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Tales of Terror and Mystery

By

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Contents

Tales of Terror

The Horror of the Heights

The Leather Funnel

The New Catacomb

The Case of Lady Sannox

The Terror of Blue John Gap

The Brazilian Cat

Tales of Mystery

The Lost Special

The Beetle-Hunter

The Man with the Watches

The Japanned Box

The Black Doctor

The Jew's Breastplate

Tales of Terror

The Horror of the Heights

The idea that the extraordinary narrative which has been called the

Joyce-Armstrong Fragment is an elaborate practical joke evolved by some

unknown person, cursed by a perverted and sinister sense of humour, has

now been abandoned by all who have examined the matter. The most

macabre and imaginative of plotters would hesitate before linking his

morbid fancies with the unquestioned and tragic facts which reinforce

the statement. Though the assertions contained in it are amazing and

even monstrous, it is none the less forcing itself upon the general

intelligence that they are true, and that we must readjust our ideas to

the new situation. This world of ours appears to be separated by a

slight and precarious margin of safety from a most singular and

unexpected danger. I will endeavour in this narrative, which

reproduces the original document in its necessarily somewhat

fragmentary form, to lay before the reader the whole of the facts up to

date, prefacing my statement by saying that, if there be any who doubt

the narrative of Joyce-Armstrong, there can be no question at all as to

the facts concerning Lieutenant Myrtle, R. N., and Mr. Hay Connor, who

undoubtedly met their end in the manner described.

The Joyce-Armstrong Fragment was found in the field which is called

Lower Haycock, lying one mile to the westward of the village of

Withyham, upon the Kent and Sussex border. It was on the 15th

September last that an agricultural labourer, James Flynn, in the

employment of Mathew Dodd, farmer, of the Chauntry Farm, Withyham,

perceived a briar pipe lying near the footpath which skirts the hedge

in Lower Haycock. A few paces farther on he picked up a pair of broken

binocular glasses. Finally, among some nettles in the ditch, he caught

sight of a flat, canvas-backed book, which proved to be a note-book

with detachable leaves, some of which had come loose and were

fluttering along the base of the hedge. These he collected, but some,

including the first, were never recovered, and leave a deplorable

hiatus in this all-important statement. The note-book was taken by the

labourer to his master, who in turn showed it to Dr. J. H. Atherton, of

Hartfield. This gentleman at once recognized the need for an expert

examination, and the manuscript was forwarded to the Aero Club in

London, where it now lies.

The first two pages of the manuscript are missing. There is also one

torn away at the end of the narrative, though none of these affect the

general coherence of the story. It is conjectured that the missing

opening is concerned with the record of Mr. Joyce-Armstrong's

qualifications as an aeronaut, which can be gathered from other sources

and are admitted to be unsurpassed among the air-pilots of England.

For many years he has been looked upon as among the most daring and the

most intellectual of flying men, a combination which has enabled him to

both invent and test several new devices, including the common

gyroscopic attachment which is known by his name. The main body of the

manuscript is written neatly in ink, but the last few lines are in

pencil and are so ragged as to be hardly legible--exactly, in fact, as

they might be expected to appear if they were scribbled off hurriedly

from the seat of a moving aeroplane. There are, it may be added,

several stains, both on the last page and on the outside cover which

have been pronounced by the Home Office experts to be blood--probably

human and certainly mammalian. The fact that something closely

resembling the organism of malaria was discovered in this blood, and

that Joyce-Armstrong is known to have suffered from intermittent fever,

is a remarkable example of the new weapons which modern science has

placed in the hands of our detectives.

And now a word as to the personality of the author of this epoch-making

statement. Joyce-Armstrong, according to the few friends who really

knew something of the man, was a poet and a dreamer, as well as a

mechanic and an inventor. He was a man of considerable wealth, much of

which he had spent in the pursuit of his aeronautical hobby. He had

four private aeroplanes in his hangars near Devizes, and is said to

have made no fewer than one hundred and seventy ascents in the course

of last year. He was a retiring man with dark moods, in which he would

avoid the society of his fellows. Captain Dangerfield, who knew him

better than anyone, says that there were times when his eccentricity

threatened to develop into something more serious. His habit of

carrying a shot-gun with him in his aeroplane was one manifestation of

it.

Another was the morbid effect which the fall of Lieutenant Myrtle had

upon his mind. Myrtle, who was attempting the height record, fell from

an altitude of something over thirty thousand feet. Horrible to

narrate, his head was entirely obliterated, though his body and limbs

preserved their configuration. At every gathering of airmen,

Joyce-Armstrong, according to Dangerfield, would ask, with an enigmatic

smile: "And where, pray, is Myrtle's head?"

On another occasion after dinner, at the mess of the Flying School on

Salisbury Plain, he started a debate as to what will be the most

permanent danger which airmen will have to encounter. Having listened

to successive opinions as to air-pockets, faulty construction, and

over-banking, he ended by shrugging his shoulders and refusing to put

forward his own views, though he gave the impression that they differed

from any advanced by his companions.

It is worth remarking that after his own complete disappearance it was

found that his private affairs were arranged with a precision which may

show that he had a strong premonition of disaster. With these

essential explanations I will now give the narrative exactly as it

stands, beginning at page three of the blood-soaked note-book:

"Nevertheless, when I dined at Rheims with Coselli and Gustav Raymond I

found that neither of them was aware of any particular danger in the

higher layers of the atmosphere. I did not actually say what was in my

thoughts, but I got so near to it that if they had any corresponding

idea they could not have failed to express it. But then they are two

empty, vainglorious fellows with no thought beyond seeing their silly

names in the newspaper. It is interesting to note that neither of them

had ever been much beyond the twenty-thousand-foot level. Of course,

men have been higher than this both in balloons and in the ascent of

mountains. It must be well above that point that the aeroplane enters

the danger zone--always presuming that my premonitions are correct.

"Aeroplaning has been with us now for more than twenty years, and one

might well ask: Why should this peril be only revealing itself in our

day? The answer is obvious. In the old days of weak engines, when a

hundred horse-power Gnome or Green was considered ample for every need,

the flights were very restricted. Now that three hundred horse-power

is the rule rather than the exception, visits to the upper layers have

become easier and more common. Some of us can remember how, in our

youth, Garros made a world-wide reputation by attaining nineteen

thousand feet, and it was considered a remarkable achievement to fly

over the Alps. Our standard now has been immeasurably raised, and

there are twenty high flights for one in former years. Many of them

have been undertaken with impunity. The thirty-thousand-foot level has

been reached time after time with no discomfort beyond cold and asthma.

What does this prove? A visitor might descend upon this planet a

thousand times and never see a tiger. Yet tigers exist, and if he

chanced to come down into a jungle he might be devoured. There are

jungles of the upper air, and there are worse things than tigers which

inhabit them. I believe in time they will map these jungles accurately

out. Even at the present moment I could name two of them. One of them

lies over the Pau-Biarritz district of France. Another is just over my

head as I write here in my house in Wiltshire. I rather think there is

a third in the Homburg-Wiesbaden district.

"It was the disappearance of the airmen that first set me thinking. Of

course, everyone said that they had fallen into the sea, but that did

not satisfy me at all. First, there was Verrier in France; his machine

was found near Bayonne, but they never got his body. There was the

case of Baxter also, who vanished, though his engine and some of the

iron fixings were found in a wood in Leicestershire. In that case, Dr.

Middleton, of Amesbury, who was watching the flight with a telescope,

declares that just before the clouds obscured the view he saw the

machine, which was at an enormous height, suddenly rise perpendicularly

upwards in a succession of jerks in a manner that he would have thought

to be impossible. That was the last seen of Baxter. There was a

correspondence in the papers, but it never led to anything. There were

several other similar cases, and then there was the death of Hay

Connor. What a cackle there was about an unsolved mystery of the air,

and what columns in the halfpenny papers, and yet how little was ever

done to get to the bottom of the business! He came down in a

tremendous vol-plane from an unknown height. He never got off his

machine and died in his pilot's seat. Died of what? 'Heart disease,'

said the doctors. Rubbish! Hay Connor's heart was as sound as mine

is. What did Venables say? Venables was the only man who was at his

side when he died. He said that he was shivering and looked like a man

who had been badly scared. 'Died of fright,' said Venables, but could

not imagine what he was frightened about. Only said one word to

Venables, which sounded like 'Monstrous.' They could make nothing of

that at the inquest. But I could make something of it. Monsters! That

was the last word of poor Harry Hay Connor. And he DID die of fright,

just as Venables thought.

"And then there was Myrtle's head. Do you really believe--does anybody

really believe--that a man's head could be driven clean into his body

by the force of a fall? Well, perhaps it may be possible, but I, for

one, have never believed that it was so with Myrtle. And the grease

upon his clothes--'all slimy with grease,' said somebody at the

inquest. Queer that nobody got thinking after that! I did--but, then,

I had been thinking for a good long time. I've made three ascents--how

Dangerfield used to chaff me about my shot-gun--but I've never been

high enough. Now, with this new, light Paul Veroner machine and its

one hundred and seventy-five Robur, I should easily touch the thirty

thousand tomorrow. I'll have a shot at the record. Maybe I shall have

a shot at something else as well. Of course, it's dangerous. If a

fellow wants to avoid danger he had best keep out of flying altogether

and subside finally into flannel slippers and a dressing-gown. But

I'll visit the air-jungle tomorrow--and if there's anything there I

shall know it. If I return, I'll find myself a bit of a celebrity. If

I don't this note-book may explain what I am trying to do, and how I

lost my life in doing it. But no drivel about accidents or mysteries,

if YOU please.

"I chose my Paul Veroner monoplane for the job. There's nothing like a

monoplane when real work is to be done. Beaumont found that out in very

early days. For one thing it doesn't mind damp, and the weather looks

as if we should be in the clouds all the time. It's a bonny little

model and answers my hand like a tender-mouthed horse. The engine is a

ten-cylinder rotary Robur working up to one hundred and seventy-five.

It has all the modern improvements--enclosed fuselage, high-curved

landing skids, brakes, gyroscopic steadiers, and three speeds, worked

by an alteration of the angle of the planes upon the Venetian-blind

principle. I took a shot-gun with me and a dozen cartridges filled

with buck-shot. You should have seen the face of Perkins, my old

mechanic, when I directed him to put them in. I was dressed like an

Arctic explorer, with two jerseys under my overalls, thick socks inside

my padded boots, a storm-cap with flaps, and my talc goggles. It was

stifling outside the hangars, but I was going for the summit of the

Himalayas, and had to dress for the part. Perkins knew there was

something on and implored me to take him with me. Perhaps I should if

I were using the biplane, but a monoplane is a one-man show--if you

want to get the last foot of life out of it. Of course, I took an

oxygen bag; the man who goes for the altitude record without one will

either be frozen or smothered--or both.

"I had a good look at the planes, the rudder-bar, and the elevating

lever before I got in. Everything was in order so far as I could see.

Then I switched on my engine and found that she was running sweetly.

When they let her go she rose almost at once upon the lowest speed. I

circled my home field once or twice just to warm her up, and then with

a wave to Perkins and the others, I flattened out my planes and put her

on her highest. She skimmed like a swallow down wind for eight or ten

miles until I turned her nose up a little and she began to climb in a

great spiral for the cloud-bank above me. It's all-important to rise

slowly and adapt yourself to the pressure as you go.

"It was a close, warm day for an English September, and there was the

hush and heaviness of impending rain. Now and then there came sudden

puffs of wind from the south-west--one of them so gusty and unexpected

that it caught me napping and turned me half-round for an instant. I

remember the time when gusts and whirls and air-pockets used to be

things of danger--before we learned to put an overmastering power into

our engines. Just as I reached the cloud-banks, with the altimeter

marking three thousand, down came the rain. My word, how it poured!

It drummed upon my wings and lashed against my face, blurring my

glasses so that I could hardly see. I got down on to a low speed, for

it was painful to travel against it. As I got higher it became hail,

and I had to turn tail to it. One of my cylinders was out of action--a

dirty plug, I should imagine, but still I was rising steadily with

plenty of power. After a bit the trouble passed, whatever it was, and

I heard the full, deep-throated purr--the ten singing as one. That's

where the beauty of our modern silencers comes in. We can at last

control our engines by ear. How they squeal and squeak and sob when

they are in trouble! All those cries for help were wasted in the old

days, when every sound was swallowed up by the monstrous racket of the

machine. If only the early aviators could come back to see the beauty

and perfection of the mechanism which have been bought at the cost of

their lives!

"About nine-thirty I was nearing the clouds. Down below me, all

blurred and shadowed with rain, lay the vast expanse of Salisbury

Plain. Half a dozen flying machines were doing hackwork at the

thousand-foot level, looking like little black swallows against the

green background. I dare say they were wondering what I was doing up

in cloud-land. Suddenly a grey curtain drew across beneath me and the

wet folds of vapours were swirling round my face. It was clammily cold

and miserable. But I was above the hail-storm, and that was something

gained. The cloud was as dark and thick as a London fog. In my

anxiety to get clear, I cocked her nose up until the automatic

alarm-bell rang, and I actually began to slide backwards. My sopped

and dripping wings had made me heavier than I thought, but presently I

was in lighter cloud, and soon had cleared the first layer. There was

a second--opal-coloured and fleecy--at a great height above my head, a

white, unbroken ceiling above, and a dark, unbroken floor below, with

the monoplane labouring upwards upon a vast spiral between them. It is

deadly lonely in these cloud-spaces. Once a great flight of some small

water-birds went past me, flying very fast to the westwards. The quick

whir of their wings and their musical cry were cheery to my ear. I

fancy that they were teal, but I am a wretched zoologist. Now that we

humans have become birds we must really learn to know our brethren by

sight.

"The wind down beneath me whirled and swayed the broad cloud-plain.

Once a great eddy formed in it, a whirlpool of vapour, and through it,

as down a funnel, I caught sight of the distant world. A large white

biplane was passing at a vast depth beneath me. I fancy it was the

morning mail service betwixt Bristol and London. Then the drift swirled

inwards again and the great solitude was unbroken.

"Just after ten I touched the lower edge of the upper cloud-stratum. It

consisted of fine diaphanous vapour drifting swiftly from the

westwards. The wind had been steadily rising all this time and it was

now blowing a sharp breeze--twenty-eight an hour by my gauge. Already

it was very cold, though my altimeter only marked nine thousand. The

engines were working beautifully, and we went droning steadily upwards.

The cloud-bank was thicker than I had expected, but at last it thinned

out into a golden mist before me, and then in an instant I had shot out

from it, and there was an unclouded sky and a brilliant sun above my

head--all blue and gold above, all shining silver below, one vast,

glimmering plain as far as my eyes could reach. It was a quarter past

ten o'clock, and the barograph needle pointed to twelve thousand eight

hundred. Up I went and up, my ears concentrated upon the deep purring

of my motor, my eyes busy always with the watch, the revolution

indicator, the petrol lever, and the oil pump. No wonder aviators are

said to be a fearless race. With so many things to think of there is

no time to trouble about oneself. About this time I noted how

unreliable is the compass when above a certain height from earth. At

fifteen thousand feet mine was pointing east and a point south. The

sun and the wind gave me my true bearings.

"I had hoped to reach an eternal stillness in these high altitudes, but

with every thousand feet of ascent the gale grew stronger. My machine

groaned and trembled in every joint and rivet as she faced it, and

swept away like a sheet of paper when I banked her on the turn,

skimming down wind at a greater pace, perhaps, than ever mortal man has

moved. Yet I had always to turn again and tack up in the wind's eye,

for it was not merely a height record that I was after. By all my

calculations it was above little Wiltshire that my air-jungle lay, and

all my labour might be lost if I struck the outer layers at some

farther point.

"When I reached the nineteen-thousand-foot level, which was about

midday, the wind was so severe that I looked with some anxiety to the

stays of my wings, expecting momentarily to see them snap or slacken.

I even cast loose the parachute behind me, and fastened its hook into

the ring of my leathern belt, so as to be ready for the worst. Now was

the time when a bit of scamped work by the mechanic is paid for by the

life of the aeronaut. But she held together bravely. Every cord and

strut was humming and vibrating like so many harp-strings, but it was

glorious to see how, for all the beating and the buffeting, she was

still the conqueror of Nature and the mistress of the sky. There is

surely something divine in man himself that he should rise so superior

to the limitations which Creation seemed to impose--rise, too, by such

unselfish, heroic devotion as this air-conquest has shown. Talk of

human degeneration! When has such a story as this been written in the

annals of our race?

"These were the thoughts in my head as I climbed that monstrous,

inclined plane with the wind sometimes beating in my face and sometimes

whistling behind my ears, while the cloud-land beneath me fell away to

such a distance that the folds and hummocks of silver had all smoothed

out into one flat, shining plain. But suddenly I had a horrible and

unprecedented experience. I have known before what it is to be in what

our neighbours have called a tourbillon, but never on such a scale as

this. That huge, sweeping river of wind of which I have spoken had, as

it appears, whirlpools within it which were as monstrous as itself.

Without a moment's warning I was dragged suddenly into the heart of

one. I spun round for a minute or two with such velocity that I almost

lost my senses, and then fell suddenly, left wing foremost, down the

vacuum funnel in the centre. I dropped like a stone, and lost nearly a

thousand feet. It was only my belt that kept me in my seat, and the

shock and breathlessness left me hanging half-insensible over the side

of the fuselage. But I am always capable of a supreme effort--it is my

one great merit as an aviator. I was conscious that the descent was

slower. The whirlpool was a cone rather than a funnel, and I had come

to the apex. With a terrific wrench, throwing my weight all to one

side, I levelled my planes and brought her head away from the wind. In

an instant I had shot out of the eddies and was skimming down the sky.

Then, shaken but victorious, I turned her nose up and began once more

my steady grind on the upward spiral. I took a large sweep to avoid

the danger-spot of the whirlpool, and soon I was safely above it. Just

after one o'clock I was twenty-one thousand feet above the sea-level.

To my great joy I had topped the gale, and with every hundred feet of

ascent the air grew stiller. On the other hand, it was very cold, and

I was conscious of that peculiar nausea which goes with rarefaction of

the air. For the first time I unscrewed the mouth of my oxygen bag and

took an occasional whiff of the glorious gas. I could feel it running

like a cordial through my veins, and I was exhilarated almost to the

point of drunkenness. I shouted and sang as I soared upwards into the

cold, still outer world.

"It is very clear to me that the insensibility which came upon

Glaisher, and in a lesser degree upon Coxwell, when, in 1862, they

ascended in a balloon to the height of thirty thousand feet, was due to

the extreme speed with which a perpendicular ascent is made. Doing it

at an easy gradient and accustoming oneself to the lessened barometric

pressure by slow degrees, there are no such dreadful symptoms. At the

same great height I found that even without my oxygen inhaler I could

breathe without undue distress. It was bitterly cold, however, and my

thermometer was at zero, Fahrenheit. At one-thirty I was nearly seven

miles above the surface of the earth, and still ascending steadily. I

found, however, that the rarefied air was giving markedly less support

to my planes, and that my angle of ascent had to be considerably

lowered in consequence. It was already clear that even with my light

weight and strong engine-power there was a point in front of me where I

should be held. To make matters worse, one of my sparking-plugs was in

trouble again and there was intermittent misfiring in the engine. My

heart was heavy with the fear of failure.

"It was about that time that I had a most extraordinary experience.

Something whizzed past me in a trail of smoke and exploded with a loud,

hissing sound, sending forth a cloud of steam. For the instant I could

not imagine what had happened. Then I remembered that the earth is for

ever being bombarded by meteor stones, and would be hardly inhabitable

were they not in nearly every case turned to vapour in the outer layers

of the atmosphere. Here is a new danger for the high-altitude man, for

two others passed me when I was nearing the forty-thousand-foot mark.

I cannot doubt that at the edge of the earth's envelope the risk would

be a very real one.

"My barograph needle marked forty-one thousand three hundred when I

became aware that I could go no farther. Physically, the strain was

not as yet greater than I could bear but my machine had reached its

limit. The attenuated air gave no firm support to the wings, and the

least tilt developed into side-slip, while she seemed sluggish on her

controls. Possibly, had the engine been at its best, another thousand

feet might have been within our capacity, but it was still misfiring,

and two out of the ten cylinders appeared to be out of action. If I

had not already reached the zone for which I was searching then I

should never see it upon this journey. But was it not possible that I

had attained it? Soaring in circles like a monstrous hawk upon the

forty-thousand-foot level I let the monoplane guide herself, and with

my Mannheim glass I made a careful observation of my surroundings. The

heavens were perfectly clear; there was no indication of those dangers

which I had imagined.

"I have said that I was soaring in circles. It struck me suddenly that

I would do well to take a wider sweep and open up a new airtract. If

the hunter entered an earth-jungle he would drive through it if he

wished to find his game. My reasoning had led me to believe that the

air-jungle which I had imagined lay somewhere over Wiltshire. This

should be to the south and west of me. I took my bearings from the

sun, for the compass was hopeless and no trace of earth was to be

seen--nothing but the distant, silver cloud-plain. However, I got my

direction as best I might and kept her head straight to the mark. I

reckoned that my petrol supply would not last for more than another

hour or so, but I could afford to use it to the last drop, since a

single magnificent vol-plane could at any time take me to the earth.

"Suddenly I was aware of something new. The air in front of me had

lost its crystal clearness. It was full of long, ragged wisps of

something which I can only compare to very fine cigarette smoke. It

hung about in wreaths and coils, turning and twisting slowly in the

sunlight. As the monoplane shot through it, I was aware of a faint

taste of oil upon my lips, and there was a greasy scum upon the

woodwork of the machine. Some infinitely fine organic matter appeared

to be suspended in the atmosphere. There was no life there. It was

inchoate and diffuse, extending for many square acres and then fringing

off into the void. No, it was not life. But might it not be the

remains of life? Above all, might it not be the food of life, of

monstrous life, even as the humble grease of the ocean is the food for

the mighty whale? The thought was in my mind when my eyes looked

upwards and I saw the most wonderful vision that ever man has seen.

Can I hope to convey it to you even as I saw it myself last Thursday?

"Conceive a jelly-fish such as sails in our summer seas, bell-shaped

and of enormous size--far larger, I should judge, than the dome of St.

Paul's. It was of a light pink colour veined with a delicate green,

but the whole huge fabric so tenuous that it was but a fairy outline

against the dark blue sky. It pulsated with a delicate and regular

rhythm. From it there depended two long, drooping, green tentacles,

which swayed slowly backwards and forwards. This gorgeous vision

passed gently with noiseless dignity over my head, as light and fragile

as a soap-bubble, and drifted upon its stately way.

"I had half-turned my monoplane, that I might look after this beautiful

creature, when, in a moment, I found myself amidst a perfect fleet of

them, of all sizes, but none so large as the first. Some were quite

small, but the majority about as big as an average balloon, and with

much the same curvature at the top. There was in them a delicacy of

texture and colouring which reminded me of the finest Venetian glass.

Pale shades of pink and green were the prevailing tints, but all had a

lovely iridescence where the sun shimmered through their dainty forms.

Some hundreds of them drifted past me, a wonderful fairy squadron of

strange unknown argosies of the sky--creatures whose forms and

substance were so attuned to these pure heights that one could not

conceive anything so delicate within actual sight or sound of earth.

"But soon my attention was drawn to a new phenomenon--the serpents of

the outer air. These were long, thin, fantastic coils of vapour-like

material, which turned and twisted with great speed, flying round and

round at such a pace that the eyes could hardly follow them. Some of

these ghost-like creatures were twenty or thirty feet long, but it was

difficult to tell their girth, for their outline was so hazy that it

seemed to fade away into the air around them. These air-snakes were of

a very light grey or smoke colour, with some darker lines within, which

gave the impression of a definite organism. One of them whisked past

my very face, and I was conscious of a cold, clammy contact, but their

composition was so unsubstantial that I could not connect them with any

thought of physical danger, any more than the beautiful bell-like

creatures which had preceded them. There was no more solidity in their

frames than in the floating spume from a broken wave.

