; "I shall try to get her to the minister's at +Graden-Wester." + +The prow of the boat here grated on the beach, and a sailor jumped +ashore with a line in his hand. + +"Wait a minute, lads!" cried Northmour; and then lower and to my private +ear: "You had better say nothing of all this to her," he added. + +"On the contrary!" I broke out, "she shall know everything that I can +tell." + +"You do not understand," he returned, with an air of great dignity. "It +will be nothing to her; she expects it of me. Good-bye!" he added, with +a nod. + +I offered him my hand. + +"Excuse me," said he. "It's small, I know; but I can't push things quite +so far as that. I don't wish any sentimental business, to sit by your +hearth a white-haired wanderer, and all that. Quite the contrary: I hope +to God I shall never again clap eyes on either one of you." + +"Well, God bless you, Northmour!" I said heartily. + +"Oh, yes," he returned. + +He walked down the beach; and the man who was ashore gave him an arm on +board, and then shoved off and leaped into the bows himself. Northmour +took the tiller; the boat rose to the waves, and the oars between the +thole-pins sounded crisp and measured in the morning air. + +They were not yet half-way to the _Red Earl_, and I was still watching +their progress, when the sun rose out of the sea. + +One word more, and my story is done. Years after, Northmour was killed +fighting under the colours of Garibaldi for the liberation of the Tyrol. + + + + +A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT + +A STORY OF FRANCIS VILLON + + +It was late in November 1456. The snow fell over Paris with rigorous, +relentless persistence; sometimes the wind made a sally and scattered it +in flying vortices; sometimes there was a lull, and flake after flake +descended out of the black night air, silent, circuitous, interminable. +To poor people, looking up under moist eyebrows, it seemed a wonder +where it all came from. Master Francis Villon had propounded an +alternative that afternoon at a tavern window: was it only Pagan Jupiter +plucking geese upon Olympus? or were the holy angels moulting? He was +only a poor Master of Arts, he went on; and as the question somewhat +touched upon divinity, he durst not venture to conclude. A silly old +priest from Montargis, who was among the company, treated the young +rascal to a bottle of wine in honour of the jest and the grimaces with +which it was accompanied, and swore on his own white beard that he had +been just such another irreverent dog when he was Villon's age. + +The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; and the flakes +were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole city was sheeted up. An army +might have marched from end to end and not a footfall given the alarm. +If there were any belated birds in heaven, they saw the island like a +large white patch, and the bridges like slim white spars, on the black +ground of the river. High up overhead the snow settled among the tracery +of the cathedral towers. Many a niche was drifted full; many a statue +wore a long white bonnet on its grotesque or sainted head. The gargoyles +had been transformed into great false noses, drooping towards the +point. The crockets were like upright pillows swollen on one side. In +the intervals of the wind there was a dull sound of dripping about the +precincts of the church. + +The cemetery of St. John had taken its own share of the snow. All the +graves were decently covered; tall white housetops stood around in grave +array; worthy burghers were long ago in bed, be-nightcapped like their +domiciles; there was no light in all the neighbourhood but a little peep +from a lamp that hung swinging in the church choir, and tossed the +shadows to and fro in time to its oscillations. The clock was hard on +ten when the patrol went by with halberds and a lantern, beating their +hands; and they saw nothing suspicious about the cemetery of St. John. + +Yet there was a small house, backed up against the cemetery wall, which +was still awake, and awake to evil purpose, in that snoring district. +There was not much to betray it from without; only a stream of warm +vapour from the chimney-top, a patch where the snow melted on the roof, +and a few half-obliterated footprints at the door. But within, behind +the shuttered windows, Master Francis Villon the poet, and some of the +thievish crew with whom he consorted, were keeping the night alive and +passing round the bottle. + +A great pile of living embers diffused a strong and ruddy glow from the +arched chimney. Before this straddled Dom Nicolas, the Picardy monk, +with his skirts picked up and his fat legs bared to the comfortable +warmth. His dilated shadow cut the room in half; and the firelight only +escaped on either side of his broad person, and in a little pool between +his outspread feet. His face had the beery, bruised appearance of the +continual drinker's; it was covered with a network of congested veins, +purple in ordinary circumstances, but now pale violet, for even with his +back to the fire the cold pinched him on the other side. His cowl had +half-fallen back, and made a strange excrescence on either side of his +bull-neck. So he straddled, grumbling, and cut the room in half with +the shadow of his portly frame. + +On the right, Villon and Guy Tabary were huddled together over a scrap +of parchment; Villon making a ballade which he was to call the "Ballade +of Roast Fish," and Tabary spluttering admiration at his shoulder. The +poet was a rag of a man, dark, little, and lean, with hollow cheeks and +thin black locks. He carried his four-and-twenty years with feverish +animation. Greed had made folds about his eyes, evil smiles had puckered +his mouth. The wolf and pig struggled together in his face. It was an +eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly countenance. His hands were small and +prehensile, with fingers knotted like a cord; and they were continually +flickering in front of him in violent and expressive pantomime. As for +Tabary, a broad, complacent, admiring imbecility breathed from his +squash nose and slobbering lips: he had become a thief, just as he might +have become the most decent of burgesses, by the imperious chance that +rules the lives of human geese and human donkeys. + +At the monk's other hand, Montigny and Thevenin Pensete played a game of +chance. About the first there clung some flavour of good birth and +training, as about a fallen angel; something long, lithe, and courtly in +the person; something aquiline and darkling in the face. Thevenin, poor +soul, was in great feather: he had done a good stroke of knavery that +afternoon in the Faubourg St. Jacques, and all night he had been gaining +from Montigny. A flat smile illuminated his face; his bald head shone +rosily in a garland of red curls; his little protuberant stomach shook +with silent chucklings as he swept in his gains. + +"Doubles or quits?" said Thevenin. + +Montigny nodded grimly. + +"_Some may prefer to dine in state_," wrote Villon, "_On bread and +cheese on silver plate_. Or--or--help me out, Guido!" + +Tabary giggled. + +"_Or parsley on a golden dish_," scribbled the poet. + +The wind was freshening without; it drove the snow before it, and +sometimes raised its voice in a victorious whoop, and made sepulchral +grumblings in the chimney. The cold was growing sharper as the night +went on. Villon, protruding his lips, imitated the gust with something +between a whistle and a groan. It was an eerie, uncomfortable talent of +the poet's, much detested by the Picardy monk. + +"Can't you hear it rattle in the gibbet?" said Villon. "They are all +dancing the devil's jig on nothing, up there. You may dance, my +gallants, you'll be none the warmer! Whew! what a gust! Down went +somebody just now! A medlar the fewer on the three-legged +medlar-tree!--I say, Dom Nicolas, it'll be cold to-night on the St. +Denis Road?" he asked. + +Dom Nicolas winked both his big eyes, and seemed to choke upon his +Adam's apple. Montfaucon, the great grisly Paris gibbet, stood hard by +the St. Denis Road, and the pleasantry touched him on the raw. As for +Tabary, he laughed immoderately over the medlars; he had never heard +anything more light-hearted; and he held his sides and crowed. Villon +fetched him a fillip on the nose, which turned his mirth into an attack +of coughing. + +"Oh, stop that row," said Villon, "and think of rhymes to 'fish.'" + +"Doubles or quits?" said Montigny doggedly. + +"With all my heart," quoth Thevenin. + +"Is there any more in that bottle?" asked the monk. + +"Open another," said Villon. "How do you ever hope to fill that big +hogshead, your body, with little things like bottles? And how do you +expect to get to heaven? How many angels, do you fancy, can be spared to +carry up a single monk from Picardy? Or do you think yourself another +Elias--and they'll send the coach for you?" + +"_Hominibus impossibile_," replied the monk, as he filled his glass. + +Tabary was in ecstasies. + +Villon filliped his nose again. + +"Laugh at my jokes, if you like," he said. + +"It was very good," objected Tabary. + +Villon made a face at him. "Think of rhymes to 'fish'," he said, "What +have you to do with Latin? You'll wish you knew none of it at the great +assizes, when the devil calls for Guido Tabary, clericus--the devil with +the hump-back and red-hot finger-nails. Talking of the devil," he added +in a whisper, "look at Montigny!" + +All three peered covertly at the gamester. He did not seem to be +enjoying his luck. His mouth was a little to a side; one nostril nearly +shut, and the other much inflated. The black dog was on his back, as +people say, in terrifying nursery metaphor; and he breathed hard under +the gruesome burden. + +"He looks as if he could knife him," whispered Tabary, with round eyes. + +The monk shuddered, and turned his face and spread his open hands to the +red embers. It was the cold that thus affected Dom Nicolas, and not any +excess of moral sensibility. + +"Come now," said Villon--"about this ballade. How does it run so far?" +And beating time with his hand, he read it aloud to Tabary. + +They were interrupted at the fourth rhyme by a brief and fatal movement +among the gamesters. The round was completed, and Thevenin was just +opening his mouth to claim another victory, when Montigny leaped up, +swift as an adder, and stabbed him to the heart. The blow took effect +before he had time to utter a cry, before he had time to move. A tremor +or two convulsed his frame; his hands opened and shut, his heels rattled +on the floor; then his head rolled backwards over one shoulder with the +eyes wide open; and Thevenin Pensete's spirit had returned to Him who +made it. + +Every one sprang to his feet; but the business was over in two twos. +The four living fellows looked at each other in rather a ghastly +fashion; the dead man contemplating a corner of the roof with a singular +and ugly leer. + +"My God!" said Tabary; and he began to pray in Latin. + +Villon broke out into hysterical laughter. He came a step forward and +ducked a ridiculous bow at Thevenin, and laughed still louder. Then he +sat down suddenly, all of a heap, upon a stool, and continued laughing +bitterly as though he would shake himself to pieces. + +Montigny recovered his composure first. + +"Let's see what he has about him," he remarked; and he picked the dead +man's pockets with a practised hand, and divided the money into four +equal portions on the table. "There's for you," he said. + +The monk received his share with a deep sigh, and a single stealthy +glance at the dead Thevenin, who was beginning to sink into himself and +topple sideways off the chair. + +"We're all in for it," cried Villon, swallowing his mirth. "It's a +hanging job for every man jack of us that's here--not to speak of those +who aren't." He made a shocking gesture in the air with his raised right +hand, and put out his tongue and threw his head on one side, so as to +counterfeit the appearance of one who has been hanged. Then he pocketed +his share of the spoil, and executed a shuffle with his feet as if to +restore the circulation. + +Tabary was the last to help himself; he made a dash at the money, and +retired to the other end of the apartment. + +Montigny stuck Thevenin upright in the chair, and drew out the dagger, +which was followed by a jet of blood. + +"You fellows had better be moving," he said, as he wiped the blade on +his victim's doublet. + +"I think we had," returned Villon, with a gulp. "Damn his fat head!" he +broke out. "It sticks in my throat like phlegm. What right has a man to +have red hair when he is dead?" And he fell all of a heap again upon +the stool, and fairly covered his face with his hands. + +Montigny and Dom Nicolas laughed aloud, even Tabary feebly chiming in. + +"Cry baby," said the monk. + +"I always said he was a woman," added Montigny with a sneer. "Sit up, +can't you?" he went on, giving another shake to the murdered body. +"Tread out that fire, Nick!" + +But Nick was better employed; he was quietly taking Villon's purse, as +the poet sat, limp and trembling, on the stool where he had been making +a ballade not three minutes before. Montigny and Tabary dumbly demanded +a share of the booty, which the monk silently promised as he passed the +little bag into the bosom of his gown. In many ways an artistic nature +unfits a man for practical existence. + +No sooner had the theft been accomplished than Villon shook himself, +jumped to his feet, and began helping to scatter and extinguish the +embers. Meanwhile Montigny opened the door and cautiously peered into +the street. The coast was clear; there was no meddlesome patrol in +sight. Still it was judged wiser to slip out severally; and as Villon +was himself in a hurry to escape from the neighbourhood of the dead +Thevenin, and the rest were in a still greater hurry to get rid of him +before he should discover the loss of his money, he was the first by +general consent to issue forth into the street. + +The wind had triumphed and swept all the clouds from heaven. Only a few +vapours, as thin as moonlight, fleeted rapidly across the stars. It was +bitter cold; and by a common optical effect, things seemed almost more +definite than in the broadest daylight. The sleeping city was absolutely +still: a company of white hoods, a field full of little Alps, below the +twinkling stars. Villon cursed his fortune. Would it were still snowing! +Now, wherever he went, he left an indelible trail behind him on the +glittering streets; wherever he went he was still tethered to the house +by the cemetery of St. John; wherever he went he must weave, with his +own plodding feet, the rope that bound him to the crime and would bind +him to the gallows. The leer of the dead man came back to him with a new +significance. He snapped his fingers as if to pluck up his own spirits, +and choosing a street at random, stepped boldly forward in the snow. + +Two things preoccupied him as he went: the aspect of the gallows at +Montfaucon in this bright windy phase of the night's existence, for one; +and for another, the look of the dead man with his bald head and garland +of red curls. Both struck cold upon his heart, and he kept quickening +his pace as if he could escape from unpleasant thoughts by mere +fleetness of foot. Sometimes he looked back over his shoulder with a +sudden nervous jerk; but he was the only moving thing in the white +streets, except when the wind swooped round a corner and threw up the +snow, which was beginning to freeze, in spouts of glittering dust. + +Suddenly he saw, a long way before him, a black clump and a couple of +lanterns. The clump was in motion, and the lanterns swung as though +carried by men walking. It was a patrol. And though it was merely +crossing his line of march, he judged it wiser to get out of eyeshot as +speedily as he could. He was not in the humour to be challenged, and he +was conscious of making a very conspicuous mark upon the snow. Just on +his left hand there stood a great hotel, with some turrets and a large +porch before the door; it was half-ruinous, he remembered, and had long +stood empty; and so he made three steps of it and jumped into the +shelter of the porch. It was pretty dark inside, after the glimmer of +the snowy streets, and he was groping forward with outspread hands, when +he stumbled over some substance which offered an indescribable mixture +of resistances, hard and soft, firm and loose. His heart gave a leap, +and he sprang two steps back and stared dreadfully at the obstacle. Then +he gave a little laugh of relief. It was only a woman, and she dead. He +knelt beside her to make sure upon this latter point. She was freezing +cold, and rigid like a stick. A little ragged finery fluttered in the +wind about her hair, and her cheeks had been heavily rouged that same +afternoon. Her pockets were quite empty; but in her stocking, underneath +the garter, Villon found two of the small coins that went by the name of +whites. It was little enough; but it was always something; and the poet +was moved with a deep sense of pathos that she should have died before +she had spent her money. That seemed to him a dark and pitiable mystery; +and he looked from the coins in his hand to the dead woman, and back +again to the coins, shaking his head over the riddle of man's life. +Henry V. of England, dying at Vincennes just after he had conquered +France, and this poor jade cut off by a cold draught in a great man's +doorway, before she had time to spend her couple of whites--it seemed a +cruel way to carry on the world. Two whites would have taken such a +little while to squander; and yet it would have been one more good taste +in the mouth, one more smack of the lips, before the devil got the soul, +and the body was left to birds and vermin. He would like to use all his +tallow before the light was blown out and the lantern broken. + +While these thoughts were passing through his mind, he was feeling, half +mechanically, for his purse. Suddenly his heart stopped beating; a +feeling of cold scales passed up the back of his legs, and a cold blow +seemed to fall upon his scalp. He stood petrified for a moment; then he +felt again with one