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diff --git a/32846.txt b/32846.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0531559 --- /dev/null +++ b/32846.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14112 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of International Short Stories, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: International Short Stories + English + +Author: Various + +Editor: William Patten + +Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32846] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORIES *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: W. Clark Russell] + + + + +INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORIES + + + + +EDITED BY + +WILLIAM PATTEN + + + A NEW COLLECTION OF + FAMOUS EXAMPLES + FROM THE LITERATURES + OF ENGLAND, FRANCE + AND AMERICA + + + + +ENGLISH + + + + +P F COLLIER & SON + +NEW YORK + + + + +Copyright, 1910 + +BY P. F. COLLIER & SON + + +The use of the copyrighted stories in this collection has been +authorized in each case by their authors or by their representatives. + + + + +ENGLISH STORIES + + +THE TWO DROVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Sir Walter Scott + +MR. DEUCEACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By W. M. Thackeray + +THE BROTHERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edward Bulmer Lytton + +DOCTOR MANETTE'S MANUSCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . By Charles Dickens + +THE CALDRON OF OIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Wilkie Collins + +THE BURIAL OF THE TITHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Samuel Lover + +THE KNIGHTSBRIDGE MYSTERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Charles Reade + +THE COURTING OF DINAH SHADD . . . . . . . . . . . By Rudyard Kipling + +THE SIRE DE MALETROIT'S DOOR . . . . . . . . . . . By R. L. Stevenson + +THE SECRET OF GORESTHORPE GRANGE . . . . . . . . By Sir A. Conan Doyle + +A CHANGE OF TREATMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By W. W. Jacobs + +THE STICKIT MINISTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By S. R. Crockett + +THE LAMMAS PREACHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By S. R. Crockett + +AN UNDERGRADUATE'S AUNT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By F. Anstey + +THE SILHOUETTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By A. T. Quiller-Couch + +MY BROTHER HENRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By J. M. Barrie + +GILRAY'S FLOWER POT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By J. M. Barrie + +MR. O'LEARY'S SECOND LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Charles Lever + +THE INDIFFERENCE OF THE MILLER OF HOFBAU . . . By Anthony Hope Hawkins + +THE STOLEN BODY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By H. G. Wells + +THE LAZARETTE OF THE "HUNTRESS" . . . . . . . . . By W. Clark Russell + +THE GREAT TRIANGULAR DUEL . . . . . . . By Captain Frederick Marryat + +THREE THIMBLES AND A PEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By George Borrow + + + + +THE TWO DROVERS + +By SIR WALTER SCOTT + + +CHAPTER I + +It was the day after Donne Fair when my story commences. It had been a +brisk market: several dealers had attended from the northern and +midland counties in England, and English money had flown so merrily +about as to gladden the hearts of the Highland farmers. Many large +droves were about to set off for England, under the protection of their +owners, or of the topsmen whom they employed in the tedious, laborious, +and responsible office of driving the cattle for many hundred miles, +from the market where they had been purchased to the fields or +farm-yards where they were to be fattened for the shambles. + +The Highlanders in particular are masters of this difficult trade of +driving, which seems to suit them as well as the trade of war. It +affords exercise for all their habits of patient endurance and active +exertion. They are required to know perfectly the drove-roads, which +lie over the wildest tracts of the country, and to avoid as much as +possible the highways, which distress the feet of the bullocks, and the +turnpikes, which annoy the spirit of the drover; whereas on the broad +green or grey track, which leads across the pathless moor, the herd not +only move at ease and without taxation, but, if they mind their +business, may pick up a mouthful of food by the way. At night, the +drovers usually sleep along with their cattle, let the weather be what +it will; and many of these hardy men do not once rest under a roof +during a journey on foot from Lochaber to Lincolnshire. They are paid +very highly, for the trust reposed is of the last importance, as it +depends on their prudence, vigilance, and honesty whether the cattle +reach the final market in good order, and afford a profit to the +grazier. But, as they maintain themselves at their own expense, they +are especially economical in that particular. At the period we speak +of, a Highland drover was victualled for his long and toilsome journey +with a few handfuls of oatmeal and two or three onions, renewed from +time to time, and a ram's horn filled with whisky, which he used +regularly, but sparingly, every night and morning. His dirk, or +skene-dhu (i.e. black knife), so worn as to be concealed beneath the +arm, or by the folds of the plaid, was his only weapon, excepting the +cudgel with which he directed the movements of the cattle. A +Highlander was never so happy as on these occasions. There was a +variety in the whole journey which exercised the Celt's natural +curiosity and love of motion; there were the constant change of place +and scene, the petty adventures incidental to the traffic, and the +intercourse with the various farmers, graziers, and traders, +intermingled with occasional merry-makings, not the less acceptable to +Donald that they were void of expense; and there was the consciousness +of superior skill: for the Highlander, a child amongst flocks, is a +prince amongst herds, and his natural habits induce him to disdain the +shepherd's slothful life, so that he feels himself nowhere more at home +than when following a gallant drove of his country cattle in the +character of their guardian. + +Of the number who left Doune in the morning, and with the purpose we +have described, not a glunamie of them all cocked his bonnet more +briskly, or gartered his tartan hose under knee over a pair of more +promising spigs (legs), than did Robin Oig M'Combich, called familiarly +Robin Oig, that is, Young, or the Lesser Robin. Though small of +stature, as the epithet Oig implies, and not very strongly limbed, he +was as light and alert as one of the deer of his mountains. He had an +elasticity of step which, in the course of a long march, made many a +stout fellow envy him; and the manner in which he busked his plaid and +adjusted his bonnet argued a consciousness that so smart a John +Highlandman as himself would not pass unnoticed among the Lowland +lasses. The ruddy cheek, red lips, and white teeth set off a +countenance which had gained by exposure to the weather a healthful and +hardy rather than a rugged hue. If Robin Oig did not laugh, or even +smile, frequently, as indeed is not the practice among his countrymen, +his bright eyes usually gleamed from under his bonnet with an +expression of cheerfulness ready to be turned into mirth. + +The departure of Robin Oig was an incident in the little town, in and +near which he had many friends, male and female. He was a topping +person in his way, transacted considerable business on his own behalf, +and was entrusted by the best farmers in the Highlands, in preference +to any other drover in that district. He might have increased his +business to any extent had he condescended to manage it by deputy; but, +except a lad or two, sister's sons of his own, Robin rejected the idea +of assistance, conscious, perhaps, how much his reputation depended +upon his attending in person to the practical discharge of his duty in +every instance. He remained, therefore, contented with the highest +premium given to persons of his description, and comforted himself with +the hopes that a few journeys to England might enable him to conduct +business on his own account in a manner becoming his birth. For Robin +Oig's father, Lachlan M'Combich, or "son of my friend" (his actual +clan-surname being M'Gregor), had been so called by the celebrated Rob +Roy, because of the particular friendship which had subsisted between +the grandsire of Robin and that renowned cateran. Some people even say +that Robin Oig derived his Christian name from one as renowned in the +wilds of Loch Lomond as ever was his namesake, Robin Hood, in the +precincts of merry Sherwood. "Of such ancestry," as James Boswell +says, "who would not be proud?" Robin Oig was proud accordingly; but +his frequent visits to England and to the Lowlands had given him tact +enough to know that pretensions which still gave him a little right to +distinction in his own lonely glen might be both obnoxious and +ridiculous if preferred elsewhere. The pride of birth, therefore, was +like the miser's treasure, the secret subject of his contemplation, but +never exhibited to strangers as a subject of boasting. + +Many were the words of gratulation and good-luck which were bestowed on +Robin Oig. The judges commended his drove, especially Robin's own +property, which were the best of them. Some thrust out their +snuff-mulls for the parting pinch; others tendered the doch-an-darroch, +or parting-cup. All cried: "Good-luck travel out with you and come +home with you. Give you luck in the Saxon market--brave notes in the +leabhar-dhu (black pocket-book) and plenty of English fold in the +sporran" (pouch of goat-skin). + +The bonny lasses made their adieus more modestly, and more than one, it +was said, would have given her best brooch to be certain that it was +upon her that his eye last rested as he turned towards the road. + +Robin Oig had just given the preliminary "Hoo--hoo!" to urge forward +the loiterers of the drove, when there was a cry behind him. + +"Stay, Robin--bide a blink. Here is Janet of Tomahourich--auld Janet, +your father's sister." + +"Plague on her, for an auld Highland witch and spaewife," said a farmer +from the Carse of Stirling; "she'll cast some of her cantrips on the +cattle." + +"She canna do that," said another sapient of the same profession: +"Robin Oig is no the lad to leave any of them without tying St Mungo's +knot on their tails, and that will put to her speed the best witch that +ever flew over Dimayet upon a broomstick." + +It may not be indifferent to the reader to know that the Highland +cattle are peculiarly liable to be "taken," or infected, by spells and +witchcraft, which judicious people guard against by knitting knots of +peculiar complexity on the tuft of hair which terminates the animal's +tail. + +But the old woman who was the object of the farmer's suspicion seemed +only busied about the drover, without paying any attention to the +drove. Robin, on the contrary, appeared rather impatient of her +presence. + +"What auld-world fancy," he said "has brought you so early from the +ingle-side this morning, muhme? I am sure I bid you good-even, and had +your God-speed, last night." + +"And left me more siller than the useless old woman will use till you +come back again, bird of my bosom," said the sibyl. "But it is little +I would care for the food that nourishes me, or the fire that warms me, +or for God's blessed sun itself, if aught but weal should happen to the +grandson of my father. So let me walk the deasil round you, that you +may go safe out into the far foreign land, and come safe home." + +Robin Oig stopped, half-embarrassed, half-laughing, and signing to +those around that he only complied with the old woman to soothe her +humour. In the mean time, she traced around him, with wavering steps, +the propitiation, which some have thought has been derived from the +Druidical mythology. It consists, as is well known, in the person who +makes the deasil walking three times round the person who is the object +of the ceremony, taking care to move according to the course of the +sun. At once, however, she stopped short, and exclaimed, in a voice of +alarm and horror: "Grandson of my father, there is blood on your hand." + +"Hush, for God's sake, aunt," said Robin Oig; "you will bring more +trouble on yourself with this taishataragh (second sight) than you will +be able to get out of for many a day." + +The old woman only repeated, with a ghastly look: "There is blood on +your hand, and it is English blood. The blood of the Gael is richer +and redder. Let us see--let us----" + +Ere Robin Oig could prevent her, which, indeed, could only have been by +positive violence, so hasty and peremptory were her proceedings, she +had drawn from his side the dirk which lodged in the folds of his +plaid, and held it up, exclaiming, although the weapon gleamed clear +and bright in the sun: "Blood, blood--Saxon blood again. Robin Oig +M'Combich, go not this day to England!" + +"Prutt, trutt," answered Robin Oig, "that will never do neither; it +would be next thing to running the country. For shame, muhme, give me +the dirk. You cannot tell by the colour the difference betwixt the +blood of a black bullock and a white one, and you speak of knowing +Saxon from Gaelic blood. All men have their blood from Adam, muhme. +Give me my skene-dhu, and let me go on my road. I should have been +half-way to Stirling brig by this time. Give me my dirk, and let me +go." + +"Never will I give it to you," said the old woman--"never will I quit +my hold on your plaid, unless you promise me not to wear that unhappy +weapon." + +The women around him urged him also, saying few of his aunt's words +fell to the ground; and as the Lowland farmers continued to look +moodily on the scene, Robin Oig determined to close it at any sacrifice. + +"Well, then," said the young drover, giving the scabbard of the weapon +to Hugh Morrison, "you Lowlanders care nothing for these freats. Keep +my dirk for me. I cannot give it you, because it was my father's; but +your drove follows ours, and I am content it should be in your keeping, +not in mine. Will this do, muhme?" + +"It must," said the old woman--"that is, if the Lowlander is mad enough +to carry the knife." + +The strong Westlandman laughed aloud. + +"Goodwife," said he, "I am Hugh Morrison from Glenae, come of the Manly +Morrisons of auld langsyne, that never took short weapon against a man +in their lives. And neither needed they: they had their broadswords, +and I have this bit supple," showing a formidable cudgel; "for dirking +ower the board, I leave that to John Highlandman. Ye needna snort, +none of you Highlanders, and you in especial, Robin. I'll keep the bit +knife, if you are feared for the auld spaewife's tale, and give it back +to you whenever you want it." + +Robin was not particularly pleased with some part of Hugh Morrison's +speech; but he had learned in his travels more patience than belonged +to his Highland constitution originally, and he accepted the service of +the descendant of the Manly Morrisons, without finding fault with the +rather depreciating manner in which it was offered. + +"If he had not had his morning in his head, and been but a +Dumfriesshire hog into the boot, he would have spoken more like a +gentleman. But you cannot have more of a sow than a grumph. It's +shame my father's knife should ever slash a haggis for the like of him." + +Thus saying, but saying it in Gaelic, Robin drove on his cattle, and +waved farewell to all behind him. He was in the greater haste, because +he expected to join at Falkirk a comrade and brother in profession, +with whom he proposed to travel in company. + +Robin Oig's chosen friend was a young Englishman, Harry Wakefield by +name, well known at every northern market, and in his way as much famed +and honoured as our Highland driver of bullocks. He was nearly six +feet high, gallantly formed to keep the rounds at Sraithfield, or +maintain the ring at a wrestling-match; and although he might have been +over-matched, perhaps, among the regular professors of the fancy, yet, +as a yokel or rustic, or a chance customer, he was able to give a +bellyful to any amateur of the pugilistic art. Doncaster races saw him +in his glory, betting his guinea, and generally successfully; nor was +there a main fought in Yorkshire, the feeders being persons of +celebrity, at which he was not to be seen, if business permitted. But +though a "sprack" lad, and fond of pleasure and its haunts, Harry +Wakefield was steady, and not the cautious Robin Oig M'Combich himself +was more attentive to the main chance. His holidays were holidays +indeed; but his days of work were dedicated to steady and persevering +labour. In countenance and temper, Wakefield was the model of Old +England's merry yeomen, whose cloth-yard shafts, in so many hundred +battles, asserted her superiority over the nations, and whose good +sabres, in our own time, are her cheapest and most assured defence. +His mirth was readily excited; for, strong in limb and constitution, +and fortunate in circumstances, he was disposed to be pleased with +everything about him; and such difficulties as he might occasionally +encounter were, to a man of his energy, rather matter of amusement than +serious annoyance. With all the merits of a sanguine temper, our young +English drover was not without his defects. He was irascible, +sometimes to the verge of being quarrelsome; and perhaps not the less +inclined to bring his disputes to a pugilistic decision, because he +found few antagonists able to stand up to him in the boxing-ring. + +It is difficult to say how Harry Wakefield and Robin Oig first became +intimates; but it is certain a close acquaintance had taken place +betwixt them, although they had apparently few common subjects of +conversation or of interest, so soon as their talk ceased to be of +bullocks. Robin Oig, indeed, spoke the English language rather +imperfectly upon any other topics but stots and kyloes, and Harry +Wakefield could never bring his broad Yorkshire tongue to utter a +single word of Gaelic. It was in vain Robin spent a whole morning, +during a walk over Minch Moor, in attempting to teach his companion to +utter, with true precision, the shibboleth llhu, which is the Gaelic +for a calf. From Traquair to Murder cairn, the hill rung with the +discordant attempts of the Saxon upon the unmanageable monosyllable, +and the heartfelt laugh which followed every failure. They had, +however, better modes of awakening the echoes; for Wakefield could sing +many a ditty to the praise of Moll, Susan, and Cicely, and Robin Oig +had a particular gift at whistling interminable pibrochs through all +their involutions, and, what was more agreeable to his companion's +southern ear, knew many of the northern airs, both lively and pathetic, +to which Wakefield learned to pipe a bass. Thus, though Robin could +hardly have comprehended his companion's stories about horse-racing, +and cock-fighting, or fox-hunting, and although his own legends of +clan-fights and creaghs, varied with talk of Highland goblins and fairy +folk, would have been caviare to his companion, they contrived +nevertheless to find a degree of pleasure in each other's company, +which had for three years back induced them to join company and travel +together, when the direction of their journey permitted. Each, indeed, +found his advantage in this companionship; for where could the +Englishman have found a guide through the Western Highlands like Robin +Oig M'Combich? and when they were on what Harry called the right side +of the Border, his patronage, which was extensive, and his purse, which +was heavy, were at all times at the service of his Highland friend, and +on many occasions his liberality did him genuine yeoman's service. + + +CHAPTER II + + Were ever two such loving friends!-- + How could they disagree? + Oh, thus it was, he loved him dear. + And thought how to requite him, + And having no friend left but he, + He did resolve to fight him. + --_Duke upon Duke_ + + +The pair of friends had traversed with their usual cordiality the +grassy wilds of Liddesdale, and crossed the opposite part of +Cumberland, emphatically called The Waste. In these solitary regions +the cattle under the charge of our drovers derived their subsistence +chiefly by picking their food as they went along the drove-road, or +sometimes by the tempting opportunity of a "start and owerloup," or +invasion of the neighbouring pasture, where an occasion presented +itself. But now the scene changed before them; they were descending +towards a fertile and inclosed country, where no such liberties could +be taken with impunity, or without a previous arrangement and bargain +with the possessors of the ground. This was more especially the case, +as a great northern fair was upon the eve of taking place, where both +the Scotch and English drover expected to dispose of a part of their +cattle, which it was desirable to produce in the market rested and in +good order. Fields were therefore difficult to be obtained, and only +upon high terms. This necessity occasioned a temporary separation +betwixt the two friends, who went to bargain, each as he could, for the +separate accommodation of his herd. Unhappily it chanced that both of +them, unknown to each other, thought of bargaining for the ground they +wanted on the property of a country gentleman of some fortune, whose +estate lay in the neighbourhood. The English drover applied to the +bailiff on the property, who was known to him. It chanced that the +Cumbrian squire, who had entertained some suspicions of his manager's +honesty, was taking occasional measures to ascertain how far they were +well founded, and had desired that any inquiries about his inclosures, +with a view to occupy them for a temporary purpose, should be referred +to himself. As, however, Mr. Ireby had gone the day before upon a +journey of some miles' distance to the northward, the bailiff chose to +consider the check upon his full powers as for the time removed, and +concluded that he should best consult his master's interest, and +perhaps his own, in making an agreement with Harry Wakefield. + +Meanwhile, ignorant of what his comrade was doing, Robin Oig, on his +side, chanced to be overtaken by a good-looking, smart little man upon +a pony, most knowingly hogged and cropped, as was then the fashion, the +rider wearing tight leather breeches and long-necked bright spurs. +This cavalier asked one or two pertinent questions about markets and +the price of stock. So Robin, seeing him a well-judging, civil +gentleman, took the freedom to ask him whether he could let him know if +there was any grass-land to be let in that neighbourhood, for the +temporary accommodation of his drove. He could not have put the +question to more willing ears. The gentleman of the buckskins was the +proprietor with whose bailiff Harry Wakefield had dealt, or was in the +act of dealing. + +"Thou art in good luck, my canny Scot," said Mr. Ireby, "to have spoken +to me, for I see thy cattle have done their day's work, and I have at +my disposal the only field within three miles that is to be let in +these parts." + +"The drove can pe gang two, three, four miles very pratty weel indeed," +said the cautious Highlander; "put what would his honour pe axing for +the peasts pe the head, if she was to tak the park for twa or three +days?" + +"We won't differ, Sawney, if you let me have six stots for winterers, +in the way of reason." + +"And which peasts wad your honour pe for having?" + +"Why, let me see--the two black--the dun one--yon doddy--him with the +twisted horn--the brockit. How much by the head?" + +"Ah," said Robin, "your honour is a shudge---a real shudge: I couldna +have set off the pest six peasts petter mysell, me that ken them as if +they were my pairns, puir things." + +"Well, how much per head, Sawney," continued Mr. Ireby. + +"It was high markets at Doune and Falkirk," answered Robin. + +And thus the conversation proceeded, until they had agreed on the prix +juste for the bullocks, the squire throwing in the temporary +accommodation of the inclosure for the cattle into the boot, and Robin +making, as he thought, a very good bargain, provided the grass was but +tolerable. The squire walked his pony alongside of the drove, partly +to show him the way, and see him put into possession of the field, and +partly to learn the latest news of the northern markets. + +They arrived at the field, and the pasture seemed excellent. But what +was their surprise when they saw the bailiff quietly inducting the +cattle of Harry Wakefield into the grassy goshen which had just been +assigned to those of Robin Oig M'Combich by the proprietor himself! +Squire Ireby set spurs to his horse, dashed up to his servant, and +learning what had passed between the parties, briefly informed the +English drover that his bailiff had let the ground without his +authority, and that he might seek grass for his cattle wherever he +would, since he was to get none there. At the same time he rebuked his +servant severely for having transgressed his commands, and ordered him +instantly to assist in ejecting the hungry and weary cattle of Harry +Wakefield, which were just beginning to enjoy a meal of unusual plenty, +and to introduce those of his comrade, whom the English drover now +began to consider as a rival. + +The feelings which arose in Wakefield's mind would have induced him to +resist Mr. Ireby's decision; but every Englishman has a tolerably +accurate sense of law and justice, and John Fleecebumpkin, the bailiff, +having acknowledged that he had exceeded his commission, Wakefield saw +nothing else for it than to collect his hungry and disappointed charge, +and drive them on to seek quarters elsewhere. Robin Oig saw what had +happened with regret, and hastened to offer to his English friend to +share with him the disputed possession. But Wakefield's pride was +severely hurt, and he answered disdainfully, "Take it all, man--take it +all; never make two bites of a cherry. Thou canst talk over the +gentry, and blear a plain man's eye. Out upon you, man; I would not +kiss any man's dirty latchets for leave to bake in his oven." + +Robin Oig, sorry but not surprised at his comrade's displeasure, +hastened to entreat his friend to wait but an hour till he had gone to +the squire's house to receive payment for the cattle he had sold, and +he would come back and help him to drive the cattle into some +convenient place of rest, and explain to him the whole mistake they had +both of them fallen into. + +But the Englishman continued indignant. "Thou hast been selling, hast +thou? Ay--ay, thou is a cunning lad for kenning the hours of +bargaining. Go to the devil with thyself, for I will ne'er see thy +fause loon's visage again; thou should be ashamed to look me in the +face." + +"I am ashamed to look no man in the face," said Robin Oig, something +moved; "and, moreover, I will look you in the face this blessed day, if +you will bide at the clachan down yonder." + +"Mayhap you had as well keep away," said his comrade; and turning his +back on his former friend, he collected his unwilling associates, +assisted by the bailiff, who took some real and some affected interest +in seeing Wakefield accommodated. + +After spending some time in negotiating with more than one of the +neighbouring farmers, who could not; or would not, afford the +accommodation desired, Henry Wakefield at last, and in his necessity, +accomplished his point by means of the landlord of the alehouse at +which Robin Oig and he had agreed to pass the night, when they first +separated from each other. Mine host was content to let him turn his +cattle on a piece of barren moor, at a price little less than the +bailiff had asked for the disputed inclosure; and the wretchedness of +the pasture, as well as the price paid for it, were set down as +exaggerations of the breach of faith and friendship of his Scottish +crony. This turn of Wakefield's passions was encouraged by the +bailiff, who had his own reasons for being offended against poor Robin, +as having been the unwitting cause of his falling into disgrace with +his master, as well as by the innkeeper, and two or three chance +guests, who stimulated the drover in his resentment against his quondam +associate--some from the ancient grudge against the Scots, which, when +it exists anywhere, is to be found lurking in the Border counties, and +some from the general love of mischief, which characterises mankind in +all ranks of life, to the honour of Adam's children be it spoken. Good +John Barleycorn also, who always heightens and exaggerates the +prevailing passions, be they angry or kindly, was not wanting in his +offices on this occasion; and confusion to false friends and hard +masters was pledged in more than one tankard. + +In the mean while, Mr. Ireby found some amusement in detaining the +northern drover at his ancient hall. He caused a cold round of beef to +be placed before the Scot in the butler's pantry, together with a +foaming tankard of home-brewed, and took pleasure in seeing the hearty +appetite with which these unwonted edibles were discussed by Robin Oig +M'Combich. The squire himself, lighting his pipe, compounded between +his patrician dignity and his love of agricultural gossip, by walking +up and down while he conversed with his guest. + +"I passed another drove," said the squire, "with one of your countrymen +behind them; they were something less beasts than your drove, doddies +most of them; a big man was with them--none of your kilts though, but a +decent pair of breeches. D'ye know who he may be?" + +"Hout aye, that might, could, and would be Hughie Morrison; I didna +think he could hae peen sac weel up. He has made a day on us; but his +Argyleshires will have wearied shanks. How far was he pehind?" + +"I think about six or seven miles," answered the squire, "for I passed +them at the Christenbury Crag, and I overtook you at the Hollan Bush. +If his beasts be leg-weary, he will be maybe selling bargains." + +"Na--na, Hughie Morrison is no the man for pargains; ye maun come to +some Highland body like Robin Oig hersell for the like of these. Put I +maun pe wishing you goot-night, and twenty of them let alane ane, and I +maun down to the clachan to see if the lad Harry Waakfelt is out of his +humdudgeons yet." + +The party at the alehouse were still in full talk, and the treachery of +Robin Oig still the theme of conversation, when the supposed culprit +entered the apartment. His arrival, as usually happens in such a case, +put an instant stop to the discussion of which he had furnished the +subject, and he was received by the company assembled with that +chilling silence which, more than a thousand exclamations, tells an +intruder that he is unwelcome. Surprised and offended, but not +appalled, by the reception which he experienced, Robin entered with an +undaunted and even a haughty air, attempted no greeting, as he saw he +was received with none, and placed himself by the side of the fire, a +little apart from a table at which Harry Wakefield, the bailiff, and +two or three other persons were seated. The ample Cumbrian kitchen +would have afforded plenty of room, even for a larger separation. + +Robin, thus seated, proceeded to light his pipe and call for a pint of +twopenny. + +"We have no twopence ale," answered Ralph Heskett, the landlord; "but, +as thou find'st thy own tobacco, it's like thou mayst find thy own +liquor too; it's the wont of thy country, I wot." + +"Shame, goodman," said the landlady, a blythe, bustling housewife, +hastening herself to supply the guest with liquor. "Thou knowest well +enow what the strange man wants, and it's thy trade to be civil, man. +Thou shouldst know, that if the Scot likes a small pot, he pays a sure +penny." + +Without taking any notice of this nuptial dialogue, the Highlander took +the flagon in his hand, and addressing the company generally, drank the +interesting toast of "Good markets," to the party assembled. + +"The better that the wind blew fewer dealers from the north," said one +of the farmers, "and fewer Highland runts to eat up the English +meadows." + +"Saul of my pody, put you are wrang there, my friend," answered Robin, +with composure; "it is your fat Englishmen that eat up our Scots +cattle, puir things." + +"I wish there was a summat to eat up their drovers," said another; "a +plain Englishman canna make bread with a kenning of them." + +"Or an honest servant keep his master's favour, but they will come +sliding in between him and the sunshine," said the bailiff. + +"If these pe jokes," said Robin Oig, with the same composure, "there is +ower mony jokes upon one man." + +"It is no joke, but downright earnest," said the bailiff. "Harkye, Mr. +Robin Ogg, or whatever is your name, it's right we should tell you that +we are all of one opinion, and that is, that you, Mr. Robin Ogg, have +behaved to our friend, Mr. Harry Wakefield here, like a raff and a +blackguard." + +"Nae doubt--nae doubt," answered Robin, with great composure; "and you +are a set of very pretty judges, for whose prains or pehaviour I wad +not gie a pinch of sneeshing. If Mr. Harry Waakfelt kens where he is +wranged, he kens where he may be righted." + +"He speaks truth," said Wakefield, who had listened to what passed, +divided between the offence which he had taken at Robin's late +behaviour and the revival of his habitual feelings of regard. + +He now rose and went towards Robin, who got up from his seat as he +approached, and held out his hand. + +"That's right, Harry--go it--serve him out," resounded on all +sides--"tip him the nailer--show him the mill." + +"Hold your peace all of you, and be--," said Wakefield; and then +addressing his comrade, he took him by the extended hand, with +something alike of respect and defiance. "Robin," he said, "thou hast +used me ill enough this day; but if you mean, like a frank fellow, to +shake hands, and take a tussle for love on the sod, why, I'll forgive +thee, man, and we shall be better friends than ever." + +"And would it no pe petter to pe cood friends without more of the +matter?" said Robin; "we will be much petter friendships with our panes +hale than proken." + +Harry Wakefield dropped the hand of his friend, or rather threw it from +him. + +"I did not think I had been keeping company for three years with a +coward." + +"Coward pelongs to none of my name," said Robin, whose eyes began to +kindle, but keeping the command of his temper. "It was no coward's +legs or hands, Harry Waakfelt, that drew you out of the fords of Frew, +when you was drifting ower the plack rock, and every eel in the river +expected his share of you." + +"And that is true enough, too," said the Englishman, struck by the +appeal. + +"Adzooks!" exclaimed the bailiff; "sure Harry Wakefield, the nattiest +lad at Whitson Tryste, Wooler Fair, Carlisle Sands, or Stagshaw Bank, +is not going to show white feather? Ah, this comes of living so long +with kilts and bonnets; men forget the use of their daddies." + +"I may teach you, Master Fleecebumpkin, that I have not lost the use of +mine," said Wakefield, and then went on: "This will never do, Robin. +We must have a turn-up, or we shall be the talk of the countryside. +I'll be d--d if I hurt thee. I'll put on the gloves gin thou like. +Come, stand forward like a man." + +"To be peaten like a dog," said Robin; "is there any reason in that? +If you think I have done you wrong, I'll go before your shudge, though +I neither know his law nor his language." + +A general cry of "No, no--no law, no lawyer! A bellyful and be +friends!" was echoed by the bystanders. + +"But," continued Robin, "if I am to fight, I have no skill to fight +like a jackanapes, with hands and nails." + +"How would you fight, then?" said his antagonist; "though I am thinking +it would be hard to bring you to the scratch anyhow." + +"I would fight with proadswords, and sink point on the first plood +drawn, like a gentlemans." + +A loud shout of laughter followed the proposal, which indeed had rather +escaped from poor Robin's swelling heart than been the dictate of his +sober judgment. + +"Gentleman, quotha!" was echoed on all sides, with a shout of +unextinguishable laughter; "a very pretty gentleman, God wot. Canst +get two swords for the gentleman to fight with, Ralph Heskett?" + +"No, but I can send to the armoury at Carlisle, and lend them two +forks, to be making shift with in the mean time." + +"Tush, man," said another, "the bonny Scots come into the world with +the blue bonnet on their heads, and dirk and pistol at their belt." + +"Best send post," said Mr. Fleecebumpkin, "to the squire of Corby +Castle, to come and stand second to the gentleman." + +In the midst of this torrent of general ridicule, the Highlander +instinctively griped beneath the folds of his plaid. + +"But it's better not," he said in his own language. "A hundred curses +on the swine-eaters, who know neither decency nor civility!" + +"Make room, the pack of you," he said, advancing to the door. + +But his former friend interposed his sturdy bulk, and opposed his +leaving the house; and when Robin Oig attempted to make his way by +force, he hit him down on the floor, with as much ease as a boy bowls +down a ninepin. + +"A ring--a ring!" was now shouted, until the dark rafters, and the hams +that hung on them, trembled again, and the very platters on the "bink" +clattered against each other. "Well done, Harry"--"Give it him home, +Harry"--"Take care of him now, he sees his own blood!" + +Such were the exclamations, while the Highlander, starting from the +ground, all his coldness and caution lost in frantic rage, sprung at +his antagonist with the fury, the activity, and the vindictive purpose +of an incensed tiger-cat. But when could rage encounter science and +temper? Robin Oig again went down in the unequal contest; and as the +blow was necessarily a severe one, he lay motionless on the floor of +the kitchen. + +The landlady ran to offer some aid; but Mr. Fleecebumpkin would not +permit her to approach. "Let him alone," he said, "he will come to +within time, and come up to the scratch again. He has not got half his +broth yet." + +"He has got all I mean to give him, though," said his antagonist, whose +heart began to relent towards his old associate; "and I would rather by +half give the rest to yourself, Mr. Pleecebumpkin, for you pretend to +know a thing or two, and Robin had not art enough even to peel before +setting to, but fought with his plaid dangling about him. Stand up, +Robin, my man, all friends now, and let me hear the man that will speak +a word against you, or your country, for your sake." + +Robin Oig was still under the dominion of his passion, and eager to +renew the onset; but being withheld on the one side by the peacemaking +Dame Heskett, and on the other aware that Wakefield no longer meant to +renew the combat, his fury sunk into gloomy sullenness. + +"Come--come, never grudge so much at it, man," said the brave-spirited +Englishman, with the placability of his country; "shake hands, and we +will be better friends than ever." + +"Friends!" exclaimed Robin Oig with strong emphasis--"friends! Never. +Look to yourself, Harry Waakfelt." + +"Then the curse of Cromwell on your proud Scots stomach, as the man +says in the play, and you may do your worst, and be d--d; for one man +can say nothing more to another after a tussle, than that he is sorry +for it." + +On these terms the friends parted. Robin Oig drew out, in silence, a +piece of money, threw it on the table, and then left the alehouse. +But, turning at the door, he shook his hand at Wakefield, pointing with +his forefinger upwards, in a manner which might imply either a threat +or a caution. He then disappeared in the moonlight. + +Some words passed after his departure between the bailiff, who piqued +himself on being a little of a bully, and Harry Wakefield, who, with +generous inconsistency, was now not indisposed to begin a new combat in +defence of Robin Oig's reputation, "although he could not use his +daddies like an Englishman, as it did not come natural to him." + +But Dame Heskett prevented this second quarrel from coming to a head by +her peremptory interference. "There should be no more fighting in her +house," she said; "there had been too much already. And you, Mr. +Wakefield, may live to learn," she added, "what it is to make a deadly +enemy out of a good friend." + +"Pshaw, dame! Robin Oig is an honest fellow, and will never keep +malice." + +"Do not trust to that: you do not know the dour temper of the Scots, +though you have dealt with them so often. I have a right to know them, +my mother being a Scot." + +"And so is well seen on her daughter," said Ralph Heskett. + +This nuptial sarcasm gave the discourse another turn; fresh customers +entered the taproom or kitchen, and others left it. The conversation +turned on the expected markets, and the reports of prices from +different parts both of Scotland and England; treaties were commenced, +and Harry Wakefield was lucky enough to find a chap for a part of his +drove, and at a very considerable profit--an event of consequence more +than sufficient to blot out all remembrances of the unpleasant scuffle +in the earlier part of the day. + +But there remained one party from whose mind that recollection could +not have been wiped away by the possession of every head of cattle +betwixt Esk and Eden. This was Robin Oig M'Combich. "That I should +have had no weapon," he said, "and for the first time in my life! +Blighted be the tongue that bids the Highlander part with the dirk. +The dirk hae! the English blood! My muhme's word--when did her word +fall to the ground?" + +The recollection of the fatal prophecy confirmed the deadly intention +which instantly sprang up in his mind. + +"Ha! Morrison cannot be many miles behind; and if it were an hundred, +what then?" + +His impetuous spirit had now a fixed purpose and motive of action, and +he turned the light foot of his country towards the wilds, through +which he knew, by Mr. Ireby's report, that Morrison was advancing. His +mind was wholly engrossed by the sense of injury--injury sustained from +a friend, and by the desire of vengeance on one whom he now accounted +his most bitter enemy. The treasured ideas of self-importance and +self-opinion--of ideal birth and quality, had become more precious to +him, like the hoard to the miser, because he could only enjoy them in +secret. But that hoard was pillaged; the idols which he had secretly +worshipped had been desecrated and profane. Insulted, abused, and +beaten, he was no longer worthy, in his own opinion, of the name he +bore, or the lineage which he belonged to; nothing was left to +him--nothing but revenge; and, as the reflection added a galling spur +to every step, he determined it should be as sudden and signal as the +offence. + +When Robin Oig left the door of the alehouse, seven or eight English +miles at least lay betwixt Morrison and him. The advance of the former +was slow, limited by the sluggish pace of his cattle; the last left +behind him stubble-field and hedgerow, crag and dark heath, all +glittering with frost-rime in the broad November moonlight, at the rate +of six miles an hour. And now the distant lowing of Morrison's cattle +is heard; and now they are seen creeping like moles in size and +slowness of motion on the broad face of the moor; and now he meets +them, passes them, and stops their conductor. + +"May good betide us," said the Southlander. "Is this you, Robin +M'Combich, or your wraith?" + +"It is Robin Oig M'Combich," answered the Highlander, "and it is not. +But never mind that, put pe giving me the skene-dhu." + +"What! you are for back to the Highlands. The devil! Have yon selt +all off before the fair? This beats all for quick markets." + +"I have not sold--I am not going north. May pe I will never go north +again. Give me pack my dirk, Hugh Morrison, or there will pe words +petween us." + +"Indeed, Robin, I'll be better advised before I gie it back to you; it +is a wanchancy weapon in a Highlandman's hand, and I am thinking you +will be about some barns-breaking." + +"Prutt, trutt! let me have my weapon," said Robin Oig, impatiently. + +"Hooly and fairly," said his well-meaning friend. "I'll tell you what +will do better than these dirking doings. Ye ken Highlander, and +Lowlander, and Bordermen are a' ae man's bairns when you are over the +Scots dyke. See, the Eskdale callants, and fighting Charlie of +Liddesdale, and the Lockerby lads, and the four Dandies of Lustruther, +and a ween mair grey plaids are coming up behind; and if you are +wranged, there is the hand of a Manly Morrison, we'll see you righted, +if Carlisle and Stanwix baith took up the feud." + +"To tell you the truth," said Robin Oig, desirous of eluding the +suspicions of his friend, "I have enlisted with a party of the Black +Watch, and must march off to-morrow morning." + +"Enlisted! Were you mad or drunk? You must buy yourself off. I can +lend you twenty notes, and twenty to that, if the drove sell." + +"I thank you--thank ye, Hughie; but I go with good-will the gate that I +am going; so the dirk--the dirk!" + +"There it is for you then, since less wunna serve. But think on what I +was saying. Waes me, it will be sair news in the braes of Balquidder, +that Robin Oig M'Combich should have run an ill gate, and ta'en on." + +"Ill news in Balquidder, indeed!" echoed poor Robin; "but Cot speed +you, Hughie, and send you good marcats. Ye winna meet with Robin Oig +again, either at tryste or fair." + +So saying, he shook hastily the hand of his acquaintance, and set out +in the direction from which he had advanced, with the spirit of his +former pace. + +"There is something wrang with the lad," muttered the Morrison to +himself; "but we will maybe see better into it the morn's morning." + +But long ere the morning dawned, the catastrophe of our tale had taken +place. It was two hours after the affray had happened, and it was +totally forgotten by almost every one, when Robin Oig returned to +Heskett's inn. The place was filled at once by various sorts of men +and with noises corresponding to their character. There were the grave +low sounds of men engaged in busy traffic, with the tough, the song, +and the riotous jest of those who had nothing to do but to enjoy +themselves. Among the last was Harry Wakefield, who, amidst a grinning +group of smock-frocks, hobnailed shoes, and jolly English +physiognomies, was trolling forth the old ditty. + + What though my name be Roger, + Who drives the plough and cart--" + +when he was interrupted by a well-known voice saying in a high and +stern voice, marked by the sharp Highland accent, "Harry Waakfelt, if +you be a man, stand up!" + +"What is the matter?--what is it?" the guests demanded of each other. + +"It is only a d--d Scotsman," said Fleecebumpkin, who was by this time +very drunk, "whom Harry Wakefield helped to his broth to-day, who is +now come to have his cauld kail het again." + +"Harry Waakfelt," repeated the same ominous summons, "stand up, if you +be a man." + +There is something in the tone of deep and concentrated passion which +attracts attention and imposes awe, even by the very sound. The guests +shrunk back on every side, and gazed at the Highlander as he stood in +the middle of them, his brows bent, and his features rigid with +resolution. + +"I will stand up with all my heart, Robin, my boy, but it shall be to +shake hands with you, and drink down all unkindness. It is not the +fault of your heart, man, that you don't know how to clench your hands." + +By this time he stood opposite to his antagonist; his open and +unsuspecting look strangely contrasted with the stern purpose which +gleamed wild, dark, and vindictive in the eyes of the Highlander. + +"'Tis not thy fault, man, that, not having the luck to be an +Englishman, thou canst not fight more than a school-girl." + +"I can fight," answered Robin Oig, sternly but calmly, "and you shall +know it. You, Harry Waakfelt, showed me to-day how the Saxon churls +fight; I show you now how the Highland duinie-wassel fights." + +He seconded the word with the action, and plunged the dagger, which he +suddenly displayed, into the broad breast of the English yeoman, with +such fatal certainty and force that the hilt made a hollow sound +against the breast-bone, and the double-edged point split the very +heart of his victim. Harry Wakefield fell and expired with a single +groan. His assassin next seized the bailiff by the collar, and offered +the bloody poniard to his throat, whilst dread and surprise rendered +the man incapable of defence. + +"It were very just to lay you beside him," he said, "but the blood of a +base pickthank shall never mix on my father's dirk with that of a brave +man." + +As he spoke, he cast the man from him with so much force that he fell +on the floor, while Robin, with his other hand, threw the fatal weapon +into the blazing turf-fire. + +"There," he said, "take me who likes, and let fire cleanse blood if it +can." + +The cause of astonishment still continuing, Robin Oig asked for a +peace-officer, and a constable having stepped out, he surrendered +himself to his custody. + +"A bloody night's work you have made of it," said the constable. + +"Your own fault," said the Highlander. "Had you kept his hands off me +twa hours since, he would have been now as well and merry as he was twa +minutes since." + +"It must be sorely answered," said the peace-officer. + +"Never you mind that. Death pays all debts; it will pay that too." + +The horror of the bystanders began now to give way to indignation; and +the sight of a favourite companion murdered in the midst of them, the +provocation being, in their opinion, so utterly inadequate to the +excess of vengeance, might have induced them to kill the perpetrator of +the deed even upon the very spot. The constable, however, did his duty +on this occasion, and, with the assistance of some of the more +reasonable persons present, procured horses to guard the prisoner to +Carlisle, to abide his doom at the next assizes. While the escort was +preparing, the prisoner neither expressed the least interest nor +attempted the slightest reply. Only, before he was carried from the +fatal apartment, he desired to look at the dead body, which, raised +from the floor, had been deposited upon the large table (at the head of +which Harry Wakefield had presided but a few minutes before, full of +life, vigour, and animation), until the surgeons should examine the +mortal wound. The face of the corpse was decently covered with a +napkin. To the surprise and horror of the bystanders, which displayed +itself in a general "Ah!" drawn through clenched teeth and half-shut +lips, Robin Oig removed the cloth, and gazed with a mournful but steady +eye on the lifeless visage, which had been so lately animated, that the +smile of good-humoured confidence in his own strength, of conciliation +at once and contempt towards his enemy, still curled his lip. While +those present expected that the wound, which had so lately flooded the +apartment with gore, would send forth fresh streams at the touch of the +homicide, Robin Oig replaced the covering with the brief exclamation, +"He was a pretty man!" + + +My story is nearly ended. The unfortunate Highlander stood his trial +at Carlisle. I was myself present, and as a young Scottish lawyer, or +barrister at least, and reputed a man of some quality, the politeness +of the sheriff of Cumberland offered me a place on the bench. The +facts of the case were proved in the manner I have related them; and +whatever might be at first the prejudice of the audience against a +crime so un-English as that of assassination from revenge, yet when the +rooted national prejudices of the prisoner had been explained, which +made him consider himself as stained with indelible dishonour when +subjected to personal violence, when his previous patience, moderation, +and endurance were considered, the generosity of the English audience +was inclined to regard his crime as the wayward aberration of a false +idea of honour rather than as flowing from a heart naturally savage, or +perverted by habitual vice. I shall never forget the charge of the +venerable judge to the jury, although not at that time liable to be +much affected either by that which was eloquent or pathetic. + +"We have had," he said, "in the previous part of our duty (alluding to +some former trials), to discuss crimes which infer disgust and +abhorrence, while they call down the well-merited vengeance of the law. +It is now our still more melancholy task to apply its salutary though +severe enactments to a case of a very singular character, in which the +crime, for a crime it is, and a deep one, arose less out of the +malevolence of the heart than the error of the understanding--less from +any idea of committing wrong than from an unhappily perverted notion of +that which is right. Here we have two men, highly esteemed, it has +been stated, in their rank of life, and attached, it seems, to each +other as friends, one of whose lives has been already sacrificed to a +punctilio, and the other is about to prove the vengeance of the +offended laws and yet both may claim our commiseration at least, as men +acting in ignorance of each other's national prejudices, and unhappily +misguided rather than voluntarily erring from the path of right conduct. + +"In the original cause of the misunderstanding, we must in justice give +the right to the prisoner at the bar. He had acquired possession of +the inclosure, which was the object of Competition, by a legal contract +with the proprietor, Mr. Ireby; and yet, when accosted with reproaches +undeserved in themselves, and galling doubtless to a temper at least +sufficiently susceptible of passion, he offered notwithstanding to +yield up half his acquisition, for the sake of peace and good +neighbourhood, and his amicable proposal was rejected with scorn. Then +follows the scene at Mr. Heskett the publican's, and you will observe +how the stranger was treated by the deceased, and, I am sorry to +observe, by those around, who seem to have urged him in a manner which +was aggravating in the highest degree. While he asked for peace and +for composition, and offered submission to a magistrate, or to a mutual +arbiter, the prisoner was insulted by a whole company, who seem on this +occasion to have forgotten the national maxim of 'fair play'; and while +attempting to escape from the place in peace, he was intercepted, +struck down, and beaten to the effusion of his blood. + +"Gentlemen of the jury, it was with some impatience that I heard my +learned brother, who opened the case for the crown, give an +unfavourable turn to the prisoner's conduct on this occasion. He said +the prisoner was afraid to encounter his antagonist in fair fight, or +to submit to the laws of the ring; and that, therefore, like a cowardly +Italian, he had recourse to his fatal stiletto, to murder the man whom +he dared not meet in manly encounter. I observed the prisoner shrink +from this part of the accusation with the abhorrence natural to a brave +man; and as I would wish to make my words impressive when I point his +real crime, I must secure his opinion of my impartiality by rebutting +everything that seems to me a false accusation. There can be no doubt +that the prisoner is a man of resolution--too much resolution. I wish +to Heaven that he had less, or rather that he had had a better +education to regulate it. + +"Gentlemen, as to the laws my brother talks of, they may be known in +the bull-ring, or the bear-garden, or the cockpit, but they are not +known here. Or, if they should be so far admitted as furnishing a +species of proof that no malice was intended in this sort of combat, +from which fatal accidents do sometimes arise, it can only be so +admitted when both parties are in part casu, equally acquainted with, +and equally willing to refer themselves to, that species of +arbitrament. But will it be contended that a man of superior rank and +education is to be subjected, or is obliged to subject himself, to this +coarse and brutal strife, perhaps in opposition to a younger, stronger, +or more skilful opponent? Certainly even the pugilistic code, if +founded upon the fair play of Merry Old England, as my brother alleges +it to be, can contain nothing so preposterous. And, gentlemen of the +jury, if the laws would support an English gentleman, wearing, we will +suppose, his sword, in defending himself by force against a violent +personal aggression of the nature offered to this prisoner, they will +not less protect a foreigner and a stranger, involved in the same +unpleasing circumstances. If, therefore, gentlemen of the jury, when +thus pressed by a vis major, the object of obloquy to a whole company, +and of direct violence from one at least, and, as he might reasonably +apprehend, from more, the panel had produced the weapon which his +countrymen, as we are informed, generally carry about their persons, +and the same unhappy circumstance had ensued which you have heard +detailed in evidence, I could not in my conscience have asked from you +a verdict of murder. The prisoner's personal defence might indeed, +even in that case, have gone more or less beyond the moderamen +inculpatae tutelar spoken of by lawyers, but the punishment incurred +would have been that of manslaughter, not of murder. I beg leave to +add, that I should have thought this milder species of charge was +demanded in the case supposed, notwithstanding the statute of James I. +cap. 8, which takes the case of slaughter by stabbing with a short +weapon, even without malice prepense, out of the benefit of clergy. +For this statute of stabbing, as it is termed, arose out of a temporary +cause; and as the real guilt is the same, whether the slaughter be +committed by the dagger or by sword or pistol, the benignity of the +modern law places them all on the same, or nearly the same, footing. + +"But, gentlemen of the jury, the pinch of the case lies in the interval +of two hours interposed betwixt the reception of the injury and the +fatal retaliation. In the heat of affray and chaude melee, law, +compassionating the infirmities of humanity, makes allowance for the +passions which rule such a stormy moment--for the sense of present +pain, for the apprehension of further injury, for the difficulty of +ascertaining with due accuracy the precise degree of violence which is +necessary to protect the person of the individual, without annoying or +injuring the assailant more than is absolutely necessary. But the time +necessary to walk twelve miles, however speedily performed, was an +interval sufficient for the prisoner to have recollected himself; and +the violence with which he carried his purpose into effect, with so +many circumstances of deliberate determination, could neither be +induced by the passion of anger nor that of fear. It was the purpose +and the act of predetermined revenge, for which law neither can, will, +nor ought to have sympathy or allowance. + +"It is true, we may repeat to ourselves, in alleviation of this poor +man's unhappy action, that his case is a very peculiar one. The +country which he inhabits was, in the days of many now alive, +inaccessible to the laws not only of England, which have not even yet +penetrated thither, but to those to which our neighbours of Scotland +are subjected, and which must be supposed to be, and no doubt actually +are, founded upon the general principles of justice and equity which +pervade every civilised country. Amongst their mountains, as among the +North American Indians, the various tribes were wont to make war upon +each other, so that each man was obliged to go armed for his own +protection. These men, from the ideas which they entertained of their +own descent and of their own consequence, regarded themselves as so +many cavaliers or men-at-arms, rather than as the peasantry of a +peaceful country. Those laws of the ring, as my brother terms them, +were unknown to the race of warlike mountaineers; that decision of +quarrels by no other weapons than those which nature has given every +man must to them have seemed as vulgar and as preposterous as to the +noblesse of France. Revenge, on the other hand, must have been as +familiar to their habits of society as to those of the Cherokees or +Mohawks. It is indeed, as described by Bacon, at bottom a kind of wild +untutored justice; for the fear of retaliation must withhold the hands +of the oppressor where there is no regular law to check daring +violence. But though all this may be granted, and though we may allow +that, such having been the case of the Highlands in the days of the +prisoner's fathers, many of the opinions and sentiments must still +continue to influence the present generation, it cannot, and ought not, +even in this most painful case, to alter the administration of the law, +either in your hands, gentlemen of the jury, or in mine. The first +object of civilisation is to place the general protection of the law, +equally administered, in the room of that wild justice which every man +cut and carved for himself, according to the length of his sword and +the strength of his arm. The law says to the subjects, with a voice +only inferior to that of the Deity, 'vengeance is mine.' The instant +that there is time for passion to cool and reason to interpose, an +injured party must become aware that the law assumes the exclusive +cognizance of the right and wrong betwixt the parties, and opposes her +inviolable buckler to every attempt of the private party to right +himself. I repeat, that this unhappy man ought personally to be the +object rather of our pity than our abhorrence, for he failed in his +ignorance and from mistaken notions of honour. But his crime is not +the less that of murder, gentlemen, and, in your high and important +office, it is your duty so to find. Englishmen have their angry +passions as well as Scots; and should this man's action remain +unpunished, you may unsheath, under various pretences, a thousand +daggers betwixt the Land's End and the Orkneys." + +The venerable judge thus ended what, to judge by his apparent emotion, +and by the tears which filled his eyes, was really a painful task. The +jury, according to his instructions, brought in a verdict of Guilty; +and Robin Oig M'Combich, alias M'Gregor, was sentenced to death, and +left for execution, which took place accordingly. He met his fate with +great firmness, and acknowledged the justice of his sentence. But he +repelled indignantly the observations of those who accused him of +attacking an unarmed man. "I give a life for the life I took," he +said, "and what can I do more?"[1] + + + +[1] See Robert Donn's Poems. Note 14. + + + + +MR. DEUCEACE + +DIMOND CUT DIMOND + +By W. M. THACKERAY + + +The name of my next master was, if posbil, still more ellygant and +youfonious than that of my fust. I now found myself boddy servant to +the Honrabble Halgernon Percy Deuceace, youngest and fith son of the +Earl of Crabs. + +Halgernon was a barrystir--that is, he lived in Pump Court, Temple; a +wulgar naybrood, witch praps my readers don't no. Suffiz to say, it's +on the confines of the citty, and the choasen aboad of the lawyers of +this metrappolish. + +When I say that Mr. Deuceace was a barrystir, I don't mean that he went +sesshums or surcoats (as they call 'em), but simply that he kep +chambers, lived in Pump Court, and looked out for a commitionarship, or +a revisinship, or any other place that the Wig guwyment could give him. +His father was a Wig pier (as the landriss told me), and had been a +Toary pier. The fack is, his lordship was so poar, that he would be +anythink, or nothink, to get previsions for his sons, and an inkum for +him self. + +I phansy that he aloud Halgernon two hunderd a year; and it would have +been a very comforable maintenants, only he knever paid him. + +Owever, the young gnlmn was a gnlmn, and no mistake: he got his +allowents of nothink a year, and spent it in the most honrabble and +fashnabble manner. He kep a kab--he went to Holmax--and Crockfud's--he +moved in the most xquizzit suckles--and trubbld the law boos very +little, I can tell you. Those fashnabble gents have ways of getten +money, witch comman pipple doant understand. + +Though he only had a therd floar in Pump Cort, he lived as if he had +the welth if Cresas. The tenpun notes floo abowt as common as +haypince--clarrit and shampang was at his house as vulgar as gin; and +verry glad I was, to be sure, to be a valley to a zion of the nobillaty. + +Deuceace had, in his sittin-room, a large pictur on a sheet of paper. +The names of his family was wrote on it: it was wrote in the shape of a +tree, a groin out of a man-in-armer's stomick, and the names were on +little plates among the bows. The pictur said that the Deuceaces kem +into England in the year 1066, along with William Conqueruns. My +master called it his podygree. I do bleev it was because he had this +pictur, and because he was the Honrabble Deuceace, that he mannitched +to live as he did. If he had been a common man, you'd have said he was +no better than a swinler. It's only rank and buth that can warrant +such singularities as my master showed. For it's no use disgysing +it--the Honrabble Halgernon was a Gambler. For a man of wulgar family, +it's the wust trade that can be--for a man of common feelinx of +honesty, this profession is quite imposbill; but for a real +torough-bread genlmn, it's the easiest and most prophetable line he can +take. + +It may, praps, appear curous that such a fashnabble man should live in +the Temple; but it must be recklected, that its not only lawyers who +live in what's called the Ins of Cort. Many batchylers who have +nothink to do with lor, have here their loginx; and many sham +barrysters, who never put on a wig and gowned twise in their lives, kip +apartments in the Temple, instead of Bon Street, Pickledilly, or other +fashnabble places. + +Frinstance, on our stairkis (so these houses are called), there was 8 +sets of chamberses, and only 3 lawyers. These was, bottom floar, +Screwson, Hewson, and Jewson, attorneys; fust floor, Mr. Sergeant +Flabber--opsite, Mr. Counslor Bruffy; and secknd pair, Mr. Haggerstony, +an Irish counslor, pracktising at the Old Baly, and lickwise what they +call reporter to the Morning Post nyouspapper. Opsite him was wrote + +MR. RICHARD BLEWITT; + +and on the thud floar, with my master, lived one Mr. Dawkins. + +This young fellow was a new comer into the Temple, and unlucky it was +for him too--he'd better have never been born; for its my firm apinion +that the Temple ruined him--that is, with the help of my master and Mr. +Dick Blewitt, as you shall hear. + +Mr. Dawkins, as I was gave to understand by his young man, had jest +left the Universary of Oxford, and had a pretty little form of his +own--six thousand pound, or so--in the stox. He was jest of age, an +orfin who had lost his father and mother; and having distinkwished +hisself at collitch, where he gained seffral prices, was come to town +to push his form, and study the barryster's bisniss. + +Not bein of a verry high fammly hisself--indeed, I've heard say his +father was a chismonger, or somethink of that lo sort--Dawkins was glad +to find his old Oxford friend, Mr. Blewitt, yonger son to rich Squire +Blewitt, of Listershire, and to take rooms so near him. + +Now, tho' there was a considdrabble intimacy between me and Mr. +Blewitt's gentleman, there was scarcely any betwixt our masters,--mine +being too much of the aristoxy to associate with one of Mr. Blewitt's +sort. Blewitt was what they call a bettin man: he went reglar to +Tattlesall's, kep a pony, wore a white hat, a blue berd's-eye +handkercher, and a cut-away coat. In his manners he was the very +contrary of my master, who was a slim, ellygant man, as ever I see--he +had very white hands, rayther a sallow face, with sharp dark ise, and +small wiskus neatly trimmed, and as black as Warren's jet--he spoke +very low and soft--he seemed to be watchin the person with whom he was +in convysation, and always flatterd every body. As for Blewitt, he was +quite of another sort. He was always swearin, singin, and slappin +people on the back, as hearty and as familiar as posbill. He seemed a +merry, careless, honest cretur, whom one would trust with life and +soul. So thought Dawkins, at least; who, though a quiet young man, +fond of his boox, novvles, Byron's poems, floot-playing, and such like +scientafic amusemints, grew hand in glove with honest Dick Blewitt, and +soon after with my master, the Honrabble Halgernon. Poor Daw! he +thought he was makin good connexions, and real friends--he had fallen +in with a couple of the most etrocious swinlers that ever lived. + +Before Mr. Dawkins's arrival in our house, Mr. Deuceace had barely +condysended to speak to Mr. Blewitt: it was only about a month after +that suckumstance that my master, all of a sudding, grew very friendly +with him. The reason was pretty clear,--Deuceace wanted him. Dawkins +had not been an hour in master's compny before he knew that he had a +pidgin to pluck. + +Blewitt knew this too; and bein very fond of pidgin, intended to keep +this one entirely to himself. It was amusin to see the Honrabble +Halgernon manuvring to get this pore bird out of Blewitt's clause, who +thought he had it safe. In fact, he'd brought Dawkins to these +chambers for that very porpos, thinking to have him under his eye, and +strip him at leisure. + +My master very soon found out what was Mr. Blewitt's game. Gamblers +know gamblers, if not by instink, at least by reputation; and though +Mr. Blewitt moved in a much lower spear than Mr. Deuceace, they knew +each other's dealins and caracters puffickly well. + +"Charles, you scoundrel," says Deuceace to me one day (he always spoak +in that kind way), "who is this person that has taken the opsit +chambers, and plays the flute so industrusly?" + +"It's Mr. Dawkins, a rich young gentleman from Oxford, and a great +friend of Mr. Blewittses, sir," says I; "they seem to live in each +other's rooms." + +Master said nothink, but he grin'd--my eye, how he did grin! Not the +fowl find himself could snear more satannickly. + +I knew what he meant: + +Imprimish. A man who plays the floot is a simpleton. + +Secknly. Mr. Blewitt is a raskle. + +Thirdmo. When a raskle and a simpleton is always together, and when +the simpleton is rich, one knows pretty well what will come of it. + +I was but a lad in them days, but I knew what was what as well as my +master; it's not gentlemen only that's up to snough. Law bless us! +there was four of us on this stairkes, four as nice young men as you +ever see; Mr. Bruffy's young man, Mr. Dawkinses, Mr. Blewitt's, and +me--and we knew what our masters was about as well as they did +theirselfs. Frinstance, I can say this for myself, there wasn't a +paper in Deuceace's desk or drawer, not a bill, a note, or mimerandum, +which I hadn't read as well as he: with Blewitt's it was the same--me +and his young man used to read 'em all. There wasn't a bottle of wine +that we didn't get a glas, nor a pound of sugar that we didn't have +some lumps of it. We had keys to all the cubbards--we pipped into all +the letters that kem and went--we pored over all the bill-files--we'd +the best pickens out of the dinners, the liwers of the fowls, the +force-mit balls out of the soup, the egs from the sallit. As for the +coals and candles, we left them to the landrisses. You may call this +robry--nonsince--it's only our right--a suvvant's purquizzits is as +sacred as the laws of Hengland. + +Well, the long and short of it is this. Richard Blewitt, esquire, was +sityouated as follows: He'd an inkum of three hunderd a year from his +father. Out of this he had to pay one hunderd and ninety for money +borrowed by him at collidge, seventy for chambers, seventy more for his +hoss, aty for his suvvant on bord wagis, and about three hunderd and +fifty for a supprat establishmint in the Regency Park; besides this, +his pockit money, say a hunderd, his eatin, drinkin, and +wine-marchant's bill, about two hunderd moar. So that you see he laid +by a pretty handsome sum at the end of the year. + +My master was diffrent: and being a more fashnabble man than Mr. B., in +course he owed a deal more money. There was fust:-- + + Account contray, at Crockford's . . . . . . . L3711 0 0 + Bills of xchange and I.O.U.'s (but he didn't + pay these in most cases) . . . . . . . . . . 4963 0 0 + 21 tailor's bills, in all . . . . . . . . . . 1306 11 9 + 3 hossdealer's do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 0 0 + 2 coachbuilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 0 0 + Bills contracted at Cambritch . . . . . . . . 