"But a more terrible experience was in store for me. Floating

downwards from a great height there came a purplish patch of vapour,

small as I saw it first, but rapidly enlarging as it approached me,

until it appeared to be hundreds of square feet in size. Though

fashioned of some transparent, jelly-like substance, it was none the

less of much more definite outline and solid consistence than anything

which I had seen before. There were more traces, too, of a physical

organization, especially two vast, shadowy, circular plates upon either

side, which may have been eyes, and a perfectly solid white projection

between them which was as curved and cruel as the beak of a vulture.

"The whole aspect of this monster was formidable and threatening, and

it kept changing its colour from a very light mauve to a dark, angry

purple so thick that it cast a shadow as it drifted between my

monoplane and the sun. On the upper curve of its huge body there were

three great projections which I can only describe as enormous bubbles,

and I was convinced as I looked at them that they were charged with

some extremely light gas which served to buoy up the misshapen and

semi-solid mass in the rarefied air. The creature moved swiftly along,

keeping pace easily with the monoplane, and for twenty miles or more it

formed my horrible escort, hovering over me like a bird of prey which

is waiting to pounce. Its method of progression--done so swiftly that

it was not easy to follow--was to throw out a long, glutinous streamer

in front of it, which in turn seemed to draw forward the rest of the

writhing body. So elastic and gelatinous was it that never for two

successive minutes was it the same shape, and yet each change made it

more threatening and loathsome than the last.

"I knew that it meant mischief. Every purple flush of its hideous body

told me so. The vague, goggling eyes which were turned always upon me

were cold and merciless in their viscid hatred. I dipped the nose of

my monoplane downwards to escape it. As I did so, as quick as a flash

there shot out a long tentacle from this mass of floating blubber, and

it fell as light and sinuous as a whip-lash across the front of my

machine. There was a loud hiss as it lay for a moment across the hot

engine, and it whisked itself into the air again, while the huge, flat

body drew itself together as if in sudden pain. I dipped to a

vol-pique, but again a tentacle fell over the monoplane and was shorn

off by the propeller as easily as it might have cut through a smoke

wreath. A long, gliding, sticky, serpent-like coil came from behind and

caught me round the waist, dragging me out of the fuselage. I tore at

it, my fingers sinking into the smooth, glue-like surface, and for an

instant I disengaged myself, but only to be caught round the boot by

another coil, which gave me a jerk that tilted me almost on to my back.

"As I fell over I blazed off both barrels of my gun, though, indeed, it

was like attacking an elephant with a pea-shooter to imagine that any

human weapon could cripple that mighty bulk. And yet I aimed better

than I knew, for, with a loud report, one of the great blisters upon

the creature's back exploded with the puncture of the buck-shot. It

was very clear that my conjecture was right, and that these vast, clear

bladders were distended with some lifting gas, for in an instant the

huge, cloud-like body turned sideways, writhing desperately to find its

balance, while the white beak snapped and gaped in horrible fury. But

already I had shot away on the steepest glide that I dared to attempt,

my engine still full on, the flying propeller and the force of gravity

shooting me downwards like an aerolite. Far behind me I saw a dull,

purplish smudge growing swiftly smaller and merging into the blue sky

behind it. I was safe out of the deadly jungle of the outer air.

"Once out of danger I throttled my engine, for nothing tears a machine

to pieces quicker than running on full power from a height. It was a

glorious, spiral vol-plane from nearly eight miles of altitude--first,

to the level of the silver cloud-bank, then to that of the storm-cloud

beneath it, and finally, in beating rain, to the surface of the earth.

I saw the Bristol Channel beneath me as I broke from the clouds, but,

having still some petrol in my tank, I got twenty miles inland before I

found myself stranded in a field half a mile from the village of

Ashcombe. There I got three tins of petrol from a passing motor-car,

and at ten minutes past six that evening I alighted gently in my own

home meadow at Devizes, after such a journey as no mortal upon earth

has ever yet taken and lived to tell the tale. I have seen the beauty

and I have seen the horror of the heights--and greater beauty or

greater horror than that is not within the ken of man.

"And now it is my plan to go once again before I give my results to the

world. My reason for this is that I must surely have something to show

by way of proof before I lay such a tale before my fellow-men. It is

true that others will soon follow and will confirm what I have said,

and yet I should wish to carry conviction from the first. Those lovely

iridescent bubbles of the air should not be hard to capture. They

drift slowly upon their way, and the swift monoplane could intercept

their leisurely course. It is likely enough that they would dissolve

in the heavier layers of the atmosphere, and that some small heap of

amorphous jelly might be all that I should bring to earth with me. And

yet something there would surely be by which I could substantiate my

story. Yes, I will go, even if I run a risk by doing so. These purple

horrors would not seem to be numerous. It is probable that I shall not

see one. If I do I shall dive at once. At the worst there is always

the shot-gun and my knowledge of ..."

Here a page of the manuscript is unfortunately missing. On the next

page is written, in large, straggling writing:

"Forty-three thousand feet. I shall never see earth again. They are

beneath me, three of them. God help me; it is a dreadful death to die!"

Such in its entirety is the Joyce-Armstrong Statement. Of the man

nothing has since been seen. Pieces of his shattered monoplane have

been picked up in the preserves of Mr. Budd-Lushington upon the borders

of Kent and Sussex, within a few miles of the spot where the note-book

was discovered. If the unfortunate aviator's theory is correct that

this air-jungle, as he called it, existed only over the south-west of

England, then it would seem that he had fled from it at the full speed

of his monoplane, but had been overtaken and devoured by these horrible

creatures at some spot in the outer atmosphere above the place where

the grim relics were found. The picture of that monoplane skimming

down the sky, with the nameless terrors flying as swiftly beneath it

and cutting it off always from the earth while they gradually closed in

upon their victim, is one upon which a man who valued his sanity would

prefer not to dwell. There are many, as I am aware, who still jeer at

the facts which I have here set down, but even they must admit that

Joyce-Armstrong has disappeared, and I would commend to them his own

words: "This note-book may explain what I am trying to do, and how I

lost my life in doing it. But no drivel about accidents or mysteries,

if YOU please."

The Leather Funnel

My friend, Lionel Dacre, lived in the Avenue de Wagram, Paris. His

house was that small one, with the iron railings and grass plot in

front of it, on the left-hand side as you pass down from the Arc de

Triomphe. I fancy that it had been there long before the avenue was

constructed, for the grey tiles were stained with lichens, and the

walls were mildewed and discoloured with age. It looked a small house

from the street, five windows in front, if I remember right, but it

deepened into a single long chamber at the back. It was here that

Dacre had that singular library of occult literature, and the fantastic

curiosities which served as a hobby for himself, and an amusement for

his friends. A wealthy man of refined and eccentric tastes, he had

spent much of his life and fortune in gathering together what was said

to be a unique private collection of Talmudic, cabalistic, and magical

works, many of them of great rarity and value. His tastes leaned

toward the marvellous and the monstrous, and I have heard that his

experiments in the direction of the unknown have passed all the bounds

of civilization and of decorum. To his English friends he never

alluded to such matters, and took the tone of the student and virtuoso;

but a Frenchman whose tastes were of the same nature has assured me

that the worst excesses of the black mass have been perpetrated in that

large and lofty hall, which is lined with the shelves of his books, and

the cases of his museum.

Dacre's appearance was enough to show that his deep interest in these

psychic matters was intellectual rather than spiritual. There was no

trace of asceticism upon his heavy face, but there was much mental

force in his huge, dome-like skull, which curved upward from amongst

his thinning locks, like a snowpeak above its fringe of fir trees. His

knowledge was greater than his wisdom, and his powers were far superior

to his character. The small bright eyes, buried deeply in his fleshy

face, twinkled with intelligence and an unabated curiosity of life, but

they were the eyes of a sensualist and an egotist. Enough of the man,

for he is dead now, poor devil, dead at the very time that he had made

sure that he had at last discovered the elixir of life. It is not with

his complex character that I have to deal, but with the very strange

and inexplicable incident which had its rise in my visit to him in the

early spring of the year '82.

I had known Dacre in England, for my researches in the Assyrian Room of

the British Museum had been conducted at the time when he was

endeavouring to establish a mystic and esoteric meaning in the

Babylonian tablets, and this community of interests had brought us

together. Chance remarks had led to daily conversation, and that to

something verging upon friendship. I had promised him that on my next

visit to Paris I would call upon him. At the time when I was able to

fulfil my compact I was living in a cottage at Fontainebleau, and as

the evening trains were inconvenient, he asked me to spend the night in

his house.

"I have only that one spare couch," said he, pointing to a broad sofa

in his large salon; "I hope that you will manage to be comfortable

there."

It was a singular bedroom, with its high walls of brown volumes, but

there could be no more agreeable furniture to a bookworm like myself,

and there is no scent so pleasant to my nostrils as that faint, subtle

reek which comes from an ancient book. I assured him that I could

desire no more charming chamber, and no more congenial surroundings.

"If the fittings are neither convenient nor conventional, they are at

least costly," said he, looking round at his shelves. "I have expended

nearly a quarter of a million of money upon these objects which

surround you. Books, weapons, gems, carvings, tapestries,

images--there is hardly a thing here which has not its history, and it

is generally one worth telling."

He was seated as he spoke at one side of the open fire-place, and I at

the other. His reading-table was on his right, and the strong lamp

above it ringed it with a very vivid circle of golden light. A

half-rolled palimpsest lay in the centre, and around it were many

quaint articles of bric-a-brac. One of these was a large funnel, such

as is used for filling wine casks. It appeared to be made of black

wood, and to be rimmed with discoloured brass.

"That is a curious thing," I remarked. "What is the history of that?"

"Ah!" said he, "it is the very question which I have had occasion to

ask myself. I would give a good deal to know. Take it in your hands

and examine it."

I did so, and found that what I had imagined to be wood was in reality

leather, though age had dried it into an extreme hardness. It was a

large funnel, and might hold a quart when full. The brass rim

encircled the wide end, but the narrow was also tipped with metal.

"What do you make of it?" asked Dacre.

"I should imagine that it belonged to some vintner or maltster in the

Middle Ages," said I. "I have seen in England leathern drinking

flagons of the seventeenth century--'black jacks' as they were

called--which were of the same colour and hardness as this filler."

"I dare say the date would be about the same," said Dacre, "and, no

doubt, also, it was used for filling a vessel with liquid. If my

suspicions are correct, however, it was a queer vintner who used it,

and a very singular cask which was filled. Do you observe nothing

strange at the spout end of the funnel."

As I held it to the light I observed that at a spot some five inches

above the brass tip the narrow neck of the leather funnel was all

haggled and scored, as if someone had notched it round with a blunt

knife. Only at that point was there any roughening of the dead black

surface.

"Someone has tried to cut off the neck."

"Would you call it a cut?"

"It is torn and lacerated. It must have taken some strength to leave

these marks on such tough material, whatever the instrument may have

been. But what do you think of it? I can tell that you know more than

you say."

Dacre smiled, and his little eyes twinkled with knowledge.

"Have you included the psychology of dreams among your learned

studies?" he asked.

"I did not even know that there was such a psychology."

"My dear sir, that shelf above the gem case is filled with volumes,

from Albertus Magnus onward, which deal with no other subject. It is a

science in itself."

"A science of charlatans!"

"The charlatan is always the pioneer. From the astrologer came the

astronomer, from the alchemist the chemist, from the mesmerist the

experimental psychologist. The quack of yesterday is the professor of

tomorrow. Even such subtle and elusive things as dreams will in time

be reduced to system and order. When that time comes the researches of

our friends on the bookshelf yonder will no longer be the amusement of

the mystic, but the foundations of a science."

"Supposing that is so, what has the science of dreams to do with a

large, black, brass-rimmed funnel?"

"I will tell you. You know that I have an agent who is always on the

look-out for rarities and curiosities for my collection. Some days ago

he heard of a dealer upon one of the Quais who had acquired some old

rubbish found in a cupboard in an ancient house at the back of the Rue

Mathurin, in the Quartier Latin. The dining-room of this old house is

decorated with a coat of arms, chevrons, and bars rouge upon a field

argent, which prove, upon inquiry, to be the shield of Nicholas de la

Reynie, a high official of King Louis XIV. There can be no doubt that

the other articles in the cupboard date back to the early days of that

king. The inference is, therefore, that they were all the property of

this Nicholas de la Reynie, who was, as I understand, the gentleman

specially concerned with the maintenance and execution of the Draconic

laws of that epoch."

"What then?"

"I would ask you now to take the funnel into your hands once more and

to examine the upper brass rim. Can you make out any lettering upon

it?"

There were certainly some scratches upon it, almost obliterated by

time. The general effect was of several letters, the last of which

bore some resemblance to a B.

"You make it a B?"

"Yes, I do."

"So do I. In fact, I have no doubt whatever that it is a B."

"But the nobleman you mentioned would have had R for his initial."

"Exactly! That's the beauty of it. He owned this curious object, and

yet he had someone else's initials upon it. Why did he do this?"

"I can't imagine; can you?"

"Well, I might, perhaps, guess. Do you observe something drawn a

little farther along the rim?"

"I should say it was a crown."

"It is undoubtedly a crown; but if you examine it in a good light, you

will convince yourself that it is not an ordinary crown. It is a

heraldic crown--a badge of rank, and it consists of an alternation of

four pearls and strawberry leaves, the proper badge of a marquis. We

may infer, therefore, that the person whose initials end in B was

entitled to wear that coronet."

"Then this common leather filler belonged to a marquis?"

Dacre gave a peculiar smile.

"Or to some member of the family of a marquis," said he. "So much we

have clearly gathered from this engraved rim."

"But what has all this to do with dreams?" I do not know whether it

was from a look upon Dacre's face, or from some subtle suggestion in

his manner, but a feeling of repulsion, of unreasoning horror, came

upon me as I looked at the gnarled old lump of leather.

"I have more than once received important information through my

dreams," said my companion in the didactic manner which he loved to

affect. "I make it a rule now when I am in doubt upon any material

point to place the article in question beside me as I sleep, and to

hope for some enlightenment. The process does not appear to me to be

very obscure, though it has not yet received the blessing of orthodox

science. According to my theory, any object which has been intimately

associated with any supreme paroxysm of human emotion, whether it be

joy or pain, will retain a certain atmosphere or association which it

is capable of communicating to a sensitive mind. By a sensitive mind I

do not mean an abnormal one, but such a trained and educated mind as

you or I possess."

"You mean, for example, that if I slept beside that old sword upon the

wall, I might dream of some bloody incident in which that very sword

took part?"

"An excellent example, for, as a matter of fact, that sword was used in

that fashion by me, and I saw in my sleep the death of its owner, who

perished in a brisk skirmish, which I have been unable to identify, but

which occurred at the time of the wars of the Frondists. If you think

of it, some of our popular observances show that the fact has already

been recognized by our ancestors, although we, in our wisdom, have

classed it among superstitions."

"For example?"

"Well, the placing of the bride's cake beneath the pillow in order that

the sleeper may have pleasant dreams. That is one of several instances

which you will find set forth in a small brochure which I am myself

writing upon the subject. But to come back to the point, I slept one

night with this funnel beside me, and I had a dream which certainly

throws a curious light upon its use and origin."

"What did you dream?"

"I dreamed----" He paused, and an intent look of interest came over his

massive face. "By Jove, that's well thought of," said he. "This really

will be an exceedingly interesting experiment. You are yourself a

psychic subject--with nerves which respond readily to any impression."

"I have never tested myself in that direction."

"Then we shall test you tonight. Might I ask you as a very great

favour, when you occupy that couch tonight, to sleep with this old

funnel placed by the side of your pillow?"

The request seemed to me a grotesque one; but I have myself, in my

complex nature, a hunger after all which is bizarre and fantastic. I

had not the faintest belief in Dacre's theory, nor any hopes for

success in such an experiment; yet it amused me that the experiment

should be made. Dacre, with great gravity, drew a small stand to the

head of my settee, and placed the funnel upon it. Then, after a short

conversation, he wished me good night and left me.

I sat for some little time smoking by the smouldering fire, and turning

over in my mind the curious incident which had occurred, and the

strange experience which might lie before me. Sceptical as I was, there

was something impressive in the assurance of Dacre's manner, and my

extraordinary surroundings, the huge room with the strange and often

sinister objects which were hung round it, struck solemnity into my

soul. Finally I undressed, and turning out the lamp, I lay down.

After long tossing I fell asleep. Let me try to describe as accurately

as I can the scene which came to me in my dreams. It stands out now in

my memory more clearly than anything which I have seen with my waking

eyes. There was a room which bore the appearance of a vault. Four

spandrels from the corners ran up to join a sharp, cup-shaped roof.

The architecture was rough, but very strong. It was evidently part of

a great building.

Three men in black, with curious, top-heavy, black velvet hats, sat in

a line upon a red-carpeted dais. Their faces were very solemn and sad.

On the left stood two long-gowned men with port-folios in their hands,

which seemed to be stuffed with papers. Upon the right, looking toward

me, was a small woman with blonde hair and singular, light-blue

eyes--the eyes of a child. She was past her first youth, but could not

yet be called middle-aged. Her figure was inclined to stoutness and her

bearing was proud and confident. Her face was pale, but serene. It

was a curious face, comely and yet feline, with a subtle suggestion of

cruelty about the straight, strong little mouth and chubby jaw. She was

draped in some sort of loose, white gown. Beside her stood a thin,

eager priest, who whispered in her ear, and continually raised a

crucifix before her eyes. She turned her head and looked fixedly past

the crucifix at the three men in black, who were, I felt, her judges.

As I gazed the three men stood up and said something, but I could

distinguish no words, though I was aware that it was the central one

who was speaking. They then swept out of the room, followed by the two

men with the papers. At the same instant several rough-looking fellows

in stout jerkins came bustling in and removed first the red carpet, and

then the boards which formed the dais, so as to entirely clear the

room. When this screen was removed I saw some singular articles of

furniture behind it. One looked like a bed with wooden rollers at each

end, and a winch handle to regulate its length. Another was a wooden

horse. There were several other curious objects, and a number of

swinging cords which played over pulleys. It was not unlike a modern

gymnasium.

When the room had been cleared there appeared a new figure upon the

scene. This was a tall, thin person clad in black, with a gaunt and

austere face. The aspect of the man made me shudder. His clothes were

all shining with grease and mottled with stains. He bore himself with a

slow and impressive dignity, as if he took command of all things from

the instant of his entrance. In spite of his rude appearance and

sordid dress, it was now his business, his room, his to command. He

carried a coil of light ropes over his left forearm. The lady looked

him up and down with a searching glance, but her expression was

unchanged. It was confident--even defiant. But it was very different

with the priest. His face was ghastly white, and I saw the moisture

glisten and run on his high, sloping forehead. He threw up his hands

in prayer and he stooped continually to mutter frantic words in the

lady's ear.

The man in black now advanced, and taking one of the cords from his

left arm, he bound the woman's hands together. She held them meekly

toward him as he did so. Then he took her arm with a rough grip and

led her toward the wooden horse, which was little higher than her

waist. On to this she was lifted and laid, with her back upon it, and

her face to the ceiling, while the priest, quivering with horror, had

rushed out of the room. The woman's lips were moving rapidly, and

though I could hear nothing I knew that she was praying. Her feet hung

down on either side of the horse, and I saw that the rough varlets in

attendance had fastened cords to her ankles and secured the other ends

to iron rings in the stone floor.

My heart sank within me as I saw these ominous preparations, and yet I

was held by the fascination of horror, and I could not take my eyes

from the strange spectacle. A man had entered the room with a bucket

of water in either hand. Another followed with a third bucket. They

were laid beside the wooden horse. The second man had a wooden

dipper--a bowl with a straight handle--in his other hand. This he gave

to the man in black. At the same moment one of the varlets approached

with a dark object in his hand, which even in my dream filled me with a

vague feeling of familiarity. It was a leathern filler. With horrible

energy he thrust it--but I could stand no more. My hair stood on end

with horror. I writhed, I struggled, I broke through the bonds of

sleep, and I burst with a shriek into my own life, and found myself

lying shivering with terror in the huge library, with the moonlight

flooding through the window and throwing strange silver and black

traceries upon the opposite wall. Oh, what a blessed relief to feel

that I was back in the nineteenth century--back out of that mediaeval

vault into a world where men had human hearts within their bosoms. I

sat up on my couch, trembling in every limb, my mind divided between

thankfulness and horror. To think that such things were ever

done--that they could be done without God striking the villains dead.

Was it all a fantasy, or did it really stand for something which had

happened in the black, cruel days of the world's history? I sank my

throbbing head upon my shaking hands. And then, suddenly, my heart

seemed to stand still in my bosom, and I could not even scream, so

great was my terror. Something was advancing toward me through the

darkness of the room.

It is a horror coming upon a horror which breaks a man's spirit. I

could not reason, I could not pray; I could only sit like a frozen

image, and glare at the dark figure which was coming down the great

room. And then it moved out into the white lane of moonlight, and I

breathed once more. It was Dacre, and his face showed that he was as

frightened as myself.

"Was that you? For God's sake what's the matter?" he asked in a husky

voice.

"Oh, Dacre, I am glad to see you! I have been down into hell. It was

dreadful."

"Then it was you who screamed?"

"I dare say it was."

"It rang through the house. The servants are all terrified." He struck

a match and lit the lamp. "I think we may get the fire to burn up

again," he added, throwing some logs upon the embers. "Good God, my

dear chap, how white you are! You look as if you had seen a ghost."

"So I have--several ghosts."

"The leather funnel has acted, then?"

"I wouldn't sleep near the infernal thing again for all the money you

could offer me."

Dacre chuckled.

"I expected that you would have a lively night of it," said he. "You

took it out of me in return, for that scream of yours wasn't a very

pleasant sound at two in the morning. I suppose from what you say that

you have seen the whole dreadful business."

"What dreadful business?"

"The torture of the water--the 'Extraordinary Question,' as it was

called in the genial days of 'Le Roi Soleil.' Did you stand it out to

the end?"

"No, thank God, I awoke before it really began."

"Ah! it is just as well for you. I held out till the third bucket.

Well, it is an old story, and they are all in their graves now, anyhow,

so what does it matter how they got there? I suppose that you have no

idea what it was that you have seen?"

"The torture of some criminal. She must have been a terrible

malefactor indeed if her crimes are in proportion to her penalty."

"Well, we have that small consolation," said Dacre, wrapping his

dressing-gown round him and crouching closer to the fire. "They WERE in

proportion to her penalty. That is to say, if I am correct in the

lady's identity."

"How could you possibly know her identity?"

For answer Dacre took down an old vellum-covered volume from the shelf.

"Just listen to this," said he; "it is in the French of the seventeenth

century, but I will give a rough translation as I go. You will judge

for yourself whether I have solved the riddle or not.

"'The prisoner was brought before the Grand Chambers and Tournelles of

Parliament, sitting as a court of justice, charged with the murder of

Master Dreux d'Aubray, her father, and of her two brothers, MM.

d'Aubray, one being civil lieutenant, and the other a counsellor of

Parliament. In person it seemed hard to believe that she had really

done such wicked deeds, for she was of a mild appearance, and of short

stature, with a fair skin and blue eyes. Yet the Court, having found

her guilty, condemned her to the ordinary and to the extraordinary

question in order that she might be forced to name her accomplices,

after which she should be carried in a cart to the Place de Greve,

there to have her head cut off, her body being afterwards burned and

her ashes scattered to the winds.'

"The date of this entry is July 16, 1676."

"It is interesting," said I, "but not convincing. How do you prove the

two women to be the same?"

"I am coming to that. The narrative goes on to tell of the woman's

behaviour when questioned. 'When the executioner approached her she

recognized him by the cords which he held in his hands, and she at once

held out her own hands to him, looking at him from head to foot without

uttering a word.' How's that?"

"Yes, it was so."

"'She gazed without wincing upon the wooden horse and rings which had

twisted so many limbs and caused so many shrieks of agony. When her

eyes fell upon the three pails of water, which were all ready for her,

she said with a smile, "All that water must have been brought here for

the purpose of drowning me, Monsieur. You have no idea, I trust, of

making a person of my small stature swallow it all."' Shall I read the

details of the torture?"

"No, for Heaven's sake, don't."