feverish movement; and then his loss burst upon him, +and he was covered at once with perspiration. To spendthrifts money is +so living and actual--it is such a thin veil between them and their +pleasures! There is only one limit to their fortune--that of time; and a +spendthrift with only a few crowns is the Emperor of Rome until they are +spent. For such a person to lose his money is to suffer the most +shocking reverse, and fall from heaven to hell, from all to nothing, in +a breath. And all the more if he has put his head in the halter for it; +if he may be hanged to-morrow for that same purse so dearly earned, so +foolishly departed! Villon stood and cursed; he threw the two whites +into the street; he shook his fist at heaven; he stamped, and was not +horrified to find himself trampling the poor corpse. Then he began +rapidly to retrace his steps towards the house beside the cemetery. He +had forgotten all fear of the patrol, which was long gone by at any +rate, and had no idea but that of his lost purse. It was in vain that he +looked right and left upon the snow: nothing was to be seen. He had not +dropped it in the streets. Had it fallen in the house? He would have +liked dearly to go in and see; but the idea of the grisly occupant +unmanned him. And he saw besides, as he drew near, that their efforts to +put out the fire had been unsuccessful; on the contrary, it had broken +into a blaze, and a changeful light played in the chinks of door and +window, and revived his terror for the authorities and Paris gibbet. + +He returned to the hotel with the porch, and groped about upon the snow +for the money he had thrown away in his childish passion. But he could +only find one white; the other had probably struck sideways and sunk +deeply in. With a single white in his pocket, all his projects for a +rousing night in some wild tavern vanished utterly away. And it was not +only pleasure that fled laughing from his grasp; positive discomfort, +positive pain, attacked him as he stood ruefully before the porch. His +perspiration had dried upon him; and though the wind had now fallen, a +binding frost was setting in stronger with every hour, and he felt +benumbed and sick at heart. What was to be done? Late as was the hour, +improbable as was success, he would try the house of his adopted father, +the chaplain of St. Benoit. + +He ran there all the way, and knocked timidly. There was no answer. He +knocked again and again, taking heart with every stroke; and at last +steps were heard approaching from within. A barred wicket fell open in +the iron-studded door, and emitted a gush of yellow light. + +"Hold up your face to the wicket," said the chaplain from within. + +"It's only me," whimpered Villon. + +"Oh, it's only you, is it?" returned the chaplain; and he cursed him +with foul unpriestly oaths for disturbing him at such an hour, and bade +him be off to hell, where he came from. + +"My hands are blue to the wrist," pleaded Villon; "my feet are dead and +full of twinges: my nose aches with the sharp air; the cold lies at my +heart. I may be dead before morning. Only this once, father, and before +God I will never ask again!" + +"You should have come earlier," said the ecclesiastic coolly. "Young men +require a lesson now and then." He shut the wicket and retired +deliberately into the interior of the house. + +Villon was beside himself; he beat upon the door with his hands and +feet, and shouted hoarsely after the chaplain. + +"Wormy old fox!" he cried. "If I had my hand under your twist, I would +send you flying headlong into the bottomless pit." + +A door shut in the interior, faintly audible to the poet down long +passages. He passed his hand over his mouth with an oath. And then the +humour of the situation struck him, and he laughed and looked lightly up +to heaven, where the stars seemed to be winking over his discomfiture. + +What was to be done? It looked very like a night in the frosty streets. +The idea of the dead woman popped into his imagination, and gave him a +hearty fright; what had happened to her in the early night might very +well happen to him before morning. And he so young! and with such +immense possibilities of disorderly amusement before him! He felt quite +pathetic over the notion of his own fate, as if it had been some one +else's, and made a little imaginative vignette of the scene in the +morning, when they should find his body. + +He passed all his chances under review, turning the white between his +thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately he was on bad terms with some old +friends who would once have taken pity on him in such a plight. He had +lampooned them in verses, he had beaten and cheated them; and yet now, +when he was in so close a pinch, he thought there was at least one who +might perhaps relent. It was a chance. It was worth trying at least, and +he would go and see. + +On the way, two little accidents happened to him which coloured his +musings in a very different manner. For, first, he fell in with the +track of a patrol, and walked in it for some hundred yards, although it +lay out of his direction. And this spirited him up; at least he had +confused his trail; for he was still possessed with the idea of people +tracking him all about Paris over the snow, and collaring him next +morning before he was awake. The other matter affected him very +differently. He passed a street corner, where, not so long before, a +woman and her child had been devoured by wolves. This was just the kind +of weather, he reflected, when wolves might take it into their heads to +enter Paris again; and a lone man in these deserted streets would run +the chance of something worse than a mere scare. He stopped and looked +upon the place with an unpleasant interest--it was a centre where +several lanes intersected each other; and he looked down them all one +after another, and held his breath to listen, lest he should detect some +galloping black things on the snow, or hear the sound of howling between +him and the river. He remembered his mother telling him the story and +pointing out the spot, while he was yet a child. His mother! If he only +knew where she lived, he might make sure at least of shelter. He +determined he would inquire upon the morrow; nay, he would go and see +her too, poor old girl! So thinking, he arrived at his destination--his +last hope for the night. + +The house was quite dark, like its neighbours, and yet after a few taps, +he heard a movement overhead, a door opening, and a cautious voice +asking who was there. The poet named himself in a loud whisper, and +waited, not without some trepidation, the result. Nor had he to wait +long. A window was suddenly opened, and a pailful of slops splashed down +upon the doorstep. Villon had not been unprepared for something of the +sort, and had put himself as much in shelter as the nature of the porch +admitted; but for all that, he was deplorably drenched below the waist. +His hose began to freeze almost at once. Death from cold and exposure +stared him in the face; he remembered he was of phthisical tendency, and +began coughing tentatively. But the gravity of the danger steadied his +nerves. He stopped a few hundred yards from the door where he had been +so rudely used, and reflected with his finger to his nose. He could only +see one way of getting a lodging, and that was to take it. He had +noticed a house not far away, which looked as if it might be easily +broken into, and thither he betook himself promptly, entertaining +himself on the way with the idea of a room still hot, with a table still +loaded with the remains of supper, where he might pass the rest of the +black hours, and whence he should issue, on the morrow, with an armful +of valuable plate. He even considered on what viands and what wines he +should prefer; and as he was calling the roll of his favourite dainties, +roast fish presented itself to his mind with an odd mixture of amusement +and horror. + +"I shall never finish that ballade," he thought to himself; and then, +with another shudder at the recollection, "Oh, damn his fat head!" he +repeated fervently, and spat upon the snow. + +The house in question looked dark at first sight; but as Villon made a +preliminary inspection in search of the handiest point of attack, a +little twinkle of light caught his eye from behind a curtained window. + +"The devil!" he thought. "People awake! Some student or some saint, +confound the crew! Can't they get drunk and lie in bed snoring like +their neighbours! What's the good of curfew, and poor devils of +bell-ringers jumping at a rope's-end in bell-towers? What's the use of +day, if people sit up all night? The gripes to them!" He grinned as he +saw where his logic was leading him. "Every man to his business, after +all," added he, "and if they're awake, by the lord, I may come by a +supper honestly for this once, and cheat the devil." + +He went boldly to the door and knocked with an assured hand. On both +previous occasions, he had knocked timidly and with some dread of +attracting notice; but now, when he had just discarded the thought of a +burglarious entry, knocking at a door seemed a mighty simple and +innocent proceeding. The sound of his blows echoed through the house +with thin, phantasmal reverberations, as though it were quite empty; but +these had scarcely died away before a measured tread drew near, a couple +of bolts were withdrawn, and one wing was opened broadly, as though no +guile or fear of guile were known to those within. A tall figure of a +man, muscular and spare, but a little bent, confronted Villon. The head +was in massive bulk, but finely sculptured; the nose blunt at the +bottom, but refining upward to where it joined a pair of strong and +honest eyebrows; the mouth and eyes surrounded with delicate markings, +and the whole face based upon a thick white beard, boldly and squarely +trimmed. Seen as it was by the light of a flickering hand-lamp, it +looked perhaps nobler than it had a right to do; but it was a fine face, +honourable rather than intelligent, strong, simple, and righteous. + +"You knock late, sir," said the old man in resonant, courteous tones. + +Villon cringed, and brought up many servile words of apology; at a +crisis of this sort the beggar was uppermost in him, and the man of +genius hid his head with confusion. + +"You are cold," repeated the old man, "and hungry? Well, step in." And +he ordered him into the house with a noble enough gesture. + +"Some great seigneur," thought Villon, as his host setting down the +lamp on the flagged pavement of the entry, shot the bolts once more into +their places. + +"You will pardon me if I go in front," he said, when this was done; and +he preceded the poet upstairs into a large apartment, warmed with a pan +of charcoal and lit by a great lamp hanging from the roof. It was very +bare of furniture: only some gold plate on a sideboard; some folios; and +a stand of armour between the windows. Some smart tapestry hung upon the +walls, representing the crucifixion of our Lord in one piece, and in +another a scene of shepherds and shepherdesses by a running stream. Over +the chimney was a shield of arms. + +"Will you seat yourself," said the old man, "and forgive me if I leave +you? I am alone in my house to-night, and if you are to eat I must +forage for you myself." + +No sooner was his host gone than Villon leaped from the chair on which +he had just seated himself, and began examining the room, with the +stealth and passion of a cat. He weighed the gold flagons in his hand, +opened all the folios, and investigated the arms upon the shield, and +the stuff with which the seats were lined. He raised the window +curtains, and saw that the windows were set with rich stained glass in +figures, so far as he could see, of martial import. Then he stood in the +middle of the room, drew a long breath, and retaining it with puffed +cheeks, looked round and round him, turning on his heels, as if to +impress every feature of the apartment on his memory. + +"Seven pieces of plate," he said. "If there had been ten, I would have +risked it. A fine house, and a fine old master, so help me all the +saints!" + +And just then, hearing the old man's tread returning along the corridor, +he stole back to his chair, and began humbly toasting his wet legs +before the charcoal pan. + +His entertainer had a plate of meat in one hand and a jug of wine in the +other. He set down the plate upon the table, motioning Villon to draw in +his chair, and going to the sideboard, brought back two goblets, which +he filled. + +"I drink to your better fortune," he said, gravely touching Villon's cup +with his own. + +"To our better acquaintance," said the poet, growing bold. A mere man of +the people would have been awed by the courtesy of the old seigneur, but +Villon was hardened in that matter; he had made mirth for great lords +before now, and found them as black rascals as himself. And so he +devoted himself to the viands with a ravenous gusto, while the old man, +leaning backward, watched him with steady, curious eyes. + +"You have blood on your shoulder, my man," he said. + +Montigny must have laid his wet right hand upon him as he left the +house. He cursed Montigny in his heart. + +"It was none of my shedding," he stammered. + +"I had not supposed so," returned his host quietly. "A brawl?" + +"Well, something of that sort," Villon admitted with a quaver. + +"Perhaps a fellow murdered?" + +"Oh, no--not murdered," said the poet, more and more confused. "It was +all fair play--murdered by accident. I had no hand in it, God strike me +dead!" he added fervently. + +"One rogue the fewer, I daresay," observed the master of the house. + +"You may dare to say that," agreed Villon, infinitely relieved. "As big +a rogue as there is between here and Jerusalem. He turned up his toes +like a lamb. But it was a nasty thing to look at. I daresay you've seen +dead men in your time, my lord?" he added, glancing at the armour. + +"Many," said the old man. "I have followed the wars, as you imagine." + +Villon laid down his knife and fork, which he had just taken up again. + +"Were any of them bald?" he asked. + +"Oh yes, and with hair as white as mine." + +"I don't think I should mind the white so much," said Villon. "His was +red." And he had a return of his shuddering and tendency to laughter, +which he drowned with a great draught of wine. "I'm a little put out +when I think of it," he went on. "I knew him--damn him! And then the +cold gives a man fancies--or the fancies give a man cold, I don't know +which." + +"Have you any money?" asked the old man. + +"I have one white," returned the poet, laughing. "I got it out of a dead +jade's stocking in a porch. She was as dead as Caesar, poor wench, and as +cold as a church, with bits of ribbon sticking in her hair. This is a +hard world in winter for wolves and wenches and poor rogues like me." + +"I," said the old man, "am Enguerrand de la Feuillee, seigneur de +Brisetout, bailly du Patatrac. Who and what may you be?" + +Villon rose and made a suitable reverence. "I am called Francis Villon," +he said, "a poor Master of Arts of this university. I know some Latin, +and a deal of vice. I can make chansons, ballades, lais, virelais, and +roundels, and I am very fond of wine. I was born in a garret, and I +shall not improbably die upon the gallows. I may add, my lord, that from +this night forward I am your lordship's very obsequious servant to +command." + +"No servant of mine," said the knight; "my guest for this evening, and +no more." + +"A very grateful guest," said Villon politely; and he drank in dumb show +to his entertainer. + +"You are shrewd," began the old man, tapping his forehead, "very shrewd; +you have learning; you are a clerk; and yet you take a small piece of +money off a dead woman in the street. Is it not a kind of theft?" + +"It is a kind of theft much practised in the wars, my lord." + +"The wars are the field of honour," returned the old man proudly. +"There a man plays his life upon the cast; he fights in the name of his +lord the king, his Lord God, and all their lordships the holy saints and +angels." + +"Put it," said Villon, "that I were really a thief, should I not play my +life also, and against heavier odds?" + +"For gain, but not for honour." + +"Gain?" repeated Villon, with a shrug. "Gain! The poor fellow wants +supper, and takes it. So does the soldier in a campaign. Why, what are +all these requisitions we hear so much about? If they are not gain to +those who take them, they are loss enough to the others. The men-at-arms +drink by a good fire, while the burgher bites his nails to buy them wine +and wood. I have seen a good many ploughmen swinging on trees about the +country; ay, I have seen thirty on one elm, and a very poor figure they +made; and when I asked some one how all these came to be hanged, I was +told it was because they could not scrape together enough crowns to +satisfy the men-at-arms." + +"These things are a necessity of war, which the low-born must endure +with constancy. It is true that some captains drive overhard; there are +spirits in every rank not easily moved by pity; and indeed many follow +arms who are no better than brigands." + +"You see," said the poet, "you cannot separate the soldier from the +brigand; and what is a thief but an isolated brigand with circumspect +manners? I steal a couple of mutton chops, without so much as disturbing +people's sleep; the farmer grumbles a bit, but sups none the less +wholesomely on what remains. You come up blowing gloriously on a +trumpet, take away the whole sheep, and beat the farmer pitifully into +the bargain. I have no trumpet; I am only Tom, Dick, or Harry; I am a +rogue and a dog, and hanging's too good for me--with all my heart; but +just you ask the farmer which of us he prefers, just find out which of +us he lies awake to curse on cold nights." + +"Look at us two," said his lordship. "I am old, strong, and honoured. If +I were turned from my house to-morrow, hundreds would be proud to +shelter me. Poor people would go out and pass the night in the streets +with their children if I merely hinted that I wished to be alone. And I +find you up, wandering homeless, and picking farthings