2193 6 8 + Sundries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 987 10 0 + ------------ + L14,069 8 5 + + +I give this as a curiosity--pipple doant know how in many cases +fashnabhle life is carried on; and to know even what a real gnlmn owes +is somethink instructif and agreeable. + +But to my tail. The very day after my master had made the inquiries +concerning Mr. Dawkins, witch I have mentioned already, he met Mr. +Blewitt on the stairs; and byoutiffle it was to see how this gnlman, +who had before been almost cut by my master, was now received by him. +One of the sweatest smiles I ever saw was now vizzable on Mr. +Deuceace's countenance. He held out his hand, covered with a white kid +glove, and said, in the most frenly tone of vice posbill, "What? Mr. +Blewitt! It is an age since we met. What a shame that such near +naybors should see each other so seldom!" + +Mr. Blewitt, who was standing at his door, in a pe-green dressing-gown, +smoakin a segar, and singing a hunting coarus, looked surprised, +flattered, and then suspicius. + +"Why, yes," says he, "it is, Mr. Deuceace, a long time." + +"Not, I think, since we dined at Sir George Hockey's. By the by, what +an evening that was--hay, Mr. Blewitt? What wine! what capital songs! +I recollect your 'May-day in the morning'--cuss me, the best comick +song I ever heard. I was speaking to the Duke of Doncaster about it +only yesterday. You know the duke, I think?" + +Mr. Blewitt said, quite surly, "No, I don't." + +"Not know him!" cries master; "why, hang it, Blewitt! he knows you; as +every sporting man in England does, I should think. Why, man, your +good things are in everybody's mouth at Newmarket." + +And so master went on chaffin Mr. Blewitt. That genlmn at fust +answered him quite short and angry; but, after a little more flumery, +he grew as pleased as posbill, took in all Deuceace's flatry, and +bleeved all his lies. At last the door shut, and they both went into +Mr. Blewitt's chambers togither. + +Of course I can't say what past there; but in an hour master kem up to +his own room as yaller as mustard, and smellin sadly of backo smoke. I +never see any genlmn more than he was; he'd been smoakin seagars along +with Blewitt. I said nothink, in course, tho' I'd often heard him +xpress his horrow of backo, and knew very well he would as soon swallow +pizon as smoke. But he wasn't a chap to do a thing without a reason: +if he'd been smoakin, I warrant he had smoked to some porpus. + +I didn't hear the convysation between 'em; but Mr. Blewitt's man did: +it was,--"Well, Mr. Blewitt, what capital seagars! Have you one for a +friend to smoak?" (The old fox, it wasn't only the seagars he was a +smoakin!) "Walk in," says Mr. Blewitt; and then they began a chaffin +together; master very ankshous about the young gintleman who had come +to live in our chambers, Mr. Dawkins, and always coming back to that +subject,--sayin that people on the same stairkis ot to be frenly; how +glad he'd be, for his part, to know Mr. Dick Blewitt, and any friend of +his, and so on. Mr. Dick, howsever, seamed quite aware of the trap +laid for him. "I really don't know this Dawkins," says he: "he's a +chismonger's son, I hear; and tho I've exchanged visits with him, I +doant intend to continyou the acquaintance,--not wishin to assoshate +with that kind of pipple." So they went on, master fishin, and Mr. +Blewitt not wishin to take the hook at no price. + +"Confound the vulgar thief!" muttard my master, as he was laying on his +sophy, after being so very ill; "I've poisoned myself with his infernal +tobacco, and he has foiled me. The cursed swindling boor! he thinks +he'll ruin this poor cheesemonger, does he? I'll step in, and warn +him." + +I thought I should bust a laffin, when he talked in this style. I knew +very well what his "warning" meant,--lockin the stable-door, but +stealin the boss fust. + +Next day, his strattygam for becoming acquainted with Mr. Dawkins he +exicuted, and very pritty it was. + +Besides potry and the floot, Mr. Dawkins, I must tell you, had some +other parsballities--wiz., he was very fond of good eatin and drinkin. +After doddling over his music and boox all day, this young genlmn used +to sally out of evenings, dine sumptiously at a tavern, drinkin all +sots of wine along with his friend Mr. Blewitt. He was a quiet young +fellow enough at fust; but it was Mr. B. who (for his own porpuses, no +doubt) had got him into this kind of life. Well, I needn't say that he +who eats a fine dinner, and drinks too much overnight, wants a bottle +of soda-water, and a gril, praps, in the mornink. Such was Mr. +Dawkinses case; and reglar almost as twelve o'clock came, the waiter +from Dix Coffy-House was to be seen on our stairkis, bringin up Mr. +D.'s hot breakfast. + +No man would have thought there was anythink in such a trifling +circkumstance; master did, though, and pounced upon it like a cock on a +barlycorn. + +He sent me out to Mr. Morell's, in Pickledilly, for wot's called a +Strasbug-pie--in French, a "patty defaw graw." He takes a card, and +nails it on the outside case (patty defaw graws come generally in a +round wooden box, like a drumb); and what do you think he writes on it? +why, as follos:--"For the Honourable Algernon Percy Deuceace, etc. etc. +etc. With Prince Talleyrand's compliments." + +Prince Tallyram's complimints, indeed! I laff when I think of it +still, the old surpint! He was a surpint, that Deuceace, and no +mistake. + +Well, by a most extrornary piece of ill-luck, the next day punctially +as Mr. Dawkinses brexfas was coming up the stairs, Mr. Halgernon Percy +Deuceace was going down. He was as gay as a lark, humming an Oppra +tune, and twizzting round his head his hevy gold-headed cane. Down he +went very fast, and by a most unlucky axdent struck his cane against +the waiter's tray, and away went Mr. Dawkinses gril, kayann, kitchup, +soda-water, and all! I can't think how my master should have choas +such an exact time; to be sure, his windo looked upon the cort, and he +could see every one who came into our door. + +As soon as the axdent had took place, master was in such a rage as, to +be sure, no man ever was in befor; he swoar at the waiter in the most +dreddfle way; he threatened him with his stick, and it was only when he +see that the waiter was rayther a bigger man than his self that he was +in the least pazzyfied. He returned to his own chambres; and John the +waiter, went off for more grill to Dixes Coffey-House. + +"This is a most unlucky axdent, to be sure, Charles," says master to +me, after a few minnits paws, during which he had been and wrote a +note, put it into an anvelope, and sealed it with his bigg seal of +arms. "But stay--a thought strikes me--take this note to Mr. Dawkins, +and that pye you brought yesterday; and hearkye, you scoundrel, if you +say where you got it I will break every bone in your skin!" + +These kind of prommises were among the few which I knew him to keep; +and as I loved boath my skinn and my boans, I carried the noat, and, of +core, said nothink. Waiting in Mr. Dawkinses chambus for a few +minnits, I returned to my master with an anser. I may as well give +both of these documence, of which I happen to have taken coppies. + + +I + +The Hon. A. P. Deuceace to T. S. Dawkins, Esq. + +"Temple, Tuesday. + +"Mr. Deuceace presents his compliments to Mr. Dawkins, and begs at the +same time to offer his most sincere apologies and regrets for the +accident which has just taken place. + +"May Mr. Deuceace be allowed to take a neighbour's privilege, and to +remedy the evil he has occasioned to the best of his power? If Mr. +Dawkins will do him the favour to partake of the contents of the +accompanying case (from Strasburg direct, and the gift of a friend, on +whose taste as a gourmand Mr. Dawkins may rely), perhaps he will find +that it is not a bad substitute for the plat which Mr. Deuceace's +awkwardness destroyed. + +"It will, also, Mr. Deuceace is sure, be no small gratification to the +original donor of the pate, when he learns that it has fallen into the +hands of so celebrated a bon vivant as Mr. Dawkins. + +"T. S. Dawkins, Esq., etc. etc. etc." + + +II + +From T. S. Dawkins, Esq., to the Hon. A. P. Deuceace. + +"Mr. Thomas Smith Dawkins presents his grateful compliments to the Hon. +Mr. Deuceace, and accepts with the greatest pleasure Mr. Deuceace's +generous proffer. + +"It would be one of the happiest moments of Mr. Smith Dawkins's life, +if the Hon. Mr. Deuceace would extend his generosity still further, and +condescend to partake of the repast which his munificent politeness has +furnished. + +"Temple, Tuesday." + + +Many and many a time, I say, have I grind over these letters, which I +had wrote from the original by Mr. Bruffy's copyin clark. Deuceace +flam about Prince Tallyram was puffickly successful. I saw young +Dawkins blush with delite as he red the note; he toar up for or five +sheets before he composed the anser to it, which was as you red abuff, +and roat in a hand quite trembling with pleasyer. If you could but +have seen the look of triumph in Deuceace's wicked black eyes, when he +read the noat! I never see a deamin yet, but I can phansy 1, a holding +a writhing soal on his pitchfrock, and smilin like Deuceace. He +dressed himself in his very best clothes, and in he went, after sending +me over to say that he would xcept with pleasyour Mr. Dawkins's invite. + +The pie was cut up, and a most frenly conversation begun betwixt the +two genlmin. Deuceace was quite captivating. He spoke to Mr. Dawkins +in the most respeckful and flatrin manner,--agread in every think he +said,--prazed his taste, his furniter, his coat, his classick nolledge, +and his playin on the floot; you'd have thought, to hear him, that such +a polygon of exlens as Dawkins did not breath,--that such a modest, +sinsear, honrabble genlmn as Deuceace was to be seen no where xcept in +Pump Cort. Poor Daw was complitly taken in. My master said he'd +introduce him to the Duke of Doncaster, and Heaven knows how many nobs +more, till Dawkins was quite intawsicated with pleasyour. I know as a +fac (and it pretty well shows the young genlmn's carryter), that he +went that very day and ordered 2 new coats, on propos to be introjuiced +to the lords in. + +But the best joak of all was at last. Singin, swagrin, and swarink--up +stares came Mr. Dick Blewitt. He flung open Mr. Dawkins's door, +shouting out, "Daw, my old buck, how are you?" when, all of a sudden, +he sees Mr. Deuceace: his jor dropt, he turned chocky white, and then +burnin red, and iooked as if a stror would knock him down. "My dear +Mr. Blewitt," says my master, smilin, and offring his hand, "how glad I +am to see you! Mr. Dawkins and I were just talking about your pony! +Pray sit down." + +Blewitt did; and now was the question, who should sit the other out; +but, law bless you! Mr. Blewitt was no match for my master; all the +time he was fidgetty, silent, and sulky; on the contry, master was +charmin. I never herd such a flow of conversatin, or so many +wittacisms as he uttered. At last, completely beat, Mr. Blewitt took +his leaf; that instant master followed him; and passin his arm through +that of Mr. Dick, let him into our chambers, and began talkin to him in +the most affable and affeckshnat manner. + +But Dick was too angry to listen; at last when master was telling him +some long stoary about the Duke of Doncaster, Blewitt bust out-- + +"A plague on the Duke of Doncaster! Come, come, Mr. Deuceace, don't +you be running your rigs upon me; I an't the man to be bamboozl'd by +long-winded stories about dukes and duchesses. You think I don't know +you; every man knows you, and your line of country. Yes, you're after +young Dawkins there, and think to pluck him; but you shan't,--no, by +---- you shan't." (The reader must recklect that the oaths which +interspussed Mr. B.'s convysation I have lift out.) Well, after he'd +fired a wolley of 'em, Mr. Deuceace spoke as cool and slow as possbill. + +"Heark ye, Blewitt. I know you to be one of the most infernal thieves +and scoundrels unhung. If you attempt to hector with me, I will cane +you; if you want more, I'll shoot you; if you meddle between me and +Dawkins, I will do both. I know your whole life, you miserable +swindler and coward. I know you have already won two hundred pounds of +this lad, and want all. I will have half, or you never shall have a +penny." It's quite true that master knew things; but how was the +wonder. + +I couldn't see Mr. B.'s face during this dialogue, bein on the wrong +side of the door; but there was a considdrabble paws after thuse +complymints had passed between the two genlmn,--one walkin quickly up +and down the room--tother, angry and stupid, sittin down, and stampin +with his foot. + +"Now listen to this, Mr. Blewitt," continues master at last; "if you're +quiet, you shall have half this fellow's money: but venture to win a +shilling from him in my absence, or without my consent, and you do it +at your peril." + +"Well, well, Mr. Deuceace," cries Dick, "it's very hard, and, I must +say, not fair: the game was of my starting, and you've no right to +interfere with my friend." + +"Mr. Blewitt, you are a fool! You professed yesterday not to know this +man, and I was obliged to find him out for myself. I should like to +know by what law of honour I am bound to give him up to you?" + +It was charmin to hear this pair of raskles talkin about honour. I +declare I could have found it in my heart to warn young Dawkins of the +precious way in which these chaps were going to serve him. But if they +didn't know what honour was, I did; and never, never did I tell tails +about my masters when in their sarvice--out, in cors, the hobligation +is no longer binding. + +Well, the nex day there was a gran dinner at our chambers. White soop, +turbit, and lobster sos; saddil of Scoch muttn, grous, and M'Arony; +wines, shampang, hock, madeiria, a bottle of poart, and ever so many of +clarrit. The compny presint was three; wiz., the Honrabble A. P. +Deuceace, R. Blewitt, and Mr. Dawkins, Exquires. My i, how we genlmn +in the kitchin did enjy it! Mr. Blewittes man eat so much grous (when +it was brot out of the parlor), that I reely thought he would be sik; +Mr. Dawkinses genlmn (who was only abowt 13 years of age) grew so il +with M'Arony and plumb-puddn, so to be obleeged to take sefral of Mr. +D.'s pils, which one-half kild him. But this is all promiscuous: I +an't talkin of the survants now, but the masters. + +Would you bleeve it? After dinner (and praps 8 bottles of wine betwin +the 3) the genlmn sat down to earty. It's a game where only 2 plays, +and where, in coarse, when there's ony 3, one looks on. + +Fust, they playd crown pints, and a pound the bett. At this game they +were wonderful equill; and about suppertime (when grilled am, more +shampang, devld biskits, and other things, was brot in) the play stood +thus: Mr. Dawkins had won 2 pounds; Mr. Blewitt, 30 shillings; the +Honrabble Mr. Deuceace having lost L3.10s. After the dewle and the +shampang the play was a little higher. Now it was pound pints, and +five pound the bet. I thought, to be sure, after hearing the +complyments between Blewitt and master in the morning, that now pore +Dawkins's time was come. + +Not so: Dawkins won always, Mr. B. betting on his play, and giving him +the very best of advice. At the end of the evening (which was abowt +five o'clock the nex morning) they stopt. Master was counting up the +skore on a card. + +"Blewitt," says he, "I've been unlucky. I owe you--let me see--yes, +five-and-forty pounds?" + +"Five-and-forty," says Blewitt, "and no mistake!" + +"I will give you a cheque," says the honrabble genlmn. + +"Oh! don't mention it, my dear sir!" But master got a grate sheet of +paper, and drew him a check on Messeers. Pump, Algit, and Co., his +bankers. + +"Now," says master, "I've got to settle with you, my dear Mr. Dawkins. +If you had backd your luck, I should have owed you a very handsome sum +of money. Voyons: thirteen points, at a pound--it is easy to +calculate;" and, drawin out his puss, he clinked over the table 13 +goolden suverings, which shon till they made my eyes wink. + +So did pore Dawkinses, as he put out his hand, all trembling, and drew +them in. + +"Let me say," added master, "let me say (and I've had some little +experience), that you are the very best ecarte player with whom I ever +sat down." + +Dawkinses eyes glissened as he put the money up, and said, "Law, +Deuceace, you flatter me." + +Flatter him! I should think he did. It was the very thing which +master ment. + +"But mind you, Dawkins," continyoud he, "I must have my revenge; for +I'm ruined--positively ruined--by your luck." + +"Well, well," says Mr. Thomas Smith Dawkins, as pleased as if he had +gained a millium, "shall it be to-morrow? Blewitt, what say you!" + +Mr. Blewitt agread, in course. My master, after a little demurring, +consented too. "We'll meet," says he, "at your chambers. But mind, my +dear fello, not too much wine: I can't stand it at any time, especially +when I have to play ecarte with you." + +Pore Dawkins left our rooms as happy as a prins. "Here, Charles," says +he, and flung me a sovring. Pore fellow! pore fellow! I know what was +a comin! + + * * * * * + +But the best of it was, that these 13 sovrings which Dawkins won, +master had borrowed them from Mr. Blewitt! I brought 'em, with 7 more, +from that young genlmn's chambers that very morning: for, since his +interview with master, Blewitt had nothing to refuse him. + + * * * * * + +Well, shall I continue the tail? If Mr. Dawkins had been the least bit +wiser, it would have taken him six months befoar he lost his money; as +it was, he was such a confounded ninny, that it took him a very short +time to part with it. + +Nex day (it was Thursday, and master's acquaintance with Mr. Dawkins +had only commenced on Tuesday), Mr. Dawkins, as I said, gev his +party,--dinner at 7. Mr. Blewitt and the two Mr. D.'s as befoar. Play +begins at 11. This time I knew the bisniss was pretty serious, for we +suvvants was packed off to bed at 2 o'clock. On Friday, I went to +chambers--no master--he kem in for 5 minutes at about 12, made a little +toilit, ordered more dewles and soda-water, and back again he went to +Mr. Dawkins's. + +They had dinner there at 7 again, but nobody seamed to eat, for all the +vittles came out to us genlmn: they had in more wine though, and must +have drunk at least two dozen in the 36 hours. + +At ten o'clock, however, on Friday night, back my master came to his +chambers. I saw him as I never saw him before, namly, reglar drunk. +He staggered about the room, he danced, he hickipd, he swoar, he flung +me a heap of silver, and, finely, he sunk down exosted on his bed; I +pullin off his boots and close, and making him comfrabble. + +When I had removed his garmints, I did what it's the doty of every +servant to do--I emtied his pockits, and looked at his pockit-book and +all his letters: a number of axdents have been prevented that way. + +I found there, among a heap of things, the following pretty dockyment: + + + +-------------------------------------------+ + | I. O. U. | + | L4700 | + | THOMAS SMITH DAWKINS | + | | + | _Friday,_ | + | _16th January_ | + +-------------------------------------------+ + + +There was another bit of paper of the same kind--"I.O.U. four hundred +pounds, Richard Blewitt:" but this, in cors, ment nothink. + + * * * * * + +Nex mornin, at nine, master was up, and as sober as a judg. He drest, +and was off to Mr. Dawkins. At 10 he ordered a cab, and the two genlm +went together. + +"Where shall he drive, sir?" says I. + +"Oh, tell him to drive to the Bank." + +Pore Dawkins! his eyes red with remors and sleepliss drankenniss, gave +a shudder and a sob, as he sunk back in the wehicle; and they drove on. + +That day he sold out every hapny he was worth, xcept five hundred +pounds. + + * * * * * + +Abowt 12 master had returned, and Mr. Dick Blewitt came stridin up the +stairs with a sollum and important hair. + +"Is your master at home?" says he. + +"Yes, sir," says I; and in he walks. I, in coars, with my ear to the +keyhole, listening with all my mite. + +"Well," says Blewitt, "we maid a pretty good night of it, Mr. Deuceace. +You've settled, I see, with Dawkins." + +"Settled!" says master. "Oh yes--yes--I've settled with him." + +"Four thousand seven hundred, I think?" + +"About that--yes." + +"That makes my share--let me see--two thousand three hundred and fifty; +which I'll thank you to fork out." + +"Upon my word--why--Mr. Blewitt," says my master, "I don't really +understand what you mean." + +"You don't know what I mean!" says Blewitt, in an axent such as I never +before heard. "You don't know what I mean! Did you not promise me +that we were to go shares? Didn't I lend you twenty sovereigns the +other night to pay our losings to Dawkins? Didn't you swear, on your +honour as a gentleman, to give me half of all that might be won in this +affair?" + +"Agreed, sir," says Deuceace; "agreed." + +"Well, sir, and now what have you to say?" + +"Why, that I don't intend to keep my promise! You infernal fool and +ninny! do you suppose I was labouring for you? Do you fancy I was +going to the expense of giving a dinner to that jackass yonder, that +you should profit by it? Get away, sir! Leave the room, sir! Or, +stop--here--I will give you four hundred pounds--your own note of hand, +sir, for that sum, if you will consent to forget all that has passed +between us, and that you have never known Mr. Algernon Deuceace." + +I've sean pipple angery before now, but never any like Blewitt. He +stormed, groaned, belloed, swoar! At last, he fairly began blubbring; +now cussing and nashing his teeth, now praying dear Mr. Deuceace to +grant him mercy. + +At last, master flung open the door (Heavn bless us! it's well I didn't +tumble hed over eels, into the room!) and said, "Charles, show the +gentleman down stairs!" My master looked at him quite steddy. Blewitt +slunk down, as miserabble as any man I ever see. As for Dawkins, +Heaven knows where he was! + + * * * * * + +"Charles," says my master to me, about an hour afterwards, "I am going +to Paris; you may come, too, if you please." + + + + +THE BROTHERS + +A TALE[1] + +By EDWARD BULWER LYTTON + +[1] This tale is, in reality, founded on the beautiful tradition which +belong to Liebenstein and Sternfels. + + +You must imagine, then, dear Gertrude (said Trevylyan), a beautiful +summer day, and by the same faculty that none possess so richly as +yourself, for it is you who can kindle something of that divine spark +even in me, you must rebuild those shattered towers in the pomp of old; +raise the gallery and the hall; man the battlements with warders, and +give the proud banners of ancestral chivalry to wave upon the walls. +But above, sloping half down the rock, you must fancy the hanging +gardens of Liebenstein, fragrant with flowers, and basking in the +noonday sun. + +On the greenest turf, underneath an oak, there sat three persons, in +the bloom of youth. Two of the three were brothers; the third was an +orphan girl, whom the lord of the opposite tower of Sternfels had +bequeathed to the protection of his brother, the chief of Liebenstein. +The castle itself and the demesne that belonged to it passed away from +the female line, and became the heritage of Otho the orphan's cousin, +and the younger of the two brothers now seated on the turf. + +"And oh," said the elder, whose name was Warbeck, "you have twined a +chaplet for my brother; have you not, dearest Leoline, a simple flower +for me?" + +The beautiful orphan--(for beautiful she was, Gertrude, as the heroine +of the tale you bid me tell ought to be,--should she not have to the +dreams of my fancy your lustrous hair, and your sweet smile, and your +eyes of blue, that are never, never silent? Ah, pardon me that in a +former tale I denied the heroine the beauty of your face, and remember +that, to atone for it, I endowed her with the beauty of your mind)--the +beautiful orphan blushed to her temples, and culling from the flowers +in her lap the freshest of the roses, began weaving them into a wreath +for Warbeck. + +"It would be better," said the gay Otho, "to make my sober brother a +chaplet of the rue and cypress; the rose is much too bright a flower +for so serious a knight." + +Leoline held up her hand reprovingly. + +"Let him laugh, dearest cousin," said Warbeck, gazing passionately on +her changing cheek: "and thou, Leoline, believe that the silent stream +runs the deepest." + +At this moment, they heard the voice of the old chief, their father, +calling aloud for Leoline; for ever, when he returned from the chase, +he wanted her gentle presence; and the hall was solitary to him if the +light sound of her step, and the music of her voice, were not heard in +welcome. + +Leoline hastened to her guardian, and the brothers were left alone. + +Nothing could be more dissimilar than the features and the respective +characters of Otho and Warbeck. Otho's countenance was flushed with +the brown hues of health; his eyes were of the brightest hazel: his +dark hair wreathed in short curls round his open and fearless brow; the +jest ever echoed on his lips, and his step was bounding as the foot of +the hunter of the Alps. Bold and light was his spirit; if at times he +betrayed the haughty insolence of youth, he felt generously, and though +not ever ready to confess sorrow for a fault, he was at least ready to +brave peril for a friend. + +But Warbeck's frame, though of equal strength, was more slender in its +proportions than that of his brother; the fair long hair that +characterised his northern race hung on either side of a countenance +calm and pale, and deeply impressed with thought, even to sadness. His +features, more majestic and regular than Otho's, rarely varied in their +expression. More resolute even than Otho, he was less impetuous; more +impassioned, he was also less capricious. + +The brothers remained silent after Leoline had left them. Otho +carelessly braced on his sword, that he had laid aside on the grass; +but Warbeck gathered up the flowers that had been touched by the soft +hand of Leoline, and placed them in his bosom. + +The action disturbed Otho; he bit his lip, and changed colour; at +length he said, with a forced laugh: + +"It must be confessed, brother, that you carry your affection for our +fair cousin to a degree that even relationship seems scarcely to +warrant." + +"It is true," said Warbeck, calmly: "I love her with a love surpassing +that of blood." + +"How!" said Otho, fiercely: "do you dare to think of Leoline as a +bride?" + +"Dare!" repeated Warbeck, turning yet paler than his wonted hue. + +"Yes, I have said the word! Know, Warbeck, that I, too, love Leoline; +I, too, claim her as my bride; and never, while I can wield a +sword--never, while I wear the spurs of knighthood, will I render my +claim to a living rival. Even," he added (sinking his voice), "though +that rival be my brother!" + +Warbeck answered not; his very soul seemed stunned; he gazed long and +wistfully on his brother, and then, turning his face away, ascended the +rock without uttering a single word. + +This silence startled Otho. Accustomed to vent every emotion of his +own, he could not comprehend the forbearance of his brother; he knew +his high and brave nature too well to imagine that it arose from fear. +Might it not be contempt, or might he not, at this moment, intend to +seek their father; and, the first to proclaim his love for the orphan, +advance, also, the privilege of the elder born? As these suspicions +flashed across him, the haughty Otho strode to his brother's side, and +laying his hand on his arm, said: "Whither goes thou? and dost thou +consent to surrender Leoline?" + +"Does she love thee, Otho?" answered Warbeck, breaking silence at last; +and his voice spoke so deep an anguish, that it arrested the passions +of Otho even at their height. + +"It is thou who art now silent," continued Warbeck; "speak, doth she +love thee, and has her lip confessed it?" + +"I have believed that she loved me," faltered Otho; "but she is of +maiden bearing, and her lip, at least, has never told it." + +"Enough," said Warbeck; "release your hold." + +"Stay," said Otho, his suspicions returning; "stay--yet one word; dost +thou seek my father? He ever honoured thee more than me: wilt thou own +to him thy love, and insist on thy right of birth? By my soul and my +hope of heaven, do it, and one of us two must fall!" + +"Poor boy!" answered Warbeck, bitterly; "how little thou canst read the +heart of one who loves truly! Thinkest thou I would wed her if she +loved thee? Thinkest thou I could, even to be blessed myself, give her +one moment's pain? Out on the thought--away!" + +"Then wilt not thou seek our father?" said Otho, abashed. + +"Our father!--has our father the keeping of Leoline's affection?" +answered Warbeck; and shaking off his brother's grasp, he sought the +way to the castle. + +As he entered the hall he heard the voice of Leoline; she was singing +to the old chief one of the simple ballads of the time, that the +warrior and the hunter loved to hear. He paused lest he should break +the spell (a spell stronger than a sorcerer's to him), and gazing upon +Leoline's beautiful form, his heart sank within him. His brother and +himself had each that day, as they sat in the gardens, given her a +flower; his flower was the fresher and the rarer; his he saw not, but +she wore his brother's in her bosom! + +The chief, lulled by the music and wearied with the toils of the chase, +sank into sleep as the song ended, and Warbeck, coming forward, +motioned to Leoline to follow him. He passed into a retired and +solitary walk, and when they were a little distance from the castle, +Warbeck turned round, and taking Leoline's hand, gently said: + +"Let us rest here for one moment, dearest cousin; I have much on my +heart to say to thee." + +"And what is there," answered Leoline, as they sat on a mossy bank, +with the broad Rhine glancing below, "what is there that my kind +Warbeck would ask of me? Ah! would it might be some favour, something +in poor Leoline's power to grant; for ever from my birth you have been +to me most tender, most kind. Yon, I have often heard them say, taught +my first steps to walk; you formed my infant lips into language, and, +in after years, when my wild cousin was far away in the forests at the +chase, you would brave his gay jest and remain at home, lest Leoline +should be weary in the solitude. Ah, would I could repay you!" + +Warbeck turned away his cheek; his heart was very full, and it was some +moments before he summoned courage to reply. + +"My fair cousin," said he, "those were happy days; but they were the +days of childhood. New cares and new thoughts have now come on us. +But I am still thy friend, Leoline, and still thou wilt confide in me +thy young sorrows and thy young hopes as thou ever didst. Wilt thou +not, Leoline?" + +"Canst thou ask me?" said Leoline; and Warbeck, gazing on her face, saw +that though her eyes were full of tears, they yet looked steadily upon +his; and he knew that she loved him only as a sister. + +He sighed, and paused again ere he resumed. "Enough," said he; "now to +my task. Once on a time, dear cousin, there lived among these +mountains a certain chief who had two sons, and an orphan like thyself +dwelt also in his halls. And the elder son--but no matter, let us not +waste words on him!--the younger son, then, loved the orphan +dearly--more dearly than cousins love; and fearful of refusal, he +prayed the elder one to urge his suit to the orphan. Leoline, my tale +is done. Canst thou not love Otho as he loves thee?" + +And now lifting his eyes to Leoline, he saw that she trembled +violently, and her cheek was covered with blushes. + +"Say," continued he, mastering himself; "is not that flower (his +present) a token that he is chiefly in thy thoughts?" + +"Ah, Warbeck! do not deem me ungrateful that I wear not yours also: +but--" + +"Hush;" said Warbeck, hastily; "I am but as thy brother; is not Otho +more? He is young, brave, and beautiful. God grant that he may +deserve thee, if thou givest him so rich a gift as thy affections." + +"I saw less of Otho in my childhood," said Leoline, evasively; +"therefore, his kindness of late years seemed stranger to me than +thine." + +"And thou wilt not then reject him? Thou wilt be his bride?" + +"And thy sister," answered Leoline. + +"Bless thee, mine own dear cousin! one brother's kiss then, and +farewell! Otho shall thank thee for himself." + +He kissed her forehead calmly, and, turning away, plunged into the +thicket; then, nor till then, he gave vent to such emotions as, had +Leoline seen them, Otho's suit had been lost for ever; for +passionately, deeply as in her fond and innocent heart she loved Otho, +the happiness of Warbeck was not less dear to her. + +When the young knight had recovered his self-possession he went in +search of Otho. He found him alone in the wood, leaning with folded +arms against a tree, and gazing moodily on the ground. Warbeck's noble +heart was touched at his brother's dejection. + +"Cheer thee, Otho," said he; "I bring thee no bad tidings; I have seen +Leoline--I have conversed with her--nay, start not--she loves thee! she +is thine!" + +"Generous--generous Warbeck!" exclaimed Otho, and he threw himself on +his brother's neck. "No, no," said he, "this must not be; thou hast +the elder claim--I resign her to thee. Forgive me my waywardness, +brother, forgive me!" + +"Think of the past no more," said Warbeck; "the love of Leoline is an +excuse for greater offences than thine. And now, be kind to her; her +nature is soft and keen. I know her well; for I have studied her +faintest wish. Thou art hasty and quick of ire; but remember that a +word wounds where love is deep. For my sake, as for hers, think more +of her happiness than thine own; now seek her--she waits to hear from +thy lips the tale that sounded cold upon mine." + +With that he left his brother, and, once more re-entering the castle, +he went into the hall of his ancestors. His father still slept; he put +his hand on his grey hair, and blessed him; then stealing up to his +chamber, he braced on his helm and armour, and thrice kissing the hilt +of fate sword, said, with a flushed check: + +"Henceforth be thou my bride!" Then passing from the castle, he sped +by the most solitary paths down the rock, gained the Rhine, and hailing +one of the numerous fishermen of the river, won the opposite shore; and +alone, but not sad, for his high heart supported him, and Leoline at +least was happy, he hastened to Frankfort. + +The town was all gaiety and life, arms clanged at every corner, the +sounds of martial music, the wave of banners, the glittering of plumed +casques, the neighing of war-steeds, all united to stir the blood and +inflame the sense. St. Bertrand had lifted the sacred cross along the +shores of the Rhine, and the streets of Frankfort witnessed with what +success! + +On that same day Warbeck assumed the sacred badge, and was enlisted +among the knights of the Emperor Conrad. + +We must suppose some time to have elapsed, and Otho and Leoline were +not yet wedded; for, in the first fervour of his gratitude to his +brother, Otho had proclaimed to his father and to Leoline the conquest +Warbeck had obtained over himself; and Leoline, touched to the heart, +would not consent that the wedding should take place immediately. "Let +him, at least," said she, "not be insulted by a premature festivity; +and give him time, amongst the lofty beauties he will gaze upon in a +far country, to forget, Otho, that he once loved her who is the beloved +of thee." + +The old chief applauded this delicacy; and even Otho, in the first +flush of his feelings towards his brother, did not venture to oppose +it. They settled, then, that the marriage should take place at the end +of a year. + +Months rolled away, and an absent and moody gloom settled upon Otho's +brow. In his excursions with his gay companions among the neighbouring +towns he heard of nothing but the glory of the Crusaders, of the homage +paid to the heroes of the Cross at the courts they visited, of the +adventures of their life, and the exciting spirit that animated their +war. In fact, neither minstrel nor priest suffered the theme to grow +cold; and the fame of those who had gone forth to the holy strife gave +at once emulation and discontent to the youths who remained behind. + +"And my brother enjoys this ardent and glorious life," said the +impatient Otho; "while I, whose arm is as strong, and whose heart is as +bold, languish here listening to the dull tales of a hoary sire and the +silly songs of an orphan girl." His heart smote him at the last +sentence, but he had already begun to weary of the gentle love of +Leoline. Perhaps when he had no longer to gain a triumph over a rival +the excitement palled; or perhaps his proud spirit secretly chafed at +being conquered by his brother in generosity, even when outshining him +in the success of love. + +But poor Leoline, once taught that she was to consider Otho her +betrothed, surrendered her heart entirely to his control. His wild +spirit, his dark beauty, his daring valour, won while they awed her; +and in the fitfulness of his nature were those perpetual springs of +hope and fear that are the fountains of ever-agitated love. She saw +with increasing grief the change that was growing over Otho's mind; nor +did she divine the cause. "Surely I have not offended him?" thought +she. + +Among the companions of Otho was one who possessed a singular sway over +him. He was a knight of that mysterious order of the Temple, which +exercised at one time so great a command over the minds of men. + +A severe and dangerous wound in a brawl with an English knight had +confined the Templar at Frankfort, and prevented his joining the +Crusade. During his slow recovery he had formed an intimacy with Otho, +and, taking up his residence at the castle of Liebenstein, had been +struck with the beauty of Leoline. Prevented by his oath from +marriage, he allowed himself a double license in love, and doubted not, +could he disengage the young knight from his betrothed, that she would +add a new conquest to the many he had already achieved. Artfully +therefore he painted to Otho the various attractions of the Holy Cause; +and, above all, he failed not to describe, with glowing colours, the +beauties who, in the gorgeous East, distinguished with a prodigal +favour the warriors of the Cross. Dowries, unknown in the more sterile +mountains of the Rhine, accompanied the hand of these beauteous +maidens; and even a prince's daughter was not deemed, he said, too +lofty a marriage for the heroes who might win kingdoms for themselves. + +"To me," said the Templar, "such hopes are eternally denied. But you, +were you not already betrothed, what fortunes might await you!" + +By such discourses the ambition of Otho was perpetually aroused; they +served to deepen his discontent at his present obscurity, and to +convert to distaste the only solace it afforded in the innocence and +affection of Leoline. + +One night, a minstrel sought shelter from the storm in the halls of +Liebenstein. His visit was welcomed by the chief, and he repaid the +hospitality he had received by the exercise of his art. He sang of the +chase, and the gaunt hound started from the hearth. He sang of love, +and Otho, forgetting his restless dreams, approached to Leoline, and +laid himself at her feet. Louder then and louder rose the strain. The +minstrel sang of war; he painted the feats of the Crusaders; he plunged +into the thickest of the battle; the steed neighed; the trump sounded; +and you might have heard the ringing of the steel. But when he came to +signalise the names of the boldest knights, high among the loftiest +sounded the name of Sir Warbeck of Liebenstein. Thrice had he saved +the imperial banner; two chargers slain beneath him, he had covered +their bodies with the fiercest of the foe. Gentle in the tent and +terrible in the fray, the minstrel should forget his craft ere the +Rhine should forget its hero. The chief started from his seat. +Leoline clasped the minstrel's hand. + +"Speak,--you have seen him--he lives--he is honoured?" + +"I myself am but just from Palestine, brave chief and noble maiden. I +saw the gallant knight of Liebenstein at the right hand of the imperial +Conrad. And he, ladye, was the only knight whom admiration shone upon +without envy, its shadow. Who then" (continued the minstrel, once more +striking his harp), "who then would remain inglorious in the hall? +Shall not the banners of his sires reproach him as they wave? and shall +not every voice from Palestine strike shame into his soul?" + +"Right," cried Otho, suddenly, and flinging himself at the feet of his +father. "Thou hearest what my brother has done, and thine aged eyes +weep tears of joy. Shall I only dishonour thine old age with a rusted +sword? No! grant me, like my brother, to go forth with the heroes of +the Cross!" + +"Noble youth," cried the harper, "therein speaks the soul of Sir +Warbeck; hear him, sir knight,--hear the noble youth." + +"Heaven cries aloud in his voice," said the Templar, solemnly. + +"My son, I cannot chide thine ardour," said the old chief, raising him +with trembling hands; "but Leoline, thy betrothed?" + +Pale as a statue, with ears that doubted their sense as they drank in +the cruel words of her lover, stood the orphan. She did not speak, she +scarcely breathed; she sank into her seat, and gazed upon the ground, +till, at the speech of the chief, both maiden pride and maiden +tenderness restored her consciousness, and she said: + +"I, uncle!--Shall I bid Otho stay when his wishes bid him depart?" + +"He will return to thee, noble ladye, covered with glory," said the +harper: but Otho said no more. The touching voice of Leoline went to +his soul; he resumed his seat in silence; and Leoline, going up to him, +whispered gently, "Act as though I were not;" and left the hall to +commune with her heart and to weep alone. + +"I can wed her before I go," said Otho, suddenly, as he sat that night +in the Templar's chamber. + +"Why, that is true! and leave thy bride in the first week--a hard +trial!" + +"Better than incur the chance of never calling her mine. Dear, kind, +beloved Leoline!" + +"Assuredly, she deserves all from thee; and, indeed, it is no small +sacrifice, at thy years and with thy mien, to renounce for ever all +interest among the noble maidens thou wilt visit. Ah, from the +galleries of Constantinople what eyes will look down on thee, and what +ears, learning that thou art Otho the bridegroom, will turn away, +caring for thee no more! A bridegroom without a bride! Nay, man, much +as the Cross wants warriors, I am enough thy friend to tell thee, if +thou weddest, to stay peaceably at home, and forget in the chase the +labours of war, from which thou wouldst strip the ambition of love." + +"I would I knew what were best," said Otho, irresolutely. "My +brother--ha, shall he for ever excel me?--But Leoline, how will she +grieve--she who left him for me!" + +"Was that thy fault?" said the Templar, gaily. "It may many times +chance to thee again to be preferred to another. Troth, it is a sin +under which the conscience may walk lightly enough. But sleep on it, +Otho; my eyes grow heavy." + +The next day Otho sought Leoline, and proposed to her that their +wedding should precede his parting; but so embarrassed was he, so +divided between two wishes, that Leoline, offended, hurt, stung by his +coldness, refused the proposal at once. She left him lest he should +see her weep, and then--then she repented even of her just pride. + +But Otho, striving to appease his conscience with the belief that hers +now was the sole fault, busied himself in preparations for his +departure. Anxious to outshine his brother, he departed not as +Warbeck, alone and unattended, but levying all the horse, men, and +money that his domain of Sternfels--which he had not yet +tenanted--would afford, he repaired to Frankfort at the head of a +glittering troop. + +The Templar, affecting a relapse, tarried behind, and promised to join +him at that Constantinople of which he had so loudly boasted. +Meanwhile he devoted his whole powers of pleasing to console the +unhappy orphan. The force of her simple love was, however, stronger +than all his arts. In vain he insinuated doubts of Otho; she refused +to hear them: in vain he poured with the softest accents into her ear +the witchery of flattery and song: she turned heedlessly away; and only +pained by the courtesies that had so little resemblance to Otho, she +shut herself up in her chamber, and pined in solitude for her forsaken. + +The Templar now resolved to attempt darker arts to obtain power over +her, when, fortunately, he was summoned suddenly away by a mission from +the Grand Master, of so high import that it could not be resisted by a +passion stronger in his breast than love--the passion of ambition. He +left the castle to its solitude; and Otho peopling it no more with his +gay companions, no solitude could be more unfrequently disturbed. + +Meanwhile, though, ever and anon, the fame of Warbeck reached their +ears, it came unaccompanied with that of Otho,--of him they had no +tidings: and thus the love of the tender orphan was kept alive by the +perpetual restlessness of fear. At length the old chief died, and +Leoline was left utterly alone. + +One evening as she sat with her maidens in the hall, the ringing of a +steed's hoofs was heard in the outer court; a horn sounded, the heavy +gates were unbarred, and a knight of a stately mien and covered with +the mantle of the Cross entered the hall; he stopped for one moment at +the entrance, as if overpowered by his emotion; in the next he had +clasped Leoline to his breast. + +"Dost thou not recognize thy cousin Warbeck?" He doffed his casque, +and she saw that majestic brow which, unlike Otho's, had never changed +or been clouded in its aspect to her. + +"The war is suspended for the present," said he. "I learned my +father's death, and I have returned home to hang up my banner in the +hall and spend my days in peace." + +Time and the life of camps had worked their change upon Warbeck's face; +the fair hair, deepened in its shade, was worn from the temples, and +disclosed one scar that rather aided the beauty of a countenance that +had always something high and martial in its character: but the calm it +had once worn had settled down into sadness; he conversed more rarely +than before, and though he smiled not less often, nor less kindly, the +smile had more of thought, and the kindness had forgot its passion. He +had apparently conquered a love that was so early crossed, but not that +fidelity of remembrance which made Leoline dearer to him than all +others, and forbade him to replace the images he had graven upon his +soul. + +The orphan's lips trembled with the name of Otho, but a certain +recollection stifled even her anxiety. Warbeck hastened to forestall +her questions. + +"Otho was well," he said, "and sojourning at Constantinople; he had +lingered there so long that the crusade had terminated without his aid: +doubtless now he would speedily return;--a month, a week, nay, a day +might restore him to her side." + +Leoline was inexpressibly consoled, yet something remained untold. +Why, so eager for the strife of the sacred tomb had he thus tarried at +Constantinople? She wondered, she wearied conjecture, but she did not +dare to search farther. + +The generous Warbeck concealed from her that Otho led a life of the +most reckless and indolent dissipations wasting his wealth in the +pleasures of the Greek court, and only occupying his ambition with the +wild schemes of founding a principality in those foreign climes, which +the enterprises of the Norman adventurers had rendered so alluring to +the knightly bandits of the age. + +The cousins resumed their old friendship, and Warbeck believed that it +was friendship alone. They walked again among the gardens in which +their childhood had strayed; they sat again on the green turf whereon +they had woven flowers; they looked down on the eternal mirror of the +Rhine;--ah! could it have reflected the same unawakened freshness of +their life's early spring! + +The grave and contemplative mind of Warbeck had not been so contented +with the honours of war, but that it had sought also those calmer +sources of emotion which were yet found amongst the sages of the East. +He had drunk at the fountain of the wisdom of those distant climes, and +had acquired the habits of meditation which were indulged by those +wiser tribes from which the Crusaders brought back to the North the +knowledge that was destined to enlighten their posterity. Warbeck, +therefore, had little in common with the ruder chiefs around: he did +not summon them to his board, nor attend at their noisy wassails. +Often late at night, in yon shattered tower, his lonely lamp shone +still over the mighty stream, and his only relief to loneliness was in +the presence and the song of his soft cousin. + +Months rolled on, when suddenly a vague and fearful rumour reached the +castle of Liebenstein. Otho was returning home to the neighbouring +tower of Sternfels; but not alone. He brought back with him a Greek +bride of surprising beauty, and dowered with almost regal wealth. +Leoline was the first to discredit the rumour; Leoline was soon the +only one who disbelieved. + +Bright in the summer noon flashed the array of horsemen; far up the +steep ascent wound the gorgeous cavalcade; the lonely towers of +Liebenstein heard the echo of many a laugh and peal of merriment. Otho +bore home his bride to the hall of Sternfels. + +That night there was a great banquet in Otho's castle; the lights shown +from every casement, and music swelled loud and ceaselessly within. + +By the side of Otho, glittering with the prodigal jewels of the East, +sat the Greek. Her dark locks, her flashing eye, the false colours of +her complexion, dazzled the eyes of her guests. On her left hand sat +the Templar. + +"By the holy rood," quoth the Templar, gaily, though he crossed himself +as he spoke, "we shall scare the owls to-night on those grim towers of +Liebenstein. Thy grave brother, Sir Otho, will have much to do to +comfort his cousin when she sees what a gallant life she would have led +with thee." + +"Poor damsel," said the Greek, with affected pity, "doubtless she will +now be reconciled to the rejected one. I hear he is a knight of a +comely mien." + +"Peace!" said Otho, sternly, and quaffing a large goblet of wine. + +The Greek bit her lip, and glanced meaningly at the Templar, who +returned the glance. + +"Nought but a beauty such as thine can win my pardon," said Otho, +turning to his bride, and gazing passionately in her face. + +The Greek smiled. + +Well sped the feast, the laugh deepened, the wine circled, when Otho's +eye rested on a guest at the bottom of the board, whose figure was +mantled from head to foot, and whose face was covered by a dark veil. + +"Beshrew me!" said he, aloud, "but this is scarce courteous at our +revel: will the stranger vouchsafe to unmask?" + +These words turned all eyes to the figure, and they who sat next it +perceived that it trembled violently; at length it rose, and walking +slowly, but with grace, to the fair Greek, it laid beside her a wreath +of flowers. + +"It is a simple gift, ladye," said the stranger, in a voice of such +sweetness that the rudest guest was touched by it. "But it is all I +can offer, and the bride of Otho should not be without a gift at my +hands. May ye both be happy!" + +With these words, the stranger turned and passed from the hall silent +as a shadow. + +"Bring back the stranger!" cried the Greek, recovering her surprise. +Twenty guests sprang up to obey her mandate. + +"No, no!" said Otho, waving his hand impatiently. "Touch her not, heed +her not, at your peril." + +The Greek bent over the flowers to conceal her anger, and from amongst +them dropped the broken half of a ring. Otho recognised it at once; it +was the broken half of that ring which he had broken with his +betrothed. Alas, he required not such a sign to convince him that that +figure, so full of ineffable grace, that touching voice, that simple +action so tender in its sentiment, that gift, that blessing, came only +from the forsaken and forgiving Leoline. + +But Warbeck, alone in his solitary tower, paced to and fro with +agitated steps. Deep, undying wrath at his brother's falsehood mingled +with one burning, one delicious hope. He confessed now that he had +deceived himself when he thought his passion was no more; was there any +longer a bar to his union with Leoline? + +In that delicacy which was breathed into him by his love, he had +forborne to seek, or to offer her the insult of consolation. He felt +that the shock should be borne alone, and yet he pined, he thirsted, to +throw himself at her feet. + +Nursing these contending thoughts, he was aroused by a knock at his +door: he opened it--the passage was thronged by Leoline's maidens; +pale, anxious, weeping. Leoline had left the castle with but one +female attendant; none knew whither;--they knew too soon. From the +hall of Sternfels she had passed over in the dark and inclement night +to the valley in which the convent of Bornhofen offered to the weary of +spirit and the broken of heart a refuge at the shrine of God. + +At daybreak the next morning, Warbeck was at the convent's gate. He +saw Leoline: what a change one night of suffering had made in that +face, which was the fountain of all loveliness to him! He clasped her +in his arms; he wept; he urged all that love could urge: he besought +her to accept that heart which had never wronged her memory by a +thought. "Oh, Leoline! didst thou not say once that these arms nursed +thy childhood; that this voice soothed thine early sorrows? Ah, trust +to them again and for ever. From a love that forsook thee turn to the +love that never swerved." + +"No," said Leoline; "no. What would the chivalry of which thou art the +boast--what would they say of thee, wert thou to wed one affianced and +deserted, who tarried years for another, and brought to thine arms only +that heart which he had abandoned? No; and even if thou, as I know +thou wouldst be, wert callous to such wrong of thy high name, shall I +bring to thee a broken heart and bruised spirit? shalt thou wed sorrow +and not joy? and shall sighs that will not cease, and tears that may +not be dried, be the only dowry of thy bride? Thou, too, for whom all +blessings should be ordained? No, forget me; forget thy poor Leoline! +She hath nothing but prayers for thee." + +In vain Warbeck pleaded; in vain he urged all that passion and truth +could urge; the springs of earthly love were for ever dried up in the +orphan's heart, and her resolution was immovable--she tore herself from +his arms, and the gate of the convent creaked harshly on his ear. + +A new and stern emotion now wholly possessed him; though naturally mild +and gentle, he cherished anger, when once it was aroused, with the +strength of a calm mind. Leoline's tears, her sufferings, her wrongs, +her uncomplaining spirit, the change already stamped upon her face, all +cried aloud to him for vengeance. "She is an orphan," said he, +bitterly; "she hath none to protect, to redress her, save me alone. My +father's charge over her forlorn youth descends of right to me. What +matters it whether her forsaker be my brother? He is her foe. Hath he +not crushed her heart? Hath he not consigned her to sorrow till the +grave? And with what insult! no warning, no excuse; with lewd +wassailers keeping revel for his new bridals in the hearing--before the +sight--of his betrothed! Enough! the time hath come when, to use his +own words, 'One of us two must fall!" He half drew his sword as he +spoke, and thrusting it back violently into the sheath, strode home to +his solitary castle. The sound of steeds and of the hunting-horn met +him at his portal; the bridal train of Sternfels, all mirth and +gladness, were parting for the chase. + +That evening a knight in complete armour entered the banquet-hall of +Sternfels, and defied Otho, on the part of Warbeck of Liebenstein, to +mortal combat. + +Even the Templar was startled by so unnatural a challenge; but Otho, +reddening, took up the gage, and the day and spot were fixed. +Discontented, wroth with himself, a savage gladness seised him;--he +longed to wreak his desperate feelings even on his brother. Nor had he +ever in his jealous heart forgiven that brother his virtues and his +renown. + +At the appointed hour the brothers met as foes. Warbeck's vizor was +up, and all the settled sternness of his soul was stamped upon his +brow. But Otho, more willing to brave the arm than to face the front +of his brother, kept his vizor down; the Templar stood by him with +folded arms. It was a study in human passions to his mocking mind. +Scarce had the first trump sounded to this dread conflict, when a new +actor entered on the scene. The rumour of so unprecedented an event +had not failed to reach the convent of Bornhofen;--and now, two by two, +came the sisters of the holy shrine, and the armed men made way, as +with trailing garments and veiled faces they swept along into the very +lists. At that moment one from amongst them left her sisters with a +slow majestic pace, and paused not till she stood right between the +brother foes. + +"Warbeck," she said in a hollow voice, that curdled up his dark spirit +as it spoke, "Is it thus thou wouldst prove thy love, and maintain thy +trust over the fatherless orphan whom thy sire bequeathed to thy care? +Shall I have murder on my soul?" At that question she paused, and +those who heard it were struck dumb and shuddered. "The murder of one +man by the hand of his own brother! Away, Warbeck! I command." + +"Shall I forget thy wrongs, Leoline?" said Warbeck. + +"Wrongs! they united me to God! they are forgiven, they are no more. +Earth has deserted me, but Heaven hath taken me to its arms;--shall I +murmur at the change? And thou, Otho"--here her voice faltered--"thou, +does thy conscience smite thee not?--wouldst thou atone for robbing me +of hope by barring against me the future? Wretch that I should be, +could I dream of mercy--could I dream of comfort, if thy brother fell +by thy sword in my cause? Otho, I have pardoned thee, and blessed thee +and thine. Once, perhaps, thou didst love me; remember how I loved +thee--cast down thine arms." + +Otho gazed at the veiled form before him. Where had the soft Leoline +learned to command? He turned to his brother; he felt all that he had +inflicted upon both; and casting his sword upon the ground, he knelt at +the feet of Leoline and kissed her garment with a devotion that votary +never lavished on a holier saint. + +The spell that lay over the warriors around was broken; there was one +loud cry of congratulation and joy. "And thou, Warbeck!" said Leoline, +turning to the spot where, still motionless and haughty, Warbeck stood. + +"Have I ever rebelled against thy will?" said he, softly; and buried +the point of his sword in the earth. "Yet, Leoline, yet," added he, +looking at his kneeling brother, "yet art thou already better avenged +than by this steel!" + +"Thou art! thou art!" cried Otho, smiting his breast; and slowly, and +scarce noting the crowd that fell back from his path, Warbeck left the +lists. + +Leoline said no more; her divine errand was fulfilled. She looked long +and wistfully after the stately form of the knight of Liebenstein, and +then, with a slight sigh, she turned to Otho, "This is the last time we +shall meet on earth. Peace be with us all!" + +She then, with the same majestic and collected bearing, passed on +towards the sisterhood; and as, in the same solemn procession, they +glided back towards the convent, there was not a man present--no, not +even the hardened Templar--who would not, like Otho, have bent his knee +to Leoline. + +Once more Otho plunged into the wild revelry of the age; his castle was +thronged with guests, and night after night the lighted halls shone +down thwart the tranquil Rhine. The beauty of the Greek, the wealth of +Otho, the fame of the Templar, attracted all the chivalry from far and +near. Never had the banks of the Rhine known so hospitable a lord as +the knight of Sternfels. Yet gloom seized him in the midst of +gladness, and the revel was welcome only as the escape from remorse. +The voice of scandal, however, soon began to mingle with that of envy +at the pomp of Otho. The fair Greek, it was said, weary of her lord, +lavished her smiles on others: the young and the fair were always most +acceptable at the castle; and, above all, her guilty love for the +Templar scarcely affected disguise. Otho alone appeared unconscious of +the rumour, and though he had begun to neglect his bride, he relaxed +not in his intimacy with the Templar. + +It was noon, and the Greek was sitting in her bower alone with her +suspected lover; the rich perfumes of the East mingled with the +fragrance of flowers, and various luxuries, unknown till then in those +northern shores, gave a soft and effeminate character to the room. + +"I tell thee," said the Greek, petulantly, "that he begins to suspect; +that I have seen him watch thee, and mutter as he watched, and play +with the hilt of his dagger. Better let us fly ere it is too late, for +his vengeance would be terrible were it once aroused against us. Ah, +why did I ever forsake my own sweet land for these barbarous shores! +There, love is not considered eternal, nor inconstancy a crime worthy +death." + +"Peace, pretty one!" said the Templar, carelessly; "thou knowest not +the laws of our foolish chivalry. Thinkest thou I could fly from a +knight's halls like a thief in the night? Why, verily, even the red +cross would not cover such dishonour. If thou fearest that thy dull +lord suspects, let us part. The emperor hath sent to me from +Frankfort. Ere evening I might be on my way thither." + +"And I left to brave the barbarian's revenge alone? Is this thy +chivalry?" + +"Nay, prate not so wildly," answered the Templar. "Surely, when the +object of his suspicion is gone, thy woman's art and thy Greek wiles +can easily allay the jealous fiend. Do I not know thee, Glycera? Why, +thou wouldst fool all men--save a Templar." + +"And thou, cruel, wouldst thou leave me?" said the Greek, weeping. +"How shall I live without thee?" + +The Templar laughed slightly. "Can such eyes ever weep without a +comforter? But farewell; I must not be found with thee. To-morrow I +depart for Frankfort; we shall meet again." + +As soon as the door closed on the Templar, the Greek rose, and pacing +the room, said, "Selfish, selfish! how could I ever trust him? Yet I +dare not brave Otho alone. Surely it was his step that disturbed us in +our yesterday's interview? Nay, I will fly. I can never want a +companion." + +She clapped her hands; a young page appeared; she threw herself on her +seat and wept bitterly. + +The page approached, and love was mingled with his compassion. + +"Why weepest thou, dearest lady?" said he; "is there aught in which +Conrad's services--services!--ah thou hast read his heart--his devotion +may avail?" + +Otho had wandered out the whole day alone; his vassals had observed +that his brow was more gloomy than its wont, for he usually concealed +whatever might prey within. Some of the most confidential of his +servitors he had conferred with, and the conference had deepened the +shadow of his countenance. He returned at twilight; the Greek did not +honour the repast with her presence. She was unwell, and not to be +disturbed. The gay Templar was the life of the board. + +"Thou carriest a sad brow to-day, Sir Otho," said he; "good faith, thou +hast caught it from the air of Liebenstein." + +"I have something troubles me," answered Otho, forcing a smile, "which +I would fain impart to thy friendly bosom. The night is clear and the +moon is up, let us forth alone into the garden." + +The Templar rose, and he forgot not to gird on his sword as he followed +the knight. + +Otho led the way to one of the most distant terraces that overhung the +Rhine. + +"Sir Templar," said he, pausing, "answer me one question on thy +knightly honour. Was it thy step that left my lady's bower yester-eve +at vesper?" + +Startled by so sudden a query, the wily Templar faltered in his reply. + +The red blood mounted to Otho's brow. "Nay, lie not, sir knight; these +eyes, thanks to God! have not witnessed, but these ears have heard from +others of my dishonour." + +As Otho spoke, the Templar's eye resting on the water, perceived a boat +rowing fast over the Rhine; the distance forbade him to see more than +the outline of two figures within it. "She was right," thought he; +"perhaps that boat already bears her from the danger." + +Drawing himself up to the full height of his tall stature, the Templar +replied haughtily: + +"Sir Otho of Sternfels, if thou hast deigned to question thy vassals, +obtain from them only an answer. It is not to contradict such minions +that the knights of the Temple pledge their word!" + +"Enough," cried Otho, losing patience, and striking the Templar with +his clenched hand. "Draw, traitor, draw!" + +Alone in his lofty tower Warbeck watched the night deepen over the +heavens, and communed mournfully with himself. "To what end," thought +he, "have these strong affections, these capacities of love, this +yearning after sympathy, been given me? Unloved and unknown I walk to +my grave, and all the nobler mysteries of my heart are for ever to be +untold." + +Thus musing, he heard not the challenge of the warder on the wall, or +the unbarring of the gate below, or the tread of footsteps along the +winding stair; the door was thrown suddenly open, and Otho stood before +him. "Come," he said, in a low voice trembling with passion; "come, I +will show thee that which shall glad thine heart. Twofold is Leoline +avenged." + +Warbeck looked in amazement on a brother he had not met since they +stood in arms each against the other's life, and he now saw that the +arm that Otho extended to him dripped with blood, trickling drop by +drop upon the floor. + +"Come," said Otho, "follow me; it is my last prayer. Come, for +Leoline's sake, come." + +At that name Warbeck hesitated no longer; he girded on his sword, and +followed his brother down the stairs and through the castle gate. The +porter scarcely believed his eyes when he saw the two brothers, so long +divided, go forth at that hour alone, and seemingly in friendship. + +Warbeck, arrived at that epoch in the feelings when nothing stuns, +followed with silent steps the rapid strides of his brother. The two +castles, as you are aware, are scarce a stone's throw from each other. +In a few minutes Otho paused at an open space in one of the terraces of +Sternfels, on which the moon shone bright and steady. "Behold!" he +said, in a ghastly voice, "behold!" and Warbeck saw on the sward the +corpse of the Templar, bathed with the blood that even still poured +fast and warm from his heart. + +"Hark!" said Otho. "He it was who first made me waver in my vows to +Leoline; he persuaded me to wed yon whited falsehood. Hark! he, who +had thus wronged my real love, dishonoured me with my faithless bride, +and thus--thus--thus"--as, grinding his teeth, he spurned again and +again the dead body of the Templar--"thus Leoline and myself are +avenged!" + +"And thy wife?" said Warbeck, pityingly. + +"Fled--fled with a hireling page. It is well! she was not worth the +sword that was once belted on--by Leoline." + +The tradition, dear Gertrude, proceeds to tell us that Otho, though +often menaced by the rude justice of the day for the death of the +Templar, defied and escaped the menace. On the very night of his +revenge a long and delirious illness seized him; the generous Warbeck +forgave, forgot all, save that he had been once consecrated by +Leoline's love. He tended him through his sickness, and when he +recovered, Otho was an altered man. He forswore the comrades he had +once courted, the revels he had once led. The halls of Sternfels were +desolate as those of Liebenstein. The only companion Otho sought was +Warbeck, and Warbeck bore with him. They had no topic in common, for +one subject Warbeck at least felt too deeply ever to trust himself to +speak; yet did a strange and secret sympathy re-unite them. They had +at least a common sorrow; often they were seen wandering together by +the solitary banks of the river, or amidst the woods, without +apparently interchanging word or sign. Otho died first, and still in +the prime of youth; and Warbeck was now left companionless. In vain +the imperial court wooed him to its pleasures; in vain the camp +proffered him the oblivion of renown. Ah! could he tear himself from a +spot where morning and night he could see afar, amidst the valley, the +roof that sheltered Leoline, and on which every copse, every turf, +reminded him of former days? His solitary life, his midnight vigils, +strange scrolls about his chamber, obtained him by degrees the repute +of cultivating the darker arts; and shunning, he became shunned by all. +But still it was sweet to hear from time to time of the increasing +sanctity of her in whom he had treasured up his last thoughts of earth. +She it was who healed the sick; she it was who relieved the poor, and +the superstition of that age brought pilgrims from afar to the altars +that she served. Many years afterwards, a band of lawless robbers, who +ever and anon broke from their mountain fastnesses to pillage and to +desolate the valleys of the Rhine,--who spared neither sex nor age; +neither tower nor hut; nor even the houses of God Himself,--laid waste +the territories round Bornhofen, and demanded treasure from the +convent. The abbess, of the bold lineage of Rudesheim, refused the +sacrilegious demand; the convent was stormed; its vassals resisted; the +robbers, inured to slaughter, won the day; already the gates were +forced, when a knight, at the head of a small but hardy troop, rushed +down from the mountain side and turned the tide of the fray. Wherever +his sword flashed fell a foe. Wherever his war-cry sounded was a space +of dead men in the thick of the battle. The fight was won; the convent +saved; the abbess and the sisterhood came forth to bless their +deliverer. Laid under an aged oak, he was bleeding fast to death; his +head was bare and his locks were grey, but scarcely yet with years. +One only of the sisterhood recognized that majestic face; one bathed +his parched lips; one held his dying hand; and in Leoline's presence +passed away the faithful spirit of the last lord of Liebenstein! + +"Oh!" said Gertrude, through her tears; "surely you must have altered +the facts,--surely--surely--it must have been impossible for Leoline, +with a woman's heart, to have loved Otho more than Warbeck?" + +"My child," said Vane, "so think women when they read a tale of love, +and see the whole heart bared before them; but not so act they in real +life--when they see only the surface of character, and pierce not its +depths--until it is too late!" + + + + +"DR. MANETTE'S MANUSCRIPT" + +By CHARLES DICKENS + + +I, Alexandre Manette, unfortunate physician, native of Beauvais, and +afterwards resident in Paris, write this melancholy paper in my doleful +cell in the Bastille, during the last month of the year, 1767. I write +it at stolen intervals, under every difficulty. I design to secrete it +in the wall of the chimney, where I have slowly and laboriously made a +place of concealment for it. Some pitying hand may find it there, when +I and my sorrows are dust. + +"These words are formed by the rusty iron point with which I write with +difficulty in scrapings of soot and charcoal from the chimney, mixed +with blood, in the last month of the tenth year of my captivity. Hope +has quite departed from my breast. I know from terrible warnings I +have noted in myself that my reason will not long remain unimpaired, +but I solemnly declare that I am at this time in the possession of my +right mind--that my memory is exact and circumstantial--and that I +write the truth as I shall answer for these my last recorded words, +whether they be ever read by men or not, at the Eternal Judgment-seat. + +"One cloudy moonlight night in the third week of December (I think the +twenty-second of the month) in the year 1757, I was walking on a +retired part of the quay by the Seine for the refreshment of the frosty +air, at an hour's distance from my place of residence in the Street of +the School of Medicine, when a carriage came along behind me, driven +very fast. As I stood aside to let that carriage pass, apprehensive +that it might otherwise run me down, a head was put out at the window, +and a voice called to the driver to stop. + +"The carriage stopped as soon as the driver could rein in his horses, +and the same voice called to me by my name. I answered. The carriage +was then so far in advance of me that two gentlemen had time to open +the door and alight before I came up with it I observed that they were +both wrapped in cloaks, and appeared to conceal themselves. As they +stood side by side near the carriage door, I also observed that they +both looked of about my own age, or rather younger, and that they were +greatly alike, in stature, manner, voice, and (as far as I could see) +face too. + +"'You are Doctor Manette?' said one. + +"'I am." + +"'Doctor Manette, formerly of Beauvais,' said the other; 'the young +physician, originally an expert surgeon, who within the last year or +two has made a rising reputation in Paris?' + +"'Gentlemen,' I returned, 'I am that Doctor Manette of whom you speak +so graciously.' + +"'We have been to your residence,' said the first, 'and not being so +fortunate as to find you there, and being informed that you were +probably walking in this direction, we followed, in the hope of +overtaking you. Will you please to enter the carriage?' + +"The manner of both was imperious, and they both moved, as these words +were spoken, so as to place me between themselves and the carriage +door. They were armed. I was not. + +"'Gentlemen,' said I, 'pardon me; but I usually inquire who does me the +honour to seek my assistance, and what is the nature of the case to +which I am summoned.' + +"The reply to this was made by him who had spoken second. 'Doctor, +your clients are people of condition. As to the nature of the case, +our confidence in your skill assures us that you will ascertain it for +yourself better than we can describe it. Enough. Will you please to +enter the carriage?' + +"I could do nothing but comply, and I entered it in silence. They both +entered after me--the last springing in, after putting up the steps. +The carriage turned about, and drove on at its former speed. + +"I repeat this conversation exactly as it occurred. I have no doubt +that it is, word for word, the same. I describe everything exactly as +it took place, constraining my mind not to wander from the task. Where +I make the broken marks that follow here, I leave off for the time, and +put my paper in its hiding-place.... + +"The carriage left the streets behind, passed the North Barrier, and +emerged upon the country road. At two-thirds of a league from the +Barrier--I did not estimate the distance at that time, but afterwards +when I traversed it--it struck out of the main avenue, and presently +stopped at a solitary house. We all three alighted, and walked, by a +damp soft footpath, in a garden where a neglected fountain had +overflowed to the door of the house. It was not opened immediately, in +answer to the ringing of the bell, and one of my two conductors struck +the man who opened it, with his heavy riding glove, across the face. + +"There was nothing in this action to attract my particular attention, +for I had seen common people struck more commonly than dogs. But the +other of the two, being angry likewise, struck the man in like manner +with his arm; the look and bearing of the brothers were then so exactly +alike that I then first perceived them to be twin brothers. + +"From the time of our alighting at the outer gate (which we found +locked, and which one of the brothers had opened to admit us, and had +relocked), I had heard cries proceeding from an upper chamber. I was +conducted to this chamber straight, the cries growing louder as we +ascended the stairs, and I found a patient in a high fever of the +brain, lying on a bed. + +"The patient was a woman of great beauty, and young; assuredly not much +past twenty. Her hair was torn and ragged, and her arms were bound to +her sides with sashes and handkerchiefs. I noticed that these bonds +were all portions of a gentleman's dress. On one of them, which was a +fringed scarf for a dress of ceremony, I saw the armorial bearings of a +Noble, and the letter E. + +"I saw this within the first minute of my contemplation of the patient; +for, in her restless strivings she had turned over on her face on the +edge of the bed, had drawn the end of the scarf into her mouth, and was +in danger of suffocation. My first act was to put out my hand to +relieve her breathing; and, in moving the scarf aside, the embroidery +in the corner caught my sight. + +"I turned her gently over, placed my hands upon her breast to calm her +and keep her down, and looked into her face. Her eyes were dilated and +wild, and she constantly uttered piercing shrieks, and repeated the +words, 'My husband, my father, and my brother!' and then counted up to +twelve, and said, 'Hush!' For an instant, and no more, she would pause +to listen, and then the piercing shrieks would begin again and she +would repeat the cry 'My husband, my father, and my brother!' and would +count up to twelve, and say, 'Hush!' There was no variation in the +order, or the manner. There was no cessation, but the regular moment's +pause, in the utterance of these sounds. + +"'How long,' I asked, 'Has this lasted?' + +"To distinguish the brothers, I will call them the elder and the +younger; by the elder, I mean him who exercised the most authority. It +was the elder who replied, 'Since about this hour last night.' + +"'She has a husband, a father, and a brother?' + +"'A brother.' + +"'I do not address her brother?' + +"He answered with great contempt, 'No.' + +"'She has some recent association with the number twelve?' + +"The younger brother impatiently rejoined, 'With twelve o'clock?' + +"'See, gentlemen,' said I, still keeping my hands upon her breast, 'how +useless I am, as you have brought me! If I had known what I was coming +to see, I could have come provided. As it is, time must be lost. +There are no medicines to be obtained in this lonely place.' + +"The elder brother looked to the younger, who said haughtily, 'There is +a case of medicines here;' and brought it from a closet, and put it on +the table. * * * * + +"I opened some of the bottles, smelt them, and put the stoppers to my +lips. If I had wanted to use anything save narcotic medicines that +were poisons in themselves, I would not have administered any of those. + +"'Do you doubt them?' asked the younger brother. + +"'You see, monsieur, I am going to use them,' I replied, and said no +more. + +"I made the patient swallow, with great difficulty, and after many +efforts, the dose that I desired to give. As I intended to repeat it +after a while, and as it was necessary to watch its influence, I then +sat down by the side of the bed. There was a timid and suppressed +woman in attendance (wife of the man down-stairs), who had retreated +into a corner. The house was damp and decayed, indifferently +furnished--evidently, recently occupied and temporarily used. Some +thick old hangings had been nailed up before the windows, to deaden the +sound of the shrieks. They continued to be uttered in their regular +succession, with the cry, 'My husband, my father, and my brother!' the +counting up to twelve, and 'Hush!' The frenzy was so violent, that I +had not unfastened the bandages restraining the arms; but I had looked +to them, to see that they were not painful. The only spark of +encouragement in the case, was, that my hand upon the sufferer's breast +had this much soothing influence, that for minutes at a time it +tranquillised the figure. It had no effect upon the cries; no pendulum +could be more regular. + +"For the reason that my hand had this effect (I assume), I had sat by +the side of the bed for half an hour, with the two brothers looking on, +before the elder said: + +"'There is another patient.' + +"I was startled, and asked, 'Is it a pressing case?' + +"'You had better see,' he carelessly answered; and took up a light. * +* * * + +"The other patient lay in a back room across a second staircase, which +was a species of loft over a stable. There was a low plastered ceiling +to a part of it; the rest was open, to the ridge of the tiled roof, and +there were beams across. Hay and straw were stored in that portion of +the place, fagots for firing, and a heap of apples in sand. I had to +pass through that part, to get at the other. My memory is +circumstantial and unshaken. I try it with these details, and I see +them all, in this my cell in the Bastille, near the close of the tenth +year of my captivity, as I saw them all that night. + +"On some hay on the ground, with a cushion thrown under his heady lay a +handsome peasant boy--a boy of not more than seventeen at the most. He +lay on his back, with his teeth set, his right hand clenched on his +breast, and his glaring eyes looking straight upward. I could not see +where his wound was, as I kneeled on one knee over him; but, I could +see that he was dying of a wound from a sharp point. + +"'I am a doctor, my poor fellow,' said I. 'Let me examine it.' + +"'I do not want it examined,' he answered; 'let it be.' + +"It was under his hand, and I soothed him to let me move his hand away. +The wound was a sword-thrust, received from twenty to twenty-four hours +before, but no skill could have saved him if it had been looked to +without delay. He was then dying fast. As I turned my eyes to the +elder brother, I saw him looking down at this handsome boy whose life +was ebbing out, as if he were a wounded bird, or hare, or rabbit; not +at all as if he were a fellow-creature. + +"'How has this been done, monsieur?' said I. + +"'A crazed young common dog! A serf! Forced my brother to draw upon +him, and has fallen by my brother's sword--like a gentleman.' + +"There was no touch of pity, sorrow, or kindred humanity, in this +answer. The speaker seemed to acknowledge that it was inconvenient to +have that different order of creature dying there, and that it would +have been better if he had died in the usual obscure routine of his +vermin kind. He was quite incapable of any compassionate feeling about +the boy, or about his fate. + +"The boy's eyes had slowly moved to him as he had spoken, and they now +slowly moved to me. + +"'Doctor, they are very proud, these Nobles; but we common dogs are +proud too, sometimes. They plunder us, outrage us, beat us, kill us; +but we have a little pride left, sometimes. She--have you seen her, +Doctor?' + +"The shrieks and the cries were audible there, though subdued by the +distance. He referred to them, as if she were lying in our presence. + +"I said, 'I have seen her.' + +"'She is my sister, Doctor. They have had their shameful rights, these +Nobles, in the modesty and virtue of our sisters, many years, but we +have had good girls among us. I know it, and have heard my father say +so. She was a good girl. She was betrothed to a good young man, too: +a tenant of his. We were all tenants of his--that man's who stands +there. The other is his brother, the worst of a bad race.' + +"It was with the greatest difficulty that the boy gathered bodily force +to speak; but, his spirit spoke with a dreadful emphasis. + +"'We were so robbed by that man who stands there, as all we common dogs +are by those superior Beings--taxed by him without mercy, obliged to +work for him without pay, obliged to grind our corn at his mill, +obliged to feed scores of his tame birds on our wretched crops, and +forbidden for our lives to keep a single tame bird of our own, pillaged +and plundered to that degree that when we chanced to have a bit of +meat, we ate it in fear, with the door barred and the shutters closed, +that his people should not see it and take it from us--I say, we were +so robbed, and hunted, and were made so poor, that our father told us +it was a dreadful thing to bring a child into the world, and that what +we should most pray for, was, that our women might be barren and our +miserable race die out!' + +"I had never before seen the sense of being oppressed, bursting forth +like a fire. I had supposed that it must be latent in the people +somewhere; but, I had never seen it break out, until I saw it in the +dying boy. + +"'Nevertheless, Doctor, my sister married. He was ailing at that time, +poor fellow, and she married her lover, that she might tend and comfort +him in our cottage--our dog-hut, as that man would call it. She had +not been married many weeks, when that man's brother saw her and +admired her, and asked that man to lend her to him--for what are +husbands among us! He was willing enough, but my sister was good and +virtuous, and hated his brother with a hatred as strong as mine. What +did the two then, to persuade her husband to use his influence with +her, to make her willing?' + +"The boy's eyes, which had been fixed on mine, slowly turned to the +looker-on, and I saw in the two faces that all he said was true. The +two opposing kinds of pride confronting one another, I can see, even in +this Bastille; the gentleman's, all negligent indifference; the +peasant's, all trodden-down sentiment, and passionate revenge. + +"'You know, Doctor, that it is among the Rights of these Nobles to +harness us common dogs to carts, and drive us. They so harnessed him +and drove him. You know that it is among their Rights to keep us in +their grounds all night, quieting the frogs, in order that their noble +sleep may not be disturbed. They kept him out in the unwholesome mists +at night, and ordered him back into harness in the day. But he was not +persuaded. No! Taken out of harness one day at noon, to feed--if he +could find food--he sobbed twelve times, once for every stroke of the +bell, and died on her bosom.' + +"Nothing human could have held life in the boy but his determination to +tell all his wrong. He forced back the gathering shadows of death, as +he forced his clenched right hand to remain clenched, and to cover his +wound. + +"'Then, with that man's permission and even with his aid, his brother +took her away; in spite of what I know she must have told his +brother--and what that is, will not be long unknown to you, Doctor, if +it is now--his brother took her away--for his pleasure and diversion, +for a little while. I saw her pass me on the road. When I took the +tidings home, our father's heart burst; he never spoke one of the words +that filled it. I took my young sister (for I have another) to a place +beyond the reach of this man, and where, at least, she will never be +his vassal. Then, I tracked the brother here, and last night climbed +in--a common dog, but sword in hand.--Where is the loft window? It was +somewhere here?' + +"The room was darkening to his sight; the world was narrowing around +him. I glanced about me, and saw that the hay and straw were trampled +over the floor, as if there had been a struggle. + +"'She heard me, and ran in. I told her not to come near us till he was +dead. He came in and first tossed me some pieces of money; then struck +at me with a whip. But I, though a common dog, so struck at him as to +make him draw. Let him break into as many pieces as he will, the sword +that he stained with my common blood; he drew to defend himself--thrust +at me with all his skill for his life.' + +"My glance had fallen, but a few moments before, on the fragments of a +broken sword, lying among the hay. That weapon was a gentleman's. In +another place, lay an old sword that seemed to have been a soldier's. + +"'Now, lift me up, Doctor; lift me up. Where is he?' + +"'He is not here,' I said, supporting the boy, and thinking that he +referred to the brother. + +"'He! Proud as these Nobles are, he is afraid to see me. Where is the +man who was here? Turn my face to him.' + +"I did so, raising the boy's head against my knee. But, invested for +the moment with extraordinary power, he raised himself completely: +obliging me to rise too, or I could not have still supported him. + +"'Marquis,' said the boy, turned to him with his eyes opened wide, and +his right hand raised, 'in the days when all these things are to be +answered for, I summon you and yours, to the last of your bad race, to +answer for them. I mark this cross of blood upon you, as a sign that I +do it. In the days when all these things are to be answered for, I +summon your brother, the worst of the bad race, to answer for them +separately. I mark this cross of blood upon him; as a sign that I do +it.' + +"Twice, he put his hand to the wound in his breast, and with his +forefinger drew a cross in the air. He stood for an instant with the +finger yet raised, and as it dropped, he dropped with it, and I laid +him down dead. * * * * + +"When I returned to the bedside of the young woman, I found her raving +in precisely the same order of continuity. I knew that this might last +for many hours, and that it would probably end in the silence of the +grave. + +"I repeated the medicines I had given her, and I sat at the side of the +bed until the night was far advanced. She never abated the piercing +quality of her shrieks, never stumbled in the distinctness or the order +of her words. They were always 'My husband, my father, and my brother! +One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, +twelve. Hush!' + +"This lasted twenty-six hours from the time when I first saw her. I +had come and gone twice, and was again sitting by her, when she began +to falter. I did what little could be done to assist that opportunity, +and by-and-bye she sank into a lethargy, and lay like the dead. + +"It was as if the wind and rain had lulled at last, after a long and +fearful storm. I released her arms, and called the woman to assist me +to compose her figure and the dress she had torn. It was then that I +knew her condition to be that of one in whom the first expectations of +being a mother have arisen; and it was then that I lost the little hope +I had had of her. + +"'Is she dead?' asked the Marquis, whom I will still describe as the +elder brother, coming booted into the room from his horse.