"Here is a sentence which must surely show you that what is here

recorded is the very scene which you have gazed upon tonight: 'The good

Abbe Pirot, unable to contemplate the agonies which were suffered by

his penitent, had hurried from the room.' Does that convince you?"

"It does entirely. There can be no question that it is indeed the same

event. But who, then, is this lady whose appearance was so attractive

and whose end was so horrible?"

For answer Dacre came across to me, and placed the small lamp upon the

table which stood by my bed. Lifting up the ill-omened filler, he

turned the brass rim so that the light fell full upon it. Seen in this

way the engraving seemed clearer than on the night before.

"We have already agreed that this is the badge of a marquis or of a

marquise," said he. "We have also settled that the last letter is B."

"It is undoubtedly so."

"I now suggest to you that the other letters from left to right are, M,

M, a small d, A, a small d, and then the final B."

"Yes, I am sure that you are right. I can make out the two small d's

quite plainly."

"What I have read to you tonight," said Dacre, "is the official record

of the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, one

of the most famous poisoners and murderers of all time."

I sat in silence, overwhelmed at the extraordinary nature of the

incident, and at the completeness of the proof with which Dacre had

exposed its real meaning. In a vague way I remembered some details of

the woman's career, her unbridled debauchery, the cold-blooded and

protracted torture of her sick father, the murder of her brothers for

motives of petty gain. I recollected also that the bravery of her end

had done something to atone for the horror of her life, and that all

Paris had sympathized with her last moments, and blessed her as a

martyr within a few days of the time when they had cursed her as a

murderess. One objection, and one only, occurred to my mind.

"How came her initials and her badge of rank upon the filler? Surely

they did not carry their mediaeval homage to the nobility to the point

of decorating instruments of torture with their titles?"

"I was puzzled with the same point," said Dacre, "but it admits of a

simple explanation. The case excited extraordinary interest at the

time, and nothing could be more natural than that La Reynie, the head

of the police, should retain this filler as a grim souvenir. It was

not often that a marchioness of France underwent the extraordinary

question. That he should engrave her initials upon it for the

information of others was surely a very ordinary proceeding upon his

part."

"And this?" I asked, pointing to the marks upon the leathern neck.

"She was a cruel tigress," said Dacre, as he turned away. "I think it

is evident that like other tigresses her teeth were both strong and

sharp."

The New Catacomb

"Look here, Burger," said Kennedy, "I do wish that you would confide in

me."

The two famous students of Roman remains sat together in Kennedy's

comfortable room overlooking the Corso. The night was cold, and they

had both pulled up their chairs to the unsatisfactory Italian stove

which threw out a zone of stuffiness rather than of warmth. Outside

under the bright winter stars lay the modern Rome, the long, double

chain of the electric lamps, the brilliantly lighted cafes, the rushing

carriages, and the dense throng upon the footpaths. But inside, in the

sumptuous chamber of the rich young English archaeologist, there was

only old Rome to be seen. Cracked and timeworn friezes hung upon the

walls, grey old busts of senators and soldiers with their fighting

heads and their hard, cruel faces peered out from the corners. On the

centre table, amidst a litter of inscriptions, fragments, and

ornaments, there stood the famous reconstruction by Kennedy of the

Baths of Caracalla, which excited such interest and admiration when it

was exhibited in Berlin. Amphorae hung from the ceiling, and a litter

of curiosities strewed the rich red Turkey carpet. And of them all

there was not one which was not of the most unimpeachable authenticity,

and of the utmost rarity and value; for Kennedy, though little more

than thirty, had a European reputation in this particular branch of

research, and was, moreover, provided with that long purse which either

proves to be a fatal handicap to the student's energies, or, if his

mind is still true to its purpose, gives him an enormous advantage in

the race for fame. Kennedy had often been seduced by whim and pleasure

from his studies, but his mind was an incisive one, capable of long and

concentrated efforts which ended in sharp reactions of sensuous

languor. His handsome face, with its high, white forehead, its

aggressive nose, and its somewhat loose and sensual mouth, was a fair

index of the compromise between strength and weakness in his nature.

Of a very different type was his companion, Julius Burger. He came of

a curious blend, a German father and an Italian mother, with the robust

qualities of the North mingling strangely with the softer graces of the

South. Blue Teutonic eyes lightened his sun-browned face, and above

them rose a square, massive forehead, with a fringe of close yellow

curls lying round it. His strong, firm jaw was clean-shaven, and his

companion had frequently remarked how much it suggested those old Roman

busts which peered out from the shadows in the corners of his chamber.

Under its bluff German strength there lay always a suggestion of

Italian subtlety, but the smile was so honest, and the eyes so frank,

that one understood that this was only an indication of his ancestry,

with no actual bearing upon his character. In age and in reputation,

he was on the same level as his English companion, but his life and his

work had both been far more arduous. Twelve years before, he had come

as a poor student to Rome, and had lived ever since upon some small

endowment for research which had been awarded to him by the University

of Bonn. Painfully, slowly, and doggedly, with extraordinary tenacity

and single-mindedness, he had climbed from rung to rung of the ladder

of fame, until now he was a member of the Berlin Academy, and there was

every reason to believe that he would shortly be promoted to the Chair

of the greatest of German Universities. But the singleness of purpose

which had brought him to the same high level as the rich and brilliant

Englishman, had caused him in everything outside their work to stand

infinitely below him. He had never found a pause in his studies in

which to cultivate the social graces. It was only when he spoke of his

own subject that his face was filled with life and soul. At other

times he was silent and embarrassed, too conscious of his own

limitations in larger subjects, and impatient of that small talk which

is the conventional refuge of those who have no thoughts to express.

And yet for some years there had been an acquaintanceship which

appeared to be slowly ripening into a friendship between these two very

different rivals. The base and origin of this lay in the fact that in

their own studies each was the only one of the younger men who had

knowledge and enthusiasm enough to properly appreciate the other.

Their common interests and pursuits had brought them together, and each

had been attracted by the other's knowledge. And then gradually

something had been added to this. Kennedy had been amused by the

frankness and simplicity of his rival, while Burger in turn had been

fascinated by the brilliancy and vivacity which had made Kennedy such a

favourite in Roman society. I say "had," because just at the moment

the young Englishman was somewhat under a cloud. A love-affair, the

details of which had never quite come out, had indicated a

heartlessness and callousness upon his part which shocked many of his

friends. But in the bachelor circles of students and artists in which

he preferred to move there is no very rigid code of honour in such

matters, and though a head might be shaken or a pair of shoulders

shrugged over the flight of two and the return of one, the general

sentiment was probably one of curiosity and perhaps of envy rather than

of reprobation.

"Look here, Burger," said Kennedy, looking hard at the placid face of

his companion, "I do wish that you would confide in me."

As he spoke he waved his hand in the direction of a rug which lay upon

the floor. On the rug stood a long, shallow fruit-basket of the light

wicker-work which is used in the Campagna, and this was heaped with a

litter of objects, inscribed tiles, broken inscriptions, cracked

mosaics, torn papyri, rusty metal ornaments, which to the uninitiated

might have seemed to have come straight from a dustman's bin, but which

a specialist would have speedily recognized as unique of their kind.

The pile of odds and ends in the flat wicker-work basket supplied

exactly one of those missing links of social development which are of

such interest to the student. It was the German who had brought them

in, and the Englishman's eyes were hungry as he looked at them.

"I won't interfere with your treasure-trove, but I should very much

like to hear about it," he continued, while Burger very deliberately

lit a cigar. "It is evidently a discovery of the first importance.

These inscriptions will make a sensation throughout Europe."

"For every one here there are a million there!" said the German.

"There are so many that a dozen savants might spend a lifetime over

them, and build up a reputation as solid as the Castle of St. Angelo."

Kennedy sat thinking with his fine forehead wrinkled and his fingers

playing with his long, fair moustache.

"You have given yourself away, Burger!" said he at last. "Your words

can only apply to one thing. You have discovered a new catacomb."

"I had no doubt that you had already come to that conclusion from an

examination of these objects."

"Well, they certainly appeared to indicate it, but your last remarks

make it certain. There is no place except a catacomb which could

contain so vast a store of relics as you describe."

"Quite so. There is no mystery about that. I HAVE discovered a new

catacomb."

"Where?"

"Ah, that is my secret, my dear Kennedy. Suffice it that it is so

situated that there is not one chance in a million of anyone else

coming upon it. Its date is different from that of any known catacomb,

and it has been reserved for the burial of the highest Christians, so

that the remains and the relics are quite different from anything which

has ever been seen before. If I was not aware of your knowledge and of

your energy, my friend, I would not hesitate, under the pledge of

secrecy, to tell you everything about it. But as it is I think that I

must certainly prepare my own report of the matter before I expose

myself to such formidable competition."

Kennedy loved his subject with a love which was almost a mania--a love

which held him true to it, amidst all the distractions which come to a

wealthy and dissipated young man. He had ambition, but his ambition

was secondary to his mere abstract joy and interest in everything which

concerned the old life and history of the city. He yearned to see this

new underworld which his companion had discovered.

"Look here, Burger," said he, earnestly, "I assure you that you can

trust me most implicitly in the matter. Nothing would induce me to put

pen to paper about anything which I see until I have your express

permission. I quite understand your feeling and I think it is most

natural, but you have really nothing whatever to fear from me. On the

other hand, if you don't tell me I shall make a systematic search, and

I shall most certainly discover it. In that case, of course, I should

make what use I liked of it, since I should be under no obligation to

you."

Burger smiled thoughtfully over his cigar.

"I have noticed, friend Kennedy," said he, "that when I want

information over any point you are not always so ready to supply it."

"When did you ever ask me anything that I did not tell you? You

remember, for example, my giving you the material for your paper about

the temple of the Vestals."

"Ah, well, that was not a matter of much importance. If I were to

question you upon some intimate thing would you give me an answer, I

wonder! This new catacomb is a very intimate thing to me, and I should

certainly expect some sign of confidence in return."

"What you are driving at I cannot imagine," said the Englishman, "but

if you mean that you will answer my question about the catacomb if I

answer any question which you may put to me I can assure you that I

will certainly do so."

"Well, then," said Burger, leaning luxuriously back in his settee, and

puffing a blue tree of cigar-smoke into the air, "tell me all about

your relations with Miss Mary Saunderson."

Kennedy sprang up in his chair and glared angrily at his impassive

companion.

"What the devil do you mean?" he cried. "What sort of a question is

this? You may mean it as a joke, but you never made a worse one."

"No, I don't mean it as a joke," said Burger, simply. "I am really

rather interested in the details of the matter. I don't know much

about the world and women and social life and that sort of thing, and

such an incident has the fascination of the unknown for me. I know

you, and I knew her by sight--I had even spoken to her once or twice.

I should very much like to hear from your own lips exactly what it was

which occurred between you."

"I won't tell you a word."

"That's all right. It was only my whim to see if you would give up a

secret as easily as you expected me to give up my secret of the new

catacomb. You wouldn't, and I didn't expect you to. But why should you

expect otherwise of me? There's Saint John's clock striking ten. It

is quite time that I was going home."

"No; wait a bit, Burger," said Kennedy; "this is really a ridiculous

caprice of yours to wish to know about an old love-affair which has

burned out months ago. You know we look upon a man who kisses and

tells as the greatest coward and villain possible."

"Certainly," said the German, gathering up his basket of curiosities,

"when he tells anything about a girl which is previously unknown he

must be so. But in this case, as you must be aware, it was a public

matter which was the common talk of Rome, so that you are not really

doing Miss Mary Saunderson any injury by discussing her case with me.

But still, I respect your scruples; and so good night!"

"Wait a bit, Burger," said Kennedy, laying his hand upon the other's

arm; "I am very keen upon this catacomb business, and I can't let it

drop quite so easily. Would you mind asking me something else in

return--something not quite so eccentric this time?"

"No, no; you have refused, and there is an end of it," said Burger,

with his basket on his arm. "No doubt you are quite right not to

answer, and no doubt I am quite right also--and so again, my dear

Kennedy, good night!"

The Englishman watched Burger cross the room, and he had his hand on

the handle of the door before his host sprang up with the air of a man

who is making the best of that which cannot be helped.

"Hold on, old fellow," said he; "I think you are behaving in a most

ridiculous fashion; but still; if this is your condition, I suppose

that I must submit to it. I hate saying anything about a girl, but, as

you say, it is all over Rome, and I don't suppose I can tell you

anything which you do not know already. What was it you wanted to

know?"

The German came back to the stove, and, laying down his basket, he sank

into his chair once more.

"May I have another cigar?" said he. "Thank you very much! I never

smoke when I work, but I enjoy a chat much more when I am under the

influence of tobacco. Now, as regards this young lady, with whom you

had this little adventure. What in the world has become of her?"

"She is at home with her own people."

"Oh, really--in England?"

"Yes."

"What part of England--London?"

"No, Twickenham."

"You must excuse my curiosity, my dear Kennedy, and you must put it

down to my ignorance of the world. No doubt it is quite a simple thing

to persuade a young lady to go off with you for three weeks or so, and

then to hand her over to her own family at--what did you call the

place?"

"Twickenham."

"Quite so--at Twickenham. But it is something so entirely outside my

own experience that I cannot even imagine how you set about it. For

example, if you had loved this girl your love could hardly disappear in

three weeks, so I presume that you could not have loved her at all.

But if you did not love her why should you make this great scandal

which has damaged you and ruined her?"

Kennedy looked moodily into the red eye of the stove.

"That's a logical way of looking at it, certainly," said he. "Love is a

big word, and it represents a good many different shades of feeling. I

liked her, and--well, you say you've seen her--you know how charming

she could look. But still I am willing to admit, looking back, that I

could never have really loved her."

"Then, my dear Kennedy, why did you do it?"

"The adventure of the thing had a great deal to do with it."

"What! You are so fond of adventures!"

"Where would the variety of life be without them? It was for an

adventure that I first began to pay my attentions to her. I've chased

a good deal of game in my time, but there's no chase like that of a

pretty woman. There was the piquant difficulty of it also, for, as she

was the companion of Lady Emily Rood, it was almost impossible to see

her alone. On the top of all the other obstacles which attracted me, I

learned from her own lips very early in the proceedings that she was

engaged."

"Mein Gott! To whom?"

"She mentioned no names."

"I do not think that anyone knows that. So that made the adventure

more alluring, did it?"

"Well, it did certainly give a spice to it. Don't you think so?"

"I tell you that I am very ignorant about these things."

"My dear fellow, you can remember that the apple you stole from your

neighbour's tree was always sweeter than that which fell from your own.

And then I found that she cared for me."

"What--at once?"

"Oh, no, it took about three months of sapping and mining. But at last

I won her over. She understood that my judicial separation from my

wife made it impossible for me to do the right thing by her--but she

came all the same, and we had a delightful time, as long as it lasted."

"But how about the other man?"

Kennedy shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose it is the survival of the fittest," said he. "If he had

been the better man she would not have deserted him. Let's drop the

subject, for I have had enough of it!"

"Only one other thing. How did you get rid of her in three weeks?"

"Well, we had both cooled down a bit, you understand. She absolutely

refused, under any circumstances, to come back to face the people she

had known in Rome. Now, of course, Rome is necessary to me, and I was

already pining to be back at my work--so there was one obvious cause of

separation. Then, again, her old father turned up at the hotel in

London, and there was a scene, and the whole thing became so unpleasant

that really--though I missed her dreadfully at first--I was very glad

to slip out of it. Now, I rely upon you not to repeat anything of what

I have said."

"My dear Kennedy, I should not dream of repeating it. But all that you

say interests me very much, for it gives me an insight into your way of

looking at things, which is entirely different from mine, for I have

seen so little of life. And now you want to know about my new

catacomb. There's no use my trying to describe it, for you would never

find it by that. There is only one thing, and that is for me to take

you there."

"That would be splendid."

"When would you like to come?"

"The sooner the better. I am all impatience to see it."

"Well, it is a beautiful night--though a trifle cold. Suppose we start

in an hour. We must be very careful to keep the matter to ourselves.

If anyone saw us hunting in couples they would suspect that there was

something going on."

"We can't be too cautious," said Kennedy. "Is it far?"

"Some miles."

"Not too far to walk?"

"Oh, no, we could walk there easily."

"We had better do so, then. A cabman's suspicions would be aroused if

he dropped us both at some lonely spot in the dead of the night."

"Quite so. I think it would be best for us to meet at the Gate of the

Appian Way at midnight. I must go back to my lodgings for the matches

and candles and things."

"All right, Burger! I think it is very kind of you to let me into this

secret, and I promise you that I will write nothing about it until you

have published your report. Good-bye for the present! You will find me

at the Gate at twelve."

The cold, clear air was filled with the musical chimes from that city

of clocks as Burger, wrapped in an Italian overcoat, with a lantern

hanging from his hand, walked up to the rendezvous. Kennedy stepped out

of the shadow to meet him.

"You are ardent in work as well as in love!" said the German, laughing.

"Yes; I have been waiting here for nearly half an hour."

"I hope you left no clue as to where we were going."

"Not such a fool! By Jove, I am chilled to the bone! Come on, Burger,

let us warm ourselves by a spurt of hard walking."

Their footsteps sounded loud and crisp upon the rough stone paving of

the disappointing road which is all that is left of the most famous

highway of the world. A peasant or two going home from the wine-shop,

and a few carts of country produce coming up to Rome, were the only

things which they met. They swung along, with the huge tombs looming

up through the darkness upon each side of them, until they had come as

far as the Catacombs of St. Calistus, and saw against a rising moon the

great circular bastion of Cecilia Metella in front of them. Then

Burger stopped with his hand to his side.

"Your legs are longer than mine, and you are more accustomed to

walking," said he, laughing. "I think that the place where we turn off

is somewhere here. Yes, this is it, round the corner of the trattoria.

Now, it is a very narrow path, so perhaps I had better go in front and

you can follow."

He had lit his lantern, and by its light they were enabled to follow a

narrow and devious track which wound across the marshes of the

Campagna. The great Aqueduct of old Rome lay like a monstrous

caterpillar across the moonlit landscape, and their road led them under

one of its huge arches, and past the circle of crumbling bricks which

marks the old arena. At last Burger stopped at a solitary wooden

cow-house, and he drew a key from his pocket. "Surely your catacomb is

not inside a house!" cried Kennedy.

"The entrance to it is. That is just the safeguard which we have

against anyone else discovering it."

"Does the proprietor know of it?"

"Not he. He had found one or two objects which made me almost certain

that his house was built on the entrance to such a place. So I rented

it from him, and did my excavations for myself. Come in, and shut the

door behind you."

It was a long, empty building, with the mangers of the cows along one

wall. Burger put his lantern down on the ground, and shaded its light

in all directions save one by draping his overcoat round it.

"It might excite remark if anyone saw a light in this lonely place,"

said he. "Just help me to move this boarding."

The flooring was loose in the corner, and plank by plank the two

savants raised it and leaned it against the wall. Below there was a

square aperture and a stair of old stone steps which led away down into

the bowels of the earth.

"Be careful!" cried Burger, as Kennedy, in his impatience, hurried down

them. "It is a perfect rabbits'-warren below, and if you were once to

lose your way there the chances would be a hundred to one against your

ever coming out again. Wait until I bring the light."

"How do you find your own way if it is so complicated?"

"I had some very narrow escapes at first, but I have gradually learned

to go about. There is a certain system to it, but it is one which a

lost man, if he were in the dark, could not possibly find out. Even

now I always spin out a ball of string behind me when I am going far

into the catacomb. You can see for yourself that it is difficult, but

every one of these passages divides and subdivides a dozen times before

you go a hundred yards."

They had descended some twenty feet from the level of the byre, and

they were standing now in a square chamber cut out of the soft tufa.

The lantern cast a flickering light, bright below and dim above, over

the cracked brown walls. In every direction were the black openings of

passages which radiated from this common centre.

"I want you to follow me closely, my friend," said Burger. "Do not

loiter to look at anything upon the way, for the place to which I will

take you contains all that you can see, and more. It will save time

for us to go there direct."

He led the way down one of the corridors, and the Englishman followed

closely at his heels. Every now and then the passage bifurcated, but

Burger was evidently following some secret marks of his own, for he

neither stopped nor hesitated. Everywhere along the walls, packed like

the berths upon an emigrant ship, lay the Christians of old Rome. The

yellow light flickered over the shrivelled features of the mummies, and

gleamed upon rounded skulls and long, white armbones crossed over

fleshless chests. And everywhere as he passed Kennedy looked with

wistful eyes upon inscriptions, funeral vessels, pictures, vestments,

utensils, all lying as pious hands had placed them so many centuries

ago. It was apparent to him, even in those hurried, passing glances,

that this was the earliest and finest of the catacombs, containing such

a storehouse of Roman remains as had never before come at one time

under the observation of the student.

"What would happen if the light went out?" he asked, as they hurried

onwards.

"I have a spare candle and a box of matches in my pocket. By the way,

Kennedy, have you any matches?"

"No; you had better give me some."

"Oh, that is all right. There is no chance of our separating."

"How far are we going? It seems to me that we have walked at least a

quarter of a mile."

"More than that, I think. There is really no limit to the tombs--at

least, I have never been able to find any. This is a very difficult

place, so I think that I will use our ball of string."

He fastened one end of it to a projecting stone and he carried the coil

in the breast of his coat, paying it out as he advanced. Kennedy saw

that it was no unnecessary precaution, for the passages had become more

complex and tortuous than ever, with a perfect network of intersecting

corridors. But these all ended in one large circular hall with a

square pedestal of tufa topped with a slab of marble at one end of it.

"By Jove!" cried Kennedy in an ecstasy, as Burger swung his lantern

over the marble. "It is a Christian altar--probably the first one in

existence. Here is the little consecration cross cut upon the corner

of it. No doubt this circular space was used as a church."

"Precisely," said Burger. "If I had more time I should like to show

you all the bodies which are buried in these niches upon the walls, for

they are the early popes and bishops of the Church, with their mitres,

their croziers, and full canonicals. Go over to that one and look at

it!"

Kennedy went across, and stared at the ghastly head which lay loosely

on the shredded and mouldering mitre.

"This is most interesting," said he, and his voice seemed to boom

against the concave vault. "As far as my experience goes, it is

unique. Bring the lantern over, Burger, for I want to see them all."

But the German had strolled away, and was standing in the middle of a

yellow circle of light at the other side of the hall.

"Do you know how many wrong turnings there are between this and the

stairs?" he asked. "There are over two thousand. No doubt it was one

of the means of protection which the Christians adopted. The odds are

two thousand to one against a man getting out, even if he had a light;

but if he were in the dark it would, of course, be far more difficult."

"So I should think."

"And the darkness is something dreadful. I tried it once for an

experiment. Let us try it again!" He stooped to the lantern, and in

an instant it was as if an invisible hand was squeezed tightly over

each of Kennedy's eyes. Never had he known what such darkness was. It

seemed to press upon him and to smother him. It was a solid obstacle

against which the body shrank from advancing. He put his hands out to

push it back from him.

"That will do, Burger," said he, "let's have the light again."

But his companion began to laugh, and in that circular room the sound

seemed to come from every side at once.

"You seem uneasy, friend Kennedy," said he.

"Go on, man, light the candle!" said Kennedy impatiently.

"It's very strange, Kennedy, but I could not in the least tell by the

sound in which direction you stand. Could you tell where I am?"

"No; you seem to be on every side of me."

"If it were not for this string which I hold in my hand I should not

have a notion which way to go."

"I dare say not. Strike a light, man, and have an end of this

nonsense."

"Well, Kennedy, there are two things which I understand that you are

very fond of. The one is an adventure, and the other is an obstacle to

surmount. The adventure must be the finding of your way out of this

catacomb. The obstacle will be the darkness and the two thousand wrong

turns which make the way a little difficult to find. But you need not

hurry, for you have plenty of time, and when you halt for a rest now

and then, I should like you just to think of Miss Mary Saunderson, and

whether you treated her quite fairly."

"You devil, what do you mean?" roared Kennedy. He was running about in

little circles and clasping at the solid blackness with both hands.

"Good-bye," said the mocking voice, and it was already at some

distance. "I really do not think, Kennedy, even by your own showing

that you did the right thing by that girl. There was only one little

thing which you appeared not to know, and I can supply it. Miss

Saunderson was engaged to a poor ungainly devil of a student, and his

name was Julius Burger."