off dead women by +the wayside! I fear no man and nothing; I have seen you tremble and lose +countenance at a word. I wait God's summons contentedly in my own house, +or, if it please the king to call me out again, upon the field of +battle. You look for the gallows; a rough, swift death, without hope or +honour. Is there no difference between these two?" + +"As far as to the moon," Villon acquiesced. "But if I had been born lord +of Brisetout, and you had been the poor scholar Francis, would the +difference have been any the less? Should not I have been warming my +knees at this charcoal pan, and would not you have been groping for +farthings in the snow? Should not I have been the soldier, and you the +thief?" + +"A thief!" cried the old man. "I a thief! If you understood your words, +you would repent them." + +Villon turned out his hands with a gesture of inimitable impudence. "If +your lordship had done me the honour to follow my argument!" he said. + +"I do you too much honour in submitting to your presence," said the +knight. "Learn to curb your tongue when you speak with old and +honourable men, or some one hastier than I may reprove you in a sharper +fashion." And he rose and paced the lower end of the apartment, +struggling with anger and antipathy. Villon surreptitiously refilled his +cup, and settled himself more comfortably in the chair, crossing his +knees and leaning his head upon one hand and the elbow against the back +of the chair. He was now replete and warm; and he was in nowise +frightened for his host, having gauged him as justly as was possible +between two such different characters. The night was far spent, and in +a very comfortable fashion after all; and he felt morally certain of a +safe departure on the morrow. + +"Tell me one thing," said the old man, pausing in his walk. "Are you +really a thief?" + +"I claim the sacred rights of hospitality," returned the poet. "My lord, +I am." + +"You are very young," the knight continued. + +"I should never have been so old," replied Villon, showing his fingers, +"if I had not helped myself with these ten talents. They have been my +nursing-mothers and my nursing-fathers." + +"You may still repent and change." + +"I repent daily," said the poet. "There are few people more given to +repentance than poor Francis. As for change, let somebody change my +circumstances. A man must continue to eat, if it were only that he may +continue to repent." + +"The change must begin in the heart," returned the old man solemnly. + +"My dear lord," answered Villon, "do you really fancy that I steal for +pleasure? I hate stealing, like any other piece of work or of danger. My +teeth chatter when I see a gallows. But I must eat, I must drink, I must +mix in society of some sort. What the devil! Man is not a solitary +animal--_Cui Deus foeminam tradit_. Make me king's pantler--make me +abbot of St. Denis; make me bailly of the Patatrac; and then I shall be +changed indeed. But as long as you leave me the poor scholar Francis +Villon, without a farthing, why, of course, I remain the same." + +"The grace of God is all-powerful." + +"I should be a heretic to question it," said Francis. "It has made you +lord of Brisetout and bailly of the Patatrac; it has given me nothing +but the quick wits under my hat and these ten toes upon my hands. May I +help myself to wine? I thank you respectfully. By God's grace, you have +a very superior vintage." + +The lord of Brisetout walked to and fro with his hands behind his back. +Perhaps he was not yet quite settled in his mind about the parallel +between thieves and soldiers; perhaps Villon had interested him by some +cross-thread of sympathy; perhaps his wits were simply muddled by so +much unfamiliar reasoning; but whatever the cause, he somehow yearned to +convert the young man to a better way of thinking, and could not make up +his mind to drive him forth again into the street. + +"There is something more than I can understand in this," he said at +length. "Your mouth is full of subtleties, and the devil has led you +very far astray; but the devil is only a very weak spirit before God's +truth, and all his subtleties vanish at a word of true honour, like +darkness at morning. Listen to me once more. I learned long ago that a +gentleman should live chivalrously and lovingly to God, and the king, +and his lady; and though I have seen many strange things done, I have +still striven to command my ways upon that rule. It is not only written +in all noble histories, but in every man's heart, if he will take care +to read. You speak of food and wine, and I know very well that hunger is +a difficult trial to endure; but you do not speak of other wants; you +say nothing of honour, of faith to God and other men, of courtesy, of +love without reproach. It may be that I am not very wise--and yet I +think I am--but you seem to me like one who has lost his way and made a +great error in life. You are attending to the little wants, and you have +totally forgotten the great and only real ones, like a man who should be +doctoring a toothache on the Judgment Day. For such things as honour and +love and faith are not only nobler than food and drink, but indeed I +think that we desire them more, and suffer more sharply for their +absence. I speak to you as I think you will most easily understand me. +Are you not, while careful to fill your belly, disregarding another +appetite in your heart, which spoils the pleasure of your life and keeps +you continually wretched?" + +Villon was sensibly nettled under all this sermonising. "You think I +have no sense of honour!" he cried. "I'm poor enough, God knows! It's +hard to see rich people with their gloves, and you blowing in your +hands. An empty belly is a bitter thing, although you speak so lightly +of it. If you had had as many as I, perhaps you would change your tune. +Any way I'm a thief--make the most of that--but I'm not a devil from +hell, God strike me dead! I would have you to know I've an honour of my +own, as good as yours, though I don't prate about it all day long, as if +it was a God's miracle to have any. It seems quite natural to me; I keep +it in its box till it's wanted. Why now, look you here, how long have I +been in this room with you? Did you not tell me you were alone in the +house? Look at your gold plate! You're strong, if you like, but you're +old and unarmed, and I have my knife. What did I want but a jerk of the +elbow and here would have been you with the cold steel in your bowels, +and there would have been me, linking in the streets, with an armful of +gold cups! Did you suppose I hadn't wit enough to see that? And I +scorned the action. There are your damned goblets, as safe as in a +church; there are you, with your heart ticking as good as new; and here +am I, ready to go out again as poor as I came in, with my one white that +you threw in my teeth! And you think I have no sense of honour--God +strike me dead!" + +The old man stretched out his right arm. "I will tell you what you are," +he said. "You are a rogue, my man, an impudent and a black-hearted rogue +and vagabond. I have passed an hour with you. Oh! believe me, I feel +myself disgraced! And you have eaten and drunk at my table. But now I am +sick at your presence; the day has come, and the night-bird should be +off to his roost. Will you go before, or after?" + +"Which you please," returned the poet, rising. "I believe you to be +strictly honourable." He thoughtfully emptied his cup. "I wish I could +add you were intelligent," he went on, knocking on his head with his +knuckles. "Age, age! the brains stiff and rheumatic." + +The old man preceded him from a point of self-respect; Villon followed, +whistling, with his thumbs in his girdle. + +"God pity you," said the lord of Brisetout at the door. + +"Good-bye, papa," returned Villon, with a yawn. "Many thanks for the +cold mutton." + +The door closed behind him. The dawn was breaking over the white roofs. +A chill, uncomfortable morning ushered in the day. Villon stood and +heartily stretched himself in the middle of the road. + +"A very dull old gentleman," he thought. "I wonder what his goblets may +be worth." + + + + +THE SIRE DE MALETROIT'S DOOR + + +Denis de Beaulieu was not yet two-and-twenty, but he counted himself a +grown man, and a very accomplished cavalier into the bargain. Lads were +early formed in that rough, war-faring epoch; and when one has been in a +pitched battle and a dozen raids, has killed one's man in an honourable +fashion, and knows a thing or two of strategy and mankind, a certain +swagger in the gait is surely to be pardoned. He had put up his horse +with due care, and supped with due deliberation; and then, in a very +agreeable frame of mind, went out to pay a visit in the grey of the +evening. It was not a very wise proceeding on the young man's part. He +would have done better to remain beside the fire or go decently to bed. +For the town was full of the troops of Burgundy and England under a +mixed command; and though Denis was there on safe-conduct, his +safe-conduct was like to serve him little on a chance encounter. + +It was September 1429; the weather had fallen sharp; a flighty piping +wind, laden with showers, beat about the township; and the dead leaves +ran riot along the streets. Here and there a window was already lighted +up; and the noise of men-at-arms making merry over supper within came +forth in fits and was swallowed up and carried away by the wind. The +night fell swiftly; the flag of England, fluttering on the spire-top, +grew ever fainter and fainter against the flying clouds--a black speck +like a swallow in the tumultuous, leaden chaos of the sky. As the night +fell the wind rose, and began to hoot under archways and roar amid the +tree-tops in the valley below the town. + +Denis de Beaulieu walked fast, and was soon knocking at his friend's +door; but though he promised himself to stay only a little while and +make an early return, his welcome was so pleasant, and he found so much +to delay him, that it was already long past midnight before he said +good-bye upon the threshold. The wind had fallen again in the meanwhile; +the night was as black as the grave; not a star, nor a glimmer of +moonshine, slipped through the canopy of cloud. Denis was ill-acquainted +with the intricate lanes of Chateau Landon; even by daylight he had +found some trouble in picking his way; and in this absolute darkness he +soon lost it altogether. He was certain of one thing only--to keep +mounting the hill; for his friend's house lay at the lower end, or tail, +of Chateau Landon, while the inn was up at the head, under the great +church spire. With this clue to go upon he stumbled and groped forward, +now breathing more freely in open places where there was a good slice of +sky overhead, now feeling along the wall in stifling closes. It is an +eerie and mysterious position to be thus submerged in opaque blackness +in an almost unknown town. The silence is terrifying in its +possibilities. The touch of cold window-bars to the exploring hand +startles the man like the touch of a toad; the inequalities of the +pavement shake his heart into his mouth; a piece of denser darkness +threatens an ambuscade or a chasm in the pathway; and where the air is +brighter, the houses put on strange and bewildering appearances, as if +to lead him farther from his way. For Denis, who had to regain his inn +without attracting notice, there was real danger as well as mere +discomfort in the walk; and he went warily and boldly at once, and at +every corner paused to make an observation. + +He had been for some time threading a lane so narrow that he could touch +a wall with either hand, when it began to open out and go sharply +downward. Plainly this lay no longer in the direction of his inn; but +the hope of a little more light tempted him forward to reconnoitre. The +lane ended in a terrace with a bartizan wall, which gave an outlook +between high houses, as out of an embrasure, into the valley lying dark +and formless several hundred feet below. Denis looked down, and could +discern a few tree-tops waving and a single speck of brightness where +the river ran across a weir. The weather was clearing up, and the sky +had lightened, so as to show the outline of the heavier clouds and the +dark margin of the hills. By the uncertain glimmer, the house on his +left hand should be a place of some pretensions; it was surmounted by +several pinnacles and turret-tops; the round stern of a chapel, with a +fringe of flying buttresses, projected boldly from the main block; and +the door was sheltered under a deep porch carved with figures and +overhung by two long gargoyles. The windows of the chapel gleamed +through their intricate tracery with a light as of many tapers, and +threw out the buttresses and the peaked roof in a more intense blackness +against the sky. It was plainly the hotel of some great family of the +neighbourhood; and as it reminded Denis of a town-house of his own at +Bourges, he stood for some time gazing up at it and mentally gauging the +skill of the architects and the consideration of the two families. + +There seemed to be no issue to the terrace but the lane by which he had +reached it; he could only retrace his steps, but he had gained some +notion of his whereabouts, and hoped by this means to hit the main +thoroughfare and speedily regain the inn. He was reckoning without that +chapter of accidents which was to make this night memorable above all +others in his career; for he had not gone back above a hundred yards +before he saw a light coming to meet him, and heard loud voices speaking +together in the echoing narrows of the lane. It was a party of +men-at-arms going the night-round with torches. Denis assured himself +that they had all been making free with the wine-bowl, and were in no +mood to be particular about safe-conducts or the niceties of chivalrous +war. It was as like as not that they would kill him like a dog and leave +him where he fell. The situation was inspiriting, but nervous. Their own +torches would conceal him from sight, he reflected; and he hoped that +they would drown the noise of his footsteps with their own empty +voices. If he were but fleet and silent, he might evade their notice +altogether. + +Unfortunately, as he turned to beat a retreat, his foot rolled upon a +pebble; he fell against the wall with an ejaculation, and his sword rang +loudly on the stones. Two or three voices demanded who went there--some +in French, some in English; but Denis made no reply, and ran the faster +down the lane. Once upon the terrace, he paused to look back. They still +kept calling after him, and just then began to double the pace in +pursuit, with a considerable clank of armour, and great tossing of the +torchlight to and fro in the narrow jaws of the passage. + +Denis cast a look around and darted into the porch. There he might +escape observation, or--if that were too much to expect--was in a +capital posture whether for parley or defence. So thinking, he drew his +sword and tried to set his back against the door. To his surprise, it +yielded behind his weight; and though he turned in a moment, continued +to swing back on oiled and noiseless hinges, until it stood wide open on +a black interior. When things fall out opportunely for the person +concerned, he is not apt to be critical about the how or why, his own +immediate personal convenience seeming a sufficient reason for the +strangest oddities and revolutions in our sublunary things; and so +Denis, without a moment's hesitation, stepped within and partly closed +the door behind him to conceal his place of refuge. Nothing was further +from his thoughts than to close it altogether; but for some inexplicable +reason--perhaps by a spring or a weight--the ponderous mass of oak +whipped itself out of his fingers and clanked to, with a formidable +rumble and noise like the falling of an automatic bar. + +The round, at that very moment, debouched upon the terrace, and +proceeded to summon him with shouts and curses. He heard them ferreting +in the dark corners; the stock of a lance even rattled along the outer +surface of the door behind which he stood; but these gentlemen were in +too high a humour to be long delayed, and soon made off down a +corkscrew pathway which had escaped Denis's observation, and passed out +of sight and hearing along the battlements of the town. + +Denis breathed again. He gave them a few minutes' grace for fear of +accidents, and then groped about for some means of opening the door and +slipping forth again. The inner surface was quite smooth, not a handle, +not a moulding, not a projection of any sort. He got his finger-nails +round the edges and pulled, but the mass was immovable. He shook it; it +was as firm as a rock. Denis de Beaulieu frowned and gave vent to a +little noiseless whistle. What ailed the door? he wondered. Why was it +open? How came it to shut so easily and so effectually after him? There +was something obscure and underhand about all this that was little to +the young man's fancy. It looked like a snare; and yet who could suppose +a snare in such a quiet by-street and in a house of so prosperous and +even noble an exterior? And yet--snare or no snare, intentionally or +unintentionally--here he was, prettily trapped; and for the life of him +he could see no way out of it again. The darkness began to weigh upon +him. He gave ear; all was silent without, but within and close by he +seemed to catch a faint sighing, a faint sobbing rustle, a little +stealthy creak--as though many persons were at his side, holding +themselves quite still, and governing even their respiration with the +extreme of slyness. The idea went to his vitals with a shock, and he +faced about suddenly as if to defend his life. Then, for the first time, +he became aware of a light about the level of his eyes, and at some +distance in the interior of the house--a vertical thread of light, +widening towards the bottom, such as might escape between two wings of +arras over a doorway. To see anything was a relief to Denis; it was like +a piece of solid ground to a man labouring in a morass; his mind seized +upon it with avidity; and he stood staring at it and trying to piece +together