--'Not dead,' +said I; 'but like to die.' + +"'What strength there is in these common bodies!' he said, looking down +at her with some curiosity. + +"'There is prodigious strength,' I answered him, 'in sorrow and +despair.' + +"He first laughed at my words, and then frowned at them. He moved a +chair with his foot near to mine, ordered the woman away, and said in a +subdued voice, + +"'Doctor, finding my brother in this difficulty with these hinds, I +recommended that your aid should be invited. Your reputation is high, +and, as a young man with your fortune to make, you are probably mindful +of your interest. The things that you see here, are things to be seen, +and not spoken of.' + +"I listened to the patient's breathing; and avoided answering.--'Do you +honour me with your attention, Doctor?' + +"'Monsieur,' said I, 'in my profession, the communications of patients +are always received in confidence.' I was guarded in my answer, for I +was troubled in my mind with what I had heard and seen. + +"Her breathing was so difficult to trace, that I carefully tried the +pulse and the heart. There was life, and no more. Looking round as I +resumed my seat, I found both the brothers intent upon me. * * * * + +"I write with so much difficulty, the cold is so severe, I am so +fearful of being detected and consigned to an underground cell and +total darkness, that I must abridge this narrative. There is no +confusion of failure in my memory; it can recall, and could detail, +every word that was ever spoken between me and those brothers. + +"She lingered for a week. Towards the last, I could understand some +few syllables that she said to me, by placing my ear close to her lips. +She asked me where she was, and I told her; who I was, and I told her. +It was in vain that I asked her for her family name. She faintly shook +her head upon the pillow, and kept her secret, as the boy had done. + +"I had no opportunity of asking her any question, until I had told the +brothers she was sinking fast, and could not live another day. Until +then, though no one was ever presented to her consciousness save the +woman and myself, one or other of them had always jealously sat behind +the curtain at the head of the bed when I was there. But when it came +to that, they seemed careless what communication I might hold with her; +as if--the thought passed through my mind--I were dying too. + +"I always observed that their pride bitterly resented the younger +brother's (as I call him) having crossed swords with a peasant, and +that peasant a boy. The only consideration that appeared to affect the +mind of either of them was the consideration that this was highly +degrading to the family, and was ridiculous. As often as I caught the +younger brother's eyes, their expression reminded me that he disliked +me deeply, for knowing what I knew from the boy. He was smoother and +more polite to me than the elder; but I saw this. I also saw that I +was an incumbrance in the mind of the elder, too. + +"My patient died, two hours before midnight--at a time, by my watch, +answering almost to the minute when I had first seen her. I was alone +with her, when her forlorn young head drooped gently on one side, and +all her earthly wrongs and sorrows ended. + +"The brothers were waiting in a room down-stairs, impatient to ride +away. I had heard them, alone at the bedside, striking their boots +with their riding-whips, and loitering up and down. + +"'At last she's dead?' said the elder, when I went in. + +"'She is dead,' said I. + +"'I congratulate you, my brother,' were his words as he turned round. + +"He had before offered me money, which I had postponed taking. He now +gave me a rouleau of gold. I took it from his hand, but laid it on the +table. I had considered the question, and had resolved to accept +nothing. + +"'Pray excuse me,' said I. 'Under the circumstances, no.' + +"They exchanged looks, but bent their heads to me as I bent mine to +them, and we parted without another word on either side. * * * * + +"I am weary, weary, weary--worn down by misery. I cannot read what I +have written with this gaunt hand. + +"Early in the morning, the rouleau of gold was left at my door in a +little box, with my name on the outside. From the first, I had +anxiously considered what I ought to do. I decided, that day, to write +privately to the Minister, stating the nature of the two cases to which +I had been summoned, and the place to which I had gone: in effect, +stating all the circumstances. I knew what Court influence was, and +what the immunities of the Nobles were, and I expected that the matter +would never be heard of; but, I wished to relieve my own mind. I had +kept the matter a profound secret even from my wife; and this, too, I +resolved to state in my letter. I had no apprehension whatever of my +real danger; but I was conscious that there might be danger for others, +if others were compromised by possessing the knowledge that I possessed. + +"I was much engaged that day, and could not complete my letter that +night. I rose long before my usual time next morning to finish it. It +was the last day of the year. The letter was lying before me just +completed when I was told that a lady waited, who wished to see me. * +* * * + +"I am growing more and more unequal to the task I have set myself. It +is so cold, so dark, my senses are so benumbed, and the gloom upon me +is so dreadful. + +"The lady was young, engaging, and handsome, but not marked for long +life. She was in great agitation. She presented herself to me as the +wife of the Marquis St. Evremonde. I connected the title by which the +boy had addressed the elder brother, with the initial letter +embroidered on the scarf, and had no difficulty in arriving at the +conclusion that I had seen that nobleman very lately. + +"My memory is still accurate, but I cannot write the words of our +conversation. I suspect that I am watched more closely than I was, and +I know not at what times I may be watched. She had in part suspected, +and in part discovered, the main facts of the cruel story, of her +husband's share in it, and my being resorted to. She did not know that +the girl was dead. Her hope had been, she said in great distress, to +show her, in secret, a woman's sympathy. Her hope had been to avert +the wrath of Heaven from a House that had long been hateful to the +suffering many. She had reasons for believing that there was a young +sister living, and her greatest desire was, to help that sister. I +could tell her nothing but that there was such a sister; beyond that, I +knew nothing. Her inducement to come to me, relying on my confidence, +had been the hope that I could tell her the name and place of abode. +Whereas, to this wretched hour I am ignorant of both. * * * * + +"These scraps of paper fail me. One was taken from me, with a warning, +yesterday. I must finish my record to-day. She was a good, +compassionate lady, and not happy in her marriage. How could she be! +The brother distrusted and disliked her, and his influence was all +opposed to her; she stood in dread of him, and in dread of her husband +too. When I handed her down to the door, there was a child, a pretty +boy from two to three years old, in her carriage. + +"'For his sake, Doctor,' she said, pointing to him in tears, 'I would +do all I can to make what poor amends I can. He will never prosper in +his inheritance otherwise. I have a presentiment that if no other +innocent atonement is made for this, it will one day be required of +him. What I have left to call my own--it is little beyond the worth of +a few jewels--I will make it the first charge of his life to bestow,' +with the compassion and lamenting of his dead mother, on this injured +family, if the sister can be discovered.' She kissed the boy, and +said, caressing him, 'It is for thine own dear sake. Thou wilt be +faithful, little Charles?' The child answered her bravely, 'Yes!' I +kissed her hand, and she took him in her arms, and went away caressing +him. I never saw her more. As she had mentioned her husband's name in +the faith that I knew it, I added no mention of it to my letter. I +sealed my letter, and, not trusting it out of my own hands, delivered +it myself that day. + +"That night, the last night of the year, towards nine o'clock, a man in +a black dress rang at my gate, demanded to see me, and softly followed +my servant, Ernest Defarge, a youth, up-stairs. When my servant came +into the room where I sat with my wife--O my wife, beloved of my heart! +My fair young English wife!--we saw the man, who was supposed to be at +the gate, standing silent behind him. + +"'An urgent case in the Rue St. Honore,' he said. It would not detain +me, he had a coach in waiting. + +"It brought me here, it brought me to my grave. When I was clear of +the house, a black muffler was drawn tightly over my mouth from behind, +and my arms were pinioned. The two brothers crossed the road from a +dark corner, and identified me with a single gesture. The Marquis took +from his pocket the letter I had written, showed it me, burnt it in the +light of a lantern that was held, and extinguished the ashes with his +foot. Not a word was spoken. I was brought here, I was brought to my +living grave. + +"If it had pleased God to put it in the hard heart of either of the +brothers, in all these frightful years, to grant me any tidings of my +dearest wife--so much as to let me know by a word whether alive or +dead--I might have thought that He had not quite abandoned them. But, +now I believe that the mark of the red cross is fatal to them, and that +they have no part in His mercies. And them and their descendants, to +the last of their race, I, Alexandre Manette, unhappy prisoner, do this +last night of the year 1767, in my unbearable agony, denounce to the +times when all these things shall be answered for. I denounce them to +Heaven and to earth." + + + + +THE CALDRON OF OIL + +By WILKIE COLLINS + + +About one French league distant from the city of Toulouse there is a +village called Croix-Daurade. In the military history of England, this +place is associated with a famous charge of the Eighteenth Hussars, +which united two separated columns of the British army on the day +before the Duke of Wellington fought the battle of Toulouse. In the +criminal history of France, the village is memorable as the scene of a +daring crime, which was discovered and punished under circumstances +sufficiently remarkable to merit preservation in the form of a plain +narrative. + + +I. THE PERSONS OF THE DRAMA + +In the year seventeen hundred, the resident priest of the village of +Croix-Daurade was Monsieur Pierre-Celestin Chaubard. He was a man of +no extraordinary energy or capacity, simple in his habits, and sociable +in his disposition. His character was irreproachable; he was strictly +conscientious in the performance of his duties; and he was universally +respected and beloved by all his parishioners. + +Among the members of his flock there was a family named Siadoux. The +head of the household, Saturnin Siadoux, had been long established in +business at Croix-Daurade as an oil manufacturer. At the period of the +events now to be narrated, he had attained the age of sixty, and was a +widower. His family consisted of five children--three young men, who +helped him in the business, and two daughters. His nearest living +relative was his sister, the widow Mirailhe. + +The widow resided principally at Toulouse. Her time in that city was +mainly occupied in winding up the business affairs of her deceased +husband, which had remained unsettled for a considerable period after +his death, through delays in realizing certain sums of money owing to +his representative. The widow had been left very well provided +for--she was still a comely, attractive woman--and more than one +substantial citizen of Toulouse had shown himself anxious to persuade +her into marrying for the second time. But the widow Mirailhe lived on +terms of great intimacy and affection with her brother Siadoux and his +family; she was sincerely attached to them, and sincerely unwilling, at +her age, to deprive her nephews and nieces, by a second marriage, of +the inheritance, or even of a portion of the inheritance, which would +otherwise fall to them on her death. Animated by these motives, she +closed her doors resolutely on all suitors who attempted to pay their +court to her, with the one exception of a master-butcher of Toulouse, +whose name was Cantegrel. + +This man was a neighbour of the widow's and had made himself useful by +assisting her in the business complications which still hung about the +realization of her late husband's estate. The preference which she +showed for the master-butcher was thus far of the purely negative kind. +She gave him no absolute encouragement; she would not for a moment +admit that there was the slightest prospect of her ever marrying him; +but, at the same time, she continued to receive his visits, and she +showed no disposition to restrict the neighborly intercourse between +them, for the future, within purely formal bounds. Under these +circumstances, Saturnin Siadoux began to be alarmed, and to think it +time to bestir himself. He had no personal acquaintance with +Cantegrel, who never visited the village; and Monsieur Chaubard to whom +he might otherwise have applied for advice, was not in a position to +give an opinion; the priest and the master-butcher did not even know +each other by sight. In this difficulty, Siadoux bethought himself of +inquiring privately at Toulouse, in the hope of discovering some +scandalous passages in Cantegrel's early life which might fatally +degrade him in the estimation of the widow Mirailhe. The +investigation, as usual in such cases, produced rumors and reports in +plenty, the greater part of which dated back to a period of the +butcher's life when he had resided in the ancient town of Narbonne. +One of these rumors, especially, was of so serious a nature that +Siadoux determined to test the truth or falsehood of it personally by +traveling to Narbonne. He kept his intention a secret not only from +his sister and his daughters, but also from his sons; they were young +men, not overpatient in their tempers, and he doubted their discretion. +Thus, nobody knew his real purpose but himself when he left home. + +His safe arrival at Narbonne was notified in a letter to his family. +The letter entered into no particulars relating to his secret errand: +it merely informed his children of the day when they might expect him +back, and of certain social arrangements which he wished to be made to +welcome him on his return. He proposed, on his way home, to stay two +days at Castelnaudry, for the purpose of paying a visit to an old +friend who was settled there. According to this plan, his return to +Croix-Daurade would be deferred until Tuesday, the twenty-sixth of +April, when his family might expect to see him about sunset, in good +time for supper. He further desired that a little party of friends +might be invited to the meal, to celebrate the twenty-sixth of April +(which was a feast-day in the village), as well as to celebrate his +return. The guests whom he wished to be invited were, first, his +sister; secondly, Monsieur Chaubard, whose pleasant disposition made +him a welcome guest at all the village festivals; thirdly and fourthly, +two neighbors, business men like himself, with whom he lived on terms +of the friendliest intimacy. That was the party; and the family of +Siadoux took especial pains, as the time approached, to provide a +supper worthy of the guests, who had all shown the heartiest readiness +in accepting their invitations. + +This was the domestic position, these were the family prospects, on the +morning of the twenty-sixth of April--a memorable day, for years +afterward, in the village of Croix-Daurade. + + +II. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY + +Besides the curacy of the village church, good Monsieur Chaubard held +some ecclesiastical preferment in the cathedral church of St. Stephen +at Toulouse. Early in the forenoon of the twenty-sixth, certain +matters connected with this preferment took him from his village curacy +to the city--a distance which has been already described as not greater +than one French league, or between two and three English miles. + +After transacting his business, Monsieur Chaubard parted with his +clerical brethren, who left him by himself in the sacristy (or vestry) +of the church. Before he had quitted the room, in his turn, the beadle +entered it, and inquired for the Abbe de Mariotte, one of the +officiating priests attached to the cathedral. + +"The Abbe has just gone out," replied Monsieur Chaubard. "Who wants +him?" + +"A respectable-looking man," said the beadle. "I thought he seemed to +be in some distress of mind when he spoke to me." + +"Did he mention his business with the Abbe?" + +"Yes, sir; he expressed himself as anxious to make his confession +immediately." + +"In that case," said Monsieur Chaubard, "I may be of use to him in the +Abbe's absence, for I have authority to act here as confessor. Let us +go into the church and see if this person feels disposed to accept my +services." + +When they went into the church, they found the man walking backward and +forward in a restless, disordered manner. His looks were so strikingly +suggestive of some serious mental perturbation, that Monsieur Chaubard +found it no easy matter to preserve his composure when he first +addressed himself to the stranger. + +"I am sorry," he began, "that the Abbe de Mariotte is not here to offer +you his services--" + +"I want to make my confession," said the man, looking about him +vacantly, as if the priest's words had not attracted his attention. + +"You can do so at once, if you please," said Monsieur Chaubard. "I am +attached to this church, and I possess the necessary authority to +receive confessions in it. Perhaps, however, you are personally +acquainted with the Abbe de Mariotte? Perhaps you would prefer +waiting--" + +"No!" said the man, roughly. "I would as soon, or sooner, confess to a +stranger." + +"In that case," replied Monsieur Chaubard, "be so good as to follow me." + +He led the way to the confessional. The beadle, whose curiosity was +excited, waited a little, and looked after them. In a few minutes he +saw the curtains, which were sometimes used to conceal the face of the +officiating priest, suddenly drawn. The penitent knelt with his back +turned to the church. There was literally nothing to see; but the +beadle waited, nevertheless, in expectation of the end. + +After a long lapse of time the curtain was withdrawn, and priest and +penitent left the confessional. + +The change which the interval had worked in Monsieur Chaubard was so +extraordinary, that the beadle's attention was altogether withdrawn, in +the interest of observing it, from the man who had made the confession. +He did not remark by which door the stranger left the church--his eyes +were fixed on Monsieur Chaubard. The priest's naturally ruddy face was +as white as if he had just risen from a long sickness; he looked +straight before him, with a stare of terror, and he left the church as +hurriedly as if he had been a man escaping from prison; left it without +a parting word, or a farewell look, although he was noted for his +courtesy to his inferiors on all ordinary occasions. + +"Good Monsieur Chaubard has heard more than he bargained for," said the +beadle, wandering back to the empty confessional with an interest which +he had never felt in it till that moment. + + +The day wore on as quietly as usual in the village of Croix-Daurade. +At the appointed time the supper-table was laid for the guests in the +house of Saturnin Siadoux. The widow Mirailhe and the two neighbors +arrived a little before sunset. Monsieur Chaubard, who was usually +punctual, did not make his appearance with them; and when the daughters +of Saturnin Siadoux looked out from the upper windows, they saw no +signs on the high-road of their father's return. + +Sunset came, and still neither Siadoux nor the priest appeared. The +little party sat waiting round the table, and waited in vain. Before +long a message was sent up from the kitchen, representing that the +supper must be eaten forthwith, or be spoiled; and the company began to +debate the two alternatives--of waiting, or not waiting, any longer. +"It is my belief," said the widow Mirailhe, "that my brother is not +coming home to-night. When Monsieur Chaubard joins us, we had better +sit down to supper." + +"Can any accident have happened to my father?" asked one of the two +daughters, anxiously. + +"God forbid!" said the widow. + +"God forbid!" repeated the two neighbors, looking expectantly at the +empty supper-table. + +"It has been a wretched day for traveling;" said Louis, the eldest son. + +"It rained in torrents all yesterday," added Thomas; the second son. + +"And your father's rheumatism makes him averse to traveling in wet +weather," suggested the widow, thoughtfully. + +"Very true," said the first of the two neighbors, shaking his head +piteously at his passive knife and fork. + +Another message came up from the kitchen, and peremptorily forbade the +company to wait any longer. + +"But where is Monsieur Chaubard?" said the widow. "Has he been taking +a journey too? Why is he absent? Has any body seen him to-day?" + +"I have seen him to-day," said the youngest son, who had not spoken +yet. This young man's name was Jean; he was little given to talking, +but he had proved himself, on various domestic occasions, to be the +quickest and most observant member of the family. + +"Where did you see him?" asked the widow. + +"I met him this morning, on his way into Toulouse." + +"He has not fallen ill, I hope? Did he look out of sorts when you met +him?" + +"He was in excellent health and spirits," said Jean. "I never saw him +look better--" + +"And I never saw him look worse," said the second of the neighbors, +striking into the conversation with the aggressive fretfulness of a +hungry man. + +"What! this morning?" cried Jean, in astonishment. + +"No; this afternoon," said the neighbor "I saw him going into our +church here. He was as white as our plates will be--when they come up. +And what is almost as extraordinary, he passed without taking the +slightest notice of me." + +Jean relapsed into his customary silence. It was getting dark; the +clouds had gathered while the company had been talking; and, at the +first pause in the conversation, the rain, falling again in torrents, +made itself drearily audible. + +"Dear, dear me!" said the widow. "If it was not raining so hard, we +might send somebody to inquire after good Monsieur Chaubard." + +"I'll go and inquire," said Thomas Siadoux. "It's not five minutes' +walk. Have up the supper; I'll take a cloak with me; and if our +excellent Monsieur Chaubard is out of his bed, I'll bring him back, to +answer for himself." + +With those words he left the room. The supper was put on the table +forthwith. The hungry neighbor disputed with nobody from that moment, +and the melancholy neighbor recovered his spirits. + +On reaching the priest's house, Thomas Siadoux found him sitting alone +in his study. He started to his feet, with every appearance of the +most violent alarm, when the young man entered the room. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said Thomas; "I am afraid I have startled +you." + +"What do you want?" asked Monsieur Chaubard, in a singularly abrupt, +bewildered manner. + +"Have you forgotten, sir, that this is the night of our supper?" +remonstrated Thomas. "My father has not come back, and we can only +suppose--" + +At those words the priest dropped into his chair again, and trembled +from head to foot. Amazed to the last degree by this extraordinary +reception of his remonstrance, Thomas Siadoux remembered, at the same +time, that he had engaged to bring Monsieur Chaubard back with him; and +he determined to finish his civil speech as if nothing had happened. + +"We are all of opinion," he resumed, "that the weather has kept my +father on the road. But that is no reason, sir, why the supper should +be wasted, or why you should not make one of us, as you promised. Here +is a good warm cloak--" + +"I can't come," said the priest "I'm ill; I'm in bad spirits; I'm not +fit to go out." He sighed bitterly, and hid his face in his hands. + +"Don't say that, sir," persisted Thomas. "If you are out of spirits, +let us try to cheer you. And you, in your turn, will enliven us. They +are all waiting for you at home. Don't refuse, sir," pleaded the young +man, "or we shall think we have offended you in some way. You have +always been a good friend to our family--" + +Monsieur Chaubard again rose from his chair, with a second change of +manner, as extraordinary and as perplexing as the first. His eyes +moistened as if the tears were rising in them; he took the hand of +Thomas Siadoux, and pressed it long and warmly in his own. There was a +curious mixed expression of pity and fear in the look which he now +fixed on the young man. + +"Of all the days in the year," he said, very earnestly, "don't doubt my +friendship to-day. Ill as I am, I will make one of the supper party, +for your sake--" + +"And for my father's sake?" added Thomas, persuasively. + +"Let us go to the supper," said the priest. + +Thomas Siadoux wrapped the cloak round him, and they left the house. + +Every one at the table noticed the change in Monsieur Chaubard. He +accounted for it by declaring, confusedly, that he was suffering from +nervous illness; and then added that he would do his best, +notwithstanding, to promote the social enjoyment of the evening. His +talk was fragmentary, and his cheerfulness was sadly forced; but he +contrived, with these drawbacks, to take his part in the +conversation--except in the case when it happened to turn on the absent +master of the house. Whenever the name of Saturnin Siadoux was +mentioned---either by the neighbors, who politely regretted that he was +not present, or by the family, who naturally talked about the +resting-place which he might have chosen for the night--Monsieur +Chaubard either relapsed into blank silence, or abruptly changed the +topic. Under these circumstances, the company, by whom he was +respected and beloved, made the necessary allowances for his state of +health; the only person among them who showed no desire to cheer the +priest's spirits, and to humor him in his temporary fretfulness, being +the silent younger son of Saturnin Siadoux. + +Both Louis and Thomas noticed that, from the moment when Monsieur +Chaubard's manner first betrayed his singular unwillingness to touch on +the subject of their father's absence, Jean fixed his eyes on the +priest with an expression of suspicious attention, and never looked +away from him for the rest of the evening. The young man's absolute +silence at table did not surprise his brothers, for they were +accustomed to his taciturn habits. But the sullen distrust betrayed in +his close observation of the honored guest and friend of the family +surprised and angered them. The priest himself seemed once or twice to +be aware of the scrutiny to which he was subjected, and to feel uneasy +and offended, as he naturally might. He abstained, however, from +openly noticing Jean's strange behavior; and Louis and Thomas were +bound, therefore, in common politeness, to abstain from noticing it +also. + +The inhabitants of Croix-Daurade kept early hours. Toward eleven +o'clock, the company rose and separated for the night. Except the two +neighbors, nobody had enjoyed the supper, and even the two neighbors, +having eaten their fill, were as glad to get home as the rest. In the +little confusion of parting, Monsieur Chaubard completed the +astonishment of the guests at the extraordinary change in him, by +slipping away alone, without waiting to bid any body good-night. + +The widow Mirailhe and her nieces withdrew to their bedrooms, and left +the three brothers by themselves in the parlor. + +"Jean," said Thomas Siadoux, "I have a word to say to you. You stared +at our good Monsieur Chaubard in a very offensive manner all through +the evening. What did you mean by it?" + +"Wait till to-morrow," said Jean, "and perhaps I may tell you." + +He lit his candle, and left them. Both the brothers observed that his +hand trembled, and that his manner--never very winning--was on that +night more serious and more unsociable than usual. + + +III. THE YOUNGER BROTHER + +When post-time came on the morning of the twenty-seventh, no letter +arrived from Saturnin Siadoux. On consideration, the family +interpreted this circumstance in a favorable light. If the master of +the house had not written to them, it followed, surely, that he meant +to make writing unnecessary by returning on that day. + +As the hours passed, the widow and her nieces looked out, from time to +time, for the absent man. Toward noon they observed a little assembly +of people approaching the village. Ere long, on a nearer view, they +recognized at the head of the assembly the chief magistrate of +Toulouse, in his official dress. He was accompanied by his assessor +(also in official dress), by an escort of archers, and by certain +subordinates attached to the town-hall. These last appeared to be +carrying some burden, which was hidden from view by the escort of +archers. The procession stopped at the house of Saturnin Siadoux; and +the two daughters, hastening to the door to discover what had happened, +met the burden which the men were carrying, and saw, stretched on a +litter, the dead body of their father. + +The corpse had been found that morning on the banks of the river Lers. +It was stabbed in eleven places with knife or dagger wounds. None of +the valuables about the dead man's person had been touched; his watch +and his money were still in his pockets. Whoever had murdered him, had +murdered him for vengeance, not for gain. + +Some time elapsed before even the male members of the family were +sufficiently composed to hear what the officers of justice had to say +to them. When this result had been at length achieved, and when the +necessary inquiries had been made, no information of any kind was +obtained which pointed to the murderer, in the eye of the law. After +expressing his sympathy, and promising that every available means +should be tried to effect the discovery of the criminal, the chief +magistrate gave his orders to his escort, and withdrew. + +When night came, the sister and the daughters of the murdered man +retired to the upper part of the house, exhausted by the violence of +their grief. The three brothers were left once more alone in the +parlor, to speak together of the awful calamity which had befallen +them. They were of hot Southern blood, and they looked on one another +with a Southern thirst for vengeance in their tearless eyes. + +The silent younger son was now the first to open his lips. + +"You charged me yesterday," he said to his brother Thomas, "with +looking strangely at Monsieur Chaubard all the evening; and I answered, +that I might tell you why I looked at him when to-morrow came. +To-morrow has come, and I am ready to tell you." + +He waited a little, and lowered his voice to a whisper when he spoke +again. + +"When Monsieur Chaubard was at our supper-table last night," he said, +"I had it in my mind that something had happened to our father, and +that the priest knew it." + +The two elder brothers looked at him in speechless astonishment. + +"Our father has been brought back to us a murdered man!" Jean went on, +still in a whisper. "I tell you, Louis--and you, Thomas--that the +priest knows who murdered him." + +Louis and Thomas shrank from their younger brother as if he had spoken +blasphemy. + +"Listen," said Jean. "No clue has been found to the secret of the +murder. The magistrate has promised us to do his best; but I saw in +his face that he had little hope. We must make the discovery +ourselves, or our father's blood will have cried to us for vengeance, +and cried in vain. Remember that, and mark my next words. You heard +me say yesterday evening that I had met Monsieur Chaubard on his way to +Toulouse, in excellent health and spirits. You heard our old friend +and neighbor contradict me at the supper-table, and declare that he had +seen the priest, some hours later, go into our church here with the +face of a panic-stricken man. You saw, Thomas, how he behaved when you +went to fetch him to our house. You saw, Louis, what his looks were +like when he came in. The change was noticed by every body--what was +the cause of it? I saw the cause in the priest's own face when our +father's name turned up in the talk round the supper-table. Did +Monsieur Chaubard join in that talk? He was the only person present +who never joined in it once. Did he change it on a sudden whenever it +came his way? It came his way four times; and four times he changed +it--trembling, stammering, turning whiter and whiter, but still, as +true as the heaven above us, shifting the talk off himself every time! +Are you men? Have you brains in your heads? Don't you see, as I see, +what this leads to? On my salvation I swear it--the priest knows the +hand that killed our father!" + +The faces of the two elder brothers darkened vindictively, as the +conviction of the truth fastened itself on their minds. + +"How could he know it?" they inquired, eagerly. + +"He must tell us himself," said Jean. + +"And if he hesitates--if he refuses to open his lips?" + +"We must open them by main force." + +They drew their chairs together after that last answer, and consulted +for some time in whispers. + +When the consultation was over, the brothers rose and went into the +room where the dead body of their father was laid out. The three +kissed him, in turn, on the forehead--then took hands together, and +looked meaningly in each other's faces--then separated. Louis and +Thomas put on their hats, and went at once to the priest's residence; +while Jean withdrew by himself to the great room at the back of the +house, which was used for the purposes of the oil factory. + +Only one of the workmen was left in the place. He was watching an +immense caldron of boiling linseed-oil. + +"You can go home," said Jean, patting the man kindly on the shoulder. +"There is no hope of a night's rest for me, after the affliction that +has befallen us; I will take your place at the caldron. Go home, my +good fellow--go home." + +The man thanked him, and withdrew. Jean followed, and satisfied +himself that the workman had really left the house. He then returned, +and sat down by the boiling caldron. + +Meanwhile Louis and Thomas presented themselves at the priest's house. +He had not yet retired to bed, and he received them kindly, but with +the same extraordinary agitation in his face and manner which had +surprised all who saw him on the previous day. The brothers were +prepared beforehand with an answer when he inquired what they wanted of +him. They replied immediately that the shock of their father's +horrible death had so seriously affected their aunt and their eldest +sister, that it was feared the minds of both might give way, unless +spiritual consolation and assistance were afforded to them that night. +The unhappy priest--always faithful and self-sacrificing where the +duties of his ministry were in question--at once rose to accompany the +young men back to the house. He even put on his surplice, and took the +crucifix with him, to impress his words of comfort all the more +solemnly on the afflicted women whom he was called on to succor. + +Thus innocent of all suspicion of the conspiracy to which he had fallen +a victim, he was taken into the room where Jean sat waiting by the +caldron of oil, and the door was locked behind him. + +Before he could speak, Thomas Siadoux openly avowed the truth. + +"It is we three who want you," he said; "not our aunt, and not our +sister. If you answer our questions truly, you have nothing to fear. +If you refuse--" He stopped, and looked toward Jean and the boiling +caldron. + +Never, at the best of times, a resolute man; deprived, since the day +before, of such resources of energy as he possessed, by the mental +suffering which he had undergone in secret, the unfortunate priest +trembled from head to foot as the three brothers closed round him. +Louis took the crucifix from him, and held it; Thomas forced him to +place his right hand on it; Jean stood in front of him and put the +questions. + +"Our father has been brought home a murdered man," he said. "Do you +know who killed him?" + +The priest hesitated, and the two elder brothers moved him nearer to +the caldron. + +"Answer us, on peril of your life," said Jean. "Say, with your hand on +the blessed crucifix, do you know the man who killed our father?" + +"I do know him." + +"When did you make the discovery?" + +"Yesterday." + +"Where?" + +"At Toulouse." + +"Name the murderer." + +At those words the priest closed his hand fast on the crucifix, and +rallied his sinking courage. + +"Never!" he said, firmly. "The knowledge I possess was obtained in the +confessional. The secrets of the confessional are sacred. If I betray +them, I commit sacrilege. I will die first!" + +"Think!" said Jean. "If you keep silence, you screen the murderer. If +you keep silence, you are the murderer's accomplice. We have sworn +over our father's dead body to avenge him; if you refuse to speak, we +will avenge him on you. I charge you again, name the man who killed +him." + +"I will die first," the priest reiterated, as firmly as before. + +"Die, then!" said Jean. "Die in that caldron of boiling oil." + +"Give him time," cried Louis and Thomas, earnestly pleading together. + +"We will give him time," said the younger brother. + +"There is the clock yonder, against the wall. We will count five +minutes by it. In those five minutes, let him make his peace with God, +or make up his mind to speak." + +They waited, watching the clock. In that dreadful interval, the priest +dropped on his knees and hid his face. The time passed in dead silence. + +"Speak! for your own sake, for our sakes, speak!" said Thomas Siadoux, +as the minute-hand reached the point at which the five minutes expired. + +The priest looked up; his voice died away on his lips; the mortal agony +broke out on his face in great drops of sweat; his head sank forward on +his breast. + +"Lift him!" cried Jean, seizing the priest on one side. "Lift him, and +throw him in!" + +The two elder brothers advanced a step, and hesitated. + +"Lift him, on your oath over our father's body!" + +The two brothers seized him on the other side. As they lifted him to a +level with the caldron, the horror of the death that threatened him +burst from the lips of the miserable man in a scream of terror. The +brothers held him firm at the caldron's edge. "Name the man!" they +said for the last time. + +The priest's teeth chattered--he was speechless. But he made a sign +with his head--a sign in the affirmative. They placed him in a chair, +and waited patiently until he was able to speak. + +His first words were words of entreaty. He begged Thomas Siadoux to +give him back the crucifix. When it was placed in his possession, he +kissed it, and said, faintly, "I ask pardon of God for the sin that I +am about to commit." He paused, and then looked up at the younger +brother, who still stood in front of him. "I am ready," he said. +"Question me, and I will answer." + +Jean repeated the questions which he had put when the priest was first +brought into the room. + +"You know the murderer of our father?" + +"I know him." + +"Since when?" + +"Since he made his confession to me yesterday in the Cathedral of +Toulouse." + +"Name him." + +"His name is Cantegrel." + +"The man who wanted to marry our aunt?" + +"The same." + +"What brought him to the confessional?" + +"His own remorse." + +"What were the motives for his crime?" + +"There were reports against his character, and he discovered that your +father had gone privately to Narbonne to make sure they were true." + +"Did our father make sure of their truth?" + +"He did." + +"Would those discoveries have separated our aunt from Cantegrel if our +father had lived to tell her of them?" + +"They would. If your father had lived, he would have told your aunt +that Cantegrel was married already; that he had deserted his wife at +Narbonne; that she was living there with another man, under another +name; and that she had herself confessed it in your father's presence." + +"Where was the murder committed?" + +"Between Villefranche and this village. Cantegrel had followed your +father to Narbonne, and had followed him back again to Villefranche. +As far as that place, he traveled in company with others, both going +and returning. Beyond Villefranche, he was left alone at the ford over +the river. There Cantegrel drew the knife to kill him before he +reached home and told his news to your aunt." + +"How was the murder committed?" + +"It was committed while your father was watering his pony by the bank +of the stream. Cantegrel stole on him from behind, and struck him as +he was stooping over the saddle-bow." + +"This is the truth, on your oath?" + +"On my oath, it is the truth." + +"You may leave us." + +The priest rose from his chair without assistance. From the time when +the terror of death had forced him to reveal the murderer's name a +great change had passed over him. He had given his answers with the +immovable calmness of a man on whose mind all human interests had lost +their hold. He now left the room, strangely absorbed in himself; +moving with the mechanical regularity of a sleep-walker; lost to all +perception of things and persons about him. At the door he +stopped--woke, as it seemed, from the trance that possessed him--and +looked at the three brothers with a steady, changeless sorrow, which +they had never seen in him before, which they never afterward forgot. + +"I forgive you," he said, quietly and solemnly. "Pray for me when my +time comes." + +With those last words, he left them. + + +IV. THE END + +The night was far advanced; but the three brothers determined to set +forth instantly for Toulouse, and to place their information in the +magistrate's hands before the morning dawned. + +Thus far no suspicion had occurred to them of the terrible consequences +which were to follow their night-interview with the priest. They were +absolutely ignorant of the punishment to which a man in holy orders +exposed himself, if he revealed the secrets of the confessional. No +infliction of that punishment had been known in their neighborhood; for +at that time, as at this, the rarest of all priestly offenses was a +violation of the sacred trust confided to the confessor by the Roman +Church. Conscious that they had forced the priest into the commission +of a clerical offense, the brothers sincerely believed that the loss of +his curacy would be the heaviest penalty which the law could exact from +him. They entered Toulouse that night, discussing the atonement which +they might offer to Monsieur Chaubard, and the means which they might +best employ to make his future easy to him. + +The first disclosure of the consequences which would certainly follow +the outrage they had committed, was revealed to them when they made +their deposition before the officer of justice. The magistrate +listened to their narrative with horror vividly expressed in his face +and manner. + +"Better you had never been born," he said, "than have avenged your +father's death as you three have avenged it. Your own act has doomed +the guilty and the innocent to suffer alike." + +Those words proved prophetic of the truth. The end came quickly, as +the priest had foreseen it, when he spoke his parting words. + +The arrest of Cantegrel was accomplished without difficulty the next +morning. In the absence of any other evidence on which to justify this +proceeding, the private disclosure to the authorities of the secret +which the priest had violated became inevitable. The Parliament of +Languedoc was, under these circumstances, the tribunal appealed to; and +the decision of that assembly immediately ordered the priest and the +three brothers to be placed in confinement, as well as the murderer +Cantegrel. Evidence was then immediately sought for, which might +convict this last criminal without any reference to the revelation that +had been forced from the priest--and evidence enough was found to +satisfy judges whose minds already possessed the foregone certainty of +the prisoner's guilt. He was put on his trial, was convicted of the +murder, and was condemned to be broken on the wheel. The sentence was +rigidly executed, with as little delay as the law would permit. + +The cases of Monsieur Chaubard, and of the three sons of Siadoux, next +occupied the judges. The three brothers were found guilty of having +forced the secret of a confession from a man in holy orders, and were +sentenced to death by hanging. A far more terrible expiation of his +offense awaited the unfortunate priest. He was condemned to have his +limbs broken on the wheel, and to be afterward, while still living, +bound to the stake and destroyed by fire. + +Barbarous as the punishments of that period were, accustomed as the +population was to hear of their infliction, and even to witness it, the +sentences pronounced in these two cases dismayed the public mind; and +the authorities were surprised by receiving petitions for mercy from +Toulouse, and from all the surrounding neighborhood. But the priest's +doom had been sealed. All that could be obtained, by the intercession +of persons of the highest distinction, was, that the executioner should +grant him the mercy of death before his body was committed to the +flames. With this one modification, the sentence was executed, as the +sentence had been pronounced, on the curate of Croix-Daurade. + +The punishment of the three sons of Siadoux remained to be inflicted. +But the people, roused by the death of the ill-fated priest, rose +against this third execution with a resolution before which the local +government gave way. The cause of the young men was taken up by the +hot-blooded populace, as the cause of all fathers and all sons; their +filial piety was exalted to the skies; their youth was pleaded in their +behalf; their ignorance of the terrible responsibility which they had +confronted in forcing the secret from the priest was loudly alleged in +their favor. More than this, the authorities were actually warned that +the appearance of the prisoners on the scaffold would be the signal for +an organized revolt and rescue. Under this serious pressure, the +execution was deferred, and the prisoners were kept in confinement +until the popular ferment had subsided. + +The delay not only saved their lives, it gave them back their liberty +as well. The infection of the popular sympathy had penetrated through +the prison doors. All three brothers were handsome, well-grown young +men. The gentlest of the three in disposition--Thomas Siadoux--aroused +the interest and won the affection of the head-jailer's daughter. Her +father was prevailed on at her intercession to relax a little in his +customary vigilance; and the rest was accomplished by the girl herself. +One morning, the population of Toulouse heard, with every testimony of +the most extravagant rejoicing, that the three brothers had escaped, +accompanied by the jailer's daughter. As a necessary legal formality, +they were pursued, but no extraordinary efforts were used to overtake +them; and they succeeded, accordingly, in crossing the nearest frontier. + +Twenty days later, orders were received from the capital to execute +their sentence in effigy. They were then permitted to return to +France, on condition that they never again appeared in their native +place, or in any other part of the province of Languedoc. With this +reservation they were left free to live where they pleased, and to +repent the fatal act which had avenged them on the murderer of their +father at the cost of the priest's life. + +Beyond this point the official documents do not enable us to follow +their career. All that is now known has been now told of the village +tragedy at Croix-Daurade. + + + + +THE BURIAL OF THE TITHE + +By SAMUEL LOVER + +With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover--_Shakespeare_ + + +It was a fine morning in the autumn of 1832, and the sun had not yet +robbed the grass of its dew, as a stout-built peasant was moving +briskly along a small by-road in the county of Tipperary. The +elasticity of his step bespoke the lightness of his heart, and the +rapidity of his walk did not seem sufficient, even, for the exuberance +of his glee, for every now and then the walk was exchanged for a sort +of dancing shuffle, which terminated with a short capering kick that +threw up the dust about him, and all the while he whistled one of those +whimsical jig tunes with which Ireland abounds, and twirled his stick +over his head in a triumphal flourish. Then off he started again in +his original pace, and hummed a rollicking song, and occasionally broke +out into soliloquy--"Why then, an' isn't it the grate day intirely for +Ireland, that is in it this blessed day. Whoo! your sowl to glory but +well do the job complate"--and here he cut a caper.--"Divil a more +they'll ever get, and it's only a pity they ever got any--but there's +an ind o' them now--they're cut down from this out," and here he made +an appropriate down stroke of his shillelah through a bunch of thistles +that skirted the road. "Where will be their grand doin's +now?--eh?--I'd like to know that. Where'll be their lazy livery +sarvants?--ow! ow!!"--and he sprang lightly over a stile. "And what +will they do for their coaches and four?" Here, a lark sprang up at +his feet and darted into the air with its thrilling rush of exquisite +melody.--"Faith, you've given me my answer sure enough, my purty +lark--that's as much as to say, they may go whistle for them--oh, my +poor fellows, how I pity yiz;"--and here he broke into a "too ra lal +loo" and danced along the path:--then suddenly dropping into silence he +resumed his walk, and applying his hand behind his head, cocked up his +caubeen[1] and began to rub behind his ear, according to the most +approved peasant practice of assisting the powers of reflection.--"Faix +an' it's mysef that's puzzled to know what'll the procthors, and the +process sarvers, and 'praisers[2] do at all. By gorra they must go rob +an the road, since they won't be let to rob any more in the fields; +robbin' is all that is left for them, for sure they couldn't turn to +any honest thrade afther the coorses they have been used to. Oh what a +power o' miscrayants will be out of bread for the want of their owld +thrade of false swearin'. Why the vagabones will be lost, barrin' +they're sent to Bot[3]--and indeed if a bridge could be built of false +oaths, by my sowkins, they could sware themselves there without wettin' +their feet."--Here he overtook another peasant, whom he accosted with +the universal salutation of "God save you!"--"God save you kindly," was +returned for answer.--"And is it yourself that's there Mikee Noonan?" +said the one first introduced to the reader. + +"Indeed it's mysef and nobody else," said Noonan; "an' where is it +you're goin' this fine mornin'?" + +"An' is it yoursef that's axin' that same, Mikee?--why where is it I +would be goin' but to the berrin'?" + +"I thought so in throth. It's yoursef that is always ripe and ready +for fun." + +"And small blame to me." + +"Why then it was a mighty complate thing, whoever it was that thought +of makin' a berrin', out of it." + +"And don't you know?" + +"Not to my knowledge." + +"Why then who 'ud you think now laid it all out?" + +"Faix I dunna--maybe 't was Pether Conolly." + +"No it wasn't, though Pether's a cute chap--guess again." + +"Well, was it Phil Mulligan?" + +"No it wasn't, though you made a good offer at it sure enough, for if +it wasn't Phil, it was his sisther--" + +"'Tare alive, is it Biddy, it was?" + +"'Scure to the one else.--Oh she's the quarest craythur in +life.--There's not a thrick out, that one's not up to, and more +besides. By the powdhers o' war, she'd bate a field full o' lawyers at +schkamin'--she's the Divil's Biddy." + +"Why thin but it was a grate iday intirely." + +"You may say that in throth--maybe it's we won't have the fun--but see +who's before us there. Isn't it that owld Coogan?" + +"Sure enough by dad." + +"Why thin isn't he the rale fine ould cock to come so far to see the +rights o' the thing?" + +"Faix he was always the right sort--sure in Nointy-eight, as I hear, he +was malthrated a power, and his place rummaged, and himself a'most +kilt, bekase he wouldn't inform an his neighbours." + +"God's blessin' be an him and the likes av him that wouldn't prove +thraitor to a friend in disthress." + +Here they came up with the old man to whom they alluded--he was the +remains of a stately figure, and his white hair hung at some length +round the back of his head and his temples, while a black and well +marked eyebrow overshadowed his keen grey eye--the contrast of the dark +eyebrow to the white hair rendered the intelligent cast of his features +more striking, and he was, altogether, a figure that one would not be +likely to pass without notice. He was riding a small horse at an easy +pace, and he answered the rather respectful salutation of the two foot +passengers with kindness and freedom. They addressed him as "Mr. +Coogan," while to them he returned the familiar term "boys." + +"And av coorse it's goin' to the berrin, you are, Mr. Coogan, and long +life to you." + +"Aye, boys.--It's hard for an owld horse to leave off his thricks." + +"Owld is it?--faix and it's yourself that has more heart in you this +blessed mornin' than many a man that's not half your age." + +"By dad I'm not a cowlt, boys, though I kick up my heels sometimes." + +"Well, you'll never do it younger, sir,--but sure why wouldn't you be +there when all the counthry is goin' I hear, and no wondher sure.--By +the hole in my hat it's enough, so it is, to make a sick man lave his +bed to see the fun that'll be in it, and sure it's right and proper, +and shows the sperit that's in the counthry, when a man like yourself, +Mr. Coogan, joins the poor people in doin' it." + +"I like to stand up for the right," answered the old man. + +"And always was a good warrant to do that same," said Larry, in his +most laudatory tone. + +"Will you tell us who's that forninst us an the road there?" asked the +old man, as he pointed to a person that seemed to make his way with +some difficulty, for he laboured under an infirmity of limb that caused +a grotesque jerking action in his walk, if walk it might be called. + +"Why, thin, don't you know him, Mr. Coogan? by dad I thought there +wasn't a parish in the country that didn't know poor Hoppy Houligan." + +It has been often observed before, the love of soubriquet that the +Irish possess; but let it not be supposed that their nicknames are +given in a spirit of unkindness--far from it. A sense of the +ridiculous is so closely interwoven in an Irishman's nature, that he +will even jest upon his own misfortunes; and while he indulges in a +joke (one of the few indulgences he can command), the person that +excites it may as frequently be the object of his openheartedness as +his mirth. + +"And is that Hoppy Houligan?" said old Coogan, "I often heerd of him, +to be sure, but I never seen him before." + +"Oh, then, you may see him before and behind now," said Larry; "and, +indeed, if he had a match for that odd skirt of his coat, he wouldn't +be the worse iv it; and in throth the cordheroys themselves aren't a +bit too good, and there's the laste taste in life of his--" + +"Whisht," said the old man, "he is looking back, and maybe he hears +you." + +"Not he in throth. Sure he's partly bothered." + +"How can he play the fiddle then, and be bothered?" said Coogan. + +"Faix an' that's the very raison he is bothered; sure he moidhers the +ears off of him intirely with the noise of his own fiddle. Oh he's a +powerful fiddler." + +"So I often heerd, indeed," said the old man. + +"He bangs all the fiddlers in the counthry." + +"And is in the greatest request," added Noonan. + +"Yet he looks tatthered enough," said old Coogan. + +"Sure you never seen a well dhrest fiddler yet," said Larry. + +"Indeed, and now you remind me, I believe not," said the old man. "I +suppose they all get more kicks than ha'pence, as the saying is." + +"Divil a many kicks Houligan gets; he's a great favorite intirely." + +"Why is he in such distress then?" asked Coogan. + +"Faith he's not in disthress at all; he's welkim everywhere he goes, +and has the best of atin' and dhrinkin' the place affords, wherever he +is, and picks up the coppers fast at the fairs, and is no way +necessiated in life; though indeed it can't be denied, as he limps +along there, that he has a great many ups and downs in the world." + +This person, of whom the preceding dialogue treats, was a celebrated +fiddler in "these parts," and his familiar name of Hoppy Houligan was +acquired, as the reader may already have perceived, from his limping +gait. This limp was the consequence of a broken leg, which was one of +the consequences of an affray, which is the certain consequence of a +fair in Tipperary. Houligan was a highly characteristic specimen of an +Irish fiddler. As Larry Lanigan said, "You never seen a well dhrest +fiddler yet;" but Houligan was a particularly ill fledged bird of the +musical tribe. His corduroys have already been hinted at by Larry, as +well as his coat, which had lost half the skirt, thereby partially +revealing the aforesaid corduroys; or if one might be permitted to +indulge in an image, the half skirt that remained served to produce a +partial eclipse of the disc of corduroy. This was what we painters +call picturesque. By the way, the vulgar are always amazed that some +tattered remains of anything is more prized by the painter than the +freshest production in all its gloss of novelty. The fiddler's +stockings, too, in the neglected falling of their folds round his leg, +and the whisp of straw that fringed the opening of his gaping brogues, +were valuable additions to the picture; and his hat--But stop,--let me +not presume;--his hat it would be a vain attempt to describe. There +are two things not to be described, which, to know what they are, you +must see. + +These two things are Taglioni's dancing and an Irish fiddler's hat. +The one is a wonder in action;--the other, an enigma in form. + +Houligan's fiddle was as great a curiosity as himself, and, like its +master, somewhat the worse for wear. It had been broken some score of +times, and yet, by dint of glue, was continued in what an antiquary +would call "a fine state of preservation;" that is to say, there was +rather more of glue than wood in the article. The stringing of the +instrument was as great a piece of patchwork as itself, and exhibited +great ingenuity on the part of its owner. Many was the knot above the +finger-board and below the bridge; that is, when the fiddle was in the +best order; for in case of fractures on the field of action, that is to +say, at wake, patron, or fair, where the fiddler, unlike the girl he +was playing for, had not two strings to his bow; in such case, I say, +the old string should be knotted, wherever it might require to be, and +I have heard it insinuated that the music was not a bit the worse of +it. Indeed, the only economy that poor Houligan ever practised was in +the strings of his fiddle, and those were an admirable exemplification +of the proverb of "making both ends meet." Houligan's waistcoat, too, +was a curiosity, or rather, a cabinet of curiosities; for he +appropriated its pockets to various purposes;--snuff, resin, tobacco, a +clasp-knife with half a blade, a piece of flint, a doodeen,[4] and some +bits of twine and ends of fiddle-strings were all huddled together +promiscuously. Houligan himself called his waistcoat Noah's ark; for, +as he said himself, there was a little of everything in it, barring[5] +money, and that would never stay in his company. His fiddle, partly +enfolded in a scanty bit of old baize, was tucked under his left arm, +and his right was employed in helping him to hobble along by means of a +black-thorn stick, when he was overtaken by the three travellers +already named, and saluted by all, with the addition of a query, as to +where he was going. + +"An' where would I be goin' but to the berrin'?" said Houligan. + +"Throth it's the same answer I expected," said Lanigan. "It would be +nothing at all without you." + +"I've played at many a weddin'," said Hooligan, "but I'm thinkin' there +will be more fun at this berrin' than any ten weddin's." + +"Indeed you may say that, Hoppy, aghra," said Noonan. + +"Why thin, Hoppy jewel," said Lanigan, "what did the skirt o' your coat +do to you that you left it behind you, and wouldn't let it see the fun?" + +"'Deed then I'll tell you, Larry, my boy. I was goin' last night by +the by-road that runs up at the back o' the owld house, nigh hand the +Widdy Casey's, and I heerd that people was livin' in it since I +thravelled the road last, and so I opened the owld iron gate that was +as stiff in the hinge as a miser's fist, and the road ladin' up to the +house lookin' as lonely as a churchyard, and the grass growin' out +through it, and says I to myself, I'm thinkin' it's few darkens your +doors, says I; God be with the time the owld squire was here, that +staid at home and didn't go abroad out of his own counthry, lettin' the +fine stately owld place go to rack and ruin; and faix I was turnin' +back, and I wish I did, whin I seen a man comin' down the road, and so +I waited till he kem up to me, and I axed if any one was up at the +house; Yis, says he; and with that I heerd terrible barkin' intirely, +and a great big lump of a dog turned the corner of the house and stud +growlin' at me; I'm afeard there's dogs in it, says I to the man; Yis, +says he, but they're quite (quiet); so, with that I wint my way, and he +wint his way; but my jew'l, the minit I got into the yard, nine great +vagabones of dogs fell an me, and I thought they'd ate me alive; and so +they would I blieve, only I had a cowld bones o' mate and some praties +that Mrs. Magrane, God bless her, made me put in my pocket when I was +goin' the road as I was lavin' her house that mornin' afther the +christenin' that was in it, and sure enough lashings and lavings was +there; O that's the woman has a heart as big as a king's, and her +husband too, in throth; he's a dacent man and keeps mighty fine dhrink +in his house. Well, as I was sayin', the cowld mate and praties was in +my pocket, and by gor the thievin' morodin' villains o' dogs made a +dart at the pocket and dragged it clan aff; and thin, my dear, with +fightin' among themselves, sthrivin' to come at the mate, the skirt o' +my coat was in smidhereens in one minit--divil a lie in it--not a +tatther iv it was left together; and it's only a wondher I came off +with my life." + +"Faith I think so," said Lanigan; "and wasn't it mighty providintial +they didn't come at the fiddle; sure what would the counthry do then?" + +"Sure enough you may say that," said Houligan; "and then my bread would +be gone as well as my mate. But think o' the unnatharal vagabone that +towld me the dogs was quite; sure he came back while I was there, and I +ups and I towld him what a shame it was to tell me the dogs was quite. +So they are quite, says he; sure there's nine o' them, and only seven +o' them bites. Thank you, says I." + +There was something irresistibly comic in the quiet manner that +Houligan said, "Thank you, says I;" and the account of his canine +adventure altogether excited much mirth amongst his auditors. As they +pursued their journey many a joke was passed and repartee returned, and +the laugh rang loudly and often from the merry little group as they +trudged along. In the course of the next mile's march their numbers +were increased by some half dozen, that, one by one, suddenly appeared, +by leaping over the hedge on the road, or crossing a stile from some +neighbouring path. All these new comers pursued the same route, and +each gave the same answer when asked where he was going. It was +universally this-- + +"Why, then, where would I be goin' but to the berrin'?" + +At a neighbouring confluence of roads straggling parties of from four +to five were seen in advance, and approaching in the rear, and the +highway soon began to wear the appearance it is wont to do on the +occasion of a patron, a fair, or a market day. Larry Lanigan was in +evident enjoyment at this increase of numbers; and as the crowd +thickened his exultation increased, and he often repeated his +ejaculation, aiready noticed in Larry's opening soliloquy, "Why, then, +an' isn't it a grate day intirely for Ireland!!!" + +And now, horsemen were more frequently appearing, and their numbers +soon amounted to almost a cavalcade; and sometimes a car, that is to +say, the car, common to the country for agricultural purposes, might be +seen, bearing a cargo of women; videlicet, "the good woman" herself, +and her rosy-cheeked daughters, and maybe a cousin or two, with an aide +de camp aunt to assist in looking after the young ladies. The +roughness of the motion of this primitive vehicle was rendered as +accommodating as possible to the gentler sex, by a plentiful shake down +of clean straw on the car, over which a feather bed was laid, and the +best quilt in the house over that, to make all smart, possibly a piece +of hexagon patchwork of "the misthriss" herself, in which the tawdriest +calico patterns served to display the taste of the rural sempstress, +and stimulated the rising generation to feats of needlework. The car +was always provided with a driver, who took such care upon himself "for +a rayson he had:" he was almost universally what is called in Ireland +"a clane boy," that is to say, a well made, good-looking young fellow, +whose eyes were not put into his head for nothing; and these same eyes +might be seen wandering backwards occasionally from his immediate +charge, the dumb baste, to "take a squint" at some, or maybe one, of +his passengers. This explains "the rayson he had" for becoming driver. +Sometimes he sat on the crupper of the horse, resting his feet on the +shafts of the car, and bending down his head to say something tindher +to the colleen that sat next him, totally negligent of his duty as +guide. Sometimes when the girl he wanted to be sweet on was seated at +the back of the car, this relieved the horse from the additional +burthen of his driver, and the clane boy would leave the horse's head +and fall in the rear to deludher the craythur, depending on the +occasional "hup" or "wo" for the guidance of the baste, when a too near +proximity to the dyke by the road side warned him of the necessity of +his interference. Sometimes he was called to his duty by the open +remonstrance of either the mother or the aunt, or maybe a mischievous +cousin, as thus: "Why then, Dinny, what are you about at all at all? +God betune me and harm, if you warn't within an inch o' puttin' us all +in the gripe o' the ditch;--arrah, lave off your gostherin there, and +mind the horse, will you; a purty thing it 'ud be if my bones was bruk; +what are you doin, there at all at the back o' the car, when it's at +the baste's head you ought to be?" + +"Arrah sure, the baste knows the way herself." + +"Faix, I b'lieve so, for it's little behowlden to you she is for +showin' her. Augh!!--murther!!!--there we are in the gripe a'most." + +"Lave off your screeching, can't you, and be quite. Sure the poor +craythur only just wint over to get a mouthful o' the grass by the side +o' the ditch." + +"What business has she to be atin' now?" + +"Bekase she's hungry, I suppose;--and why isn't she fed betther?" + +"Bekase rogues stales her oats, Dinny. I seen you in the stable by the +same token yistherday." + +"Sure enough, ma'am, for I wint there to look for my cowlt that was +missin'." + +"I thought it was the filly you wor afther, Dinny," said a cousin with +a wink; and Dinny grinned, and his sweetheart blushed, while the rest +of the girls tittered, the mother pretending not to hear the joke, and +bidding Dinny go mind his business by attending to the horse. + +But lest I should tire my reader by keeping him so long on the road, I +will let him find the rest of his way as well as he can to a certain +romantic little valley, where a comfortable farm-house was situated +beside a small mountain stream that tumbled along noisily over its +rocky bed, and in which some ducks, noisier than the stream, were +enjoying their morning bath. The geese were indulging in dignified +rest and silence upon the bank; a cock was crowing and strutting with +his usual swagger amongst his hens; a pig was endeavouring to save his +ears, not from this rural tumult, but from the teeth of a half-terrier +dog, who was chasing him away from an iron pot full of potatoes which +the pig had dared to attempt some impertinent liberties with; and a +girl was bearing into the house a pail of milk which she had just taken +from the cow that stood placidly looking on, an admirable contrast to +the general bustle of the scene. + +Everything about the cottage gave evidence of comfort on the part of +its owner, and, to judge from the numbers without and within the house, +you would say he did not want for friends; for all, as they arrived at +its door, greeted Phelim O'Hara kindly, and Phelim welcomed each new +comer with a heartiness that did honour to his grey hairs. Frequently +passing to and fro, busily engaged in arranging an ample breakfast in +the barn, appeared his daughter, a pretty round-faced girl, with black +hair and the long and silky-lashed dark grey eyes of her country, where +merriment loves to dwell, and a rosy mouth whose smiles served at once +to display her good temper and her fine teeth; her colour gets fresher +for a moment, and a look of affectionate recognition brightens her eye, +as a lithe young fellow springs briskly over the stepping stones that +lead across the stream, and trips lightly up to the girl, who offers +her hand in welcome. Who is the happy dog that is so well received by +Honor O'Hara, the prettiest girl in that parish or the next, and the +daughter of a "snug man" into the bargain?--It is the reader's old +acquaintance, Larry Lanigan;--and maybe Larry did not give a squeeze +extraordinary to the hand that was presented to him. The father +received him well also; indeed, for that matter, the difficulty would +have been to find a house in the whole district that Larry would not +have been welcome in. + +"So here you are at last, Larry," said old O'Hara; "I was wondering you +were not here long ago." + +"An' so I would, I thank you kindly," said Larry, "only I overtook owld +Hoppy here, on the road, and sure I thought I might as well take my +time, and wait for poor Hoppy, and bring my welkim along with me;" and +here he shoved the fiddler into the house before him. + +"The girls will be glad to see the pair o' yiz," said the old man, +following. + +The interior of the house was crowded with guests, and the usual +laughing and courting so often described, as common to such +assemblages, were going forward amongst the young people. At the +farther end of the largest room in the cottage, a knot of the older men +of the party was engaged in the discussion of some subject that seemed +to carry deep interest along with it, and at the opposite extremity of +the same room, a coffin of very rude construction lay on a small table; +and around this coffin stood all the junior part of the company, male +and female, and the wildness of their mirth, and the fertility of their +jests, over this tenement of mortality and its contents, might have +well startled a stranger for a moment, until he saw the nature of the +deposit the coffin contained. Enshrouded in a sheaf of wheat lay a +pig, between whose open jaws a large potato was placed, and the coffin +was otherwise grotesquely decorated. + +The reader will wonder, no doubt, at such an exhibition, for certainly +never was coffin so applied before; and it is therefore necessary to +explain the meaning of all this, and I believe Ireland is the only +country in the world where the facts I am about to relate could have +occurred. + +It may be remembered that some time previously to the date at which my +story commences, his majesty's ministers declared that there should be +a "total extinction of tithes." + +This declaration was received in Ireland by the great mass of the +people with the utmost delight, as they fancied they should never have +tithes to pay again. The peasantry in the neighbourhood of Templemore +formed the very original idea of burying the tithe. It is only amongst +an imaginative people that such a notion could have originated; and +indeed there is something highly poetical in the conception. The +tithe--that which the poor felt the keenest; that which they considered +a tax on their industry; that which they looked upon as an hereditary +oppression; that hateful thing, they were told, was to be extinct, and, +in joyous anticipation of the blessing, they determined to enact an +emblematic interment of this terrible enemy.--I think it is not too +much to call this idea a fine one; and yet, in the execution of it, +they invested it with the broadest marking of the grotesque. Such is +the strange compound of an Irish peasant, whose anger is often vented +in a jest, and whose mirth is sometimes terrible. + +I must here pause for a moment, and request it to be distinctly +understood, that, in relating this story, in giving the facts connected +with it, and in stating what the Irish peasant's feelings are +respecting tithe, I have not the most distant notion of putting forward +any opinions of my own on the subject. In the pursuit of my own quiet +art, I am happily far removed from the fierce encounter of politics, +and I do not wish to offend against the feelings or opinions of any one +in my little volume; and I trust, therefore, that I may be permitted to +give a sketch of a characteristic incident, as it came to my knowledge, +without being mistaken for a partisan. + + "I tell the tale as 'twas told to me." + + +I have said a group of seniors was collected at one end of the room, +and, as it is meet to give precedence to age, I will endeavour to give +some idea of what was going forward amongst them. + +There was one old man of the party whose furrowed forehead, compressed +eyebrows, piqued nose, and mouth depressed at the corners, at once +indicated to a physiognomist a querulous temper. He was one of your +doubters upon all occasions, one of the unfailing elements of an +argument;--as he said himself, he was "dubersome" about everything, and +he had hence earned the name of Daddy Dubersome amongst his neighbours. +Well, Daddy began to doubt the probability that any such boon as the +extinction of tithes was to take place, and said, he was "sartin sure +'twas too good news to be thrue." + +"Tare anounty," said another, who was the very antithesis of Daddy in +his credulous nature, "sure, didn't I see it myself in prent." + +"I was towld often that things was in prent," returned Daddy, drily, +"that come out lies afther, to my own knowledge." + +"But sure," added a third, "sure, didn't the Prime Ear himself lay it +all out before the Parley mint?" + +"What Prime Ear are you talking about, man dear?" said Daddy, rather +testily. + +"Why, the Prime Ear of his Majesty, and no less. Is that satisfaction +for you, eh?" + +"Well, and who is the Prime Ear?" + +"Why, the Prime Ear of his Majesty, I towld you before. You see, he is +the one that hears of everything that is to be done for the whole +impire in particular; and bekase he hears of everything, that's the +rayson he is called the Prime Ear--and a good rayson it is." + +"Well, but what has that to do with the tithes? I ask you again," said +Daddy with his usual pertinacity. + +Here he was about to be answered by the former speaker, whose +definition of "The Premier," had won him golden opinions amongst the +by-standers,--when he was prevented by a fourth orator, who rushed into +the debate with this very elegant opening-- + +"Arrah! tare-an-ouns, yiz are settin' me mad, so yiz are. Why, I +wondher any one 'id be sitch a fool as to go arguefy with that crooked +owld disciple there." + +"Meanin' me?" said Daddy. + +"I'd be sorry to conthcradict you, sir," said the other with an +admirable mockery of politeness. + +"Thank you, sir," said Daddy, with a dignity more comical than the +other's buffoonery. + +"You're kindly welkim, Daddy," returned the aggressor. "Sure, you +never blieved anything yit; and I wondher any one would throw away +their time sthrivin' to rightify you." + +"Come, boys," said O'Hara, interrupting the discourse, with a view to +prevent further bickering, "there's no use talking about the thing now, +for whatever way it is, sure we are met to bury the Tithe, and it's +proud I am to see you all here to make merry upon the stringth of it, +and I think I heerd Honor say this minit that everything is ready in +the barn without, so you'll have no difference of opinion about +tackling to the breakfast, or I'm mistaken. Come, my hearties, the +mate and the praties is crying, 'Who'll ate me?'--away wid you, that's +your sort;"--and he enforced his summons to the feast by pushing his +guests before him towards the scene of action. + +This was an ample barn, where tables of all sorts and sizes were +spread, loaded with viands of the most substantial character: wooden +forms, three-legged stools, broken-backed chairs, etc. etc. were in +requisition for the accommodation of the female portion of the company, +and the men attended first to their wants with a politeness which, +though deficient in the external graces of polished life, did credit to +their natures. The eating part of the business was accompanied with +all the clatter that might be expected to attend such an affair; and +when the eatables had been tolerably well demolished, O'Hara stood up +in the midst of his guests and said he should propose to them a toast, +which he knew all the boys would fill their glasses for, and that was, +to drink the health of the King, and long life to him, for seeing into +the rights of the thing, and doing "such a power" for them, and "more +power to his elbow."