There was a rustle somewhere, the vague sound of a foot striking a

stone, and then there fell silence upon that old Christian church--a

stagnant, heavy silence which closed round Kennedy and shut him in like

water round a drowning man.

Some two months afterwards the following paragraph made the round of

the European Press:

"One of the most interesting discoveries of recent years is that of the

new catacomb in Rome, which lies some distance to the east of the

well-known vaults of St. Calixtus. The finding of this important

burial-place, which is exceeding rich in most interesting early

Christian remains, is due to the energy and sagacity of Dr. Julius

Burger, the young German specialist, who is rapidly taking the first

place as an authority upon ancient Rome. Although the first to publish

his discovery, it appears that a less fortunate adventurer had

anticipated Dr. Burger. Some months ago Mr. Kennedy, the well-known

English student, disappeared suddenly from his rooms in the Corso, and

it was conjectured that his association with a recent scandal had

driven him to leave Rome. It appears now that he had in reality fallen

a victim to that fervid love of archaeology which had raised him to a

distinguished place among living scholars. His body was discovered in

the heart of the new catacomb, and it was evident from the condition of

his feet and boots that he had tramped for days through the tortuous

corridors which make these subterranean tombs so dangerous to

explorers. The deceased gentleman had, with inexplicable rashness,

made his way into this labyrinth without, as far as can be discovered,

taking with him either candles or matches, so that his sad fate was the

natural result of his own temerity. What makes the matter more painful

is that Dr. Julius Burger was an intimate friend of the deceased. His

joy at the extraordinary find which he has been so fortunate as to make

has been greatly marred by the terrible fate of his comrade and

fellow-worker."

The Case of Lady Sannox

The relations between Douglas Stone and the notorious Lady Sannox were

very well known both among the fashionable circles of which she was a

brilliant member, and the scientific bodies which numbered him among

their most illustrious confreres. There was naturally, therefore, a

very widespread interest when it was announced one morning that the

lady had absolutely and for ever taken the veil, and that the world

would see her no more. When, at the very tail of this rumour, there

came the assurance that the celebrated operating surgeon, the man of

steel nerves, had been found in the morning by his valet, seated on one

side of his bed, smiling pleasantly upon the universe, with both legs

jammed into one side of his breeches and his great brain about as

valuable as a cap full of porridge, the matter was strong enough to

give quite a little thrill of interest to folk who had never hoped that

their jaded nerves were capable of such a sensation.

Douglas Stone in his prime was one of the most remarkable men in

England. Indeed, he could hardly be said to have ever reached his

prime, for he was but nine-and-thirty at the time of this little

incident. Those who knew him best were aware that famous as he was as

a surgeon, he might have succeeded with even greater rapidity in any of

a dozen lines of life. He could have cut his way to fame as a soldier,

struggled to it as an explorer, bullied for it in the courts, or built

it out of stone and iron as an engineer. He was born to be great, for

he could plan what another man dare not do, and he could do what

another man dare not plan. In surgery none could follow him. His

nerve, his judgement, his intuition, were things apart. Again and

again his knife cut away death, but grazed the very springs of life in

doing it, until his assistants were as white as the patient. His

energy, his audacity, his full-blooded self-confidence--does not the

memory of them still linger to the south of Marylebone Road and the

north of Oxford Street?

His vices were as magnificent as his virtues, and infinitely more

picturesque. Large as was his income, and it was the third largest of

all professional men in London, it was far beneath the luxury of his

living. Deep in his complex nature lay a rich vein of sensualism, at

the sport of which he placed all the prizes of his life. The eye, the

ear, the touch, the palate, all were his masters. The bouquet of old

vintages, the scent of rare exotics, the curves and tints of the

daintiest potteries of Europe, it was to these that the quick-running

stream of gold was transformed. And then there came his sudden mad

passion for Lady Sannox, when a single interview with two challenging

glances and a whispered word set him ablaze. She was the loveliest

woman in London and the only one to him. He was one of the handsomest

men in London, but not the only one to her. She had a liking for new

experiences, and was gracious to most men who wooed her. It may have

been cause or it may have been effect that Lord Sannox looked fifty,

though he was but six-and-thirty.

He was a quiet, silent, neutral-tinted man, this lord, with thin lips

and heavy eyelids, much given to gardening, and full of home-like

habits. He had at one time been fond of acting, had even rented a

theatre in London, and on its boards had first seen Miss Marion Dawson,

to whom he had offered his hand, his title, and the third of a county.

Since his marriage his early hobby had become distasteful to him. Even

in private theatricals it was no longer possible to persuade him to

exercise the talent which he had often showed that he possessed. He

was happier with a spud and a watering-can among his orchids and

chrysanthemums.

It was quite an interesting problem whether he was absolutely devoid of

sense, or miserably wanting in spirit. Did he know his lady's ways and

condone them, or was he a mere blind, doting fool? It was a point to be

discussed over the teacups in snug little drawing-rooms, or with the

aid of a cigar in the bow windows of clubs. Bitter and plain were the

comments among men upon his conduct. There was but one who had a good

word to say for him, and he was the most silent member in the

smoking-room. He had seen him break in a horse at the University, and

it seemed to have left an impression upon his mind.

But when Douglas Stone became the favourite all doubts as to Lord

Sannox's knowledge or ignorance were set for ever at rest. There was no

subterfuge about Stone. In his high-handed, impetuous fashion, he set

all caution and discretion at defiance. The scandal became notorious.

A learned body intimated that his name had been struck from the list of

its vice-presidents. Two friends implored him to consider his

professional credit. He cursed them all three, and spent forty guineas

on a bangle to take with him to the lady. He was at her house every

evening, and she drove in his carriage in the afternoons. There was

not an attempt on either side to conceal their relations; but there

came at last a little incident to interrupt them.

It was a dismal winter's night, very cold and gusty, with the wind

whooping in the chimneys and blustering against the window-panes. A

thin spatter of rain tinkled on the glass with each fresh sough of the

gale, drowning for the instant the dull gurgle and drip from the eaves.

Douglas Stone had finished his dinner, and sat by his fire in the

study, a glass of rich port upon the malachite table at his elbow. As

he raised it to his lips, he held it up against the lamplight, and

watched with the eye of a connoisseur the tiny scales of beeswing which

floated in its rich ruby depths. The fire, as it spurted up, threw

fitful lights upon his bald, clear-cut face, with its widely-opened

grey eyes, its thick and yet firm lips, and the deep, square jaw, which

had something Roman in its strength and its animalism. He smiled from

time to time as he nestled back in his luxurious chair. Indeed, he had

a right to feel well pleased, for, against the advice of six

colleagues, he had performed an operation that day of which only two

cases were on record, and the result had been brilliant beyond all

expectation. No other man in London would have had the daring to plan,

or the skill to execute, such a heroic measure.

But he had promised Lady Sannox to see her that evening and it was

already half-past eight. His hand was outstretched to the bell to

order the carriage when he heard the dull thud of the knocker. An

instant later there was the shuffling of feet in the hall, and the

sharp closing of a door.

"A patient to see you, sir, in the consulting room," said the butler.

"About himself?"

"No, sir; I think he wants you to go out."

"It is too late," cried Douglas Stone peevishly. "I won't go."

"This is his card, sir."

The butler presented it upon the gold salver which had been given to

his master by the wife of a Prime Minister.

"'Hamil Ali, Smyrna.' Hum! The fellow is a Turk, I suppose."

"Yes, sir. He seems as if he came from abroad, sir. And he's in a

terrible way."

"Tut, tut! I have an engagement. I must go somewhere else. But I'll

see him. Show him in here, Pim."

A few moments later the butler swung open the door and ushered in a

small and decrepit man, who walked with a bent back and with the

forward push of the face and blink of the eyes which goes with extreme

short sight. His face was swarthy, and his hair and beard of the

deepest black. In one hand he held a turban of white muslin striped

with red, in the other a small chamois-leather bag.

"Good evening," said Douglas Stone, when the butler had closed the

door. "You speak English, I presume?"

"Yes, sir. I am from Asia Minor, but I speak English when I speak

slow."

"You wanted me to go out, I understand?"

"Yes, sir. I wanted very much that you should see my wife."

"I could come in the morning, but I have an engagement which prevents

me from seeing your wife tonight."

The Turk's answer was a singular one. He pulled the string which

closed the mouth of the chamois-leather bag, and poured a flood of gold

on to the table.

"There are one hundred pounds there," said he, "and I promise you that

it will not take you an hour. I have a cab ready at the door."

Douglas Stone glanced at his watch. An hour would not make it too late

to visit Lady Sannox. He had been there later. And the fee was an

extraordinarily high one. He had been pressed by his creditors lately,

and he could not afford to let such a chance pass. He would go.

"What is the case?" he asked.

"Oh, it is so sad a one! So sad a one! You have not, perhaps heard of

the daggers of the Almohades?"

"Never."

"Ah, they are Eastern daggers of a great age and of a singular shape,

with the hilt like what you call a stirrup. I am a curiosity dealer,

you understand, and that is why I have come to England from Smyrna, but

next week I go back once more. Many things I brought with me, and I

have a few things left, but among them, to my sorrow, is one of these

daggers."

"You will remember that I have an appointment, sir," said the surgeon,

with some irritation; "pray confine yourself to the necessary details."

"You will see that it is necessary. Today my wife fell down in a faint

in the room in which I keep my wares, and she cut her lower lip upon

this cursed dagger of Almohades."

"I see," said Douglas Stone, rising. "And you wish me to dress the

wound?"

"No, no, it is worse than that."

"What then?"

"These daggers are poisoned."

"Poisoned!"

"Yes, and there is no man, East or West, who can tell now what is the

poison or what the cure. But all that is known I know, for my father

was in this trade before me, and we have had much to do with these

poisoned weapons."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Deep sleep, and death in thirty hours."

"And you say there is no cure. Why then should you pay me this

considerable fee?"

"No drug can cure, but the knife may."

"And how?"

"The poison is slow of absorption. It remains for hours in the wound."

"Washing, then, might cleanse it?"

"No more than in a snake bite. It is too subtle and too deadly."

"Excision of the wound, then?"

"That is it. If it be on the finger, take the finger off. So said my

father always. But think of where this wound is, and that it is my

wife. It is dreadful!"

But familiarity with such grim matters may take the finer edge from a

man's sympathy. To Douglas Stone this was already an interesting case,

and he brushed aside as irrelevant the feeble objections of the husband.

"It appears to be that or nothing," said he brusquely. "It is better

to lose a lip than a life."

"Ah, yes, I know that you are right. Well, well, it is kismet, and it

must be faced. I have the cab, and you will come with me and do this

thing."

Douglas Stone took his case of bistouries from a drawer, and placed it

with a roll of bandage and a compress of lint in his pocket. He must

waste no more time if he were to see Lady Sannox.

"I am ready," said he, pulling on his overcoat. "Will you take a glass

of wine before you go out into this cold air?"

His visitor shrank away, with a protesting hand upraised.

"You forget that I am a Mussulman, and a true follower of the Prophet,"

said he. "But tell me what is the bottle of green glass which you have

placed in your pocket?"

"It is chloroform."

"Ah, that also is forbidden to us. It is a spirit, and we make no use

of such things."

"What! You would allow your wife to go through an operation without an

anaesthetic?"

"Ah! she will feel nothing, poor soul. The deep sleep has already

come on, which is the first working of the poison. And then I have

given her of our Smyrna opium. Come, sir, for already an hour has

passed."

As they stepped out into the darkness, a sheet of rain was driven in

upon their faces, and the hall lamp, which dangled from the arm of a

marble Caryatid, went out with a fluff. Pim, the butler, pushed the

heavy door to, straining hard with his shoulder against the wind, while

the two men groped their way towards the yellow glare which showed

where the cab was waiting. An instant later they were rattling upon

their journey.

"Is it far?" asked Douglas Stone.

"Oh, no. We have a very little quiet place off the Euston Road."

The surgeon pressed the spring of his repeater and listened to the

little tings which told him the hour. It was a quarter past nine. He

calculated the distances, and the short time which it would take him to

perform so trivial an operation. He ought to reach Lady Sannox by ten

o'clock. Through the fogged windows he saw the blurred gas lamps

dancing past, with occasionally the broader glare of a shop front. The

rain was pelting and rattling upon the leathern top of the carriage,

and the wheels swashed as they rolled through puddle and mud. Opposite

to him the white headgear of his companion gleamed faintly through the

obscurity. The surgeon felt in his pockets and arranged his needles,

his ligatures and his safety-pins, that no time might be wasted when

they arrived. He chafed with impatience and drummed his foot upon the

floor.

But the cab slowed down at last and pulled up. In an instant Douglas

Stone was out, and the Smyrna merchant's toe was at his very heel.

"You can wait," said he to the driver.

It was a mean-looking house in a narrow and sordid street. The

surgeon, who knew his London well, cast a swift glance into the

shadows, but there was nothing distinctive--no shop, no movement,

nothing but a double line of dull, flat-faced houses, a double stretch

of wet flagstones which gleamed in the lamplight, and a double rush of

water in the gutters which swirled and gurgled towards the sewer

gratings. The door which faced them was blotched and discoloured, and

a faint light in the fan pane above, it served to show the dust and the

grime which covered it. Above in one of the bedroom windows, there was

a dull yellow glimmer. The merchant knocked loudly, and, as he turned

his dark face towards the light, Douglas Stone could see that it was

contracted with anxiety. A bolt was drawn, and an elderly woman with a

taper stood in the doorway, shielding the thin flame with her gnarled

hand.

"Is all well?" gasped the merchant.

"She is as you left her, sir."

"She has not spoken?"

"No, she is in a deep sleep."

The merchant closed the door, and Douglas Stone walked down the narrow

passage, glancing about him in some surprise as he did so. There was no

oil-cloth, no mat, no hat-rack. Deep grey dust and heavy festoons of

cobwebs met his eyes everywhere. Following the old woman up the

winding stair, his firm footfall echoed harshly through the silent

house. There was no carpet.

The bedroom was on the second landing. Douglas Stone followed the old

nurse into it, with the merchant at his heels. Here, at least, there

was furniture and to spare. The floor was littered and the corners

piled with Turkish cabinets, inlaid tables, coats of chain mail,

strange pipes, and grotesque weapons. A single small lamp stood upon a

bracket on the wall. Douglas Stone took it down, and picking his way

among the lumber, walked over to a couch in the corner, on which lay a

woman dressed in the Turkish fashion, with yashmak and veil. The lower

part of the face was exposed, and the surgeon saw a jagged cut which

zigzagged along the border of the under lip.

"You will forgive the yashmak," said the Turk. "You know our views

about women in the East."

But the surgeon was not thinking about the yashmak. This was no longer

a woman to him. It was a case. He stooped and examined the wound

carefully.

"There are no signs of irritation," said he. "We might delay the

operation until local symptoms develop."

The husband wrung his hands in uncontrollable agitation.

"Oh! sir, sir," he cried. "Do not trifle. You do not know. It is

deadly. I know, and I give you my assurance that an operation is

absolutely necessary. Only the knife can save her."

"And yet I am inclined to wait," said Douglas Stone.

"That is enough," the Turk cried, angrily. "Every minute is of

importance, and I cannot stand here and see my wife allowed to sink.

It only remains for me to give you my thanks for having come, and to

call in some other surgeon before it is too late."

Douglas Stone hesitated. To refund that hundred pounds was no pleasant

matter. But of course if he left the case he must return the money.

And if the Turk were right and the woman died, his position before a

coroner might be an embarrassing one.

"You have had personal experience of this poison?" he asked.

"I have."

"And you assure me that an operation is needful."

"I swear it by all that I hold sacred."

"The disfigurement will be frightful."

"I can understand that the mouth will not be a pretty one to kiss."

Douglas Stone turned fiercely upon the man. The speech was a brutal

one. But the Turk has his own fashion of talk and of thought, and

there was no time for wrangling. Douglas Stone drew a bistoury from

his case, opened it and felt the keen straight edge with his

forefinger. Then he held the lamp closer to the bed. Two dark eyes

were gazing up at him through the slit in the yashmak. They were all

iris, and the pupil was hardly to be seen.

"You have given her a very heavy dose of opium."

"Yes, she has had a good dose."

He glanced again at the dark eyes which looked straight at his own.

They were dull and lustreless, but, even as he gazed, a little shifting

sparkle came into them, and the lips quivered.

"She is not absolutely unconscious," said he.

"Would it not be well to use the knife while it will be painless?"

The same thought had crossed the surgeon's mind. He grasped the

wounded lip with his forceps, and with two swift cuts he took out a

broad V-shaped piece. The woman sprang up on the couch with a dreadful

gurgling scream. Her covering was torn from her face. It was a face

that he knew. In spite of that protruding upper lip and that slobber

of blood, it was a face that he knew, She kept on putting her hand up

to the gap and screaming. Douglas Stone sat down at the foot of the

couch with his knife and his forceps. The room was whirling round, and

he had felt something go like a ripping seam behind his ear. A

bystander would have said that his face was the more ghastly of the

two. As in a dream, or as if he had been looking at something at the

play, he was conscious that the Turk's hair and beard lay upon the

table, and that Lord Sannox was leaning against the wall with his hand

to his side, laughing silently. The screams had died away now, and the

dreadful head had dropped back again upon the pillow, but Douglas Stone

still sat motionless, and Lord Sannox still chuckled quietly to himself.

"It was really very necessary for Marion, this operation," said he,

"not physically, but morally, you know, morally."

Douglas Stone stooped for yards and began to play with the fringe of

the coverlet. His knife tinkled down upon the ground, but he still

held the forceps and something more.

"I had long intended to make a little example," said Lord Sannox,

suavely. "Your note of Wednesday miscarried, and I have it here in my

pocket-book. I took some pains in carrying out my idea. The wound, by

the way, was from nothing more dangerous than my signet ring."

He glanced keenly at his silent companion, and cocked the small

revolver which he held in his coat pocket. But Douglas Stone was still

picking at the coverlet.

"You see you have kept your appointment after all," said Lord Sannox.

And at that Douglas Stone began to laugh. He laughed long and loudly.

But Lord Sannox did not laugh now. Something like fear sharpened and

hardened his features. He walked from the room, and he walked on

tiptoe. The old woman was waiting outside.

"Attend to your mistress when she awakes," said Lord Sannox.

Then he went down to the street. The cab was at the door, and the

driver raised his hand to his hat.

"John," said Lord Sannox, "you will take the doctor home first. He will

want leading downstairs, I think. Tell his butler that he has been

taken ill at a case."

"Very good, sir."

"Then you can take Lady Sannox home."

"And how about yourself, sir?"

"Oh, my address for the next few months will be Hotel di Roma, Venice.

Just see that the letters are sent on. And tell Stevens to exhibit all

the purple chrysanthemums next Monday, and to wire me the result."

The Terror of Blue John Gap

The following narrative was found among the papers of Dr. James

Hardcastle, who died of phthisis on February 4th, 1908, at 36, Upper

Coventry Flats, South Kensington. Those who knew him best, while

refusing to express an opinion upon this particular statement, are

unanimous in asserting that he was a man of a sober and scientific turn

of mind, absolutely devoid of imagination, and most unlikely to invent

any abnormal series of events. The paper was contained in an envelope,

which was docketed, "A Short Account of the Circumstances which

occurred near Miss Allerton's Farm in North-West Derbyshire in the

Spring of Last Year." The envelope was sealed, and on the other side

was written in pencil--

DEAR SEATON,--

"It may interest, and perhaps pain you, to know that the incredulity

with which you met my story has prevented me from ever opening my mouth

upon the subject again. I leave this record after my death, and

perhaps strangers may be found to have more confidence in me than my

friend."

Inquiry has failed to elicit who this Seaton may have been. I may add

that the visit of the deceased to Allerton's Farm, and the general

nature of the alarm there, apart from his particular explanation, have

been absolutely established. With this foreword I append his account

exactly as he left it. It is in the form of a diary, some entries in

which have been expanded, while a few have been erased.

April 17.--Already I feel the benefit of this wonderful upland air.

The farm of the Allertons lies fourteen hundred and twenty feet above

sea-level, so it may well be a bracing climate. Beyond the usual

morning cough I have very little discomfort, and, what with the fresh

milk and the home-grown mutton, I have every chance of putting on

weight. I think Saunderson will be pleased.

The two Miss Allertons are charmingly quaint and kind, two dear little

hard-working old maids, who are ready to lavish all the heart which

might have gone out to husband and to children upon an invalid

stranger. Truly, the old maid is a most useful person, one of the

reserve forces of the community. They talk of the superfluous woman,

but what would the poor superfluous man do without her kindly presence?

By the way, in their simplicity they very quickly let out the reason

why Saunderson recommended their farm. The Professor rose from the

ranks himself, and I believe that in his youth he was not above scaring

crows in these very fields.

It is a most lonely spot, and the walks are picturesque in the extreme.

The farm consists of grazing land lying at the bottom of an irregular

valley. On each side are the fantastic limestone hills, formed of rock

so soft that you can break it away with your hands. All this country

is hollow. Could you strike it with some gigantic hammer it would boom

like a drum, or possibly cave in altogether and expose some huge

subterranean sea. A great sea there must surely be, for on all sides

the streams run into the mountain itself, never to reappear. There are

gaps everywhere amid the rocks, and when you pass through them you find

yourself in great caverns, which wind down into the bowels of the

earth. I have a small bicycle lamp, and it is a perpetual joy to me to

carry it into these weird solitudes, and to see the wonderful silver

and black effect when I throw its light upon the stalactites which

drape the lofty roofs. Shut off the lamp, and you are in the blackest

darkness. Turn it on, and it is a scene from the Arabian Nights.

But there is one of these strange openings in the earth which has a

special interest, for it is the handiwork, not of nature, but of man.

I had never heard of Blue John when I came to these parts. It is the

name given to a peculiar mineral of a beautiful purple shade, which is

only found at one or two places in the world. It is so rare that an

ordinary vase of Blue John would be valued at a great price. The

Romans, with that extraordinary instinct of theirs, discovered that it

was to be found in this valley, and sank a horizontal shaft deep into

the mountain side. The opening of their mine has been called Blue John

Gap, a clean-cut arch in the rock, the mouth all overgrown with bushes.

It is a goodly passage which the Roman miners have cut, and it

intersects some of the great water-worn caves, so that if you enter

Blue John Gap you would do well to mark your steps and to have a good

store of candles, or you may never make your way back to the daylight

again. I have not yet gone deeply into it, but this very day I stood at

the mouth of the arched tunnel, and peering down into the black

recesses beyond, I vowed that when my health returned I would devote

some holiday to exploring those mysterious depths and finding out for

myself how far the Roman had penetrated into the Derbyshire hills.

Strange how superstitious these countrymen are! I should have thought

better of young Armitage, for he is a man of some education and

character, and a very fine fellow for his station in life. I was

standing at the Blue John Gap when he came across the field to me.

"Well, doctor," said he, "you're not afraid, anyhow."

"Afraid!" I answered. "Afraid of what?"

"Of it," said he, with a jerk of his thumb towards the black vault, "of

the Terror that lives in the Blue John Cave."

How absurdly easy it is for a legend to arise in a lonely countryside!

I examined him as to the reasons for his weird belief. It seems that

from time to time sheep have been missing from the fields, carried

bodily away, according to Armitage. That they could have wandered away

of their own accord and disappeared among the mountains was an

explanation to which he would not listen. On one occasion a pool of

blood had been found, and some tufts of wool. That also, I pointed

out, could be explained in a perfectly natural way. Further, the

nights upon which sheep disappeared were invariably very dark, cloudy

nights with no moon. This I met with the obvious retort that those were

the nights which a commonplace sheep-stealer would naturally choose for

his work. On one occasion a gap had been made in a wall, and some of

the stones scattered for a considerable distance. Human agency again,

in my opinion. Finally, Armitage clinched all his arguments by telling

me that he had actually heard the Creature--indeed, that anyone could

hear it who remained long enough at the Gap. It was a distant roaring

of an immense volume. I could not but smile at this, knowing, as I do,

the strange reverberations which come out of an underground water

system running amid the chasms of a limestone formation. My

incredulity annoyed Armitage so that he turned and left me with some

abruptness.