some logical conception of his surroundings. Plainly there was +a flight of steps ascending from his own level to that of this +illuminated doorway; and indeed he thought he could make out another +thread of light, as fine as a needle, and as faint as phosphorescence, +which might very well be reflected along the polished wood of a +handrail. Since he had begun to suspect that he was not alone, his heart +had continued to beat with smothering violence, and an intolerable +desire for action of any sort had possessed itself of his spirit. He was +in deadly peril, he believed. What could be more natural than to mount +the staircase, lift the curtain, and confront his difficulty at once? At +least he would be dealing with something tangible; at least he would be +no longer in the dark. He stepped slowly forward with outstretched +hands, until his foot struck the bottom step; then he rapidly scaled the +stairs, stood for a moment to compose his expression, lifted the arras, +and went in. + +He found himself in a large apartment of polished stone. There were +three doors; one on each of three sides; all similarly curtained with +tapestry. The fourth side was occupied by two large windows and a great +stone chimney-piece, carved with the arms of the Maletroits. Denis +recognised the bearings, and was gratified to find himself in such good +hands. The room was strongly illuminated; but it contained little +furniture except a heavy table and a chair or two, the hearth was +innocent of fire, and the pavement was but sparsely strewn with rushes +clearly many days old. + +On a high chair beside the chimney, and directly facing Denis as he +entered, sat a little old gentleman in a fur tippet. He sat with his +legs crossed and his hands folded, and a cup of spiced wine stood by his +elbow on a bracket on the wall. His countenance had a strongly masculine +cast; not properly human, but such as we see in the bull, the goat, or +the domestic boar; something equivocal and wheedling, something greedy, +brutal, and dangerous. The upper lip was inordinately full, as though +swollen by a blow or a toothache; and the smile, the peaked eyebrows, +and the small, strong eyes were quaintly and almost comically evil in +expression. Beautiful white hair hung straight all round his head, like +a saint's, and fell in a single curl upon the tippet. His beard and +moustache were the pink of venerable sweetness. Age, probably in +consequence of inordinate precautions, had left no mark upon his hands; +and the Maletroit hand was famous. It would be difficult to imagine +anything at once so fleshy and so delicate in design; the taper, sensual +fingers were like those of one of Leonardo's women; the fork of the +thumb made a dimple protuberance when closed; the nails were perfectly +shaped, and of a dead, surprising whiteness. It rendered his aspect +tenfold more redoubtable, that a man with hands like these should keep +them devoutly folded in his lap like a virgin martyr--that a man with so +intense and startling an expression of face should sit patiently on his +seat and contemplate people with an unwinking stare, like a god, or a +god's statue. His quiescence seemed ironical and treacherous, it fitted +so poorly with his looks. + +Such was Alain, Sire de Maletroit. + +Denis and he looked silently at each other for a second or two. + +"Pray step in," said the Sire de Maletroit. "I have been expecting you +all the evening." + +He had not risen, but he accompanied his words with a smile and a slight +but courteous inclination of the head. Partly from the smile, partly +from the strange musical murmur with which the Sire prefaced his +observation, Denis felt a strong shudder of disgust go through his +marrow. And what with disgust and honest confusion of mind, he could +scarcely get words together in reply. + +"I fear," he said, "that this is a double accident. I am not the person +you suppose me. It seems you were looking for a visit; but for my part, +nothing was further from my thoughts--nothing could be more contrary to +my wishes--than this intrusion." + +"Well, well," replied the old gentleman indulgently, "here you are, +which is the main point. Seat yourself, my friend, and put yourself +entirely at your ease. We shall arrange our little affairs presently." + +Denis perceived that the matter was still complicated with some +misconception, and he hastened to continue his explanations. + +"Your door ----" he began. + +"About my door?" asked the other, raising his peaked eyebrows. "A little +piece of ingenuity." And he shrugged his shoulders. "A hospitable fancy! +By your own account, you were not desirous of making my acquaintance. We +old people look for such reluctance now and then; and when it touches +our honour, we cast about until we find some way of overcoming it. You +arrive uninvited, but believe me, very welcome." + +"You persist in error, sir," said Denis. "There can be no question +between you and me. I am a stranger in this countryside. My name is +Denis, damoiseau de Beaulieu. If you see me in your house, it is only +----" + +"My young friend," interrupted the other, "you will permit me to have my +own ideas on that subject. They probably differ from yours at the +present moment," he added, with a leer, "but time will show which of us +is in the right." + +Denis was convinced he had to do with a lunatic. He seated himself with +a shrug, content to wait the upshot; and a pause ensued, during which he +thought he could distinguish a hurried gabbling as of prayer from behind +the arras immediately opposite him. Sometimes there seemed to be but one +person engaged, sometimes two; and the vehemence of the voice, low as it +was, seemed to indicate either haste or an agony of spirit. It occurred +to him that this piece of tapestry covered the entrance to the chapel he +had noticed from without. + +The old gentleman meanwhile surveyed Denis from head to foot with a +smile, and from time to time emitted little noises like a bird or a +mouse, which seemed to indicate a high degree of satisfaction. This +state of matters became rapidly insupportable; and Denis, to put an end +to it, remarked politely that the wind had gone down. + +The old gentleman fell into a fit of silent laughter, so prolonged and +violent that he became quite red in the face. Denis got upon his feet at +once, and put on his hat with a flourish. + +"Sir," he said, "if you are in your wits, you have affronted me grossly. +If you are out of them, I flatter myself I can find better employment +for my brains than to talk with lunatics. My conscience is clear; you +have made a fool of me from the first moment; you have refused to hear +my explanations; and now there is no power under God will make me stay +here any longer; and if I cannot make my way out in a more decent +fashion, I will hack your door in pieces with my sword." + +The Sire de Maletroit raised his right hand and wagged it at Denis with +the fore and little fingers extended. + +"My dear nephew," he said, "sit down." + +"Nephew!" retorted Denis, "you lie in your throat"; and he snapped his +fingers in his face. + +"Sit down, you rogue!" cried the old gentleman, in a sudden, harsh +voice, like the barking of a dog. "Do you fancy," he went on, "that when +I made my little contrivance for the door I had stopped short with that? +If you prefer to be bound hand and foot till your bones ache, rise and +try to go away. If you choose to remain a free young buck, agreeably +conversing with an old gentleman--why, sit where you are in peace, and +God be with you." + +"Do you mean I am a prisoner?" demanded Denis. + +"I state the facts," replied the other. "I would rather leave the +conclusion to yourself." + +Denis sat down again. Externally he managed to keep pretty calm; but +within, he was now boiling with anger, now chilled with apprehension. He +no longer felt convinced that he was dealing with a madman. And if the +old gentleman was sane, what, in God's name, had he to look for? What +absurd or tragical adventure had befallen him? What countenance was he +to assume? + +While he was thus unpleasantly reflecting, the arras that overhung the +chapel door was raised, and a tall priest in his robes came forth, and; +giving a long, keen stare at Denis, said something in an undertone to +Sire de Maletroit. + +"She is in a better frame of spirit?" asked the latter. + +"She is more resigned, messire," replied the priest. + +"Now the Lord help her, she is hard to please!" sneered the old +gentleman. "A likely stripling--not ill-born--and of her own choosing +too? Why, what more would the jade have?" + +"The situation is not usual for a young damsel," said the other, "and +somewhat trying to her blushes." + +"She should have thought of that before she began the dance! It was none +of my choosing, God knows that: but since she is in it, by Our Lady, she +shall carry it to the end." And then addressing Denis, "Monsieur de +Beaulieu," he asked, "may I present you to my niece? She has been +waiting your arrival, I may say, with even greater impatience than +myself." + +Denis had resigned himself with a good grace--all he desired was to know +the worst of it as speedily as possible; so he rose at once, and bowed +in acquiescence. The Sire de Maletroit followed his example, and limped, +with the assistance of the chaplain's arm, towards the chapel door. The +priest pulled aside the arras, and all three entered. The building had +considerable architectural pretensions. A light groining sprang from six +stout columns, and hung down in two rich pendants from the centre of the +vault. The place terminated behind the altar in a round end, embossed +and honeycombed with a superfluity of ornament in relief, and pierced by +many little windows shaped like stars, trefoils, or wheels. These +windows were imperfectly glazed, so that the night-air circulated freely +in the chapel. The tapers, of which there must have been half a hundred +burning on the altar, were unmercifully blown about; and the light went +through many different phases of brilliancy and semi-eclipse. On the +steps in front of the altar knelt a young girl richly attired as a +bride. A chill settled over Denis as he observed her costume; he fought +with desperate energy against the conclusion that was being thrust upon +his mind; it could not--it should not--be as he feared. + +"Blanche," said the Sire, in his most flute-like tones, "I have brought +a friend to see you, my little girl; turn round and give him your pretty +hand. It is good to be devout; but it is necessary to be polite, my +niece." + +The girl rose to her feet and turned towards the newcomers. She moved +all of a piece; and shame and exhaustion were expressed in every line of +her fresh young body; and she held her head down and kept her eyes upon +the pavement, as she came slowly forward. In the course of her advance, +her eyes fell upon Denis de Beaulieu's feet--feet of which he was justly +vain, be it remarked, and wore in the most elegant accoutrement even +while travelling. She paused--started, as if his yellow boots had +conveyed some shocking meaning--and glanced suddenly up into the +wearer's countenance. Their eyes met; shame gave place to horror and +terror in her looks; the blood left her lips; with a piercing scream she +covered her face with her hands and sank upon the chapel floor. + +"That is not the man!" she cried. "My uncle, that is not the man!" + +The Sire de Maletroit chirped agreeably. "Of course not," he said, "I +expected as much. It was so unfortunate you could not remember his +name." + +"Indeed," she cried, "indeed, I have never seen this person till this +moment--I have never so much as set eyes upon him--I never wish to see +him again. Sir," she said, turning to Denis, "if you are a gentleman, +you will bear me out. Have I ever seen you--have you ever seen +me--before this accursed hour?" + +"To speak for myself, I have never had that pleasure," answered the +young man. "This is the first time, messire, that I have met with your +engaging niece." + +The old gentleman shrugged his shoulders. + +"I am distressed to hear it," he said. "But it is never too late to +begin. I had little more acquaintance with my own late lady ere I +married her; which proves," he added with a grimace, "that these +impromptu marriages may often produce an excellent understanding in the +long-run. As the bridegroom is to have a voice in the matter, I will +give him two hours to make up for lost time before we proceed with the +ceremony." And he turned towards the door, followed by the clergyman. + +The girl was on her feet in a moment. "My uncle, you cannot be in +earnest," she said. "I declare before God I will stab myself rather than +be forced on that young man. The heart rises at it; God forbids such +marriages; you dishonour your white hair. Oh, my uncle, pity me! There +is not a woman in all the world but would prefer death to such a +nuptial. Is it possible," she added, faltering--"is it possible that you +do not believe me--that you still think this"--and she pointed at Denis +with a tremor of anger and contempt--"that you still think _this_ to be +the man?" + +"Frankly," said the old gentleman, pausing on the threshold, "I do. But +let me explain to you once for all, Blanche de Maletroit, my way of +thinking about this affair. When you took it into your head to dishonour +my family and the name that I have borne, in peace and war, for more +than threescore years, you forfeited, not only the right to question my +designs, but that of looking me in the face. If your father had been +alive, he would have spat on you and turned you out of doors. His was +the hand of iron. You may bless your God you have only to deal with the +hand of velvet, mademoiselle. It was my duty to get you married without +delay. Out of pure goodwill, I have tried to find your own gallant for +you. And I believe I have succeeded. But before God and all the holy +angels, Blanche de Maletroit, if I have not, I care not one jack-straw. +So let me recommend you to be polite to our young friend; for upon my +word, your next groom may be less appetising." + +And with that he went out, with the chaplain at his heels; and the arras +fell behind the pair. + +The girl turned upon Denis with flashing eyes. + +"And what, sir," she demanded, "may be the meaning of all this?" + +"God knows," returned Denis gloomily. "I am a prisoner in this house, +which seems full of mad people. More I know not, and nothing do I +understand." + +"And pray how came you here?" she asked. + +He told her as briefly as he could. "For the rest," he added, "perhaps +you will follow my example, and tell me the answer to all these riddles, +and what, in God's name, is like to be the end of it." + +She stood silent for a little, and he could see her lips tremble and her +tearless eyes burn with a feverish lustre. Then she pressed her forehead +in both hands. + +"Alas, how my head aches!" she said wearily--"to say nothing of my poor +heart! But it is due to you to know my story, unmaidenly as it must +seem. I am called Blanche de Maletroit; I have been without father or +mother for--oh! for as long as I can recollect, and indeed I have been +most unhappy all my life. Three months ago a young captain began to +stand near me every day in church. I could see that I pleased him; I am +much to blame, but I was so glad that any one should love me; and when +he passed me a letter, I took it home with me and read it with great +pleasure. Since that time he has written many. He was so anxious to +speak with me, poor fellow! and kept asking me to leave the door open +some evening that we might have two words upon the stair. For he knew +how much my uncle trusted me." She gave something like a sob at that, +and it was a moment before she could go on. "My uncle is a hard man, but +he is very shrewd," she said at last. "He has performed many feats in +war, and was a great person at court, and much trusted by Queen Isabeau +in old days. How he came to suspect me I cannot tell; but it is hard to +keep anything from his knowledge; and this morning, as we came from +mass, he took my hand in his, forced it open, and read my little billet, +walking by my side all the while. When he had finished, he gave it back +to me with great politeness. It contained another request to have the +door left open; and this has been the ruin of us all. My uncle kept me +strictly in my room until evening, and then ordered me to dress myself +as you see me--a hard mockery for a young girl, do you not think so? I +suppose, when he could not prevail with me to tell him the young +captain's name, he must have laid a trap for him: into which, alas! you +have fallen in the anger of God. I looked for much confusion; for how +could I tell whether he was willing to take me for his wife on these +sharp terms? He might have been trifling with me from the first; or I +might have made myself too cheap in his eyes. But truly I had not looked +for such a shameful punishment as this! I could not think that God would +let a girl be so disgraced before a young man. And now I have told you +all; and I can scarcely hope that you will not despise me." + +Denis made her a respectful inclination. + +"Madam," he said, "you have honoured me by your confidence. It remains +for me to prove that I am not unworthy of the honour. Is Messire de +Maletroit at hand?" + +"I believe he is writing in the salle without," she answered. + +"May I lead you thither, madam?" asked Denis, offering his hand with his +most courtly bearing. + +She accepted it; and the pair passed out of the chapel, Blanche in a +very drooping and shamefaced condition, but Denis strutting and ruffling +in the consciousness of a mission, and a boyish certainty of +accomplishing it with honour. + +The Sire de Maletroit rose to meet them with an ironical obeisance. + +"Sir," said Denis, with the grandest possible air, "I believe I am to +have some say in the matter of this marriage; and let me tell you at +once, I will be no party to forcing the inclination of this young lady. +Had it been freely offered to me, I should have been proud to accept her +hand, for I perceive she is as good as she is beautiful; but as things +are, I have now the honour, messire, of refusing." + +Blanche looked