--This toast was prefaced by a speech to his +friends and neighbours upon the hardships of tithe in particular, +spiced with the laste taste in life of politics in general; wherein the +Repeal of the Union and Daniel O'Connell cut no inconsiderable figure; +yet in the midst of the rambling address, certain glimpses of good +sense and shrewd observation might be caught; and the many and powerful +objections he advanced against the impost that was to be "extinct" so +soon, were put forward with a force and distinctness that were worthy +of a better speaker, and might have been found difficult to reply to by +a more accustomed hand. He protested that he thought he had lived long +enough when he had witnessed in his own life-time two such national +benefits as the Catholic Emancipation Bill and the Abolition of Tithes. +O'Hara further declared, he was the happiest man alive that day only in +the regard "of one thing, and that was, that his reverence, Father Hely +(the priest) was not there amongst them;" and, certainly, the absence +of the pastor on an occasion of festivity in the house of a snug +farmer, is of rare occurrence in Ireland. "But you see," said O'Hara, +"whin his rivirince heerd what it was we wor goin' to do, he thought it +would be purtier on his part for to have nothin' whatsomivir to do with +it, in hand, act, or part; and, indeed, boys, that shews a great deal +of good breedin' in Father Hely." + +This was quite agreed to by the company; and, after many cheers for +O'Hara's speech, and some other toasts pertinent to the occasion, the +health of O'Hara, as founder of the feast, with the usual addenda of +long life, prosperity, etc. to him and his, was drunk, and then +preparations were entered Into for proceeding with the ceremony of the +funeral. + +"I believe we have nothing to wait for now," said O'Hara, "since you +won't have any more to drink, boys; so let us set about it at once, and +make a clane day's work of it." + +"Oh, we're not quite ready yit," said Larry Lanigan, who seemed to be a +sort of master of the ceremonies on the occasion. + +"What's the delay?" asked O'Hara. + +"Why, the chief murners is not arrived yit." + +"What murners are you talkin' about, man?" said the other. + +"Why, you know, at a grand berrin' they have always thief murners, and +there's a pair that I ordhered to be brought here for that same." + +"Myself doesn't know anything about murners," said O'Hara, "for I never +seen anything finer than the keeners[6] at a berrin'; but Larry's up to +the ways of the quolity, as well as of his own sort." + +"But you wouldn't have keeners for the Tithe, would you? Sure, the +keeners is to say all the good they can of the departed, and more if +they can invint it; but, sure, the divil a good thing at all they could +say of the Tithe, barrin' it was lies they wor tellin', and so it would +only be throwin' away throuble." + +"Thrue for you, Lanigan." + +"Besides, it is like a grand berrin' belongin' to the quol'ty to have +chief murners, and you know the Tithe was aiqual to a lord or a king +a'most for power." + +In a short time the "murners," as Larry called them, arrived in custody +of half a dozen of Larry's chosen companions, to whom he had entrusted +the execution of the mission. These chief mourners were two tithe +proctors, who had been taken forcibly from their homes by the Lanigan +party, and threatened with death unless they attended the summons of +Larry to be present at "The Berrin'." + +Their presence was hailed with a great shout, and the poor devils +looked excessively frightened; but they were assured by O'Hara they had +nothing to fear. + +"I depend an you, Mr. O'Hara, for seeing us safe out of their hands," +said one of them, for the other was dumb from terror. + +"So you may," was the answer O'Hara returned. "Hurt nor harm shall not +be put an you; I give you my word o' that." + +"Divil a harm," said Larry. "We'll only put you into a shoot o' +clothes that is ready for you, and you may look as melancholy as you +plaze, for it is murners you are to be. Well, Honor," said he, +addressing O'Hara's daughter, "have you got the mithres and vestments +ready, as I towld you?" + +"Yes," said Honor; "here comes Biddy Mulligan with them from the house, +for Biddy herself helped me to make them." + +"And who had a betther right?" said Larry, "when it was herself that +laid it all out complate, the whole thing from the beginnin', and sure +enough but it was a bright thought of her. Faix, he'll be the looky +man that gets Biddy, yet." + +"You had betther have her yourself, I think," said Honor, with an arch +look at Larry, full of meaning. + +"An' it's that same I've been thinking of for some time," said Larry, +laughing, and returning Honor's look with one that repaid it with +interest "But where is she at all? Oh, here she comes with the duds, +and Mike Noonan afther her; throth, he's following her about all this +mornin' like a sucking calf. I'm afeard Mikee is going to sarcumvint +me wid Biddy; but he'd betther mind what he's at." + +Here the conversation was interrupted by the advance of Biddy Mulligan, +"and Mikee Noonan afther her," bearing some grotesque imitation of +clerical vestments made of coarse sacking, and two enormous +head-dresses made of straw, in the fashion of mitres; these were +decorated with black rags hung fantastically about them, while the +vestments were smeared over with black stripes in no very regular order. + +"Come here," said Larry to the tithe proctors; "come here, antil we put +you into your regimentals." + +"What are you goin' to do with us, Mr. Lanigan?" said the frightened +poor wretch, while his knees knocked together with terror. + +"We are just goin' to make a pair o' bishops of you," said Lanigan; +"and sure that's promotion for you." + +"Oh, Mr. O'Hara," said the proctor, "sure you won't let them tie us up +in them sacks." + +"Do you hear what he calls the iligant vestments we made a' purpose for +him? They are sackcloth, to be sure, and why not--seeing as how that +you are to be the chief murners? and sackcloth and ashes is what you +must be dhressed in, accordin' to rayson. Here, my buck," said the +rollicking Larry, "I'll be your vally de sham myself," and he proceeded +to put the dress on the terrified tithe proctor. + +"Oh, Mr. Lanigan dear!" said he, "don't murther me, if you plaze." + +"Murther you!--arrah, who's going to murther you? Do you think I'd +dirty my hands wid killin' a snakin' tithe procthor?" + +"Indeed, that's thrue, Mr. Lanigan; it would not be worth your while." + +"Here now," said Larry, "howld your head till I put the mithre an you, +and make you a bishop complate. But wait a bit; throth, I was nigh +forgettin' the ashes, and that would have been a great loss to both o' +you, bekase you wouldn't be right murners at all without them, and the +people would think you wor only purtendin'." This last bit of Larry's +waggery produced great merriment amongst the by-standers, for the +unfortunate tithe proctors were looking at that moment most doleful +examples of wretchedness. A large shovelful of turf ashes was now +shaken over their heads, and then they were decorated with their +mitres. "Tut, man," said Larry to one of them, "don't thrimble like a +dog in a wet sack. Oh, thin, look at him how pale he's turned, the +dirty coward that he is. I tell you, we're not goin' to do you any +hurt, so you needn't be lookin' in sitch mortial dhread. By gor, +you're as white as pen'orth o' curds in a sweep's fist." + +With many such jokes at the expense of the tithe proctors, they were +attired in their caricature robes and mitres, and presented with a pair +of pitchforks, by way of crosiers, and were recommended at the same +time to make hay while the sun shone, "bekase the fine weather would be +lavin' them soon;" with many other bitter sarcasms, conveyed in the +language of ridicule. + +The procession was now soon arranged, and, as they had their chief +mourners, it was thought a good point of contrast to have their chief +rejoicers as well. To this end, in a large cart they put a sow and her +litter of pigs, decorated with ribands, a sheaf of wheat standing +proudly erect, a bowl of large potatoes, which, at Honor O'Hara's +suggestion, were boiled, that they might be laughing on the occasion, +and over these was hung a rude banner, on which was written, "We may +stay at home now." + +In this cart, Hoppy Houligan, the fiddler, with a piper as a coadjutor, +rasped and squeaked their best to the tune of "Go to the devil and +shake yourself," which was meant to convey a delicate hint to the +tithes for the future. + +The whole assemblage of people, and it was immense, then proceeded to +the spot where it was decided the tithe was to be interred, as the most +fitting place to receive such a deposit, and this place was called by +what they considered the very appropriate name of "The Devil's Bit."[7] + +In a range of hills, in the neighbourhood where this singular +occurrence took place, there is a sudden gap occurs in the outline of +the ridge, which is stated to have been formed by his sable majesty +taking a bite out of the mountain; whether it was spite or hunger that +had made him do so, is not ascertained, but he evidently did not +consider it a very savoury morsel; for it is said, he spat it out +again, and the rejected morceau forms the rock of Cashel. Such is the +wild legend of this wild spot; and here was the interment of the tithe +to be achieved, as an appropriate addition to the "Devil's Bit." + +The procession now moved onward, and, as it proceeded, its numbers were +considerably augmented. Its approach was looked for by a scout on +every successive hill it came within sight of, and a wild halloo, or +the winding of a cow's horn immediately succeeded, which called forth +scores of fresh attendants upon "the berrin." Thus, their numbers were +increased every quarter of a mile they went, until, on their arriving +at the foot of the hill which they were to ascend, to reach their final +destination, the multitude assembled presented a most imposing +appearance. In the course of their march, the great point of +attraction for the young men and women was the cart that bore the piper +and fiddler, and the road was rather danced than walked over in this +quarter. The other distinguished portion of the train was where the +two tithe proctors played their parts of chief mourners. They were the +delight of all the little ragged urchins in the country; the half-naked +young vagabonds hung on their flanks, plucked at their vestments, made +wry faces at them, called them by many ridiculous names, and an +occasional lump of clay was slily flung at their mitres, which were too +tempting a "cock shot" to be resisted. The multitude now wound up the +hill, and the mingling of laughter, of singing, and shouting, produced +a wild compound of sound, that rang far and wide. As they doubled an +angle in the road, which opened the Devil's Bit full upon their view, +they saw another crowd assembled there, which consisted of persons from +the other side of the hills, who could not be present at the breakfast, +nor join the procession, but who attended upon the spot where the +interment was to take place. As soon as the approach of the funeral +train was perceived from the top of the hill, the mass of people there +sent forth a shout of welcome, which was returned by those from below. + +Short space now served to bring both parties together, and the digging +of a grave did not take long with such a plenty of able hands for the +purpose. "Come, boys," said Larry Lanigan to two or three of his +companions, "while they are digging the grave here, we'll go cut some +sods to put over it when the thievin' tithe is buried; not for any +respect I have for it in particlar, but that we may have the place +smooth and clane to dance over aftherwards; and may I never shuffle the +brogue again, if myself and Honor O'Hara won't be the first pair +that'll set you a patthern." + +All was soon ready for the interment; the tithe coffin was lowered into +the pit, and the shouting that rent the air was terrific. + +As they were about to fill up the grave with earth their wild hurra, +that had rung out so loudly, was answered by a fierce shout at some +distance, and all eyes were turned towards the quarter whence it arose, +to see from whom it proceeded, for it was, evidently, a solitary voice +that had thus arrested their attention. + +Toiling up the hill, supporting himself with a staff, and bearing a +heavy load in a wallet slung over his shoulders, appeared an elderly +man whose dress proclaimed him at once to be a person who depended on +eleemosynary contributions for his subsistence: and many, when they +caught the first glimpse of him, proclaimed, at once, that it was +"Tatther the Road" was coming. + +"Tatther the Road" wae the very descriptive name that had been applied +to this poor creature, for he was always travelling about the highways; +he never rested even at nights in any of the houses of the peasants, +who would have afforded him shelter, but seemed to be possessed by a +restless spirit, that urged him to constant motion. Of course the poor +creature sometimes slept, but it must have been under such shelter as a +hedge, or cave, or gravel pit might afford, for in the habitation of +man he was never seen to sleep; and, indeed, I never knew any one who +bad seen this strange being in the act of sleep. This fact attached a +sort of mysterious character to the wanderer, and many would tell you +that "he wasn't right," and firmly believed that he never slept at all. +His mind was unsettled, and though he never became offensive in any +degree from his mental aberration, yet the nature of his distemper +often induced him to do very extraordinary things, and whenever the +gift of speech was upon him, (for he was habitually taciturn), he would +make an outpouring of some rhapsody, in which occasional bursts of very +powerful language and striking imagery would occur. Indeed the +peasants said that "sometimes 't would make hair stand on end to hear +Tatther the Road make a noration." + +This poor man's history, as far as I could learn, was a very melancholy +one. In the rebellion of '98 his cabin had been burned over his head +by the yeomanry, after every violation that could disgrace his hearth +had been committed. He and his son, then little more than a boy, had +attempted to defend their hut, and they were both left for dead. His +wife and his daughter, a girl of sixteen, were also murdered. The +wretched father, unfortunately, recovered his life, but his reason was +gone for ever. Even in the midst of his poverty and madness, there was +a sort of respect attached to this singular man. Though depending on +charity for his meat and drink, he could not well be called a beggar, +for he never asked for any thing--even on the road, when some +passenger, ignorant of his wild history, saw the poor wanderer, a piece +of money was often bestowed to the silent appeal of his rags, his +haggard features, and his grizly hair and beard. + +Thus eternally up and down the country was he moving about, and hence +his name of "Tatther the Road." + +It was not long until the old man gained the summit of the hill, but +while he was approaching, many were the "wonders" what in the name of +fortune could have brought Tatther the Road there.--"And by dad," said +one, "he's pullin' fut[8] at a great rate, and it's wondherful how an +owld cock like him can clamber up the hill so fast." + +"Aye," said another, "and with the weight he's carrying too." + +"Sure enough," said a third. "Faix he's got a fine lob in his wallet +to-day." + +"Whisht!" said O'Hara.--"Here he comes, and his ears are as sharp as +needles." + +"And his eyes too," said a woman. "Lord be good to me, did you ever +see poor Tatther's eyes look so terrible bright afore?" + +And indeed this remark was not uncalled for, for the eyes of the old +man almost gleamed from under the shaggy brows that were darkly bent +over them, as, with long strides, he approached the crowd which opened +before him, and he stalked up to the side of the grave and threw down +the ponderous wallet, which fell to the ground with a heavy crash. + +"You were going to close the grave too soon," were the first words he +uttered. + +"Sure when the tithe is wanst buried, what more have we to do?" said +one of the by-standers. + +"Aye, you have put the tithe in the grave--but will it stay there?" + +"Why indeed," said Larry Lanigan, "I think he'd be a bowld resurrection +man that would come to rise it." + +"I have brought you something here to lie heavy on it, and 't will +never rise more," said the maniac, striking forth his arm fiercely, and +clenching his hand firmly. + +"And what have you brought us, Agrah?" said O'Hara kindly to him. + +"Look here," said the other, unfolding his wallet and displaying five +or six large stones. + +Some were tempted to laugh, but a mysterious dread of the wild being +before them, prevented any outbreak of mirth. + +"God help the craythur!" said a woman, so loud as to be heard. "He has +brought a bag full o' stones to throw a top o' the tithes to keep them +down--O wisha! wisha! poor craythur!" + +"Aye--stones!"--said the maniac; "but do you know; what stones these +are? Look woman--" and his manner became intensely impressive from the +excitement even of madness, under which he was acting.--"Look, I +say--there's not a stone there that's not a curse--aye a curse so heavy +that nothing can ever rise that falls under it." + +"Oh I don't want to say aginst it, dear," said the woman. + +The maniac did not seem to notice her submissive answer, but pursuing +his train of madness, continued his address in his native tongue, whose +figurative and poetical construction was heightened in its effect, by a +manner and action almost theatrically descriptive. + +"You all remember the Widow Dempsy. The first choice of her bosom was +long gone, but the son she loved was left to her, and her heart was not +quite lonely. And at the widow's hearth there was still a welcome for +the stranger--and the son of her heart made his choice, like the father +before him, and the joy of the widow's house was increased, for the son +of her heart was happy.--And in due time the widow welcomed the +fair-haired child of her son to the world, and a dream of her youth +came over her, as she saw the joy of her son and her daughter, when +they kissed the fair-haired child--But the hand of God was heavy in the +land, and the fever fell hard upon the poor--and the widow was again +bereft,--for the son of her heart was taken, and the wife of his bosom +also--and the fair-haired child was left an orphan. And the widow +would have laid down her bones and died, but for the fair-haired child +that had none to look to but her. And the widow blessed God's name and +bent her head to the blow--and the orphan that was left to her was the +pulse of her heart, and often she looked on his pale face with a +fearful eye, for health was not on the cheek of the boy--but she +cherished him tenderly. + +"But the ways of the world grew crooked to the lone woman, when the +son, that was the staff of her age, was gone, and one trouble followed +another, but still the widow was not quite destitute.--And what was it +brought the heavy stroke of distress and disgrace to the widow's +door?--The tithe! The widow's cow was driven and sold to pay a few +shillings; the drop of milk was no longer in the widow's house, and the +tender child that needed the nourishment, wasted away before the +widow's eyes, like snow from the ditch, and died: and fast the widow +followed the son of her heart and his fair-haired boy. + +"And now, the home of an honest race is a heap of rubbish; and the +bleak wind whistles over the hearth where the warm welcome was ever +found; and the cold frog crouches under the ruins. + +"These stones are from that desolate place, and the curse of God that +follows oppression is on them.--And let them be cast into the grave, +and they will lie with the weight of a mountain on the monster that is +buried for ever." + +So saying, he lifted stone after stone, and flung them fiercely into +the pits then, after a moment's pause upon its verge, he suddenly +strode away with the same noiseless step that he had approached, and +left the scene in silence. + + + +[1] The _cabhien_ was an ancient head-dress of gorgeous material, and +the name is applied in derision to a shabby hat. + +[2] The crop being often valued in a _green state_ in Ireland, the +appraiser becomes a very obnoxious person. + +[3] Botany Bay. + +[4] The stump of pipe. + +[5] Excepting. + +[6] Keeners are persons who sing the Ulican, or death wail, round the +coffin of the deceased, and repeat the good deeds of the departed. + +[7] I think Ware mentions an ancient crown being dug up at the "The +Devil's Bit." + +[8] _Pull foot_ is a figurative expression to express making haste. + + + + +THE KNIGHTSBRIDGE MYSTERY + +By CHARLES READE + + +I + +In Charles the Second's day the "Swan" was denounced by the dramatists +as a house where unfaithful wives and mistresses met their gallants. + +But in the next century, when John Clarke was the Freeholder, no +special imputation of that sort rested on it: it was a country inn with +large stables, horsed the Brentford coach, and entertained man and +beast on journeys long or short. It had also permanent visitors, +especially in summer; for it was near London, and yet a rural retreat; +meadows on each side, Hyde Park at back, Knightsbridge Green in front. + +Amongst the permanent lodgers was Mr. Gardiner, a substantial man; and +Captain Cowen, a retired officer of moderate means, had lately taken +two rooms for himself and his son. Mr. Gardiner often joined the +company in the public room, but the Cowens kept to themselves up-stairs. + +This was soon noticed and resented, in that age of few books and free +converse. Some said, "Oh, we are not good enough for him!", others +inquired what a half-pay captain had to give himself airs about. +Candor interposed and supplied the climax, "Nay, my masters, the +Captain may be in hiding from duns, or from the runners: now I think +on't, the York mail was robbed scarce a se'nnight before his worship +came a-hiding here." + +But the landlady's tongue ran the other way. Her weight was sixteen +stone, her sentiments were her interests, and her tongue her tomahawk. +"'Tis pity," said she, one day, "some folk can't keep their tongues +from blackening of their betters. The Captain is a civil-spoken +gentleman--Lord send there were more of them in these parts!--as takes +his hat off to me whenever he meets me, and pays his reckoning weekly. +If he has a mind to be private, what business is that of yours, or +ours? But curs must bark at their betters." + +Detraction, thus roughly quelled for certain seconds, revived at +intervals whenever Dame Gust's broad back was turned. It was mildly +encountered one evening by Gardiner, "Nay, good sirs," said he, "you +mistake the worthy Captain. To have fought at Blenheim and Malplaquet, +no man has less vanity. 'Tis for his son he holds aloof. He guards +the youth like a mother, and will not have him to hear our tap-room +jests. He worships the boy--a sullen lout, sirs; but paternal love is +blind. He told me once he had loved his wife dearly, and lost her +young, and this was all he had of her. 'And,' said he, 'I'd spill +blood like water for him, my own the first.'--'Then, sir,' says I, 'I +fear he will give you a sore heart one day.'--'And welcome,' says my +Captain, and his face like iron." + +Somebody remarked that no man keeps out of company who is good company; +but Mr. Gardiner parried that dogma. "When young master is abed, my +neighbor does sometimes invite me to share a bottle; and a sprightlier +companion I would not desire. Such stories of battles, and duels, and +love intrigues!" + +"Now there's an old fox for you," said one, approvingly, It reconciled +him to the Captain's decency to find that it was only hypocrisy. + +"I like not--a man--who wears--a mask," hiccoughed a hitherto silent +personage, revealing his clandestine drunkenness and unsuspected wisdom +at one blow. + +These various theories were still fermenting in the bosom of the +"Swan," when one day there rode up to the door a gorgeous officer, hot +from the minister's levee, in scarlet and gold, with an order like a +star-fish glittering on his breast. His servant, a private soldier, +rode behind him, and, slipping hastily from his saddle, held his +master's horse while he dismounted. Just then Captain Cowen came out +for his afternoon walk. He started, and cried out, "Colonel +Barrington!" + +"Ay, brother," cried the other, and instantly the two officers +embraced, and even kissed each other, for that feminine custom had not +yet retired across the Channel; and these were soldiers who had fought +and bled side by side, and nursed each other in turn; and your true +soldier does not nurse by halves: his vigilance and tenderness are an +example to women, and he rustleth not. + +Captain Cowen invited Colonel Barrington to his room, and that warrior +marched down the passage after him, single file, with long brass spurs +and sabre clinking at his heels; and the establishment ducked and +smiled, and respected Captain Cowen for the reason we admire the moon. + +Seated in Cowen's room, the new-comer said, heartily, "Well, Ned, I +come not empty-handed. Here is thy pension at last;" and handed him a +parchment with a seal like a poached egg. + +Cowen changed color, and thanked him with an emotion he rarely +betrayed, and gloated over the precious document. His cast-iron +features relaxed, and he said, "It comes in the nick of time, for now I +can send my dear Jack to college." + +This led somehow to an exposure of his affairs. He had just L110 a +year, derived from the sale of his commission, which he had invested, +at fifteen per cent, with a well-known mercantile house in the City. +"So now," said he, "I shall divide it all in three; Jack will want two +parts to live at Oxford, and I can do well enough here on one." The +rest of the conversation does not matter, so I dismiss it and Colonel +Barrington for the time. A few days afterward Jack went to college, +and Captain Cowen reduced his expenses, and dined at the shilling +ordinary, and, indeed, took all his moderate repasts in public. + +Instead of the severe and reserved character he had worn while his son +was with him, he now shone out a boon companion, and sometimes kept the +table in a roar with his marvellous mimicries of all the characters, +male or female, that lived in the inn or frequented it, and sometimes +held them breathless with adventures, dangers, intrigues, in which a +leading part had been played by himself or his friends. + +He became quite a popular character, except with one or two envious +bodies, whom he eclipsed; they revenged themselves by saying it was all +braggadocio: his battles had been fought over a bottle, and by the +fireside. + +The district east and west of Knightsbridge had long been infested with +foot-pads; they robbed passengers in the country lanes, which then +abounded, and sometimes on the King's highway, from which those lanes +offered an easy escape. + +One moonlight night Captain Cowen was returning home alone from an +entertainment at Fulham, when suddenly the air seemed to fill with a +woman's screams and cries. They issued from a lane on his right hand. +He whipped out his sword and dashed down the lane. It took a sudden +turn, and in a moment he came upon three foot-pads, robbing and +maltreating an old gentleman and his wife. The old man's sword lay at +a distance, struck from his feeble hand; the woman's tongue proved the +better weapon, for, at least, it brought an ally. + +The nearest robber, seeing the Captain come at him with his drawn sword +glittering in the moonshine, fired hastily, and grazed his cheek, and +was skewered like a frog the next moment; his cry of agony mingled with +two shouts of dismay, and the other foot-pads fled; but, even as they +turned, Captain Cowen's nimble blade entered the shoulder of one, and +pierced the fleshy part. He escaped, however, but howling and bleeding. + +Captain Cowen handed over the lady and gentleman to the people who +flocked to the place, now the work was done, and the disabled robber to +the guardians of the public peace, who arrived last of all. He himself +withdrew apart and wiped his sword very carefully and minutely with a +white pocket-handkerchief, and then retired. + +He was so far from parading his exploit that he went round by the park +and let himself into the "Swan" with his private key, and was going +quietly to bed, when the chambermaid met him, and up flew her arms, +with cries of dismay. "Oh, Captain! Captain! Look at you--smothered +in blood! I shall faint." + +"Tush! Silly wench!" said Captain Cowen. "I am not hurt." + +"Not hurt, sir? And bleeding like a pig! Your cheek--your poor cheek!" + +Captain Cowen put up his hand, and found that blood was really welling +from his cheek and ear. + +He looked grave for a moment, then assured her it was but a scratch, +and offered to convince her of that. "Bring me some luke-warm water, +and thou shalt be my doctor. But, Barbara, prithee publish it not." + +Next morning an officer of justice inquired after him at the "Swan," +and demanded his attendance at Bow Street, at two that afternoon, to +give evidence against the footpads. This was the very thing he wished +to avoid; but there was no evading the summons. + +The officer was invited into the bar by the landlady, and sang the +gallant Captain's exploit, with his own variations. The inn began to +ring with Cowen's praises. Indeed, there was now but one detractor +left--the hostler, Daniel Cox, a drunken fellow of sinister aspect, who +had for some time stared and lowered at Captain Cowen, and muttered +mysterious things, doubts as to his being a real captain, etc. Which +incoherent murmurs of a muddle-headed drunkard were not treated as +oracular by any human creature, though the stable-boy once went so far +as to say, "I sometimes almost thinks as how our Dan do know summut; +only he don't rightly know what 'tis, along o' being always muddled in +liquor." + +Cowen, who seemed to notice little, but noticed everything, had +observed the lowering looks of this fellow, and felt he had an enemy: +it even made him a little uneasy, though he was too proud and +self-possessed to show it. + +With this exception, then, everybody greeted him with hearty +compliments, and he was cheered out of the inn, marching to Bow Street. + +Daniel Cox, who--as accidents will happen--was sober that morning, saw +him out, and then put on his own coat. + +"Take thou charge of the stable, Sam," said he. + +"Why, where be'st going, at this time o' day?" + +"I be going to Bow Street," said Daniel doggedly. + +At Bow Street Captain Cowen was received with great respect, and a seat +given him by the sitting magistrate while some minor cases were +disposed of. + +In due course the highway robbery was called and proved by the parties +who, unluckily for the accused, had been actually robbed before Cowen +interfered. + +Then the oath was tendered to Cowen: he stood up by the magistrate's +side and deposed, with military brevity and exactness, to the facts I +have related, but refused to swear to the identity of the individual +culprit who stood pale and trembling at the dock. + +The attorney for the Crown, after pressing in vain, said, "Quite right, +Captain Cowen; a witness cannot be too scrupulous." + +He then called an officer, who had found the robber leaning against a +railing fainting from loss of blood, scarce a furlong from the scene of +the robbery, and wounded in the shoulder. That let in Captain Cowen's +evidence, and the culprit was committed for trial, and soon after +peached upon his only comrade at large. The other lay in the hospital +at Newgate. + +The magistrate complimented Captain Cowen on his conduct and his +evidence, and he went away universally admired. Yet he was not elated, +nor indeed content. Sitting by the magistrate's side, after he had +given his evidence, he happened to look all round the Court, and in a +distant corner he saw the enormous mottled nose and sinister eyes of +Daniel Cox glaring at him with a strange but puzzled expression. + +Cowen had learned to read faces, and he said to himself: "What is there +in that ruffian's mind about me? Did he know me years ago? I cannot +remember him. Curse the beast--one would almost--think--he is +cudgelling his drunken memory. I'll keep an eye on you." + +He went home thoughtful and discomposed, because this drunkard glowered +at him so. The reception he met with at the "Swan" effaced the +impression. He was received with acclamations, and now that publicity +was forced on him, he accepted it, and revelled in popularity. + +About this time he received a letter from his son, enclosing a notice +from the college tutor, speaking highly of his ability, good conduct, +devotion to study. + +This made the father swell with loving pride. + +Jack hinted modestly that there were unavoidable expenses, and his +funds were dwindling. He enclosed an account that showed how the money +went. + +The father wrote back and bade him be easy; he should have every +farthing required, and speedily. "For," said he, "my half-year's +interest is due now." + +Two days after he had a letter from his man of business, begging him to +call. He went with alacrity, making sure his money was waiting for him +as usual. + +His lawyer received him very gravely, and begged him to be seated. He +then broke to him some appalling news, The great house of Brown, +Molyneux and Co. had suspended payments at noon the day before, and +were not expected to pay a shilling in the pound. Captain Cowen's +little fortune was gone--all but his pension of eighty pounds a year. + +He sat like a man turned to stone; then he clasped his hands with +agony, and uttered two words--no more--"My son!" + +He rose and left the place like one in a dream. He got down to +Knightsbridge, he hardly knew how. At the very door of the inn he fell +down in a fit. The people of the inn were round him in a moment, and +restoratives freely supplied. His sturdy nature soon revived; but, +with the moral and physical shock, his lips were slightly distorted +over his clenched teeth. His face, too, was ashy pale. + +When he came to himself, the first face he noticed was that of Daniel +Cox, eying him, not with pity, but with puzzled curiosity. Cowen +shuddered and closed his own eyes to avoid this blighting glare. Then, +without opening them, he muttered, "What has befallen me? I feel no +wound." + +"Laws forbid, sir!" said the landlady, leaning over him. "Your honor +did but swoon for once, to show you was born of a woman, and not made +of nought but steel. Here, you gaping loons and sluts, help the +Captain to his room amongst ye, and then go about your business." + +This order was promptly executed, so far as assisting Captain Cowen to +rise; but he was no sooner on his feet than he waved them all from him +haughtily, and said, "Let me be. It is the mind--it is the mind;" and +he smote his forehead in despair, for now it all came back on him. + +Then he rushed into the inn, and locked himself into his room. Female +curiosity buzzed about the doors, but was not admitted until he had +recovered his fortitude, and formed a bitter resolution to defend +himself and his son against all mankind. + +At last there came a timid tap, and a mellow voice said, "It is only +me, Captain. Prithee let me in." + +He opened to her, and there was Barbara with a large tray and a +snow-white cloth. She spread a table deftly, and uncovered a roast +capon, and uncorked a bottle of white port, talking all the time. "The +mistress says you must eat a bit, and drink this good wine, for her +sake. Indeed, sir, 'twill do you good after your swoon." With many +such encouraging words she got him to sit down and eat, and then filled +his glass and put it to his lips. He could not eat much, but he drank +the white port--a wine much prized, and purer than the purple vintage +of our day. + +At last came Barbara's post-diet. "But alack! to think of your +fainting dead away! O Captain, what is the trouble?" + +The tear was in Barbara's eye, though she was the emissary of Dame +Cust's curiosity, and all curiosity herself. + +Captain Cowen, who had been expecting this question for some time, +replied, doggedly, "I have lost the best friend I had in the world." + +"Dear heart!" said Barbara, and a big tear of sympathy, that had been +gathering ever since she entered the room, rolled down her cheeks. + +She put up a corner of her apron to her eyes. "Alas, poor soul!" said +she. "Ay, I do know how hard it is to love and lose; but bethink you, +sir, 'tis the lot of man. Our own turn must come. And you have your +son left to thank God for, and a warm friend or two in this place, tho' +they be but humble." + +"Ay, good wench," said the soldier, his iron nature touched for a +moment by her goodness and simplicity, "and none I value more than +thee. But leave me awhile." + +The young woman's honest cheeks reddened at the praise of such a man. +"Your will's my pleasure, sir," said she, and retired, leaving the +capon and the wine. + +Any little compunction he might have at refusing his confidence to this +humble friend did not trouble him long. He looked on women as leaky +vessels; and he had firmly resolved not to make his situation worse by +telling the base world that he was poor. Many a hard rub had put a +fine point on this man of steel. + +He glozed the matter, too, in his own mind. "I told her no lie. I +have lost my best friend, for I've lost my money." + + +From that day Captain Cowen visited the tap-room no more, and indeed +seldom went out by daylight. He was all alone now, for Mr. Gardiner +was gone to Wiltshire to collect his rents. In his solitary chamber +Cowen ruminated his loss and the villany of mankind, and his busy brain +revolved scheme after scheme to repair the impending ruin of his son's +prospects. It was there the iron entered his soul. The example of the +very footpads he had baffled occurred to him in his more desperate +moments, but he fought the temptation down: and in due course one of +them was transported, and one hung; the other languished in Newgate. + +By and by he began to be mysteriously busy, and the door always locked. +No clew was ever found to his labors but bits of melted wax in the +fender and a tuft or two of gray hair, and it was never discovered in +Knightsbridge that he often begged in the City at dusk, in a disguise +so perfect that a frequenter of the "Swan" once gave him a groat. Thus +did he levy his tax upon the stony place that had undone him. + +Instead of taking his afternoon walk as heretofore, he would sit +disconsolate on the seat of a staircase window that looked into the +yard, and so take the air and sun: and it was owing to this new habit +he overheard, one day, a dialogue, in which the foggy voice of the +hostler predominated at first. He was running down Captain Cowen to a +pot-boy. The pot-boy stood up for him. That annoyed Cox. He spoke +louder and louder the more he was opposed, till at last he bawled out, +"I tell ye I've seen him a-sitting by the judge, and I've seen him in +the dock." + +At these words Captain Cowen recoiled, though he was already out of +sight, and his eye glittered like a basilisk's. + +But immediately a new voice broke upon the scene, a woman's. "Thou +foul-mouthed knave! Is it for thee to slander men of worship, and give +the inn a bad name? Remember I have but to lift my finger to hang +thee, so drive me not to't. Begone to thy horses this moment; thou art +not fit to be among Christians. Begone, I say, or it shall be the +worse for thee;" and she drove him across the yard, and followed him up +with a current of invectives, eloquent even at a distance though the +words were no longer distinct: and who should this be but the +housemaid, Barbara Lamb, so gentle, mellow, and melodious before the +gentlefolk, and especially her hero, Captain Cowen! + +As for Daniel Cox, he cowered, writhed, and wriggled away before her, +and slipped into the stable. + +Captain Cowen was now soured by trouble, and this persistent enmity of +that fellow roused at last a fixed and deadly hatred in his mind, all +the more intense that fear mingled with it. + +He sounded Barbara; asked her what nonsense that ruffian had been +talking, and what he had done that she could hang him for. But Barbara +would not say a malicious word against a fellow-servant in cold blood. +"I can keep a secret," said she. "If he keeps his tongue off you, I'll +keep mine." + +"So be it," said Cowen. "Then I warn you I am sick of his insolence; +and drunkards must be taught not to make enemies of sober men nor fools +of wise men." He said this so bitterly that, to soothe him, she begged +him not to trouble about the ravings of a sot. "Dear heart," said she, +"nobody heeds Dan Cox." + +Some days afterward she told him that Dan had been drinking harder than +ever, and wouldn't trouble honest folk long, for he had the delusions +that go before a drunkard's end; why, he had told the stable-boy he had +seen a vision of himself climb over the garden wall, and enter the +house by the back door. "The poor wretch says he knew himself by his +bottle nose and his cowskin waistcoat; and, to be sure, there is no +such nose in the parish--thank Heaven for't!--and not many such +waistcoats." She laughed heartily, but Cowen's lip curled in a +venomous sneer. He said: "More likely 'twas the knave himself. Look +to your spoons, if such a face as that walks by night." Barbara turned +grave directly; he eyed her askant, and saw the random shot had gone +home. + +Captain Cowen now often slept in the City, alleging business. + +Mr. Gardiner wrote from Salisbury, ordering his room to be ready and +his sheets well aired. + +One afternoon he returned with a bag and a small valise, prodigiously +heavy. He had a fire lighted, though it was fine autumn, for he was +chilled with his journey, and invited Captain Cowen to sup with him. +The latter consented, but begged it might be an early supper, as he +must sleep in the City. + +"I am sorry for that," said Gardiner. "I have a hundred and eighty +guineas there in that bag, and a man could get into my room from yours." + +"Not if you lock the middle door," said Cowen. "But I can leave you +the key of my outer door, for that matter." + +This offer was accepted; but still Mr. Gardiner felt uneasy. There had +been several robberies at inns, and it was a rainy, gusty night. He +was depressed and ill at ease. Then Captain Cowen offered him his +pistols, and helped him load them--two bullets in each. He also went +and fetched him a bottle of the best port, and after drinking one glass +with him, hurried away, and left his key with him for further security. + +Mr. Gardiner, left to himself, made up a great fire and took a glass or +two of the wine; it seemed remarkably heady and raised his spirits. +After all, it was only for one night; to-morrow he would deposit his +gold in the bank. He began to unpack his things and put his nightdress +to the fire; but by and by he felt so drowsy that he did but take his +coat off, put his pistols under the pillow, and lay down on the bed and +fell fast asleep. + +That night Barbara Lamb awoke twice, thinking each time she heard doors +open and shut on the floor below her. + +But it was a gusty night, and she concluded it was most likely the +wind. Still a residue of uneasiness made her rise at five instead of +six, and she lighted her tinder and came down with a rushlight. She +found Captain Cowen's door wide open; it had been locked when she went +to bed. That alarmed her greatly. She looked in. A glance was +enough. She cried, "Thieves! thieves!" and in a moment uttered scream +upon scream. + +In an incredibly short time pale and eager faces of men and women +filled the passage. + +Cowen's room, being open, was entered first. On the floor lay what +Barbara had seen at a glance--his portmanteau rifled and the clothes +scattered about. The door of communication was ajar; they opened it, +and an appalling sight met their eyes: Mr. Gardiner was lying in a pool +of blood and moaning feebly. There was little hope of saving him; no +human body could long survive such a loss of the vital fluid. But it +so happened there was a country surgeon in the house. He stanched the +wounds--there were three--and somebody or other had the sense to beg +the victim to make a statement. He was unable at first; but, under +powerful stimulants, revived at last, and showed a strong wish to aid +justice in avenging him. By this time they had got a magistrate to +attend, and he put his ear to the dying man's lips; but others heard, +so hushed was the room and so keen the awe and curiosity of each +panting heart. + +"I had gold in my portmanteau, and was afraid. I drank a bottle of +wine with Captain Cowen, and he left me. He lent me his key and his +pistols. I locked both doors. I felt very sleepy, and lay down. When +I woke, a man was leaning over my portmanteau. His back was toward me. +I took a pistol, and aimed steadily. It missed fire. The man turned +and sprang on me. I had caught up a knife, one we had for supper. I +stabbed him with all my force. He wrested it from me, and I felt +piercing blows. I am slain. Ay, I am slain." + +"But the man, sir. Did you not see his face at all?" + +"Not till he fell on me. But then, very plainly. The moon shone." + +"Pray describe him." + +"Broken hat." + +"Yes." + +"Hairy waistcoat." + +"Yes." + +"Enormous nose." + +"Do you know him?" + +"Ay. The hostler, Cox." + +There was a groan of horror and a cry for vengeance. + +"Silence," said the magistrate. "Mr. Gardiner, you are a dying man. +Words may kill. Be careful. Have you any doubts?" + +"About what?" + +"That the villain was Daniel Cox." + +"None whatever." + +At these words the men and women, who were glaring with pale faces and +all their senses strained at the dying man and his faint yet terrible +denunciation, broke into two bands; some remained rooted to the place, +the rest hurried, with cries of vengeance, in search of Daniel Cox. +They were met in the yard by two constables, and rushed first to the +stables, not that they hoped to find him there. Of course he had +absconded with his booty. + +The stable door was ajar. They tore it open. + +The gray dawn revealed Cox fast asleep on the straw in the first empty +stall, and his bottle in the manger. His clothes were bloody, and the +man was drunk. They pulled him, cursed him, struck him, and would have +torn him in pieces, but the constables interfered, set him up against +the rail, like timber, and searched his bosom, and found--a wound; then +turned all his pockets inside out, amidst great expectation, and +found--three halfpence and the key of the stable door. + + +CHAPTER II + +They ransacked the straw, and all the premises, and found--nothing. + +Then, to make him sober and get something out of him, they pumped upon +his head till he was very nearly choked. However, it told on him. He +gasped for breath awhile, and rolled his eyes, and then coolly asked +them had they found the villain. + +They shook their fists at him. "Ay, we have found the villain, +red-handed." + +"I mean him as prowls about these parts in my waistcoat, and drove his +knife into me last night--wonder a didn't kill me out of hand. Have ye +found him amongst ye?" + +This question met with a volley of jeers and execrations and the +constables pinioned him, and bundled him off in a cart to Bow Street, +to wait examination. + +Meantime two Bow Street runners came down with a warrant, and made a +careful examination of the premises. The two keys were on the table. +Mr. Gardiner's outer door was locked. There was no money either in his +portmanteau of Captain Cowen's. Both pistols were found loaded, but no +priming in the pan of the one that lay on the bed; the other was +primed, but the bullets were above the powder. + +Bradbury, one of the runners, took particular notice of all. + +Outside, blood was traced from the stable to the garden wall, and under +this wall, in the grass, a bloody knife was found belonging to the +"Swan" Inn. There was one knife less in Mr. Gardiner's room than had +been carried up to his supper. + +Mr. Gardiner lingered till noon, but never spoke again. + +The news spread swiftly, and Captain Cowen came home in the afternoon, +very pale and shocked. + +He had heard of a robbery and murder at the "Swan," and came to know +more. The landlady told him all that had transpired, and that the +villain Cox was in prison. + +Cowan listened thoughtfully, and said "Cox! No doubt he is a knave: +but murder!--I should never have suspected him of that." + +The landlady pooh-poohed his doubts. "Why, sir, the poor gentleman +knew him, and wounded him in self-defence, and the rogue was found +a-bleeding from that very wound, and my knife, as done the murder, not +a stone's throw from him as done it, which it was that Dan Cox, and +he'll swing for't, please God." Then, changing her tone, she said, +solemnly, "You'll come and see him, sir?" + +"Yes," said Cowen, resolutely, with scarce a moment's hesitation. + +The landlady led the way, and took the keys out of her pocket, and +opened Cowen's door. "We keep all locked," said she, half +apologetically; "the magistrate bade us; and everything as we found +it--God help us! There--look at your portmanteau. I wish you may not +have been robbed as well." + +"No matter," said he. + +"But it matters to me," said she, "for the credit of the house." Then +she gave him the key of the inner door, and waved her hand toward it, +and sat down and began to cry. + +Cowen went in and saw the appalling sight. He returned quickly, +looking like a ghost, and muttered, "This is a terrible business." + +"It is a bad business for me and all," said she. "He have robbed you +too, I'll go bail." + +Captain Cowen examined his trunk carefully. "Nothing to speak of," +said he. "I've lost eight guineas and my gold watch." + +"There!--there!--there!" cried the landlady. + +"What does that matter, dame? He has lost his life." + +"Ay, poor soul. But 'twont bring him back, you being robbed and all. +Was ever such an unfortunate woman? Murder and robbery in my house! +Travellers will shun it like a pest-house. And the new landlord he +only wanted a good excuse to take it down altogether." + +This was followed by more sobbing and crying. Cowen took her +down-stairs into the bar, and comforted her. They had a glass of +spirits together, and he encouraged the flow of her egotism, till at +last she fully persuaded herself it was her calamity that one man was +robbed and another murdered in her house. + +Cowen, always a favorite, quite won her heart by falling into this view +of the matter, and when he told her he must go back to the City again, +for he had important business, and besides had no money left, either in +his pockets or his rifled valise, she encouraged him to go, and said, +kindly, indeed it was no place for him now; it was very good of him to +come back at all: but both apartments should be scoured and made decent +in a very few days; and a new Carpet down in Mr. Gardiner's room. + +So Cowen went back to the City, and left this notable woman to mop up +her murder. + +At Bow Street next morning, in answer to the evidence of his guilt, Cox +told a tale which the magistrate said was even more ridiculous than +most of the stories uneducated criminals get up on such occasions; with +this single comment he committed Cox for trial. + +Everybody was of the magistrate's opinion, except a single Bow Street +runner, the same who had already examined the premises. This man +suspected Cox, but had one qualm of doubt founded on the place where he +had discovered the knife, and the circumstance of the blood being +traced from that place to the stable, and not from the inn to the +stable, and on a remark Cox had made to him in the cart. "I don't +belong to the house. I haan't got no keys to go in and out o' nights. +And if I took a hatful of gold, I'd be off with it into another +country--wouldn't you? Him as took the gentleman's money, he knew +where 'twas, and he have got it: I didn't and I haan't." + +Bradbury came down to the "Swan," and asked the landlady a question or +two. She gave him short answers. He then told her that he wished to +examine the wine that had come down from Mr. Gardiner's room. + +The landlady looked him in the face, and said it had been drunk by the +servants or thrown away long ago. + +"I have my doubts of that," said he. + +"And welcome," said she. + +Then he wished to examine the keyholes. + +"No," said she; "there has been prying enough into my house." + +Said he angrily, "You are obstructing justice. It is very suspicious." + +"It is you that is suspicious, and a mischief-maker into the bargain," +said she. "How do I know what you might put into my wine and my +keyholes, and say you found it? You are well known, you Bow Street +runners, for your hanky-panky tricks. Have you got a search-warrant, +to throw more discredit upon my house? No? Then pack! and learn the +law before you teach it me." + +Bradbury retired, bitterly indignant, and his indignation strengthened +his faint doubt of Cox's guilt. + +He set a friend to watch the "Swan," and he himself gave his mind to +the whole case, and visited Cox in Newgate three times before his trial. + +The next novelty was that legal assistance was provided for Cox by a +person who expressed compassion for his poverty and inability to defend +himself, guilty or not guilty; and that benevolent person was--Captain +Cowen. + +In due course Daniel Cox was arraigned at the bar of the Old Bailey for +robbery and murder. + +The deposition of the murdered man was put in by the Crown, and the +witnesses sworn who heard it, and Captain Cowen was called to support a +portion of it. He swore that he supped with the deceased and loaded +one pistol for him while Mr. Gardiner loaded the other; lent him the +key of his own door for further security, and himself slept in the City. + +The judge asked him where, and he said, "13 Farringdon Street." + +It was elicited from him that he had provided counsel for the prisoner. + +His evidence was very short and to the point. It did not directly +touch the accused, and the defendant's counsel--in spite of his +client's eager desire--declined to cross-examine Captain Cowen. He +thought a hostile examination of so respectable a witness, who brought +nothing home to the accused, would only raise more indignation against +his client. + +The prosecution was strengthened by the reluctant evidence of Barbara +Lamb. She deposed that three years ago Cox had been detected by her +stealing money from a gentleman's table in the "Swan" Inn, and she gave +the details. + +The judge asked her whether this was at night + +"No, my lord; at about four of the clock. He is never in the house at +night; the mistress can't abide him." + +"Has he any key of the house?" + +"Oh, dear, no, my lord." + +The rest of the evidence for the Crown is virtually before the reader. + +For the defence it was proved that the man was found drunk, with no +money nor keys upon him, and that the knife was found under the wall, +and the blood was traceable from the wall to the stable. Bradbury, who +proved this, tried to get in about the wine; but this was stopped as +irrelevant. "There is only one person under suspicion," said the +Judge, rather sternly. + +As counsel were not allowed in that day to make speeches to the jury, +but only to examine and cross-examine and discuss points of law, Daniel +Cox had to speak in his own defence. + +"My lord," said he, "it was my double done it." + +"Your what?" asked my lord, a little peevishly. + +"My double. There's a rogue prowls about the 'Swan' at nights, which +you couldn't tell him from me. (Laughter.) You needn't to laugh me to +the gallows. I tell ye he have got a nose like mine." (Laughter.) + +Clerk of Arraigns. Keep silence in the court, on pain of imprisonment. + +"And he have got a waistcoat the very spit of mine, and a tumble-down +hat such as I do wear. I saw him go by and let hisself into the 'Swan' +with a key, and I told Sam Pott next morning." + +Judge. Who is Sam Pott? + +Culprit. Why, my stable-boy, to be sure. + +Judge. Is he in court? + +Culprit. I don't know. Ay, there he is, + +Judge. Then you'd better call him. + +Culprit (shouting). Hy! Sam! + +Sam. Here be I. (Loud laughter.) + +The judge explained, calmly, that to call a witness meant to put him in +the box and swear him, and that although it was irregular, yet he +should allow Pott to be sworn, if it would do the prisoner any good. + +Prisoner's counsel said he had no wish to swear Mr. Pott. + +"Well, Mr. Gurney," said the judge, "I don't think he can do you any +harm." Meaning in so desperate a case. + +Thereupon Sam Pott was sworn, and deposed that Cox had told him about +this double. + +"When?" + +"Often and often." + +"Before the murder?" + +"Long afore that." + +Counsel for the Crown. Did you ever see this double? + +"Not I." + +Counsel. I thought not. + +Daniel Cox went on to say that on the night of the murder he was up +with a sick horse, and he saw his double let himself out of the inn the +back way, and then turn round and close the door softly; so he slipped +out to meet him. But the double saw him, and made for the garden wall. +He ran up and caught him with one leg over the wall, and seized a black +bag he was carrying off; the figure dropped it, and he heard a lot Of +money chink: that thereupon he cried "Thieves!" and seized the man; but +immediately received a blow, and lost his senses for a time. When he +came to, the man and the bags were both gone, and he felt so sick that +he staggered to the stable and drank a pint of neat brandy, and he +remembered no more till they pumped on him, and told him he had robbed +and murdered a gentleman inside the "Swan" Inn. "What they can't tell +me," said Daniel, beginning to shout, "is how I could know who has got +money, and who hasn't, inside the 'Swan' Inn. I keeps the stables, not +the inn: and where be my keys to open and shut the 'Swan'? I never had +none. And where's the gentleman's money? 'Twas somebody in the inn as +done it, for to have the money, and when you find the money, you'll +find the man." + +The prosecuting counsel ridiculed this defence, and inter alia asked +the jury whether they thought it was a double the witness Lamb had +caught robbing in the inn three years ago. + +The judge summed up very closely, giving the evidence of every witness. +What follows is a mere synopsis of his charge. + +He showed it was beyond doubt that Mr. Gardiner returned to the inn +with money, having collected his rents in Wiltshire; and this was known +in the inn, and proved by several, and might have transpired in the +yard or the taproom. The unfortunate gentleman took Captain Cowen, a +respectable person, his neighbor in the inn, into his confidence, and +revealed his uneasiness. Captain Cowen swore that he supped with him, +but could not stay all night, most unfortunately. But he encouraged +him, left him his pistols, and helped him load them. + +Then his lordship read the dying man's deposition. The person thus +solemnly denounced was found in the stable, bleeding from a recent +wound, which seems to connect him at once with the deed as described by +the dying man. + +"But here," said my lord, "the chain is no longer perfect. A knife, +taken from the 'Swan,' was found under the garden wall, and the first +traces of blood commenced there, and continued to the stable, and were +abundant on the straw and on the person of the accused. This was +proved by the constable and others. No money was found on him, and no +keys that could have opened any outer doors of the 'Swan' Inn. The +accused had, however, three years before been guilty of a theft from a +gentleman in the inn, which negatives his pretence that he always +confined himself to the stables. It did not, however, appear that on +the occasion of the theft he had unlocked any doors, or possessed the +means. The witness for the Crown, Barbara Lamb, was clear on that. + +"The prisoner's own solution of the mystery was not very credible. He +said he had a double--or a person wearing his clothes and appearance; +and he had seen this person prowling about long before the murder, and +had spoken of the double to one Pott. Pott deposed that Cox had spoken +of this double more than once; but admitted he never saw the double +with his own eyes. + +"This double, says the accused, on the fatal night let himself out of +the 'Swan' Inn and escaped to the garden wall. There he (Cox) came up +with this mysterious person, and a scuffle ensued in which a bag was +dropped and gave the sound of coin; and then Cox held the man and cried +'Thieves!' but presently received a wound and fainted, and on +recovering himself, staggered to the stables and drank a pint of brandy. + +"The story sounds ridiculous, and there is no direct evidence to back +it; but there is a circumstance that lends some color to it. There was +one blood-stained instrument, and no more, found on the premises, and +that knife answers to the description given by the dying man, and, +indeed, may be taken to be the very knife missing from his room; and +this knife was found under the garden wall, and there the blood +commenced and was traced to the stable. + +"Here," said my lord, "to my mind, lies the defence. Look at the case +on all sides, gentlemen: an undoubted murder done by hands; no +suspicion resting on any known person but the prisoner--a man who had +already robbed in the inn; a confident recognition by one whose +deposition is legal evidence, but evidence we cannot cross-examine; and +a recognition by moonlight only and in the heat of a struggle. + +"If on this evidence, weakened not a little by the position of the +knife and the traces of blood, and met by the prisoner's declaration, +which accords with that single branch of the evidence, you have a +doubt, it is your duty to give the prisoner the full benefit of that +doubt, as I have endeavored to do; and if you have no doubt, why then +you have only to support the law and protect the lives of peaceful +citizens. Whoever has committed this crime, it certainly is an +alarming circumstance that, in a public inn, surrounded by honest +people, guarded by locked doors, and armed with pistols, a peaceful +citizen can be robbed like this of his money and his life." + +The jury saw a murder at an inn; an accused, who had already robbed in +that inn, and was denounced as his murderer by the victim. The verdict +seemed to them to be Cox, of impunity. They all slept at inns; a +double they had never seen; undetected accomplices they had all heard +of. They waited twenty minutes, and brought in their verdict--Guilty. + +The judge put on his black cap, and condemned Daniel Cox to be hanged +by the neck till he was dead. + + +CHAPTER III + +After the trial was over, and the condemned man led back to prison to +await his execution, Bradbury went straight to 13 Farringdon Street and +inquired for Captain Cowen. + +"No such name here," said the good woman of the house. + +"But you keep lodgers?" + +"Nay, we keep but one; and he is no captain--he is a City clerk." + +"Well, madam, it is not idle curiosity, I assure you, but was not the +lodger before him Captain Cowen?" + +"Laws, no! It was a parson. Your rakehelly captains wouldn't suit the +like of us. Twas a reverend clerk, a grave old gentleman. He wasn't +very well-to-do, I thinks his cassock was worn, but he paid his way." + +"Keep late hours?" + +"Not when he was in town; but he had a country cure." + +"Then you have let him in after midnight." + +"Nay, I keep no such hours. I lent him a pass-key. He came in and out +from the country when he chose. I would have you to know he was an old +man, and a sober man, and an honest man: I'd wager my life on that. +And excuse me, sir, but who be you, that do catechise me to about my +lodgers?" + +"I am an officer, madam." + +The simple woman turned pale, and clasped her hands. "An officer!" she +cried. "Alack! what have I done now?" + +"Why, nothing, madam," said the wily Bradbury. "An officer's business +is to protect such as you, not to trouble you, for all the world. +There, now, I'll tell you where the shoe pinches. This Captain Cowen +has just sworn in a court of justice that he slept here on the 15th of +last October." + +"He never did, then. Our good parson had no acquaintances in the town. +Not a soul ever visited him." + +"Mother," said a young girl peeping in, "I think he knew somebody of +that very name. He did ask me once to post a letter for him, and it +was to some man of worship, and the name was Cowen, yes--Cowen 'twas. +I'm sure of it. By the same token, he never gave me another letter, +and that made me pay the more attention." + +"Jane, you are too curious," said the mother. + +"And I am very much obliged to you, my little maid," said the officer, +"and also to you, madam," and so took his leave. + + +One evening, all of a sudden, Captain Cowen ordered a prime horse at +the "Swan," strapped his valise on before him, and rode out of the yard +post-haste: he went without drawing bridle to Clapham, and then looked +round him, and, seeing no other horseman near, trotted gently round +into the Borough, then into the City, and slept at an inn in Holborn. +He had bespoken a particular room beforehand.--a little room he +frequented. He entered it with an air of anxiety. But this soon +vanished after he had examined the floor carefully. His horse was +ordered at five o'clock next morning. He took a glass of strong waters +at the door to fortify his stomach, but breakfasted at Uxbridge, and +fed his good horse. He dined at Beaconsfield, halted at Thame, and +supped with his son at Oxford: next day paid all the young man's debts +and spent a week with him. + +His conduct was strange; boisterously gay and sullenly despondent by +turns. During the week came an unexpected visitor, General Sir Robert +Barrington. This officer was going out to America to fill an important +office. He had something in view for young Cowen, and came to judge +quietly of his capacity. But he did not say anything at that time, for +fear of exciting hopes he might possibly disappoint. + +However, he was much taken with the young man. Oxford had polished +him. His modest reticence, until invited to speak, recommended him to +older men, especially as his answers were judicious, when invited to +give his opinion. The tutors also spoke very highly of him. + +"You may well love that boy," said Central Barrington to the father. + +"God bless you for praising him," said the other. "Ay, I love him too +well." + +Soon after the General left, Cowen changed some gold for notes, and +took his departure for London, having first sent word of his return. +He meant to start after breakfast and make one day of it, but he +lingered with his son, and did not cross Magdalen Bridge till one +o'clock. + +This time he rode through Dorchester, Benson, and Henley, and, as it +grew dark, resolved to sleep at Maidenhead. + +Just after Hurley Bottom, at four cross-roads, three highwaymen spurred +on him from right and left. "Your money or your life!" + +He whipped a pistol out of his holster, and pulled at the nearest head +in a moment. + +The pistol missed fire. The next moment a blow from the butt end of a +horse-pistol dazed him, and he was dragged off his horse, and his +valise emptied in a minute. + +Before they had done with him, however, there was a clatter of hoofs, +and the robbers sprang to their nags, and galloped away for the bare +life as a troop of yeomanry rode up. The thing was so common, the +newcomers read the situation at a glance, and some of the best mounted +gave chase. The others attended to Captain Cowen, caught his horse, +strapped on his valise, and took him with them into Maidenhead, his +head aching, his heart sickening and raging by turns. All his gold +gone, nothing left but a few one-pound notes that he had sewed into the +lining of his coat. + +He reached the "Swan" next day in a state of sullen despair. "A curse +is on me," he said. "My pistol miss fire: my gold gone." + +He was welcomed warmly. He stared with surprise. Barbara led the way +to his old room, and opened it. He started back. "Not there," he +said, with a shudder. + +"Alack! Captain, we have kept it for you. Sure you are not afear'd." + +"No," said he, doggedly; "no hope, no fear." + +She stared, but said nothing. + +He had hardly got into the room when, click, a key was turned in the +door of communication. "A traveller there!" said he. Then, bitterly, +"Things are soon forgotten in an inn." + +"Not by me," said Barbara solemnly. "But you know our dame, she can't +let money go by her. 'Tis our best room, mostly, and nobody would use +it that knows the place. He is a stranger. He is from the wars: will +have it he is English, but talks foreign. He is civil enough when he +is sober, but when he has got a drop he does maunder away to be sure, +and sings such songs I never." + +"How long has he been here?" asked Cowen. + +"Five days, and the mistress hopes he will stay as many more, just to +break the spell." + +"He can stay or go," said Cowen. "I am in no humor for company. I +have been robbed, girl." + +"You robbed, sir? Not openly, I am sure." + +"Openly--but by numbers--three of them. I should soon have sped one, +but my pistol snapped fire just like his. There, leave me, girl; fate +is against me, and a curse upon me. Bubbled out of my fortune in the +City, robbed of my gold upon the road. To be honest is to be a fool." + +He flung himself on the bed with a groan of anguish, and the ready +tears ran down soft Barbara's cheeks. She had tact, however, in her +humble way, and did not prattle to a strong man in a moment of wild +distress. She just turned and cast a lingering glance of pity on him, +and went to fetch him food and wine. She had often seen an unhappy man +the better for eating and drinking. + +When she was gone, he cursed himself for his weakness in letting her +know his misfortunes. They would be all over the house soon. "Why, +that fellow next door must have heard me bawl them out. I have lost my +head," said he, "and I never needed it more." + +Barbara returned with the cold powdered beef and carrots, and a bottle +of wine she had paid for herself. She found him sullen, but composed. +He made her solemnly promise not to mention his losses. She consented +readily, and said, "You know I can hold my tongue." + +When he had eaten and drunk, and felt stronger, he resolved to put a +question to her. "How about that poor fellow?" + +She looked puzzled a moment, then turned pale, and said solemnly, "'Tis +for this day week, I hear. 'Twas to be last week, but the King did +respite him for a fortnight." + +"Ah! indeed! Do you know why?" + +"No, indeed. In his place, I'd rather have been put out of the way at +once; for they will surely hang him." + +Now in our day the respite is very rare: a criminal is hanged or +reprieved. But at the period of our story men were often respited for +short or long periods, yet suffered at last. One poor wretch was +respited for two years, yet executed. This respite, therefore, was +nothing unusual, and Cowen, though he looked thoughtful, had no +downright suspicion of anything so serious to himself as really lay +beneath the surface of this not unusual occurrence. + +I shall, however, let the reader know more about it. The judge in +reporting the case notified to the proper authority that he desired His +Majesty to know he was not entirely at ease about the verdict. There +was a lacuna in the evidence against this prisoner. He stated the flaw +in a very few words. But he did not suggest any remedy. + +Now the public clamored for the man's execution, that travellers might +be safe. The King's adviser thought that if the judge had serious +doubts, it was his business to tell the jury so. The order for +execution issued. + +Three days after this the judge received a letter from Bradbury, which +I give verbatim. + + +THE KING vs. COX + +"My Lord,--Forgive my writing to you in a case of blood. There is no +other way. Daniel Cox was not defended. Counsel went against his +wish, and would not throw suspicion on any other. That made it Cox or +nobody. But there was a man in the inn whose conduct was suspicious. +He furnished the wine that made the victim sleepy--and I must tell you +the landlady would not let me see the remnant of the wine. She did +everything to baffle me and defeat justice--he loaded two pistols so +that neither could go off. He has got a pass-key, and goes in and out +of the 'Swan' at all hours. He provided counsel for Daniel Cox. That +could only be through compunction. + +"He swore in court that he slept that night at 13 Farringdon Street. +Your lordship will find it on your notes. For 'twas you put the +question, and methinks Heaven inspired you. An hour after the trial I +was at 13 Farringdon Street. No Cowen and no captain had ever lodged +there nor slept there. Present lodger, a City clerk; lodger at date of +murder, an old clergyman that said he had a country cure, and got the +simple body to trust him with a pass-key: so he came in and out at all +hours of the night. This man was no clerk, but, as I believe, the +cracksman that did the job at the 'Swan.' + +"My lord, there is always two in a job of this sort--the professional +man and the confederate. Cowen was the confederate, hocussed the wine, +loaded the pistols, and lent his pass-key to the cracksman. The +cracksman opened the door with his tools, unless Cowen made him +duplicate keys. Neither of them intended violence, or they would have +used their own weapons. The wine was drugged expressly to make that +needless. The cracksman, instead of a black mask, put on a calf-skin +waistcoat and a bottle-nose, and that passed muster for Cox by +moonlight; it puzzled Cox by moonlight, and deceived Gardiner by +moonlight. + +"For the love of God get me a respite for the innocent man, and I will +undertake to bring the crime home to the cracksman and to his +confederate Cowen." + + +Bradbury signed this with His name and quality. + +The judge was not sorry to see the doubt his own wariness had raised so +powerfully confirmed. He sent this missive on to the minister, with +the remark that he had received a letter which ought not to have been +sent to him, but to those in whose hands the prisoner's fate rested. +He thought it his duty, however, to transcribe from his notes the +question he had put to Captain Cowen, and his reply that he had slept +at 13 Parringdon Street on the night of the murder, and also the +substance of the prisoner's defence, with the remark that, as stated by +that uneducated person, it had appeared ridiculous; but that after +studying this Bow Street officer's statements, and assuming them to be +in the main correct, it did not appear ridiculous, but only remarkable, +and it reconciled all the undisputed facts, whereas that Cox was the +murderer was and ever must remain irreconcilable with the position of +the knife and the track of the blood. + +Bradbury's letter and the above comment found their way to the King, +and he granted what was asked--a respite. + +Bradbury and his fellows went to work to find the old clergyman, alias +cracksman. But he had melted away without a trace, and they got no +other clew. But during Cowen's absence they got a traveller, i.e., a +disguised agent, into the inn, who found relics of wax in the key-holes +of Cowen's outer door and of the door of communication. + +Bradbury sent this information in two letters, one to the Judge, and +one to the minister. + +But this did not advance him much. He had long been sure that Cowen +was in it. It was the professional hand, the actual robber and +murderer, he wanted. + +The days succeeded one another: nothing was done. He lamented, too +late, he had not applied for a reprieve, or even a pardon. He deplored +his own presumption in assuming that he could unravel such a mystery +entirely. His busy brain schemed night and day; he lost his sleep, and +even his appetite. At last, in sheer despair, he proposed to himself a +new solution, and acted upon it in the dark and with consummate +subtlety; for he said to himself: "I am in deeper water than I thought +Lord, how they skim a case at the Old Bailey! They take a pond for a +puddle, and go to fathom it with a forefinger." + +Captain Cowen sank into a settled gloom; but he no longer courted +solitude; it gave him the horrors. He preferred to be in company, +though he no longer shone in it. He made acquaintance with his +neighbor, and rather liked him. The man had been in the Commissariat +Department, and seemed half surprised at the honor a captain did him in +conversing with him. But he was well versed in all the incidents of +the late wars, and Cowen was glad to go with him into the past; for the +present was dead, and the future horrible. + +This Mr. Cutler, so deferential when sober, was inclined to be more +familiar when in his cups, and that generally ended in his singing and +talking to himself in his own room in the absurdest way. He never went +out without a black leather case strapped across his back like a +despatch-box. When joked and asked as to the contents, he used to say, +"Papers, papers," curtly. + +One evening, being rather the worse for liquor, he dropped it, and +there was a metallic sound. This was immediately commented on by the +wags of the company. + +"That fell heavy for paper," said one. + +"And there was a ring," said another. + +"Come, unload thy pack, comrade, and show us thy papers." + +Cutler was sobered in a moment, and looked scared. Cowen observed +this, and quietly left the room. He went up-stairs to his own room, +and, mounting on a chair, he found a thin place in the partition and +made an eyelet-hole. + +That very night he made use of this with good effect. Cutler came up +to bed, singing and whistling, but presently threw down something +heavy, and was silent. Cowen spied, and saw him kneel down, draw from +his bosom a key suspended round his neck by a ribbon, and open the +despatch-box. There were papers in it, but only to deaden the sound of +a great many new guineas that glittered in the light of the candle, and +seemed to fire, and fill the receptacle. + +Cutler looked furtively round, plunged his hands in them, took them out +by handfuls, admired them, kissed them, and seemed to worship them, +locked them up again, and put the black case under his pillow. + +While they were glaring in the light, Cowen's eyes flashed with unholy +fire. He clutched his hands at them where he stood, but they were +inaccessible. He sat down despondent, and cursed the injustice of +fate. Bubbled out of money in the City; robbed on the road; but when +another had money, it was safe; he left his keys in the locks of both +doors, and his gold never quitted him. + +Not long after this discovery he got a letter from his son, telling him +that the college bill for battels, or commons, had come in, and he was +unable to pay it; he begged his father to disburse it, or he should +lose credit. + +This tormented the unhappy father, and the proximity of gold tantalized +him so that he bought a phial of laudanum, and secreted it about his +person. + +"Better die," said he, "and leave my boy to Barrington. Such a legacy +from his dead comrade will be sacred, and he has the world at his feet." + +He even ordered a bottle of red port and kept it by him to swill the +laudanum in, and so get drunk and die. + +But when it came to the point he faltered. + +Meantime the day drew near for the execution of Daniel Cox. Bradbury +had undertaken too much; his cracksman seemed to the King's advisers as +shadowy as the double of Daniel Cox. + +The evening before that fatal day Cowen came to a wild resolution; he +would go to Tyburn at noon, which was the hour fixed, and would die +under that man's gibbet--so was this powerful mind unhinged. + +This desperate idea was uppermost in his mind when he went up to his +bedroom. + +But he resisted. No, he would never play the coward while there was a +chance left on the cards; while there is life there is hope. He seized +the bottle, uncorked it, and tossed off a glass. It was potent and +tingled through his veins and warmed his heart. + +He set the bottle down before him. He filled another glass; but before +he put it to his lips jocund noises were heard coming up the stairs, +and noisy, drunken voices, and two boon companions of his neighbor +Cutler--who had a double-bedded room opposite him--parted with him for +the night. He was not drunk enough, it seems, for he kept demanding +"t'other bottle." His friends, however, were of a different opinion; +they bundled him into his room and locked him in from the other side, +and shortly after burst into their own room, and were more garrulous +than articulate. + +Cutler, thus disposed of, kept saying and shouting and whining that he +must have "t'other bottle." In short, any one at a distance would have +thought he was announcing sixteen different propositions, so various +were the accents of anger, grief, expostulation, deprecation, +supplication, imprecation, and whining tenderness in which he declared +he must have "t'other bo'l." + +At last he came bump against the door of communication. "Neighbor," +said he, "your wuship, I mean, great man of war." + +"Well, sir?" + +"Let's have t'other bo'l." + +Cowen's eyes flashed; he took out his phial of laudanum and emptied +about a fifth part of it into the bottle. Cutler whined at the door, +"Do open the door, your wuship, and let's have t'other (hic)." + +"Why, the key is on your side." + +A feeble-minded laugh at the discovery, a fumbling with the key, and +the door opened, and Cutler stood in the doorway, with his cravat +disgracefully loose and his visage wreathed in foolish smiles. His +eyes joggled; he pointed with a mixture of surprise and low cunning at +the table. "Why, there is t'other bo'l! Let's have'm." + +"Nay," said Cowen, "I drain no bottles at this time; one glass suffices +me. I drink your health." He raised his glass. + +Cutler grabbed the bottle and said, brutally, "And I'll drink yours!" +and shut the door with a slam, but was too intent on his prize to lock +it. + +Cowen sat and listened. + +He heard the wine gurgle, and the drunkard draw a long breath of +delight. + +Then there was a pause; then a snatch of song, rather melodious and +more articulate than Mr. Cutler's recent attempts at discourse. + +Then another gurgle and another loud "Ah!" + +Then a vocal attempt, which broke down by degrees. + +Then a snore. + +Then a somnolent remark--"All right!" + +Then a staggering on to his feet. Then a swaying to and fro, and a +subsiding against the door. + +Then by and by a little reel at the bed and a fall flat on the floor. + +Then stertorous breathing. + +Cowen sat still at the keyhole some time, then took off his boots and +softly mounted his chair, and applied his eye to the peep-hole. + +Cutler was lying on his stomach between the table and the bed. + +Cowen came to the door on tiptoe and turned the handle gently; the door +yielded. + +He lost nerve for the first time in his life. What horrible shame, +should the man come to his senses and see him! + +He stepped back into his own room, ripped up his portmanteau, and took +out, from between the leather and the lining, a disguise and a mask. +He put them on. + +Then he took his loaded cane; for he thought to himself, "No more +stabbing in that room," and he crept through the door like a cat. + +The man lay breathing stertorously, and his lips blowing out at every +exhalation like lifeless lips urged by a strong wind, so that Cowen +began to fear, not that he might wake, but that he might die. + +It flashed across him he should have to leave England. + +What he came to do seemed now wonderfully easy; he took the key by its +ribbon carefully off the sleeper's neck; unlocked the despatch-box, +took off his hat, put the gold into it, locked the despatch-box, +replaced the key, took up his hatful of money, and retired slowly on +tiptoe as he came. + +He had but deposited his stick and the booty on the bed, when the sham +drunkard pinned him from behind, and uttered a shrill whistle. With a +fierce snarl Cowen whirled his captor round like a feather, and dashed +with him against the post of his own door, stunning the man so that he +relaxed his hold, and Cowen whirled him round again, and kicked him in +the stomach so felly that he was doubled up out of the way, and +contributed nothing more to the struggle except his last meal. At this +very moment two Bow Street runners rushed madly upon Cowen through the +door of communication. He met one in full career with a blow so +tremendous that it sounded through the house, and drove him all across +the room against the window, where he fell down senseless; the other he +struck rather short, and though the blood spurted and the man +staggered, he was on him again in a moment, and pinned him. Cowen, a +master of pugilism, got his head under his left shoulder, and pommelled +him cruelly; but the fellow managed to hold on, till a powerful foot +kicked in the door at a blow, and Bradbury himself sprang on Captain +Cowen with all the fury of a tiger; he seized him by the throat from +behind, and throttled him, and set his knee to his back; the other, +though mauled and bleeding, whipped out a short rope, and pinioned him +in a turn of the hand. Then all stood panting but the disabled men, +and once more the passage and the room were filled with pale faces and +panting bosoms. + +Lights flashed on the scene, and instantly loud screams from the +landlady and her maids, and as they screamed they pointed with +trembling fingers. + +And well they might. There--caught red-handed in an act of robbery and +violence, a few steps from the place of the mysterious murder, stood +the stately figure of Captain Cowen and the mottled face and bottle +nose of Daniel Cox condemned to die an just twelve hours' time. + + +CHAPTER IV + +"Ay, scream, ye fools," roared Bradbury, "that couldn't see a church by +daylight." Then, shaking his fist at Cowen, "Thou villain! 