And now comes the queer point about the whole business. I was still

standing near the mouth of the cave turning over in my mind the various

statements of Armitage, and reflecting how readily they could be

explained away, when suddenly, from the depth of the tunnel beside me,

there issued a most extraordinary sound. How shall I describe it?

First of all, it seemed to be a great distance away, far down in the

bowels of the earth. Secondly, in spite of this suggestion of

distance, it was very loud. Lastly, it was not a boom, nor a crash,

such as one would associate with falling water or tumbling rock, but it

was a high whine, tremulous and vibrating, almost like the whinnying of

a horse. It was certainly a most remarkable experience, and one which

for a moment, I must admit, gave a new significance to Armitage's

words. I waited by the Blue John Gap for half an hour or more, but

there was no return of the sound, so at last I wandered back to the

farmhouse, rather mystified by what had occurred. Decidedly I shall

explore that cavern when my strength is restored. Of course,

Armitage's explanation is too absurd for discussion, and yet that sound

was certainly very strange. It still rings in my ears as I write.

April 20.--In the last three days I have made several expeditions to

the Blue John Gap, and have even penetrated some short distance, but my

bicycle lantern is so small and weak that I dare not trust myself very

far. I shall do the thing more systematically. I have heard no sound

at all, and could almost believe that I had been the victim of some

hallucination suggested, perhaps, by Armitage's conversation. Of

course, the whole idea is absurd, and yet I must confess that those

bushes at the entrance of the cave do present an appearance as if some

heavy creature had forced its way through them. I begin to be keenly

interested. I have said nothing to the Miss Allertons, for they are

quite superstitious enough already, but I have bought some candles, and

mean to investigate for myself.

I observed this morning that among the numerous tufts of sheep's wool

which lay among the bushes near the cavern there was one which was

smeared with blood. Of course, my reason tells me that if sheep wander

into such rocky places they are likely to injure themselves, and yet

somehow that splash of crimson gave me a sudden shock, and for a moment

I found myself shrinking back in horror from the old Roman arch. A

fetid breath seemed to ooze from the black depths into which I peered.

Could it indeed be possible that some nameless thing, some dreadful

presence, was lurking down yonder? I should have been incapable of

such feelings in the days of my strength, but one grows more nervous

and fanciful when one's health is shaken.

For the moment I weakened in my resolution, and was ready to leave the

secret of the old mine, if one exists, for ever unsolved. But tonight

my interest has returned and my nerves grown more steady. Tomorrow I

trust that I shall have gone more deeply into this matter.

April 22.--Let me try and set down as accurately as I can my

extraordinary experience of yesterday. I started in the afternoon, and

made my way to the Blue John Gap. I confess that my misgivings

returned as I gazed into its depths, and I wished that I had brought a

companion to share my exploration. Finally, with a return of

resolution, I lit my candle, pushed my way through the briars, and

descended into the rocky shaft.

It went down at an acute angle for some fifty feet, the floor being

covered with broken stone. Thence there extended a long, straight

passage cut in the solid rock. I am no geologist, but the lining of

this corridor was certainly of some harder material than limestone, for

there were points where I could actually see the tool-marks which the

old miners had left in their excavation, as fresh as if they had been

done yesterday. Down this strange, old-world corridor I stumbled, my

feeble flame throwing a dim circle of light around me, which made the

shadows beyond the more threatening and obscure. Finally, I came to a

spot where the Roman tunnel opened into a water-worn cavern--a huge

hall, hung with long white icicles of lime deposit. From this central

chamber I could dimly perceive that a number of passages worn by the

subterranean streams wound away into the depths of the earth. I was

standing there wondering whether I had better return, or whether I dare

venture farther into this dangerous labyrinth, when my eyes fell upon

something at my feet which strongly arrested my attention.

The greater part of the floor of the cavern was covered with boulders

of rock or with hard incrustations of lime, but at this particular

point there had been a drip from the distant roof, which had left a

patch of soft mud. In the very centre of this there was a huge

mark--an ill-defined blotch, deep, broad and irregular, as if a great

boulder had fallen upon it. No loose stone lay near, however, nor was

there anything to account for the impression. It was far too large to

be caused by any possible animal, and besides, there was only the one,

and the patch of mud was of such a size that no reasonable stride could

have covered it. As I rose from the examination of that singular mark

and then looked round into the black shadows which hemmed me in, I must

confess that I felt for a moment a most unpleasant sinking of my heart,

and that, do what I could, the candle trembled in my outstretched hand.

I soon recovered my nerve, however, when I reflected how absurd it was

to associate so huge and shapeless a mark with the track of any known

animal. Even an elephant could not have produced it. I determined,

therefore, that I would not be scared by vague and senseless fears from

carrying out my exploration. Before proceeding, I took good note of a

curious rock formation in the wall by which I could recognize the

entrance of the Roman tunnel. The precaution was very necessary, for

the great cave, so far as I could see it, was intersected by passages.

Having made sure of my position, and reassured myself by examining my

spare candles and my matches, I advanced slowly over the rocky and

uneven surface of the cavern.

And now I come to the point where I met with such sudden and desperate

disaster. A stream, some twenty feet broad, ran across my path, and I

walked for some little distance along the bank to find a spot where I

could cross dry-shod. Finally, I came to a place where a single flat

boulder lay near the centre, which I could reach in a stride. As it

chanced, however, the rock had been cut away and made top-heavy by the

rush of the stream, so that it tilted over as I landed on it and shot

me into the ice-cold water. My candle went out, and I found myself

floundering about in utter and absolute darkness.

I staggered to my feet again, more amused than alarmed by my adventure.

The candle had fallen from my hand, and was lost in the stream, but I

had two others in my pocket, so that it was of no importance. I got

one of them ready, and drew out my box of matches to light it. Only

then did I realize my position. The box had been soaked in my fall

into the river. It was impossible to strike the matches.

A cold hand seemed to close round my heart as I realized my position.

The darkness was opaque and horrible. It was so utter one put one's

hand up to one's face as if to press off something solid. I stood

still, and by an effort I steadied myself. I tried to reconstruct in

my mind a map of the floor of the cavern as I had last seen it. Alas!

the bearings which had impressed themselves upon my mind were high on

the wall, and not to be found by touch. Still, I remembered in a

general way how the sides were situated, and I hoped that by groping my

way along them I should at last come to the opening of the Roman

tunnel. Moving very slowly, and continually striking against the

rocks, I set out on this desperate quest.

But I very soon realized how impossible it was. In that black, velvety

darkness one lost all one's bearings in an instant. Before I had made

a dozen paces, I was utterly bewildered as to my whereabouts. The

rippling of the stream, which was the one sound audible, showed me

where it lay, but the moment that I left its bank I was utterly lost.

The idea of finding my way back in absolute darkness through that

limestone labyrinth was clearly an impossible one.

I sat down upon a boulder and reflected upon my unfortunate plight. I

had not told anyone that I proposed to come to the Blue John mine, and

it was unlikely that a search party would come after me. Therefore I

must trust to my own resources to get clear of the danger. There was

only one hope, and that was that the matches might dry. When I fell

into the river, only half of me had got thoroughly wet. My left

shoulder had remained above the water. I took the box of matches,

therefore, and put it into my left armpit. The moist air of the cavern

might possibly be counteracted by the heat of my body, but even so, I

knew that I could not hope to get a light for many hours. Meanwhile

there was nothing for it but to wait.

By good luck I had slipped several biscuits into my pocket before I

left the farm-house. These I now devoured, and washed them down with a

draught from that wretched stream which had been the cause of all my

misfortunes. Then I felt about for a comfortable seat among the rocks,

and, having discovered a place where I could get a support for my back,

I stretched out my legs and settled myself down to wait. I was

wretchedly damp and cold, but I tried to cheer myself with the

reflection that modern science prescribed open windows and walks in all

weather for my disease. Gradually, lulled by the monotonous gurgle of

the stream, and by the absolute darkness, I sank into an uneasy slumber.

How long this lasted I cannot say. It may have been for an hour, it

may have been for several. Suddenly I sat up on my rock couch, with

every nerve thrilling and every sense acutely on the alert. Beyond all

doubt I had heard a sound--some sound very distinct from the gurgling

of the waters. It had passed, but the reverberation of it still

lingered in my ear. Was it a search party? They would most certainly

have shouted, and vague as this sound was which had wakened me, it was

very distinct from the human voice. I sat palpitating and hardly

daring to breathe. There it was again! And again! Now it had become

continuous. It was a tread--yes, surely it was the tread of some

living creature. But what a tread it was! It gave one the impression

of enormous weight carried upon sponge-like feet, which gave forth a

muffled but ear-filling sound. The darkness was as complete as ever,

but the tread was regular and decisive. And it was coming beyond all

question in my direction.

My skin grew cold, and my hair stood on end as I listened to that

steady and ponderous footfall. There was some creature there, and

surely by the speed of its advance, it was one which could see in the

dark. I crouched low on my rock and tried to blend myself into it.

The steps grew nearer still, then stopped, and presently I was aware of

a loud lapping and gurgling. The creature was drinking at the stream.

Then again there was silence, broken by a succession of long sniffs and

snorts of tremendous volume and energy. Had it caught the scent of me?

My own nostrils were filled by a low fetid odour, mephitic and

abominable. Then I heard the steps again. They were on my side of the

stream now. The stones rattled within a few yards of where I lay.

Hardly daring to breathe, I crouched upon my rock. Then the steps drew

away. I heard the splash as it returned across the river, and the

sound died away into the distance in the direction from which it had

come.

For a long time I lay upon the rock, too much horrified to move. I

thought of the sound which I had heard coming from the depths of the

cave, of Armitage's fears, of the strange impression in the mud, and

now came this final and absolute proof that there was indeed some

inconceivable monster, something utterly unearthly and dreadful, which

lurked in the hollow of the mountain. Of its nature or form I could

frame no conception, save that it was both light-footed and gigantic.

The combat between my reason, which told me that such things could not

be, and my senses, which told me that they were, raged within me as I

lay. Finally, I was almost ready to persuade myself that this

experience had been part of some evil dream, and that my abnormal

condition might have conjured up an hallucination. But there remained

one final experience which removed the last possibility of doubt from

my mind.

I had taken my matches from my armpit and felt them. They seemed

perfectly hard and dry. Stooping down into a crevice of the rocks, I

tried one of them. To my delight it took fire at once. I lit the

candle, and, with a terrified backward glance into the obscure depths

of the cavern, I hurried in the direction of the Roman passage. As I

did so I passed the patch of mud on which I had seen the huge imprint.

Now I stood astonished before it, for there were three similar imprints

upon its surface, enormous in size, irregular in outline, of a depth

which indicated the ponderous weight which had left them. Then a great

terror surged over me. Stooping and shading my candle with my hand, I

ran in a frenzy of fear to the rocky archway, hastened up it, and never

stopped until, with weary feet and panting lungs, I rushed up the final

slope of stones, broke through the tangle of briars, and flung myself

exhausted upon the soft grass under the peaceful light of the stars.

It was three in the morning when I reached the farm-house, and today I

am all unstrung and quivering after my terrific adventure. As yet I

have told no one. I must move warily in the matter. What would the

poor lonely women, or the uneducated yokels here think of it if I were

to tell them my experience? Let me go to someone who can understand

and advise.

April 25.--I was laid up in bed for two days after my incredible

adventure in the cavern. I use the adjective with a very definite

meaning, for I have had an experience since which has shocked me almost

as much as the other. I have said that I was looking round for someone

who could advise me. There is a Dr. Mark Johnson who practices some

few miles away, to whom I had a note of recommendation from Professor

Saunderson. To him I drove, when I was strong enough to get about, and

I recounted to him my whole strange experience. He listened intently,

and then carefully examined me, paying special attention to my reflexes

and to the pupils of my eyes. When he had finished, he refused to

discuss my adventure, saying that it was entirely beyond him, but he

gave me the card of a Mr. Picton at Castleton, with the advice that I

should instantly go to him and tell him the story exactly as I had done

to himself. He was, according to my adviser, the very man who was

pre-eminently suited to help me. I went on to the station, therefore,

and made my way to the little town, which is some ten miles away. Mr.

Picton appeared to be a man of importance, as his brass plate was

displayed upon the door of a considerable building on the outskirts of

the town. I was about to ring his bell, when some misgiving came into

my mind, and, crossing to a neighbouring shop, I asked the man behind

the counter if he could tell me anything of Mr. Picton. "Why," said

he, "he is the best mad doctor in Derbyshire, and yonder is his

asylum." You can imagine that it was not long before I had shaken the

dust of Castleton from my feet and returned to the farm, cursing all

unimaginative pedants who cannot conceive that there may be things in

creation which have never yet chanced to come across their mole's

vision. After all, now that I am cooler, I can afford to admit that I

have been no more sympathetic to Armitage than Dr. Johnson has been to

me.

April 27. When I was a student I had the reputation of being a man of

courage and enterprise. I remember that when there was a ghost-hunt at

Coltbridge it was I who sat up in the haunted house. Is it advancing

years (after all, I am only thirty-five), or is it this physical malady

which has caused degeneration? Certainly my heart quails when I think

of that horrible cavern in the hill, and the certainty that it has some

monstrous occupant. What shall I do? There is not an hour in the day

that I do not debate the question. If I say nothing, then the mystery

remains unsolved. If I do say anything, then I have the alternative of

mad alarm over the whole countryside, or of absolute incredulity which

may end in consigning me to an asylum. On the whole, I think that my

best course is to wait, and to prepare for some expedition which shall

be more deliberate and better thought out than the last. As a first

step I have been to Castleton and obtained a few essentials--a large

acetylene lantern for one thing, and a good double-barrelled sporting

rifle for another. The latter I have hired, but I have bought a dozen

heavy game cartridges, which would bring down a rhinoceros. Now I am

ready for my troglodyte friend. Give me better health and a little

spate of energy, and I shall try conclusions with him yet. But who and

what is he? Ah! there is the question which stands between me and my

sleep. How many theories do I form, only to discard each in turn! It

is all so utterly unthinkable. And yet the cry, the footmark, the

tread in the cavern--no reasoning can get past these I think of the

old-world legends of dragons and of other monsters. Were they,

perhaps, not such fairy-tales as we have thought? Can it be that there

is some fact which underlies them, and am I, of all mortals, the one

who is chosen to expose it?

May 3.--For several days I have been laid up by the vagaries of an

English spring, and during those days there have been developments, the

true and sinister meaning of which no one can appreciate save myself.

I may say that we have had cloudy and moonless nights of late, which

according to my information were the seasons upon which sheep

disappeared. Well, sheep have disappeared. Two of Miss Allerton's,

one of old Pearson's of the Cat Walk, and one of Mrs. Moulton's. Four

in all during three nights. No trace is left of them at all, and the

countryside is buzzing with rumours of gipsies and of sheep-stealers.

But there is something more serious than that. Young Armitage has

disappeared also. He left his moorland cottage early on Wednesday

night and has never been heard of since. He was an unattached man, so

there is less sensation than would otherwise be the case. The popular

explanation is that he owes money, and has found a situation in some

other part of the country, whence he will presently write for his

belongings. But I have grave misgivings. Is it not much more likely

that the recent tragedy of the sheep has caused him to take some steps

which may have ended in his own destruction? He may, for example, have

lain in wait for the creature and been carried off by it into the

recesses of the mountains. What an inconceivable fate for a civilized

Englishman of the twentieth century! And yet I feel that it is

possible and even probable. But in that case, how far am I answerable

both for his death and for any other mishap which may occur? Surely

with the knowledge I already possess it must be my duty to see that

something is done, or if necessary to do it myself. It must be the

latter, for this morning I went down to the local police-station and

told my story. The inspector entered it all in a large book and bowed

me out with commendable gravity, but I heard a burst of laughter before

I had got down his garden path. No doubt he was recounting my

adventure to his family.

June 10.--I am writing this, propped up in bed, six weeks after my last

entry in this journal. I have gone through a terrible shock both to

mind and body, arising from such an experience as has seldom befallen a

human being before. But I have attained my end. The danger from the

Terror which dwells in the Blue John Gap has passed never to return.

Thus much at least I, a broken invalid, have done for the common good.

Let me now recount what occurred as clearly as I may.

The night of Friday, May 3rd, was dark and cloudy--the very night for

the monster to walk. About eleven o'clock I went from the farm-house

with my lantern and my rifle, having first left a note upon the table

of my bedroom in which I said that, if I were missing, search should be

made for me in the direction of the Gap. I made my way to the mouth of

the Roman shaft, and, having perched myself among the rocks close to

the opening, I shut off my lantern and waited patiently with my loaded

rifle ready to my hand.

It was a melancholy vigil. All down the winding valley I could see the

scattered lights of the farm-houses, and the church clock of

Chapel-le-Dale tolling the hours came faintly to my ears. These tokens

of my fellow-men served only to make my own position seem the more

lonely, and to call for a greater effort to overcome the terror which

tempted me continually to get back to the farm, and abandon for ever

this dangerous quest. And yet there lies deep in every man a rooted

self-respect which makes it hard for him to turn back from that which

he has once undertaken. This feeling of personal pride was my

salvation now, and it was that alone which held me fast when every

instinct of my nature was dragging me away. I am glad now that I had

the strength. In spite of all that is has cost me, my manhood is at

least above reproach.

Twelve o'clock struck in the distant church, then one, then two. It

was the darkest hour of the night. The clouds were drifting low, and

there was not a star in the sky. An owl was hooting somewhere among

the rocks, but no other sound, save the gentle sough of the wind, came

to my ears. And then suddenly I heard it! From far away down the

tunnel came those muffled steps, so soft and yet so ponderous. I heard

also the rattle of stones as they gave way under that giant tread.

They drew nearer. They were close upon me. I heard the crashing of

the bushes round the entrance, and then dimly through the darkness I

was conscious of the loom of some enormous shape, some monstrous

inchoate creature, passing swiftly and very silently out from the

tunnel. I was paralysed with fear and amazement. Long as I had

waited, now that it had actually come I was unprepared for the shock.

I lay motionless and breathless, whilst the great dark mass whisked by

me and was swallowed up in the night.

But now I nerved myself for its return. No sound came from the

sleeping countryside to tell of the horror which was loose. In no way

could I judge how far off it was, what it was doing, or when it might

be back. But not a second time should my nerve fail me, not a second

time should it pass unchallenged. I swore it between my clenched teeth

as I laid my cocked rifle across the rock.

And yet it nearly happened. There was no warning of approach now as

the creature passed over the grass. Suddenly, like a dark, drifting

shadow, the huge bulk loomed up once more before me, making for the

entrance of the cave. Again came that paralysis of volition which held

my crooked forefinger impotent upon the trigger. But with a desperate

effort I shook it off. Even as the brushwood rustled, and the

monstrous beast blended with the shadow of the Gap, I fired at the

retreating form. In the blaze of the gun I caught a glimpse of a great

shaggy mass, something with rough and bristling hair of a withered grey

colour, fading away to white in its lower parts, the huge body

supported upon short, thick, curving legs. I had just that glance, and

then I heard the rattle of the stones as the creature tore down into

its burrow. In an instant, with a triumphant revulsion of feeling, I

had cast my fears to the wind, and uncovering my powerful lantern, with

my rifle in my hand, I sprang down from my rock and rushed after the

monster down the old Roman shaft.

My splendid lamp cast a brilliant flood of vivid light in front of me,

very different from the yellow glimmer which had aided me down the same

passage only twelve days before. As I ran, I saw the great beast

lurching along before me, its huge bulk filling up the whole space from

wall to wall. Its hair looked like coarse faded oakum, and hung down

in long, dense masses which swayed as it moved. It was like an

enormous unclipped sheep in its fleece, but in size it was far larger

than the largest elephant, and its breadth seemed to be nearly as great

as its height. It fills me with amazement now to think that I should

have dared to follow such a horror into the bowels of the earth, but

when one's blood is up, and when one's quarry seems to be flying, the

old primeval hunting-spirit awakes and prudence is cast to the wind.

Rifle in hand, I ran at the top of my speed upon the trail of the

monster.

I had seen that the creature was swift. Now I was to find out to my

cost that it was also very cunning. I had imagined that it was in

panic flight, and that I had only to pursue it. The idea that it might

turn upon me never entered my excited brain. I have already explained

that the passage down which I was racing opened into a great central

cave. Into this I rushed, fearful lest I should lose all trace of the

beast. But he had turned upon his own traces, and in a moment we were

face to face.

That picture, seen in the brilliant white light of the lantern, is

etched for ever upon my brain. He had reared up on his hind legs as a

bear would do, and stood above me, enormous, menacing--such a creature

as no nightmare had ever brought to my imagination. I have said that he

reared like a bear, and there was something bear-like--if one could

conceive a bear which was ten-fold the bulk of any bear seen upon

earth--in his whole pose and attitude, in his great crooked forelegs

with their ivory-white claws, in his rugged skin, and in his red,

gaping mouth, fringed with monstrous fangs. Only in one point did he

differ from the bear, or from any other creature which walks the earth,

and even at that supreme moment a shudder of horror passed over me as I

observed that the eyes which glistened in the glow of my lantern were

huge, projecting bulbs, white and sightless. For a moment his great

paws swung over my head. The next he fell forward upon me, I and my

broken lantern crashed to the earth, and I remember no more.

When I came to myself I was back in the farm-house of the Allertons.

Two days had passed since my terrible adventure in the Blue John Gap.

It seems that I had lain all night in the cave insensible from

concussion of the brain, with my left arm and two ribs badly fractured.

In the morning my note had been found, a search party of a dozen

farmers assembled, and I had been tracked down and carried back to my

bedroom, where I had lain in high delirium ever since. There was, it

seems, no sign of the creature, and no bloodstain which would show that

my bullet had found him as he passed. Save for my own plight and the

marks upon the mud, there was nothing to prove that what I said was

true.

Six weeks have now elapsed, and I am able to sit out once more in the

sunshine. Just opposite me is the steep hillside, grey with shaly

rock, and yonder on its flank is the dark cleft which marks the opening

of the Blue John Gap. But it is no longer a source of terror. Never

again through that ill-omened tunnel shall any strange shape flit out

into the world of men. The educated and the scientific, the Dr.

Johnsons and the like, may smile at my narrative, but the poorer folk

of the countryside had never a doubt as to its truth. On the day after

my recovering consciousness they assembled in their hundreds round the

Blue John Gap. As the Castleton Courier said:

"It was useless for our correspondent, or for any of the adventurous

gentlemen who had come from Matlock, Buxton, and other parts, to offer

to descend, to explore the cave to the end, and to finally test the

extraordinary narrative of Dr. James Hardcastle. The country people had

taken the matter into their own hands, and from an early hour of the

morning they had worked hard in stopping up the entrance of the tunnel.

There is a sharp slope where the shaft begins, and great boulders,

rolled along by many willing hands, were thrust down it until the Gap

was absolutely sealed. So ends the episode which has caused such

excitement throughout the country. Local opinion is fiercely divided

upon the subject. On the one hand are those who point to Dr.

Hardcastle's impaired health, and to the possibility of cerebral

lesions of tubercular origin giving rise to strange hallucinations.

Some idee fixe, according to these gentlemen, caused the doctor to

wander down the tunnel, and a fall among the rocks was sufficient to

account for his injuries. On the other hand, a legend of a strange

creature in the Gap has existed for some months back, and the farmers

look upon Dr. Hardcastle's narrative and his personal injuries as a

final corroboration. So the matter stands, and so the matter will

continue to stand, for no definite solution seems to us to be now

possible. It transcends human wit to give any scientific explanation

which could cover the alleged facts."

Perhaps before the Courier published these words they would have been

wise to send their representative to me. I have thought the matter

out, as no one else has occasion to do, and it is possible that I might

have removed some of the more obvious difficulties of the narrative and

brought it one degree nearer to scientific acceptance. Let me then

write down the only explanation which seems to me to elucidate what I

know to my cost to have been a series of facts. My theory may seem to

be wildly improbable, but at least no one can venture to say that it is

impossible.