at him with gratitude in her eyes; but the old gentleman +only smiled and smiled, until his smile grew positively sickening to +Denis. + +"I am afraid," he said, "Monsieur de Beaulieu, that you do not perfectly +understand the choice I have to offer you. Follow me, I beseech you, to +this window." And he led the way to one of the large windows which stood +open on the night. "You observe," he went on, "there is an iron ring in +the upper masonry, and reeved through that a very efficacious rope. Now, +mark my words: if you should find your disinclination to my niece's +person insurmountable, I shall have you hanged out of this window before +sunrise. I shall only proceed to such an extremity with the greatest +regret, you may believe me. For it is not at all your death that I +desire, but my niece's establishment in life. At the same time, it must +come to that if you prove obstinate. Your family, Monsieur de Beaulieu, +is very well in its way; but if you sprang from Charlemagne, you should +not refuse the hand of a Maletroit with impunity--not if she had been as +common as the Paris road--not if she were as hideous as the gargoyle +over my door. Neither my niece nor you, nor my own private feelings, +move me at all in this matter. The honour of my house has been +compromised; I believe you to be the guilty person; at least you are now +in the secret; and you can hardly wonder if I request you to wipe out +the stain. If you will not, your blood be on your own head! It will be +no great satisfaction to me to have your interesting relics kicking +their heels in the breeze below my windows; but half a loaf is better +than no bread, and if I cannot cure the dishonour, I shall at least stop +the scandal." + +There was a pause. + +"I believe there are other ways of settling such imbroglios among +gentlemen," said Denis. "You wear a sword, and I hear you have used it +with distinction." + +The Sire de Maletroit made a signal to the chaplain, who crossed the +room with long, silent strides and raised the arras over the third of +the three doors. It was only a moment before he let it fall again; but +Denis had time to see a dusky passage full of armed men. + +"When I was a little younger, I should have been delighted to honour +you, Monsieur de Beaulieu," said Sire Alain; "but I am now too old. +Faithful retainers are the sinews of age, and I must employ the strength +I have. This is one of the hardest things to swallow as a man grows up +in years; but with a little patience, even this becomes habitual. You +and the lady seem to prefer the salle for what remains of your two +hours; and as I have no desire to cross your preference, I shall resign +it to your use with all the pleasure in the world. No haste!" he added, +holding up his hand, as he saw a dangerous look come into Denis de +Beaulieu's face. "If your mind revolts against hanging, it will be time +enough two hours hence to throw yourself out of the window or upon the +pikes of my retainers. Two hours of life are always two hours. A great +many things may turn up in even as little a while as that. And, besides, +if I understand her appearance, my niece has still something to say to +you. You will not disfigure your last hours by a want of politeness to a +lady?" + +Denis looked at Blanche, and she made him an imploring gesture. + +It is likely that the old gentleman was hugely pleased at this symptom +of an understanding; for he smiled on both, and added sweetly: "If you +will give me your word of honour, Monsieur de Beaulieu, to await my +return at the end of the two hours before attempting anything desperate, +I shall withdraw my retainers, and let you speak in greater privacy with +mademoiselle." + +Denis again glanced at the girl, who seemed to beseech him to agree. + +"I give you my word of honour," he said. + +Messire de Maletroit bowed, and proceeded to limp about the apartment, +clearing his throat the while with that odd musical chirp which had +already grown so irritating in the ears of Denis de Beaulieu. He first +possessed himself of some papers which lay upon the table; then he went +to the mouth of the passage and appeared to give an order to the men +behind the arras; and lastly he hobbled out through the door by which +Denis had come in, turning upon the threshold to address a last smiling +bow to the young couple, and followed by the chaplain with a hand-lamp. + +No sooner were they alone than Blanche advanced towards Denis with her +hands extended. Her face was flushed and excited, and her eyes shone +with tears. + +"You shall not die!" she cried, "you shall marry me after all." + +"You seem to think, madam," replied Denis, "that I stand much in fear of +death." + +"Oh, no, no," she said; "I see you are no poltroon. It is for my own +sake--I could not bear to have you slain for such a scruple." + +"I am afraid," returned Denis, "that you underrate the difficulty, +madam. What you may be too generous to refuse, I may be too proud to +accept. In a moment of noble feeling towards me, you forget what you +perhaps owe to others." + +He had the decency to keep his eyes upon the floor as he said this, and +after he had finished, so as not to spy upon her confusion. She stood +silent for a moment, then walked suddenly away, and falling on her +uncle's chair, fairly burst out sobbing. Denis was in the acme of +embarrassment. He looked round, as if to seek for inspiration, and +seeing a stool, plumped down upon it for something to do. There he sat, +playing with the guard of his rapier, and wishing himself dead a +thousand times over, and buried in the nastiest kitchen-heap in France. +His eyes wandered round the apartment, but found nothing to arrest +them. There were such wide spaces between the furniture, the light fell +so baldly and cheerlessly over all, the dark outside air looked in so +coldly through the windows, that he thought he had never seen a church +so vast nor a tomb so melancholy. The regular sobs of Blanche de +Maletroit measured out the time like the ticking of a clock. He read the +device upon the shield over and over again, until his eyes became +obscured; he stared into shadowy corners until he imagined they were +swarming with horrible animals; and every now and again he awoke with a +start, to remember that his last two hours were running, and death was +on the march. + +Oftener and oftener, as the time went on, did his glance settle on the +girl herself. Her face was bowed forward and covered with her hands, and +she was shaken at intervals by the convulsive hiccup of grief. Even thus +she was not an unpleasant object to dwell upon, so plump, and yet so +fine, with a warm brown skin, and the most beautiful hair, Denis +thought, in the whole world of womankind. Her hands were like her +uncle's; but they were more in place at the end of her young arms, and +looked infinitely soft and caressing. He remembered how her blue eyes +had shone upon him full of anger, pity, and innocence. And the more he +dwelt on her perfections, the uglier death looked, and the more deeply +was he smitten with penitence at her continued tears. Now he felt that +no man could have the courage to leave a world which contained so +beautiful a creature; and now he would have given forty minutes of his +last hour to have unsaid his cruel speech. + +Suddenly a hoarse and ragged peal of cockcrow rose to their ears from +the dark valley below the windows. And this shattering noise in the +silence of all around was like a light in a dark place, and shook them +both out of their reflections. + +"Alas, can I do nothing to help you?" she said, looking up. + +"Madam," replied Denis, with a fine irrelevancy, "if I have said +anything to wound you, believe me it was for your own sake and not for +mine." + +She thanked him with a tearful look. + +"I feel your position cruelly," he went on. "The world has been bitter +hard on you. Your uncle is a disgrace to mankind. Believe me, madam, +there is no young gentleman in all France but would be glad of my +opportunity, to die in doing you a momentary service." + +"I know already that you can be very brave and generous," she answered. +"What I _want_ to know is whether I can serve you--now or afterwards," +she added, with a quaver. + +"Most certainly," he answered, with a smile. "Let me sit beside you as +if I were a friend, instead of a foolish intruder; try to forget how +awkwardly we are placed to one another; make my last moments go +pleasantly; and you will do me the chief service possible." + +"You are very gallant," she added, with a yet deeper sadness; "very +gallant----and it somehow pains me. But draw nearer, if you please; and +if you find anything to say to me, you will at least make certain of a +very friendly listener. Ah! Monsieur de Beaulieu," she broke forth--"ah! +Monsieur de Beaulieu, how can I look you in the face?" And she fell to +weeping again with a renewed effusion. + +"Madam," said Denis, taking her hand in both of his, "reflect on the +little time I have before me, and the great bitterness into which I am +cast by the sight of your distress. Spare me, in my last moments, the +spectacle of what I cannot cure even with the sacrifice of my life." + +"I am very selfish," answered Blanche. "I will be braver, Monsieur de +Beaulieu, for your sake. But think if I can do you no kindness in the +future--if you have no friends to whom I could carry your adieux. Charge +me as heavily as you can: every burden will lighten, by so little, the +invaluable gratitude I owe you. Put it in my power to do something more +for you than weep." + +"My mother is married again, and has a young family to care for. My +brother Guichard will inherit my fiefs: and if I am not in error, that +will content him amply for my death. Life is a little vapour that +passeth away, as we are told by those in holy orders. When a man is in a +fair way and sees all life open in front of him, he seems to himself to +make a very important figure in the world. His horse whinnies to him; +the trumpets blow and the girls look out of window as he rides into town +before his company; he receives many assurances of trust and +regard--sometimes by express in a letter--sometimes face to face, with +persons of great consequence falling on his neck. It is not wonderful if +his head is turned for a time. But once he is dead, were he as brave as +Hercules or as wise as Solomon, he is soon forgotten. It is not ten +years since my father fell, with many other knights around him, in a +very fierce encounter, and I do not think that any one of them, nor so +much as the name of the fight, is now remembered. No, no, madam, the +nearer you come to it, you see that death is a dark and dusty corner, +where a man gets into his tomb and has the door shut after him till the +judgment-day. I have few friends just now, and once I am dead I shall +have none." + +"Ah, Monsieur de Beaulieu!" she exclaimed, "you forget Blanche de +Maletroit." + +"You have a sweet nature, madam, and you are pleased to estimate a +little service far beyond its worth." + +"It is not that," she answered. "You mistake me if you think I am so +easily touched by my own concerns. I say so, because you are the noblest +man I have ever met; because I recognise in you a spirit that would have +made even a common person famous in the land." + +"And yet here I die in a mousetrap--with no more noise about it than my +own squeaking," answered he. + +A look of pain crossed her face, and she was silent for a little while. +Then a light came into her eyes, and with a smile she spoke again. + +"I cannot have my champion think meanly of himself. Any one who gives +his life for another will be met in Paradise by all the heralds and +angels of the Lord God. And you have no cause to hang your head. +For----Pray, do you think me beautiful?" she asked, with a deep flush. + +"Indeed, madam, I do," he said. + +"I am glad of that," she answered heartily. "Do you think there are many +men in France who have been asked in marriage by a beautiful +maiden--with her own lips--and who have refused her to her face? I know +you men would half-despise such a triumph; but believe me, we women know +more of what is precious in love. There is nothing that should set a +person higher in his own esteem; and we women would prize nothing more +dearly." + +"You are very good," he said; "but you cannot make me forget that I was +asked in pity and not for love." + +"I am not so sure of that," she replied, holding down her head. "Hear me +to an end, Monsieur de Beaulieu. I know how you must despise me; I feel +you are right to do so; I am too poor a creature to occupy one thought +of your mind, although, alas! you must die for me this morning. But when +I asked you to marry me, indeed, and indeed, it was because I respected +and admired you, and loved you with my whole soul, from the very moment +that you took my part against my uncle. If you had seen yourself, and +how noble you looked, you would pity rather than despise me. And now," +she went on, hurriedly checking him with her hand, "although I have laid +aside all reserve and told you so much, remember that I know your +sentiments towards me already. I would not, believe me, being nobly +born, weary you with importunities into consent. I too have a pride of +my own: and I declare before the holy Mother of God, if you should now +go back from your word already given, I would no more marry you than I +would marry my uncle's groom." + +Denis smiled a little bitterly. + +"It is a small love," he said, "that shies at a little pride." + +She made no answer, although she probably had her own thoughts. + +"Come hither to the window," he said, with a sigh. "Here is the dawn." + +And indeed the dawn was already beginning. The hollow of the sky was +full of essential daylight, colourless and clean; and the valley +underneath was flooded with a grey reflection. A few thin vapours clung +in the coves of the forest or lay along the winding course of the river. +The scene disengaged a surprising effect of stillness, which was hardly +interrupted when the cocks began once more to crow among the steadings. +Perhaps the same fellow who had made so horrid a clangour in the +darkness not half an hour before now sent up the merriest cheer to greet +the coming day. A little wind went bustling and eddying among the +tree-tops underneath the windows. And still the daylight kept flooding +insensibly out of the east, which was soon to grow incandescent and cast +up that red-hot cannon-ball, the rising sun. + +Denis looked out over all this with a bit of a shiver. He had taken her +hand, and retained it in his almost unconsciously. + +"Has the day begun already?" she said; and then, illogically enough: +"the night has been so long! Alas! what shall we say to my uncle when he +returns?" + +"What you will," said Denis, and he pressed her fingers in his. + +She was silent. + +"Blanche," he said, with a swift, uncertain, passionate utterance, "you +have seen whether I fear death. You must know well enough that I would +as gladly leap out of that window into the empty air as lay a finger on +you without your free and full consent. But if you care for me at all do +not let me lose my life in a misapprehension; for I love you better than +the whole world; and though I will die for you blithely, it would be +like all the joys of Paradise to live on and spend my life in your +service." + +As he stopped speaking, a bell began to ring loudly in the interior of +the house; and a clatter of armour in the corridor showed that the +retainers were returning to their post, and the two hours were at an +end. + +"After all that you have heard?" she whispered, leaning towards him with +her lips and eyes. + +"I have heard nothing," he replied. + +"The captain's name was Florimond de Champdivers," she said in his ear. + +"I did not hear it," he answered, taking her supple body in his arms and +covered her wet face with kisses. + +A melodious chirping was audible behind, followed by a beautiful +chuckle, and the voice of Messire de Maletroit wished his new nephew a +good morning. + + + + +PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Monsieur Leon Berthelini had a great care of his appearance, and +sedulously suited his deportment to the costume of the hour. He affected +something Spanish in his air, and something of the bandit, with a +flavour of Rembrandt at home. In person he was decidedly small, and +inclined to be stout; his face was the picture of good-humour; his dark +eyes, which were very expressive, told of a kind heart, a brisk, merry +nature, and the most indefatigable spirits. If he had worn the clothes +of the period you would have set him down for a hitherto undiscovered +hybrid between the barber, the innkeeper, and the affable dispensing +chemist. But in the outrageous bravery of velvet jacket and flapped hat, +with trousers that were more accurately described as fleshings, a white +handkerchief cavalierly knotted at his neck, a shock of Olympian curls +upon his brow, and his feet shod through all weathers in the slenderest +of Moliere shoes--you had but to look at him and you knew you were in +the presence of a Great Creature. When he wore an overcoat he scorned to +pass the sleeves; a single button held it round his shoulders; it was +tossed backwards after the manner of a cloak, and carried with the gait +and presence of an Almaviva. I am of opinion that M. Berthelini was +nearing forty. But he had a boy's heart, gloried in his finery, and +walked through life like a child in a perpetual dramatic performance. If +he were not Almaviva after all, it was not for lack of making believe. +And he enjoyed the artist's compensation. If he were not really +Almaviva, he was sometimes just as happy as though he were. + +I have seen him, at moments when he has fancied himself alone with his +Maker, adopt so gay and chivalrous a bearing, and represent his own part +with so much warmth and conscience, that the illusion became catching, +and I believed implicitly in the Great Creature's pose. + +But, alas! life cannot be entirely conducted on these principles; man +cannot live by Almavivery alone; and the Great Creature, having failed +upon several theatres, was obliged to step down every evening from his +heights, and sing from half a dozen