'Tisn't +one man you have murdered, 'tis two. But please God I'll save one of +them yet, and hang you in his place. Way, there! not a moment to lose." + +In another minute they were all in the yard, and a hackney-coach sent +for. + +Captain Cowen said to Bradbury, "This thing on my face is choking me." + +"Oh, better than you have been choked--at Tyburn and all." + +"Hang me. Don't pillory me. I've served my country." + +Bradbury removed the wax mask. He said afterward he had no power to +refuse the villain, he was so grand and gentle. + +"Thank you, sir. Now, what can I do for you? Save Daniel Cox?" + +"Ay, do that, and I'll forgive you." + +"Give me a sheet of paper." + +Bradbury, impressed by the man's tone of sincerity, took him into the +bar, and getting all his men round him, placed paper and ink before him. + +He addressed to General Barrington, in attendance on His Majesty, +these:-- + + +General,--See His Majesty betimes, tell him from me that Daniel Cox, +condemned to die at noon, is innocent, and get him a reprieve. O +Barrington, come to your lost comrade. The bearer will tell you where +I am. I cannot. + +EDWARD COWEN. + + +"Send a man you can trust to Windsor with that, and take me to my most +welcome death." + +A trusty officer was despatched to Windsor, and in about an hour Cowen +was lodged in Newgate. + +All that night Bradbury labored to save the man that was condemned to +die. He knocked up the sheriff of Middlesex, and told him all. + +"Don't come to me," said the sheriff; "go to the minister." + +He rode to the minister's house. The minister was up. His wife gave a +ball--windows blaring, shadows dancing--musics--lights. Night turned +into day. Bradbury knocked. The door flew open, and revealed a line +of bedezined footmen, dotted at intervals Up the stairs. + +"I must see my lord. Life or death. I'm an officer from Bow Street." + +"You can't see my lord. Ha is entertaining the Prootian Ambassador and +his sweet." + +"I must see him, or an innocent man will die to-morrow. Tell him so. +Here's a guinea." + +"Is there? Step aside here." + +He waited in torments till the message went through the gamut of +lackeys, and got, more or less mutilated, to the minister. + +He detached a buffet, who proposed to Mr. Bradbury to call at the +Do-little office in Westminster next morning. + +"No," said Bradbury, "I don't leave the house till I see him. Innocent +blood shall not be spilled for want of a word in time." + +The buffer retired, and in came a duffer who said the occasion was not +convenient. + +"Ay, but it is," said Bradbury, "and if my lord is not here in five +minutes, I'll go up-stairs and tell my tale before them all, and see if +they are all hair-dressers' dummies, without heart or conscience or +sense." + +In five minutes in came a gentleman, with an order on his breast, and +said, "You are a Bow Street officer?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Name?" + +"Bradbury." + +"You say the man condemned to die to-morrow is innocent?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"How do you know?" + +"Just taken the real culprit." + +"When is the other to suffer?" + +"Twelve to-morrow." + +"Seems short time. Humph! Will you be good enough to take a line to +the sheriff? Formal message to-morrow." The actual message ran:-- + + +"Delay execution of Cox till we hear from Windsor. Bearer will give +reasons." + + +With this Bradbury hurried away, not to the sheriff, but to the prison, +and infected the jailor and the chaplain and all the turnkeys, with +pity for the condemned, and the spirit of delay. + +Bradbury breakfasted, and washed his face, and off to the sheriff. +Sheriff was gone out. Bradbury hunted him from pillar to post, and +could find him nowhere. He was at last obliged to go and wait for him +at Newgate. + +He arrived at the stroke of twelve to superintend the execution. +Bradbury put the minister's note into his hand. + +"This no use," said he. "I want an order from His Majesty, or the +Privy Council at least." + +"Not to delay," suggested the chaplain. "You have an the day for it." + +"All the day! I can't be all the day hanging a single man. My time is +precious, gentlemen." Then, his bark being worse than his bite, he +said, "I shall come again at four o'clock, and then, if there is no +news from Windsor, the law must take its course." + +He never came again, though, for, even as he turned his back to retire, +there was a faint cry from the farthest part of the crowd, a paper +raised on a hussar's lance, and as the mob fell back on every aide, a +royal aide-de-camp rode up, followed closely by the mounted runner, and +delivered to the sheriff a reprieve under the sign-manual of His +Majesty George the First. + +At 2 P.M. of the same day Gen. Sir Robert Barrington reached Newgate, +and saw Captain Cowen in private. That unhappy man fell on his knees +and made a confession. + +Barrington was horrified, and turned as cold as ice to him. He stood +erect as a statue. "A soldier to rob!" said he. "Murder was bad +enough--but to rob!" + +Cowen, with his head and hands all hanging down, could only say, +faintly, "I have been robbed and ruined, and it was for my boy. Ah, +me! what will become of him? I have lost my soul for him, and now he +will be ruined and disgraced--by me, who would have died for him." The +strong man shook with agony, and his head and hands almost touched the +ground. + +Sir Robert Barrington looked at him and pondered. + +"No," said he, relenting a little, "that is the one thing I can do for +you. I had made up my mind to take your son to Canada as my secretary, +and I will take him. But he must change his name. I sail next +Thursday." + +The broken man stared wildly; then started up and blessed him; and from +that moment the wild hope entered his breast that he might keep his son +unstained by his crime, and even ignorant of it. + +Barrington said that was impossible; but yielded to the father's +prayers, and consented to act as if it was possible. He would send a +messenger to Oxford, with money and instructions to bring the young man +up and put him on board the ship at Gravesend. + +This difficult scheme once conceived, there was not a moment to be +lost. Barrington sent down a mounted messenger to Oxford, with money +and instructions. + +Cowen sent for Bradbury, and asked him when he was to appear at Bow +Street. + +"To-morrow, I suppose." + +"Do me a favor. Get all your witnesses; make the case complete, and +show me only once to the public before I am tried." + +"Well, Captain," said Bradbury, "you were square with me about poor +Cox. I don't see as it matters much to you; but I'll not say you nay." +He saw the solicitor for the Crown, and asked a few days to collect all +his evidence. The functionary named Friday. + +This was conveyed next day to Cowen, and put him in a fever; it gave +him a chance of keeping his son ignorant, but no certainty. Ships were +eternally detained at Gravesend waiting for a wind; there were no +steam-tugs then to draw them into blue water. Even going down the +Channel, letters boarded them if the wind slacked. He walked his room +to and fro, like a caged tiger, day and night. + +Wednesday evening Barrington came with the news that his son was at the +"Star" in Cornhill. "I have got him to bed," said he, "and, Lord +forgive me, I have let him think he will see you before we go down to +Gravesend to-morrow." + +"Then let me see him," said the miserable father. "He shall know +nought from me." + +They applied to the jailer, and urged that he could be a prisoner all +the time, surrounded by constables in disguise. No; the jailer would +not risk his place and an indictment. Bradbury was sent for, and made +light of the responsibility. "I brought him here," said he, "and I +will take him to the 'Star,' I and my fellows. Indeed, he will give us +no trouble this time. Why, that would blow the gaff, and make the +young gentleman fly to the whole thing." + +"It can only be done by authority," was the jailer's reply. + +"Then by authority it shall be done," said Sir Robert "Mr. Bradbury, +have three men here with a coach at one o'clock, and a regiment, if you +like, to watch the 'Star.'" + + +Punctually at one came Barrington with an authority. It was a request +from the Queen. The jailer took it respectfully. It was an authority +not worth a button; but he knew he could not lose his place, with this +writing to brandish at need. + +The father and son dined with the General at the "Star." Bradbury and +one of his fellows waited as private servants; other officers, in plain +clothes, watched back and front. + +At three o'clock father and son parted, the son with many tears, the +father with dry eyes, but a voice that trembled as he blessed him. + +Young Cowen, now Morris, went down to Gravesend with his chief; the +criminal back to Newgate, respectfully bowed from the door of the +"Star" by landlord and waiters. + +At first he was comparatively calm, but as the night advanced became +restless, and by and by began to pace his cell again like a caged lion. + +At twenty minutes past eleven a turnkey brought him a line; a horseman +had galloped in with it from Gravesend. + +"A fair wind--we weigh anchor at the full tide. It is a merchant +vessel, and the Captain under my orders to keep off shore and take no +messages. Farewell. Turn to the God you have forgotten. He alone can +pardon you." + +On receiving this note, Cowen betook him to his knees. + +In this attitude the jailer found him when he went his round. + +He waited till the Captain rose, and then let him know that an able +lawyer was in waiting, instructed to defend him at Bow Street next +morning. The truth is, the females of the "Swan" had clubbed money for +this purposes. + +Cowen declined to see him. "I thank you, sir," said he, "I will defend +myself." + +He said, however, he had a little favor to ask. + +"I have been," said he, "of late much agitated and fatigued, and a sore +trial awaits me in the morning. A few hours of unbroken sleep would be +a boon to me." + +"The turnkeys must come in to see you are all right." + +"It is their duty; but I will lie in sight of the door if they will be +good enough not to wake me." + +"There can be no objection to that; Captain, and I am glad to see you +calmer." + +"Thank you; never calmer in my life." + +He got his pillow, set two chairs, and composed himself to sleep. He +put the candle on the table, that the turnkeys might peep through the +door and see him. + +Once or twice they peeped in very softly, and saw him sleeping in the +full light of the candle, to moderate which, apparently, he had thrown +a white handkerchief over his face. + +At nine in the morning they brought him his breakfast, as he must be at +Bow Street between ten and eleven. + +When they came so near him, it struck them he lay too still. + +They took off the handkerchief. + +He had been dead some hours. + +Yes, there, calm, grave, and noble, incapable, as it seemed, either of +the passions that had destroyed him or the tender affection which +redeemed yet inspired his crimes, lay the corpse of Edward Cowen. + +Thus miserably perished a man in whom were many elements of greatness. + +He left what little money he had to Bradbury, in a note imploring him +to keep particulars out of the journals, for his son's sake; and such +was the influence on Bradbury of the scene at the "Star," the man's +dead face, and his dying words, that, though public detail was his +interest, nothing transpired but that the gentleman who had been +arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the murder at the "Swan" +Inn had committed suicide: to which was added by another hand: "Cox, +however, has the King's pardon, and the affair still remains shrouded +with mystery." + +Cox was permitted to see the body of Cowen, and, whether the features +had gone back to youth, or his own brain, long sobered in earnest, had +enlightened his memory, recognized him as a man he had seen committed +for horse-stealing at Ipswich, when he himself was the mayor's groom; +but some girl lent the accused a file, and he cut his way out of the +cage. + +Cox's calamity was his greatest blessing. He went into Newgate +scarcely knowing there was a God; he came out thoroughly enlightened in +that respect by the teaching of the chaplain and the death of Cowen. +He went in a drunkard; the noose that dangled over his head so long +terrified him into life-long sobriety--for he laid all the blame on +liquor--and he came out as bitter a foe to drink as drink had been to +him. + +His case excited sympathy; a considerable sum was subscribed to set him +up in trade. He became a horse-dealer on a small scale: but he was +really a most excellent judge of horses, and, being sober, enlarged his +business; horsed a coach or two; attended fairs, and eventually made a +fortune by dealing in cavalry horses under government contracts. + +As his money increased, his nose diminished, and when he died, old and +regretted, only a pink tinge revealed the habits of his earlier life. + +Mrs. Martha Cust and Barbara Lamb were no longer sure, but they doubted +to their dying day the innocence of the ugly fellow, and the guilt of +the handsome, civil-spoken gentleman. + +But they converted nobody to their opinion; for they gave their reasons. + + + + +THE COURTING OF DINAH SHADD + +By RUDYARD KIPLING + + +I + +All day I had followed at the heels of a pursuing army, engaged on one +of the finest battles that ever camp of exercise beheld. Thirty +thousand troops had by the wisdom of the government of India been +turned loose over a few thousand square miles of country to practice in +peace what they would never attempt in war. The Army of the South had +finally pierced the center of the Army of the North, and was pouring +through the gap, hot-foot, to capture a city of strategic importance. +Its front extended fanwise, the sticks being represented by regiments +strung out along the line of route backward to the divisional transport +columns, and all the lumber that trails behind an army on the move. On +its right the broken left of the Army of the North was flying in mass, +chased by the Southern horse and hammered by the Southern guns, till +these had been pushed far beyond the limits of their last support. +Then the flying Army of the North sat down to rest, while the +commandant of the pursuing force telegraphed that he held it in check +and observation. + +Unluckily he did not observe that three miles to his right flank a +flying column of Northern horse, with a detachment of Goorkhas and +British troops, had been pushed round, as fast as the falling light +allowed, to cut across the entire rear of the Southern Army, to break, +as it were, all the ribs of the fan where they converged, by striking +at the transport reserve, ammunition, and artillery supplies. Their +instructions were to go in, avoiding the few scouts who might not have +been drawn off by the pursuit, and create sufficient excitement to +impress the Southern Army with the wisdom of guarding their own flank +and rear before they captured cities. It was a pretty maneuver, neatly +carried out. + +Speaking for the second division of the Southern Army, our first +intimation of it was at twilight, when the artillery were laboring in +deep sand, most of the escort were trying to help them out, and the +main body of the infantry had gone on. A Noah's ark of elephants, +camels, and the mixed menagerie of an Indian transport train bubbled +and squealed behind the guns, when there rose up from nowhere in +particular British infantry to the extent of three companies, who +sprung to the heads of the gun-horses, and brought all to a standstill +amid oaths and cheers. + +"How's that, umpire?" said the major commanding the attack, and with +one voice the drivers and limber gunners answered, "Hout!" while the +colonel of artillery sputtered. + +"All your scouts are charging our main body," said the major. "Your +flanks are unprotected for two miles. I think we've broken the back of +this division. And listen! there go the Goorkhas!" + +A weak fire broke from the rear-guard more than a mile away, and was +answered by cheerful howlings. The Goorkhas, who should have swung +clear of the second division, had stepped on its tail in the dark, but, +drawing off, hastened to reach the next line, which lay almost parallel +to us, five or six miles away. + +Our column swayed and surged irresolutely--three batteries, the +divisional ammunition reserve, the baggage, and a section of hospital +and bearer corps. The commandant ruefully promised to report himself +"cut up" to the nearest umpire, and commending his cavalry and all +other cavalry to the care of Eblis, toiled on to resume touch with the +rest of the division. + +"We'll bivouac here to-night," said the major. "I have a notion that +the Ghoorkhas will get caught. They may want us to reform on. Stand +easy till the transport gets away." + +A hand caught my beast's bridle and led him out of the choking dust; a +larger hand deftly canted me out of the saddle, and two of the hugest +hands in the world received me sliding. Pleasant is the lot of the +special correspondent who falls into such hands as those of Privates +Mulvaney, Ortheris, and Learoyd. + +"An' that's all right," said the Irishman, calmly. "We thought we'd +find you somewheres here by. Is there anything of yours in the +transport? Orth'ris'll fetch ut out." + +Ortheris did "fetch ut out" from under the trunk of an elephant in the +shape of a servant and an animal, both laden with medical comforts. +The little man's eyes sparkled. + +"If the brutil an' licentious soldiery av these parts gets sight av the +thruck," said Mulvaney, making practiced investigation, "they'll loot +ev'rything. They're bein' fed on iron-filin's an' dog biscuit these +days, but glory's no compensation for a bellyache. Praise be, we're +here to protect you, sorr. Beer, sausage, bread (soft, an' that's a +cur'osity), soup in a tin, whisky by the smell av ut, an' fowls. +Mother av Moses, but ye take the field like a confectioner! 'Tis +scand'lus." + +"'Ere's a orficer," said Ortheris, significantly. "When the sergent's +done lushin', the privit may clean the pot." + +I bundled several things into Mulvaney's haversack before the major's +hand fell on my shoulder, and he said, tenderly: "Requisitioned for the +queen's service. Wolseley was quite wrong about special +correspondents. They are the best friends of the soldier. Come an' +take pot-luck with us to-night." + +And so it happened amid laughter and shoutings that my well-considered +commissariat melted away to reappear on the mess-table, which was a +water-proof sheet spread on the ground. The flying column had taken +three days' rations with it, and there be few things nastier than +government rations--especially when government is experimenting with +German toys. Erbswurst, tinned beef, of surpassing tinniness, +compressed vegetables, and meat biscuits may be nourishing, but what +Thomas Atkins wants is bulk in his inside. The major, assisted by his +brother officers, purchased goats for the camp, and so made the +experiment of no effect. Long before the fatigue-party sent to collect +brushwood had returned, the men were settled down by their valises, +kettles and pots had appeared from the surrounding country, and were +dangling over fires as the kid and the compressed vegetables bubbled +together; there rose a cheerful clinking of mess tins, outrageous +demands for a "little more stuffin' with that there liver wing," and +gust on gust of chaff as pointed as a bayonet and as delicate as a +gun-butt. + +"The boys are in a good temper," said the major. "They'll be singing +presently. Well, a night like this is enough to keep them happy." + +Over our heads burned the wonderful Indian stars, which are not all +pricked in on one plane, but preserving an orderly perspective, draw +the eye through the velvet darkness of the void up to the barred doors +of heaven itself. The earth was a gray shadow more unreal than the +sky. We could hear her breathing lightly in the pauses between the +howling of the jackals, the movement of the wind in the tamarisks, and +the fitful mutter of musketry fire leagues away to the left. A native +woman in some unseen hut began to sing, the mail train thundered past +on its way to Delhi, and a roosting crow cawed drowsily. Then there +was a belt-loosening silence about the fires, and the even breathing of +the crowded earth took up the story. + +The men, full fed, turned to tobacco and song--their officers with +them. Happy is the subaltern who can win the approval of the musical +critics in his regiment, and is honored among the more intricate step +dancers. By him, as by him who plays cricket craftily, will Thomas +Atkins stand in time of need when he will let a better officer go on +alone. The ruined tombs of forgotten Mussulman saints heard the ballad +of "Agra Town," "The Buffalo Battery," "Marching to Cabul," "The long, +long Indian Day," "The Place Where the Punkah Coolie Died," and that +crashing chorus which announces + + "Youth's daring spirit, manhood's fire, + Firm hand, and eagle eye + Must be acquire who would aspire + To see the gray boar die." + + +To-day, of all those jovial thieves who appropriated my commissariat, +and lay and laughed round that water-proof sheet, not one remains. +They went to camps that were not of exercise, and battles without +umpires. Burma, the Soudan, and the frontier fever and fight took them +in their time. + +I drifted across to the men's fires in search of Mulvaney, whom I found +greasing his feet by the blaze. There is nothing particularly lovely +in the sight of a private thus engaged after a long day's march, but +when you reflect on the exact proportion of the "might, majesty, +dominion, and power" of the British Empire that stands on those feet, +you take an interest in the proceedings. + +"There's a blister--bad luck to ut!--on the heel," said Mulvaney. "I +can't touch it. Prick ut out, little man." + +Ortheris produced his housewife, eased the trouble with a needle, +stabbed Mulvaney in the calf with the same weapon, and was +incontinently kicked into the fire. + +"I've bruk the best av my toes over you, ye grinnin' child av +disruption!" said Mulvaney, sitting cross-legged and nursing his feet; +then, seeing me: "Oh, ut's you, sorr! Be welkim, an' take that +maraudin' scut's place. Jock, hould him down on the cindhers for a +bit." + +But Ortheris escaped and went elsewhere as I took possession of the +hollow he had scraped for himself and lined with his greatcoat. +Learoyd, on the other side of the fire, grinned affably, and in a +minute fell fast asleep. + +"There's the height av politeness for you," said Mulvaney, lighting his +pipe with a flaming branch. "But Jock's eaten half a box av your +sardines at wan gulp, an' I think the tin too. What's the best wid +you, sorr; an' how did you happen to be on the losin' side this day +when we captured you?" + +"The Army of the South is winning all along the line," I said. + +"Thin that line's the hangman's rope, savin' your presence. You'll +learn to-morrow how we retreated to dhraw thim on before we made thim +trouble, an' that's what a woman does. By the same token, we'll be +attacked before the dawnin', an' ut would be betther not to slip your +boots. How do I know that? By the light av pure reason. Here are +three companies av us ever so far inside av the enemy's flank, an' a +crowd av roarin', t'arin', an' squealin' cavalry gone on just to turn +out the whole nest av thim. Av course the enemy will pursue by +brigades like as not, an' then we'll have to run for ut. Mark my +words. I am av the opinion av Polonius, whin he said: 'Don't fight wid +ivry scut for the pure joy av fightin'; but if you do, knock the nose +av him first an' frequint!' We ought to ha' gone on an' helped the +Goorkhas." + +"But what do you know about Polonius?" I demanded. This was a new side +of Mulvaney's character. + +"All that Shakespeare ever wrote, an' a dale more that the gallery +shouted," said the man of war, carefully lacing his boots. "Did I not +tell you av Silver's Theater in Dublin whin I was younger than I am +now, an' a patron av the drama? Ould Silver wud never pay actor, man +or woman, their just dues, an' by consequence his comp'nies was +collapsible at the last minut. Then the bhoys would clamor to take a +part, an' oft as not ould Silver made them pay for the fun. Faith, +I've seen Hamlut played wid a new black eye, an' the queen as full as a +cornucopia. I remember wanst Hogin, that 'listed in the Black Tyrone +an' was shot in South Africa, he sejuced ould Silver into givin' him +Hamlut's part instid av me, that had a fine fancy for rhetoric in those +days. Av course I wint into the gallery an' began to fill the pit wid +other people's hats, an' I passed the time av day to Hogin walkin' +through Denmark like a hamstrung mule wid a pall on his back. +'Hamlut,' sez I, 'there's a hole in your heel. Pull up your +shtockin's, Hamlut,' sez I. 'Hamlut, Hamlut, for the love av decincy, +dhrop that skull, an' pull up your shtockin's.' The whole house began +to tell him that. He stopped his soliloquishms mid between. 'My +shtockin's may be comin' down, or they may not,' sez he, screwin' his +eye into the gallery, for well he knew who I was; 'but afther the +performince is over, me an' the Ghost'll trample the guts out av you, +Terence, wid your ass's bray.' An' that's how I come to know about +Hamlut. Eyah! Those days, those days! Did you iver have onendin' +devilmint, an' nothin' to pay for it in your life, sorr?" + +"Never without having to pay," I said. + +"That's thrue. 'Tis mane, whin you considher on ut; but ut's the same +wid horse or fut. A headache if you dhrink, an' a bellyache if you eat +too much, an' a heartache to kape all down. Faith, the beast only gets +the colic, an' he's the lucky man." + +He dropped his head and stared into the fire, fingering his mustache +the while. From the far side of the bivouac the voice of Corbet-Nolan, +senior subaltern of B Company, uplifted itself in an ancient and +much-appreciated song of sentiment, the men moaning melodiously behind +him: + + "The north wind blew coldly, she dropped from that hour, + My own little Kathleen, my sweet little Kathleen, + Kathleen, my Kathleen, Kathleen O'Moore!" + +with forty-five o's in the last word. Even at that distance you might +have cut the soft South Irish accent with a shovel. + +"For all we take we must pay; but the price is cruel high," murmured +Mulvaney when the chorus had ceased. + +"What's the trouble?" I said gently, for I knew that he was a man of an +inextinguishable sorrow. + +"Hear now," said he. "Ye know what I am now. I know what I mint to be +at the beginnin' av my service. I've tould you time an' again, an' +what I have not, Dinah Shadd has. An' what am I? Oh, Mary Mother av +Hiven! an ould dhrunken, untrustable baste av a privit that has seen +the regiment change out from colonel to drummer-boy, not wanst or +twict, but scores av times. Ay, scores! An' me not so near gettin' +promotion as in the furst. An' me livin' on an' kapin' clear o' clink +not by my own good conduck, but the kindness av some orf'cer-bhoy young +enough to be son to me! Do I not know ut? Can I not tell whin I'm +passed over at p'rade, tho' I'm rockin' full av liquor an' ready to +fall all in wan piece, such as even a suckin' child might see, bekase, +'Oh, 'tis only ould Mulvaney!' An' whin I'm let off in the +ord'ly-room, through some thrick av the tongue an' a ready answer an' +the ould man's mercy, is ut smilin' I feel whin I fall away an' go back +to Dinah Shadd, thryin' to carry ut all off as a joke? Not I. 'Tis +hell to me--dumb hell through ut all; an' next time whin the fit comes +I will be as bad again. Good cause the reg'ment has to know me for the +best soldier in ut. Better cause have I to know mesilf for the worst +man. I'm only fit to tache the new drafts what I'll never learn +myself; an' I am sure as tho' I heard ut, that the minut wan av these +pink-eyed recruities gets away from my 'Mind ye now,' an' 'Listen to +this, Jim, bhoy,' sure I am that the sergint houlds me up to him for a +warnin'. So I tache, as they say at musketry instruction, by direct +an' ricochet fire. Lord be good to me! for I have stud some trouble." + +"Lie down and go to sleep," said I, not being able to comfort or +advise. "You're the best man in the regiment, and, next to Ortheris, +the biggest fool. Lie down, and wait till we're attacked. What force +will they turn out? Guns, think you?" + +"Thry that wid your lorrds an' ladies, twistin' an' turnin' the talk, +tho' you mint ut well. Ye cud say nothin' to help me, an' yet ye never +knew what cause I had to be what I am." + +"Begin at the beginning and go on to the end," I said, royally. "But +rake up the fire a bit first." I passed Ortheris' bayonet for a poker. + +"That shows how little you know what to do," said Mulvaney, putting it +aside. "Fire takes all the heart out av the steel, an' the next time, +maybe, that our little man is fightin' for his life his bradawl'll +break, an' so you'll 'ave killed him, m'anin' no more than to kape +yourself warm. 'Tis a recruity's thrick that. Pass the cl'anin'-rod, +sorr." + +I snuggled down, abashed, and after an interval the low, even voice of +Mulvaney began. + + +II + +"Did I ever tell you how Dinah Shadd came to be wife av mine?" + +I dissembled a burning anxiety that I had felt for some months--ever +since Dinah Shadd, the strong, the patient, and the infinitely tender, +had, of her own good love and free will, washed a shirt for me, moving +in a barren land where washing was not. + +"I can't remember," I said, casually. "Was it before or after you made +love to Annie Bragin, and got no satisfaction?" + +The story of Annie Bragin is written in another place. It is one of +the many episodes in Mulvaney's checkered career. + +"Before--before--long before was that business av Annie Bragin an' the +corp'ril's ghost. Never woman was the worse for me whin I had married +Dinah. There's a time for all things, an' I know how to kape all +things in place--barrin' the dhrink, that kapes me in my place, wid no +hope av comin' to be aught else." + +"Begin at the beginning," I insisted. "Mrs. Mulvaney told me that you +married her when you were quartered in Krab Bokhar barracks." + +"An' the same is a cess-pit," said Mulvaney, piously. "She spoke +thrue, did Dinah. 'Twas this way. Talkin' av that, have ye iver +fallen in love, sorr?" + +I preserved the silence of the damned. Mulvaney continued: + +"Thin I will assume that ye have not. I did. In the days av my youth, +as I have more than wanst told you, I was a man that filled the eye an' +delighted the sowl av women. Niver man was hated as I have been. +Niver man was loved as I--no, not within half a day's march av ut. For +the first five years av my service, whin I was what I wud give my sowl +to be now, I tuk whatever was widin my reach, an' digested ut, an' +that's more than most men can say. Dhrink I tuk, an' ut did me no +harm. By the hollow av hiven, I could play wid four women at wanst, +an' kape thim from findin' out anything about the other three, and +smile like a full-blown marigold through ut all. Dick Coulhan, of the +battery we'll have down on us to-night, could dhrive his team no better +than I mine; an' I hild the worser cattle. An' so I lived an' so I was +happy, till afther that business wid Annie Bragin--she that turned me +off as cool as a meat-safe, an' taught me where I stud in the mind av +an honest woman. 'Twas no sweet dose to take. + +"Afther that I sickened a while an' tuk thought to my reg'mental work, +conceiting mesilf I wud study an' be a sargint, an' a major-gineral +twinty minutes afther that. But on top o' my ambitiousness there was +an empty place in my sowl, an' me own opinion av mesilf cud not fill +ut.' Sez I to mesilf: 'Terence, you're a great man an' the best set up +in the reg'ment. Go on an' get promotion.' Sez mesilf to me, 'What +for?' Sez I to mesilf, 'For the glory av ut.' Sez mesilf to me, 'Will +that fill these two strong arrums av yours, Terence?' 'Go to the +devil,' sez I to mesilf. 'Go to the married lines,' sez mesilf to me. +''Tis the same thing,' sez I to mesilf. 'Av you're the same man, ut +is,' said mesilf to me. An' wid that I considhered on ut a long while. +Did you iver feel that way, sorr?" + +I snored gently, knowing that if Mulvaney were uninterrupted he would +go on. The clamor from the bivouac fires beat up to the stars as the +rival singers of the companies were pitted against each other. + +"So I felt that way, an' a bad time ut was. Wanst, bein' a fool, I +went into the married lines, more for the sake av speakin' to our ould +color-sergint Shadd than for any thruck wid wimmen-folk. I was a +corp'ril then--rejuced aftherwards; but a corp'ril then. I've got a +photograft av mesilf to prove ut. 'You'll take a cup av tay wid us?' +sez he. 'I will that,' I sez; 'tho' tay is not my diversion.' ''Twud +be better for you if ut were,' sez ould Mother Shadd. An' she had +ought to know, for Shadd, in the ind av his service, dhrank bung-full +each night. + +"Wid that I tuk off my gloves--there was pipe-clay in thim so that they +stud alone--an' pulled up my chair, lookin' round at the china +ornamints an' bits av things in the Shadds' quarters. They were things +that belonged to a woman, an' no camp kit, here to-day an' dishipated +next. 'You're comfortable in this place, sergint,' sez I. ''Tis the +wife that did ut, boy,' sez he, pointin' the stem av his pipe to ould +Mother Shadd, an' she smacked the top av his bald head upon the +compliment. 'That manes you want money,' sez she. + +"An' thin--an' thin whin the kittle was to be filled, Dinah came in--my +Dinah--her sleeves rowled up to the elbow, an' her hair in a gowlden +glory over her forehead, the big blue eyes beneath twinklin' like stars +on a frosty night, an' the tread of her two feet lighter than waste +paper from the colonel's basket in ord'ly-room when ut's emptied. +Bein' but a shlip av a girl, she went pink at seein' me, an' I twisted +me mustache an' looked at a picture forninst the wall. Never show a +woman that ye care the snap av a finger for her, an', begad, she'll +come bleatin' to your boot heels." + +"I suppose that's why you followed Annie Bragin till everybody in the +married quarters laughed at you," said I, remembering that unhallowed +wooing, and casting off the disguise of drowsiness. + +"I'm layin' down the gineral theory av the attack," said Mulvaney, +driving his foot into the dying fire. "If you read the 'Soldier's +Pocket-Book,' which never any soldier reads, you'll see that there are +exceptions. When Dinah was out av the door (an' 'twas as tho' the +sunlight had gone too), 'Mother av Hiven, sergint!' sez I, 'but is that +your daughter?' 'I've believed that way these eighteen years,' sez +ould Shadd, his eyes twinklin'. 'But Mrs. Shadd has her own opinion, +like ivry other woman.' ''Tis wid yours this time, for a mericle,' sez +Mother Shadd. 'Then why, in the name av fortune, did I never see her +before?' sez I. 'Bekaze you've been thraipsin' round wid the married +women these three years past. She was a bit av a child till last year, +an' she shot up wid the spring,' sez ould Mother Shadd. 'I'll thraipse +no more,' sez I. 'D'you mane that?' sez ould Mother Shadd, lookin' at +me sideways, like a hen looks at a hawk whin the chickens are runnin' +free. 'Try me, an' tell,' sez I. Wid that I pulled on my gloves, +dhrank off the tea, an' wint out av the house as stiff as at gineral +p'rade, for well I knew that Dinah Shadd's eyes were in the small av my +back out av the scullery window. Faith, that was the only time I +mourned I was not a cav'lryman, for the sake av the spurs to jingle. + +"I wint out to think, an' I did a powerful lot av thinkin', but ut all +came round to that shlip av a girl in the dotted blue dhress, wid the +blue eyes an' the sparkil in them. Thin I kept off canteen, an' I kept +to the married quarthers or near by on the chanst av meetin' Dinah. +Did I meet her? Oh, my time past, did I not, wid a lump in my throat +as big as my valise, an' my heart goin' like a farrier's forge on a +Saturday mornin'! 'Twas 'Good-day to ye, Miss Dinah,' an' 'Good-day +t'you, corp'ril,' for a week or two, an' divil a bit further could I +get, bekase av the respict I had to that girl that I cud ha' broken +betune finger an' thumb." + +Here I giggled as I recalled the gigantic figure of Dinah Shadd when +she handed me my shirt. + +"Ye may laugh," grunted Mulvaney. "But I'm speakin' the trut', an' +'tis you that are in fault. Dinah was a girl that wud ha' taken the +imperiousness out av the Duchess av Clonmel in those days. Flower +hand, foot av shod air, an' the eyes av the mornin' she had. That is +my wife to-day--ould Dinah, an' never aught else than Dinah Shadd to me. + +"'Twas after three weeks standin' off an' on, an' niver makin' headway +excipt through the eyes, that a little drummer-boy grinned in me face +whin I had admonished him wid the buckle av my belt for riotin' all +over the place. 'An' I'm not the only wan that doesn't kape to +barricks,' sez he. I tuk him by the scruff av his neck--my heart was +hung on a hair trigger those days, you will understand--an' 'Out wid +ut,' sez I, 'or I'll lave no bone av you unbruk.' 'Speak to Dempsey,' +sez he, howlin'. 'Dempsey which,' sez I, 'ye unwashed limb av Satan?' +'Of the Bobtailed Dhragoons,' sez he. 'He's seen her home from her +aunt's house in the civil lines four times this fortnight.' 'Child, +sez I, dhroppin' him, 'your tongue's stronger than your body. Go to +your quarters. I'm sorry I dhressed you down.' + +"At that I wint four ways to wanst huntin' Dempsey. I was mad to think +that wid all my airs among women I shud ha' been ch'ated by a +basin-faced fool av a cav'lryman not fit to trust on a mule thrunk. +Presintly I found him in our lines--the Bobtails was quartered next +us--an' a tallowy, top-heavy son av a she-mule he was, wid his big +brass spurs an' his plastrons on his epigastons an' all. But he niver +flinched a hair. + +"'A word wid you, Dempsey,' sez I. 'You've walked wid Dinah Shadd four +times this fortnight gone.' + +"'What's that to you?' sez he. 'I'll walk forty times more, an' forty +on top av that, ye shovel-futted, clod-breakin' infantry +lance-corp'ril.' + +"Before I cud gyard, he had his gloved fist home on me cheek, an' down +I went full sprawl. 'Will that content you?' sez he, blowin' on his +knuckles for all the world like a Scots Grays orf'cer. 'Content?' sez +I. 'For your own sake, man, take off your spurs, peel your jackut, and +onglove. 'Tis the beginnin' av the overture. Stand up!" + +"He stud all he knew, but he niver peeled his jackut, an' his shoulders +had no fair play. I was fightin' for Dinah Shadd an' that cut on me +cheek. What hope had he forninst me? 'Stand up!' sez I, time an' +again, when he was beginnin' to quarter the ground an' gyard high an' +go large. 'This isn't ridin'-school,' sez I. 'Oh, man, stand up, an' +let me get at ye!' But whin I saw he wud be runnin' about, I grup his +shtock in me left an' his waist-belt in me right, an' swung him clear +to me right front, head undher, he hammerin' me nose till the wind was +knocked out av him on the bare ground. 'Stand up,' sez I, 'or I'll +kick your head into your chest.' An' I wud ha' done ut, too, so ragin' +mad I was. + +"'Me collar-bone's bruk,' sez he. 'Help me back to lines. I'll walk +wid her no more.' So I helped him back." + +"And was his collar-bone broken?" I asked, for I fancied that only +Learoyd could neatly accomplish that terrible throw. + +"He pitched on his left shoulder-point. It was. Next day the news was +in both barracks; an' whin I met Dinah Shadd wid a cheek like all the +reg'mintal tailors' samples, there was no 'Good-mornin', corp'ril,' or +aught else. 'An' what have I done, Miss Shadd,' sez I, very bould, +plantin' mesilf forninst her, 'that ye should not pass the time of day?' + +"'Ye've half killed rough-rider Dempsey,' sez she, her dear blue eyes +fillin' up. + +"'Maybe,' sez I. 'Was he a friend av yours that saw ye home four times +in a fortnight?' + +"'Yes,' sez she, very bould; but her mouth was down at the corners. +'An'--an' what's that to you?' + +"'Ask Dempsey,' sez I, purtendin' to go away. + +"'Did you fight for me then, ye silly man?' she sez, tho' she knew ut +all along. + +"'Who else?' sez I; an' I tuk wan pace to the front. + +"'I wasn't worth ut,' sez she, fingerin' her apron. + +"'That's for me to say,' sez I. 'Shall I say ut?' + +"'Yes,' sez she, in a saint's whisper; an' at that I explained mesilf; +an' she tould me what ivry man that is a man, an' many that is a woman, +hears wanst in his life. + +"'But what made ye cry at startin', Dinah, darlin'?' sez I. + +"'Your--your bloody cheek,' sez she, duckin' her little head down on my +sash (I was duty for the day), an' whimperin' like a sorrowful angel. + +"Now, a man cud take that two ways. I tuk ut as pleased me best, an' +my first kiss wid it. Mother av innocence! but I kissed her on the tip +av the nose an' undher the eye, an' a girl that lets a kiss come +tumbleways like that has never been kissed before. Take note av that, +sorr. Thin we wint, hand in hand, to ould Mother Shadd, like two +little childher, an' she said it was no bad thing; an' ould Shadd +nodded behind his pipe, an' Dinah ran away to her own room. That day I +throd on rollin' clouds. All earth was too small to hould me. Begad, +I cud ha' picked the sun out av the sky for a live coal to me pipe, so +magnificent I was. But I tuk recruities at squad-drill, an' began with +general battalion advance whin I shud ha' been balance-steppin' 'em. +Eyah! that day! that day!" + +A very long pause. "Well?" said I. + +"It was all wrong," said Mulvaney, with an enormous sigh. "An' sure I +know that ev'ry bit av ut was me own foolishness. That night I tuk +maybe the half av three pints--not enough to turn the hair of a man in +his natural sinses. But I was more than half dhrunk wid pure joy, an' +that canteen beer was so much whisky to me. I can't tell how ut came +about, but bekase I had no thought for any wan except Dinah, bekase I +hadn't slipped her little white arms from me neck five minutes, bekase +the breath av her kiss was not gone from my mouth, I must go through +the married lines on me way to quarthers, an' I must stay talkin' to a +red-headed Mullengar heifer av a girl, Judy Sheehy, that was daughter +to Mother Sheehy, the wife av Nick Sheehy, the canteen sergint--the +black curse av Shielygh be on the whole brood that are above groun' +this day! + +"'An' what are ye houldin' your head that high for, corp'ril?' sez +Judy. 'Come in an' thry a cup av tay,' she sez, standin' in the +doorway. + +"Bein' an onbustable fool, an' thinkin' av anythin' but tay, I wint." + +"'Mother's at canteen,' sez Judy, smoothin' the hair av hers that was +like red snakes, an' lookin' at me corner-ways out av her green cat's +eyes. 'Ye will not mind, corp'ril?' + +"'I can endure,' sez I. 'Ould Mother Sheehy bein' no divarsion av +mine, nor her daughter too.' Judy fetched the tea-things an' put thim +on the table, leanin' over me very close to get them square. I dhrew +back, thinkin' of Dinah. + +"'Is ut afraid you are av a girl alone?' sez Judy. + +"'No,' sez I. 'Why should I be?' + +"'That rests wid the girl,' sez Judy, dhrawin' her chair next to mine. + +"'Thin there let ut rest,' sez I; an' thinkin' I'd been a trifle +onpolite, I sez, 'The tay's not quite sweet enough for me taste. Put +your little finger in the cup, Judy; 'twill make ut nechthar.' + +"'What's necthar?' sez she. + +"'Somethin' very sweet,' sez I; an' for the sinful life av me I cud not +help lookin' at her out av the corner av my eye, as I was used to look +at a woman. + +"'Go on wid ye, corp'ril,' sez she. 'You're a flirt.' + +"'On me sowl I'm not,' sez I. + +"'Then you're a cruel handsome man, an' that's worse,' sez she, heavin' +big sighs an' lookin' crossways. + +"'You know your own mind,' sez I. + +"''Twud be better for me if I did not,' she sez. + +"'There's a dale to be said on both sides av that,' sez I, not thinkin'. + +"'Say your own part av ut, then, Terence, darlin',' sez she; 'for begad +I'm thinkin' I've said too much or too little for an honest girl;' an' +wid that she put her arms round me neck an' kissed me. + +"'There's no more to be said afther that,' sez I, kissin' her back +again. Oh, the mane scut that I was, my head ringin' wid Dinah Shadd! +How does ut come about, sorr, that whin a man has put the comether on +wan woman he's sure bound to put ut on another? 'Tis the same thing at +musketry. Wan day ev'ry shot goes wide or into the bank, an' the +next--lay high, lay low, sight or snap--ye can't get off the bull's-eye +for ten shots runnin'." + +"That only happens to a man who has had a good deal of experience; he +does it without thinking," I replied. + +"Thankin' you for the complimint, sorr, ut may be so; but I'm doubtin' +whether you mint ut for a complimint. Hear, now. I sat there wid Judy +on my knee, tellin' me all manner av nonsinse, an' only sayin' 'yes' +an' 'no,' when I'd much better ha' kept tongue betune teeth. An' that +was not an hour afther I had left Dinah. What I was thinkin' av I +cannot say. + +"Presently, quiet as a cat, ould Mother Sheehy came in velvet-dhrunk. +She had her daughter's red hair, but 'twas bald in patches, an' I cud +see in her wicked ould face, clear as lightnin', what Judy wud be +twenty year to come. I was for jumpin' up, but Judy niver moved. + +"'Terence has promust, mother,' sez she, an' the cowld sweat bruk out +all over me. + +"Ould Mother Sheehy sat down of a heap, an' began playin' wid the cups. +'Thin you're a well-matched pair,' she sez, very thick; 'for he's the +biggest rogue that iver spoiled the queen's shoe-leather, an'--' + +"'I'm off, Judy,' sez I. 'Ye should not talk nonsinse to your mother. +Get her to bed, girl.' + +"'Nonsinse?' sez the ould woman, prickin' up her ears like a cat, an' +grippin' the table-edge. ''Twill be the most nonsinsical nonsinse for +you, ye grinnin' badger, if nonsinse 'tis. Git clear, you. I'm goin' +to bed.' + +"I ran out into the dhark, me head in a stew an' me heart sick, but I +had sinse enough to see that I'd brought ut all on mesilf. 'It's this +to pass the time av day to a panjandhrum of hell-cats,' sez I. 'What +I've said an' what I've not said do not matther. Judy an' her dam will +hould me for a promust man, an' Dinah will give me the go, an' I +desarve ut. I will go an' get dhrunk,' sez I, 'an' forgit about ut, +for 'tis plain I'm not a marryin' man.' + +"On me way to canteen I ran against Lascelles, color-sergint that was +av E Comp'ny--a hard, hard man, wid a tormint av a wife. 'You've the +head av a drowned man on your shoulders,' sez he, 'an' you're goin' +where you'll get a worse wan. Come back,' sez he. 'Let me go,' sez I. +'I've thrown me luck over the wall wid me own hand.' 'Then that's not +the way to get ut back,' sez he. 'Have out wid your throuble, ye +fool-bhoy.' An' I tould him how the matther was. + +"He sucked his lower lip. 'You've been thrapped,' sez he. 'Ju Sheehy +wud be the betther for a man's name to hers as soon as she can. An' ye +thought ye'd put the comether on her. That's the naturil vanity av the +baste. Terence, you're a big born fool, but you're not bad enough to +marry into that comp'ny. If you said anythin', an' for all your +protestations I'm sure you did--or did not, which is worse--eat ut all. +Lie like the father av all lies, but come out av ut free av Judy. Do I +not know what ut is to marry a woman that was the very spit av Judy +when she was young? I'm gettin' ould, an' I've larnt patience; but +you, Terence, you'd raise hand on Judy an' kill her in a year. Never +mind if Dinah gives you the go; you've desarved ut. Never mind if the +whole reg'mint laughs at you all day. Get shut av Judy an' her mother. +They can't dhrag you to church, but if they do, they'll dhrag you to +hell. Go back to your quarthers an' lie down,' sez he. Thin, over his +shoulder, 'You must ha' done with thim.' + +"Nixt day I wint to see Dinah; but there was no tucker in me as I +walked. I knew the throuble wud come soon enough widout any handlin' +av mine, an' I dreaded ut sore. + +"I heard Judy callin' me, but I hild straight on to the Shadds' +quarthers, an' Dinah wud ha' kissed me, but I hild her back. + +"'Whin all's said, darlin',' sez I, 'you can give ut me if you will, +tho' I misdoubt 'twill be so easy to come by thin.' + +"I had scarce begun to put the explanation into shape before Judy an' +her mother came to the door. I think there was a veranda, but I'm +forgettin'. + +"'Will ye not step in?' sez Dinah, pretty and polite, though the Shadds +had no dealin's with the Sheehys. Ould Mother Shadd looked up quick, +an' she was the fust to see the throuble, for Dinah was her daughter. + +"'I'm pressed for time to-day,' sez Judy, as bould as brass; 'an' I've +only come for Terence--my promust man. 'Tis strange to find him here +the day afther the day.' + +"Dinah looked at me as though I had hit her, an' I answered straight: + +"'There was some nonsinse last night at the Sheehys' quarthers, an' +Judy's carryin' on the joke, darlin',' sez I. + +"'At the Sheehys' quarthers?' sez Dinah, very slow; an' Judy cut in wid: + +"'He was there from nine till tin, Dinah Shadd, an' the betther half av +that time I was sittin' on his knee, Dinah Shadd. Ye may look an' ye +may look an' ye may look me up an' down, but ye won't look away that +Terence is my promust man. Terence, darlin', 'tis time for us to be +comin' home.' + +"Dinah Shadd never said a word to Judy. 'Ye left me at half-past +eight,' sez she to me, 'an' I never thought that ye'd leave me for +Judy, promises or no promises. Go back wid her, you that have to be +fetched by a girl! I'm done with you,' sez she; and she ran into her +own room, her mother followin'. So I was alone with those two women, +and at liberty to spake me sintiments. + +"'Judy Sheehy,' sez I, 'if you made a fool av me betune the lights, you +shall not do ut in the day. I never promised you words or lines.' + +"'You lie!' sez ould Mother Sheehy; 'an' may ut choke you where you +stand!' She was far gone in dhrink. + +"'An' tho' ut choked me where I stud I'd not change,' sez I. 'Go home, +Judy. I take shame for a decent girl like you dhraggin' your mother +out bareheaded on this errand. Hear, now, and have ut for an answer. +I gave me word to Dinah Shadd yesterday, an' more blame to me I was +with you last night talkin' nonsinse, but nothin' more. You've chosen +to thry to hould me on ut. I will not be held thereby for any thin' in +the world. Is that enough?' + +"Judy wint pink all over. 'An' I wish you joy av the perjury,' sez +she. 'You've lost a woman that would ha' wore her hand to the bone for +your pleasure; an' 'deed, Terence, ye were not thrapped.' ... Lascelles +must ha' spoken plain to her. 'I am as such as Dinah is--'deed I am! +Ye've lost a fool av a girl that'll never look at you again, an' ye've +lost what ye niver had--your common honesty. If you manage your men as +you manage your love-makin', small wondher they call you the worst +corp'ril in the comp'ny. Come away, mother,' sez she. + +"But divil a fut would the ould woman budge! 'D'you hould by that?' +sez she, peerin' up under her thick gray eyebrows. + +"'Ay, an' wud,' said I, 'Tho' Dinah gave me the go twinty times. I'll +have no thruck with you or yours,' sez I. 'Take your child away, ye +shameless woman!' + +"'An' am I shameless,' sez she, bringin' her hands up above her head. +'Thin what are you, ye lyin', schamin', weak-kneed, dhirty-souled son +of a sutler? Am I shameless? Who put the open shame on me an' my +child that we shud go beggin' though the lines in daylight for the +broken word of a man? Double portion of my shame be on you, Terence +Mulvaney, that think yourself so strong! By Mary and the saints, by +blood and water, an' by ivry sorrow that came into the world since the +beginnin', the black blight fall on you and yours, so that you may +niver be free from pain for another when ut's not your own! May your +heart bleed in your breast drop by drop wid all your friends laughin' +at the bleedin'! Strong you think yourself? May your strength be a +curse to you to dhrive you into the devil's hands against your own +will! Clear-eyed you are? May your eyes see clear ivry step av the +dark path you take till the hot cinders av hell put thim out! May the +ragin' dry thirst in my own ould bones go to you, that you shall never +pass bottle full nor glass empty! God preserve the light av your +understandin' to you, my jewel av a bhoy, that ye may niver forget what +you mint to be an' do, when you're wallowin' in the muck! May ye see +the betther and follow the worse as long as there's breath in your +body, an' may ye die quick in a strange land, watchin' your death +before ut takes you, an' onable to stir hand or fut!' + +"I heard a scufflin' in the room behind, and thin Dinah Shadd's hand +dhropped into mine like a roseleaf into a muddy road. + +"'The half av that I'll take,' sez she, 'an' more too, if I can. Go +home, ye silly-talkin' woman--go home an' confess.' + +"'Come away! Come away!" sez Judy, pullin' her mother by the shawl. +''Twas none av Terence's fault. For the love av Mary, stop the +talkin'!' + +"'An' you!' said ould Mother Sheehy, spinnin' round forninst Dinah. +'Will ye take the half av that man's load? Stand off from him, Dinah +Shadd, before he takes you down too--you that look to be a +quarthermaster-sergint's wife in five years. Ye look too high, child. +Ye shall wash for the quarthermaster-sergint, whin he pl'ases to give +you the job out av charity; but a privit's wife ye shall be to the end, +an' ivry sorrow of a privit's wife ye shall know, an' niver a joy but +wan, that shall go from you like the tide from a rock. The pain of +bearin' ye shall know, but niver the pleasure of givin' the breast; an' +you shall put away a man-child into the common ground wid niver a +priest to say a prayer over him, an' on that man-child ye shall think +ivry day av your life. Think long, Dinah Shadd, for you'll niver have +another tho' you pray till your knees are bleedin'. The mothers av +children shall mock you behind your back whin you're wringin' over the +wash-tub. You shall know what ut is to take a dhrunken husband home +an' see him go to the gyard-room. Will that pl'ase you, Dinah Shadd, +that won't be seen talkin' to my daughter? You shall talk to worse +than Judy before all's over. The sergint's wives shall look down on +you, contemptuous daughter av a sergint, an' you shall cover ut all up +wid a smilin' face whin your heart's burstin'. Stand aff him, Dinah +Shadd, for I've put the Black Curse of Shielygh upon him, an' his own +mouth shall make ut good.' + +"She pitched forward on her head an' began foamin' at the mouth. Dinah +Shadd ran out with water, an' Judy dhragged the ould woman into the +veranda till she sat up. + +"'I'm old an' forlorn,' she sez, tremblin' an' cryin', 'an' 'tis like I +say a dale more than I mane.' + +"'When you're able to walk--go,' says ould Mother Shadd. 'This house +has no place for the likes av you, that have cursed my daughter.' + +"Eyah!' said the ould woman. 'Hard words break no bones, an' Dinah +Shadd'll kape the love av her husband till my bones are green corn. +Judy, darlin', I misremember what I came here for. Can you lend us the +bottom av a taycup av tay, Mrs. Shadd?' + +"But Judy dhragged her off, cryin' as tho' her heart wud break. An' +Dinah Shadd an' I, in ten minutes we had forgot ut all." + +"Then why do you remember it now?" said I. + +"Is ut like I'd forgit? Ivry word that wicked ould woman spoke fell +thrue in my life afterward; an' I cud ha' stud ut all--stud ut all, +except fwhen little Shadd was born. That was on the line av march +three months afther the regiment was taken wid cholera. We were betune +Umballa an' Kalka thin, an' I was on picket. When I came off, the +women showed me the child, an' ut turned on uts side an' died as I +looked. We buried him by the road, an' Father Victory was a day's +march behind with the heavy baggage, so the comp'ny captain read +prayer. An' since then I've been a childless man, an' all else that +ould Mother Sheehy put upon me an' Dinah Shadd. What do you think, +sorr?" + +I thought a good deal, but it seemed better then to reach out for +Mulvaney's hand. This demonstration nearly cost me the use of three +fingers. Whatever he knows of his weaknesses, Mulvaney is entirely +ignorant of his strength. + +"But what do you think?" he insisted, as I was straightening out the +crushed members. + +My reply was drowned in yells and outcries from the next fire, where +ten men were shouting for "Orth'ris!" "Privit Orth'ris!" "Mistah +Or-ther-is!" "Deah Boy!" "Cap'n Orth'ris!" "Field-Marshal Orth'ris!" +"Stanley, you penn'orth o' pop, come 'ere to your own comp'ny!" And +the Cockney, who had been delighting another audience with recondite +and Rabelaisian yarns, was shot down among his admirers by the major +force. + +"You've crumpled my dress-shirt 'orrid," said he; "an' I shan't sing no +more to this 'ere bloomin' drawin'-room." + +Learoyd, roused by the confusion, uncoiled himself, crept behind +Ortheris, and raised him aloft on his shoulders. + +"Sing, ye bloomin' hummin'-bird!" said he; and Ortheris, beating time +on Learoyd's skull, delivered himself, in the raucous voice of the +Ratcliffe Highway, of the following chaste and touching ditty: + + "My girl she give me the go oncet, + When I was a London lad, + An' I went on the drunk for a fortnight, + An' then I went to the bad. + The queen she gave me a shilling + To fight for 'er over the seas; + But guv'ment built me a fever trap, + An' Injia gave me disease. + +Chorus--"Ho! don't you 'eed what a girl says. + An' don't you go for the beer; + But I was an ass when I was at grass, + An' that is why I'm 'ere. + + "I fired a shot at an Afghan; + The beggar 'e fired again; + An' I lay on my bed with a 'ole in my 'ead, + An' missed the next campaign! + I up with my gun at a Burman + Who carried a bloomin' _dah_, + But the cartridge stuck an' the bay'nit bruk + An' all I got was the scar. + +Chorus--"Ho! don't you aim at a Afghan + When you stand on the sky-line clear; + An' don't you go for a Burman + If none o' your friends is near. + + "I served my time for a corp'ral. + An' wetted my stripes with pop, + For I went on the bend with a intimate friend, + An' finished the night in the shop. + I served my time for a sergeant; + The colonel 'e sez No! + The most you'll be is a full C.B.'[*] + An'--very next night 'twas so. + +[*] Confined to barracks. + +Chorus--"Ho! don't you go for a corp'ral + Unless your 'ead is clear; + But I was an ass when I was at grass. + An' that is why I am 'ere. + + "I've tasted the luck o' the army + In barrack 'an camp 'an clink, + And I lost my tip through the bloomin' trip + Along 'o the women an' drink, + I'm down at the heel o' my service, + An' when I am laid on the shelf, + My very wust friend from beginning to end, + By the blood of a mouse, was myself. + +Chorus--"Ho! don't you 'eed what a girl says, + An' don't go for the beer; + But I was an ass when I was at grass, + An' that is why I'm 'ere." + + +"Ay, listen to our little man now, singin' and shoutin' as tho' trouble +had never touched him! D'ye remember when he went mad with the +homesickness?" said Mulvaney, recalling a never-to-be-forgotten season +when Ortheris waded through the deep waters of affliction and behaved +abominably. "But he's talkin' the bitter truth, tho'. Eyah! + + "'My very worst friend from beginning to end, + By the blood of a mouse, was mesilf.' + +Hark out!" he continued, jumping to his feet. "What did I tell you, +sorr?" + +Fttl! spttl! whttl! went the rifles of the picket in the darkness, and +we heard their feet rushing toward us as Ortheris tumbled past me and +into his greatcoat. It is an impressive thing, even in peace, to see +an armed camp spring to life with clatter of accouterments, click of +Martini levers, and blood-curdling speculations as to the fate of +missing boots. "Pickets dhriven in," said Mulvaney, staring like a +buck at bay into the soft, slinging gloom. "Stand by an' kape close to +us. If 'tis cav'lry, they may blundher into the fires." + +Tr--ra ra! ta--ra--la! sung the thrice-blessed bugle, and the rush to +form square began. There is much rest and peace in the heart of a +square if you arrive in time and are not trodden upon too frequently. +The smell of leather belts, fatigue uniform, and unpacked humanity is +comforting. + +A dull grumble, that seemed to come from every point of the compass at +once, struck our listening ears, and little thrills of excitement ran +down the faces of the square. Those who write so learnedly about +judging distance by sound should hear cavalry on the move at night. A +high-pitched yell on the left told us that the disturbers were +friends--the cavalry of the attack, who had missed their direction in +the darkness, and were feeling blindly for some sort of support and +camping-ground. The difficulty explained, they jingled on. + +"Double pickets out there; by your arms lie down and sleep the rest," +said the major, and the square melted away as the men scrambled for +their places by the fires. + +When I woke I saw Mulvaney, the night-dew gemming his mustache, leaning +on his rifle at picket, lonely as Prometheus on his rock, with I know +not what vultures tearing his liver. + + + + +THE SIRE DE MALETROIT'S DOOR + +By R. L. STEVENSON + + +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, warfaring epoch; and when one has been +in a pitched battle and a dozen raids, has killed one's man in an +honorable 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 gray 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 treetops 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-by 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 clew 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 further 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 reconnoiter. +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 neighborhood; 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 whereabout, 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 armor, 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 defense. 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 resolutions 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 a 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 humor 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 molding, 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 toward 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 +laboring 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 recognized 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 mustache 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 tapered, sensual fingers were like those of one +of Leonardo's women; the fork of the thumb made a dimpled 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 honor, 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 great 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 had 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, toward 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 pendents from +the center 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 toward the new comers. 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 traveling. 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 toward 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 dishonor 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 +dishonor 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 appetizing." + +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 luster. 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 honored me by your confidence. It remains +for me to prove that I am not unworthy of the honor. 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 shamefast condition, but Denis strutting and ruffling +in the consciousness of a mission, and the boyish certainty of +accomplishing it with honor. + +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 honor, 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 Pairs road--not if +she were so 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 +honor 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 +dishonor, 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 honor +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 honor, 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 honor," 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 toward 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 toward 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 afterward," 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 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 adieus. +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 vapor 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 recognize 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 such cause to hang your head. +For.... Pray, do you think me beautiful?" she asked, with a 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 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 toward 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, colorless and clean; and the valley +underneath was flooded with a gray reflection. A few thin vapors 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 clangor 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 treetops 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 armor 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 toward 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 covering 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. + + + + +THE SECRET OF GORESTHORPE GRANGE + +By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + + +I am sure that Nature never intended me to be a self-made man. There +are times when I can hardly bring myself to realize that twenty years +of my life were spent behind the counter of a grocer's shop in the East +End of London, and that it was through such an avenue that I reached a +wealthy independence and the possession of Goresthorpe Grange. My +habits are conservative, and my tastes refined and aristocratic. I +have a soul which spurns the vulgar herd. Our family, the D'Odds, date +back to a prehistoric era, as is to be inferred from the fact that +their advent into British history is not commented on by any +trustworthy historian. Some instinct tells me that the blood of a +Crusader runs in my veins. Even now, after the lapse of so many years, +such exclamations as "By'r Lady!" rise naturally to my lips, and I feel +that, should circumstances require it, I am capable of rising in my +stirrups and dealing an infidel a blow--say with a mace--which would +considerably astonish him. + +Goresthorpe Grange is a feudal mansion--or so it was termed in the +advertisement which originally brought it under my notice. Its right +to this adjective had a most remarkable effect upon its price, and the +advantages gained may possibly be more sentimental than real. Still, +it is soothing to me to know that I have slits in my staircase through +which I can discharge arrows; and there is a sense of power in the fact +of possessing a complicated apparatus by means of which I am enabled to +pour molten lead upon the head of the casual visitor. These things +chime in with my peculiar humor, and I do not grudge to pay for them. +I am proud of my battlements and of the circular, uncovered sewer which +girds me round. I am proud of my portcullis and donjon and keep. +There is but one thing wanting to round off the mediaevalism of my +abode, and to render it symmetrically and completely antique. +Goresthorpe Grange is not provided with a ghost. + +Any man with old-fashioned tastes and ideas as to how such +establishments should be conducted would have been disappointed at the +omission. In my case it was particularly unfortunate. From my +childhood I had been an earnest student of the supernatural, and a firm +believer in it. I have reveled in ghostly literature until there is +hardly a tale bearing upon the subject which I have not perused. I +learned the German language for the sole purpose of mastering a book +upon demonology. When an infant I have secreted myself in dark rooms +in the hope of seeing some of those bogies with which my nurse used to +threaten me; and the same feeling is as strong in me now as then. It +was a proud moment when I felt that a ghost was one of the luxuries +which my money might command. + +It is true that there was no mention of an apparition in the +advertisement. On reviewing the mildewed walls, however, and the +shadowy corridors, I had taken it for granted that there was such a +thing on the premises. As the presence of a kennel presupposes that of +a dog, so I imagined that it was impossible that such desirable +quarters should be untenanted by one or more restless shades. Good +heavens, what can the noble family from whom I purchased it have been +doing these hundreds of years! Was there no member of it spirited +enough to make away with his sweetheart, or take some other steps +calculated to establish a hereditary spectre? Even now I can hardly +write with patience upon the subject. + +For a long time I hoped against hope. Never did rat squeak behind the +wainscot, or rain drip upon the attic floor, without a wild thrill +shooting through me as I thought that at last I had come upon traces of +some unquiet soul. I felt no touch of fear upon these occasions. If +it occurred in the night-time, I would send Mrs. D'Odd--who is a +strong-minded woman--to investigate the matter while I covered up my +head with the bedclothes and indulged in an ecstasy of expectation. +Alas, the result was always the same! The suspicious sound would be +traced to some cause so absurdly natural and commonplace that the most +fervid imagination could not clothe it with any of the glamour of +romance. + +I might have reconciled myself to this state of things had it not been +for Jorrocks, of Havistock Farm. Jorrocks is a coarse, burly, +matter-of-fact fellow whom I only happen to know through the accidental +circumstance of his fields adjoining my demesne. Yet this man, though +utterly devoid of all appreciation of archaeological unities, is in +possession of a well-authenticated and undeniable spectre. Its +existence only dates back, I believe, to the reign of the Second +George, when a young lady cut her throat upon hearing of the death of +her lover at the battle of Dettingen. Still, even that gives the house +an air of respectability, especially when coupled with blood-stains +upon the floor. Jorrocks is densely unconscious of his good fortune; +and his language, when he reverts to the apparition, is painful to +listen to. He little dreams how I covet every one of those moans and +nocturnal wails which he describes with unnecessary objurgation. +Things are indeed coming to a pretty pass when democratic spectres are +allowed to desert the landed proprietors and annul every social +distinction by taking refuge in the houses of the great unrecognized. + +I have a large amount of perseverance. Nothing else could have raised +me into my rightful sphere, considering the uncongenial atmosphere in +which I spent the earlier part of my life. I felt now that a ghost +must be secured, but how to set about securing one was more than either +Mrs. D'Odd or myself was able to determine. My reading taught me that +such phenomena are usually the outcome of crime. What crime was to be +done, then, and who was to do it? A wild idea entered my mind that +Watkins, the house-steward, might be prevailed upon--for a +consideration--to immolate himself or some one else in the interests of +the establishment. I put the matter to him in a half-jesting manner; +but it did not seem to strike him in a favorable light. The other +servants sympathized with him in his opinion--at least, I can not +account in any other way for their having left the house in a body the +same afternoon. + +"My dear," Mrs. D'Odd remarked to me one day after dinner, as I sat +moodily sipping a cup of sack--I love the good old names--"my dear, +that odious ghost of Jorrocks' has been gibbering again." + +"Let it gibber!" I answered, recklessly. + +Mrs. D'Odd struck a few chords on her virginal and looked thoughtfully +into the fire. + +"I tell you what it is, Argentine," she said at last, using the pet +name which we usually substitute for Silas, "we must have a ghost sent +down from London." + +"How can you be so idiotic, Matilda," I remarked, severely. "Who could +get us such a thing?" + +"My cousin, Jack Brocket, could," she answered, confidently. + +Now, this cousin of Matilda's was rather a sore subject between us. He +was a rakish, clever young fellow, who had tried his hand at many +things, but wanted perseverance to succeed at any. He was, at that +time, in chambers in London, professing to be a general agent, and +really living, to a great extent, upon his wits. Matilda managed so +that most of our business should pass through his hands, which +certainly saved me a great deal of trouble; but I found that Jack's +commission was generally considerably larger than all the other items +of the bill put together. It was this fact which made me feel inclined +to rebel against any further negotiations with the young gentleman. + +"Oh, yes, he could," insisted Mrs. D., seeing the look of +disapprobation upon my face. "You remember how well he managed that +business about the crest?" + +"It was only a resuscitation of the old family coat of arms, my dear," +I protested. + +Matilda smiled in an irritating manner. + +"There was a resuscitation of the family portraits, too, dear," she +remarked. "You must allow that Jack selected them very judiciously." + +I thought of the long line of faces which adorned the walls of my +banqueting-hall, from the burly Norman robber, through every gradation +of casque, plume, and ruff, to the sombre Chesterfieldian individual +who appears to have staggered against a pillar in his agony at the +return of a maiden MS. which he grips convulsively in his right hand. +I was fain to confess that in that instance he had done his work well, +and that it was only fair to give him an order--with the usual +commission--for a family spectre, should such a thing be attainable. + +It is one of my maxims to act promptly when once my mind is made up. +Noon of the next day found me ascending the spiral stone staircase +which leads to Mr. Brocket's chambers, and admiring the succession of +arrows and fingers upon the whitewashed wall, all indicating the +direction of that gentleman's sanctum. As it happened, artificial aids +of the sort were unnecessary, as an animated flap-dance overhead could +proceed from no other quarter, though it was replaced by a deathly +silence as I groped my way up the stair. The door was opened by a +youth evidently astounded at the appearance of a client, and I was +ushered into the presence of my young friend, who was writing furiously +in a large ledger--upside down, as I afterward discovered. + +After the first greetings, I plunged into business at once. "Look +here, Jack," I said, "I want you to get me a spirit, if you can." + +"Spirits you mean!" shouted my wife's cousin, plunging his hand into +the waste-paper basket and producing a bottle with the celerity of a +conjuring trick. "Let's have a drink!" + +I held up my hand as a mute appeal against such a proceeding so early +in the day; but on lowering it again I found that I almost +involuntarily closed my fingers round the tumbler which my adviser had +pressed upon me. I drank the contents hastily off, lest any one should +come in upon us and set me down as a toper. After all, there was +something very amusing about the young fellow's eccentricities. + +"Not spirits," I explained, smilingly; "an apparition--a ghost. If +such a thing is to be had, I should be very willing to negotiate." + +"A ghost for Goresthorpe Grange?" inquired Mr. Brocket with as much +coolness as if I had asked for a drawing-room suite. + +"Quite so," I answered. + +"Easiest thing in the world," said my companion, filling up my glass +again in spite of my remonstrance. "Let us see!" Here he took down a +large red note-book, with all the letters of the alphabet in a fringe +down the edge. "A ghost you said, didn't you. That's G. +G--gems--gimlets--gaspipes--gauntlets--guns--galleys. Ah, here we are! +Ghosts. Volume nine, section six, page forty-one. Excuse me!" And +Jack ran up a ladder and began rummaging among a pile of ledgers on a +high shelf. I felt half inclined to empty my glass into the spittoon +when his back was turned; but on second thoughts I disposed of it in a +legitimate way. + +"Here it is!" cried my London agent, jumping off the ladder with a +crash, and depositing an enormous volume of manuscript upon the table. +"I have all these things tabulated, so that I may lay my hands upon +them in a moment. It's all right--it's quite weak" (here he filled our +glasses again). "What were we looking up, again?" + +"Ghosts," I suggested. + +"Of course; page 41. Here we are. 