My view is--and it was formed, as is shown by my diary, before my

personal adventure--that in this part of England there is a vast

subterranean lake or sea, which is fed by the great number of streams

which pass down through the limestone. Where there is a large

collection of water there must also be some evaporation, mists or rain,

and a possibility of vegetation. This in turn suggests that there may

be animal life, arising, as the vegetable life would also do, from

those seeds and types which had been introduced at an early period of

the world's history, when communication with the outer air was more

easy. This place had then developed a fauna and flora of its own,

including such monsters as the one which I had seen, which may well

have been the old cave-bear, enormously enlarged and modified by its

new environment. For countless aeons the internal and the external

creation had kept apart, growing steadily away from each other. Then

there had come some rift in the depths of the mountain which had

enabled one creature to wander up and, by means of the Roman tunnel, to

reach the open air. Like all subterranean life, it had lost the power

of sight, but this had no doubt been compensated for by nature in other

directions. Certainly it had some means of finding its way about, and

of hunting down the sheep upon the hillside. As to its choice of dark

nights, it is part of my theory that light was painful to those great

white eyeballs, and that it was only a pitch-black world which it could

tolerate. Perhaps, indeed, it was the glare of my lantern which saved

my life at that awful moment when we were face to face. So I read the

riddle. I leave these facts behind me, and if you can explain them, do

so; or if you choose to doubt them, do so. Neither your belief nor

your incredulity can alter them, nor affect one whose task is nearly

over.

So ended the strange narrative of Dr. James Hardcastle.

The Brazilian Cat

It is hard luck on a young fellow to have expensive tastes, great

expectations, aristocratic connections, but no actual money in his

pocket, and no profession by which he may earn any. The fact was that

my father, a good, sanguine, easy-going man, had such confidence in the

wealth and benevolence of his bachelor elder brother, Lord Southerton,

that he took it for granted that I, his only son, would never be called

upon to earn a living for myself. He imagined that if there were not a

vacancy for me on the great Southerton Estates, at least there would be

found some post in that diplomatic service which still remains the

special preserve of our privileged classes. He died too early to

realize how false his calculations had been. Neither my uncle nor the

State took the slightest notice of me, or showed any interest in my

career. An occasional brace of pheasants, or basket of hares, was all

that ever reached me to remind me that I was heir to Otwell House and

one of the richest estates in the country. In the meantime, I found

myself a bachelor and man about town, living in a suite of apartments

in Grosvenor Mansions, with no occupation save that of pigeon-shooting

and polo-playing at Hurlingham. Month by month I realized that it was

more and more difficult to get the brokers to renew my bills, or to

cash any further post-obits upon an unentailed property. Ruin lay

right across my path, and every day I saw it clearer, nearer, and more

absolutely unavoidable.

What made me feel my own poverty the more was that, apart from the

great wealth of Lord Southerton, all my other relations were fairly

well-to-do. The nearest of these was Everard King, my father's nephew

and my own first cousin, who had spent an adventurous life in Brazil,

and had now returned to this country to settle down on his fortune. We

never knew how he made his money, but he appeared to have plenty of it,

for he bought the estate of Greylands, near Clipton-on-the-Marsh, in

Suffolk. For the first year of his residence in England he took no

more notice of me than my miserly uncle; but at last one summer

morning, to my very great relief and joy, I received a letter asking me

to come down that very day and spend a short visit at Greylands Court.

I was expecting a rather long visit to Bankruptcy Court at the time,

and this interruption seemed almost providential. If I could only get

on terms with this unknown relative of mine, I might pull through yet.

For the family credit he could not let me go entirely to the wall. I

ordered my valet to pack my valise, and I set off the same evening for

Clipton-on-the-Marsh.

After changing at Ipswich, a little local train deposited me at a

small, deserted station lying amidst a rolling grassy country, with a

sluggish and winding river curving in and out amidst the valleys,

between high, silted banks, which showed that we were within reach of

the tide. No carriage was awaiting me (I found afterwards that my

telegram had been delayed), so I hired a dogcart at the local inn. The

driver, an excellent fellow, was full of my relative's praises, and I

learned from him that Mr. Everard King was already a name to conjure

with in that part of the county. He had entertained the

school-children, he had thrown his grounds open to visitors, he had

subscribed to charities--in short, his benevolence had been so

universal that my driver could only account for it on the supposition

that he had parliamentary ambitions.

My attention was drawn away from my driver's panegyric by the

appearance of a very beautiful bird which settled on a telegraph-post

beside the road. At first I thought that it was a jay, but it was

larger, with a brighter plumage. The driver accounted for its presence

at once by saying that it belonged to the very man whom we were about

to visit. It seems that the acclimatization of foreign creatures was

one of his hobbies, and that he had brought with him from Brazil a

number of birds and beasts which he was endeavouring to rear in

England. When once we had passed the gates of Greylands Park we had

ample evidence of this taste of his. Some small spotted deer, a

curious wild pig known, I believe, as a peccary, a gorgeously feathered

oriole, some sort of armadillo, and a singular lumbering in-toed beast

like a very fat badger, were among the creatures which I observed as we

drove along the winding avenue.

Mr. Everard King, my unknown cousin, was standing in person upon the

steps of his house, for he had seen us in the distance, and guessed

that it was I. His appearance was very homely and benevolent, short

and stout, forty-five years old, perhaps, with a round, good-humoured

face, burned brown with the tropical sun, and shot with a thousand

wrinkles. He wore white linen clothes, in true planter style, with a

cigar between his lips, and a large Panama hat upon the back of his

head. It was such a figure as one associates with a verandahed

bungalow, and it looked curiously out of place in front of this broad,

stone English mansion, with its solid wings and its Palladio pillars

before the doorway.

"My dear!" he cried, glancing over his shoulder; "my dear, here is our

guest! Welcome, welcome to Greylands! I am delighted to make your

acquaintance, Cousin Marshall, and I take it as a great compliment that

you should honour this sleepy little country place with your presence."

Nothing could be more hearty than his manner, and he set me at my ease

in an instant. But it needed all his cordiality to atone for the

frigidity and even rudeness of his wife, a tall, haggard woman, who

came forward at his summons. She was, I believe, of Brazilian

extraction, though she spoke excellent English, and I excused her

manners on the score of her ignorance of our customs. She did not

attempt to conceal, however, either then or afterwards, that I was no

very welcome visitor at Greylands Court. Her actual words were, as a

rule, courteous, but she was the possessor of a pair of particularly

expressive dark eyes, and I read in them very clearly from the first

that she heartily wished me back in London once more.

However, my debts were too pressing and my designs upon my wealthy

relative were too vital for me to allow them to be upset by the

ill-temper of his wife, so I disregarded her coldness and reciprocated

the extreme cordiality of his welcome. No pains had been spared by him

to make me comfortable. My room was a charming one. He implored me to

tell him anything which could add to my happiness. It was on the tip

of my tongue to inform him that a blank cheque would materially help

towards that end, but I felt that it might be premature in the present

state of our acquaintance. The dinner was excellent, and as we sat

together afterwards over his Havanas and coffee, which later he told me

was specially prepared upon his own plantation, it seemed to me that

all my driver's eulogies were justified, and that I had never met a

more large-hearted and hospitable man.

But, in spite of his cheery good nature, he was a man with a strong

will and a fiery temper of his own. Of this I had an example upon the

following morning. The curious aversion which Mrs. Everard King had

conceived towards me was so strong, that her manner at breakfast was

almost offensive. But her meaning became unmistakable when her husband

had quitted the room.

"The best train in the day is at twelve-fifteen," said she.

"But I was not thinking of going today," I answered, frankly--perhaps

even defiantly, for I was determined not to be driven out by this woman.

"Oh, if it rests with you--" said she, and stopped with a most insolent

expression in her eyes.

"I am sure," I answered, "that Mr. Everard King would tell me if I were

outstaying my welcome."

"What's this? What's this?" said a voice, and there he was in the

room. He had overheard my last words, and a glance at our faces had

told him the rest. In an instant his chubby, cheery face set into an

expression of absolute ferocity.

"Might I trouble you to walk outside, Marshall?" said he. (I may

mention that my own name is Marshall King.)

He closed the door behind me, and then, for an instant, I heard him

talking in a low voice of concentrated passion to his wife. This gross

breach of hospitality had evidently hit upon his tenderest point. I am

no eavesdropper, so I walked out on to the lawn. Presently I heard a

hurried step behind me, and there was the lady, her face pale with

excitement, and her eyes red with tears.

"My husband has asked me to apologize to you, Mr. Marshall King," said

she, standing with downcast eyes before me.

"Please do not say another word, Mrs. King."

Her dark eyes suddenly blazed out at me.

"You fool!" she hissed, with frantic vehemence, and turning on her heel

swept back to the house.

The insult was so outrageous, so insufferable, that I could only stand

staring after her in bewilderment. I was still there when my host

joined me. He was his cheery, chubby self once more.

"I hope that my wife has apologized for her foolish remarks," said he.

"Oh, yes--yes, certainly!"

He put his hand through my arm and walked with me up and down the lawn.

"You must not take it seriously," said he. "It would grieve me

inexpressibly if you curtailed your visit by one hour. The fact

is--there is no reason why there should be any concealment between

relatives--that my poor dear wife is incredibly jealous. She hates

that anyone--male or female--should for an instant come between us. Her

ideal is a desert island and an eternal tete-a-tete. That gives you

the clue to her actions, which are, I confess, upon this particular

point, not very far removed from mania. Tell me that you will think no

more of it."

"No, no; certainly not."

"Then light this cigar and come round with me and see my little

menagerie."

The whole afternoon was occupied by this inspection, which included all

the birds, beasts, and even reptiles which he had imported. Some were

free, some in cages, a few actually in the house. He spoke with

enthusiasm of his successes and his failures, his births and his

deaths, and he would cry out in his delight, like a schoolboy, when, as

we walked, some gaudy bird would flutter up from the grass, or some

curious beast slink into the cover. Finally he led me down a corridor

which extended from one wing of the house. At the end of this there

was a heavy door with a sliding shutter in it, and beside it there

projected from the wall an iron handle attached to a wheel and a drum.

A line of stout bars extended across the passage.

"I am about to show you the jewel of my collection," said he. "There is

only one other specimen in Europe, now that the Rotterdam cub is dead.

It is a Brazilian cat."

"But how does that differ from any other cat?"

"You will soon see that," said he, laughing. "Will you kindly draw

that shutter and look through?"

I did so, and found that I was gazing into a large, empty room, with

stone flags, and small, barred windows upon the farther wall. In the

centre of this room, lying in the middle of a golden patch of sunlight,

there was stretched a huge creature, as large as a tiger, but as black

and sleek as ebony. It was simply a very enormous and very well-kept

black cat, and it cuddled up and basked in that yellow pool of light

exactly as a cat would do. It was so graceful, so sinewy, and so

gently and smoothly diabolical, that I could not take my eyes from the

opening.

"Isn't he splendid?" said my host, enthusiastically.

"Glorious! I never saw such a noble creature."

"Some people call it a black puma, but really it is not a puma at all.

That fellow is nearly eleven feet from tail to tip. Four years ago he

was a little ball of black fluff, with two yellow eyes staring out of

it. He was sold me as a new-born cub up in the wild country at the

head-waters of the Rio Negro. They speared his mother to death after

she had killed a dozen of them."

"They are ferocious, then?"

"The most absolutely treacherous and bloodthirsty creatures upon earth.

You talk about a Brazilian cat to an up-country Indian, and see him get

the jumps. They prefer humans to game. This fellow has never tasted

living blood yet, but when he does he will be a terror. At present he

won't stand anyone but me in his den. Even Baldwin, the groom, dare

not go near him. As to me, I am his mother and father in one."

As he spoke he suddenly, to my astonishment, opened the door and

slipped in, closing it instantly behind him. At the sound of his voice

the huge, lithe creature rose, yawned and rubbed its round, black head

affectionately against his side, while he patted and fondled it.

"Now, Tommy, into your cage!" said he.

The monstrous cat walked over to one side of the room and coiled itself

up under a grating. Everard King came out, and taking the iron handle

which I have mentioned, he began to turn it. As he did so the line of

bars in the corridor began to pass through a slot in the wall and

closed up the front of this grating, so as to make an effective cage.

When it was in position he opened the door once more and invited me

into the room, which was heavy with the pungent, musty smell peculiar

to the great carnivora.

"That's how we work it," said he. "We give him the run of the room for

exercise, and then at night we put him in his cage. You can let him

out by turning the handle from the passage, or you can, as you have

seen, coop him up in the same way. No, no, you should not do that!"

I had put my hand between the bars to pat the glossy, heaving flank.

He pulled it back, with a serious face.

"I assure you that he is not safe. Don't imagine that because I can

take liberties with him anyone else can. He is very exclusive in his

friends--aren't you, Tommy? Ah, he hears his lunch coming to him!

Don't you, boy?"

A step sounded in the stone-flagged passage, and the creature had

sprung to his feet, and was pacing up and down the narrow cage, his

yellow eyes gleaming, and his scarlet tongue rippling and quivering

over the white line of his jagged teeth. A groom entered with a coarse

joint upon a tray, and thrust it through the bars to him. He pounced

lightly upon it, carried it off to the corner, and there, holding it

between his paws, tore and wrenched at it, raising his bloody muzzle

every now and then to look at us. It was a malignant and yet

fascinating sight.

"You can't wonder that I am fond of him, can you?" said my host, as we

left the room, "especially when you consider that I have had the

rearing of him. It was no joke bringing him over from the centre of

South America; but here he is safe and sound--and, as I have said, far

the most perfect specimen in Europe. The people at the Zoo are dying

to have him, but I really can't part with him. Now, I think that I have

inflicted my hobby upon you long enough, so we cannot do better than

follow Tommy's example, and go to our lunch."

My South American relative was so engrossed by his grounds and their

curious occupants, that I hardly gave him credit at first for having

any interests outside them. That he had some, and pressing ones, was

soon borne in upon me by the number of telegrams which he received.

They arrived at all hours, and were always opened by him with the

utmost eagerness and anxiety upon his face. Sometimes I imagined that

it must be the Turf, and sometimes the Stock Exchange, but certainly he

had some very urgent business going forwards which was not transacted

upon the Downs of Suffolk. During the six days of my visit he had never

fewer than three or four telegrams a day, and sometimes as many as

seven or eight.

I had occupied these six days so well, that by the end of them I had

succeeded in getting upon the most cordial terms with my cousin. Every

night we had sat up late in the billiard-room, he telling me the most

extraordinary stories of his adventures in America--stories so

desperate and reckless, that I could hardly associate them with the

brown little, chubby man before me. In return, I ventured upon some of

my own reminiscences of London life, which interested him so much, that

he vowed he would come up to Grosvenor Mansions and stay with me. He

was anxious to see the faster side of city life, and certainly, though

I say it, he could not have chosen a more competent guide. It was not

until the last day of my visit that I ventured to approach that which

was on my mind. I told him frankly about my pecuniary difficulties and

my impending ruin, and I asked his advice--though I hoped for something

more solid. He listened attentively, puffing hard at his cigar.

"But surely," said he, "you are the heir of our relative, Lord

Southerton?"

"I have every reason to believe so, but he would never make me any

allowance."

"No, no, I have heard of his miserly ways. My poor Marshall, your

position has been a very hard one. By the way, have you heard any news

of Lord Southerton's health lately?"

"He has always been in a critical condition ever since my childhood."

"Exactly--a creaking hinge, if ever there was one. Your inheritance

may be a long way off. Dear me, how awkwardly situated you are!"

"I had some hopes, sir, that you, knowing all the facts, might be

inclined to advance----"

"Don't say another word, my dear boy," he cried, with the utmost

cordiality; "we shall talk it over tonight, and I give you my word that

whatever is in my power shall be done."

I was not sorry that my visit was drawing to a close, for it is

unpleasant to feel that there is one person in the house who eagerly

desires your departure. Mrs. King's sallow face and forbidding eyes

had become more and more hateful to me. She was no longer actively

rude--her fear of her husband prevented her--but she pushed her insane

jealousy to the extent of ignoring me, never addressing me, and in

every way making my stay at Greylands as uncomfortable as she could.

So offensive was her manner during that last day, that I should

certainly have left had it not been for that interview with my host in

the evening which would, I hoped, retrieve my broken fortunes.

It was very late when it occurred, for my relative, who had been

receiving even more telegrams than usual during the day, went off to

his study after dinner, and only emerged when the household had retired

to bed. I heard him go round locking the doors, as custom was of a

night, and finally he joined me in the billiard-room. His stout figure

was wrapped in a dressing-gown, and he wore a pair of red Turkish

slippers without any heels. Settling down into an arm-chair, he brewed

himself a glass of grog, in which I could not help noticing that the

whisky considerably predominated over the water.

"My word!" said he, "what a night!"

It was, indeed. The wind was howling and screaming round the house,

and the latticed windows rattled and shook as if they were coming in.

The glow of the yellow lamps and the flavour of our cigars seemed the

brighter and more fragrant for the contrast.

"Now, my boy," said my host, "we have the house and the night to

ourselves. Let me have an idea of how your affairs stand, and I will

see what can be done to set them in order. I wish to hear every

detail."

Thus encouraged, I entered into a long exposition, in which all my

tradesmen and creditors from my landlord to my valet, figured in turn.

I had notes in my pocket-book, and I marshalled my facts, and gave, I

flatter myself, a very businesslike statement of my own unbusinesslike

ways and lamentable position. I was depressed, however, to notice that

my companion's eyes were vacant and his attention elsewhere. When he

did occasionally throw out a remark it was so entirely perfunctory and

pointless, that I was sure he had not in the least followed my remarks.

Every now and then he roused himself and put on some show of interest,

asking me to repeat or to explain more fully, but it was always to sink

once more into the same brown study. At last he rose and threw the end

of his cigar into the grate.

"I'll tell you what, my boy," said he. "I never had a head for

figures, so you will excuse me. You must jot it all down upon paper,

and let me have a note of the amount. I'll understand it when I see it

in black and white."

The proposal was encouraging. I promised to do so.

"And now it's time we were in bed. By Jove, there's one o'clock

striking in the hall."

The tingling of the chiming clock broke through the deep roar of the

gale. The wind was sweeping past with the rush of a great river.

"I must see my cat before I go to bed," said my host. "A high wind

excites him. Will you come?"

"Certainly," said I.

"Then tread softly and don't speak, for everyone is asleep."

We passed quietly down the lamp-lit Persian-rugged hall, and through

the door at the farther end. All was dark in the stone corridor, but a

stable lantern hung on a hook, and my host took it down and lit it.

There was no grating visible in the passage, so I knew that the beast

was in its cage.

"Come in!" said my relative, and opened the door.

A deep growling as we entered showed that the storm had really excited

the creature. In the flickering light of the lantern, we saw it, a

huge black mass coiled in the corner of its den and throwing a squat,

uncouth shadow upon the whitewashed wall. Its tail switched angrily

among the straw.

"Poor Tommy is not in the best of tempers," said Everard King, holding

up the lantern and looking in at him. "What a black devil he looks,

doesn't he? I must give him a little supper to put him in a better

humour. Would you mind holding the lantern for a moment?"

I took it from his hand and he stepped to the door.

"His larder is just outside here," said he. "You will excuse me for an

instant won't you?" He passed out, and the door shut with a sharp

metallic click behind him.

That hard crisp sound made my heart stand still. A sudden wave of

terror passed over me. A vague perception of some monstrous treachery

turned me cold. I sprang to the door, but there was no handle upon the

inner side.

"Here!" I cried. "Let me out!"

"All right! Don't make a row!" said my host from the passage. "You've

got the light all right."

"Yes, but I don't care about being locked in alone like this."

"Don't you?" I heard his hearty, chuckling laugh. "You won't be alone

long."

"Let me out, sir!" I repeated angrily. "I tell you I don't allow

practical jokes of this sort."

"Practical is the word," said he, with another hateful chuckle. And

then suddenly I heard, amidst the roar of the storm, the creak and

whine of the winch-handle turning and the rattle of the grating as it

passed through the slot. Great God, he was letting loose the Brazilian

cat!

In the light of the lantern I saw the bars sliding slowly before me.

Already there was an opening a foot wide at the farther end. With a

scream I seized the last bar with my hands and pulled with the strength

of a madman. I WAS a madman with rage and horror. For a minute or

more I held the thing motionless. I knew that he was straining with

all his force upon the handle, and that the leverage was sure to

overcome me. I gave inch by inch, my feet sliding along the stones,

and all the time I begged and prayed this inhuman monster to save me

from this horrible death. I conjured him by his kinship. I reminded

him that I was his guest; I begged to know what harm I had ever done

him. His only answers were the tugs and jerks upon the handle, each of

which, in spite of all my struggles, pulled another bar through the

opening. Clinging and clutching, I was dragged across the whole front

of the cage, until at last, with aching wrists and lacerated fingers, I

gave up the hopeless struggle. The grating clanged back as I released

it, and an instant later I heard the shuffle of the Turkish slippers in

the passage, and the slam of the distant door. Then everything was

silent.

The creature had never moved during this time. He lay still in the

corner, and his tail had ceased switching. This apparition of a man

adhering to his bars and dragged screaming across him had apparently

filled him with amazement. I saw his great eyes staring steadily at

me. I had dropped the lantern when I seized the bars, but it still

burned upon the floor, and I made a movement to grasp it, with some

idea that its light might protect me. But the instant I moved, the

beast gave a deep and menacing growl. I stopped and stood still,

quivering with fear in every limb. The cat (if one may call so fearful

a creature by so homely a name) was not more than ten feet from me.

The eyes glimmered like two disks of phosphorus in the darkness. They

appalled and yet fascinated me. I could not take my own eyes from

them. Nature plays strange tricks with us at such moments of

intensity, and those glimmering lights waxed and waned with a steady

rise and fall. Sometimes they seemed to be tiny points of extreme

brilliancy--little electric sparks in the black obscurity--then they

would widen and widen until all that corner of the room was filled with

their shifting and sinister light. And then suddenly they went out

altogether.

The beast had closed its eyes. I do not know whether there may be any

truth in the old idea of the dominance of the human gaze, or whether

the huge cat was simply drowsy, but the fact remains that, far from

showing any symptom of attacking me, it simply rested its sleek, black

head upon its huge forepaws and seemed to sleep. I stood, fearing to

move lest I should rouse it into malignant life once more. But at

least I was able to think clearly now that the baleful eyes were off

me. Here I was shut up for the night with the ferocious beast. My own

instincts, to say nothing of the words of the plausible villain who

laid this trap for me, warned me that the animal was as savage as its

master. How could I stave it off until morning? The door was

hopeless, and so were the narrow, barred windows. There was no shelter

anywhere in the bare, stone-flagged room. To cry for assistance was

absurd. I knew that this den was an outhouse, and that the corridor

which connected it with the house was at least a hundred feet long.

Besides, with the gale thundering outside, my cries were not likely to

be heard. I had only my own courage and my own wits to trust to.

And then, with a fresh wave of horror, my eyes fell upon the lantern.

The candle had burned low, and was already beginning to gutter. In ten

minutes it would be out. I had only ten minutes then in which to do

something, for I felt that if I were once left in the dark with that

fearful beast I should be incapable of action. The very thought of it

paralysed me. I cast my despairing eyes round this chamber of death,

and they rested upon one spot which seemed to promise I will not say

safety, but less immediate and imminent danger than the open floor.

I have said that the cage had a top as well as a front, and this top

was left standing when the front was wound through the slot in the

wall. It consisted of bars at a few inches' interval, with stout wire

netting between, and it rested upon a strong stanchion at each end. It

stood now as a great barred canopy over the crouching figure in the

corner. The space between this iron shelf and the roof may have been

from two or three feet. If I could only get up there, squeezed in

between bars and ceiling, I should have only one vulnerable side. I

should be safe from below, from behind, and from each side. Only on

the open face of it could I be attacked. There, it is true, I had no

protection whatever; but at least, I should be out of the brute's path

when he began to pace about his den. He would have to come out of his

way to reach me. It was now or never, for if once the light were out

it would be impossible. With a gulp in my throat I sprang up, seized

the iron edge of the top, and swung myself panting on to it. I writhed

in face downwards, and found myself looking straight into the terrible

eyes and yawning jaws of the cat. Its fetid breath came up into my

face like the steam from some foul pot.