to a dozen comic songs, twang a +guitar, keep a country audience in good humour, and preside finally over +the mysteries of a tombola. + +Madame Berthelini, who was art and part with him in these undignified +labours, had perhaps a higher position in the scale of beings, and +enjoyed a natural dignity of her own. But her heart was not any more +rightly placed, for that would have been impossible; and she had +acquired a little air of melancholy, attractive enough in its way, but +not good to see like the wholesome, sky-scraping, boyish spirits of her +lord. + +He, indeed, swam like a kite on a fair wind, high above earthly +troubles. Detonations of temper were not unfrequent in the zones he +travelled; but sulky fogs and tearful depressions were there alike +unknown. A well-delivered blow upon a table, or a noble attitude, +imitated from Melingue or Frederic, relieved his irritation like a +vengeance. Though the heaven had fallen, if he had played his part with +propriety, Berthelini had been content! And the man's atmosphere, if not +his example, reacted on his wife; for the couple doated on each other, +and although you would have thought they walked in different worlds, yet +continued to walk hand in hand. + +It chanced one day that Monsieur and Madame Berthelini descended with +two boxes and a guitar in a fat case at the station of the little town +of Castel-le-Gachis, and the omnibus carried them with their effects to +the Hotel of the Black Head. This was a dismal, conventual building in a +narrow street, capable of standing siege when once the gates were shut, +and smelling strangely in the interior of straw and chocolate and old +feminine apparel. Berthelini paused upon the threshold with a painful +premonition. In some former state, it seemed to him, he had visited a +hostelry that smelt not otherwise, and been ill received. + +The landlord, a tragic person in a large felt hat, rose from a +business-table under the key-rack, and came forward, removing his hat +with both hands as he did so. + +"Sir, I salute you. May I inquire what is your charge for artists?" +inquired Berthelini, with a courtesy at once splendid and insinuating. + +"For artists?" said the landlord. His countenance fell and the smile of +welcome disappeared. "Oh, artists!" he added brutally; "four francs a +day." And he turned his back upon these inconsiderable customers. + +A commercial traveller is received, he also, upon a reduction--yet is he +welcome, yet can he command the fatted calf; but an artist, had he the +manners of an Almaviva, were he dressed like Solomon in all his glory, +is received like a dog and served like a timid lady travelling alone. + +Accustomed as he was to the rubs of his profession, Berthelini was +unpleasantly affected by the landlord's manner. + +"Elvira," said he to his wife, "mark my words: Castel-le-Gachis is a +tragic folly." + +"Wait till we see what we take," replied Elvira. + +"We shall take nothing," replied Berthelini; "we shall feed upon +insults. I have an eye, Elvira; I have a spirit of divination; and this +place is accursed. The landlord has been discourteous, the Commissary +will be brutal, the audience will be sordid and uproarious, and you will +take a cold upon your throat. We have been besotted enough to come; the +die is cast--it will be a second Sedan." + +Sedan was a town hateful to the Berthelinis, not only from patriotism +(for they were French, and answered after the flesh to the somewhat +homely name of Duval), but because it had been the scene of their most +sad reverses. In that place they had lain three weeks in pawn for their +hotel bill, and had it not been for a surprising stroke of fortune they +might have been lying there in pawn until this day. To mention the name +of Sedan was for the Berthelinis to dip the brush in earthquake and +eclipse. Count Almaviva slouched his hat with a gesture expressive of +despair, and even Elvira felt as if ill-fortune had been personally +evoked. + +"Let us ask for breakfast," said she, with a woman's tact. + +The Commissary of Police of Castel-le-Gachis was a large red Commissary, +pimpled, and subject to a strong cutaneous transpiration. I have +repeated the name of his office because he was so very much more a +Commissary than a man. The spirit of his dignity had entered into him. +He carried his corporation as if it were something official. Whenever he +insulted a common citizen it seemed to him as if he were adroitly +flattering the Government by a side-wind; in default of dignity he was +brutal from an over-weening sense of duty. His office was a den, whence +passers-by could hear rude accents laying down, not the law, but the +good pleasure of the Commissary. + +Six several times in the course of the day did M. Berthelini hurry +thither in quest of the requisite permission for his evening's +entertainment; six several times he found the official was abroad. Leon +Berthelini began to grow quite a familiar figure in the streets of +Castel-le-Gachis; he became a local celebrity, and was pointed out as +"the man who was looking for the Commissary." Idle children attached +themselves to his footsteps, and trotted after him back and forward +between the hotel and the office. Leon might try as he liked; he might +roll cigarettes, he might straddle, he might cock his hat at a dozen +different jaunty inclinations--the part of Almaviva was, under the +circumstances, difficult to play. + +As he passed the market-place upon the seventh excursion the Commissary +was pointed out to him, where he stood, with his waistcoat unbuttoned +and his hands behind his back, to superintend the sale and measurement +of butter. Berthelini threaded his way through the market-stalls and +baskets, and accosted the dignitary with a bow which was a triumph of +the histrionic art. + +"I have the honour," he asked, "of meeting M. le Commissaire?" + +The Commissary was affected by the nobility of his address. He excelled +Leon in the depth if not in the airy grace of his salutation. + +"The honour," said he, "is mine!" + +"I am," continued the strolling player, "I am, sir, an artist, and I +have permitted myself to interrupt you on an affair of business. +To-night I give a trifling musical entertainment at the Cafe of the +Triumphs of the Plough--permit me to offer you this little +programme--and I have come to ask you for the necessary authorisation." + +At the word "artist" the Commissary had replaced his hat with the air of +a person who, having condescended too far, should suddenly remember the +duties of his rank. + +"Go, go," said he, "I am busy; I am measuring butter." + +"Heathen Jew!" thought Leon. "Permit me, sir," he resumed, aloud. "I +have gone six times already--" + +"Put up your bills if you choose," interrupted the Commissary. "In an +hour or so I will examine your papers at the office. But now go; I am +busy." + +"Measuring butter!" thought Berthelini. "O France, and it is for this +that we made '93!" + +The preparations were soon made; the bills posted, programmes laid on +the dinner-table of every hotel in the town, and a stage erected at one +end of the Cafe of the Triumphs of the Plough; but when Leon returned to +the office, the Commissary was once more abroad. + +"He is like Madame Benoiton," thought Leon: "Fichu Commissaire!" + +And just then he met the man face to face. + +"Here, sir," said he, "are my papers. Will you be pleased to verify?" + +But the Commissary was now intent upon dinner. + +"No use," he replied, "no use; I am busy; I am quite satisfied. Give +your entertainment." + +And he hurried on. + +"Fichu Commissaire!" thought Leon. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The audience was pretty large; and the proprietor of the cafe made a +good thing of it in beer. But the Berthelinis exerted themselves in +vain. + +Leon was radiant in velveteen; he had a rakish way of smoking a +cigarette between his songs that was worth money in itself; he +underlined his comic points so that the dullest numskull in +Castel-le-Gachis had a notion when to laugh; and he handled his guitar +in a manner worthy of himself. Indeed, his play with that instrument was +as good as a whole romantic drama; it was so dashing, so florid, and so +cavalier. + +Elvira, on the other hand, sang her patriotic and romantic songs with +more than usual expression; her voice had charm and plangency; and as +Leon looked at her, in her low-bodied maroon dress, with her arms bare +to the shoulder, and a red flower set provocatively in her corset, he +repeated to himself for the many hundredth time that she was one of the +loveliest creatures in the world of women. + +Alas! when she went round with the tambourine, the golden youth of +Castel-le-Gachis turned from her coldly. Here and there a single +halfpenny was forthcoming; the net result of a collection never exceeded +half a franc; and the Maire himself, after seven different applications, +had contributed exactly twopence. A certain chill began to settle upon +the artists themselves; it seemed as if they were singing to slugs; +Apollo himself might have lost heart with such an audience. The +Berthelinis struggled against the impression; they put their back into +their work, they sang louder and louder, the guitar twanged like a +living thing; and at last Leon arose in his might, and burst with +inimitable conviction into his great song, "Y a des honnetes gens +partout!" Never had he given more proof of his artistic mastery; it was +his intimate, indefeasible conviction that Castel-le-Gachis formed an +exception to the law he was now lyrically proclaiming, and was peopled +exclusively by thieves and bullies; and yet, as I say, he flung it down +like a challenge, he trolled it forth like an article of faith; and his +face so beamed the while that you would have thought he must make +converts of the benches. + +He was at the top of his register, with his head thrown back and his +mouth open, when the door was thrown violently open, and a pair of +new-comers marched noisily into the cafe. It was the Commissary, +followed by the Garde Champetre. + +The undaunted Berthelini still continued to proclaim, "Y a des honnetes +gens partout!" But now the sentiment produced an audible titter among +the audience. Berthelini wondered why; he did not know the antecedents +of the Garde Champetre; he had never heard of a little story about +postage-stamps. But the public knew all about the postage-stamps and +enjoyed the coincidence hugely. + +The Commissary planted himself upon a vacant chair with somewhat the air +of Cromwell visiting the Rump, and spoke in occasional whispers to the +Garde Champetre, who remained respectfully standing at his back. The +eyes of both were directed upon Berthelini, who persisted in his +statement. + +"Y a des honnetes gens partout," he was just chanting for the twentieth +time; when up got the Commissary upon his feet and waved brutally to +the singer with his cane. + +"Is it me you want?" inquired Leon, stopping in his song. + +"It is you," replied the potentate. + +"Fichu Commissaire!" thought Leon, and he descended from the stage and +made his way to the functionary. + +"How does it happen, sir," said the Commissary, swelling in person, +"that I find you mountebanking in a public cafe without my permission?" + +"Without?" cried the indignant Leon. "Permit me to remind you----" + +"Come, come, sir!" said the Commissary, "I desire no explanations." + +"I care nothing about what you desire," returned the singer. "I choose +to give them, and I will not be gagged. I am an artist, sir, a +distinction that you cannot comprehend. I received your permission and +stand here upon the strength of it; interfere with me who dare." + +"You have not got my signature, I tell you," cried the Commissary. "Show +me my signature! Where is my signature?" + +That was just the question; where was his signature? Leon recognised +that he was in a hole; but his spirit rose with the occasion, and he +blustered nobly, tossing back his curls. The Commissary played up to him +in the character of tyrant; and as the one leaned farther forward, the +other leaned farther back--majesty confronting fury. The audience had +transferred their attention to this new performance, and listened with +that silent gravity common to all Frenchmen in the neighbourhood of the +Police. Elvira had sat down, she was used to these distractions, and it +was rather melancholy than fear that now oppressed her. + +"Another word," cried the Commissary, "and I arrest you." + +"Arrest me?" shouted Leon. "I defy you!" + +"I am the Commissary of Police," said the official. + +Leon commanded his feelings, and replied, with great delicacy of +innuendo-- + +"So it would appear." + +The point was too refined for Castel-le-Gachis; it did not raise a +smile; and as for the Commissary, he simply bade the singer follow him +to his office, and directed his proud footsteps towards the door. There +was nothing for it but to obey. Leon did so with a proper pantomime of +indifference, but it was a leek to eat, and there was no denying it. + +The Maire had slipped out and was already waiting at the Commissary's +door. Now the Maire, in France, is the refuge of the oppressed. He +stands between his people and the boisterous rigours of the Police. He +can sometimes understand what is said to him; he is not always puffed up +beyond measure by his dignity. 'Tis a thing worth the knowledge of +travellers. When all seems over, and a man has made up his mind to +injustice, he has still, like the heroes of romance, a little bugle at +his belt whereon to blow; and the Maire, a comfortable _deus ex +machina_, may still descend to deliver him from the minions of the law. +The Maire of Castel-le-Gachis, although inaccessible to the charms of +music as retailed by the Berthelinis, had no hesitation whatever as to +the rights of the matter. He instantly fell foul of the Commissary in +very high terms, and the Commissary, pricked by this humiliation, +accepted battle on the point of fact. The argument lasted some little +while with varying success, until at length victory inclined so plainly +to the Commissary's side that the Maire was fain to re-assert himself by +an exercise of authority. He had been out-argued, but he was still the +Maire. And so, turning from his interlocutor, he briefly but kindly +recommended Leon to get back instanter to his concert. + +"It is already growing late," he added. + +Leon did not wait to be told twice. He returned to the Cafe of the +Triumphs of the Plough with all expedition. Alas! the audience had +melted away during his absence; Elvira was sitting in a very +disconsolate attitude on the guitar-box; she had watched the company +dispersing by twos and threes, and the prolonged spectacle had somewhat +overwhelmed her spirits. Each man, she reflected, retired with a certain +proportion of her earnings in his pocket, and she saw to-night's board +and to-morrow's railway expenses, and finally even to-morrow's dinner, +walk one after another out of the cafe-door and disappear into the +night. + +"What was it?" she asked languidly. + +But Leon did not answer. He was looking round him on the scene of +defeat. Scarce a score of listeners remained, and these of the least +promising sort. The minute-hand of the clock was already climbing upward +towards eleven. + +"It's a lost battle," said he, and then taking up the money-box, he +turned it out. "Three francs seventy-five!" he cried, "as against four +of board and six of railway fares; and no time for the tombola! Elvira, +this is Waterloo!" And he sat down and passed both hands desperately +among his curls. "O fichu Commissaire!" he cried, "fichu Commissaire!" + +"Let us get the things together and be off," returned Elvira. "We might +try another song, but there is not six halfpence in the room." + +"Six halfpence?" cried Leon, "six hundred thousand devils! There is not +a human creature in the town--nothing but pigs and dogs and +commissaries! Pray heaven we get safe to bed." + +"Don't imagine things!" exclaimed Elvira, with a shudder. + +And with that they set to work on their preparations. The tobacco-jar, +the cigarette-holder, the three papers of shirt-studs, which were to +have been the prizes of the tombola had the tombola come off, were made +into a bundle with the music; the guitar was stowed into the fat +guitar-case; and Elvira having thrown a thin shawl about her neck and +shoulders, the pair issued from the cafe and set off for the Black Head. + +As they crossed the market-place the church bell rang out eleven. It was +a dark, mild night, and there was no one in the streets. + +"It is all very fine," said Leon: "but I have a presentiment. The night +is not yet done." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +The Black Head presented not a single chink of light upon the street, +and the carriage gate was closed. + +"This is unprecedented," observed Leon. "An inn closed by five minutes +after eleven! And there were several commercial travellers in the cafe +up to a late hour. Elvira, my heart misgives me. Let us ring the bell." + +The bell had a potent note; and being swung under the arch it filled the +house from top to bottom with surly, clanging reverberations. The sound +accentuated the conventual appearance of the building; a wintry +sentiment, a thought of prayer and mortification, took hold upon +Elvira's mind; and, as for Leon, he seemed to be reading the stage +directions for a lugubrious fifth act. + +"This is your fault," said Elvira; "this is what comes of fancying +things!" + +Again Leon pulled the bell-rope; again the solemn tocsin awoke the +echoes of the inn; and ere they had died away, a light glimmered in the +carriage entrance, and a powerful voice was heard upraised and tremulous +with wrath. + +"What's all this?" cried the tragic host through the spars of the gate. +"Hard upon twelve, and you come clamouring like Prussians at the door of +a respectable hotel? Oh!" he cried, "I know you now! Common singers! +People in trouble with the Police! And you present yourselves at +midnight like lords and ladies? Be off with you!" + +"You will permit me to remind you," replied Leon, in thrilling tones, +"that I am a guest in your house, that I am properly inscribed, and that +I have deposited baggage to the value of four hundred francs." + +"You cannot get in at this hour," returned the man. "This is no thieves' +tavern, for mohocks and night-rakes and organ-grinders." + +"Brute!" cried Elvira, for the organ-grinders touched her home. + +"Then I demand my baggage," said Leon, with unabated dignity. + +"I know nothing of your baggage," replied the landlord. + +"You detain my baggage? You dare to detain my baggage?" cried the +singer. + +"Who are you?" returned the landlord. "It is dark--I cannot recognise +you." + +"Very well, then--you detain my baggage," concluded Leon. "You shall +smart for this. I will weary out your life with persecutions; I will +drag you from court to court; if there is justice to be had in France, +it shall be rendered between you and me. And I will make you a +by-word--I will put you in a song--a scurrilous song--an indecent +song--a popular song--which the boys shall sing to you in the street, +and come and howl through these spars at midnight!" + +He had gone on raising his voice at every phrase, for all the while the +landlord was very placidly retiring; and now, when the last glimmer of +light had vanished from the arch, and the last footstep died away in the +interior, Leon turned to his wife with a heroic countenance. + +"Elvira," said he, "I have now a duty in life. I shall destroy that man +as Eugene Sue destroyed the concierge. Let us come at once to the +Gendarmerie and begin our vengeance." + +He picked up the guitar-case, which had been propped against the wall, +and they set forth through the silent and ill-lighted town with burning +hearts. + +The Gendarmerie was concealed beside the telegraph-office at the bottom +of a vast court, which was partly laid out in gardens; and here all the +shepherds of the public lay locked in grateful sleep. It took a deal of +knocking to waken one; and he, when he came at last to the door, could +find no other remark but that "it was none of his business." Leon +reasoned with him, threatened him, besought him; "here," he said, "was +Madame Berthelini in evening dress--a delicate woman--in an interesting +condition"--the last was thrown in, I fancy, for effect; and to all this +the man-at-arms made the same answer-- + +"It is none of my business," said he. + +"Very well," said Leon, "then we shall go to the Commissary." Thither +they went; the office was closed and dark; but the house was close by, +and Leon was soon swinging the bell like a madman. The Commissary's wife +appeared at the window. She was a thread-paper creature, and informed +them that the Commissary had not yet come home. + +"Is he at the Maire's?" demanded Leon. + +She thought that was not unlikely. + +"Where is the Maire's house?" he asked. + +And she gave him some rather vague information on that point. + +"Stay you here, Elvira," said Leon, "lest I should miss him by the way. +If, when I return, I find you here no longer, I shall follow at once to +the Black Head." + +And he set out to find the Maire's. It took him some ten minutes' +wandering among blind lanes, and when he arrived it was already half an +hour past midnight. A long white garden wall overhung by some thick +chestnuts, a door with a letter-box, and an iron bell-pull--that was all +that could be seen of the Maire's domicile. Leon took the bell-pull in +both hands, and danced furiously upon the side-walk. The bell itself was +just upon the other side of the wall; it responded to his activity, and +scattered an alarming clangour far and wide into the night. + +A window was thrown open in a house across the street, and a voice +inquired the cause of this untimely uproar. + +"I wish the Maire," said Leon. + +"He has been in bed this hour," returned the voice. + +"He must get up again," retorted Leon, and he was for tackling the +bell-pull once more. + +"You will never make him hear," responded the voice. "The garden is of +great extent, the house is at the farther end, and both the Maire and +his housekeeper are deaf." + +"Aha!" said Leon, pausing. "The Maire is deaf, is he? That explains." +And he thought of the evening's concert with a momentary feeling of +relief. "Ah!" he continued, "and so the Maire is deaf, and the garden +vast, and the house at the far end?" + +"And you might ring all night," added the voice, "and be none the better +for it. You would only keep me awake." + +"Thank you, neighbour," replied the singer. "You shall sleep." + +And he made off again at his best pace for the Commissary's. Elvira was +still walking to and fro before the door. + +"He has not come?" asked Leon. + +"Not he," she replied. + +"Good," returned Leon. "I am sure our man's inside. Let me see the +guitar-case. I shall lay this siege in form, Elvira; I am angry; I am +indignant: I am truculently inclined; but I thank my Maker I have still +a sense of fun. The unjust judge shall be importuned in a serenade, +Elvira. Set him up--and set him up." + +He had the case opened by this time, struck a few chords, and fell into +an attitude which was irresistibly Spanish. + +"Now," he continued, "feel your voice. Are you ready? Follow me!" + +The guitar twanged, and the two voices upraised, in harmony and with a +startling loudness, the chorus of a song of old Beranger's:-- + + "Commissaire! Commissaire! + Colin bat sa menagere." + +The stones of Castel-le-Gachis thrilled at this audacious innovation. +Hitherto had the night been sacred to repose and night-caps; and now +what was this? Window after window was opened; matches scratched, and +candles began to flicker; swollen, sleepy faces peered forth into the +starlight. There were the two figures before the Commissary's house, +each bolt upright, with head thrown back and eyes interrogating the +starry heavens; the guitar wailed, shouted, and reverberated like half +an orchestra; and the voices, with a crisp and spirited delivery, hurled +the appropriate burden at the Commissary's window. All the echoes +repeated the functionary's name. It was more like an entr'acte in a +farce of Moliere's than a passage of real life in Castel-le-Gachis. + +The Commissary, if he was not the first, was not the last of the +neighbours to yield to the influence of music, and furiously threw open +the window of his bedroom. He was beside himself with rage. He leaned +far over the window-sill, raving and gesticulating; the tassel of his +white nightcap danced like a thing of life: he opened his mouth to +dimensions hitherto unprecedented, and yet his voice, instead of +escaping from it in a roar, came forth shrill and choked and tottering. +A little more serenading, and it was clear he would be better acquainted +with the apoplexy. + +I scorn to reproduce his language; he touched upon too many serious +topics by the way for a quiet story-teller. Although he was known for a +man who was prompt with his tongue, and had a power of strong expression +at command, he excelled himself so remarkably this night that one maiden +lady, who had got out of bed like the rest to hear the serenade, was +obliged to shut her window at the second clause. Even what she had +heard disquieted her conscience; and next day she said she scarcely +reckoned as a maiden lady any longer. + +Leon tried to explain his predicament, but he received nothing but +threats of arrest by way of answer. + +"If I come down to you!" cried the Commissary. + +"Ay," said Leon, "do!" + +"I will not!" cried the Commissary. + +"You dare not!" answered Leon. + +At that the Commissary closed his window. + +"All is over," said the singer. "The serenade was perhaps ill-judged. +These boors have no sense of humour." + +"Let us get away from here," said Elvira, with a shiver. "All these +people looking--it is so rude and so brutal." And then giving way once +more to passion--"Brutes!" she cried aloud to the candle-lit +spectators--"brutes! brutes! brutes!" + +"_Sauve qui peut_," said Leon. "You have done it now!" + +And taking the guitar in one hand and the case in the other, he led the +way with something too precipitate to be merely called precipitation +from the scene of this absurd adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +To the west of Castel-le-Gachis four rows of venerable lime-trees +formed, in this starry night, a twilit avenue with two side aisles of +pitch darkness. Here and there stone benches were disposed between the +trunks. There was not a breath of wind; a heavy atmosphere of perfume +hung about the alleys; and every leaf stood stock-still upon its twig. +Hither, after vainly knocking at an inn or two, the Berthelinis came at +length to pass the night. After an amiable contention, Leon insisted on +giving his coat to Elvira, and they sat down together on the first bench +in silence. Leon made a cigarette, which he smoked to an end, looking +up into the trees, and beyond them at the constellations, of which he +tried vainly to recall the names. The silence was broken by the church +bell; it rang the four quarters on a light and tinkling measure; then +followed a single deep stroke that died slowly away with a thrill; and +stillness resumed its empire. + +"One," said Leon. "Four hours till daylight. It is warm; it is starry; I +have matches and tobacco. Do not let us exaggerate, Elvira--the +experience is positively charming. I feel a glow within me; I am born +again. This is the poetry of life. Think of Cooper's novels, my dear." + +"Leon," she said fiercely, "how can you talk such wicked, infamous +nonsense? To pass all night out of doors--it is like a nightmare! We +shall die!" + +"You suffer yourself to be led away," he replied soothingly. "It is not +unpleasant here; only you brood. Come, now, let us repeat a scene. Shall +we try Alceste and Celimene? No? Or a passage from the _Two Orphans_? +Come, now, it will occupy your mind; I will play up to you as I never +have played before; I feel art moving in my bones." + +"Hold your tongue," she cried, "or you will drive me mad! Will nothing +solemnise you--not even this hideous situation?" + +"Oh, hideous!" objected Leon. "Hideous is not the word. Why, where would +you be? '_Dites, la jeune belle, ou voulez-vous aller?_'" he carolled. +"Well, now," he went on, opening the guitar-case, "there's another idea +for you--sing. Sing '_Dites, la jeune belle_'! It will compose your +spirits, Elvira, I am sure." + +And without waiting an answer he began to strum the symphony. The first +chords awoke a young man who was lying asleep upon a neighbouring bench. + +"Hullo!" cried the young man, "who are you?" + +"Under which king, Bezonian?" declaimed the artist. "Speak or die!" + +Or if it was not exactly that, it was something to much the same purpose +from a French tragedy. + +The young man drew near in the twilight. He was a tall, powerful, +gentlemanly fellow, with a somewhat puffy face, dressed in a grey tweed +suit, with a deer-stalker hat of the same material; and as he now came +forward he carried a knapsack slung upon one arm. + +"Are you camping out here too?" he asked, with a strong English accent. +"I'm not sorry for company." + +Leon explained their misadventure; and the other told them that he was a +Cambridge undergraduate on a walking tour, that he had run short of +money, could no longer pay for his night's lodging, had already been +camping out for two nights, and feared he should require to continue the +same manoeuvre for at least two nights more. + +"Luckily, it's jolly weather," he concluded. + +"You hear that, Elvira," said Leon.--"Madame Berthelini," he went on, +"is ridiculously affected by this trifling occurrence. For my part, I +find it romantic and far from uncomfortable; or at least," he added, +shifting on the stone bench, "not quite so uncomfortable as might have +been expected. But pray be seated." + +"Yes," returned the undergraduate, sitting down, "it's rather nice than +otherwise when once you're used to it; only it's devilish difficult to +get washed. I like the fresh air and these stars and things." + +"Aha!" said Leon, "Monsieur is an artist." + +"An artist?" returned the other, with a blank stare. "Not if I know it!" + +"Pardon me," said the actor. "What you said this moment about the orbs +of heaven--" + +"Oh, nonsense!" cried the Englishman. "A fellow may admire the stars and +be anything he likes." + +"You have an artist's nature, however, Mr. ---- I beg your pardon; may +I, without indiscretion, inquire your name?" asked Leon. + +"My name is Stubbs," replied the Englishman. + +"I thank you," returned Leon. "Mine is Berthelini--Leon Berthelini, +ex-artist of the theatres of Montrouge, Belleville, and Montmartre. +Humble as you see me, I have created with applause more than one +important _role_. The Press were unanimous in praise of my Howling Devil +of the Mountains, in the piece of the same name. Madame, whom I now +present to you, is herself an artist, and I must not omit to state, a +better artist than her husband. She also is a creator; she created +nearly twenty successful songs at one of the principal Parisian +music-halls. But to continue: I was saying you had an artist's nature, +Monsieur Stubbs, and you must permit me to be a judge in such a +question. I trust you will not falsify your instincts; let me beseech +you to follow the career of an artist." + +"Thank you," returned Stubbs, with a chuckle. "I'm going to be a +banker." + +"No," said Leon, "do not say so. Not that. A man with such a nature as +yours should not derogate so far. What are a few privations here and +there, so long as you are working for a high and noble goal?" + +"This fellow's mad," thought Stubbs: "but the woman's rather pretty, and +he's not bad fun himself, if you come to that." What he said was +different: "I thought you said you were an actor?" + +"I certainly did so," replied Leon. "I am one, or, alas! I was." + +"And so you want me to be an actor, do you?" continued the +undergraduate. "Why, man, I could never so much as learn the stuff; my +memory's like a sieve; and as for acting, I've no more idea than a cat." + +"The stage is not the only course," said Leon. "Be a sculptor, be a +dancer, be a poet or a novelist; follow your heart, in short, and do +some thorough work before you die." + +"And do you call all these things art?" inquired Stubbs. + +"Why, certainly!" returned Leon. "Are they not all branches?" + +"Oh! I didn't know," replied the Englishman. "I thought an artist meant +a fellow who painted." + +The singer stared at him in some surprise. + +"It is the difference of language," he said at last. "This Tower of +Babel, when shall we have paid for it? If I could speak English you +would follow me more readily." + +"Between you and me, I don't believe I should," replied the other. "You +seem to have thought a devil of a lot about this business. For my part, +I admire the stars, and like to have them shining--it's so cheery--but +hang me if I had an idea it had anything to do with art! It's not in my +line, you see. I'm not intellectual; I have no end of trouble to scrape +through my exams., I can tell you! But I'm not a bad sort at bottom," he +added, seeing his interlocutor looked distressed even in the dim +star-shine, "and I rather like the play, and music, and guitars, and +things." + +Leon had a perception that the understanding was incomplete. He changed +the subject. + +"And so you travel on foot?" he continued. "How romantic! How +courageous! And how are you pleased with my land? How does the scenery +affect you among these wild hills of ours?" + +"Well, the fact is," began Stubbs--he was about to say that he didn't +care for scenery, which was not at all true, being, on the contrary, +only an athletic undergraduate pretension; but he had begun to suspect +that Berthelini liked a different sort of meat, and substituted +something else: "The fact is, I think it jolly. They told me it was no +good up here; even the guide-book said so; but I don't know what they +meant. I think it is deuced pretty--upon my word, I do." + +At this moment, in the most unexpected manner, Elvira burst into tears. + +"My voice!" she cried. "Leon, if I stay here longer I shall lose my +voice!" + +"You shall not stay another moment," cried the actor. + +"If I have to beat in a door, if I have to burn the town, I shall find +you shelter." + +With that, he replaced the guitar, and, comforting her with some +caresses, drew her arm through his. + +"Monsieur Stubbs," said he, taking off his hat, "the reception I offer +you is rather problematical; but let me beseech you to give us the +pleasure of your society. You are a little embarrassed for the moment; +you must, indeed, permit me to advance what may be necessary. I ask it +as a favour; we must not part so soon after having met so strangely." + +"Oh, come, you know," said Stubbs, "I can't let a fellow like you----" +And there he paused, feeling somehow or other on a wrong tack. + +"I do not wish to employ menaces," continued Leon, with a smile; "but if +you refuse, indeed I shall not take it kindly." + +"I don't quite see my way out of it," thought the undergraduate; and +then, after a pause, he said, aloud and ungraciously enough, "All right. +I--I'm very much obliged, of course." And he proceeded to follow them, +thinking in his heart, "But it's bad form, all the same, to force an +obligation on a fellow." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Leon strode ahead as if he knew exactly where he was going; the sobs of +Madame were still faintly audible, and no one uttered a word. A dog +barked furiously in a courtyard as they went by; then the church clock +struck two, and many domestic clocks followed or preceded it in piping +tones. And just then Berthelini spied a light. It burned in a small +house on the outskirts of the town, and thither the party now directed +their steps. + +"It is always a chance," said Leon. + +The house in question stood back from the street behind an open space, +part garden, part turnip-field; and several outhouses stood forward from +either wing at right angles to the front. One of these had recently +undergone some change. An enormous window, looking towards the north, +had been effected in the wall and roof, and Leon began to hope it was a +studio. + +"If it's only a painter," he said, with a chuckle, "ten to one we get as +good a welcome as we want." + +"I thought painters were principally poor," said Stubbs. + +"Ah!" cried Leon, "you do not know the world as I do. The poorer the +better for us!" + +And the trio advanced into the turnip-field. + +The light was in the ground floor; as one window was brightly +illuminated and two others more faintly, it might be supposed that there +was a single lamp in one corner of a large apartment; and a certain +tremulousness and temporary dwindling showed that a live fire +contributed to the effect. The sound of a voice now became audible; and +the trespassers paused to listen. It was pitched in a high, angry key, +but had still a good, full, and masculine note in it. The utterance was +voluble, too voluble even to be quite distinct; a stream of words, +rising and falling, with ever and again a phrase thrown out by itself, +as if the speaker reckoned on its virtue. + +Suddenly another voice joined in. This time it was a woman's; and if the +man were angry, the woman was incensed to the degree of fury. There was +that absolutely blank composure known to suffering males; that +colourless unnatural speech which shows a spirit accurately balanced +between homicide and hysterics; the tone in which the best of women +sometimes utter words worse than death to those most dear to them. If +Abstract Bones-and-Sepulchre were to be endowed with the gift of speech, +thus, and not otherwise, would it discourse. Leon was a brave man, and I +fear he was somewhat sceptically given (he had been educated in a +Papistical country), but the habit of childhood prevailed, and he +crossed himself devoutly. He had met several women in his career. It was +obvious that his instinct had not deceived him, for the male voice broke +forth instantly in a towering passion. + +The undergraduate, who had not understood the significance of the +woman's contribution, pricked up his ears at the change upon the man. + +"There's going to be a free fight," he opined. + +There was another retort from the woman, still calm, but a little +higher. + +"Hysterics?" asked Leon of his wife. "Is that the stage direction?" + +"How should I know?" returned Elvira, somewhat tartly. + +"Oh, woman, woman!" said Leon, beginning to open the guitar-case. "It is +one of the burdens of my life, Monsieur Stubbs; they support each other; +they always pretend there is no system; they say it's nature. Even +Madame Berthelini, who is a dramatic artist!" + +"You are heartless, Leon," said Elvira; "that woman is in trouble." + +"And the man, my angel?" inquired Berthelini, passing the ribbon of his +guitar. "And the man, _m'amour_?" + +"He is a man," she answered. + +"You hear that?" said Leon to Stubbs. "It is not too late for you. Mark +the intonation. And now," he continued, "what are we to give them?" + +"Are you going to sing?" asked Stubbs. + +"I am a troubadour," replied Leon. "I claim a welcome by and for my art. +If I were a banker, could I do as much?" + +"Well, you wouldn't need, you know," answered the undergraduate. + +"Egad," said Leon, "but that's true. Elvira, that is true." + +"Of course it is," she replied. "Did you not know it?" + +"My dear," answered Leon impressively, "I know nothing but what is +agreeable. Even my knowledge of life is a work of art superiorly +composed. But what are we to give them? It should be something +appropriate." + +Visions of "Let dogs delight" passed through the under-graduate's mind; +but it occurred to him that the poetry was English and that he did not +know the air. Hence he contributed no suggestion. + +"Something about our houselessness," said Elvira. + +"I have it," cried Leon. And he broke forth into a song of Pierre +Dupont's:-- + + "Savez-vous ou gite + Mai, ce joli mois?" + +Elvira joined in; so did Stubbs, with a good ear and voice, but an +imperfect acquaintance with the music. Leon and the guitar were equal to +the situation. The actor dispensed his throat-notes with prodigality and +enthusiasm; and, as he looked up to heaven in his heroic way, tossing +the black ringlets, it seemed to him that the very stars contributed a +dumb applause to his efforts, and the universe lent him its silence for +a chorus. That is one of the best features of the heavenly bodies, that +they belong to everybody in particular; and a man like Leon, a chronic +Endymion who managed to get along without encouragement, is always the +world's centre for himself. + +He alone--and it is to be noted, he was the worst singer of the +three--took the music seriously to heart, and judged the serenade from a +high artistic point of view. Elvira, on the other hand, was preoccupied +about their reception; and as for Stubbs, he considered the whole affair +in the light of a broad joke. + +"Know you the lair of May, the lovely month?" went the three voices in +the turnip-field. + +The inhabitants were plainly fluttered; the light moved to and fro, +strengthening in one window, paling in another; and then the door was +thrown open, and a man in a blouse appeared on the threshold carrying a +lamp. He was a powerful young fellow, with bewildered hair and beard, +wearing his neck open; his blouse was stained with oil-colours in a +harlequinesque disorder; and there was something rural in the droop and +bagginess of his belted trousers. + +From immediately behind him, and indeed over his shoulder, a woman's +face looked out into the darkness; it was pale and a little weary, +although still young; it wore a dwindling, disappearing prettiness, soon +to be quite gone, and the expression was both gentle and sour, and +reminded one faintly of the taste of certain drugs. For all that, it was +not a face to dislike; when the prettiness had vanished, it seemed as if +a certain pale beauty might step in to take its place; and as both the +mildness and the asperity were characters of youth, it might be hoped +that, with years, both would merge into a constant, brave, and not +unkindly temper. + +"What is all this?" cried the man. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Leon had his hat in his hand at once. He came forward with his customary +grace; it was a moment which would have earned him a round of cheering +on the stage. Elvira and Stubbs advanced behind him, like a couple of +Admetus's sheep following the god Apollo. + +"Sir," said Leon, "the hour is unpardonably late, and our little +serenade has the air of an impertinence. Believe me, sir, it is an +appeal. Monsieur is an artist, I perceive. We are here three artists +benighted and without shelter, one a woman--a delicate woman--in evening +dress--in an interesting situation. This will not fail to touch the +woman's heart of Madame, whom I perceive indistinctly behind Monsieur +her husband, and whose face speaks eloquently of a well-regulated mind. +Ah! Monsieur, Madame--one generous movement, and you make three people +happy! Two or three hours beside your fire--I ask it of Monsieur in the +name of Art--I ask it of Madame by the sanctity of womanhood." + +The two, as by a tacit consent, drew back from the door. + +"Come in," said the man. + +"_Entrez_, Madame," said the woman. + +The door opened directly upon the kitchen of the house, which was to all +appearance the only sitting-room. The furniture was both plain and +scanty; but there were one or two landscapes on the wall, handsomely +framed, as if they had already visited the committee-rooms of an +exhibition and been thence extruded. Leon walked up to the pictures and +represented the part of a connoisseur before each in turn, with his +usual dramatic insight and force. The master of the house, as if +irresistibly attracted, followed him from canvas to canvas with the +lamp. Elvira was led directly to the fire, where she proceeded to warm +herself, while Stubbs stood in the middle of the floor and followed the +proceedings of Leon with mild astonishment in his eyes. + +"You should see them by daylight," said the artist. + +"I promise myself that pleasure," said Leon. "You possess, sir, if you +will permit me an observation, the art of composition to a T." + +"You are very good," returned the other. "But should you not draw nearer +to the fire?" + +"With all my heart," said Leon. + +And the whole party was soon gathered at the table over a hasty and not +an elegant cold supper, washed down with the least of small wines. +Nobody liked the meal, but nobody complained; they put a good face upon +it, one and all, and made a great clattering of knives and forks. To see +Leon eating a single cold sausage was to see a triumph; by the time he +had done he had got through as much pantomime as would have sufficed for +a baron of beef, and he had the relaxed expression of the over-eaten. + +As Elvira had naturally taken a place by the side of Leon, and Stubbs as +naturally, although I believe unconsciously, by the side of Elvira, the +host and hostess were left together. Yet it was to be noted that they +never addressed a word to each other, nor so much as suffered their eyes +to meet. The interrupted skirmish still survived in ill-feeling; and the +instant the guests departed it would break forth again as bitterly as +ever. The talk wandered from this to that subject--for with one accord +the party had declared it was too late to go to bed; but those two never +relaxed towards each other; Goneril and Regan in a sisterly tiff were +not more bent on enmity. + +It chanced that Elvira was so much tired by all the little excitements +of the night, that for once she laid aside her company manners, which +were both easy and correct, and in the most natural manner in the world +leaned her head on Leon's shoulder. At the same time, fatigue suggesting +tenderness, she locked the fingers of her right hand into those of her +husband's left; and, half-closing her eyes, dozed off into a golden +borderland between sleep and waking. But all the time she was not +unaware of what was passing, and saw the painter's wife studying her +with looks between contempt and envy. + +It occurred to Leon that his constitution demanded the use of some +tobacco; and he undid his fingers from Elvira's in order to roll a +cigarette. It was gently done, and he took care that his indulgence +should in no other way disturb his wife's position. But it seemed to +catch the eye of the painter's wife with a special significancy. She +looked straight before her for an instant, and then, with a swift and +stealthy movement, took hold of her husband's hand below the table. +Alas! she might have spared herself the dexterity. For the poor fellow +was so overcome by this caress that he stopped with his mouth open in +the middle of a word, and by the expression of his face plainly declared +to all the company that his thoughts had been diverted into softer +channels. + +If it had not been rather amiable, it would have been absurdly droll. +His wife at once withdrew her touch; but it was plain she had to exert +some force. Thereupon the young man coloured and looked for a moment +beautiful. + +Leon and Elvira both observed the by-play, and a shock passed from one +to the other; for they were inveterate match-makers, especially between +those who were already married. + +"I beg your pardon," said Leon suddenly. "I see no use in pretending. +Before we came in here we heard sounds indicating--if I may so express +myself--an imperfect harmony." + +"Sir----" began the man. + +But the woman was beforehand. + +"It is quite true," she said. "I see no cause to be ashamed. If my +husband is mad I shall at least do my utmost to prevent the +consequences. Picture to yourself, Monsieur and Madame," she went on, +for she passed Stubbs over, "that this wretched person--a dauber, an +incompetent, not fit to be a sign-painter--receives this morning an +admirable offer from an uncle--an uncle of my own, my mother's brother, +and tenderly beloved--of a clerkship with nearly a hundred and fifty +pounds a year, and that he--picture to yourself!--he refuses it! Why? +For the sake of Art, he says. Look at his art, I say--look at it! Is it +fit to be seen? Ask him--is it fit to be sold? And it is for this, +Monsieur and Madame, that he condemns me to the most deplorable +existence, without luxuries, without comforts, in a vile suburb of a +country town. _O non!_" she cried, "_non--je ne me tairai pas--c'est +plus fort que moi!_ I take these gentlemen and this lady for judges--is +this kind? is it decent? is it manly? Do I not deserve better at his +hands after having married him and"--(a visible hitch)--"done everything +in the world to please him?" + +I doubt if there ever were a more embarrassed company at a table; every +one looked like a fool; and the husband like the biggest. + +"The art of Monsieur, however," said Elvira, breaking the silence, "is +not wanting in distinction." + +"It has this distinction," said the wife, "that nobody will buy it." + +"I should have supposed a clerkship----" began Stubbs. + +"Art is Art," swept in Leon. "I salute Art. It is the beautiful, the +divine; it is the spirit of the world and the pride of life. But----" +And the actor paused. + +"A clerkship----" began Stubbs. + +"I'll tell you what it is," said the painter. "I am an artist, and as +this gentleman says, Art is this and the other; but of course, if my +wife is going to make my life a piece of perdition all day long, I +prefer to go and drown myself out of hand." + +"Go!" said his wife. "I should like to see you!" + +"I was going to say," resumed Stubbs, "that a fellow may be a clerk and +paint almost as much as he likes. I know a fellow in a bank who makes +capital water-colour sketches; he even sold one for seven-and-six." + +To both the women this seemed a plank of safety; each hopefully +interrogated the countenance of her lord; even Elvira, an artist +herself!--but indeed there must be something permanently mercantile in +the female nature. The two men exchanged a glance; it was tragic; not +otherwise might two philosophers salute, as at the end of a laborious +life each recognised that he was still a mystery to his disciples. + +Leon arose. + +"Art is Art," he repeated sadly. "It is not water-colour sketches, nor +practising on a piano. It is a life to be lived." + +"And in the meantime people starve!" observed the woman of the house. +"If that's a life, it is not one for me." + +"I'll tell you what," burst forth Leon; "you, Madame, go into another +room and talk it over with my wife; and I'll stay here and talk it over +with your husband. It may come to nothing, but let's try." + +"I am very willing," replied the young woman; and she proceeded to light +a candle. "This way, if you please." And she led Elvira upstairs into a +bedroom. "The fact is," said she, sitting down, "that my husband cannot +paint." + +"No more can mine act," replied Elvira. + +"I should have thought he could," returned the other; "he seems clever." + +"He is so, and the best of men besides," said Elvira; "but he cannot +act." + +"At least he is not a sheer humbug like mine; he can at least sing." + +"You mistake Leon," returned his wife warmly. "He does not even pretend +to sing; he has too fine a taste; he does so for a living. And, believe +me, neither of the men are humbugs. They are people with a +mission--which they cannot carry out." + +"Humbug or not," replied the other, "you came very near passing the +night in the fields; and, for my part, I live in terror of starvation. I +should think it was a man's mission to think twice about his wife. But +it appears not. Nothing is their mission but to play the fool. Oh!" she +broke out, "is it not something dreary to think of that man of mine? If +he could only do it, who would care? But no--not he--no more than I +can!" + +"Have you any children?" asked Elvira. + +"No; but then I may." + +"Children change so much," said Elvira, with a sigh. + +And just then from the room below there flew up a sudden snapping chord +on the guitar; one followed after another; then the voice of Leon joined +in; and there was an air being played and sung that stopped the speech +of the two women. The wife of the painter stood like a person +transfixed; Elvira, looking into her eyes, could see all manner of +beautiful memories and kind thoughts that were passing in and out of +her soul with every note; it was a piece of her youth that went before +her; a green French plain, the smell of apple-flowers, the far and +shining ringlets of a river, and the words and presence of love. + +"Leon has hit the nail," thought Elvira to herself. "I wonder how." + +The how was plain enough. Leon had asked the painter if there were no +air connected with courtship and pleasant times; and having learned what +he wished, and allowed an interval to pass, he had soared forth into + + "O mon amante, + O mon desir, + Sachons cueillir + L'heure charmante!" + +"Pardon me, Madame," said the painter's wife, "your husband sings +admirably well." + +"He sings that with some feeling," replied Elvira critically, although +she was a little moved herself, for the song cut both ways in the upper +chamber; "but it is as an actor and not as a musician." + +"Life is very sad," said the other; "it so wastes away under one's +fingers." + +"I have not found it so," replied Elvira. "I think the good parts of it +last and grow greater every day." + +"Frankly, how would you advise me?" + +"Frankly, I would let my husband do what he wished. He is obviously a +very loving painter; you have not yet tried him as a clerk. And you +know--if it were only as the possible father of your children--it is as +well to keep him at his best." + +"He is an excellent fellow," said the wife. + + +They kept it up till sunrise with music and all manner of +good-fellowship; and at sunrise, while the sky was still temperate and +clear, they separated on the threshold with a thousand excellent wishes +for each other's welfare. Castel-le-Gachis was beginning to send up its +smoke against the golden east; and the church bell was ringing six. + +"My guitar is a familiar spirit," said Leon, as he and Elvira took the +nearest way towards the inn; "it resuscitated a Commissary, created an +English tourist, and reconciled a man and wife." + +Stubbs, on his part, went off into the morning with reflections of his +own. + +"They are all mad," thought he, "all mad--but wonderfully decent." + + + + +END OF VOL. 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