'J. H. Fowler & Son, Dunkel Street, +suppliers of mediums to the nobility and gentry; charms +sold--love-philters--mummies--horoscopes cast.' Nothing in your line +there, I suppose?" + +I shook my head despondingly. + +"Frederick Tabb," continued my wife's cousin, "sole channel of +communication between the living and the dead. Proprietor of the +spirits of Byron, Kirke White, Grimaldi, Tom Cribb, and Inigo Jones. +That's about the figure!" + +"Nothing romantic enough there," I objected. "Good heavens! Fancy a +ghost with a black eye and a handkerchief tied round its waist, or +turning somersaults, and saying, 'How are you to-morrow?'" The very +idea made me so warm that I emptied my glass and filled it again. + +"Here is another," said my companion, "'Christopher McCarthy; bi-weekly +seances--attended by all the eminent spirits of ancient and modern +times. Nativities--charms--abracadabras, messages from the dead.' He +might be able to help us. However, I shall have a hunt round myself +to-morrow, and see some of these fellows. I know their haunts, and +it's odd if I can't pick up something cheap. So there's an end of +business," he concluded, hurling the ledger into the corner; "and now +we'll have something to drink." + +We had several things to drink--so many that my inventive faculties +were dulled next morning, and I had some little difficulty in +explaining to Mrs. D'Odd why it was that I hung my boots and spectacles +upon a peg along with my other garments before retiring to rest. The +new hopes excited by the confident manner in which my agent had +undertaken the commission caused me to rise superior to alcoholic +reaction, and I paced about the rambling corridors and old-fashioned +rooms picturing to myself the appearance of my expected acquisition, +and deciding what part of the building would harmonize best with its +presence. After much consideration, I pitched upon the banqueting hall +as being, on the whole, most suitable for its reception. It was a long +low room, hung round with valuable tapestry and interesting relics of +the old family to whom it had belonged. Coats of mail and implements +of war glimmered fitfully as the light of the fire played over them, +and the wind crept under the door, moving the hangings to and fro with +a ghastly rustling. At one end there was the raised dais, on which in +ancient times the host and his guests used to spread their table, while +a descent of a couple of steps led to the lower part of the hall, where +the vassals and retainers held wassail. The floor was uncovered by any +sort of carpet, but a layer of rushes had been scattered over it by my +direction. In the whole room there was nothing to remind one of the +nineteenth century; except, indeed, my own solid silver plate, stamped +with the resuscitated family arms, which was laid out upon an oak table +in the centre. This, I determined, should be the haunted room, +supposing my wife's cousin to succeed in his negotiation with the +spirit-mongers. There was nothing for it now but to wait patiently +until I heard some news of the result of his inquiries. + +A letter came in the course of a few days, which, if it was short, was +at least encouraging. It was scribbled in pencil on the back of a +play-bill, and sealed apparently with a tobacco-stopper. "Am on the +track," it said. "Nothing of the sort to be had from any professional +spiritualist, but picked up a fellow in a pub yesterday who says he can +manage it for you. Will send him down unless you wire to the contrary. +Abrahams is his name, and he has done one or two of these jobs before." +The letter wound up with some incoherent allusions to a check, and was +signed by my affectionate cousin, John Brocket. + +I need hardly say that I did not wire, but awaited the arrival of Mr. +Abrahams with all impatience. In spite of my belief in the +supernatural, I could scarcely credit the fact that any mortal could +have such a command over the spirit-world as to deal in them and barter +them against mere earthly gold. Still, I had Jack's word for it that +such a trade existed; and here was a gentleman with a Judaical name +ready to demonstrate it by proof positive. How vulgar and commonplace +Jorrocks' eighteenth-century ghost would appear should I succeed in +securing a real mediaeval apparition! I almost thought that one had +been sent down in advance, for, as I walked round the moat that night +before retiring to rest, I came upon a dark figure engaged in surveying +the machinery of my portcullis and drawbridge. His start of surprise, +however, and the manner in which he hurried off into the darkness, +speedily convinced me of his earthly origin, and I put him down as some +admirer of one of my female retainers mourning over the muddy +Hellespont which divided him from his love. Whoever he may have been, +he disappeared and did not return, though I loitered about for some +time in the hope of catching a glimpse of him and exercising my feudal +rights upon his person. + +Jack Brocket was as good as his word. The shades of another evening +were beginning to darken round Goresthorpe Grange, when a peal at the +outer bell, and the sound of a fly pulling up, announced the arrival of +Mr. Abrahams. I hurried down to meet him, half expecting to see a +choice assortment of ghosts crowding in at his rear. Instead, however, +of being the sallow-faced, melancholy-eyed man that I had pictured to +myself, the ghost-dealer was a sturdy little podgy fellow, with a pair +of wonderfully keen, sparkling eyes and a mouth which was constantly +stretched in a good-humored, if somewhat artificial, grin. His sole +stock-in-trade seemed to consist of a small leather bag jealously +locked and strapped, which emitted a metallic clink upon being placed +on the stone flags of the hall. + +"And 'ow are you, sir?" he asked, wringing my hand with the utmost +effusion. "And the missis, 'ow is she? And all the others--'ow's all +their 'ealth?" + +I intimated that we were all as well as could reasonably be expected; +but Mr. Abrahams happened to catch a glimpse of Mrs. D'Odd in the +distance, and at once plunged at her with another string of inquiries +as to her health, delivered so volubly and with such an intense +earnestness that I half expected to see him terminate his +cross-examination by feeling her pulse and demanding a sight of her +tongue. All this time his little eyes rolled round and round, shifting +perpetually from the floor to the ceiling, and from the ceiling to the +walls, taking in apparently every article of furniture in a single +comprehensive glance. + +Having satisfied himself that neither of us was in a pathological +condition, Mr. Abrahams suffered me to lead him upstairs, where a +repast had been laid out for him to which he did ample justice. The +mysterious little bag he carried along with him, and deposited it under +his chair during the meal. It was not until the table had been cleared +and we were left together that he broached the matter on which he had +come down. + +"I hunderstand," he remarked, puffing at a trichinopoly, "that you want +my 'elp in fitting up this 'ere 'ouse with a happarition." + +I acknowledged the correctness of his surmise, while mentally wondering +at those restless eyes of his, which still danced about the room as if +he were making an inventory of the contents. + +"And you won't find a better man for the job, though I says it as +shouldn't," continued my companion. "Wot did I say to the young gent +wot spoke to me in the bar of the Lame Dog? 'Can you do it?' says he. +'Try me,' says I, 'me and my bag. Just try me.' I couldn't say fairer +than that." + +My respect for Jack Brocket's business capacities began to go up very +considerably. He certainly seemed to have managed the matter +wonderfully well. "You don't mean to say that you carry ghosts about +in bags?" I remarked, with diffidence. + +Mr. Abrahams smiled a smile of superior knowledge. "You wait," he +said; "give me the right place and the right hour, with a little of the +essence of Lucoptolycus"--here he produced a small bottle from his +waistcoat-pocket--"and you won't find no ghost that I ain't up to. +You'll see them yourself, and pick your own, and I can't say fairer +than that." + +As all Mr. Abrahams' protestations of fairness were accompanied by a +cunning leer and a wink from one or other of his wicked little eyes, +the impression of candor was somewhat weakened. + +"When are you going to do it?" I asked, reverentially. + +"Ten minutes to one in the morning," said Mr. Abrahams, with decision. +"Some says midnight, but I says ten to one, when there ain't such a +crowd, and you can pick your own ghost. And now," he continued, rising +to his feet, "suppose you trot me round the premises, and let me see +where you wants it; for there's some places as attracts 'em, and some +as they won't hear of--not if there was no other place in the world." + +Mr. Abrahams inspected our corridors and chambers with a most critical +and observant eye, fingering the old tapestry with the air of a +connoisseur, and remarking in an undertone that it would "match +uncommon nice." It was not until he reached the banqueting-hall, +however, which I had myself picked out, that his admiration reached the +pitch of enthusiasm. "'Ere's the place!" he shouted, dancing, bag in +hand, round the table on which my plate was lying, and looking not +unlike some quaint little goblin himself. "'Ere's the place; we won't +get nothin' to beat this! A fine room--noble, solid, none of your +electro-plate trash! That's the way as things ought to be done, sir. +Plenty of room for 'em to glide here. Send up some brandy and a box of +weeds; I'll sit here by the fire and do the preliminaries, which is +more trouble than you think; for them ghosts carries on hawful at +times, before they finds out who they've got to deal with. If you was +in the room they'd tear you to pieces as like as not. You leave me +alone to tackle them, and at half-past twelve come in, and I'll lay +they'll be quiet enough by then." + +Mr. Abrahams' request struck me as a reasonable one, so I left him with +his feet upon the mantel-piece, and his chair in front of the fire, +fortifying himself with stimulants against his refractory visitors. +From the room beneath, in which I sat with Mrs. D'Odd, I could hear +that after sitting for some time he rose up, and paced about the hall +with quick, impatient steps. We then heard him try the lock of the +door, and afterward drag some heavy article of furniture in the +direction of the window, on which, apparently, he mounted, for I heard +the creaking of the rusty hinges as the diamond-paned casement folded +backward, and I knew it to be situated several feet above the little +man's reach. Mrs. D'Odd says that she could distinguish his voice +speaking in low and rapid whispers after this, but that may have been +her imagination. I confess that I began to feel more impressed than I +had deemed it possible to be. There was something awesome in the +thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and +summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the nether world. +It was with a trepidation which I could hardly disguise from Matilda +that I observed that the clock was pointing to half-past twelve, and +that the time had come for me to share the vigil of my visitor. + +He was sitting in his old position when I entered, and there were no +signs of the mysterious movements which I had overheard, though his +chubby face was flushed as with recent exertion. + +"Are you succeeding all right?" I asked as I came in, putting on as +careless an air as possible, but glancing involuntarily round to see if +we were alone. + +"Only your help is needed to complete the matter," said Mr. Abrahams, +in a solemn voice. "You shall sit by me and partake of the essence of +Lucoptolycus, which removes the scales from our earthly eyes. Whatever +you may chance to see, speak not and make no movement, lest you break +the spell." His manner was subdued, and his usual cockney vulgarity +had entirely disappeared. I took the chair which he indicated, and +awaited the result. + +My companion cleared the rushes from the floor in our neighborhood, and +going down upon his hands and knees, described a half circle with +chalk, which inclosed the fireplace and ourselves. Round the edge of +this half circle he drew several hieroglyphics, not unlike the signs of +the zodiac. He then stood up and uttered a long invocation, delivered +so rapidly that it sounded like a single gigantic word in some uncouth +guttural language. Having finished this prayer, if prayer it was, he +pulled out the small bottle which he had produced before, and poured a +couple of teaspoonfuls of clear, transparent fluid into a vial, which +he handed to me with an intimation that I should drink it. + +The liquid had a faintly sweet odor, not unlike the aroma of certain +sorts of apples. I hesitated a moment before applying it to my lips, +but an impatient gesture from my companion overcame my scruples, and I +tossed it off. The taste was not unpleasant; and, as it gave rise to +no immediate effects, I leaned back in my chair and composed myself for +what was to come. Mr. Abrahams seated himself beside me, and I felt +that he was watching my face from time to time while repeating some +more of the invocations in which he had indulged before. + +A sense of delicious warmth and languor began gradually to steal over +me, partly, perhaps, from the heat of the fire, and partly from some +unexplained cause. An uncontrollable impulse to sleep weighed down my +eyelids, while, at the same time my brain worked actively, and a +hundred beautiful and pleasing ideas flitted through it. So utterly +lethargic did I feel that, though I was aware that my companion put his +hand over the region of my heart, as if to feel how it was beating, I +did not attempt to prevent him, nor did I even ask him for the reason +of his action. Everything in the room appeared to be reeling slowly +round in a drowsy dance, of which I was the centre. The great elk's +head at the far end wagged solemnly backward and forward, while the +massive salvers on the tables performed cotillons with the claret +cooler and the epergne. My head fell upon my breast from sheer +heaviness, and I should have become unconscious had I not been recalled +to myself by the opening of the door at the other end of the hall. + +This door led on to the raised dais, which, as I have mentioned, the +heads of the house used to reserve for their own use. As it swung +slowly back upon its hinges, I sat up in my chair, clutching at the +arms, and staring with a horrified glare at the dark passage outside. +Something was coming down it--something unformed and intangible, but +still a something. Dim and shadowy, I saw it flit across the +threshold, while a blast of ice-cold air swept down the room, which +seemed to blow through me, chilling my very heart. I was aware of the +mysterious presence, and then I heard it speak in a voice like the +sighing of an east wind among pine-trees on the banks of a desolate sea. + +It said: "I am the invisible nonentity. I have affinities and am +subtle. I am electric, magnetic, and spiritualistic. I am the great +ethereal sighheaver. I kill dogs. Mortal, wilt thou choose me?" + +I was about to speak, but the words seemed to be choked in my throat; +and before I could get them out, the shadow flitted across the hall and +vanished in the darkness at the other side, while a long-drawn +melancholy sigh quivered through the apartment. + +I turned my eyes toward the door once more, and beheld, to my +astonishment, a very small old woman, who hobbled along the corridor +and into the hall. She passed backward and forward several times, and +then, crouching down at the very edge of the circle upon the floor, she +disclosed a face, the horrible malignity of which shall never be +banished from my recollection. Every foul passion appeared to have +left its mark upon that hideous countenance. "Ha! ha!" she screamed, +holding out her wizened hands like the talons of an unclean bird. "You +see what I am. I am the fiendish old woman. I wear snuff-colored +silks. My curse descends on people. Sir Walter was partial to me. +Shall I be thine, mortal?" + +I endeavored to shake my head in horror; on which she aimed a blow at +me with her crutch, and vanished with an eldrich scream. + +By this time my eyes turned naturally toward the open door, and I was +hardly surprised to see a man walk in, of tall and noble stature. His +face was deathly pale, but was surmounted by a fringe of dark hair +which fell in ringlets down his back. A short pointed beard covered +his chin. + +He was dressed in loose-fitting clothes, made apparently of yellow +satin, and a large white ruff surrounded his neck. He paced across the +room with slow and majestic strides. Then turning, he addressed me in +a sweet, exquisitely modulated voice. + +"I am the cavalier," he remarked. "I pierce and am pierced. Here is +my rapier. I clink steel. This is a bloodstain over my heart. I can +emit hollow groans. I am patronized by many old conservative families. +I am the original manor-house apparition. I work alone, or in company +with shrieking damsels." + +He bent his head courteously, as though awaiting my reply, but the same +choking sensation prevented me from speaking; and, with a deep bow, he +disappeared. + +He had hardly gone before a feeling of intense horror stole over me, +and I was aware of the presence of a ghastly creature in the room, of +dim outlines and uncertain proportions. One moment it seemed to +pervade the entire apartment, while at another it would become +invisible, but always leaving behind it a distinct consciousness of its +presence. Its voice, when it spoke, was quavering and gusty. It said, +"I am the leaver of footsteps and the spiller of gouts of blood. I +tramp upon corridors. Charles Dickens has alluded to me. I make +strange and disagreeable noises. I snatch letters and place invisible +hands on people's wrists. I am cheerful. I burst into peals of +hideous laughter. Shall I do one now?" I raised my hand in a +deprecating way, but too late to prevent one discordant outbreak which +echoed through the room. Before I could lower it the apparition was +gone. + +I turned my head toward the door in time to see a man come hastily and +stealthily into the chamber. He was a sunburned, powerfully built +fellow, with ear-rings in his ears and a Barcelona handkerchief tied +loosely round his neck. His head was bent upon his chest, and his +whole aspect was that of one afflicted by intolerable remorse. He +paced rapidly backward and forward like a caged tiger, and I observed +that a drawn knife glittered in one of his hands, while he grasped what +appeared to be a piece of parchment in the other. His voice, when he +spoke, was deep and sonorous. He said, "I am a murderer. I am a +ruffian. I crouch when I walk. I step noiselessly. I know something +of the Spanish Main. I can do the lost treasure business. I have +charts. Am able-bodied and a good walker. Capable of haunting a large +park." He looked toward me beseechingly, but before I could make a +sign I was paralyzed by the horrible sight which appeared at the door. + +It was a very tall man, if, indeed, it might be called a man, for the +gaunt bones were protruding through the corroding flesh, and the +features were of a leaden hue. A winding-sheet was wrapped round the +figure, and formed a hood over the head, from under the shadow of which +two fiendish eyes, deepset in their grisly sockets, blazed and sparkled +like red-hot coals. The lower jaw had fallen upon the breast, +disclosing a withered, shriveled tongue and two lines of black and +jagged fangs. I shuddered and drew back as this fearful apparition +advanced to the edge of the circle. + +"I am the American blood-curdler," it said, in a voice which seemed to +come in a hollow murmur from the earth beneath it. "None other is +genuine. I am the embodiment of Edgar Allan Poe. I am circumstantial +and horrible. I am a low-caste, spirit-subduing spectre. Observe my +blood and my bones. I am grisly and nauseous. No depending on +artificial aid. Work with grave-clothes, a coffin-lid, and a galvanic +battery. Turn hair white in a night." The creature stretched out its +fleshless arms to me as if in entreaty, but I shook my head; and it +vanished, leaving a low, sickening, repulsive odor behind it. I sank +back in my chair, so overcome by terror and disgust that I would have +very willingly resigned myself to dispensing with a ghost altogether, +could I have been sure that this was the last of the hideous procession. + +A faint sound of trailing garments warned me that it was not so. I +looked up, and beheld a white figure emerging from the corridor into +the light. As it stepped across the threshold I saw that it was that +of a young and beautiful woman dressed in the fashion of a bygone day. +Her hands were clasped in front of her, and her pale, proud face bore +traces of passion and of suffering. She crossed the hall with a gentle +sound, like the rustling of autumn leaves, and then, turning her lovely +and unutterably sad eyes upon me, she said: + +"I am the plaintive and sentimental, the beautiful and ill-used. I +have been forsaken and betrayed. I shriek in the night-time and glide +down passages. My antecedents are highly respectable and generally +aristocratic. My tastes are aesthetic. Old oak furniture like this +would do, with a few more coats of mail and plenty of tapestry. Will +you not take me?" + +Her voice died away in a beautiful cadence as she concluded, and she +held out her hands as in supplication. I am always sensitive to female +influences. Besides, what would Jorrocks' ghost be to this? Could +anything be in better taste? Would I not be exposing myself to the +chance of injuring my nervous system by interviews with such creatures +as my last visitor, unless I decided at once? She gave me a seraphic +smile, as if she knew what was passing in my mind. That smile settled +the matter. "She will do!" I cried; "I choose this one;" and as, in +my enthusiasm, I took a step toward her, I passed over the magic circle +which had girdled me round. + +"Argentine, we have been robbed!" + +I had an indistinct consciousness of these words being spoken, or +rather screamed, in my ear a great number of times without my being +able to grasp their meaning. A violent throbbing in my head seemed to +adapt itself to their rhythm, and I closed my eyes to the lullaby of +"Robbed! robbed! robbed!" A vigorous shake caused me to open them +again, however, and the sight of Mrs. D'Odd, in the scantiest of +costumes and most furious of tempers, was sufficiently impressive to +recall all my scattered thoughts and make me realize that I was lying +on my back on the floor, with my head among the ashes which had fallen +from last night's fire, and a small glass vial in my hand. + +I staggered to my feet, but felt so weak and giddy that I was compelled +to fall back into a chair. As my brain became clearer, stimulated by +the exclamations of Matilda, I began gradually to recollect the events +of the night. There was the door through which my supernatural +visitors had filed. There was the circle of chalk, with the +hieroglyphics round the edge. There was the cigar-box and +brandy-bottle which had been honored by the attentions of Mr. Abrahams. +But the seer himself--where was he? and what was this open window, with +a rope running out of it? And where, oh, where, was the pride of +Goresthorpe Grange, the glorious plate which was to have been the +delectation of generations of D'Odds? And why was Mrs. D. standing in +the gray light of dawn, wringing her hands and repeating her monotonous +refrain? It was only very gradually that my misty brain took these +things in, and grasped the connection between them. + +Reader, I have never seen Mr. Abrahams since; I have never seen the +plate stamped with the resuscitated family crest; hardest of all, I +have never caught a glimpse of the melancholy spectre with the trailing +garments, nor do I expect that I ever shall. In fact, my night's +experiences have cured me of my mania for the supernatural, and quite +reconciled me to inhabiting the humdrum, nineteenth-century edifice on +the outskirts of London which Mrs. D. has long had in her mind's eye. + +As to the explanation of all that occurred--that is a matter which is +open to several surmises. That Mr. Abrahams, the ghost-hunter, was +identical with Jemmy Wilson, alias the Nottingham Crackster, is +considered more than probable at Scotland Yard, and certainly the +description of that remarkable burglar tallied very well with the +appearance of my visitor. The small bag which I have described was +picked up in a neighboring field next day, and found to contain a +choice assortment of jimmies and centre-bits. Footmarks, deeply +imprinted in the mud on either side of the moat, showed that an +accomplice from below had received the sack of precious metals which +had been let down through the open window. No doubt the pair of +scoundrels, while looking round for a job, had overheard Jack Brocket's +indiscreet inquiries, and had promptly availed themselves of the +tempting opening. + +And now as to my less substantial visitors, and the curious, grotesque +vision which I had enjoyed--am I to lay it down to any real power over +occult matters possessed by my Nottingham friend? For a long time I +was doubtful upon the point, and eventually endeavored to solve it by +consulting a well-known analyst and medical man, sending him the few +drops of the so-called essence of Lucoptolycus which remained in my +vial. I append the letter which I received from him, only too happy to +have the opportunity of winding up my little narrative by the weighty +words of a man of learning: + + +"Arundel Street. + +"Dear Sir--Your very singular case has interested me extremely. The +bottle which you sent contained a strong solution of chloral, and the +quantity which you describe yourself as having swallowed must have +amounted to at least eighty grains of the pure hydrate. This would, of +course, have reduced you to a partial state of insensibility, gradually +going on to complete coma. In this semi-unconscious state of +chloralism it is not unusual for circumstantial and bizarre visions to +present themselves--more especially to individuals unaccustomed to the +use of the drug. You tell me in your note that your mind was saturated +with ghostly literature, and that you had long taken a morbid interest +in classifying and recalling the various forms in which apparitions +have been said to appear. You must also remember that you were +expecting to see something of that very nature, and that your nervous +system was worked up to an unnatural state of tension. + +"Under the circumstances, I think that, far from the sequel being an +astonishing one, it would have been very surprising indeed to any one +versed in narcotics had you not experienced some such effects. I +remain, dear sir, sincerely yours, + +"T. E. Stube, M. D. + +"Argentine D'Odd, Esq., + "The Elms, Brixton." + + + + +A CHANGE OF TREATMENT + +By W. W. JACOBS + +From "Many Cargoes." Copyright 1903 by Frederick A. Stokes Company. + + +"Yes, I've sailed under some 'cute skippers in my time," said the +night-watchman; "them that go down in big ships see the wonders o' the +deep, you know," he added with a sudden chuckle, "but the one I'm going +to tell you about ought never to have been trusted out without 'is ma. +A good many o' my skippers had fads, but this one was the worst I ever +sailed under. + +"It's some few years ago now; I'd shipped on his bark, the John +Elliott, as slow-going an old tub as ever I was aboard of, when I +wasn't in quite a fit an' proper state to know what I was doing, an' I +hadn't been in her two days afore I found out his 'obby through +overhearing a few remarks made by the second mate, who came up from +dinner in a hurry to make 'em. 'I don't mind saws an' knives hung +round the cabin,' he ses to the fust mate, 'but when a chap has a 'uman +'and alongside 'is plate, studying it while folks is at their food, +it's more than a Christian man can stand." + +"'That's nothing,' ses the fust mate, who had sailed with the bark +afore. 'He's half crazy on doctoring. We nearly had a mutiny aboard +once owing to his wanting to hold a post mortem on a man what fell from +the mast-head. Wanted to see what the poor feller died of.' + +"'I call it unwholesome,' ses the second mate very savage. 'He offered +me a pill at breakfast the size of a small marble; quite put me off my +feed, it did.' + +"Of course, the skipper's fad soon got known for'ard. But I didn't +think much about it, till one day I seed old Dan'l Dennis sitting on a +locker reading. Every now and then he'd shut the book, an' look up, +closing 'is eyes, an' moving his lips like a hen drinking, an' then +look down at the book again. + +"Why, Dan,' I ses, 'what's up? you ain't larning lessons at your time +o' life?" + +"'Yes, I am,' ses Dan very soft. 'You might hear me say it, it's this +one about heart disease.' + +"He hands over the book, which was stuck full o' all kinds o' diseases, +and winks at me 'ard. + +"'Picked it up on a book-stall,' he ses; then he shut 'is eyes an' said +his piece wonderful. It made me quite queer to listen to 'im. That's +how I feel,' ses he, when he'd finished. 'Just strength enough to get +to bed. Lend a hand, Bill, an' go an' fetch the doctor.' + +"Then I see his little game, but I wasn't going to run any risks, so I +just mentioned, permiscous like, to the cook as old Dan seemed rather +queer, an' went back an' tried to borrer the book, being always fond of +reading. Old Dan pretended he was too ill to hear what I was saying, +an' afore I could take it away from him, the skipper comes hurrying +down with a bag in his 'and. + +"'What's the matter, my man?' ses he, 'what's the matter?' + +"'I'm all right, sir,' ses old Dan, ''cept that I've been swoonding +away a little.' + +"Tell me exactly how you feel,' ses the skipper, feeling his pulse. + +"Then old Dan said his piece over to him, an' the skipper shook his +head an' looked very solemn. + +"'How long have you been like this?' he ses. + +"'Four or five years, sir,' ses Dan. 'It ain't nothing serious, sir, +is it?' + +"'You lie quite still,' ses the skipper, putting a little trumpet thing +to his chest an' then listening. 'Um! there's serious mischief here, +I'm afraid; the prognotice is very bad.' + +"'Prog what, sir?" ses Dan, staring. + +"'Prognotice,' ses the skipper, at least I think that's the word he +said. 'You keep perfectly still, an' I'll go an' mix you up a draft, +and tell the cook to get some strong beef-tea on.' + +"Well, the skipper 'ad no sooner gone, than Cornish Harry, a great big +lumbering chap o' six feet two, goes up to old Dan, an' he ses, 'Gimme +that book.' + +"Go away,' says Dan, 'don't come worrying 'ere; you 'eard the skipper +say how bad my prognotice was.' + +"'You lend me the book,' ses Harry, ketching hold of him, 'or else I'll +bang you first, and split to the skipper arterward. I believe I'm a +bit consumptive. Anyway, I'm going to see.' + +"He dragged the book away from the old man, and began to study. There +was so many complaints in it he was almost tempted to have something +else instead of consumption, but he decided on that at last, an' he got +a cough what worried the foc'sle all night long, an' the next day, when +the skipper came down to see Dan, he could 'ardly 'ear hisself speak. + +"That's a nasty cough you've got, my man,' ses he, looking at Harry. + +"'Oh, it's nothing, sir,' ses Harry, careless like. 'I've 'ad it for +months now off and on. I think it's perspiring so of a night does it.' + +"'What?' ses the skipper. 'Do you perspire of a night?' + +"'Dredful,' ses Harry. 'You could wring the clo'es out. I s'pose it's +healthy for me, ain't it, sir?' + +"'Undo your shirt,' ses the skipper, going over to him, an' sticking +the trumpet agin him. 'Now take a deep breath. Don't cough.' + +"'I can't help it, sir,' ses Harry, 'it will come. Seems to tear me to +pieces.' + +"'You get to bed at once,' says the skipper, taking away the trumpet, +an' shaking his 'ed. 'It's a fortunate thing for you, my lad, you're +in skilled hands. With care, I believe I can pull you round. How does +that medicine suit you, Dan?' + +"'Beautiful, sir,' says Dan. 'It's wonderful soothing. I slep' like a +new-born babe arter it.' + +"'I'll send you to get some more,' ses the skipper. 'You're not to get +up, mind, either of you.' + +"'All right, sir,' ses the two in very faint voices, an' the skipper +went away arter telling us to be careful not to make a noise. + +"We all thought it a fine joke at first, but the airs them two chaps +give themselves was something sickening. Being in bed all day, they +was naturally wakeful of a night, and they used to call across the +foc'sle inquiring arter each other's healths, an' waking us other chaps +up. An' they 'ud swop beef-tea an' jellies with each other, an' Dan +'ud try an' coax a little port wine out o' Harry, which he 'ad to make +blood with, but Harry 'ud say he hadn't made enough that day, an' he'd +drink to the better health of old Dan's prognotice, an' smack his lips +until it drove us a'most crazy to 'ear him. + +"After these chaps had been ill two days, the other fellers began to +put their heads together, being maddened by the smell o' beef-tea an' +the like, an' said they was going to be ill too, and both the invalids +got into a fearful state of excitement. + +"'You'll only spoil it for all of us,' ses Harry, 'and you don't know +what to have without the book.' + +"'It's all very well doing your work as well as our own,' ses one of +the men. 'It's our turn now. It's time you two got well.' + +"'Well?' ses Harry, 'well? Why, you silly iggernerant chaps, we shan't +never get well; people with our complaints never do. You ought to know +that.' + +"'Well, I shall split,' ses one of them. + +"'You do!' ses Harry, 'you do, an' I'll put a 'ed on you that all the +port wine and jellies in the world wouldn't cure. 'Sides, don't you +think the skipper knows what's the matter with us?' + +"'Afore the other chaps could reply, the skipper hisself comes down, +accompanied by the fust mate, with a look on his face which made Harry +give the deepest and hollowest cough he'd ever done. + +"'What they reely want,' ses the skipper, turning to the mate, 'is +keerful nussing.' + +"'I wish you'd let me nuss 'em,' ses the fust mate, 'only ten +minutes--I'd put 'em both on their legs, an' running for their lives +into the bargain, in ten minutes.' + +"'Hold your tongue, sir,' ses the skipper; 'what you say is unfeeling, +besides being an insult to me. Do you think I studied medicine all +these years without knowing when a man's ill?' + +[Illustration: W. W. Jacobs] + +"The fust mate growled something, and went on deck, and the skipper +started examining of 'em again. He said they was wonderfully patient +lying in bed so long, an' he had 'em wrapped up in bed clo'es and +carried on deck, so as the pure air could have a go at 'em. + +"We had to do the carrying, an' there they sat, breathing the pure air, +and looking at the fust mate out of the corners of their eyes. If they +wanted any thing from below, one of us had to go an' fetch it, an' by +the time they was taken down to bed again, we all resolved to be took +ill too. + +"Only two of 'em did it though, for Harry, who was a powerful, +ugly-tempered chap, swore he'd do all sorts o' dreadful things to us if +we didn't keep well and hearty, an' all 'cept these two did. One of +'em, Mike Rafferty, laid up with a swelling on his ribs, which I knew +myself he 'ad 'ad for fifteen years, and the other chap had paralysis. +I never saw a man so reely happy as the skipper was. He was up an' +down with his medicines and his instruments all day long, and used to +make notes of the cases in a big pocketbook, and read 'em to the second +mate at meal-times. + +"The foc'sle had been turned into hospital about a week, an' I was on +deck doing some odd job or the other, when the cook comes up to me +pulling a face as long as a fiddle. + +"'Nother invalid,' ses he; 'fust mate's gone stark, staring mad!' + +"'Mad?' ses I. + +"'Yes,' ses he. 'He's got a big basin in the galley, an' he's laughing +like a hyener an' mixing bilge-water an' ink, an' paraffin an' butter +an' soap an' all sorts o' things up together. The smell's enough to +kill a man; I've had to come away.' + +"Curious-like, I jest walked up to the galley an' puts my 'ed in, an' +there was the mate as the cook said, smiling all over his face, and +ladling some thick sticky stuff into a stone bottle. + +"'How's the pore sufferers, sir?" ses he, stepping out of the galley +jest as the skipper was going by. + +"'They're very bad; but I hope for the best,' ses the skipper, looking +at him hard. 'I'm glad to see you're turned a bit more feeling.' + +"'Yes, sir,' ses the mate. 'I didn't think so at fust, but I can see +now them chaps is all very ill. You'll s'cuse me saying it, but I +don't quite approve of your treatment.' + +"I thought the skipper would ha' bust. + +"'My treatment?' ses he. 'My treatment? What do you know about it?' + +"'You're treating 'em wrong, sir,' ses the mate. 'I have here' +(patting the jar) 'a remedy which 'ud cure them all if you'd only let +me try it.' + +"'Pooh!' ses the skipper. 'One medicine cure all diseases! The old +story. What is it? Where'd you get it from?' ses he. + +"'I brought the ingredients aboard with me,' ses the mate. 'It's a +wonderful medicine discovered by my grandmother, an' if I might only +try it I'd thoroughly cure them pore chaps." + +"'Rubbish!' ses the skipper. + +"'Very well, sir,' ses the mate, shrugging his shoulders. 'O' course, +if you won't let me you won't. Still, I tell you, if you'd let me try +I'd cure 'em all in two days. That's a fair challenge.' + +"Well, they talked, and talked, and talked, until at last the skipper +give way and went down below with the mate, and told the chaps they was +to take the new medicine for two days, jest to prove the mate was wrong. + +"'Let pore old Dan try it first, sir,' ses Harry, starting up, an' +sniffing as the mate took the cork out; 'he's been awful bad since +you've been away.' + +"'Harry's worse than I am, sir,' ses Dan; 'it's only his kind heart +that makes him say that.' + +"'It don't matter which is fust,' ses the mate, filling a tablespoon +with it, 'there's plenty for all. Now, Harry.' + +"'Take it,' ses the skipper. + +"Harry took it, an' the fuss he made you'd ha' thought he was +swallering a football. It stuck all round his mouth, and he carried on +so dredful that the other invalids was half sick afore it came to them. + +"By the time the other three 'ad 'ad theirs it was as good as a +pantermine, an' the mate corked the bottle up, and went an' sat down on +a locker while they tried to rinse their mouths out with the luxuries +which had been given 'em. + +"'How do you feel?' ses the skipper. + +"'I'm dying,' ses Dan. + +"'So'm I,' ses Harry; 'I b'leeve the mate's pisoned us.' + +"The skipper looks over at the mate very stern an' shakes his 'ed +slowly. + +"'It's all right,' ses the mate. 'It's always like that the first +dozen or so doses.' + +"'Dozen or so doses!" ses old Dan, in a faraway voice. + +"'It has to be taken every twenty minutes,' ses the mate, pulling out +his pipe and lighting it; an' the four men groaned all together. + +"'I can't allow it,' ses the skipper, 'I can't allow it. Men's lives +mustn't be sacrificed for an experiment.' + +"''Tain't a experiment,' ses the mate very indignant, 'it's an old +family medicine.' + +"'Well, they shan't have any more,' ses the skipper firmly. + +"'Look here,' ses the mate. 'If I kill any one o' these men, I'll give +you twenty pound. Honor bright, I will.' + +"'Make it twenty-five,' ses the skipper, considering. + +"'Very good,' ses the mate. 'Twenty-five; I can't say no fairer than +that, can I? It's about time for another dose now.' + +"He gave 'em another tablespoonful all round as the skipper left, an' +the chaps what wasn't invalids nearly bust with joy. He wouldn't let +'em have anything to take the taste out, 'cos he said it didn't give +the medicine a chance, an' he told us other chaps to remove the +temptation, an' you bet we did. + +"After the fifth dose, the invalids began to get desperate, an' when +they heard they'd got to be woke up every twenty minutes through the +night to take the stuff, they sort o' give up. Old Dan said he felt a +gentle glow stealing over him and strengthening him, and Harry said +that it felt like a healing balm to his lungs. All of 'em agreed it +was a wonderful sort o' medicine, an' arter the sixth dose the man with +paralysis dashed up on deck, and ran up the rigging like a cat. He sat +there for hours spitting, an' swore he'd brain anybody who interrupted +him, an' arter a little while Mike Rafferty went up and j'ined him, an' +if the fust mate's ears didn't burn by reason of the things them two +pore sufferers said about 'im, they ought to. + +"They was all doing full work next day, an' though, o' course, the +skipper saw how he'd been done, he didn't allude to it. Not in words, +that is; but when a man tries to make four chaps do the work of eight, +an' hits 'em when they don't, it's a easy job to see where the shoe +pinches." + + + + +THE STICKIT MINISTER + +By S. R. CROCKETT + +THE RENUNCIATION OP ROBERT FRASER, FORMERLY STUDENT IN DIVINITY + + +The crows were wheeling behind the plough in scattering clusters, and +plumping singly upon the soft, thick grubs which the ploughshare was +turning out upon an unkindly world. It was a bask blowy day in the end +of March, and there was a hint of storm in the air--a hint emphasised +for those skilled in weather lore by the presence of half a dozen +sea-gulls, white vagrants among the black coats, blown by the south +wind up from the Solway--a snell, Scotch, but not unfriendly day +altogether. Robert Fraser bent to the plough handles, and cast a keen +and wary eye towards his guide posts on the ridge. His face was +colourless, even when a dash of rain came swirling across from the +crest of Ben Gairn, whose steep bulk heaved itself a blue haystack +above the level horizon of the moorland. He was dressed like any other +ploughman of the south uplands--rough homespun much the worse for wear, +and leggings the colour of the red soil which he was reversing with the +share of his plough. Yet there was that about Robert Fraser which +marked him no common man. When he paused at the top of the ascent, and +stood with his back against the horns of the plough, the countryman's +legacy from Adam of the Mattock, he pushed back his weatherbeaten straw +hat with a characteristic gesture, and showed a white forehead with +blue veins channelling it--a damp, heavy lock of black hair clinging to +it as in Severn's picture of John Keats on his deathbed. Robert Fraser +saw a couple of black specks which moved smoothly and evenly along the +top of the distant dyke of the highway. He stood still for a moment or +two watching them. As they came nearer, they resolved themselves into +a smart young man sitting in a well-equipped gig drawn by a +showily-actioned hone, and driven by a man in livery. As they passed +rapidly along the road the hand of the young man appeared in a careless +wave of recognition over the stone dyke, and Robert Fraser lifted his +slack reins in staid acknowledgment. It was more than a year since the +brothers had looked each other so nearly in the eyes. They were Dr. +Henry Fraser, the rising physician of Carn Edward, and his elder +brother Robert, once Student of Divinity at Edinburgh College, whom +three parishes knew as 'The Stickit Minister.' + +When Robert Fraser stabled his horses that night and went into his +supper, he was not surprised to find his friend, Saunders M'Quhirr of +Drumquhat, sitting by the peat fire in the 'room.' Almost the only +thing which distinguished the Stickit Minister from the other small +farmers of the parish of Dullarg was the fact that he always sat in the +evening by himself ben the hoose, and did not use the kitchen in common +with his housekeeper and herd boy, save only at meal-times. Robert had +taken to Saunders ever since--the back of his ambition broken--he had +settled down to the farm, and he welcomed him with shy cordiality. + +'You'll take a cup of tea, Saunders?' he asked. + +'Thank ye, Robert, I wadna be waur o't,' returned his friend. + +'I saw your brither the day,' said Saunders M'Quhirr, after the +tea-cups had been cleared away, and the silent housekeeper had replaced +the books upon the table. Saunders picked a couple of them up, and, +having adjusted his glasses, he read the titles--Milton's Works, and a +volume of a translation of Dorner's Person of Christ. + +'I saw yer brither the day; he maun be gettin' a big practice!' + +'Ay!' said Robert Fraser, very thoughtfully. + +Saunders M'Quhirr glanced up quickly. It was, of course, natural that +the unsuccessful elder brother should envy the prosperous younger, but +he had thought that Robert Fraser was living on a different plane. It +was one of the few things that the friends had never spoken of, though +every one knew why Dr. Fraser did not visit his brother's little farm. +'He's gettin' in wi' the big fowk noo, an' thinks maybe that his +brither wad do him nae credit.' That was the way the clash of the +country-side explained the matter. + +'I never told you how I came to leave the college, Saunders,' said the +younger man, resting his brow on a hand that even the horn of the +plough could not make other than diaphanous. + +'No,' said Saunders quietly, with a tender gleam coming into the +humorsome kindly eyes that lurked under their bushy tussocks of grey +eyebrow. Saunders's humour lay near the Fountain of Tears. + +'No,' continued Robert Fraser, 'I have not spoken of it to so many; but +you've been a good frien' to me, Saunders, and I think you should hear +it. I have not tried to set myself right with folks in the general, +but I would like to let you see clearly before I go my ways to Him who +seeth from the beginning.' + +'Hear till him,' said Saunders; 'man, yer hoast is no' near as sair as +it was i' the back-end. Ye'll be here lang efter me; but lang or +short, weel do ye ken, Robert Fraser, that ye need not to pit yersel' +richt wi' me. Hae I no' kenned ye sins ye war the sic o' twa +scrubbers?' + +'I thank you, Saunders,' said Robert, 'but I am well aware that I'm to +die this year. No, no, not a word. It is the Lord's will! It's mair +than seven year now since I first kenned that my days were to be few. +It was the year my faither died, and left Harry and me by our lane. + +'He left no siller to speak of, just plenty to lay him decently in the +kirkyard among his forebears. I had been a year at the Divinity Hall +then, and was going up to put in my discourses for the next session. I +had been troubled with my breast for some time, and so called one day +at the infirmary to get a word with Sir James. He was very busy when I +went in, and never noticed me till the hoast took me. Then on a sudden +he looked up from his papers, came quickly over to me, put his own +white handkerchief to my mouth, and quietly said, "Come into my room, +laddie!" Ay, he was a good man and a faithful, Sir James, if ever +there was one. He told me that with care I might live five or six +years, but it would need great care. Then a strange prickly coldness +came over me, and I seemed to walk light-headed in an atmosphere +suddenly rarefied. I think I know now how the mouse feels under the +air-pump.' + +'What's that?' queried Saunders. + +'A cruel ploy not worth speaking of,' continued the Stickit Minister. +'Well, I found something in my throat when I tried to thank him. But I +came my ways home to the Dullarg, and night and day I considered what +was to be done, with so much to do and so little time to do it. It was +clear that both Harry and me could not gang through the college on the +little my faither had left. So late one night I saw my way clear to +what I should do. Harry must go, I must stay. I must come home to the +farm, and be my own "man"; then I could send Harry to the college to be +a doctor, for he had no call to the ministry as once I thought I had. +More than that, It was laid on me to tell Jessie London that Robert +Fraser was no better than a machine set to go five year. + +'Now all these things I did, Saunders, but there's no use telling you +what they cost in the doing. They were right to do, and they were +done. I do not repent any of them. I would do them all over again +were they to do, but it's been bitterer than I thought.' + +The Stickit Minister took his head off his hand and leaned wearily back +in his chair. + +'The story went over the country that I had failed in my examinations, +and I never said that I had not. But there were some that knew better +who might have contradicted the report if they had liked. I settled +down to the farm, and I put Harry through the college, sending all but +a bare living to him in Edinburgh. I worked the work of the farm, rain +and shine, ever since, and have been for these six years the "stickit +minister" that all the world kens the day. Whiles Harry did not think +that he got enough. He was always writing for more, and not so very +pleased when he did not get it. He was aye different to me, ye ken, +Saunders, and he canna be judged by the same standard as you and me.' + +'I ken,' said Saunders M'Quhirr, a spark of light lying in the quiet of +his eyes. + +'Well,' continued Robert Fraser, lightened by Saunders's apparent +agreement, 'the time came when he was clear from the college, and +wanted a practice. He had been ill-advised that he had not got his +share of the farm, and he wanted it selled to share and share alike. +Now I kenned, and you ken, Saunders, that it's no' worth much in one +share let alone two. So I got the place quietly bonded, and bought him +old Dr. Aitkin's practice in Cairn Edward with the money. + +'I have tried to do my best for the lad, for it was laid on me to be my +brother's keeper. He doesna come here much,' continued Robert, 'but I +think he's not so ill against me as he was. Saunders, he waved his +hand to me when he was gaun by the day!' + +'That was kind of him,' said Saunders M'Quhirr. + +'Ay, was it no',' said the Stickit Minister, eagerly, with a soft look +in his eyes as he glanced up at his brother's portrait in cap and gown, +which hung over the china dogs on the mantelpiece. + +'I got my notice this morning that the bond is to be called up in +November,' said Robert. 'So I'll be obliged to flit.' + +Saunders M'Quhirr started to his feet in a moment. 'Never,' he said, +with the spark of fire alive now in his eyes, 'never as lang as there's +a beast on Drumquhat, or a poun' in Cairn Edward Bank'--bringing down +his clenched fist upon the Milton on the table. + +'No, Saunders, no,' said the Stickit Minister, very gently; 'I thank +you kindly, but I'll be flitted before that!' + + + +THE LAMMAS PREACHING + +By S. R. CROCKETT + + +'And I further intimate,' said the minister, 'that I will preach this +evening at Cauldshaws, and my text will be from the ninth chapter of +the book of Ecclesiastes and the tenth verse, "Whatsoever thy hand +findeth to do, do it with thy might."' + +'Save us,' said Janet MacTaggart, 'he's clean forgotten "if it be the +Lord's wull." Maybe he'll be for gaun whether it's His wull or +no'--he's a sair masterfu' man, the minister; but he comes frae the +Machars,[*] an' kens little aboot the jealous God we hae amang the +hills o' Gallowa'!' + + +[*] The Eastern Lowlands of Wigtonshire. + + +The minister continued, in the same high, level tone in which he did +his preaching, 'There are a number of sluggards who lay the weight of +their own laziness on the Almighty, saying, "I am a worm and no +man--how should I strive with my Maker?" whenever they are at strife +with their own sluggishness. There will be a word for all such this +evening at the farmtown of Cauldshaws, presently occupied by Gilbert +M'Kissock--public worship to begin at seven o'clock.' + +The congregation of Barnessock kirk tumbled amicably over its own heels +with eagerness to get into the kirkyaird in order to settle the +momentous question, 'Wha's back was he on the day?' + +Robert Kirk, Carsethorn, had a packet of peppermint lozenges in the +crown of his 'lum' hat--deponed to by Elizabeth Douglas or Barr, in +Barnbogrie, whose husband, Weelum Barr, put on the hat of the aforesaid +Robert Kirk by mistake for his own, whereupon the peppermints fell to +the floor and rolled under the pews in most unseemly fashion. +Elizabeth Kirk is of opinion that this should be brought to the notice +of Session, she herself always taking her peppermint while genteelly +wiping her mouth with the corner of her handkerchief. Robert Kirk, on +being put to the question, admits the fact, but says that it was his +wife put them there to be near her hand. + +The minister, however, ready with his word, brought him to shame by +saying, 'O Robert, Robert, that was just what Adam said, "The woman +Thou gavest me, she gave me to eat!"' The aforesaid Robert Kirk thinks +that it is meddling with the original Hebrew to apply this to +peppermints, and also says that Elizabeth Kirk is an impident besom, +and furthermore that, as all the country well knows---- (Here the +chronicler omits much matter actionable in the civil courts of the +realm). + +'Janet,' said the minister to his housekeeper, 'I am to preach to-night +at Cauldshaws on the text, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it +with thy might."' + +'I ken,' said Janet, 'I saw it on yer desk. I pat it ablow the clock +for fear the wun's o' heeven micht blaw it awa' like chaff, an' you +couldna do wantin' it!' + +'Janet MacTaggart,' said the minister, tartly, 'bring in the denner, +and do not meddle with what does not concern you.' + +Janet could not abide read sermons; her natural woman rose against +them. She knew, as she had said, that God was a jealous God, and, with +regard to the minister, she looked upon herself as His viceregent. + +'He's young an' terrable ram-stam an' opeenionated--fu' o' buik-lear, +but wi' little gracious experience. For a' that, the root o' the +maitter's in 'im,' said Janet, not unhopefully. + +'I'm gaun to preach at Cauldshaws, and my text's "Whatsoever thy hand +findeth to do, do it with thy might,"' said the minister to the +precentor that afternoon, on the manse doorstep. + +'The Lord's no' in a' his thochts. I'll gang wi' the lad mysel',' said +the precentor. + +Now, Galloway is so much out of the world that the Almighty has not +there lifted His hand from reward and punishment, from guiding and +restraining, as He has done in big towns where everything goes by +machinery. Man may say that there is no God when he only sees a +handbreadth of smoky heaven between the chimney-pots; but out on the +fields of oats and bear, and up on the screes of the hillsides, where +the mother granite sticks her bleaching ribs through the heather, men +have reached great assurance on this and other matters. + +The burns were running red with the mighty July rain when Douglas +Maclellan started over the meadows and moors to preach his sermon at +the farmtown of Cauldshaws. He had thanked the Lord that morning in +his opening prayer for 'the bounteous rain wherewith He had seen meet +to refresh His weary heritage.' + +His congregation silently acquiesced, 'for what,' said they, 'could a +man from the Machars be expected to ken about meadow hay?' + +When the minister and the precentor got to the foot of the manse +loaning, they came upon the parish ne'er-do-weel, Ebie Kirgan, who kept +himself in employment by constantly scratching his head, trying to +think of something to do, and whose clothes were constructed on the +latest sanitary principles of ventilation. The ruins of Ebie's hat +were usually tipped over one eye for enlarged facilities of scratching +in the rear. + +'If it's yer wull, minister, I'll come to hear ye the nicht. It's +drawing to mair rain, I'm thinkin'!' said the Scarecrow. + +'I hope the discourse may be profitable to you, Ebenezer, for, as I +intimated this morning, I am to preach from the text, "Whatsoever thy +hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."' + +'Ay, minister,' said Ebie, relieving his right hand, and tipping his +hat over the other eye to give his left free play. So the three struck +over the fields, making for the thorn tree at the corner, where Robert +Kirk's dyke dipped into the standing water of the meadow. + +'Do you think ye can manage it, Maister Maclellan?' said the precentor. +'Ye're wat half-way up the leg already.' + +'An' there's sax feet o' black moss water in the Laneburn as sure as +I'm a leevin' sowl,' added Ebie Kirgan. + +'I'm to preach at Cauldshaws, and my text is, "Whatsoever thy hand +findeth to do, do it with thy might!"' said the minister, stubbornly +glooming from under the eaves of his eyebrows as the swarthy men from +the Machars are wont to do. His companions said no more. They came to +Camelon Lane, where usually Robert Kirk had a leaping pole on either +bank to assist the traveller across, but both poles had gone down the +water in the morning to look for Robert's meadow hay. + +'Tak' care, Maister Maclellan, ye'll be in deep water afore ye ken. O +man, ye had far better turn!' + +The precentor stood up to his knees in water on what had once been the +bank, and wrung his hands. But the minister pushed steadily ahead into +the turbid and sluggish water. + +'I canna come, oh, I canna come, for I'm a man that has a family.' + +'It's no' your work; stay where ye are,' cried the minister, without +looking over his shoulder; 'but as for me, I'm intimated to preach this +night at Cauldshaws, and my text----' + +Here he stepped into a deep hole, and his text was suddenly shut within +him by the gurgle of moss water in his throat. His arms rose above the +surface like the black spars of a windmill. But Ebie Kirgan sculled +himself swiftly out, swimming with his shoeless feet, and pushed the +minister before him to the further bank--the water gushing out of rents +in his clothes as easily as out of the gills of a fish. + +The minister stood with unshaken confidence on the bank. He ran peat +water like a spout in a thunder plump, and black rivulets of dye were +trickling from under his hat down his brow and dripping from the end of +his nose. + +'Then you'll not come any farther?' he called cross to the precentor. + +'I canna, oh, I canna; though I'm most awfu' wullin'. Kirsty wad never +forgie me gin I was to droon.' + +'Then I'll e'en have to raise the tune myself--though three times +"Kilmarneck" is a pity,' said the minister, turning on his heel and +striding away through the shallow sea, splashing the water as high as +his head with a kind of headstrong glee which seemed to the precentor a +direct defiance of Providence. Ebie Kirgan followed half a dozen steps +behind. The support of the precentor's lay semi-equality taken from +him, he began to regret that he had come, and silently and ruefully +plunged along after the minister through the waterlogged meadows. They +came in time to the foot of Robert Kirk's march dyke, and skirted it a +hundred yards upward to avoid the deep pool in which the Laneburn +waters were swirling. The minister climbed silently up the seven-foot +dyke, pausing a second on the top to balance himself for his leap to +the other side. As he did so Ebie Kirgan saw that the dyke was swaying +to the fall, having been weakened by the rush of water on the farther +side. He ran instantly at the minister, and gave him a push with both +hands which caused Mr. Maclellan to alight on his feet clear of the +falling stones. The dyke did not so much fall outward as settle down +on its own ruins. Ebie fell on his face among the stones with the +impetus of his own eagerness. He arose, however, quickly--only limping +slightly from what he called a 'bit chack' on the leg between two +stones. + +'That was a merciful providence, Ebenezer,' said the minister, +solemnly; 'I hope you are duly thankful!' + +'Dod, I am that!' replied Ebie, scratching his head vigorously with his +right hand and rubbing his leg with his left. 'Gin I hadna gi'en ye +that dunch, ye micht hae preachen nane at Cauldshaws this nicht.' + +They now crossed a fairly level clover field, dark and laid with wet. +The scent of the clover rose to their nostrils with almost overpowering +force. There was not a breath of air. The sky was blue and the sun +shining. Only a sullen roar came over the hill, sounding in the +silence like the rush of a train over a far-away viaduct. + +'What is that?' queried the minister, stopping to listen. + +Ebie took a brisk sidelong look at him. + +'I'm some dootsome that'll be the Skyreburn coming doon aff o' +Cairnsmuir!' + +The minister tramped unconcernedly on. Ebie Kirgan stared at him. + +'He canna ken what a "Skyreburn warnin'" is--he'll be thinkin' it's +some bit Machars burn that the laddies set their whurlie mills in. But +he'll turn richt eneuch when he sees Skyreburn roarin' reed in a Lammas +flood, I'm thinkin'!' + +They took their way over the shoulder of the hill in the beautiful +evening, leaning eagerly forward to get the first glimpse of the cause +of that deep and resonant roar. In a moment they saw below them a +narrow rock-walled gully, ten or fifteen yards across, filled to the +brim with rushing water. It was not black peat water like the Camelon +Lane, but it ran red as keel, flecked now and then with a revolving +white blur as one of the Cauldshaws sheep spun downward to the sea, +with four black feet turned pitifully up to the blue sky. + +Ebie looked at the minister. 'He'll turn noo if he's mortal,' he said. +But the minister held on. He looked at the water up and down the +roaring stream. On a hill above, the farmer of Cauldshaws, having +driven all his remaining sheep together, sat down to watch. Seeing the +minister, he stood up and excitedly waved him back. But Douglas +Maclellan from the Machars never gave him a look, and his shouting was +of less effect than if he had been crying to an untrained collie. + +The minister looked long up the stream, and at a point where the rocks +came very close together, and many stunted pines were growing, he saw +one which, having stood on the immediate brink, had been so much +undercut that it leaned over the gully like a fishing-rod. With a keen +glance along its length, the minister, jamming his dripping soft felt +hat on the back of his head, was setting foot on the perilous slope of +the uneven red-brown trunk, when Ebie Kirgan caught him sharply by the +arm. + +'It's no' for me to speak to a minister at ordinar' times,' he +stammered, gathering courage in his desperation; 'but, oh, man, it's +fair murder to try to gang ower that water!' + +The minister wrenched himself free, and sprang along the trunk with +wonderful agility. + +'I'm intimated to preach at Cauldshaws this night, and my text is, +"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might!"' he shouted. + +He made his way up and up the slope of the fir tree, which, having +little grip of the rock, dipped and swayed under his tread. Ebie +Kirgan fell on his knees and prayed aloud. He had not prayed since his +stepmother boxed his ears for getting into bed without saying his +prayers twenty years ago. This had set him against it. But he prayed +now, and to infinitely more purpose than his minister had recently +done. But when the climber had reached the branchy top, and was +striving to get a few feet farther, in order to clear the surging linn +before he made his spring, Ebie rose to his feet, leaving his prayer +unfinished. He sent forth an almost animal shriek of terror. The tree +roots cracked like breaking cables and slowly gave way, an avalanche of +stones plumped into the whirl, and the top of the fir crashed downwards +on the rocks of the opposite bank. + +'Oh, man, call on the name of the Lord,' cried Ebie Kirgan, the ragged +preacher, at the top of his voice. + +Then he saw something detach itself from the tree as it rebounded, and +for a moment rise and fall black against the sunset. Then Ebie the +Outcast fell on his face like a dead man. + + * * * * * + +In the white coverleted 'room' of the farmtown of Cauldshaws, a +white-faced lad lay with his eyes closed, and a wet cloth on his brow. +A large-boned, red-cheeked, motherly woman stole to and fro with a foot +as light as a fairy. The sleeper stirred and tried to lift an +unavailing hand to his head. The mistress of Cauldshaws stole to his +bedside as he opened his eyes. She laid a restraining hand on him as +he strove to rise. + +'Let me up,' said the minister, 'I must away, for I'm intimated to +preach at Cauldshaws, and my text is, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to +do, do it with thy might."' + +'My bonny man,' said the goodwife, tenderly, 'you'll preach best on the +broad o' yer back this mony a day, an' when ye rise your best text will +be, "He sent from above, He took me, and drew me out of many waters!"' + + + + +AN UNDERGRADUATE'S AUNT + +By F. ANSTEY + +_Author of "Vice Versa," etc._ + + +Frederick Flushington belonged to a small college, and in doing so +conferred upon it one of the few distinctions it could boast--namely, +that of possessing the very bashfulest man in the whole university. +But his college did not treat him with any excess of adulation on that +account, probably from a prudent fear of rubbing the bloom off his +modesty; they allowed him to blush unseen--which was the condition in +which he preferred to blush. + +He felt himself oppressed by a paucity of ideas and a difficulty in +knowing which way to look in the presence of his fellow-men, which made +him never so happy as when he had fastened his outer door and secured +himself from all possibility of intrusion; though it was almost an +unnecessary precaution, for nobody ever thought of coming to see +Flushington. + +In appearance he was a man of middle height, with a long scraggy neck +and a large head, which gave him the air of being much shorter than he +really was; he had little, weak eyes, a nose and mouth of no particular +shape, and very smooth hair of no definite color. He had a timid, +deprecating air, which seemed due to the consciousness that he was an +uninteresting anomaly, and he certainly was as impervious to the +ordinary influence of his surroundings as any undergraduate well could +be. He lived a colorless, aimless life in his little rooms under the +roof, reading every morning from nine till two with a superstitiously +mechanical regularity, though very often his books completely failed to +convey any ideas whatever to his brain, which was not a particularly +powerful organ. + +If the afternoon was fine he generally sought out his one friend, who +was a few degrees less shy than himself, and they took a monosyllabic +walk together; or if it was wet, he read the papers at the Union, and +in the evening after hall he studied "general literature" (a graceful +term for novels) or laboriously spelt out a sonata upon his piano--a +habit which did not increase his popularity. + +Fortunately for Flushington, he had no gyp, or his life might have been +made a positive burden to him, and with his bedmaker he was rather a +favorite as "a gentleman what gave no trouble"--meaning that, when he +observed his sherry unaccountably sinking, like the water in a lock +when the sluices are up, Flushington was too delicate to refer to the +phenomenon. + +He was sitting one afternoon over his modest lunch of bread and butter, +potted meat and lemonade, when all at once he heard a sound of unusual +voices and a strange flutter of dresses coming up the winding stone +staircase outside, and was instantly seized with a cold dread. + +There was no particular reason for being alarmed, although there were +certainly ladies mounting the steps. Probably they were friends of the +man opposite, who was always having his people up; but still +Flushington had that odd presentiment which nervous people have +sometimes that something unpleasant is on its way to them, and he half +rose from his chair to shut his outer oak. + +It was too late; the dresses were rustling now in his very passage; +there was a pause, a few faint, smothered laughs and little feminine +coughs--then two taps at the door. + +"Come in," cried Flushington, faintly; he wished he had been reading +anything but the work by M. Zola, which was propped up in front of him. +It is your mild man, who frequently has a taste for seeing the less +reputable side of life in this second-hand way, and Flushington would +toil manfully through the voluminous pages, hunting up every third word +in the dictionary; with a sense of injury when, as was often the case, +it was not to be found. Still, there was a sort of intellectual orgie +about it which had strong fascinations for him, while he knew enough of +the language to be aware when the incidents approached the improper, +though he was not always able to see quite clearly in what this +impropriety consisted. + +The door opened, and his heart seemed to stop, and all the blood rushed +violently to his head as a large lady came sweeping in, her face +rippling with a broad smile of affection. + +She horrified Flushington, who knew nobody with the least claim to +smile at him so expansively as that; he drank lemonade to conceal his +confusion. + +"You know me, my dear Fred?" she said, easily. "Of course not--how +should you? I'm--for goodness sake, my dear boy, don't look so +terribly frightened! I'm your aunt--your aunt Amelia, come over from +Australia!" + +The shock was a severe one to Flushington, who had not even known he +possessed such a relative; he could only say, "Oh?" which he felt even +then was scarcely a warm greeting to give an aunt from the Antipodes. + +"Oh, but," she added, cheerily, "that's not all; I've another surprise +for you: the dear girls would insist on coming up, too, to see their +grand college cousin; they're just outside. I'll call them in--shall +I?" + +In another second Flushington's small room was overrun by a horde of +female relatives, while he looked on gasping. + +They were pretty girls, too, many of them; but that was all the more +dreadful to him: he did not mind the plainer ones half so much; a +combination of beauty and intellect reduced him to a condition of +absolute imbecility. + +He was once caught and introduced to a charming young lady from +Newnham, and all he could do was to back feebly into a corner and +murmur "Thank you," repeatedly. + +He was very little better than that then as his aunt singled out one +girl after another. "We won't have any formal nonsense between +cousins," she said; "you know them all by name already, I dare say. +This is Milly; that's Jane; here's Flora, and Kitty, and Margaret; and +that's my little Thomasina over there by the book-case." + +Poor Flushington ducked blindly in the direction of each, and then to +them all collectively: he had not presence of mind to offer them chairs +or cake, or anything; and besides, there was not nearly enough of +anything for all of them. + +Meanwhile, his aunt had spread herself comfortably out in his armchair, +and was untying her bonnet-strings and beaming at him until he was +ready to expire with confusion. "I do think," she observed at last, +"that when an old aunt all the way from Australia takes the trouble to +come and see you like this, you might spare her just one kiss!" + +Flushington dared not refuse; he tottered up and kissed her somewhere +about the face, after which he did not know which way to look, he was +so terribly afraid that he might have to go through the same ceremony +with his cousins, which he simply could not have survived. + +Happily for him, they did not appear to expect it and he balanced a +chair on its hind legs and, resting one knee upon it, waited patiently +for them to begin a conversation; he could not have uttered a single +word. + +The aunt came to his rescue: "You don't ask after your Uncle Samuel, +who used to send you the beetles?" she said, reprovingly. + +"No," said Flushington, who had forgotten Uncle Samuel and his beetles, +too; "no, how is Uncle Samuel--quite well, I hope?" + +"Only tolerably so, thank you, Fred; you see, he never got over his +great loss." + +"No," said Flushington desperately, "of course not; it was a--a large +sum of money to lose at once." + +"I was not referring to money," said she, with a slight touch of +stoniness in her manner; "I was alluding to the death of your Cousin +John." + +Flushington had felt himself getting on rather well just before that, +but this awkward mistake--for he could not recollect having heard of +Cousin John before--threw him off his balance again; he collapsed into +silence once more, inwardly resolving to be lured into no more +questions concerning relatives. + +His ignorance seemed to have aroused pathetic sentiments in his aunt. +"I ought to have known," she said, shaking her head, "they'd soon +forget us in the old country; here's my own sister's son, and he +doesn't remember his cousin's death! Well, well, now we're here, we +must see if we can't know one another a little better. Fred, you must +take the girls and me everywhere and show us everything, like a good +nephew, you know." + +Flushington had a horrible mental vision of himself careering about all +Cambridge, followed by a long procession of female relatives--a fearful +possibility to so shy a man. "Shall you be here long?" he asked. + +"Only a week or so; we're at the 'Bull,' very near you, you see; and +I'm afraid you think us very bold beggars, Fred, but we're going to ask +you to give us something to eat. I've set my heart, so have the girls +(haven't you, dears?), on lunching once with a college student in his +own room." + +"There's nothing so extraordinary in it, I assure you," protested +Flushington, "and--and I'm afraid there's very little for you to eat. +The kitchen and buttery are closed" (he said this at a venture, as he +felt absolutely unequal to facing the college cook and ordering lunch +from that tremendous personage; he would rather order it from his own +tutor, even). "But, if you don't mind potted ham, there's a little at +the bottom of this tin, and there's some bread and an inch of butter, +and marmalade, and a few biscuits. And there was some sherry this +morning." + +The girls all professed themselves very hungry and contented with +anything; so they sat around the table, and poor Flushington served out +meagre rations of all the provisions he could find, even to his figs +and French plums; but there was not nearly enough to go round, and they +lunched with evident disillusionment, thinking that the college luxury +of which they had heard so much had been greatly exaggerated. + +During luncheon the aunt began to study Flushington's features +attentively. "There's a strong look of poor, dear Simon about him when +he smiles," she said, looking at him through her gold double glasses. +"There, did you catch it, girls? Just his mother's profile (turn your +face a leetle more towards the window, so as to get the light on your +nose). Don't you see the likeness to your aunt's portrait, girls?" + +And Flushington had to sit still with all the girls' charming eyes +fixed critically upon his crimson countenance; he longed to be able to +slide down under the table and evade them, but of course he was obliged +to remain above. + +"He's got dear Caroline's nose!" the aunt went on triumphantly; and the +cousins agreed that he certainly had Caroline's nose, which made +Flushington feel vaguely that he ought at least to offer to return it. + +Presently one of the girls whispered to her mother, who laughed +indulgently. "What do you think this silly child wants me to ask you +now, Fred?" she said. "She says she would so like to see what you look +like with your college cap and gown on. Will you put them on, just to +please her?" + +So Flushington had to put them on and walk slowly up and down the room +in them, feeling all the time what a dismal spectacle he was making of +himself, while the girls were plainly disappointed, and remarked that +somehow they had thought the academical costume more becoming. + +Then began a hotly-maintained catechism upon his studies, his +amusements, his friends and his mode of life generally, which he met +with uneasy shiftings and short, timid answers that they did not appear +to think altogether satisfactory. + +Indeed, the aunt, who by this time felt the potted ham beginning to +disagree with her, asked him, with something of severity in her tone, +whether he went to church regularly; and he said that he didn't go to +church, but was always regular at chapel. + +On this she observed coldly that she was sorry to hear her nephew was a +Dissenter; and Flushington was much too shy to attempt to explain the +misunderstanding; he sat quiet and felt miserable, while there was +another uncomfortable pause. + +The cousins were whispering together and laughing over little private +jokes, and he, after the manner of sensitive men, of course imagined +they were laughing at him--and perhaps he was not very far wrong on +this occasion. So he was growing hotter and hotter every second, +inwardly cursing his whole race and wishing that his father had been a +foundling--when there came another tap at the door. + +"Why, that must be poor old Sophy!" said his aunt. "Fred, you remember +old Sophy--no, you can't; you were only a baby when she came to live +with us, but she'll remember you. She begged so hard to be taken, and +so we told her she might come on here slowly after us." + +And then an old person in a black bonnet came feebly in, and was +considerably affected when she saw Flushington. "To think," she +quavered, "to think as my dim old eyes should see the child I've nursed +on my lap growed out into a college gentleman!" And she hugged +Flushington and wept on his shoulder till he was almost cataleptic with +confusion. + +But as she grew calmer she became more critical; she confessed to a +certain feeling of disappointment with Flushington; he had not filled +out, she said, "so fine as he'd promised to fill out." And when she +asked if he recollected how he wouldn't be washed unless they put his +little wooden horse on the washstand, and what a business it was to +make him swallow his castor-oil, it made Flushington feel like a fool. + +This was quite bad enough, but at last the girls began to go round his +rooms, exclaiming at everything, admiring his pipe and umbrella racks, +his buffalo horns and his quaint wooden kettle-holder, until they +happened to come upon his French novel; and, being unsophisticated +colonial girls with a healthy ignorance of such literature, they wanted +Flushington to tell them what it was all about. + +His presence of mind had gone long before, and this demand threw him +into a violent perspiration; he could not invent, and he was painfully +racking his brains to find some portion of the tale which would bear +repetition--when there was another knock at the door. + +At this Flushington was perfectly dumb with horror; he prepared himself +blankly for another aunt with a fresh relay of female cousins, or more +old family servants who had washed him in his infancy, and he sat there +cowering. + +But when the door opened a tall, fair-haired, good-looking young +fellow, who from his costume had evidently just come up from the +tennis-court, came bursting in impulsively. + +"Oh, I say!" he began, "have you heard--have you seen? Oh, beg pardon, +didn't see, you know!" he added, as he noticed the extraordinary fact +that Flushington had people up. + +"Oh, let me introduce you," said Flushington, with a vague idea that +this was the proper thing to do. "Mr. Lushington, Mrs.--no, I don't +know her name--my aunt--my cousins." + +The young man, who had just been about to retire, bowed and stared with +a sudden surprise. "Do you know," he said slowly to the other, "I +rather think that's my aunt!" + +"I--I'm afraid not," whispered Flushington; "she seems quite sure she's +mine." + +"Well, I've got an aunt and cousins I've never seen before coming up +to-day," said the new-comer, "and yours is uncommonly like the portrait +of mine." + +"If they belong to you, do take them away!" said Flushington feebly; "I +don't think I can keep up much longer." + +"What are you whispering about, Fred?" cried the aunt. "Is it +something we are not to know?" + +"He says he thinks there's been a mistake, and you're not my aunt," +explained Flushington. + +"Oh, does he?" she said, drawing herself up indignantly. "And what +does he know about it? I didn't catch his name--who is he?" + +"Fred Lushington," he said; "that's my name." + +"And who are you, if he's Fred Lushington?" she inquired, turning upon +the unfortunate owner of the rooms. + +"I'm Frederick Flushington," he stammered; "I'm sorry--but I can't help +it!" + +"Then you're not my nephew at all, sir!" cried the aunt. + +"Thank you very much," said Flushington gratefully. + +"You see," her real nephew was explaining to her, "there isn't much +light on the staircase, and you must have thought his name over the +door was 'F. Lushington,' so in you went, you know! The porter told me +you'd been asking for me, so I looked in here to see whether you had +been heard of, and here you are." + +"But why didn't he tell me?" she said, for she was naturally annoyed to +find that she had been pouring out all her pent-up affection over a +perfect stranger, and she even had a dim idea that she had put herself +in rather a ridiculous position, which of course made her feel very +angry with Flushington. "Why couldn't he explain before matters had +gone on so far?" + +"How was I to know?" pleaded Flushington. "I dare say I have aunts in +Australia, and you said you were one of them." + +"But you asked after Uncle Samuel?" she said accusingly. "You must +have had some object--I cannot say what--in encouraging my mistake; oh, +I'm sure of it!" + +"You told me to ask after him," said the unhappy Flushington; "I +thought it was all right. What else was I to do?" + +The cousins were whispering and laughing together all this time and +regarding their new cousin with shy admiration, very different from the +manner in which they had looked at poor Flushington; and the old nurse, +too, was overjoyed and declared that she felt sure from the first that +her Master Frederick had not turned out so undersized as him--meaning +Flushington. + +"Yes, yes," said Lushington hastily, "quite a mistake on both sides. +Quite sure Flushington isn't the man to go and intercept any fellow's +aunt." + +"I wouldn't have done it for worlds, if I had known!" he protested very +sincerely. + +"Well," she said, a little mollified, "I am very sorry we've all +disturbed you like this, Mr.