It appeared, however, to be rather curious than angry. With a sleek

ripple of its long, black back it rose, stretched itself, and then

rearing itself on its hind legs, with one forepaw against the wall, it

raised the other, and drew its claws across the wire meshes beneath me.

One sharp, white hook tore through my trousers--for I may mention that

I was still in evening dress--and dug a furrow in my knee. It was not

meant as an attack, but rather as an experiment, for upon my giving a

sharp cry of pain he dropped down again, and springing lightly into the

room, he began walking swiftly round it, looking up every now and again

in my direction. For my part I shuffled backwards until I lay with my

back against the wall, screwing myself into the smallest space

possible. The farther I got the more difficult it was for him to

attack me.

He seemed more excited now that he had begun to move about, and he ran

swiftly and noiselessly round and round the den, passing continually

underneath the iron couch upon which I lay. It was wonderful to see so

great a bulk passing like a shadow, with hardly the softest thudding of

velvety pads. The candle was burning low--so low that I could hardly

see the creature. And then, with a last flare and splutter it went out

altogether. I was alone with the cat in the dark!

It helps one to face a danger when one knows that one has done all that

possibly can be done. There is nothing for it then but to quietly

await the result. In this case, there was no chance of safety anywhere

except the precise spot where I was. I stretched myself out,

therefore, and lay silently, almost breathlessly, hoping that the beast

might forget my presence if I did nothing to remind him. I reckoned

that it must already be two o'clock. At four it would be full dawn. I

had not more than two hours to wait for daylight.

Outside, the storm was still raging, and the rain lashed continually

against the little windows. Inside, the poisonous and fetid air was

overpowering. I could neither hear nor see the cat. I tried to think

about other things--but only one had power enough to draw my mind from

my terrible position. That was the contemplation of my cousin's

villainy, his unparalleled hypocrisy, his malignant hatred of me.

Beneath that cheerful face there lurked the spirit of a mediaeval

assassin. And as I thought of it I saw more clearly how cunningly the

thing had been arranged. He had apparently gone to bed with the

others. No doubt he had his witness to prove it. Then, unknown to

them, he had slipped down, had lured me into his den and abandoned me.

His story would be so simple. He had left me to finish my cigar in the

billiard-room. I had gone down on my own account to have a last look at

the cat. I had entered the room without observing that the cage was

opened, and I had been caught. How could such a crime be brought home

to him? Suspicion, perhaps--but proof, never!

How slowly those dreadful two hours went by! Once I heard a low,

rasping sound, which I took to be the creature licking its own fur.

Several times those greenish eyes gleamed at me through the darkness,

but never in a fixed stare, and my hopes grew stronger that my presence

had been forgotten or ignored. At last the least faint glimmer of

light came through the windows--I first dimly saw them as two grey

squares upon the black wall, then grey turned to white, and I could see

my terrible companion once more. And he, alas, could see me!

It was evident to me at once that he was in a much more dangerous and

aggressive mood than when I had seen him last. The cold of the morning

had irritated him, and he was hungry as well. With a continual growl he

paced swiftly up and down the side of the room which was farthest from

my refuge, his whiskers bristling angrily, and his tail switching and

lashing. As he turned at the corners his savage eyes always looked

upwards at me with a dreadful menace. I knew then that he meant to

kill me. Yet I found myself even at that moment admiring the sinuous

grace of the devilish thing, its long, undulating, rippling movements,

the gloss of its beautiful flanks, the vivid, palpitating scarlet of

the glistening tongue which hung from the jet-black muzzle. And all

the time that deep, threatening growl was rising and rising in an

unbroken crescendo. I knew that the crisis was at hand.

It was a miserable hour to meet such a death--so cold, so comfortless,

shivering in my light dress clothes upon this gridiron of torment upon

which I was stretched. I tried to brace myself to it, to raise my soul

above it, and at the same time, with the lucidity which comes to a

perfectly desperate man, I cast round for some possible means of

escape. One thing was clear to me. If that front of the cage was only

back in its position once more, I could find a sure refuge behind it.

Could I possibly pull it back? I hardly dared to move for fear of

bringing the creature upon me. Slowly, very slowly, I put my hand

forward until it grasped the edge of the front, the final bar which

protruded through the wall. To my surprise it came quite easily to my

jerk. Of course the difficulty of drawing it out arose from the fact

that I was clinging to it. I pulled again, and three inches of it came

through. It ran apparently on wheels. I pulled again ... and then

the cat sprang!

It was so quick, so sudden, that I never saw it happen. I simply heard

the savage snarl, and in an instant afterwards the blazing yellow eyes,

the flattened black head with its red tongue and flashing teeth, were

within reach of me. The impact of the creature shook the bars upon

which I lay, until I thought (as far as I could think of anything at

such a moment) that they were coming down. The cat swayed there for an

instant, the head and front paws quite close to me, the hind paws

clawing to find a grip upon the edge of the grating. I heard the claws

rasping as they clung to the wire-netting, and the breath of the beast

made me sick. But its bound had been miscalculated. It could not

retain its position. Slowly, grinning with rage, and scratching madly

at the bars, it swung backwards and dropped heavily upon the floor.

With a growl it instantly faced round to me and crouched for another

spring.

I knew that the next few moments would decide my fate. The creature

had learned by experience. It would not miscalculate again. I must

act promptly, fearlessly, if I were to have a chance for life. In an

instant I had formed my plan. Pulling off my dress-coat, I threw it

down over the head of the beast. At the same moment I dropped over the

edge, seized the end of the front grating, and pulled it frantically

out of the wall.

It came more easily than I could have expected. I rushed across the

room, bearing it with me; but, as I rushed, the accident of my position

put me upon the outer side. Had it been the other way, I might have

come off scathless. As it was, there was a moment's pause as I stopped

it and tried to pass in through the opening which I had left. That

moment was enough to give time to the creature to toss off the coat

with which I had blinded him and to spring upon me. I hurled myself

through the gap and pulled the rails to behind me, but he seized my leg

before I could entirely withdraw it. One stroke of that huge paw tore

off my calf as a shaving of wood curls off before a plane. The next

moment, bleeding and fainting, I was lying among the foul straw with a

line of friendly bars between me and the creature which ramped so

frantically against them.

Too wounded to move, and too faint to be conscious of fear, I could

only lie, more dead than alive, and watch it. It pressed its broad,

black chest against the bars and angled for me with its crooked paws as

I have seen a kitten do before a mouse-trap. It ripped my clothes,

but, stretch as it would, it could not quite reach me. I have heard of

the curious numbing effect produced by wounds from the great carnivora,

and now I was destined to experience it, for I had lost all sense of

personality, and was as interested in the cat's failure or success as

if it were some game which I was watching. And then gradually my mind

drifted away into strange vague dreams, always with that black face and

red tongue coming back into them, and so I lost myself in the nirvana

of delirium, the blessed relief of those who are too sorely tried.

Tracing the course of events afterwards, I conclude that I must have

been insensible for about two hours. What roused me to consciousness

once more was that sharp metallic click which had been the precursor of

my terrible experience. It was the shooting back of the spring lock.

Then, before my senses were clear enough to entirely apprehend what

they saw, I was aware of the round, benevolent face of my cousin

peering in through the open door. What he saw evidently amazed him.

There was the cat crouching on the floor. I was stretched upon my back

in my shirt-sleeves within the cage, my trousers torn to ribbons and a

great pool of blood all round me. I can see his amazed face now, with

the morning sunlight upon it. He peered at me, and peered again. Then

he closed the door behind him, and advanced to the cage to see if I

were really dead.

I cannot undertake to say what happened. I was not in a fit state to

witness or to chronicle such events. I can only say that I was

suddenly conscious that his face was away from me--that he was looking

towards the animal.

"Good old Tommy!" he cried. "Good old Tommy!"

Then he came near the bars, with his back still towards me.

"Down, you stupid beast!" he roared. "Down, sir! Don't you know your

master?"

Suddenly even in my bemuddled brain a remembrance came of those words

of his when he had said that the taste of blood would turn the cat into

a fiend. My blood had done it, but he was to pay the price.

"Get away!" he screamed. "Get away, you devil! Baldwin! Baldwin! Oh,

my God!"

And then I heard him fall, and rise, and fall again, with a sound like

the ripping of sacking. His screams grew fainter until they were lost

in the worrying snarl. And then, after I thought that he was dead, I

saw, as in a nightmare, a blinded, tattered, blood-soaked figure

running wildly round the room--and that was the last glimpse which I

had of him before I fainted once again.

I was many months in my recovery--in fact, I cannot say that I have

ever recovered, for to the end of my days I shall carry a stick as a

sign of my night with the Brazilian cat. Baldwin, the groom, and the

other servants could not tell what had occurred, when, drawn by the

death-cries of their master, they found me behind the bars, and his

remains--or what they afterwards discovered to be his remains--in the

clutch of the creature which he had reared. They stalled him off with

hot irons, and afterwards shot him through the loophole of the door

before they could finally extricate me. I was carried to my bedroom,

and there, under the roof of my would-be murderer, I remained between

life and death for several weeks. They had sent for a surgeon from

Clipton and a nurse from London, and in a month I was able to be

carried to the station, and so conveyed back once more to Grosvenor

Mansions.

I have one remembrance of that illness, which might have been part of

the ever-changing panorama conjured up by a delirious brain were it not

so definitely fixed in my memory. One night, when the nurse was

absent, the door of my chamber opened, and a tall woman in blackest

mourning slipped into the room. She came across to me, and as she bent

her sallow face I saw by the faint gleam of the night-light that it was

the Brazilian woman whom my cousin had married. She stared intently

into my face, and her expression was more kindly than I had ever seen

it.

"Are you conscious?" she asked.

I feebly nodded--for I was still very weak.

"Well; then, I only wished to say to you that you have yourself to

blame. Did I not do all I could for you? From the beginning I tried

to drive you from the house. By every means, short of betraying my

husband, I tried to save you from him. I knew that he had a reason for

bringing you here. I knew that he would never let you get away again.

No one knew him as I knew him, who had suffered from him so often. I

did not dare to tell you all this. He would have killed me. But I did

my best for you. As things have turned out, you have been the best

friend that I have ever had. You have set me free, and I fancied that

nothing but death would do that. I am sorry if you are hurt, but I

cannot reproach myself. I told you that you were a fool--and a fool

you have been." She crept out of the room, the bitter, singular woman,

and I was never destined to see her again. With what remained from her

husband's property she went back to her native land, and I have heard

that she afterwards took the veil at Pernambuco.

It was not until I had been back in London for some time that the

doctors pronounced me to be well enough to do business. It was not a

very welcome permission to me, for I feared that it would be the signal

for an inrush of creditors; but it was Summers, my lawyer, who first

took advantage of it.

"I am very glad to see that your lordship is so much better," said he.

"I have been waiting a long time to offer my congratulations."

"What do you mean, Summers? This is no time for joking."

"I mean what I say," he answered. "You have been Lord Southerton for

the last six weeks, but we feared that it would retard your recovery if

you were to learn it."

Lord Southerton! One of the richest peers in England! I could not

believe my ears. And then suddenly I thought of the time which had

elapsed, and how it coincided with my injuries.

"Then Lord Southerton must have died about the same time that I was

hurt?"

"His death occurred upon that very day." Summers looked hard at me as

I spoke, and I am convinced--for he was a very shrewd fellow--that he

had guessed the true state of the case. He paused for a moment as if

awaiting a confidence from me, but I could not see what was to be

gained by exposing such a family scandal.

"Yes, a very curious coincidence," he continued, with the same knowing

look. "Of course, you are aware that your cousin Everard King was the

next heir to the estates. Now, if it had been you instead of him who

had been torn to pieces by this tiger, or whatever it was, then of

course he would have been Lord Southerton at the present moment."

"No doubt," said I.

"And he took such an interest in it," said Summers. "I happen to know

that the late Lord Southerton's valet was in his pay, and that he used

to have telegrams from him every few hours to tell him how he was

getting on. That would be about the time when you were down there.

Was it not strange that he should wish to be so well informed, since he

knew that he was not the direct heir?"

"Very strange," said I. "And now, Summers, if you will bring me my

bills and a new cheque-book, we will begin to get things into order."

Tales of Mystery

The Lost Special

The confession of Herbert de Lernac, now lying under sentence of death

at Marseilles, has thrown a light upon one of the most inexplicable

crimes of the century--an incident which is, I believe, absolutely

unprecedented in the criminal annals of any country: Although there is

a reluctance to discuss the matter in official circles, and little

information has been given to the Press, there are still indications

that the statement of this arch-criminal is corroborated by the facts,

and that we have at last found a solution for a most astounding

business. As the matter is eight years old, and as its importance was

somewhat obscured by a political crisis which was engaging the public

attention at the time, it may be as well to state the facts as far as

we have been able to ascertain them. They are collated from the

Liverpool papers of that date, from the proceedings at the inquest upon

John Slater, the engine-driver, and from the records of the London and

West Coast Railway Company, which have been courteously put at my

disposal. Briefly, they are as follows:

On the 3rd of June, 1890, a gentleman, who gave his name as Monsieur

Louis Caratal, desired an interview with Mr. James Bland, the

superintendent of the London and West Coast Central Station in

Liverpool. He was a small man, middle-aged and dark, with a stoop

which was so marked that it suggested some deformity of the spine. He

was accompanied by a friend, a man of imposing physique, whose

deferential manner and constant attention showed that his position was

one of dependence. This friend or companion, whose name did not

transpire, was certainly a foreigner, and probably from his swarthy

complexion, either a Spaniard or a South American. One peculiarity was

observed in him. He carried in his left hand a small black, leather

dispatch box, and it was noticed by a sharp-eyed clerk in the Central

office that this box was fastened to his wrist by a strap. No

importance was attached to the fact at the time, but subsequent events

endowed it with some significance. Monsieur Caratal was shown up to Mr.

Bland's office, while his companion remained outside.

Monsieur Caratal's business was quickly dispatched. He had arrived

that afternoon from Central America. Affairs of the utmost importance

demanded that he should be in Paris without the loss of an unnecessary

hour. He had missed the London express. A special must be provided.

Money was of no importance. Time was everything. If the company would

speed him on his way, they might make their own terms.

Mr. Bland struck the electric bell, summoned Mr. Potter Hood, the

traffic manager, and had the matter arranged in five minutes. The train

would start in three-quarters of an hour. It would take that time to

insure that the line should be clear. The powerful engine called

Rochdale (No. 247 on the company's register) was attached to two

carriages, with a guard's van behind. The first carriage was solely

for the purpose of decreasing the inconvenience arising from the

oscillation. The second was divided, as usual, into four compartments,

a first-class, a first-class smoking, a second-class, and a

second-class smoking. The first compartment, which was nearest to the

engine, was the one allotted to the travellers. The other three were

empty. The guard of the special train was James McPherson, who had

been some years in the service of the company. The stoker, William

Smith, was a new hand.

Monsieur Caratal, upon leaving the superintendent's office, rejoined

his companion, and both of them manifested extreme impatience to be

off. Having paid the money asked, which amounted to fifty pounds five

shillings, at the usual special rate of five shillings a mile, they

demanded to be shown the carriage, and at once took their seats in it,

although they were assured that the better part of an hour must elapse

before the line could be cleared. In the meantime a singular

coincidence had occurred in the office which Monsieur Caratal had just

quitted.

A request for a special is not a very uncommon circumstance in a rich

commercial centre, but that two should be required upon the same

afternoon was most unusual. It so happened, however, that Mr. Bland

had hardly dismissed the first traveller before a second entered with a

similar request. This was a Mr. Horace Moore, a gentlemanly man of

military appearance, who alleged that the sudden serious illness of his

wife in London made it absolutely imperative that he should not lose an

instant in starting upon the journey. His distress and anxiety were so

evident that Mr. Bland did all that was possible to meet his wishes. A

second special was out of the question, as the ordinary local service

was already somewhat deranged by the first. There was the alternative,

however, that Mr. Moore should share the expense of Monsieur Caratal's

train, and should travel in the other empty first-class compartment, if

Monsieur Caratal objected to having him in the one which he occupied.

It was difficult to see any objection to such an arrangement, and yet

Monsieur Caratal, upon the suggestion being made to him by Mr. Potter

Hood, absolutely refused to consider it for an instant. The train was

his, he said, and he would insist upon the exclusive use of it. All

argument failed to overcome his ungracious objections, and finally the

plan had to be abandoned. Mr. Horace Moore left the station in great

distress, after learning that his only course was to take the ordinary

slow train which leaves Liverpool at six o'clock. At four thirty-one

exactly by the station clock the special train, containing the crippled

Monsieur Caratal and his gigantic companion, steamed out of the

Liverpool station. The line was at that time clear, and there should

have been no stoppage before Manchester.

The trains of the London and West Coast Railway run over the lines of

another company as far as this town, which should have been reached by

the special rather before six o'clock. At a quarter after six

considerable surprise and some consternation were caused amongst the

officials at Liverpool by the receipt of a telegram from Manchester to

say that it had not yet arrived. An inquiry directed to St. Helens,

which is a third of the way between the two cities, elicited the

following reply--

"To James Bland, Superintendent, Central L. & W. C.,

Liverpool.--Special passed here at 4:52, well up to time.--Dowster, St.

Helens."

This telegram was received at six-forty. At six-fifty a second message

was received from Manchester--

"No sign of special as advised by you."

And then ten minutes later a third, more bewildering--

"Presume some mistake as to proposed running of special. Local train

from St. Helens timed to follow it has just arrived and has seen

nothing of it. Kindly wire advices.--Manchester."

The matter was assuming a most amazing aspect, although in some

respects the last telegram was a relief to the authorities at

Liverpool. If an accident had occurred to the special, it seemed

hardly possible that the local train could have passed down the same

line without observing it. And yet, what was the alternative? Where

could the train be? Had it possibly been sidetracked for some reason

in order to allow the slower train to go past? Such an explanation was

possible if some small repair had to be effected. A telegram was

dispatched to each of the stations between St. Helens and Manchester,

and the superintendent and traffic manager waited in the utmost

suspense at the instrument for the series of replies which would enable

them to say for certain what had become of the missing train. The

answers came back in the order of questions, which was the order of the

stations beginning at the St. Helens end--

"Special passed here five o'clock.--Collins Green."

"Special passed here six past five.--Earlstown."

"Special passed here 5:10.--Newton."

"Special passed here 5:20.--Kenyon Junction."

"No special train has passed here.--Barton Moss."

The two officials stared at each other in amazement.

"This is unique in my thirty years of experience," said Mr. Bland.

"Absolutely unprecedented and inexplicable, sir. The special has gone

wrong between Kenyon Junction and Barton Moss."

"And yet there is no siding, so far as my memory serves me, between the

two stations. The special must have run off the metals."

"But how could the four-fifty parliamentary pass over the same line

without observing it?"

"There's no alternative, Mr. Hood. It must be so. Possibly the local

train may have observed something which may throw some light upon the

matter. We will wire to Manchester for more information, and to Kenyon

Junction with instructions that the line be examined instantly as far

as Barton Moss." The answer from Manchester came within a few minutes.

"No news of missing special. Driver and guard of slow train positive

no accident between Kenyon Junction and Barton Moss. Line quite clear,

and no sign of anything unusual.--Manchester."

"That driver and guard will have to go," said Mr. Bland, grimly.

"There has been a wreck and they have missed it. The special has

obviously run off the metals without disturbing the line--how it could

have done so passes my comprehension--but so it must be, and we shall

have a wire from Kenyon or Barton Moss presently to say that they have

found her at the bottom of an embankment."

But Mr. Bland's prophecy was not destined to be fulfilled. Half an hour

passed, and then there arrived the following message from the

station-master of Kenyon Junction--

"There are no traces of the missing special. It is quite certain that

she passed here, and that she did not arrive at Barton Moss. We have

detached engine from goods train, and I have myself ridden down the

line, but all is clear, and there is no sign of any accident."

Mr. Bland tore his hair in his perplexity.

"This is rank lunacy, Hood!" he cried. "Does a train vanish into thin

air in England in broad daylight? The thing is preposterous. An

engine, a tender, two carriages, a van, five human beings--and all lost

on a straight line of railway! Unless we get something positive within

the next hour I'll take Inspector Collins, and go down myself."

And then at last something positive did occur. It took the shape of

another telegram from Kenyon Junction.

"Regret to report that the dead body of John Slater, driver of the

special train, has just been found among the gorse bushes at a point

two and a quarter miles from the Junction. Had fallen from his engine,

pitched down the embankment, and rolled among the bushes. Injuries to

his head, from the fall, appear to be cause of death. Ground has now

been carefully examined, and there is no trace of the missing train."

The country was, as has already been stated, in the throes of a

political crisis, and the attention of the public was further

distracted by the important and sensational developments in Paris,

where a huge scandal threatened to destroy the Government and to wreck

the reputations of many of the leading men in France. The papers were

full of these events, and the singular disappearance of the special

train attracted less attention than would have been the case in more

peaceful times. The grotesque nature of the event helped to detract

from its importance, for the papers were disinclined to believe the

facts as reported to them. More than one of the London journals treated

the matter as an ingenious hoax, until the coroner's inquest upon the

unfortunate driver (an inquest which elicited nothing of importance)

convinced them of the tragedy of the incident.

Mr. Bland, accompanied by Inspector Collins, the senior detective

officer in the service of the company, went down to Kenyon Junction the

same evening, and their research lasted throughout the following day,

but was attended with purely negative results. Not only was no trace

found of the missing train, but no conjecture could be put forward

which could possibly explain the facts. At the same time, Inspector

Collins's official report (which lies before me as I write) served to

show that the possibilities were more numerous than might have been

expected.

"In the stretch of railway between these two points," said he, "the

country is dotted with ironworks and collieries. Of these, some are

being worked and some have been abandoned. There are no fewer than

twelve which have small-gauge lines which run trolly-cars down to the

main line. These can, of course, be disregarded. Besides these,

however, there are seven which have, or have had, proper lines running

down and connecting with points to the main line, so as to convey their

produce from the mouth of the mine to the great centres of

distribution. In every case these lines are only a few miles in

length. Out of the seven, four belong to collieries which are worked

out, or at least to shafts which are no longer used. These are the

Redgauntlet, Hero, Slough of Despond, and Heartsease mines, the latter

having ten years ago been one of the principal mines in Lancashire.

These four side lines may be eliminated from our inquiry, for, to

prevent possible accidents, the rails nearest to the main line have

been taken up, and there is no longer any connection. There remain

three other side lines leading--

(a) To the Carnstock Iron Works;

(b) To the Big Ben Colliery;

(c) To the Perseverance Colliery.

"Of these the Big Ben line is not more than a quarter of a mile long,

and ends at a dead wall of coal waiting removal from the mouth of the

mine. Nothing had been seen or heard there of any special. The

Carnstock Iron Works line was blocked all day upon the 3rd of June by

sixteen truckloads of hematite. It is a single line, and nothing could

have passed. As to the Perseverance line, it is a large double line,

which does a considerable traffic, for the output of the mine is very

large. On the 3rd of June this traffic proceeded as usual; hundreds of

men including a gang of railway platelayers were working along the two

miles and a quarter which constitute the total length of the line, and

it is inconceivable that an unexpected train could have come down there

without attracting universal attention. It may be remarked in

conclusion that this branch line is nearer to St. Helens than the point

at which the engine-driver was discovered, so that we have every reason

to believe that the train was past that point before misfortune

overtook her.

"As to John Slater, there is no clue to be gathered from his appearance

or injuries. We can only say that, so far as we can see, he met his

end by falling off his engine, though why he fell, or what became of

the engine after his fall, is a question upon which I do not feel

qualified to offer an opinion." In conclusion, the inspector offered

his resignation to the Board, being much nettled by an accusation of

incompetence in the London papers.

A month elapsed, during which both the police and the company

prosecuted their inquiries without the slightest success. A reward was

offered and a pardon promised in case of crime, but they were both

unclaimed. Every day the public opened their papers with the

conviction that so grotesque a mystery would at last be solved, but

week after week passed by, and a solution remained as far off as ever.