--Mr. Flushington" (the unlucky man said +something about not minding it now); "and now, Fred, perhaps you will +show us the way to the right rooms?" + +"Come along, then!" said he; "I'll run down and tell them to send up +some lunch" (they did not explain that they had lunched already). "You +come, too, Flushington, and then after lunch you and I will row the +ladies up to Byron's Pool?" + +"Yes, do come, Mr. Flushington," the ladies said kindly. + +But Flushington wriggled out of it. To begin with, he did not consider +he knew his neighbor sufficiently well; besides, he had had enough of +female society for one day. + +Indeed, long after that, he would be careful in fastening his door +about luncheon-time, and if he saw any person in Cambridge who looked +as if she might by any possibility turn out to be a relation, he would +flee down a back street. + + + + +THE SILHOUETTES + +By A. T. QUILLER-COUCH + + +The small round gentleman who had come all the way to Gantick village +from the extreme south of France, and had blown his flageolet all day +in Gantick street without exciting its population in the least, was +disgusted. Toward dusk he crossed the stile which divides Sanctuary +Lane from the churchyard and pausing, with a leg on each side of the +bar, shook his fist back at the village, which lay below, its gray +roofs and red chimneys just distinguishable here and there, between a +foamy sea of apple-blossom and a haze of bluish smoke. He could not +very well shake its dust off his feet, for this was hardly separable +from the dust of many other places on his boots, and also it was mostly +mud. But his gesture betokened extreme malevolence. + +"These Cor-rnishmen," he said, "are pigs all. There is not a +Cor-rnishman that is not a big pig." + +He lifted the second leg wearily over the bar. + +"As for Art--phit! Moreover, they shut up their churches." + +This was really a serious matter for he had not a penny-piece in his +pocket, the last had gone to buy a loaf--and there was no lodging to be +had in the village. The month was April, a bad time to sleep in the +open; and though the night drew in tranquilly upon a day of broad +sunshine, the earth had by no means sucked in the late heavy rains. +The church-porch, however, had a broad bench on either side and faced +the south, away from the prevailing wind. He had made a mental note of +this early in the day, being schooled to anticipate such straits as the +present. As he passed up the narrow path between the graves, with a +gait like a limping hare's, he scanned his surroundings carefully. + +The churchyard was narrow and surrounded by a high gray wall, mostly +hidden by an inner belt of well-grown cypresses. At one point the +ranks of these trees were broken for some forty feet, and here the back +of a small dwelling-house abutted on the cemetery. There was one +window only in the yellow-washed wall, and this window looked straight +on the church-porch. The flageolet-player regarded it with suspicion; +but the casement was shut and the blind drawn down. The aspect of the +cottage, too, proclaimed that its inhabitants were very poor folk--not +at all the sort to tell tales upon a casual tramp if they spied him +bivouacking upon holy ground. + +He limped into the porch and cast off the blue bag that was strapped +upon his shoulders. Out of it he drew a sheep's-wool cape, worn very +thin, and then turned the bag inside out, on the chance of discovering +a forgotten crust. The search disappointed him, but he took it +calmly--being on the whole a sweet-tempered man and not easily angered, +except by an affront to his vanity. His violent indignation against +the people of Gantick arose from their indifference to his playing. +Had they even run out at their doors to listen and stare, he would not +have minded their stinginess. + +He that cannot eat had best sleep. The little man passed the flat of +his hand, in the dusky light, over the two benches, and having chosen +the one with fewest asperities on its surface, tossed his bag and +flageolet upon the other, pulled off his boots, folded his cape to make +a pillow, and stretched himself at length. In less than ten minutes he +was sleeping dreamlessly. + +Over his head there hung a board containing a list or two of the parish +ratepayers, and the usual notice of the spring training of the Royal +Cornwall Rangers' militia. This last placard had broken from two of +its fastenings, and, toward midnight was rustled by an eddy of the +light wind so loudly as to wake the sleeper. + +He sat upright and lowered his bare feet upon the pavement. Outside, +the blue firmament was full of stars, sparkling unevenly, as though the +wind was trying in sport to extinguish them. In the eaves of the porch +he could hear the martins rustling in the crevices that they had come +back, but a few days since, to warm again. But what drew the man to +the entrance was the window in the cottage over the wall. + +The lattice was pushed back and the room inside was brightly lit. But +a white sheet had been stretched right across the window between him +and the lamp. And on this sheet two quick hands were waving all kinds +of clever shadows, shaping them, moving them and reshaping them with +the speed of lightning. + +It was certainly a remarkable performance. The shadows took the form +of rabbits, swans, foxes, elephants, fairies, sailors with wooden legs, +old women who smoked pipes, ballet-girls who pirouetted, twirling +harlequins and the profiles of eminent statesmen--and all made with two +hands and, at the most, the help of a tiny stick or piece of string. +They danced and capered, grew large and then small, with such odd turns +and changes that the flageolet-player could hardly hold his laughter. +He remarked that the hands, whenever they were disentwined for a +moment, appeared to be very small and plump. + +After about ten minutes the display ceased and the shadow of a woman's +head and neck crossed the sheet, which was presently drawn back at one +corner. + +"Is that any better?" asked a woman's voice, low but distinct. + +The flageolet-player started and bent his eyes lower across the graves +and into the shadow beneath the window. For the first time he grew +aware that a figure stood there, a little way out from the wall. As +well as he could see, it was a young boy. + +"That was beautiful, mother. You can't think how you've improved at it +this week." + +"Any mistakes?" + +"The harlequin and columbine seemed a little stiff; but that's the +hardest of all, I know." + +"Never mind; they've got to be perfect. We'll try them again." + +She was about to drop the corner of the sheet when the listener sprang +out toward the window, leaping with bare feet over the graves and +waving his flageolet madly. + +"Ah, no--no, madame!" he cried. "Wait one moment, the tiniest, and I +shall inspire you!" + +"Whoever is that?" cried the voice at the window, rising almost to a +scream. + +The youth beneath the wall faced round on the intruder. He had turned +white and wanted to run, but mastered his voice to inquire gruffly: + +"Who the devil are you?" + +"I? I am an artist, and as such I salute madame and monsieur, her son. +She is greater artist than I, but I shall help her. Her harlequin and +columbine shall dance better this time. Why? Because they shall dance +to my music, the music that I shall make, here, on this spot, under the +stars. I shall play as if possessed--I feel that. I bet you. It is +because I have found an artist--an artist in Gantick! +O--my--good--Lor!" + +He had pulled off his greasy hat, and stood bowing and smiling, showing +his white teeth, and holding up his flageolet for the woman to see and +convince herself. + +"That's all very well," said the boy: "but my mother doesn't want it +known yet that she practices, at these shadows." + +"Ha? It is perhaps forbidden by law." + +"Since you have found us out, sir," said the woman, "I will tell you +why we are behaving like this, and trust you to tell nobody. I have +been left a widow, in great poverty and with this one son, who must be +educated as well as his father was. Six months ago, when sadly +perplexed, I found out by chance that this small gift of mine might +earn me a good income at a--a music hall. Richard, of course, doesn't +like my performing at such places, but agrees with me that he must be +educated. So we are hiding it from everybody in the village, because +we have always been respected here; and, as soon as I have practiced +enough, we mean to travel up to London. Of course I shall change my +name, and nobody will----" + +But the flageolet-player sat suddenly down upon a grave and broke into +hysterical laughter. + +"Oh--oh--oh! Quick, madame! dance your pretty figures while yet I +laugh and before I curse. O stars and planets, look down on this mad +world and help me play! And, O monsieur, pardon me if I laugh; for +that either you or I are mad is a cock-sure. Dance, madame----" + +He put the flageolet to his lips and blew. In a moment or two +harlequin and columbine appeared on the screen and began to caper +nimbly, naturally, with the wildest grace. The tune was a merry reel +and soon began to inspire the performer above. Her small dancers in a +twinkling turned into a gamboling elephant, then to a couple of +tripping fairies. A moment after, they were flower and butterfly, then +a jigging donkey; then harlequin and columbine again. With each +fantastic change the tune quickened and the dance grew wilder, till, +tired out, the woman spread her hands wide against the sheet, as if +imploring mercy. + +The player tossed his flageolet over a headstone and rolled back on the +grave in a paroxysm of laughter. Above him the rooks had poured out of +their nests and were calling to each other. + +"Monsieur," he gasped at last, sitting up and wiping his eyes, "was it +good this time?" + +"It was quite different, I'll own." + +"Then could you spare from the house one little crust of bread? For I +am famished." + +The youth returned, in a couple of minutes, with some bread and cold +bacon. + +"Of course," he said, "if you should meet either of us in the village +to-morrow you will not recognize us." + +The little man bowed. "I agree," said he, "with your mother, monsieur, +that you must be educated at all costs." + + + + +MY BROTHER HENRY + +By J. M. BARRIE + + +Strictly speaking I never had a brother Henry, and yet I can not say +that Henry was an impostor. He came into existence in a curious way, +and I can think of him now without malice as a child of smoke. The +first I heard of Henry was at Pettigrew's house, which is in a London +suburb, so conveniently situated that I can go there and back in one +day. I was testing some new Cabanas, I remember, when Pettigrew +remarked that he had been lunching with a man who knew my brother +Henry. Not having any brother but Alexander, I felt that Pettigrew had +mistaken the name. "Oh, no," Pettigrew said; "he spoke of Alexander +too." Even this did not convince me, and I asked my host for his +friend's name. Scudamour was the name of the man, and he had met my +brothers Alexander and Henry years before in Paris. Then I remembered +Scudamour, and I probably frowned, for I myself was my own brother +Henry. I distinctly recalled Scudamour meeting Alexander and me in +Paris, and calling me Henry, though my name begins with a J. I +explained the mistake to Pettigrew, and here, for the time being, the +matter rested. However, I had by no means heard the last of Henry. + +Several times afterward I heard from various persons that Scudamour +wanted to meet me because he knew my brother Henry. At last we did +meet, in Jimmy's chambers; and, almost as soon as he saw me, Scudamour +asked where Henry was now. This was precisely what I feared. I am a +man who always looks like a boy. There are few persons of my age in +London who retain their boyish appearance as long as I have done; +indeed, this is the curse of my life. Though I am approaching the age +of thirty, I pass for twenty; and I have observed old gentlemen frown +at my precocity when I said a good thing or helped myself to a second +glass of wine. There was, therefore, nothing surprising in Scudamour's +remark, that, when he had the pleasure of meeting Henry, Henry must +have been about the age that I had now reached. All would have been +well had I explained the real state of affairs to this annoying man; +but, unfortunately for myself, I loathe entering upon explanations to +anybody about anything. This it is to smoke the Arcadia. When I ring +for a time-table and William John brings coals instead, I accept the +coals as a substitute. + +Much, then, did I dread a discussion with Scudamour, his surprise when +he heard that I was Henry, and his comments on my youthful appearance. +Besides, I was smoking the best of all mixtures. There was no +likelihood of my meeting Scudamour again, so the easiest way to get rid +of him seemed to be to humor him. I therefore told him that Henry was +in India, married, and doing well. "Remember me to Henry when you +write to him," was Scudamour's last remark to me that evening. + +A few weeks later some one tapped me on the shoulder in Oxford Street. +It was Scudamour. "Heard from Henry?" he asked. I said I had heard by +the last mail. "Anything particular in the letter?" I felt it would +not do to say that there was nothing particular in a letter which had +come all the way from India, so I hinted that Henry was having trouble +with his wife. By this I meant that her health was bad; but he took it +up in another way, and I did not set him right. "Ah, ah!" he said, +shaking his head sagaciously; "I'm sorry to hear that. Poor Henry!" +"Poor old boy!" was all I could think of replying. "How about the +children?" Scudamour asked. "Oh, the children," I said, with what I +thought presence of mind, "are coming to England." "To stay with +Alexander?" he asked. My answer was that Alexander was expecting them +by the middle of next month; and eventually Scudamour went away +muttering, "Poor Henry!" In a month or so we met again. "No word of +Henry's getting leave of absence?" asked Scudamour. I replied shortly +that Henry had gone to live in Bombay, and would not be home for years. +He saw that I was brusk, so what does he do but draw me aside for a +quiet explanation. "I suppose," he said, "you are annoyed because I +told Pettigrew that Henry's wife had run away from him. The fact is, I +did it for your good. You see, I happened to make a remark to +Pettigrew about your brother Henry, and he said that there was no such +person. Of course I laughed at that, and pointed out not only that I +had the pleasure of Henry's acquaintance, but that you and I had talked +about the old fellow every time we met. 'Well,' Pettigrew said, 'this +is a most remarkable thing; for he,' meaning you, 'said to me in this +very room, sitting in that very chair, that Alexander was his only +brother.' I saw that Pettigrew resented your concealing the existence +of your brother Henry from him, so I thought the most friendly thing I +could do was to tell him that your reticence was doubtless due to the +unhappy state of poor Henry's private affairs. Naturally in the +circumstances you did not want to talk about Henry." I shook Scudamour +by the hand, telling him that he had acted judiciously; but if I could +have stabbed him in the back at that moment I dare say I would have +done it. + +I did not see Scudamour again for a long time, for I took care to keep +out of his way; but I heard first from him and then of him. One day he +wrote to me saying that his nephew was going to Bombay, and would I be +so good as to give the youth an introduction to my brother Henry? He +also asked me to dine with him and his nephew. I declined the dinner, +but I sent the nephew the required note of introduction to Henry. The +next I heard of Scudamour was from Pettigrew. "By the way," said +Pettigrew, "Scudamour is in Edinburgh at present." I trembled, for +Edinburgh is where Alexander lives. "What has taken him there?" I +asked, with assumed carelessness. Pettigrew believed it was business; +"but," he added, "Scudamour asked me to tell you that he meant to call +on Alexander, as he was anxious to see Henry's children." A few days +afterward I had a telegram from Alexander, who generally uses this +means of communication when he corresponds with me. + +"Do you know a man, Scudamour? Reply," was what Alexander said. I +thought of answering that we had met a man of that name when we were in +Paris; but after consideration, I replied boldly: "Know no one of name +of Scudamour." + +About two months ago I passed Scudamour in Regent Street, and he +scowled at me. This I could have borne if there had been no more of +Henry; but I knew that Scudamour was now telling everybody about +Henry's wife. + +By and by I got a letter from an old friend of Alexander's asking me if +there was any truth in a report that Alexander was going to Bombay. +Soon afterward Alexander wrote to me saying he had been told by several +persons that I was going to Bombay. In short, I saw that the time had +come for killing Henry. So I told Pettigrew that Henry had died of +fever, deeply regretted; and asked him to be sure to tell Scudamour, +who had always been interested in the deceased's welfare. Pettigrew +afterward told me that he had communicated the sad intelligence to +Scudamour. "How did he take it?" I asked. "Well," Pettigrew said, +reluctantly, "he told me that when he was up in Edinburgh he did not +get on well with Alexander. But he expressed great curiosity as to +Henry's children." "Ah," I said, "the children were both drowned in +the Forth; a sad affair--we can't bear to talk of it." I am not likely +to see much of Scudamour again, nor is Alexander. Scudamour now goes +about saying that Henry was the only one of us he really liked. + + + + +GILRAY'S FLOWER-POT + +By J. M. BARRIE + + +I charge Gilray's unreasonableness to his ignoble passion for +cigarettes; and the story of his flower-pot has therefore an obvious +moral. The want of dignity he displayed about that flower-pot, on his +return to London, would have made any one sorry for him. I had my own +work to look after, and really could not be tending his chrysanthemum +all day. After he came back, however, there was no reasoning with him, +and I admit that I never did water his plant, though always intending +to do so. + +The great mistake was in not leaving the flower-pot in charge of +William John. No doubt I readily promised to attend to it, but Gilray +deceived me by speaking as if the watering of a plant was the merest +pastime. He had to leave London for a short provincial tour, and, as I +see now, took advantage of my good nature. + +As Gilray had owned his flower-pot for several months, during which +time (I take him at his word) he had watered it daily, he must have +known he was misleading me. He said that you got into the way of +watering a flower-pot regularly just as you wind up your watch. That +certainly is not the case. I always wind up my watch, and I never +watered the flower-pot. Of course, if I had been living in Gilray's +rooms with the thing always before my eyes I might have done so. I +proposed to take it into my chambers at the time, but he would not hear +of that. Why? How Gilray came by this chrysanthemum I do not inquire, +but whether, in the circumstances, he should not have made a clean +breast of it to me is another matter. Undoubtedly it was an unusual +thing to put a man to the trouble of watering a chrysanthemum daily +without giving him its history. My own belief has always been that he +got it in exchange for a pair of boots and his old dressing-gown. He +hints that it was a present; but, as one who knows him well, I may say +that he is the last person a lady would be likely to give a +chrysanthemum to. Besides, if he was so proud of the plant he should +have stayed at home and watered it himself. + +He says that I never meant to water it, which is not only a mistake, +but unkind. My plan was to run downstairs immediately after dinner +every evening and give it a thorough watering. One thing or another, +however, came in the way. I often remembered about the chrysanthemum +while I was in the office; but even Gilray could hardly have expected +me to ask leave of absence merely to run home and water his plant. You +must draw the line somewhere, even in a government office. When I +reached home I was tired, inclined to take things easily, and not at +all in a proper condition for watering flower-pots. Then Arcadians +would drop in. I put it to any sensible man or woman, could I have +been expected to give up my friends for the sake of a chrysanthemum? +Again, it was my custom of an evening, if not disturbed, to retire with +my pipe into my cane chair, and there pass the hours communing with +great minds, or, when the mood was on me, trifling with a novel. Often +when I was in the middle of a chapter Gilray's flower-pot stood up +before my eyes crying for water. He does not believe this, but it is +the solemn truth. At those moments it was touch and go, whether I +watered his chrysanthemum or not. Where I lost myself was in not +hurrying to his rooms at once with a tumbler. I said to myself that I +would go when I had finished my pipe, but by that time the flower-pot +has escaped my memory. This may have been weakness; all I know is that +I should have saved myself much annoyance if I had risen and watered +the chrysanthemum there and then. But would it not have been rather +hard on me to have had to forsake my books for the sake of Gilray's +flowers and flower-pots and plants and things? What right has a man to +go and make a garden of his chambers? + +All the three weeks he was away, Gilray kept pestering me with letters +about his chrysanthemum. He seemed to have no faith in me--a +detestable thing in a man who calls himself your friend. I had +promised to water his flower-pot; and between friends a promise is +surely sufficient. It is not so, however, when Gilray is one of them. +I soon hated the sight of my name in his handwriting. It was not as if +he said outright that he wrote entirely to know whether I was watering +his plant. His references to it were introduced with all the +appearance of after-thoughts. Often they took the form of postscripts: +"By the way, are you watering my chrysanthemum?" or, "The chrysanthemum +ought to be a beauty by this time;" or, "You must be quite an adept now +at watering plants." Gilray declares now that, in answer to one of +these ingenious epistles, I wrote to him saying that "I had just been +watering his chrysanthemum." My belief is that I did no such thing; +or, if I did, I meant to water it as soon as I had finished my letter. +He has never been able to bring this home to me, he says, because he +burned my correspondence. As if a business man would destroy such a +letter. It was yet more annoying when Gilray took to post-cards. To +hear the postman's knock and then discover, when you are expecting an +important communication, that it is only a post-card about a +flower-pot--that is really too bad. And then I consider that some of +the post-cards bordered upon insult. One of them said, "What about +chrysanthemum?--reply at once." This was just like Gilray's +overbearing way; but I answered politely, and so far as I knew, +truthfully, "Chrysanthemum all right." + +Knowing that there was no explaining things to Gilray, I redoubled my +exertions to water his flower-pot as the day for his return drew near. +Once, indeed, when I rang for water, I could not for the life of me +remember what I wanted it for when it was brought. Had I had any +forethought I should have left the tumbler stand just as it was to show +it to Gilray on his return. But, unfortunately, William John had +misunderstood what I wanted the water for, and put a decanter down +beside it. Another time I was actually on the stair rushing to +Gilray's door, when I met the housekeeper, and, stopping to talk to +her, lost my opportunity again. To show how honestly anxious I was to +fulfil my promise, I need only add that I was several times awakened in +the watches of the night by a haunting consciousness that I had +forgotten to water Gilray's flower-pot. On these occasions I spared no +trouble to remember again in the morning. I reached out of bed to a +chair and turned it upside down, so that the sight of it when I rose +might remind me that I had something to do. With the same object I +crossed the tongs and poker on the floor. Gilray maintains that +instead of playing "fool's tricks" like these ("fool's tricks!") I +should have got up and gone at once to his rooms with my water-bottle. +What? and disturbed my neighbors? Besides, could I reasonably be +expected to risk catching my death of cold for the sake of a wretched +chrysanthemum? One reads of men doing such things for young ladies who +seek lilies in dangerous ponds or edelweiss on overhanging cliffs. But +Gilray was not my sweetheart, nor, I feel certain, any other person's. + +I come now to the day prior to Gilray's return. I had just reached the +office when I remembered about the chrysanthemum. It was my last +chance. If I watered it once I should be in a position to state that, +whatever condition it might be in, I had certainly been watering it. I +jumped into a hansom, told the cabby to drive to the inn, and twenty +minutes afterward had one hand on Gilray's door, while the other held +the largest water-can in the house. Opening the door I rushed in. The +can nearly fell from my hand. There was no flower-pot! I rang the +bell. "Mr. Gilray's chrysanthemum!" I cried. What do you think +William John said? He coolly told me that the plant was dead, and had +been flung out days ago. I went to the theater that night to keep +myself from thinking. All next day I contrived to remain out of +Gilray's sight. When we met he was stiff and polite. He did not say a +word about the chrysanthemum for a week, and then it all came out with +a rush. I let him talk. With the servants flinging out the +flower-pots faster than I could water them, what more could I have +done? A coolness between us was inevitable. This I regretted, but my +mind was made up on one point: I would never do Gilray a favor again. + + + + +MR. O'LEARY'S SECOND LOVE + +By CHARLES LEVER + + +"You may easily suppose," began Mr. O'Leary, "that the unhappy +termination of my first passion served as a shield to me for a long +time against my unfortunate tendencies toward the fair, and such was +really the case. I never spoke to a young lady for three years after, +without a reeling in my head, so associated in my mind was love and +sea-sickness. However, at last, what will not time do? It was about +four years from the date of this adventure, when I became so oblivious +of my former failure, as again to tempt my fortune. My present choice, +in every way unlike the last, was a gay, lively girl, of great animal +spirits, and a considerable turn for raillery, that spared no one; the +members of her own family were not even sacred in her eyes; and her +father, a reverend dean, as frequently figured among the ludicrous as +his neighbors. + +"The Evershams had been very old friends of a rich aunt of mine, who +never, by the by, had condescended to notice me till I made their +acquaintance; but no sooner had I done so, than she sent for me, and +gave me to understand that in the event of my succeeding to the hand of +Fanny Eversham, I should be her heir and the possessor of about sixty +thousand pounds. She did not stop here; but by canvassing the dean in +my favor, speedily put the matter on a most favorable footing, and in +less than two months I was received as the accepted suitor of the fair +Fanny, then one of the reigning belles of Dublin. + +"They lived at this time, about three miles from town, in a very pretty +country, where I used to pass all my mornings, and many of my evenings, +too, in a state of happiness that I should have considered perfect, if +it were not for two unhappy blots--one, the taste of my betrothed for +laughing at her friends; another, the diabolical propensity of my +intended father-in-law to talk politics; to the former I could submit; +but with the latter submission only made bad worse; for he invariably +drew up as I receded, dryly observing that with men who had no avowed +opinions, it was ill-agreeing; or that, with persons who kept their +politics as a school-boy does his pocket-money, never to spend, and +always ready to change, it was unpleasant to dispute. Such taunts as +these I submitted to, as well I might; secretly resolving, that as I +now knew the meaning of Whig and Tory, I'd contrive to spend my life, +after marriage, out of the worthy dean's diocese. + +"Time wore on, and at length, to my most pressing solicitations it was +conceded that a day for our marriage should be appointed. Not even the +unlucky termination of this my second love affair can deprive me of the +happy souvenir of the few weeks which were to intervene before our +destined union. + +"The mornings were passed in ransacking all the shops where wedding +finery could be procured--laces, blondes, velvets, and satins, littered +every corner of the deanery--and there was scarcely a carriage in a +coach-maker's yard in the city that I had not sat and jumped in, to try +the springs, by the special direction of Mrs. Eversham, who never +ceased to impress me with the awful responsibility I was about to take +upon me, in marrying so great a prize as her daughter--a feeling I +found very general among many of my friends at the Kildare Street club. + +"Among the many indispensable purchases which I was to make, and about +which Fanny expressed herself more than commonly anxious, was a +saddle-horse for me. She was a great horse-woman, and hated riding +with only a servant; and had given me to understand as much about +half-a-dozen times each day for the last five weeks. How shall I +acknowledge it--equestrianism was never my forte. I had all my life +considerable respect for the horse as an animal, pretty much as I +dreaded a lion or a tiger; but as to any intention of mounting upon the +back of one, and taking a ride, I should as soon have dreamed of taking +an airing upon a giraffe; and as to the thought of buying, feeding, and +maintaining such a beast at my own proper cost, I should just as soon +have determined to purchase a pillory or a ducking-stool, by way of +amusing my leisure hours. + +"However, Fanny was obstinate--whether she suspected anything or not I +cannot say--but nothing seemed to turn her from her purpose; and +although I pleaded a thousand things in delay, yet she grew each day +more impatient, and at last I saw there was nothing for it but to +submit. + +"When I arrived at this last bold resolve, I could not help feeling +that to possess a horse, and not be able to mount him, was only +deferring the ridicule; and as I had so often expressed the difficulty +I felt in suiting myself as a cause of my delay, I could not possibly +come forward with anything very objectionable, or I should be only the +more laughed at. There was, then, but one course to take; a fortnight +still intervened before the day which was to make me happy, and I +accordingly resolved to take lessons in riding during the interval, and +by every endeavor in my power become, if possible, able to pass muster +on the saddle before my bride. + +"Poor old Lalouette understood but little of the urgency of the case, +when I requested his leave to take my lessons each morning at six +o'clock, for I dared not absent myself during the day without exciting +suspicion; and never, I will venture to assert, did knight-errant of +old strive harder for the hand of his lady-love than did I during that +weary fortnight; if a hippogriff had been the animal I bestrode, +instead of being, as it was, an old wall-eyed gray, I could not have +felt more misgivings at my temerity, or more proud of my achievement. +In the first three days the unaccustomed exercise proved so severe, +that when I reached the deanery I could hardly move, and crossed the +floor pretty much as a pair of compasses might be supposed to do if +performing that exploit. Nothing, however, could equal the kindness of +my poor dear mother-in-law in embryo, and even the dean too. Fanny +indeed, said nothing; but I rather think she was disposed to giggle a +little; but my rheumatism, as it was called, was daily inquired after, +and I was compelled to take some infernal stuff in my port wine, at +dinner, that nearly made me sick at table. + +"'I am sure you walk too much,' said Fanny, with one of her knowing +looks. 'Papa, don't you think he ought to ride? it would be much +better for him.' + +"'I do, my dear,' said the dean. 'But then you see he is so hard to be +pleased in a horse. Your old hunting days have spoiled you; but you +must forget Melton and Grantham, and condescend to keep a hack.' + +"I must have looked confoundedly foolish here, for Fanny never took her +eyes off me, and continued to laugh in her own wicked way. + +"It was now about the ninth or tenth day of my purgatorial +performances; and certainly, if there be any merit in fleshly +mortifications, these religious exercises of mine should stand my part +hereafter. A review had been announced in the Phoenix park, which +Fanny had expressed herself most desirous to witness; and as the dean +would not permit her to go without a chaperon, I had no means of +escape, and promised to escort her. No sooner had I made this rash +pledge than I hastened to my confidential friend, Lalouette, and having +imparted to him my entire secret, asked him in a solemn and imposing +manner, 'Can I do it?' The old man shook his head dubiously, looked +grave, and muttered at length, 'Mosch depend on de horse.' 'I know +it--I know it--I feel it,' said I, eagerly--'then where are we to find +an animal that will carry me peaceably through this awful day? I care +not for his price.' + +"'Votre affaire ne sera pas trop chere,' said he. + +"'Why, how do you mean?' said I. + +"He then proceeded to inform me that, by a singularly fortunate chance, +there took place that day an auction of 'cast horses,' as they are +termed, which had been used in the horse police force; and that from +long riding and training to stand fire, nothing could be more suitable +than one of these, being both easy to ride and not given to start at +noise. + +"I could have almost hugged the old fellow for his happy suggestion, +and waited with impatience for three o'clock to come, when we repaired +together to Essexbridge, at that time the place selected for these +sales. + +"I was at first a little shocked at the look of the animals drawn up; +they were most miserably thin, most of them swelled in the legs, few +without sore backs, and not one eye on an average in every three; but +still they were all high-steppers, and carried a great tail. 'There's +your affaire,' said the old Frenchman, as a long-legged, fiddle-headed +beast was led out; turning out his forelegs so as to endanger the man +who walked beside him. + +"'Yes, there's blood for you,' said Charley Dycer, seeing my eye fixed +on the wretched beast; 'equal to fifteen stone with any fox-hounds; +safe in all his paces, and warranted sound; except,' added he, in a +whisper, 'a slight spavin in both hind legs, ring-bone, and a little +touch in the wind.' Here the animal gave an approving cough. 'Will +any gentleman say fifty pounds to begin?' But no gentleman did. A +hackney-coachman, however, said five, and the sale was opened; the +beast trotting up and down nearly over the bidders at every moment, and +plunging on so that it was impossible to know what was doing. + +"'Five ten--fifteen--six pounds--thank you, sir--guineas'--seven +pounds,' said I, bidding against myself, not perceiving that I had +spoken last. 'Thank you, Mr. Moriarty,' said Dycer, turning toward an +invisible purchaser supposed to be in the crowd. 'Thank you, sir, +you'll not let a good one go that way.' Every one here turned to find +out the very knowing gentleman; but he could nowhere be seen. + +"Dycer resumed, 'Seven ten, for Mr. Moriarty. Going for seven ten--a +cruel sacrifice--there's action for you--playful beast.' Here the +devil had stumbled and nearly killed a basket-woman with two children. + +"'Eight,' said I, with a loud voice. + +"'Eight pounds, quite absurd,' said Dycer, almost rudely; 'a charger +like that for eight pounds--going for eight pounds--going--nothing +above eight pounds--no reserve, gentlemen, you are aware of that. They +are all, as it were, his Majesty's stud--no reserve whatever--last +time, eight pounds--gone.' + +"Amid a very hearty cheer from the mob, God knows why, but a Dublin mob +always cheer--I returned accompanied by a ragged fellow, leading my new +purchase after me with a hay halter. + +"'What is the meaning of those letters?' said I, pointing to a very +conspicuous G. R., with sundry other enigmatical signs, burned upon the +animal's hind quarter. + +"'That's to show he was a po-lis," said the fellow with a grin; 'and +when ye ride with ladies, ye must turn the decoy side.' + +"The auspicious morning at last arrived; and, strange to say, that the +first waking thought was of the unlucky day that ushered in my yachting +excursion, four years before. Why this was so I cannot pretend to +guess: there was but little analogy in the circumstances, at least so +far as anything had then gone. 'How is Marius?' said I to my servant, +as he opened my shutters. Here let me mention that a friend of the +Kildare Street club had suggested this name from the remarkably classic +character of my steed's countenance; his nose, he assured me, was +perfectly Roman. + +"'Marius is doing finely, sir, barring his cough, and the trifle that +ails his hind legs.' + +"'He'll carry me quietly, Simon; eh?' + +"'Quietly! I'll warrant he'll carry you quietly, if that's all.' + +"Here was comfort, certainly. Simon had lived forty years as pantry +boy with my mother, and knew a great deal about horses. I dressed +myself, therefore, in high spirits; and if my pilot jacket and oil-skin +cap in former days had half persuaded me that I was born for marine +achievements, certainly my cords and tops, that morning, went far to +convince me that I must have once been a very keen sportsman somewhere, +without knowing it. It was a delightful July day that I set out to +join my friends, who, having recruited a large party, were to +rendezvous at the corner of Stephen's Green; thither I proceeded in a +certain rambling trot, which I have often observed is a very favorite +pace with timid horsemen and gentlemen of the medical profession. I +was hailed with a most hearty welcome by a large party as I turned out +of Grafton Street, among whom I perceived several friends of Miss +Eversham, and some young dragoon officers, not of my acquaintance, but +who appeared to know Fanny intimately, and were laughing heartily with +her as I rode up. + +"I don't know if other men have experienced what I am about to mention +or not; but certainly to me there is no more painful sensation than to +find yourself among a number of well-mounted, well-equipped people, +while the animal you yourself bestride seems only fit for the kennel. +Every look that is cast at your unlucky steed--every whispered +observation about you are so many thorns in your flesh, till at last +you begin to feel that your appearance is for very little else than the +amusement and mirth of the assembly; and every time you rise in your +stirrups you excite a laugh. + +"'Where, for mercy's sake, did you find that creature?' said Fanny, +surveying Marius through her glass. + +"'Oh, him, eh? Why, he is a handsome horse, if in condition--a +charger, you know--that's his style.' + +"'Indeed,' lisped a young lancer, 'I should be devilish sorry to +charge, or be charged with him.' And here they all chuckled at this +puppy's silly joke, and I drew up to repress further liberties. + +"'Is he anything of a fencer?' said a young country gentleman. + +"'To judge from his near eye, I should say much more of a boxer,' said +another. + +"Here commenced a running fire of pleasantry at the expense of my poor +steed; which, not content with attacking his physical, extended to his +moral qualities. An old gentleman near me observing, 'that I ought not +to have mounted him at all, seeing he was so deuced groggy;' to which I +replied, by insinuating, that if others present were as free from the +influence of ardent spirits, society would not be a sufferer; an +observation that, I flatter myself, turned the mirth against the old +fellow, for they all laughed for a quarter of an hour after. + +"Well, at last we set out in a brisk trot, and, placed near Fanny, I +speedily forgot all my annoyances in the prospect of figuring to +advantage before her. When we reached the College Green the leaders of +the cortege suddenly drew up, and we soon found that the entire street +opposite the Bank was filled with a dense mob of people, who appeared +to be swayed hither and thither, like some mighty beast, as the +individuals composing it were engaged in close conflict. It was +nothing more nor less than one of those almost weekly rows which then +took place between the students of the University and the +town's-people, and which rarely ended without serious consequences. +The numbers of people pressing on to the scene of action soon blocked +up our retreat, and we found ourselves most unwilling spectators of the +conflict. Political watch-words were loudly shouted by each party; and +at last the students, who appeared to be yielding to superior numbers, +called out for the intervention of the police. The aid was nearer than +they expected; for at the same instant a body of mounted policemen, +whose high helmets rendered them sufficiently conspicuous, were seen +trotting at sharp pace down Dame Street. On they came with drawn +sabres, led by a well-looking, gentleman-like personage in plain +clothes, who dashed at once into the middle of the fray, issuing his +orders, and pointing out to his followers to secure the ringleaders. +Up to this moment I had been a most patient and rather amused spectator +of what was doing. Now, however, my part was to commence, for at the +word 'Charge,' given in a harsh, deep voice by the sergeant of the +party, Marius, remembering his ancient instinct, pricked up his ears, +cocked his tail, flung up both his hind legs till they nearly broke the +Provost's windows, and plunged into the thickest of the fray like a +devil incarnate. + +"Self-preservation must be a strong instinct, for I well remember how +little pain it cost me to see the people tumbling and rolling beneath +me, while I continued to keep my seat. It was only a moment before, +and that immense mass were a man-to-man encounter, now all the +indignation of both parties seemed turned upon me; brick-bats were +loudly implored and paving-stones begged to throw at my devoted head; +the Wild Huntsman of the German romance never created half the terror +nor one-tenth of the mischief that I did in less than fifteen minutes, +for the ill-starred beast continued twining and twisting like a +serpent, plunging and kicking the entire time, and occasionally biting +too; all which accomplishments, I afterwards learned, however little in +request in civil life, are highly prized in the horse police. + +"Every new order of the sergeant was followed in his own fashion by +Marius, who very soon contrived to concentrate in my unhappy person all +the interest of about fifteen hundred people. + +"'Secure that scoundrel," said the magistrate, pointing with his finger +towards me, as I rode over a respectable-looking old lady, with a gray +muff. 'Secure him. Cut him down.' + +"'Ah, devil's luck to him, if ye do,' said a newsmonger with a broken +shin. + +"On I went, however; and now, as the Fates would have it, instead of +bearing me out of further danger, the confounded brute dashed onward to +where the magistrate was standing, surrounded by policemen. I thought +I saw him change color as I came on. I suppose my own looks were none +of the pleasantest, for the worthy man evidently liked them not. Into +the midst of them we plunged, upsetting a corporal, horse and all, and +appearing as if bent upon reaching the alderman. + +"'Cut him down, for Heaven's sake. Will nobody shoot him?" said he, +with a voice trembling with fear and anger. + +"At these words a wretch lifted up his sabre, and made a cut at my +head. I stooped suddenly, and throwing myself from the saddle, seized +the poor alderman round the neck, and both came rolling to the ground +together. So completely was he possessed with the notion that I meant +to assassinate him, that while I was endeavoring to extricate myself +from his grasp, he continued to beg his life in the most heart-rending +manner. + +"My story is now soon told. So effectually did they rescue the +alderman from his danger that they left me insensible, and I only came +to myself some days after by finding myself in the dock in Green +Street, charged with an indictment of nineteen counts; the only word of +truth is what lay in the preamble, for the 'devil inciting' me only +would ever have made me the owner of that infernal beast, the cause of +all my misfortunes. I was so stupefied from my beating that I know +little of the course of the proceedings. My friends told me afterward +that I had a narrow escape from transportation; but for the greatest +influence exerted in my behalf, I should certainly have passed the +autumn in the agreeable recreation of pounding oyster-shells or carding +wool; and it certainly must have gone hard with me, for, stupefied as I +was, I remember the sensation in court when the alderman made his +appearance with a patch over his eye. The affecting admonition of the +little judge--who, when passing sentence upon me, adverted to the +former respectability of my life and the rank of my relatives--actually +made the galleries weep. + +"Four months in Newgate and a fine to the king, then, rewarded my taste +for horse exercise; and it's no wonder if I prefer going on foot. + +"As to Miss Eversham, the following short note from the dean concluded +my hopes in that quarter: + + +"Deanery, Wednesday morning. + +"'Sir,--After the very distressing publicity to which your late conduct +has exposed you--the so open avowal of political opinions, at variance +with those (I will say) of every gentleman--and the recorded sentence +of a judge on the verdict of twelve of your countrymen--I should hope +that you will not feel my present admonition necessary to inform you +that your visits to my house shall cease. + +"'The presents you made my daughter, when under our unfortunate +ignorance of your real character, have been addressed to your hotel, +and I am your most obedient, humble servant, + +"'Oliver Eversham.' + + +"Here ended my second affair 'par amour;' and I freely confess to you +that if I can only obtain a wife in a sea voyage, or a steeple-chase, I +am likely to fulfil one great condition in modern advertising--'as +having no incumbrance, nor any objection to travel.'" + + + + +THE INDIFFERENCE OF THE MILLER OF HOFBAU + +By ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS + +Copyright 1895, 1896, A. H. Hawkins; 1896 Frederick A. Stokes Company; +1895, 1896, S. S. McClure, Limited. + + +There is a swift little river running by the village of Hofbau, and on +the river is a mill, kept in the days of King Rudolf III. by a sturdy +fellow who lived there all alone; the King knew him, having alighted at +his house for a draught of beer as he rode hunting, and it was of him +the King spoke when he said to the Queen: "There is, I believe, but one +man in the country whom Osra could not move, and he is the Miller of +Hofbau." But although he addressed the Queen, it was his sister at +whom he aimed his speech. The Princess herself was sitting by, and +when she heard the King she said: + +"In truth I do not desire to move any man. What but trouble comes of +it? Yet who is this miller?" + +The King told her where the miller might be found, and he added: "If +you convert him to the love of women you shall have the finest bracelet +in Strelsau." + +"There is nothing, sire, so remote from my thoughts or desires as to +convert your miller," said Osra scornfully. + +In this, at the moment, she spoke truthfully; but being left alone for +some days at the Castle of Zenda, which is but a few miles from Hofbau, +she found the time hang very heavy on her hands; indeed she did not +know what to do with herself for weariness; and for this reason, and +none other at all, one day she ordered her horse and rode off with a +single groom into the forest. Coming, as the morning went on, to a +wide road, she asked the groom where it led. "To Hofbau, madame," he +answered. "It is not more than a mile further on." Osra waited a few +moments, then she said: "I will ride on and see the village, for I have +been told that it is pretty. Wait here till I return," and she rode +on, smiling a little, and with a delicate tint of colour in her cheeks. + +Before long she saw the river and the mill on the river; and, coming to +the mill, she saw the miller sitting before his door, smoking a long +pipe. She called out to him, asking him to sell her a glass of milk. + +"You can have it for the asking," said the miller. He was a +good-looking fair fellow, and wore a scarlet cap. "There is a pail of +it just inside the door behind me." Yet he did not rise, but lay +there, lolling luxuriously in the sun. For he did not know Osra, never +having been to Strelsau in his life, and to Zenda three or four times +only, and that when the Princess was not there. Moreover--though this, +as must be allowed, is not to the purpose--he had sworn never again to +go so far afield. + +Being answered in this manner, and at the same time desiring the milk, +the Princess had no choice but to dismount. + +This she did, and passed by the miller, pausing a moment to look at him +with bright curious eyes, that flashed from under the brim of her +wide-rimmed feathered hat; but the miller blinked lazily up at the sun +and took no heed of her. + +Osra passed on, found the pail, poured out a cup of milk, and drank it. +Then, refilling the cup, she carried it to the miller. + +"Will you not have some?" said she with a smile. + +"I was too lazy to get it," said the miller; and he held out his hand, +but did not otherwise change his position. + +[Illustration: J. M. Barrie] + +Osra's brow puckered and her cheek flushed as she bent down, holding +the cup of milk so that the miller could reach it. He took and drained +it, gave it back to her, and put his pipe in his mouth again. Osra sat +down by him and watched him. He puffed and blinked away, never so much +as looking at her. + +"What have you for dinner?" asked she presently. + +"A piece of cold pie," said he. "There's enough for two, if you're +hungry." + +"Would you not like it better hot?" + +"Oh, aye; but I cannot weary myself with heating it." + +"I'll heat it," said the Princess; and, rising, she went into the +house, and made up the fire, which was almost burnt out; then she +heated the pie, and set the room in order, and laid the table, and drew +a large jug of beer from the cask. Next she placed an arm-chair ready +for the miller, and put the jug by it; then she filled the pipe from +the bowl of tobacco and set a cushion in the chair. All this while she +hummed a tune, and from time to time smiled gayly. Lastly, she +arranged a chair by the elbow of the miller's chair; then she went out +and told him that his dinner was ready; and he stumbled to his feet +with a sigh of laziness, and walked before her into the house. + +"May I come?" cried she. + +"Aye, there is enough for two," said the Miller of Hofbau without +looking round. + +So she followed him in. He sank into the arm-chair and sat there, for +a moment surveying the room which was so neat, and the table so +daintily laid, and the pie so steaming hot. And he sighed, saying: + +"It was like this before poor mother died." And he fell to on a great +portion of pie with which Osra piled his plate. + +When he had finished eating--which thing did not happen for some +time--she held the jug while he took a long draught; then she brought a +coal in the tongs and held it while he lit his pipe from it; then she +sat down by him. For several moments he puffed, and then at last he +turned his head and looked at Princess Osra; she drooped her long +lashes and cast down her eyes; next she lifted her eyes and glanced for +an instant at the miller; and, finally, she dropped her eyes again and +murmured shyly: "What is it, sir? Why do you look at me?" + +"You seem to be a handy wench," observed the miller. "The pie was +steaming hot and yet not burnt, the beer was well frothed but not +shaken nor thickened, and the pipe draws well. Where does your father +dwell?" + +"He is dead, sir," said Princess Osra very demurely. + +"And your mother?" pursued the miller. + +"She also is dead." + +"There is small harm in that," said the miller thoughtfully; and Osra +turned away her head to hide her smile. + +"Are you not very lonely, living here all by yourself?" she asked a +moment later. + +"Indeed I have to do everything for myself," said the miller sadly. + +"And there is nobody to--to care for you?" + +"No, nor to look after my comfort," said the miller. "Have you any +kindred?" + +"I have two brothers, sir; but they are married now, and have no need +of me." + +The miller laid down his pipe and, setting his elbow on the table, +faced Princess Osra. + +"H'm!" said he. "And is it likely you will ride this way again?" + +"I may chance to do so," said Osra, and now there was a glance of +malicious triumph in her eyes; she was thinking already how the +bracelet would look on her arm. + +"Ah!" said the miller. And after a pause he added: "If you do, come +half an hour before dinner, and you can lend a hand in making it ready. +Where did you get those fine clothes?" + +"My mistress gave them to me," answered Osra. "She has cast them off." + +"And that horse you rode?" + +"It is my master's; I have it to ride when I do my mistress's errands." + +"Will your master and mistress do anything for you if you leave your +service?" + +"I have been promised a present if--" said Osra, and she paused in +apparent confusion. + +"Aye," said the miller, nodding sagaciously, as he rose slowly from the +arm-chair. "Will you be this way again in a week or so?" he asked. + +"I think it is very likely," answered the Princess Osra. + +"Then look in," said the miller "About half an hour before dinner." + +He nodded his head again very significantly at Osra, and, turning away, +went to his work, as a man goes who would far rather sit still in the +sun. But just as he reached the door he turned his head and asked: +"Are you sturdy?" + +"I am strong enough, I think," said she. + +"A sack of flour is a heavy thing for man to lift by himself," remarked +the miller, and with that he passed through the door and left her alone. + +Then she cleared the table, put the pie--or what was left--in the +larder, set the room in order, refilled the pipe, stood the jug handy +by the cask, and, with a look of great satisfaction on her face, +tripped out to where her horse was, mounted and rode away. + +The next week--and the interval had seemed long to her, and no less +long to the Miller of Hofbau--she came again, and so the week after; +and in the week following that she came twice; and on the second of +these two days, after dinner, the miller did not go off to his sacks, +but he followed her out of the house, pipe in hand, when she went to +mount her horse, and as she was about to mount, he said: + +"Indeed you're a handy wench." + +"You say much of my hands, but nothing of my face," remarked Princess +Osra. + +"Of your face?" repeated the miller in some surprise. "What should I +say of your face?" + +"Well, is it not a comely face?" said Osra, turning towards him that he +might be better able to answer her question. + +The miller regarded her for some minutes, then a slow smile spread on +his lips. + +"Oh, aye, it is well enough," said he. Then he laid a floury finger on +her arm as he continued: "If you come next week--why, it is but half a +mile to church! I'll have the cart ready and bid the priest be there. +What's your name?" For he had not hitherto asked Osra's name. + +"Rosa Schwartz," said she, and her face was all alight with triumph and +amusement. + +"Yes, I shall be very comfortable with you," said the miller. "We will +be at the church an hour before noon, so that there may be time +afterwards for the preparation of dinner." + +"That will be on Thursday in next week?" asked Osra. + +"Aye, on Thursday," said the miller, and he turned on his keel. But in +a minute he turned again, saying: "Give me a kiss, then, since we are +to be man and wife," and he came slowly towards her, holding his arms +open. + +"Nay, the kiss will wait till Thursday. Maybe there will be less flour +on your face then." And with a laugh she dived under his outstretched +arms and made her escape. The day being warm, the miller did not put +himself out by pursuing her, but stood where he was, with a broad +comfortable smile on his lips; and so he watched her ride away. + +Now, as she rode, the Princess was much occupied in thinking of the +Miller of Hofbau. Elated and triumphant as she was at having won from +him a promise of marriage, she was yet somewhat vexed that he had not +shown a more passionate affection, and this thought clouded her brow +for full half an hour. But then her face cleared. "Still waters run +deep," she said to herself. "He is not like these Court gallants, who +have learnt to make love as soon as they learn to walk, and cannot talk +to a woman without bowing and grimacing and sighing at every word. The +miller has a deep nature, and surely I have won his heart, or he would +not take me for his wife. Poor miller! I pray that he may not grieve +very bitterly when I make the truth known to him!" + +And then, at the thought of the grief of the miller, her face was again +clouded; but it again cleared when she considered of the great triumph +that she had won, and how she would enjoy a victory over the King, and +would have the finest bracelet in all Strelsau as a gift from him. +Thus she arrived at the Castle in the height of merriment and +exultation. + +It chanced that the King came to Zenda that night, to spend a week +hunting the boar in the forest; and when Osra, all blushing and +laughing, told him of her success with the Miller of Hofbau he was +greatly amused, and swore that no such girl ever lived, and applauded +her, renewing his promise of the bracelet; and he declared that he +would himself ride with her to Hofbau on the wedding-day, and see how +the poor miller bore his disappointment. + +"Indeed I do not see how you are going to excuse yourself to him," he +laughed. + +"A purse of five hundred crowns must do that office for me," said she. + +"What, will crowns patch a broken heart?" + +"His broken heart must heal itself, as men's broken hearts do, brother!" + +"In truth, sister, I have known them cure themselves. Let us hope it +may be so with the Miller of Hofbau." + +"At the worst I have revenged the wrongs of women on him. It is +unendurable that any man should scorn us, be he king or miller." + +"It is indeed very proper that he should suffer great pangs," said the +King, "in spite of his plaster of crowns. I shall love to see the +stolid fellow sighing and moaning like a lovesick courtier." + +So they agreed to ride together to the miller's at Hofbau on the day +appointed for the wedding, and both of them waited with impatience for +it. But, with the bad luck that pursues mortals (even though they be +princes) in this poor world, it happened that early in the morning of +the Thursday a great officer came riding post-haste from Strelsau to +take the King's commands on high matters of state; and, although Rudolf +was sorely put out of temper by this untoward interruption, yet he had +no alternative but to transact the business before he rode to the +miller's at Hofbau. So he sat fretting and fuming, while long papers +were read to him, and the Princess walked up and down the length of the +drawbridge, fretting also; for before the King could escape from his +affairs, the hour of the wedding was already come, and doubtless the +Miller of Hofbau was waiting with the priest in the church. Indeed it +was one o'clock or more before Osra and the King set out from Zenda, +and they had then a ride of an hour and a half; and all this when Osra +should have been at the miller's at eleven o'clock. + +"Poor man, he will be half mad with waiting and with anxiety for me!" +cried Osra. "I must give him another hundred crowns on account of it." +And she added, after a pause, "I pray he may not take it too much to +heart, Rudolf." + +"We must try to prevent him doing himself any mischief in his despair," +smiled the King. + +"Indeed it is a serious matter," pouted the Princess, who thought the +King's smile out of place. + +"It was not so when you began it," said her brother; and Osra was +silent. + +Then about half-past two they came in sight of the mill. Now the King +dismounted, while they were still several hundred yards away, and tied +his horse to a tree in a clump by the wayside; and when they came near +to the mill he made a circuit and approached from the side, and, +creeping along to the house, hid himself behind a large water-butt, +which stood just under the window; from that point he could hear what +passed inside the house, and could see if he stood erect. But Osra +rode up to the front of the mill, as she had been accustomed, and, +getting down from her horse, walked up to the door. The miller's cart +stood in the yard of the mill, but the horse was not in the shafts, and +neither the miller nor anybody else was to be seen about; and the door +of the house was shut. + +"He must be waiting at the church," said she. "But I will look in and +make sure. Indeed I feel half afraid to meet him." And her heart was +beating rapidly and her face was rather pale as she walked up to the +door; for she feared what the miller might do in the passion of his +disappointment at learning who she was and that she could not be his +wife. "I hope the six hundred crowns will comfort him," she said, as +she laid her hand on the latch of the door; and she sighed, her heart +being heavy for the miller, and, maybe a little heavy also for the +guilt that lay on her conscience for having deceived him. + +Now when she lifted the latch and opened the door, the sight that met +her eyes was this: The table was strewn with the remains of a brave +dinner; two burnt-out pipes lay beside the plates. A smaller table was +in front of the fire; on it stood a very large jug, entirely empty, but +bearing signs of having been full not so long ago; and on either side +of it, each in an arm-chair, sat the priest of the village and the +Miller of Hofbau; both of them were sleeping very contentedly, and +snoring somewhat as they slept. The Princess, smitten by remorse at +the spectacle, said softly: + +"Poor fellow, he grew weary of waiting, and hungry, and was compelled +to take his dinner; and, like the kind man he is, he has entertained +the priest, and kept him here, so that no time should be lost when I +arrived. Indeed I am afraid the poor man loves me very much. Well, +miller, or lord, or prince--they are all the same. Heigh-ho! Why did +I deceive him?" And she walked up to the miller's chair, leant over +the back of it, and lightly touched his red cap with her fingers. He +put up his hand and brushed with it, as though he brushed away a fly, +but gave no other sign of awakening. + +The King called softly from behind the water-butt under the window: + +"Is he there, Osra? Is he there?" + +"The poor man has fallen asleep in weariness," she answered. "But the +priest is here, ready to marry us. Oh, Rudolf, I am so sorry for what +I have done!" + +"Girls are always mighty sorry, after it is done," remarked the King. +"Wake him up, Osra." + +At this moment the Miller of Hofbau sat up in his chair and gave a +great sneeze; and by this sound the priest also was awakened. Osra +came forward and stood between them. The miller looked at her, and +tilted his red cap forward in order that he might scratch his head. +Then he looked across to the priest, and said: + +"It is she, Father. She has come." + +The priest rubbed his hands together, and smiled uncomfortably. + +"We waited two hours," said he, glancing at the clock. "See, it is +three o'clock now." + +"I am sorry you waited so long," said Osra, "but I could not come +before. And--and now that I am come, I cannot----" + +But here she paused in great distress and confusion, not knowing how to +break her sad tidings to the Miller of Hofbau. + +The miller drew his legs up under his chair, and regarded Osra with a +grave air. + +"You should have been here at eleven," said he. "I went to the church +at eleven, and the priest was there, and my cousin Hans to act as my +groom, and my cousin Gertrude to be your maid. There we waited hard on +two hours. But you did not come." + +"I am very sorry," pleaded Princess Osra. The King laughed low to +himself behind the water-butt, being much amused at her distress and +her humility. + +"And now that you are come," pursued the miller, scratching his head +again, "I do not know what we are to do." He looked again at the +priest, seeking counsel. + +At this the Princess Osra, thinking that an opportunity had come, took +the purse of six hundred crowns from under her cloak, and laid it on +the table. + +"What is this?" said the miller, for the first time showing some +eagerness. + +"They are for you," said Osra as she watched him while he unfastened +the purse. Then he poured the crowns out on the table, and counted +them one by one, till he had told all the six hundred. Then he raised +his hands above his head, let them fall again, sighed slightly, and +looked across at the priest. + +"I warned you not to be in such a hurry, friend miller," remarked the +priest. + +"I waited two hours," said the miller plaintively, "and you know that +she is a handy wench, and very fond of me." + +He began to gather up the crowns and return them to the purse. + +"I trust I am a handy wench," said Osra, smiling, yet still very +nervous, "and, indeed, I have a great regard for the miller, but----" + +"Nay, he does not mean you," interrupted the priest. + +"Six hundred," sighed the miller, "and Gertrude has but two hundred! +Still she is a handy wench and very sturdy. I doubt if you could lift +a sack by yourself, as she can." And he looked doubtfully at Osra's +slender figure. + +"I do not know why you talk of Gertrude," said the Princess petulantly. +"What is Gertrude to me?" + +"Why, I take it that she is nothing at all to you," answered the +priest, folding his hands on his lap and smiling placidly. "Still, for +my part, I bade him wait a little longer." + +"I waited two hours," said the miller. "And Gertrude urged me, saying +that you would not come, and that she would look after me better than +you, being one of the family. And she said it was hard that she should +have no husband, while her own cousin married a stranger. And since it +was all the same to me, provided I got a handy and sturdy wench----" + +"What?" cried the Princess Osra; and the King was so interested that he +rose up from behind the water-butt, and, leaning his elbows on the +window-sill, looked in and saw all that happened. + +"It being," pursued the Miller of Hofbau, "all the same to me, so that +I got what I wanted, why, when you did not come----" + +"He married his cousin," said the priest. + +A sudden roar of laughter came from the window. All three turned +round, but the King ducked his head and crouched again behind the +water-butt before they saw him. + +"Who was that?" cried the priest. + +"A lad that came to hold my horse," answered Osra hastily, and then she +turned fiercely on the miller. + +"And that," she said, "was all you wanted! I thought you loved me." + +"Aye, I liked you very well," said the miller. "You are a handy----" +A stamp of her foot drowned the rest. "But you should have come in +time," he went on. + +"And this Gertrude--is she pretty?" demanded Osra. + +"Gertrude is well enough," said the miller. "But she has only two +hundred crowns." And he put the purse, now full again, on the table +with a resigned sigh. + +"And you shall have no more," cried Osra, snatching up her purse in +great rage. "And you and Gertrude may----" + +"What of Gertrude?" came at this moment from the door of the room where +the sacks were. The Princess turned round swift as the wind, and she +saw in the doorway a short and very broad girl, with a very wide face +and straggling hair; the girl's nose was very flat, and her eyes were +small; but her great mouth smiled good-humouredly and, as the Princess +looked, she let slip to the ground a sack of flour that she had been +carrying on her sturdy back. + +"Aye, Gertrude is well enough," said the miller, looking at her +contentedly. "She is very strong and willing." + +Then, while Gertrude stood wondering and staring with wide eyes in the +doorway, the Princess swept up to the miller, and leant over him, and +cried: + +"Look at my face, look at my face! What manner of face is it?" + +"It is well enough," said the miller. "But Gertrude is----" + +There was a crash on the floor, and the six hundred crowns rolled out +of the purse, and scattered, spinning and rolling hither and thither, +all over the floor and into every corner of the room. And Princess +Osra cried: "Have you no eyes?" and then she turned away; for her lip +was quivering, and she would not have the miller see it. But she +turned from the miller only to face Gertrude his wife; Gertrude's small +eyes brightened with sudden intelligence. + +"Ah, you're the other girl!" said Gertrude with much amusement. "And +was that your dowry? It is large! I am glad you did not come in time. +But see, I'll pick it up for you. Nay, don't take on. I dare say +you'll find another husband." + +She passed by Osra, patting her on the shoulder kindly as she went, and +then fell on her knees and began to pick up the crowns, crawling after +them all over the floor, and holding up her apron to receive the +recovered treasure. And Princess Osra stood looking at her. + +"Aye, you'll find another husband," nodded the priest encouragingly. + +"Aye, you'll find another husband," assented the miller placidly. "And +just as one girl is pretty nearly as good as another--if she is handy +and sturdy--so one husband is as good as another, if he can keep a +house over you." + +Princess Osra said nothing. But Gertrude, having picked up the crowns, +came to her with a full apron, saying: + +"Hold your lap, and I'll pour them in. They'll get you a good husband." + +Princess Osra suddenly bent and kissed Gertrude's cheek, and she said +gently: + +"I hope you have got a good husband, my dear; but let him do some work +for himself. And keep the six hundred crowns as a present from me, for +he will value you more with eight hundred than with two." + +The eyes of all three were fixed on her in wonder and almost in fear, +for her tone and manner were now different. Then she turned to the +miller, and she bit her lip and dashed her hand across her eyes, and +she said: + +"And you, miller, are the only sensible man I have found in all the +kingdom. Therefore good luck and a good wife to you." And she gave a +little short laugh, and turned and walked out of the cottage, leaving +them all spellbound in wonder. But the miller rose from his chair and +ran to the door, and when he reached it the King was just lifting Osra +on to her horse; the miller knew the King, and stood there with eyes +wide and cheeks bulged in wonder; but he could gasp out no more than +"The King, the King!" before Rudolf and Osra were far away. And they +could, none of them, neither the miller, nor Gertrude, nor the priest, +tell what the matter meant, until one day King Rudolf rode again to the +mill at Hofbau, and, having sent for the priest, told the three enough +of the truth, saying that the affair was the outcome of a jest at +Court; and he made each of them a handsome present, and vowed them to +secrecy by their fealty and attachment to his person and his honour. + +"So she would not have married me, anyhow?" asked the miller. + +"I think not, friend," answered Rudolf with a laugh. + +"Then we are but quits and all is well. Gertrude, the jug, my lass!" + +And so, indeed, it seemed to the King that they were but quits, and so +he said to the Princess Osra. But he declared that she had so far +prevailed with the miller as to make him desire marriage as an +excellent and useful thing in itself, although she had not persuaded +him that it was of great moment whom a man married. Therefore he was +very anxious to give her the bracelet which he had promised, and more +than once prayed her to accept it. But Osra saw the laugh that lurked +in the King's eye, and would not consent to have the bracelet, and for +a long while she did not love to speak of the Miller of Hofbau. Yet +once, when the King on some occasion cried out very impatiently that +all men were fools, she said: + +"Sire, you forget the Miller of Hofbau." And she blushed, and laughed, +and turned her eyes away. + +One other thing she did which very greatly puzzled Queen Margaret, and +all the ladies of the Court, and all the waiting-women, and all the +serving-maids, and, in fine, every person high or low who saw or heard +of it, except the King only. For in winter evenings she took her +scissors and her needle, and she cut strips of ribbon, each a foot long +and a couple of inches broad; on each of them she embroidered a motto +or legend; and she affixed the ribbons bearing the legend to each and +every one of the mirrors in each of her chambers at Strelsau, at Zenda, +and at the other royal residences. And her waiting-women noticed that, +whenever she had looked in the mirror and smiled at her own image or +shewn other signs of pleasure in it, she would then cast her eyes up to +the legend, and seem to read it, and blush a little, and laugh a +little, and sigh a little; the reason for which things they could by no +means understand. + +For the legend was but this: + + "Remember the Miller of Hofbau." + + + + +THE STOLEN BODY + +By H. G. WELLS + +Copyright 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, and 1903 by H. G. Wells. +Copyright 1905 by Charles Scribner's Sons. + + +Mr. Bessel was the senior partner in the firm of Bessel, Hart, and +Brown, of St. Paul's Churchyard, and for many years he was well known +among those interested in psychical research as a liberal-minded and +conscientious investigator. He was an unmarried man, and instead of +living in the suburbs, after the fashion of his class, he occupied +rooms in the Albany, near Piccadilly. He was particularly interested +in the questions of thought transference and of apparitions of the +living, and in November, 1896, he commenced a series of experiments in +conjunction with Mr. Vincey, of Staple Inn, in order to test the +alleged possibility of projecting an apparition of one's self by force +of will through space. + +Their experiments were conducted in the following manner: At a +prearranged hour Mr. Bessel shut himself in one of his rooms in the +Albany and Mr. Vincey in his sitting-room in Staple Inn, and each then +fixed his mind as resolutely as possible on the other. Mr. Bessel had +acquired the art of self-hypnotism, and, so far as he could, he +attempted first to hypnotise himself and then to project himself as a +"phantom of the living" across the intervening space of nearly two +miles into Mr. Vincey's apartment. On several evenings this was tried +without any satisfactory result, but on the fifth or sixth occasion Mr. +Vincey did actually see or imagine he saw an apparition of Mr. Bessel +standing in his room. He states that the appearance, although brief, +was very vivid and real. He noticed that Mr. Bessel's face was white +and his expression anxious, and, moreover, that his hair was +disordered. For a moment Mr. Vincey, in spite of his state of +expectation, was too surprised to speak or move, and in that moment it +seemed to him as though the figure glanced over its shoulder and +incontinently vanished. + +It had been arranged that an attempt should be made to photograph any +phantasm seen, but Mr. Vincey had not the instant presence of mind to +snap the camera that lay ready on the table beside him, and when he did +so he was too late. Greatly elated, however, even by this partial +success, he made a note of the exact time, and at once took a cab to +the Albany to inform Mr. Bessel of this result. + +He was surprised to find Mr. Bessel's outer door standing open to the +night, and the inner apartments lit and in an extraordinary disorder. +An empty champagne magnum lay smashed upon the floor; its neck had been +broken off against the inkpot on the bureau and lay beside it. An +octagonal occasional table, which carried a bronze statuette and a +number of choice books, had been rudely overturned, and down the +primrose paper of the wall inky fingers had been drawn, as it seemed, +for the mere pleasure of defilement. One of the delicate chintz +curtains had been violently torn from its rings and thrust upon the +fire, so that the smell of its smouldering filled the room. Indeed the +whole place was disarranged in the strangest fashion. For a few +minutes Mr. Vincey, who had entered sure of finding Mr. Bessel in his +easy chair awaiting him, could scarcely believe his eyes, and stood +staring helplessly at these unanticipated things. + +Then, full of a vague sense of calamity, he sought the porter at the +entrance lodge. "Where is Mr. Bessel?" he asked. "Do you know that +all the furniture is broken in Mr. Bessel's room?" The porter said +nothing, but, obeying his gestures, came at once to Mr. Bessel's +apartment to see the state of affairs. "This settles it," he said, +surveying the lunatic confusion. "I didn't know of this. Mr. Bessel's +gone off. He's mad!" + +He then proceeded to tell Mr. Vincey that about half an hour +previously, that is to say, at about the time of Mr. Bessel's +apparition in Mr. Vincey's rooms, the missing gentleman had rushed out +of the gates of the Albany into Vigo Street, hatless and with +disordered hair, and had vanished into the direction of Bond Street. +"And as he went past me," said the porter, "he laughed--a sort of +gasping laugh, with his mouth open and his eyes glaring--I tell you, +sir, he fair scared me!--like this." + +According to his imitation it was anything but a pleasant laugh. "He +waved his hand, with all his fingers crooked and clawing--like that. +And he said, in a sort of fierce whisper, 'Life!' Just that one word, +'Life!'" + +"Dear me," said Mr. Vincey. "Tut, tut," and "Dear me!" He could think +of nothing else to say. He was naturally very much surprised. He +turned from the room to the porter and from the porter to the room in +the gravest perplexity. Beyond his suggestion that probably Mr. Bessel +would come back presently and explain what had happened, their +conversation was unable to proceed. "It might be a sudden toothache," +said the porter, "a very sudden and violent toothache, jumping on him +suddenly-like and driving him wild. I've broken things myself before +now in such a case..." He thought. "If it was, why should he say +'life' to me as he went past?" + +Mr. Vincey did not know. Mr. Bessel did not return, and at last Mr. +Vincey, having done some more helpless staring, and having addressed a +note of brief inquiry and left it in a conspicuous position on the +bureau, returned in a very perplexed frame of mind to his own premises +in Staple Inn. This affair had given him a shock. He was at a loss to +account for Mr. Bessel's conduct on any sane hypothesis. He tried to +read, but he could not do so; he went for a short walk, and was so +preoccupied that he narrowly escaped a cab at the top of Chancery Lane; +and at last--a full hour before his usual time--he went to bed. For a +considerable time he could not sleep because of his memory of the +silent confusion of Mr. Bessel's apartment, and when at length he did +attain an uneasy slumber it was at once disturbed by a very vivid and +distressing dream of Mr. Bessel. + +He saw Mr. Bessel gesticulating wildly, and with his face white and +contorted. And, inexplicably mingled with his appearance, suggested +perhaps by his gestures, was an intense fear, an urgency to act. He +even believes that he heard the voice of his fellow experimenter +calling distressfully to him, though at the time he considered this to +be an illusion. The vivid impression remained though Mr. Vincey awoke. +For a space he lay awake and trembling in the darkness, possessed with +that vague, unaccountable terror of unknown possibilities that comes +out of dreams upon even the bravest men. But at last he roused +himself, and turned over and went to sleep again, only for the dream to +return with enhanced vividness. + +He awoke with such a strong conviction that Mr. Bessel was in +overwhelming distress and need of help that sleep was no longer +possible. He was persuaded that his friend had rushed out to some dire +calamity. For a time he lay reasoning vainly against this belief, but +at last he gave way to it. He arose, against all reason, lit his gas, +and dressed, and set out through the deserted streets--deserted, save +for a noiseless policeman or so and the early news carts--towards Vigo +Street to inquire if Mr. Bessel had returned. + +But he never got there. As he was going down Long Acre some +unaccountable impulse turned him aside out of that street towards +Covent Garden, which was just waking to its nocturnal activities. He +saw the market in front of him--a queer effect of glowing yellow lights +and busy black figures. He became aware of a shouting, and perceived a +figure turn the corner by the hotel and run swiftly towards him. He +knew at once that it was Mr. Bessel. But it was Mr. Bessel +transfigured. He was hatless and dishevelled, his collar was torn +open, he grasped a bone-handled walking-cane near the ferrule end, and +his mouth was pulled awry. And he ran, with agile strides, very +rapidly. Their encounter was the affair of an instant. "Bessel!" +cried Vincey. + +The running man gave no sign of recognition either of Mr. Vincey or of +his own name. Instead, he cut at his friend savagely with the stick, +hitting him in the face within an inch of the eye. Mr. Vincey, stunned +and astonished, staggered back, lost his footing, and fell heavily on +the pavement. It seemed to him that Mr. Bessel leapt over him as he +fell. When he looked again Mr. Bessel had vanished, and a policeman +and a number of garden porters and salesmen were rushing past towards +Long Acre in hot pursuit. + +With the assistance of several passers-by--for the whole street was +speedily alive with running people--Mr. Vincey struggled to his feet. +He at once became the centre of a crowd greedy to see his injury. A +multitude of voices competed to reassure him of his safety, and then to +tell him of the behaviour of the madman, as they regarded Mr. Bessel. +He had suddenly appeared in the middle of the market screaming "Life! +Life!" striking left and right with a blood-stained walking-stick, and +dancing and shouting with laughter at each successful blow. A lad and +two women had broken heads, and he had smashed a man's wrist; a little +child had been knocked insensible, and for a time he had driven every +one before him, so furious and resolute had his behaviour been. Then +he made a raid upon a coffee stall, hurled its paraffin flare through +the window of the post office, and fled laughing, after stunning the +foremost of the two policemen who had the pluck to charge him. + +Mr. Vincey's first impulse was naturally to join in the pursuit of his +friend, in order if possible to save him from the violence of the +indignant people. But his action was slow, the blow had half stunned +him, and while this was still no more than a resolution came the news, +shouted through the crowd, that Mr. Bessel had eluded his pursuers. At +first Mr. Vincey could scarcely credit this, but the universality of +the report, and presently the dignified return of two futile policemen, +convinced him. After some aimless inquiries he returned towards Staple +Inn, padding a handkerchief to a now very painful nose. + +He was angry and astonished and perplexed. It appeared to him +indisputable that Mr. Bessel must have gone violently mad in the midst +of his experiment in thought transference, but why that should make him +appear with a sad white face in Mr. Vincey's dreams seemed a problem +beyond solution. He racked his brains in vain to explain this. It +seemed to him at last that not simply Mr. Bessel, but the order of +things must be insane. But he could think of nothing to do. He shut +himself carefully into his room, lit his fire--it was a gas fire with +asbestos bricks--and, fearing fresh dreams if he went to bed, remained +bathing his injured face, or holding up books in a vain attempt to +read, until dawn. Throughout that vigil he had a curious persuasion +that Mr. Bessel was endeavouring to speak to him, but he would not let +himself attend to any such belief. + +About dawn, his physical fatigue asserted itself, and he went to bed +and slept at last in spite of dreaming. He rose late, unrested and +anxious, and in considerable facial pain. The morning papers had no +news of Mr. Bessel's aberration--it had come too late for them. Mr. +Vincey's perplexities, to which the fever of his bruise added fresh +irritation, became at last intolerable, and, after a fruitless visit to +the Albany, he went down to St. Paul's Churchyard to Mr. Hart, Mr. +Bessel's partner, and, so far as Mr. Vincey knew, his nearest friend. + +He was surprised to learn that Mr. Hart, although he knew nothing of +the outbreak, had also been disturbed by a vision, the very vision that +Mr. Vincey had seen--Mr. Bessel, white and dishevelled, pleading +earnestly by his gestures for help. That was his impression of the +import of his signs. "I was just going to look him up in the Albany +when you arrived," said Mr. Hart. "I was so sure of something being +wrong with him." + +As the outcome of their consultation the two gentlemen decided to +inquire at Scotland Yard for news of their missing friend. "He is +bound to be laid by the heels," said Mr. Hart. "He can't go on at that +pace for long." But the police authorities had not laid Mr. Bessel by +the heels. They confirmed Mr. Vincey's overnight experiences and added +fresh circumstances, some of an even graver character than those he +knew--a list of smashed glass along the upper half of Tottenham Court +Road, an attack upon a policeman in Hampstead Road, and an atrocious +assault upon a woman. All these outrages were committed between +half-past twelve and a quarter to two in the morning, and between those +hours--and, indeed, from the very moment of Mr. Bessel's first rush +from his rooms at half-past nine in the evening--they could trace the +deepening violence of his fantastic career. For the last hour, at +least from before one, that is, until a quarter to two, he had run +amuck through London, eluding with amazing agility every effort to stop +or capture him. + +But after a quarter to two he had vanished. Up to that hour witnesses +were multitudinous. Dozens of people had seen him, fled from him or +pursued him, and then things suddenly came to an end. At a quarter to +two he had been seen running down the Euston Road towards Baker Street, +flourishing a can of burning colza oil and jerking splashes of flame +therefrom at the windows of the houses he passed. But none of the +policemen on Euston Road beyond the Waxwork Exhibition, nor any of +those in the side streets down which he must have passed had he left +the Euston Road, had seen anything of him. Abruptly he disappeared. +Nothing of his subsequent doings came to light in spite of the keenest +inquiry. + +Here was a fresh astonishment for Mr. Vincey. He had found +considerable comfort in Mr. Hart's conviction: "He is bound to be laid +by the heels before long," and in that assurance he had been able to +suspend his mental perplexities. But any fresh development seemed +destined to add new impossibilities to a pile already heaped beyond the +powers of his acceptance. He found himself doubting whether his memory +might not have played him some grotesque trick, debating whether any of +these things could possibly have happened; and in the afternoon he +hunted up Mr. Hart again to share the intolerable weight on his mind. +He found Mr. Hart engaged with a well-known private detective, but as +that gentleman accomplished nothing in this case, we need not enlarge +upon his proceedings. + +All that day Mr. Bessel's whereabouts eluded an unceasingly active +inquiry, and all that night. And all that day there was a persuasion +in the back of Mr. Vincey's mind that Mr. Bessel sought his attention, +and all through the night Mr. Bessel with a tear-stained face of +anguish pursued him through his dreams. And whenever he saw Mr. Bessel +in his dreams he also saw a number of other faces, vague but malignant, +that seemed to be pursuing Mr. Bessel. + +It was on the following day, Sunday, that Mr. Vincey recalled certain +remarkable stories of Mrs. Bullock, the medium, who was then attracting +attention for the first time in London. He determined to consult her. +She was staying at the house of that well-known inquirer, Dr. Wilson +Paget, and Mr. Vincey, although he had never met that gentleman before, +repaired to him forthwith with the intention of invoking her help. But +scarcely had he mentioned the name of Bessel when Doctor Paget +interrupted him. "Last night--just at the end," he said, "we had a +communication." + +He left the room, and returned with a slate on which were certain words +written in a handwriting, shaky indeed, but indisputably the +handwriting of Mr. Bessel! + +"How did you get this?" said Mr. Vincey. "Do you mean--?" + +"We got it last night," said Doctor Paget. With numerous interruptions +from Mr. Vincey, he proceeded to explain how the writing had been +obtained. It appears that in her seances, Mrs. Bullock passes into a +condition of trance, her eyes rolling up in a strange way under her +eyelids, and her body becoming rigid. She then begins to talk very +rapidly, usually in voices other than her own. At the same time one or +both of her hands may become active, and if slates and pencils are +provided they will then write messages simultaneously with and quite +independently of the flow of words from her mouth. By many she is +considered an even more remarkable medium than the celebrated Mrs. +Piper. It was one of these messages, the one written by her left hand, +that Mr. Vincey now had before him. It consisted of eight words +written disconnectedly: "George Bessel ... trial excavn ... Baker +Street ... help ... starvation." Curiously enough, neither Doctor +Paget nor the two other inquirers who were present had heard of the +disappearance of Mr. Bessel--the news of it appeared only in the +evening papers of Saturday--and they had put the message aside with +many others of a vague and enigmatical sort that Mrs. Bullock has from +time to time delivered. + +When Doctor Paget heard Mr. Vincey's story, he gave himself at once +with great energy to the pursuit of this clue to the discovery of Mr. +Bessel. It would serve no useful purpose here to describe the +inquiries of Mr. Vincey and himself; suffice it that the clue was a +genuine one, and that Mr. Bessel was actually discovered by its aid. + +He was found at the bottom of a detached shaft which had been sunk and +abandoned at the commencement of the work for the new electric railway +near Baker Street Station. His arm and leg and two ribs were broken. +The shaft is protected by a hoarding nearly 20 feet high, and over +this, incredible as it seems, Mr. Bessel, a stout, middle-aged +gentleman, must have scrambled in order to fall down the shaft. He was +saturated in colza oil, and the smashed tin lay beside him, but luckily +the flame had been extinguished by his fall. And his madness had +passed from him altogether. But he was, of course, terribly enfeebled, +and at the sight of his rescuers he gave way to hysterical weeping. + +In view of the deplorable state of his flat, he was taken to the house +of Dr. Hatton in Upper Baker Street. Here he was subjected to a +sedative treatment, and anything that might recall the violent crisis +through which he had passed was carefully avoided. But on the second +day he volunteered a statement. + +Since that occasion Mr. Bessel has several times repeated this +statement--to myself among other people--varying the details as the +narrator of real experiences always does, but never by any chance +contradicting himself in any particular. And the statement he makes is +in substance as follows. + +In order to understand it clearly it is necessary to go back to his +experiments with Mr. Vincey before his remarkable attack. Mr. Bessel's +first attempts at self-projection, in his experiments with Mr. Vincey, +were, as the reader will remember, unsuccessful. But through all of +them he was concentrating all his power and will upon getting out of +the body--"willing it with all my might," he says. At last, almost +against expectation, came success. And Mr. Bessel asserts that he, +being alive, did actually, by an effort of will, leave his body and +pass into some place or state outside this world. + +The release was, he asserts, instantaneous. "At one moment I was +seated in my chair, with my eyes tightly shut, my hands gripping the +arms of the chair, doing all I could to concentrate my mind on Vincey, +and then I perceived myself outside my body--saw my body near me, but +certainly not containing me, with the hands relaxing and the head +drooping forward on the breast." + +Nothing shakes him in his assurance of that release. He describes in a +quiet, matter-of-fact way the new sensation he experienced. He felt he +had become impalpable--so much he had expected, but he had not expected +to find himself enormously large. So, however, it would seem he +became. "I was a great cloud--if I may express it that way--anchored +to my body. It appeared to me, at first, as if I had discovered a +greater self of which the conscious being in my brain was only a little +part. I saw the Albany and Piccadilly and Regent Street and all the +rooms and places in the houses, very minute and very bright and +distinct, spread out below me like a little city seen from a balloon. +Every now and then vague shapes like drifting wreaths of smoke made the +vision a little indistinct, but at first I paid little heed to them. +The thing that astonished me most, and which astonishes me still, is +that I saw quite distinctly the insides of the houses as well as the +streets, saw little people dining and talking in the private houses, +men and women dining, playing billiards, and drinking in restaurants +and hotels, and several places of entertainment crammed with people. +It was like watching the affairs of a glass hive." + +Such were Mr. Bessel's exact words as I took them down when he told me +the story. Quite forgetful of Mr. Vincey, he remained for a space +observing these things. Impelled by curiosity, he says, he stooped +down, and, with the shadowy arm he found himself possessed of, +attempted to touch a man walking along Vigo Street. But he could not +do so, though his finger seemed to pass through the man. Something +prevented his doing this, but what it was he finds it hard to describe. +He compares the obstacle to a sheet of glass. + +"I felt as a kitten may feel," he said, "when it goes for the first +time to pat its reflection in a mirror." Again and again, on the +occasion when I heard him tell this story, Mr. Bessel returned to that +comparison of the sheet of glass. Yet it was not altogether a precise +comparison, because, as the reader will speedily see, there were +interruptions of this generally impermeable resistance, means of +getting through the barrier to the material world again. But, +naturally, there is a very great difficulty in expressing these +unprecedented impressions in the language of everyday experience. + +A thing that impressed him instantly, and which weighed upon him +throughout all this experience, was the stillness of this place--he was +in a world without sound. + +At first Mr. Bessel's mental state was an unemotional wonder. His +thought chiefly concerned itself with where he might be. He was out of +the body--out of his material body, at any rate--but that was not all. +He believes, and I for one believe also, that he was somewhere out of +space, as we understand it, altogether. By a strenuous effort of will +he had passed out of his body into a world beyond this world, a world +undreamt of, yet lying so close to it and so strangely situated with +regard to it that all things on this earth are clearly visible both +from without and from within in this other world about us. For a long +time, as it seemed to him, this realisation occupied his mind to the +exclusion of all other matters, and then he recalled the engagement +with Mr. Vincey, to which this astonishing experience was, after all, +but a prelude. + +He turned his mind to locomotion in this new body in which he found +himself. For a time he was unable to shift himself from his attachment +to his earthly carcass. For a time this new strange cloud body of his +simply swayed, contracted, expanded, coiled, and writhed with his +efforts to free himself, and then quite suddenly the link that bound +him snapped. For a moment everything was hidden by what appeared to be +whirling spheres of dark vapour, and then through a momentary gap he +saw his drooping body collapse limply, saw his lifeless head drop +sideways, and found he was driving along like a huge cloud in a strange +place of shadowy clouds that had the luminous intricacy of London +spread like a model below. + +But now he was aware that the fluctuating vapour about him was +something more than vapour, and the temerarious excitement of his first +essay was shot with fear. For he perceived, at first indistinctly, and +then suddenly very clearly, that he was surrounded by faces! that each +roll and coil of the seeming cloud-stuff was a face. And such faces! +Faces of thin shadow, faces of gaseous tenuity. Faces like those faces +that glare with intolerable strangeness upon the sleeper in the evil +hours of his dreams. Evil, greedy eyes that were full of a covetous +curiosity, faces with knit brows and snarling, smiling lips; their +vague hands clutched at Mr. Bessel as he passed, and the rest of their +bodies was but an elusive streak of trailing darkness. Never a word +they said, never a sound from the mouths that seemed to gibber. All +about him they pressed in that dreamy silence, passing freely through +the dim mistiness that was his body, gathering ever more numerously +about him. And the shadowy Mr. Bessel, now suddenly fear-stricken, +drove through the silent, active multitude of eyes and clutching hands. + +So inhuman were these faces, so malignant their staring eyes, and +shadowy, clawing gestures, that it did not occur to Mr. Bessel to +attempt intercourse with these drifting creatures. Idiot phantoms, +they seemed, children of vain desire, beings unborn and forbidden the +boon of being, whose only expressions and gestures told of the envy and +craving for life that was their one link with existence. + +It says much for his resolution that, amidst the swarming cloud of +these noiseless spirits of evil, he could still think of Mr. Vincey. +He made a violent effort of will and found himself, he knew not how, +stooping towards Staple Inn, saw Vincey sitting attentive and alert in +his arm-chair by the fire. + +And clustering also about him, as they clustered ever about all that +lives and breathes, was another multitude of these vain voiceless +shadows, longing, desiring, seeking some loophole into life. + +For a space Mr. Bessel sought ineffectually to attract his friend's +attention. He tried to get in front of his eyes, to move the objects +in his room, to touch him. But Mr. Vincey remained unaffected, +ignorant of the being that was so close to his own. The strange +something that Mr. Bessel has compared to a sheet of glass separated +them impermeably. + +And at last Mr. Bessel did a desperate thing. I have told how that in +some strange way he could see not only the outside of a man as we see +him, but within. He extended his shadowy hand and thrust his vague +black fingers, as it seemed, through the heedless brain. + +Then, suddenly, Mr. Vincey started like a man who recalls his attention +from wandering thoughts, and it seemed to Mr. Bessel that a little +dark-red body situated in the middle of Mr. Vincey's brain swelled and +glowed as he did so. Since that experience he has been shown +anatomical figures of the brain, and he knows now that this is that +useless structure, as doctors call it, the pineal eye. For, strange as +it will seem to many, we have, deep in our brains--where it cannot +possibly see any earthly light--an eye! At the time this, with the +rest of the internal anatomy of the brain, was quite new to him. At +the sight of its changed appearance, however, he thrust forth his +finger, and, rather fearful still of the consequences, touched this +little spot. And instantly Mr. Vincey started, and Mr. Bessel knew +that he was seen. + +And at that instant it came to Mr. Bessel that evil had happened to his +body, and behold! a great wind blew through all that world of shadows +and tore him away. So strong was this persuasion that he thought no +more of Mr. Vincey, but turned about forthwith, and all the countless +faces drove back with him like leaves before a gale. But he returned +too late. In an instant he saw the body that he had left inert and +collapsed--lying, indeed, like the body of a man just dead--had arisen, +had arisen by virtue of some strength and will beyond his own. It +stood with staring eyes, stretching its limbs in dubious fashion. + +For a moment he watched it in wild dismay, and then he stooped towards +it. But the pane of glass had closed against him again, and he was +foiled. He beat himself passionately against this, and all about him +the spirits of evil grinned and pointed and mocked. He gave way to +furious anger. He compares himself to a bird that has fluttered +heedlessly into a room and is beating at the window-pane that holds it +back from freedom. + +And behold! the little body that had once been his was now dancing with +delight. He saw it shouting, though he could not hear its shouts; he +saw the violence of its movements grow. He watched it fling his +cherished furniture about in the mad delight of existence, rend his +books apart, smash bottles, drink heedlessly from the jagged fragments, +leap and smite in a passionate acceptance of living. He watched these +actions in paralysed astonishment. Then once more he hurled himself +against the impassable barrier, and then with all that crew of mocking +ghosts about him, hurried back in dire confusion to Vincey to tell him +of the outrage that had come upon him. + +But the brain of Vincey was now closed against apparitions, and the +disembodied Mr. Bessel pursued him in vain as he hurried out into +Holborn to call a cab. Foiled and terror-stricken, Mr. Bessel swept +back again, to find his desecrated body whooping in a glorious frenzy +down the Burlington Arcade.... + +And now the attentive reader begins to understand Mr. Bessel's +interpretation of the first part of this strange story. The being +whose frantic rush through London had inflicted so much injury and +disaster had indeed Mr. Bessel's body, but it was not Mr. Bessel. It +was an evil spirit out of that strange world beyond existence, into +which Mr. Bessel had so rashly ventured. For twenty hours it held +possession of him, and for all those twenty hours the dispossessed +spirit-body of Mr. Bessel was going to and fro in that unheard-of +middle world of shadows seeking help in vain. He spent many hours +beating at the minds of Mr. Vincey and of his friend Mr. Hart. Each, +as we know, he roused by his efforts. But the language that might +convey his situation to these helpers across the gulf he did not know; +his feeble fingers groped vainly and powerlessly in their brains. +Once, indeed, as we have already told, he was able to turn Mr. Vincey +aside from his path so that he encountered the stolen body in its +career, but he could not make him understand the thing that had +happened: he was unable to draw any help from that encounter.... + +All through those hours the persuasion was overwhelming in Mr. Bessel's +mind that presently his body would be killed by his furious tenant, and +he would have to remain in this shadow-land for evermore. So that +those long hours were a growing agony of fear. And ever as he hurried +to and fro in his ineffectual excitement, innumerable spirits of that +world about him mobbed him and confused his mind. And ever an envious +applauding multitude poured after their successful fellow as he went +upon his glorious career. + +For that, it would seem, must be the life of these bodiless things of +this world that is the shadow of our world. Ever they watch, coveting +a way into a mortal body, in order that they may descend, as furies and +frenzies, as violent lusts and mad, strange impulses, rejoicing in the +body they have won. For Mr. Bessel was not the only human soul in that +place. Witness the fact that he met first one, and afterwards several +shadows of men, men like himself, it seemed, who had lost their bodies +even it may be as he had lost his, and wandered, despairingly, in that +lost world that is neither life nor death. They could not speak +because that world is silent, yet he knew them for men because of their +dim human bodies, and because of the sadness of their faces. + +But how they had come into that world he could not tell, nor where the +bodies they had lost might be, whether they still raved about the +earth, or whether they were closed forever in death against return. +That they were the spirits of the dead neither he nor I believe. But +Doctor Wilson Paget thinks they are the rational souls of men who are +lost in madness on the earth. + +At last Mr. Bessel chanced upon a place where a little crowd of such +disembodied silent creatures was gathered, and thrusting through them +he saw below a brightly-lit room, and four or five quiet gentlemen and +a woman, a stoutish woman dressed in black bombazine and sitting +awkwardly in a chair with her head thrown back. He knew her from her +portraits to be Mrs. Bullock, the medium. And he perceived that tracts +and structures in her brain glowed and stirred as he had seen the +pineal eye in the brain of Mr. Vincey glow. The light was very fitful; +sometimes it was a broad illumination, and sometimes merely a faint +twilight spot, and it shifted slowly about her brain. She kept on +talking and writing with one hand. And Mr. Bessel saw that the +crowding shadows of men about him, and a great multitude of the shadow +spirits of that shadowland, were all striving and thrusting to touch +the lighted regions of her brain. As one gained her brain or another +was thrust away, her voice and the writing of her hand changed. So +that what she said was disorderly and confused for the most part; now a +fragment of one soul's message, and now a fragment of another's, and +now she babbled the insane fancies of the spirits of vain desire. Then +Mr. Bessel understood that she spoke for the spirit that had touch of +her, and he began to struggle very furiously towards her. But he was +on the outside of the crowd and at that time he could not reach her, +and at last, growing anxious, he went away to find what had happened +meanwhile to his body. + +For a long time he went to and fro seeking it in vain and fearing that +it must have been killed, and then he found it at the bottom of the +shaft in Baker Street, writhing furiously and cursing with pain. Its +leg and an arm and two ribs had been broken by its fall. Moreover, the +evil spirit was angry because his time had been so short and because of +the pain--making violent movements and casting his body about. + +And at that Mr. Bessel returned with redoubled earnestness to the room +where the seance was going on, and so soon as he had thrust himself +within sight of the place he saw one of the men who stood about the +medium looking at his watch as if he meant that the seance should +presently end. At that a great number of the shadows who had been +striving turned away with gestures of despair. But the thought that +the seance was almost over only made Mr. Bessel the more earnest, and +he struggled so stoutly with his will against the others that presently +he gained the woman's brain. It chanced that just at that moment it +glowed very brightly, and in that instant she wrote the message that +Doctor Wilson Paget preserved. And then the other shadows and the +cloud of evil spirits about him had thrust Mr. Bessel away from her, +and for all the rest of the seance he could regain her no more. + +So he went back and watched through the long hours at the bottom of the +shaft where the evil spirit lay in the stolen body it had maimed, +writhing and cursing, and weeping and groaning, and learning the lesson +of pain. And towards dawn the thing he had waited for happened, the +brain glowed brightly and the evil spirit came out, and Mr. Bessel +entered the body he had feared he should never enter again. As he did +so, the silence--the brooding silence--ended; he heard the tumult of +traffic and the voices of people overhead, and that strange world that +is the shadow of our world--the dark and silent shadows of ineffectual +desire and the shadows of lost men--vanished clean away. + +He lay there for the space of about three hours before he was found. +And in spite of the pain and suffering of his wounds, and of the dim +damp place in which he lay; in spite of the tears--wrung from him by +his physical distress--his heart was full of gladness to know that he +was nevertheless back once more in the kindly world of men. + + + + +THE LAZARETTE OF THE "HUNTRESS" + +By W. CLARK RUSSELL + +Copyright 1893 and 1894 by W. Clark Russell. Copyright 1895 by +Frederick A. Stokes Company. + + +I stepped into the Brunswick Hotel in the East India Docks for a glass +of ale. It was in the year 1853, and a wet, hot afternoon. I had been +on the tramp all day, making just three weeks of a wretched, hopeless +hunt after a situation on shipboard, and every bone in me ached with my +heart. My precious timbers, how poor I was! Two shillings, and +threepence--that was all the money I possessed in the wide world, and +when I had paid for the ale, I was poorer yet by twopence. + +A number of nautical men of various grades were drinking at the bar. I +sat down in a corner to rest, and abandoned myself to the most dismal +reflections. I wanted to get out to Australia, and nobody, it seems, +was willing to ship me in any situation on any account whatever. +Captains and mates howled me off if I attempted to cross their +gangways. Nothing was to be got in the shipping yards. The very +crimps sneered at me when I told them that I wanted a berth. "Shake +your head, my hawbuck," said one of them, in the presence of a crowd of +grinning seamen, "that the Johns may see the hayseed fly." + +What was I, do you ask? I'll tell you. I was one of ten children +whose father had been a clergyman, and the income "from all sources" of +that same clergyman had never exceeded L230 a year. I was a lumbering, +bulking lad, without friends, and, as I am now perfectly sensible, +without brains, without any kind of taste for any pursuit, execrating +the notion of clerkships, and perfectly willing to make away with +myself sooner than be glued to a three-legged stool. But enough of +this. The long and short is, I was thirsting to get out to Australia, +never doubting that I should easily make my fortune there. + +I sat in my corner in the Brunswick Hotel, scowling at the floor, my +long legs thrust out, and my hands buried deep in my breeches pockets. +Presently, I was sensible that some one stood beside me, and looking +up, I beheld a young fellow staring with all his might, with a slow +grin of recognition wrinkling his face. I seemed to remember him. + +"Mr. William Peploe, ain't it?" said he. + +"Why yes," said I, "and you----and you----?" + +"You don't remember Jem Back then, sir?" + +"Yes I do, perfectly well. Sit down, Back. Are you a sailor? I am so +dead beat that I can scarcely talk." + +Jem Back brought a tankard of ale to my table, and sat down beside me. +He was a youth of my own age, and I knew him as the son of a +parishioner of my father. He was attired in nautical clothes, yet +somehow he did not exactly look what is called a sailor man. We fell +into conversation. He informed me that he was an under-steward on +board a large ship called the "Huntress," that was bound out of the +Thames in a couple of days for Sydney, New South Wales. He had sailed +two years in her, and hoped to sign as head steward next voyage in a +smaller ship. + +"There'll be a good deal of waiting this bout," said he; "we're taking +a cuddy full of swells out. There's Sir Thomas Mason--he goes as +Governor; there's his lady and three daughters, and a sort of suet" (he +meant suite) "sails along with the boiling." So he rattled on. + +"Can't you help me to find a berth in that ship?" said I. + +"I'm afraid not," he answered. "What could you offer yourself as, sir? +They wouldn't have you forward, and aft we're chock-a-block. If you +could manage to stow yourself away--they wouldn't chuck you overboard +when you turned up at sea; they'd make you useful and land you as safe +as if you was the Governor himself." + +I thought this a very fine idea, and asked Back to tell me how I should +go to work to hide myself. He seemed to recoil, I thought, when I put +the matter to him earnestly, but he was an honest, kindly-hearted +fellow, and remembered my father with a certain degree of respect, and +even of affection; he had known me as a boy; there was the sympathy of +association and of memory between us; he looked at the old suit of +clothes I sat in, and at my hollow, anxious face, and he crooked his +eyebrows with an expression of pain when I told him that all the money +I had was two and a penny, and that I must starve and be found floating +a corpse in the dockyard basin if I did not get out to Australia. We +sat for at least an hour over our ale, talking very earnestly, and when +we arose and bade each other farewell I had settled with him what to do. + +The "Huntress" was a large frigate-built ship of 1400 tons. On the +morning of the day on which she was to haul out of dock I went on board +of her. Nobody took any notice of me. The vessel was full of +business, clamorous with the life and hurry of the start for the other +side of the world. Cargo was still swinging over the main hold, down +whose big, dark square a tall, strong, red-bearded chief mate was +roaring to the stevedore's men engulfed in the bowels of the ship. A +number of drunken sailors were singing and cutting capers on the +forecastle. The main-deck was full of steerage, or, as they were then +termed, 'tweendeck passengers--grimy men, and seedy women and wailing +babes, and frightened, staring children. I did not pause to muse upon +the scene, nor did I gaze aloft at the towering spars, where, forward, +up in the dingy sky of the Isle of Dogs, floated that familiar symbol +of departure, Blue Peter. I saw several young men in shining buttons +and cloth caps with gold badges, and knew them to be midshipmen, and +envied them. Every instant I expected to be ordered out of the ship by +some one with hurricane lungs and a vast command of injurious language, +and my heart beat fast. I made my way to the cuddy front, and just as +I halted beside a group of women at the booby hatch, James Back came to +the door of the saloon. He motioned to me with a slight toss of his +head. + +"Don't look about you," he whispered; "just follow me straight." + +I stepped after him into the saloon. It was like entering a grand +drawing-room. Mirrors and silver lamps sparkled; the panelled +bulkheads were rich with hand paintings; flowers hung in plenty under +the skylight; goldfish gleamed as they circled in globes of crystal. +These things and more I beheld in the space of a few heart-beats. + +I went after James Back down a wide staircase that sank through a large +hatch situated a dozen paces from the cuddy front. When I reached the +bottom I found myself in a long corridor, somewhat darksome, with +cabins on either hand. Back took me into one of those cabins and +closed the door. + +"Now listen, Mr. Peploe," said he. "I'm going to shut you down in the +lazarette." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, on which was a +rude tracing. "This is the inside of the lazarette," he continued, +pointing to the tracing. "There are some casks of flour up in this +corner. They'll make you a safe hiding-place. You'll find a bag of +ship's biscuit and some bottles of wine and water and a pannikin stowed +behind them casks. There's cases of bottled ale in the lazarette, and +plenty of tinned stuffs and grub for the cabin table. But don't broach +anything if you can hold out." + +"When am I to show myself?" + +"When we're out of Soundings." + +"Where's that?" said I. + +"Clear of the Chops," he answered. "If you come up when the land's +still in sight the captain'll send you ashore by anything that'll take +you, and you'll be handed over to the authorities and charged." + +"How shall I know when we're clear of the Chops?" said I. + +"I'll drop below into the lazarette on some excuse and tell you," he +answered. "You'll be very careful when you turn up, Mr. Peploe, not to +let them guess that anybody's lent you a hand in this here hiding job. +If they find out I'm your friend, then it's all up with Jem Back. He's +a stone-broke young man, and his parents'll be wishing of themselves +dead rather than they should have lived to see this hour." + +"I have sworn, and you may trust me, Back." + +"Right," said he. "And now, is there e'er a question you'd like to ask +before you drop below?" + +"When does the ship haul out?" + +"They may be doing of it even whilst we're talking," he said. + +"Can I make my escape out of the lazarette should I feel very ill, or +as if I was going to suffocate?" + +"Yes, the hatch is a little un. The cargo sits tall under him, and you +can stand up and shove the hatch clear of its bearings should anything +go seriously wrong with you. But don't be in a hurry to feel ill or +short o' breath. There's no light, but there's air enough. The united +smells, perhaps, ain't all violets, but the place is warm." + +He paused, looking at me inquiringly. I could think of nothing more to +ask him. He opened the door, warily peered out, then whispered to me +to follow, and I walked at his heels to the end of the corridor near +the stern. I heard voices in the cabins on either hand of me; some +people came out of one of the after berths, and passed us, talking +noisily, but they took no heed of me or of my friend. They were +passengers, and strangers to the ship, and would suppose me a passenger +also, or an under-steward, like Jem Back, who, however, now looked his +vocation, attired as he was in a camlet jacket, black cloth breeches, +and a white shirt. + +We halted at a little hatch-like trap-door a short way forward of the +bulkheads of the stern cabins. Back grasped the ring in the center of +the hatch, and easily lifted the thing, and laid open the hold. + +"All's clear," said he, looking along the corridor. "Down with you, +Mr. Peploe." I peered into the abyss, as it seemed to me; the light +hereabouts was so dim that but little of it fell through the small +square of hatchway, and I could scarcely discern the outlines of the +cargo below. I put my legs over and sank, holding on with a first +voyager's grip to the coaming of the hatch; then, feeling the cargo +under my feet, I let go, and the instant I withdrew my hands, Back +popped the hatch on. + +The blackness was awful. It affected me for some minutes like the want +of air. I thought I should smother, and could hardly hinder myself +from thrusting the hatch up for light, and for the comfort of my lungs. +Presently the sense of suffocation passed. The corridor was +uncarpeted; I heard the sounds of footsteps on the bare planks +overhead, and, never knowing but that at any moment somebody might come +into this lazarette, I very cautiously began to grope my way over the +cargo. I skinned my hands and my knees, and cut my small clothes +against all sorts of sharp edges in a very short time. I never could +have realized the like of such a blackness as I was here groping +through. The deepest midnight overhung by the electric cloud would be +as bright as dawn or twilight compared to it. + +I carried, however, in my head the sketch Back had drawn of this +interior, and remembering that I had faced aft when my companion had +closed me down, I crawled in the direction in which I imagined the +casks and my stock of bread and wine lay; and to my great joy, after a +considerable bit of crawling and clawing about, during which I +repeatedly wounded myself, I touched a canvas bag, which I felt, and +found full of ship's bread, and on putting my hand out in another +direction, but close by where the bag was, I touched a number of +bottles. On this I felt around, carefully stroking the blackness with +my maimed hands, and discovered that I had crawled into a recess formed +by the stowage of a number of casks on their bilge; a little space was +left behind them and the ship's wall; it was the hiding-place Back had +indicated, and I sat down to breathe and think, and to collect my wits. + +I had no means of making a light; but I don't believe that in any case +I should have attempted to kindle a flame, so great would have been my +terror of setting the ship on fire. I kept my eyes shut, fancying that +that would be a good way to accustom my vision to the blackness. And +here I very inopportunely recollected that one of the most dreadful +prison punishments inflicted upon mutinous and ill-behaved felons is +the locking of them up in a black room, where it is thought proper not +to keep them very long lest they should go mad; and I wondered how many +days or hours it would take to make a lunatic of me in this lazarette, +that was as black certainly as any black room ever built for refractory +criminals. + +I had no clothes save those I wore. Stowaways as a rule do not carry +much luggage to sea with them. I had heard tell of ships' slop-chests, +however, and guessed, when I was enlarged and put to work, the captain +would let me choose a suit of clothes and pay for them out of my wages. +I did not then know that it is not customary for commanders of ships to +pay stowaways for their services. Indeed, I afterwards got to hear +that far better men than the average run of stowaway were, in their +anxiety to get abroad, very willing to sign articles for a shilling a +month, and lead the lives of dogs for that wage. + +I had come into the ship with a parcel of bread and cheese in my +pocket: feeling hungry I partook of this modest refreshment, and +clawing round touched a bottle, pulled the loosely-fitted cork out, and +drank. This small repast heartened me, I grew a little less afraid of +the profound blackness, and of the blue and green lights which came and +went upon it, and began to hope I should not go mad. + +The hours sneaked along. Now and again a sort of creaking noise ran +through the interior, which made me suppose that the ship was +proceeding down the river in tow of a tug. Occasionally I heard the +tread of passengers overhead. It pleased me to hear that sound. It +soothed me by diminishing the intolerable sense of loneliness bred by +the midnight blackness in which I lay. The atmosphere was warm, but I +drew breath without difficulty. The general smell was, indeed, a +complicated thing; in fact, the lazarette was a storeroom. I seemed to +taste ham, tobacco, cheese, and fifty other such matters in the air. + +I had slept very ill on the preceding night, and after I had been for +some hours in the lazarette I felt weary, and stretched myself along +the deck between the casks and the ship's wall, and pillowed my head on +my coat. I slept, and my slumber was deep and long. My dreams were +full of pleasing imaginations--of nuggets of extraordinary size, +chiefly, and leagues of rich pasture land whitened by countless sheep, +all branded with the letter P. But after I had awakened and gathered +my wits together, I understood that I had lost all count of time, that +I should not know what o'clock it was, and whether it was day or night, +until I had got out. I was glad to find that the blackness was not so +intolerable as I had dreaded. I felt for the biscuits and bottles, and +ate and drank as appetite dictated. Nobody in all this while lifted +the hatch. No doubt the steward had plenty of stores for current use +in hand, and there might be no need to break out fresh provisions for +some weeks. + +I had lain, according to my own computation, very nearly two days in +this black hole, when I felt a movement in the ship which immediately +upset my stomach. The vessel, I might suppose, was in the Channel; her +pitching grew heavier, the lazarette was right aft, and in no part of +the vessel saving the bows could her motion be more sensibly felt. I +was speedily overcome with nausea, and for many long hours lay +miserably ill, unable to eat or drink. At the expiration of this time +the sea ran more smoothly; at all events, the ship's motion grew +gentle; the feeling of sickness suddenly passed, leaving me, indeed, +rather weak, yet not so helpless but that I could sit up and drink from +a bottle of wine and water, and eat a dry ship's biscuit. + +Whilst I was munching the tasteless piece of sea bread, sitting in the +intense blackness, pining for the fresh air and the sunshine, and +wondering how much longer I was to wait for Back's summons to emerge, +the hatch was raised. I shrank and held my breath, with my hand +grasping the biscuit poised midway to my mouth, as though I had been +withered by a blast of lightning. A faint sheen floated in the little +square. It was the dim lustre of distant lamplight, whence I guessed +it was night. The figure of a man cautiously dropped through the +hatchway, and by some means, and all very silently, he contrived to +readjust the hatch, shutting himself down as Back had shut me down. +The motion of the ship, as I have said, was gentle, the creaking noises +throughout the working fabric were dim and distant; indeed, I could +hear the man breathing as he seemed to pause after bringing the +hatchway to its bearings over his head. I did not suppose that the +captain ever entered this part of the ship. The man, for all I could +conjecture, might be one of the mates, or the boatswain, or the head +steward, visiting the lazarette on some errand of duty, and coming down +very quietly that the passengers who slept in the cabins on either hand +the corridor should not be disturbed. Accordingly, I shrank into the +compactest posture I could contort myself into, and watched. + +A lucifer match was struck; the flame threw out the figure of a man +standing on the cargo just under the hatch; he pulled out a little +bull's-eye lamp from his pocket and lighted it, and carefully +extinguished the match. The long, misty beam of the magnified flame +swept the interior like the revolving spoke of a wheel as the man +slowly turned the lens about in a critical search of the place, himself +being in blackness. The line of light broke on the casks behind which +I crouched, and left me in deep shadow unperceived. After some minutes +of this sort of examination, the man, came a little way forward and +crouched down upon a bale or something of the sort directly abreast of +the casks, through whose cant-lines I was peering. He opened the lamp +and placed it beside him; the light was then full upon his figure. + +He might have been an officer of the ship for all I knew. His dress +was not distinguishable, but I had his face very plain in my sight. He +was extremely pale; his nose was long and aquiline; he wore moustaches, +whiskers, and a short beard, black, but well streaked with grey. His +eyebrows were bushy and dark; his eyes were black, and the reflected +lamplight shot in gleams from them, like to that level spoke of +radiance with which he had swept this lazarette. His hair was +unusually long, even for that age of the fashion, and his being without +a hat made me guess he was not from the deck, though I never doubted +that he was one of the ship's company. + +When he opened the bull's-eye lamp and put it down, he drew something +out of his pocket which glittered in his hand. I strained my sight, +yet should not have managed to make out what he grasped but for his +holding it close to the light; I then saw that it was a small circular +brass box; a kind of little metal cylinder, from whose side fell a +length of black line, just as tape draws out of a yard measure. He +talked to himself, with a sort of wild, scowling grin upon his face, +whilst he inspected his brass box and little length of line; he then +shut the lamp and flashed it upon what I saw was a medium-sized barrel, +such, perhaps, as a brewer would call a four-and-a-half gallon cask. +It rested on its bilge, after the manner in which the casks behind +which I lay hidden were stowed. + +I now saw him pull a spile or spike of wood out of the head of the +barrel, and insert the end of the black line attached to the small +brass piece in the orifice. This done he fitted a key to the brass box +and wound it up. He may have taken twenty turns with the key; the +lazarette was so quiet that I could distinctly hear the harsh grit of +the mechanism as it was revolved. All the while he was thus employed +he preserved his scowling smile, and whispered to himself. After he +had wound up the piece of clockwork he placed it on the bale where his +lamp had stood, and taking the light made for the hatchway, under which +he came to a stand whilst he extinguished the bull's-eye. I then heard +him replace the hatch, and knew he was gone. + +The arrangement he had wound up ticked with the noise of a Dutch clock. +I had but little brains in those days, as I have told you, and in sad +truth I am not overloaded with that particular sort of cargo at this +hour; but I was not such a fool as not to be able to guess what the man +intended to do, and what that hollow, desperate ticking signified. Oh, +my great God, I thought to myself, it is an infernal machine! and the +ship will be blown up! + +My horror and fright went far beyond the paralyzing form; they ran a +sort of madness into my blood and vitalized me into desperate instant +action. Utterly heedless now of hurting and wounding myself, I +scrambled over the casks, directed by the noise of the ticking, +stretched forth my hand and grasped the brass machine. I fiercely +tugged it, then feeling for the slow match, as I guessed the line to +be, I ran it through my fingers to make sure I had pulled the end out +of the barrel. The murderous thing ticked in my hand with the energy +of a hotly-revolved capstan, whilst I stood breathing short, +considering what I should do, whilst the perspiration soaked through my +clothes as though a bucket of oil had been upset over me. Heavens! the +horror of standing in that black lazarette with an infernal machine +ticking in my hands, and a large barrel of gunpowder, as I easily +guessed, within reach of a kick of my foot! I trembled in every limb +and sweated at every pore, and seemed to want brains enough to tell me +what ought next to be done! + +How long I thus stood irresolute I don't know; still clutching the +hoarsely-ticking piece of clockwork. I crawled in the direction in +which I supposed lay the casks behind which I had hidden. I had +scarcely advanced half a dozen feet when the mechanism snapped in my +fingers; a bright flash, like to the leap of a flame in the pan of a +flint musket, irradiated the lazarette; the match was kindled, and +burnt freely. The first eating spark was but small; I extinguished the +fiery glow between my thumb and forefinger, squeezing it in my terror +with the power of the human jaw. The ticking ceased; the murderous +thing lay silent and black in my hand. I waited for some minutes to +recover myself, and then made up my mind to get out of the lazarette +and go on deck, and tell the people that there was a barrel of +gunpowder in the after-hold, and that I had saved the ship from having +her side or stern blown out. + +I pocketed the brass box and match, but it took me above half an hour +to get out of the infernal hole. I fell into crevices, went sprawling +over pointed edges, and twice came very near to breaking my leg. +Happily, I was tall, and when I stood on the upper tier of cargo I +could feel the deck above me, and once, whilst thus groping, I touched +the edge of the hatchway, thrust up the cover, and got out. + +I walked straight down the corridor, which was sown with passengers' +boots, mounted the wide staircase, and gained the quarter-deck. I +reeled and nearly fell, so intoxicating was the effect of the gushing +draught of sweet, fresh night-wind after the stagnant, cheesy +atmosphere of the lazarette. A bull's-eye shone on the face of a clock +under the break of the poop; the hour was twenty minutes after two. +Nothing stirred on the main deck and waist; the forward part of the +ship was hidden in blackness. She was sailing on a level keel before +the wind, and the pallid spaces of her canvas soared to the trucks, wan +as the delicate curls and shreds of vapor which floated under the +bright stars. + +I ascended a flight of steps which led to the poop, and saw the shadowy +figures of two midshipmen walking on one side the deck, whilst on the +other side, abreast of the mizzen rigging, stood a third person I +guessed by his being alone that he was the officer of the watch, and +stepped over to him. He drew himself erect as I approached, and sang +out, "Hallo! who the devil are you?" + +"I'm just out of your lazarette," said I, "where I've saved this ship +from having her stern blown out by an infernal machine!" + +He bent his head forward and stared into my face, but it was too dark +for him to make anything of me. I reckoned he was the second mate; his +outline against the stars defined a square, bullet-headed, thick-necked +man. On a sudden he bawled out to the two midshipmen, who had come to +a stand on t'other side the skylight-- + +"Mr. Freeling, jump below and call the captain. Beg him to come on +deck at once, young gentleman." + +The midshipman rushed into the cuddy. + +"What's this yarn about blowing out the ship's stern?" continued the +second mate, as I rightly took him to be. + +I related my story as straightforwardly as my command of words +permitted. I told him that I had wanted to get to Australia, that I +was too poor to pay my passage, that I had been unable to find +employment on board ship, that I had hidden myself in the lazarette of +the "Huntress," and that whilst there, and within the past hour, I had +seen a man fit a slow match into what I reckoned was a barrel of +gunpowder, and disappear after setting his infernal machine a-going. +And thus speaking, I pulled the machine out of my pocket, and put it +into his hand. + +At this moment the captain arrived on deck. He was a tall man, with a +very deep voice, slow, cool, and deliberate in manner and speech. + +"What's the matter?" he inquired, and instantly added, "Who is this +man?" + +The second mate gave him my story almost as I had delivered it. + +The captain listened in silence, took the infernal machine, stepped to +the skylight, under which a lamp was dimly burning, and examined the +piece of mechanism. His manner of handling it by some means sprang the +trigger, which struck the flint, and there flashed out a little +sun-bright flame that fired the match. I jumped to his side and +squeezed the fire out between my thumb and forefinger as before. The +captain told the two midshipmen to rouse up the chief mate and send the +boatswain and carpenter aft. + +"Let there be no noise," said he to the second mate, "We want no panic +aboard us. Describe the man," said he, addressing me, "whom you saw +fitting this apparatus to the barrel." I did so. "Do you recognize +the person by this lad's description?" said the captain to the second +mate. + +The second mate answered that he knew no one on board who answered to +the likeness I had drawn. + +"Gentlemen, I swear he's in the ship!" I cried, and described him again +as I had seen him when the open bull's-eye allowed the light to stream +fair upon his face. + +But now the arrival of the chief officer, the boatswain, and the +carpenter occasioned some bustle. My story was hastily re-told. The +carpenter fetched a lantern, and the whole group examined the infernal +machine by the clear light. + +"There's no question as to the object of this piece of clockwork, sir," +said the chief officer. + +"None," exclaimed the captain; "it flashed a few minutes ago in my +hand. The thing seems alive. Softly, now. The passengers mustn't +hear of this: there must be no panic. Take the boatswain and carpenter +along with you, Mr. Morritt, into the lazarette. But mind your fire." +And he then told them where the barrel was stowed as I had described it. + +The three men left the poop. The captain now examined me afresh. He +showed no temper whatever at my having hidden myself on board his ship. +All his questions concerned the appearance of the man who had adjusted +the machine, how he had gone to work, what he had said when he talked +to himself--but this question I could not answer. When he had ended +his inquiries he sent for the chief steward, to whom he related what +had happened, and then asked him if there was such a person in the ship +as I had described. The man answered there was. + +"What's his name?" + +"He's booked as John Howland, sir. He's a steerage passenger. His +cabin's No. 2 on the starboard side. His meals are taken to him in his +cabin, and I don't think he's ever been out of it since he came aboard." + +"Go and see if he's in his cabin," said the captain. + +As the steward left the poop the chief mate, the boatswain, and +carpenter returned. + +"It's as the young man states, sir," said Mr. Morritt. "There's a +barrel of gunpowder stowed where he says it is with a hole in the head +ready to receive the end of a fuse." + +"Presently clear it out, and get it stowed away in the magazine," said +the captain, calmly. "This has been a narrow escape. Carpenter, go +forward and bring a set of irons along. Is there only one barrel of +gunpowder below, d'ye say, Mr. Morritt?" + +"No more, sir." + +"How could such a thing find its way into the lazarette?" said the +captain, addressing the second mate. + +"God alone knows!" burst out the other. "It'll have come aboard masked +in some way, and it deceived me. Unless there's the hand of a lumper +in the job--does he know no more about it than what he says?" he cried, +rounding upon me. + +At this moment the steward came rushing from the companion way, and +said to the captain, in a trembling voice, "The man lies dead in his +bunk, sir, with his throat horribly cut." + +"Come you along with us," said the captain, addressing me, and the +whole of us, saving the carpenter and second mate, went below. + +We walked along the corridor obedient to the captain's whispered +injunction to tread lightly, and make no noise. The midnight lantern +faintly illuminated the length of the long after passage. The steward +conducted us to a cabin that was almost right aft, and threw open the +door. A bracket lamp filled the interior with light. There were two +bunks under the porthole, and in the lower bunk lay the figure of the +man I had beheld in the lazarette. His throat was terribly gashed, and +his right hand still grasped the razor with which the wound had been +inflicted. + +"Is that the man?" said the captain. + +"That's the man," I answered, trembling from head to foot, and sick and +faint with the horror of the sight. + +"Steward, fetch the doctor," said the captain, "and tell the carpenter +we shan't want any irons here." + +The narrative of my tragic experience may be completed by the +transcription of two newspaper accounts, which I preserve pasted in a +commonplace book. The first is from the Sydney Morning Herald. After +telling about the arrival of the Huntress, and the disembarkation of +his Excellency and suite, the writer proceeds thus:-- + +"When the ship was five days out from the Thames an extraordinary +incident occurred. A young man named William Peploe, a stowaway, +whilst hidden in the lazarette of the vessel, saw a man enter the place +in which he was hiding and attach a slow match and an infernal machine +to a barrel of gunpowder stored amidships of the lazarette, and, from +what we can gather, on top of the cargo! When the man left the hold +young Peploe heroically withdrew the match from the powder and carried +the machine on deck. The youth described the man, who proved to be a +second-class passenger, who had embarked under the name of John +Howland. When the villain's cabin was entered he was found lying in +his bunk dead, with a severe wound in his throat inflicted by his own +hand. No reason is assigned for this dastardly attempt to destroy a +valuable ship and cargo and a company of souls numbering two hundred +and ten, though there seems little reason to doubt that the man was +mad. It is certain that but for the fortunate circumstance of young +Peploe lying hidden in the lazarette the ship's stern or side would +have been blown out, and she must have gone down like a stone, carrying +all hands with her. On the passengers in due course being apprised of +their narrow escape, a purse of a hundred guineas was subscribed and +presented by his Excellency to young Peploe. The captain granted him a +free passage and provided him with a comfortable outfit from the ship's +slop-chest. It is also understood that some situation under the +Government has been promised to Mr. William Peploe in consideration of +the extraordinary service rendered on this memorable occasion." + +My next quotation is from the pages of the Nautical Magazine, dated two +years subsequent to the publication of the above in the Australian +paper:-- + +"A bottle was picked up in March last upon the beach of Terceira, one +of the Azores, containing a paper bearing a narrative which, unless it +be a hoax, seems to throw some light on the mysterious affair of the +Huntress, for the particulars of which we refer our readers to our +volume of last year. The paper, as transmitted by the British Consul, +is as follows:-- + + +"Ship _Huntress_. At sea, such and such a data, 1853. + +"I, who am known on board this vessel as John Howland, am the writer of +this document. Twenty years ago I was unjustly sentenced to a term of +transportation across seas, and my treatment at Norfolk Island was such +that I vowed by the God who made me to be revenged on the man who, +acting on the representation of his creatures, had caused me to be sent +from Hobart Town to that hellish penal settlement. That man, with his +wife and children, attended by a suite, is a passenger in this ship, +and I have concerted my plan to dispatch him and those who may be dear +to him to that Devil to whom the wretch consigned my soul when he +ordered me to be sent as a further punishment to Norfolk Island. The +destruction of this ship is ensured. Nothing can avert it. A barrel +of gunpowder was stowed by well-bribed hands in the East India Docks in +the lazarette, to which part of the hold access is easy by means of a +small trap door. I am writing this three-quarters of an hour before I +proceed to the execution of my scheme, and the realization of my dream +of vengeance. When I have completed this document I will place it in a +bottle, which I shall carefully cork and seal and cast into the sea +through my cabin porthole. I am sorry for the many who must suffer +because of the sins of one; but that one must perish, and immediately, +in which hope, craving that, when this paper is found it may be +transmitted to the authorities at home, so that the fate of my bitter +enemy may be known, I subscribe myself, + +"ISRAEL THOMAS WILKINSON, + "Ex-Convict and Ticket-of-Leave Man." + + + + +THE GREAT TRIANGULAR DUEL + +By CAPTAIN FREDERICK MARRYAT + + +Jack walked up to the boatswain, and, taking off his hat, with the +utmost politeness, said to him: + +"If I mistake not, Mr. Biggs, your conversation refers to me." + +"Very likely it does," replied the boatswain. "Listeners hear no good +of themselves." + +"It happears that gentlemen can't converse without being vatched," +continued Mr. Easthupp, pulling up his shirt-collar. + +"It is not the first time you have thought proper to make very +offensive remarks, Mr. Biggs; and as you appear to consider yourself +ill-treated in the affair of the trousers, for I tell you at once that +it was I who brought them on board, I can only say," continued our +hero, with a very polite bow, "that I shall be most happy to give you +satisfaction." + +"I am your superior officer, Mr. Easy," replied the boatswain. + +"Yes, by the rules of the service; but you just now asserted that you +would waive your rank: indeed, I dispute it on this occasion; I am on +the quarter-deck, and you are not." + +"This is the gentleman whom you have insulted, Mr. Easy," replied the +boatswain, pointing to the purser's Steward. + +"Yes, Mr. Heasy, quite as good a gentleman as yourself, although I 'ave +'ad misfortunes. I ham of as hold a family as hany in the country," +replied Mr. Easthupp, now backed by the boatswain. "Many the year did +I valk Bond Street, and I 'ave as good blood in my weins as you, Mr. +Heasy, although I 'ave been misfortunate. I've had hadmirals in my +family." + +"You have grossly insulted this gentleman," said Mr. Biggs, in +continuation; "and, notwithstanding all your talk of equality, you are +afraid to give him satisfaction; you shelter yourself under your +quarter-deck." + +"Mr. Biggs," replied our hero, who was now very wroth, "I shall go on +shore directly we arrive at Malta. Let you, and this fellow, put on +plain clothes, and I will meet you both; and then I will show you +whether I am afraid to give satisfaction." + +"One at a time," said the boatswain. + +"No, sir, not one at a time, but both at the same time, I will fight +both or none. If you are my superior officer, you must descend," +replied Jack, with an ironical sneer, "to meet me, or I will not +descend to meet that fellow, whom I believe to have been little better +than a pickpocket." ... + +Mr. Biggs, having declared he would fight, of course had to look out +for a second, and he fixed upon Mr. Tallboys, the gunner, and requested +him to be his friend. Mr. Tallboys, who had been latterly very much +annoyed by Jack's victories over him in the science of navigation, and +therefore felt ill-will toward him, consented; but he was very much +puzzled how to arrange that three were to fight at the same time, for +he had no idea of there being two duels; so he went to his cabin and +commenced reading. Jack, on the other hand, daring not say a word to +Jolliffe on the subject; indeed, there was no one in the ship to whom +he could confide but Gascoigne; he therefore went to him, and, although +Gascoigne thought it was excessively infra dig of Jack to meet even the +boatswain; as the challenge had been given, there was no retracting, +and he therefore consented, like all midshipmen, anticipating fun, and +quite thoughtless of the consequences.... + +Mr. Tallboys addressed Mr. Gascoigne, taking him apart while the +boatswain amused himself with a glass of grog, and our hero sat +outside, teasing a monkey. + +"Mr. Gascoigne," said the gunner, "I have been very much puzzled how +this duel should be fought, but I have at last found out. You see +there are three parties to fight; had there been two or four there +would have been no difficulty, as the right line or square might guide +us in that instance; but we must arrange it upon the triangle in this." + +Gascoigne stared; he could not imagine what was coming. + +"Are you aware, Mr. Gascoigne, of the properties of an equilateral +triangle?" + +"Yes," replied the midshipman; "it has three equal sides. But what the +devil has that to do with the duel?" + +"Everything, Mr. Gascoigne," replied the gunner; "it has resolved the +great difficulty; indeed, the duel between three can only be fought +upon that principle. You observe," said the gunner, taking a piece of +chalk out of his pocket and making a triangle on the table, "in this +figure we have three points, each equidistant from each other; and we +have three combatants; so that placing one at each point, it is all +fair play for the three: Mr. Easy, for instance, stands here, the +boatswain here, and the purser's steward at the third corner. Now, if +the distance is fairly measured, it will be alright." + +"But then," replied Gascoigne, delighted at the idea, "how are they to +fire?" + +"It certainly is not of much consequence," replied the gunner; "but +still, as sailors, it appears to me that they should fire with the sun; +that is, Mr. Easy fires at Mr. Biggs, Mr. Biggs at Mr. Easthupp, and +Mr. Easthupp fires at Mr. Easy, so that you perceive that each party +has his shot at one, and at the same time receives the fire of another." + +Gascoigne was in ecstasies at the novelty of the proceeding, the more +so as he perceived that Easy obtained every advantage of the +arrangement. + +"Upon my word, Mr. Tallboys, I give you great credit; you have a +profound mathematical head, and I am delighted with your arrangement. +Of course in these affairs the principals are bound to comply with the +arrangements of the seconds, and I shall insist upon Mr. Easy +consenting to your excellent and scientific proposal." + +Gascoigne went out, and, pulling Jack away from the monkey, told him +what the gunner had proposed, at which Jack laughed heartily. + +The gunner also explained it to the boatswain, who did not very well +comprehend, but replied: + +"I dare say it's all right, shot for shot, and damn all favours." + +The parties then repaired to the spot with two pairs of ship's pistols, +which Mr. Tallboys had smuggled on shore; and as soon as they were on +the ground the gunner called Mr. Easthupp out of the cooperage. In the +meantime Gascoigne had been measuring an equilateral triangle of twelve +paces, and marked it out. Mr. Tallboys, on his return with the +purser's steward, went over the ground, and, finding that it was "equal +angles subtended by equal sides," declared that all was right. Easy +took his station, the boatswain was put into his, and Mr. Easthupp, who +was quite in a mystery, was led by the gunner to the third position. + +"But, Mr. Tallboys," said the purser's steward, "I don't understand +this. Mr. Easy will first fight Mr. Biggs, will he not?" + +"No," replied the gunner, "this is a duel of three. You will fire at +Mr. Easy, Mr. Easy will fire at Mr. Biggs, and Mr. Biggs will fire at +you. It is all arranged, Mr. Easthupp." + +"But," said Mr. Easthupp, "I do not understand it. Why is Mr. Biggs to +fire at me? I have no quarrel with Mr. Biggs." + +"Because Mr. Easy fires at Mr. Biggs, and Mr. Biggs must have his shot +as well." + +"If you have ever been in the company of gentlemen, Mr. Easthupp," +observed Gascoigne, "you must know something about duelling." + +"Yes, yes, I've kept the best company, Mr. Gascoigne, and I can give a +gentleman satisfaction; but----" + +"Then sir, if that is the case, you must know that your honour is in +the hands of your second, and that no gentleman appeals." + +"Yes, yes, I know that, Mr. Gascoigne; but, still, I've no quarrel with +Mr. Biggs, and therefore Mr. Biggs, of course, will not aim at me." + +"Why, you don't think that I'm going to be fired at for nothing?" +replied the boatswain. "No, no, I'll have my shot anyhow." + +"But at your friend, Mr. Biggs?" + +"All the same I shall fire at somebody; shot for shot, and hit the +luckiest." + +"Vel, gentlemen, I purtest against these proceedings," replied Mr. +Easthupp. "I came here to have satisfaction from Mr. Easy, and not to +be fired at by Mr. Biggs." + +"Don't you have satisfaction when you fire at Mr. Easy?" replied the +gunner. "What more would you have?" + +"I purtest against Mr. Biggs firing at me." + +"So you would have a shot without receiving one!" cried Gascoigne. +"The fact is that this fellow's a confounded coward, and ought to be +kicked into the cooperage again." + +At this affront Mr. Easthupp rallied, and accepted the pistol offered +by the gunner. + +"You 'ear those words, Mr. Biggs? Pretty language to use to a +gentleman! You shall 'ear from me, sir, as soon as the ship is paid +off. I purtest no longer, Mr. Tallboys. Death before dishonour! I'm +a gentleman, damme!" + +At all events, the swell was not a very courageous gentleman, for he +trembled most exceedingly as he pointed his pistol. The gunner gave +the word as if he were exercising the great guns on board ship. + +"Cock your locks! Take good aim at the object! Fire! Stop your +vents!" + +The only one of the combatants who appeared to comply with the latter +supplementary order was Mr. Easthupp, who clapped his hand to his +trousers behind, gave a loud yell, and then dropped down, the bullet +having passed clean through his seat of honour, from his having +presented his broadside as a target to the boatswain as he faced toward +our hero. Jack's shot had also taken effect, having passed through +both the boatswain's cheeks, without further mischief than extracting +two of his best upper double teeth and forcing through the hole of the +further cheek the boatswain's own quid of tobacco. As for Mr. +Easthupp's ball, as he was very unsettled, and shut his eyes before he +fired, it had gone the Lord knows where. + +The purser's steward lay on the ground and screamed; the boatswain spit +out his double teeth and two or three mouthfuls of blood, and then +threw down his pistol in a rage. + +"A pretty business, by God!" sputtered he. "He's put my pipe out. How +the devil am I to pipe to dinner when I'm ordered, all my wind 'scaping +through the cheeks?" + +In the meantime, the others had gone to the assistance of the purser's +steward, who continued his vociferations. They examined him, and +considered a wound in that part not to be dangerous. + +"Hold your confounded bawling," cried the gunner, "or you'll have the +guard down here. You're not hurt." + +"Hain't hi!" roared the steward. "Oh, let me die! Let me die! Don't +move me!" + +"Nonsense!" cried the gunner, "you must get up and walk down to the +boat; if you don't, we'll leave you. Hold your tongue, confound you! +You won't? Then I'll give you something to halloo for." + +Whereupon Mr. Tallboys commenced cuffing the poor wretch right and +left, who received so many swingeing boxes of the ear that he was soon +reduced to merely pitiful plaints of "Oh, dear! such inhumanity! I +purtest! Oh, dear! must I get up? I can't, indeed." + +"I do not think he can move, Mr. Tallboys," said Gascoigne. "I should +think the best plan would be to call up two of the men from the +cooperage and let them take him at once to the hospital." + +The gunner went down to the cooperage to call the men. Mr. Biggs, who +had bound up his face as if he had a toothache, for the bleeding had +been very slight, came up to the purser's steward, exclaiming: + +"What the hell are you making such a howling about? Look at me, with +two shot-holes through my figurehead, while you have only got one in +your stern. I wish I could change with you, by heavens! for I could +use my whistle then. Now, if I attempt to pipe, there will be such a +wasteful expenditure of his Majesty's store of wind that I never shall +get out a note. A wicked shot of yours, Mr. Easy." + +"I really am very sorry," replied Jack, with a polite bow, "and I beg +to offer my best apology." + +--"Midshipman Easy." + + + + +THREE THIMBLES AND A PEA + +By GEORGE BORROW + + +A man emerged from the tent, bearing before him a rather singular +table. It appeared to be of white deal, was exceedingly small at the +top, and with very long legs. At a few yards from the entrance he +paused and looked round, as if to decide on the direction which he +should take. Presently, his eye glancing on me as I lay upon the +ground, he started, and appeared for a moment inclined to make off as +quick as possible, table and all. In a moment, however, he seemed to +recover assurance, and, coming up to the place where I was, the long +legs of the table projecting before him, he cried, "Glad to see you +here, my lord!" + +"Thank you," said I; "it's a fine day." + +"Very fine, my lord. Will your lordship play? Them that finds, +wins--them that don't finds, loses." + +"Play at what?" said I. + +"Only at the thimble and pea, my lord." + +"I never heard of such a game." + +"Didn't you? Well, I'll soon teach you," said he, placing the table +down. "All you have to do is to put a sovereign down on my table, and +to find the pea, which I put under one of my thimbles. If you find +it--and it is easy enough to find it--I give you a sovereign besides +your own; for them that finds, wins." + +"And them that don't find, loses," said I. "No, I don't wish to play." + +"Why not, my lord?" + +"Why, in the first place, I have no money." + +"Oh, you have no money! That, of course, alters the case. If you have +no money, you can't play. Well, I suppose I must be seeing after my +customers," said he, glancing over the plain. + +"Good day," said I. + +"Good day," said the man slowly, but without moving, and as if in +reflection. After a moment or two, looking at me inquiringly, he +added, "Out of employ?" + +"Yes," said I, "out of employ." + +The man measured me with his eye as I lay on the ground. At length he +said, "May I speak a word or two to you, my lord?" + +"As many as you please," said I. + +"Then just come a little out of hearing, a little farther on the grass, +if you please, my lord." + +"Why do you call me my lord?" said I, as I arose and followed him. + +"We of the thimble always calls our customers lords," said the man. +"But I won't call you such a foolish name any more. Come along." + +The man walked along the plain till he came to the side of a dry pit, +when, looking round to see that no one was nigh, he laid his table on +the grass, and, sitting down with his legs over the side of the pit, he +motioned me to do the same. "So you are in want of employ?" said he, +after I had sat down beside him. + +"Yes," said I, "I am very much in want of employ." + +"I think I can find you some." + +"What kind?" said I. + +"Why," said the man, "I think you would do to be my bonnet." + +"Bonnet," said I; "what is that?" + +"Don't you know? However, no wonder, as you had never heard of the +thimble-and-pea game; but I will tell you. We of the game are very +much exposed. Folks, when they have lost their money, as those who +play with us mostly do, sometimes uses rough language, calls us cheats, +and sometimes knocks our hats over our eyes; and what's more, with a +kick under our table, causes the top deals to fly off. This is the +third table I have used this day, the other two being broken by uncivil +customers. So we of the game generally like to have gentlemen go about +with us to take our part, and encourage us, though pretending to know +nothing about us. For example, when the customer says, 'I'm cheated,' +the bonnet must say, 'No, you a'n't; it is all right.' Or when my hat +is knocked over my eyes, the bonnet must square, and say, 'I never saw +the man before in all my life, but I won't see him ill-used.' And when +they kicks at the table, the bonnet must say, 'I won't see the table +ill-used, such a nice table, too; besides, I want to play myself.' And +then I would say to the bonnet, 'Thank you, my lord, them that finds, +wins.' And then the bonnet plays, and I lets the bonnet win." + +"In a word," said I, "the bonnet means the man who covers you, even as +the real bonnet covers the head." + +"Just so," said the man; "I see you are awake, and would soon make a +first-rate bonnet." + +"What would the wages be?" I demanded. + +"Why, to a first-rate bonnet, as I think you would prove, I could +afford to give from forty to fifty shillings a week." + +"Is it possible?" said I. + +"Good wages, a'n't they?" said the man.... + +"I find no fault with the wages," said I, "but I don't like the employ." + +"Not like bonneting?" said the man. "Ah, I see, you would like to be +principal. Well, a time may come--those long white fingers of yours +would just serve for the business." + +"Is it a difficult one?" I demanded. + +"Why, it is not very easy. Two things are needful--natural talent and +constant practice. But I'll show you a point or two connected with the +game," and, placing his table between his knees as he sat over the side +of the pit, he produced three thimbles, and a small brown pellet, +something resembling a pea. He moved the thimble and pellet about, now +placing it to all appearance under one, and now under another. "Under +which is it now?" he said at last. "Under that," said I, pointing to +the lowermost of the thimbles, which, as they stood, formed a kind of +triangle. "No," said he, "it is not; but lift it up." And, when I +lifted up the thimble, the pellet, in truth, was not under it. "It was +under none of them," said he; "it was pressed by my little finger +against my palm." And then he showed me how he did the trick, and +asked me if the game was not a funny one; and, on my answering in the +affirmative, he said, "I am glad you like it; come along and let us win +some money." + +Thereupon, getting up, he placed the table before him, and was moving +away; observing, however, that I did not stir, he asked me what I was +staying for. "Merely for my own pleasure," said I; "I like sitting +here very well." "Then you won't close?" said the man. "By no means," +I replied; "your proposal does not suit me." "You may be principal in +time," said the man. "That makes no difference," said I; and, sitting +with my legs over the pit, I forthwith began to decline an Armenian +noun. "That a'n't cant," said the man; "no, nor gipsy, either. Well, +if you won't close, another will; I can't lose any more time," and +forthwith he departed. And after I had declined four Armenian nouns, +of different declensions, I rose from the side of the pit, and wandered +about amongst the various groups of people scattered over the green. +Presently I came to where the man of the thimbles was standing, with +the table before him, and many people about him. "Them who finds, +wins, and them who can't find, loses," he cried. Various individuals +tried to find the pellet, but all were unsuccessful, till at last +considerable dissatisfaction was expressed, and the terms rogue and +cheat were lavished upon him. "Never cheated anybody in all my life!" +he cried; and, observing me at hand, "Didn't I play fair, my lord?" he +inquired. But I made no answer. Presently some more played, and he +permitted one or two to win, and the eagerness to play with him became +greater. After I had looked on for some time, I was moving away. Just +then I perceived a short, thick personage, with a staff in his hand, +advancing in a great hurry; whereupon, with a sudden impulse, I +exclaimed: + + "Shoon thimble-engro; Avella gorgio!" + + +The man, who was in the midst of his pea-and-thimble process, no sooner +heard the last word of the distich, than he turned an alarmed look in +the direction of where I stood. Then, glancing around, and perceiving +the constable, he slipped forthwith his pellet and thimbles into his +pocket, and lifting up his table, he cried to the people about him, +"Make way!" With a motion with his head to me, as if to follow him, he +darted off with the swiftness which the short pursy constable could by +no means rival. And whither he went, or what became of him, I know +not, inasmuch as I turned away in another direction.--"Lavengro." + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of International Short Stories, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 32846.txt or 32846.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/8/4/32846/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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