In broad daylight, upon a June afternoon in the most thickly inhabited

portion of England, a train with its occupants had disappeared as

completely as if some master of subtle chemistry had volatilized it

into gas. Indeed, among the various conjectures which were put forward

in the public Press, there were some which seriously asserted that

supernatural, or, at least, preternatural, agencies had been at work,

and that the deformed Monsieur Caratal was probably a person who was

better known under a less polite name. Others fixed upon his swarthy

companion as being the author of the mischief, but what it was exactly

which he had done could never be clearly formulated in words.

Amongst the many suggestions put forward by various newspapers or

private individuals, there were one or two which were feasible enough

to attract the attention of the public. One which appeared in The

Times, over the signature of an amateur reasoner of some celebrity at

that date, attempted to deal with the matter in a critical and

semi-scientific manner. An extract must suffice, although the curious

can see the whole letter in the issue of the 3rd of July.

"It is one of the elementary principles of practical reasoning," he

remarked, "that when the impossible has been eliminated the residuum,

HOWEVER IMPROBABLE, must contain the truth. It is certain that the

train left Kenyon Junction. It is certain that it did not reach Barton

Moss. It is in the highest degree unlikely, but still possible, that

it may have taken one of the seven available side lines. It is

obviously impossible for a train to run where there are no rails, and,

therefore, we may reduce our improbables to the three open lines,

namely the Carnstock Iron Works, the Big Ben, and the Perseverance. Is

there a secret society of colliers, an English Camorra, which is

capable of destroying both train and passengers? It is improbable, but

it is not impossible. I confess that I am unable to suggest any other

solution. I should certainly advise the company to direct all their

energies towards the observation of those three lines, and of the

workmen at the end of them. A careful supervision of the pawnbrokers'

shops of the district might possibly bring some suggestive facts to

light."

The suggestion coming from a recognized authority upon such matters

created considerable interest, and a fierce opposition from those who

considered such a statement to be a preposterous libel upon an honest

and deserving set of men. The only answer to this criticism was a

challenge to the objectors to lay any more feasible explanations before

the public. In reply to this two others were forthcoming (Times, July

7th and 9th). The first suggested that the train might have run off

the metals and be lying submerged in the Lancashire and Staffordshire

Canal, which runs parallel to the railway for some hundred of yards.

This suggestion was thrown out of court by the published depth of the

canal, which was entirely insufficient to conceal so large an object.

The second correspondent wrote calling attention to the bag which

appeared to be the sole luggage which the travellers had brought with

them, and suggesting that some novel explosive of immense and

pulverizing power might have been concealed in it. The obvious

absurdity, however, of supposing that the whole train might be blown to

dust while the metals remained uninjured reduced any such explanation

to a farce. The investigation had drifted into this hopeless position

when a new and most unexpected incident occurred.

This was nothing less than the receipt by Mrs. McPherson of a letter

from her husband, James McPherson, who had been the guard on the

missing train. The letter, which was dated July 5th, 1890, was posted

from New York and came to hand upon July 14th. Some doubts were

expressed as to its genuine character but Mrs. McPherson was positive

as to the writing, and the fact that it contained a remittance of a

hundred dollars in five-dollar notes was enough in itself to discount

the idea of a hoax. No address was given in the letter, which ran in

this way:

MY DEAR WIFE,--

"I have been thinking a great deal, and I find it very hard to give you

up. The same with Lizzie. I try to fight against it, but it will

always come back to me. I send you some money which will change into

twenty English pounds. This should be enough to bring both Lizzie and

you across the Atlantic, and you will find the Hamburg boats which stop

at Southampton very good boats, and cheaper than Liverpool. If you

could come here and stop at the Johnston House I would try and send you

word how to meet, but things are very difficult with me at present, and

I am not very happy, finding it hard to give you both up. So no more

at present, from your loving husband,

"James McPherson."

For a time it was confidently anticipated that this letter would lead

to the clearing up of the whole matter, the more so as it was

ascertained that a passenger who bore a close resemblance to the

missing guard had travelled from Southampton under the name of Summers

in the Hamburg and New York liner Vistula, which started upon the 7th

of June. Mrs. McPherson and her sister Lizzie Dolton went across to

New York as directed and stayed for three weeks at the Johnston House,

without hearing anything from the missing man. It is probable that

some injudicious comments in the Press may have warned him that the

police were using them as a bait. However, this may be, it is certain

that he neither wrote nor came, and the women were eventually compelled

to return to Liverpool.

And so the matter stood, and has continued to stand up to the present

year of 1898. Incredible as it may seem, nothing has transpired during

these eight years which has shed the least light upon the extraordinary

disappearance of the special train which contained Monsieur Caratal and

his companion. Careful inquiries into the antecedents of the two

travellers have only established the fact that Monsieur Caratal was

well known as a financier and political agent in Central America, and

that during his voyage to Europe he had betrayed extraordinary anxiety

to reach Paris. His companion, whose name was entered upon the

passenger lists as Eduardo Gomez, was a man whose record was a violent

one, and whose reputation was that of a bravo and a bully. There was

evidence to show, however, that he was honestly devoted to the

interests of Monsieur Caratal, and that the latter, being a man of puny

physique, employed the other as a guard and protector. It may be added

that no information came from Paris as to what the objects of Monsieur

Caratal's hurried journey may have been. This comprises all the facts

of the case up to the publication in the Marseilles papers of the

recent confession of Herbert de Lernac, now under sentence of death for

the murder of a merchant named Bonvalot. This statement may be

literally translated as follows:

"It is not out of mere pride or boasting that I give this information,

for, if that were my object, I could tell a dozen actions of mine which

are quite as splendid; but I do it in order that certain gentlemen in

Paris may understand that I, who am able here to tell about the fate of

Monsieur Caratal, can also tell in whose interest and at whose request

the deed was done, unless the reprieve which I am awaiting comes to me

very quickly. Take warning, messieurs, before it is too late! You

know Herbert de Lernac, and you are aware that his deeds are as ready

as his words. Hasten then, or you are lost!

"At present I shall mention no names--if you only heard the names, what

would you not think!--but I shall merely tell you how cleverly I did

it. I was true to my employers then, and no doubt they will be true to

me now. I hope so, and until I am convinced that they have betrayed

me, these names, which would convulse Europe, shall not be divulged.

But on that day ... well, I say no more!

"In a word, then, there was a famous trial in Paris, in the year 1890,

in connection with a monstrous scandal in politics and finance. How

monstrous that scandal was can never be known save by such confidential

agents as myself. The honour and careers of many of the chief men in

France were at stake. You have seen a group of ninepins standing, all

so rigid, and prim, and unbending. Then there comes the ball from far

away and pop, pop, pop--there are your ninepins on the floor. Well,

imagine some of the greatest men in France as these ninepins and then

this Monsieur Caratal was the ball which could be seen coming from far

away. If he arrived, then it was pop, pop, pop for all of them. It

was determined that he should not arrive.

"I do not accuse them all of being conscious of what was to happen.

There were, as I have said, great financial as well as political

interests at stake, and a syndicate was formed to manage the business.

Some subscribed to the syndicate who hardly understood what were its

objects. But others understood very well, and they can rely upon it

that I have not forgotten their names. They had ample warning that

Monsieur Caratal was coming long before he left South America, and they

knew that the evidence which he held would certainly mean ruin to all

of them. The syndicate had the command of an unlimited amount of

money--absolutely unlimited, you understand. They looked round for an

agent who was capable of wielding this gigantic power. The man chosen

must be inventive, resolute, adaptive--a man in a million. They chose

Herbert de Lernac, and I admit that they were right.

"My duties were to choose my subordinates, to use freely the power

which money gives, and to make certain that Monsieur Caratal should

never arrive in Paris. With characteristic energy I set about my

commission within an hour of receiving my instructions, and the steps

which I took were the very best for the purpose which could possibly be

devised.

"A man whom I could trust was dispatched instantly to South America to

travel home with Monsieur Caratal. Had he arrived in time the ship

would never have reached Liverpool; but alas! it had already started

before my agent could reach it. I fitted out a small armed brig to

intercept it, but again I was unfortunate. Like all great organizers I

was, however, prepared for failure, and had a series of alternatives

prepared, one or the other of which must succeed. You must not

underrate the difficulties of my undertaking, or imagine that a mere

commonplace assassination would meet the case. We must destroy not

only Monsieur Caratal, but Monsieur Caratal's documents, and Monsieur

Caratal's companions also, if we had reason to believe that he had

communicated his secrets to them. And you must remember that they were

on the alert, and keenly suspicious of any such attempt. It was a task

which was in every way worthy of me, for I am always most masterful

where another would be appalled.

"I was all ready for Monsieur Caratal's reception in Liverpool, and I

was the more eager because I had reason to believe that he had made

arrangements by which he would have a considerable guard from the

moment that he arrived in London. Anything which was to be done must

be done between the moment of his setting foot upon the Liverpool quay

and that of his arrival at the London and West Coast terminus in

London. We prepared six plans, each more elaborate than the last;

which plan would be used would depend upon his own movements. Do what

he would, we were ready for him. If he had stayed in Liverpool, we

were ready. If he took an ordinary train, an express, or a special,

all was ready. Everything had been foreseen and provided for.

"You may imagine that I could not do all this myself. What could I

know of the English railway lines? But money can procure willing

agents all the world over, and I soon had one of the acutest brains in

England to assist me. I will mention no names, but it would be unjust

to claim all the credit for myself. My English ally was worthy of such

an alliance. He knew the London and West Coast line thoroughly, and he

had the command of a band of workers who were trustworthy and

intelligent. The idea was his, and my own judgement was only required

in the details. We bought over several officials, amongst whom the

most important was James McPherson, whom we had ascertained to be the

guard most likely to be employed upon a special train. Smith, the

stoker, was also in our employ. John Slater, the engine-driver, had

been approached, but had been found to be obstinate and dangerous, so

we desisted. We had no certainty that Monsieur Caratal would take a

special, but we thought it very probable, for it was of the utmost

importance to him that he should reach Paris without delay. It was for

this contingency, therefore, that we made special

preparations--preparations which were complete down to the last detail

long before his steamer had sighted the shores of England. You will be

amused to learn that there was one of my agents in the pilot-boat which

brought that steamer to its moorings.

"The moment that Caratal arrived in Liverpool we knew that he suspected

danger and was on his guard. He had brought with him as an escort a

dangerous fellow, named Gomez, a man who carried weapons, and was

prepared to use them. This fellow carried Caratal's confidential

papers for him, and was ready to protect either them or his master.

The probability was that Caratal had taken him into his counsel, and

that to remove Caratal without removing Gomez would be a mere waste of

energy. It was necessary that they should be involved in a common

fate, and our plans to that end were much facilitated by their request

for a special train. On that special train you will understand that

two out of the three servants of the company were really in our employ,

at a price which would make them independent for a lifetime. I do not

go so far as to say that the English are more honest than any other

nation, but I have found them more expensive to buy.

"I have already spoken of my English agent--who is a man with a

considerable future before him, unless some complaint of the throat

carries him off before his time. He had charge of all arrangements at

Liverpool, whilst I was stationed at the inn at Kenyon, where I awaited

a cipher signal to act. When the special was arranged for, my agent

instantly telegraphed to me and warned me how soon I should have

everything ready. He himself under the name of Horace Moore applied

immediately for a special also, in the hope that he would be sent down

with Monsieur Caratal, which might under certain circumstances have

been helpful to us. If, for example, our great coup had failed, it

would then have become the duty of my agent to have shot them both and

destroyed their papers. Caratal was on his guard, however, and refused

to admit any other traveller. My agent then left the station, returned

by another entrance, entered the guard's van on the side farthest from

the platform, and travelled down with McPherson the guard.

"In the meantime you will be interested to know what my movements were.

Everything had been prepared for days before, and only the finishing

touches were needed. The side line which we had chosen had once joined

the main line, but it had been disconnected. We had only to replace a

few rails to connect it once more. These rails had been laid down as

far as could be done without danger of attracting attention, and now it

was merely a case of completing a juncture with the line, and arranging

the points as they had been before. The sleepers had never been

removed, and the rails, fish-plates and rivets were all ready, for we

had taken them from a siding on the abandoned portion of the line.

With my small but competent band of workers, we had everything ready

long before the special arrived. When it did arrive, it ran off upon

the small side line so easily that the jolting of the points appears to

have been entirely unnoticed by the two travellers.

"Our plan had been that Smith, the stoker, should chloroform John

Slater, the driver, so that he should vanish with the others. In this

respect, and in this respect only, our plans miscarried--I except the

criminal folly of McPherson in writing home to his wife. Our stoker did

his business so clumsily that Slater in his struggles fell off the

engine, and though fortune was with us so far that he broke his neck in

the fall, still he remained as a blot upon that which would otherwise

have been one of those complete masterpieces which are only to be

contemplated in silent admiration. The criminal expert will find in

John Slater the one flaw in all our admirable combinations. A man who

has had as many triumphs as I can afford to be frank, and I therefore

lay my finger upon John Slater, and I proclaim him to be a flaw.

"But now I have got our special train upon the small line two

kilometres, or rather more than one mile, in length, which leads, or

rather used to lead, to the abandoned Heartsease mine, once one of the

largest coal mines in England. You will ask how it is that no one saw

the train upon this unused line. I answer that along its entire length

it runs through a deep cutting, and that, unless someone had been on

the edge of that cutting, he could not have seen it. There WAS someone

on the edge of that cutting. I was there. And now I will tell you

what I saw.

"My assistant had remained at the points in order that he might

superintend the switching off of the train. He had four armed men with

him, so that if the train ran off the line--we thought it probable,

because the points were very rusty--we might still have resources to

fall back upon. Having once seen it safely on the side line, he handed

over the responsibility to me. I was waiting at a point which

overlooks the mouth of the mine, and I was also armed, as were my two

companions. Come what might, you see, I was always ready.

"The moment that the train was fairly on the side line, Smith, the

stoker, slowed-down the engine, and then, having turned it on to the

fullest speed again, he and McPherson, with my English lieutenant,

sprang off before it was too late. It may be that it was this

slowing-down which first attracted the attention of the travellers, but

the train was running at full speed again before their heads appeared

at the open window. It makes me smile to think how bewildered they

must have been. Picture to yourself your own feelings if, on looking

out of your luxurious carriage, you suddenly perceived that the lines

upon which you ran were rusted and corroded, red and yellow with disuse

and decay! What a catch must have come in their breath as in a second

it flashed upon them that it was not Manchester but Death which was

waiting for them at the end of that sinister line. But the train was

running with frantic speed, rolling and rocking over the rotten line,

while the wheels made a frightful screaming sound upon the rusted

surface. I was close to them, and could see their faces. Caratal was

praying, I think--there was something like a rosary dangling out of his

hand. The other roared like a bull who smells the blood of the

slaughter-house. He saw us standing on the bank, and he beckoned to us

like a madman. Then he tore at his wrist and threw his dispatch-box

out of the window in our direction. Of course, his meaning was

obvious. Here was the evidence, and they would promise to be silent if

their lives were spared. It would have been very agreeable if we could

have done so, but business is business. Besides, the train was now as

much beyond our controls as theirs.

"He ceased howling when the train rattled round the curve and they saw

the black mouth of the mine yawning before them. We had removed the

boards which had covered it, and we had cleared the square entrance.

The rails had formerly run very close to the shaft for the convenience

of loading the coal, and we had only to add two or three lengths of

rail in order to lead to the very brink of the shaft. In fact, as the

lengths would not quite fit, our line projected about three feet over

the edge. We saw the two heads at the window: Caratal below, Gomez

above; but they had both been struck silent by what they saw. And yet

they could not withdraw their heads. The sight seemed to have

paralysed them.

"I had wondered how the train running at a great speed would take the

pit into which I had guided it, and I was much interested in watching

it. One of my colleagues thought that it would actually jump it, and

indeed it was not very far from doing so. Fortunately, however, it fell

short, and the buffers of the engine struck the other lip of the shaft

with a tremendous crash. The funnel flew off into the air. The

tender, carriages, and van were all smashed up into one jumble, which,

with the remains of the engine, choked for a minute or so the mouth of

the pit. Then something gave way in the middle, and the whole mass of

green iron, smoking coals, brass fittings, wheels, wood-work, and

cushions all crumbled together and crashed down into the mine. We

heard the rattle, rattle, rattle, as the debris struck against the

walls, and then, quite a long time afterwards, there came a deep roar

as the remains of the train struck the bottom. The boiler may have

burst, for a sharp crash came after the roar, and then a dense cloud of

steam and smoke swirled up out of the black depths, falling in a spray

as thick as rain all round us. Then the vapour shredded off into thin

wisps, which floated away in the summer sunshine, and all was quiet

again in the Heartsease mine.

"And now, having carried out our plans so successfully, it only

remained to leave no trace behind us. Our little band of workers at

the other end had already ripped up the rails and disconnected the side

line, replacing everything as it had been before. We were equally busy

at the mine. The funnel and other fragments were thrown in, the shaft

was planked over as it used to be, and the lines which led to it were

torn up and taken away. Then, without flurry, but without delay, we

all made our way out of the country, most of us to Paris, my English

colleague to Manchester, and McPherson to Southampton, whence he

emigrated to America. Let the English papers of that date tell how

throughly we had done our work, and how completely we had thrown the

cleverest of their detectives off our track.

"You will remember that Gomez threw his bag of papers out of the

window, and I need not say that I secured that bag and brought them to

my employers. It may interest my employers now, however, to learn that

out of that bag I took one or two little papers as a souvenir of the

occasion. I have no wish to publish these papers; but, still, it is

every man for himself in this world, and what else can I do if my

friends will not come to my aid when I want them? Messieurs, you may

believe that Herbert de Lernac is quite as formidable when he is

against you as when he is with you, and that he is not a man to go to

the guillotine until he has seen that every one of you is en route for

New Caledonia. For your own sake, if not for mine, make haste,

Monsieur de ----, and General ----, and Baron ---- (you can fill up the

blanks for yourselves as you read this). I promise you that in the

next edition there will be no blanks to fill.

"P.S.--As I look over my statement there is only one omission which I

can see. It concerns the unfortunate man McPherson, who was foolish

enough to write to his wife and to make an appointment with her in New

York. It can be imagined that when interests like ours were at stake,

we could not leave them to the chance of whether a man in that class of

life would or would not give away his secrets to a woman. Having once

broken his oath by writing to his wife, we could not trust him any

more. We took steps therefore to insure that he should not see his

wife. I have sometimes thought that it would be a kindness to write to

her and to assure her that there is no impediment to her marrying

again."

The Beetle-Hunter

A curious experience? said the Doctor. Yes, my friends, I have had one

very curious experience. I never expect to have another, for it is

against all doctrines of chances that two such events would befall any

one man in a single lifetime. You may believe me or not, but the thing

happened exactly as I tell it.

I had just become a medical man, but I had not started in practice, and

I lived in rooms in Gower Street. The street has been renumbered since

then, but it was in the only house which has a bow-window, upon the

left-hand side as you go down from the Metropolitan Station. A widow

named Murchison kept the house at that time, and she had three medical

students and one engineer as lodgers. I occupied the top room, which

was the cheapest, but cheap as it was it was more than I could afford.

My small resources were dwindling away, and every week it became more

necessary that I should find something to do. Yet I was very unwilling

to go into general practice, for my tastes were all in the direction of

science, and especially of zoology, towards which I had always a strong

leaning. I had almost given the fight up and resigned myself to being

a medical drudge for life, when the turning-point of my struggles came

in a very extraordinary way.

One morning I had picked up the Standard and was glancing over its

contents. There was a complete absence of news, and I was about to

toss the paper down again, when my eyes were caught by an advertisement

at the head of the personal column. It was worded in this way:

"Wanted for one or more days the services of a medical man. It is

essential that he should be a man of strong physique, of steady nerves,

and of a resolute nature. Must be an entomologist--coleopterist

preferred. Apply, in person, at 77B, Brook Street. Application must be

made before twelve o'clock today."

Now, I have already said that I was devoted to zoology. Of all

branches of zoology, the study of insects was the most attractive to

me, and of all insects beetles were the species with which I was most

familiar. Butterfly collectors are numerous, but beetles are far more

varied, and more accessible in these islands than are butterflies. It

was this fact which had attracted my attention to them, and I had

myself made a collection which numbered some hundred varieties. As to

the other requisites of the advertisement, I knew that my nerves could

be depended upon, and I had won the weight-throwing competition at the

inter-hospital sports. Clearly, I was the very man for the vacancy.

Within five minutes of my having read the advertisement I was in a cab

and on my was to Brook Street.

As I drove, I kept turning the matter over in my head and trying to

make a guess as to what sort of employment it could be which needed

such curious qualifications. A strong physique, a resolute nature, a

medical training, and a knowledge of beetles--what connection could

there be between these various requisites? And then there was the

disheartening fact that the situation was not a permanent one, but

terminable from day to day, according to the terms of the

advertisement. The more I pondered over it the more unintelligible did

it become; but at the end of my meditations I always came back to the

ground fact that, come what might, I had nothing to lose, that I was

completely at the end of my resources, and that I was ready for any

adventure, however desperate, which would put a few honest sovereigns

into my pocket. The man fears to fail who has to pay for his failure,

but there was no penalty which Fortune could exact from me. I was like

the gambler with empty pockets, who is still allowed to try his luck

with the others.

No. 77B, Brook Street, was one of those dingy and yet imposing houses,

dun-coloured and flat-faced, with the intensely respectable and solid

air which marks the Georgian builder. As I alighted from the cab, a

young man came out of the door and walked swiftly down the street. In

passing me, I noticed that he cast an inquisitive and somewhat

malevolent glance at me, and I took the incident as a good omen, for

his appearance was that of a rejected candidate, and if he resented my

application it meant that the vacancy was not yet filled up. Full of

hope, I ascended the broad steps and rapped with the heavy knocker.

A footman in powder and livery opened the door. Clearly I was in touch

with the people of wealth and fashion.

"Yes, sir?" said the footman.

"I came in answer to----"

"Quite so, sir," said the footman. "Lord Linchmere will see you at

once in the library."

Lord Linchmere! I had vaguely heard the name, but could not for the

instant recall anything about him. Following the footman, I was shown

into a large, book-lined room in which there was seated behind a

writing-desk a small man with a pleasant, clean-shaven, mobile face,

and long hair shot with grey, brushed back from his forehead. He

looked me up and down with a very shrewd, penetrating glance, holding

the card which the footman had given him in his right hand. Then he

smiled pleasantly, and I felt that externally at any rate I possessed

the qualifications which he desired.

"You have come in answer to my advertisement, Dr. Hamilton?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you fulfil the conditions which are there laid down?"

"I believe that I do."

"You are a powerful man, or so I should judge from your appearance.

"I think that I am fairly strong."

"And resolute?"

"I believe so."

"Have you ever known what it was to be exposed to imminent danger?"

"No, I don't know that I ever have."

"But you think you would be prompt and cool at such a time?"

"I hope so."

"Well, I believe that you would. I have the more confidence in you

because you do not pretend to be certain as to what you would do in a

position that was new to you. My impression is that, so far as

personal qualities go, you are the very man of whom I am in search.

That being settled, we may pass on to the next point."

"Which is?"

"To talk to me about beetles."

I looked across to see if he was joking, but, on the contrary, he was

leaning eagerly forward across his desk, and there was an expression of

something like anxiety in his eyes.

"I am afraid that you do not know about beetles," he cried.

"On the contrary, sir, it is the one scientific subject about which I

feel that I really do know something."

"I am overjoyed to hear it. Please talk to me about beetles."

I talked. I do not profess to have said anything original upon the

subject, but I gave a short sketch of the characteristics of the

beetle, and ran over the more common species, with some allusions to

the specimens in my own little collection and to the article upon

"Burying Beetles" which I had contributed to the Journal of

Entomological Science.

"What! not a collector?" cried Lord Linchmere. "You don't mean that

you are yourself a collector?" His eyes danced with pleasure at the

thought.

"You are certainly the very man in London for my purpose. I thought

that among five millions of people there must be such a man, but the

difficulty is to lay one's hands upon him. I have been extraordinarily

fortunate in finding you."

He rang a gong upon the table, and the footman entered.

"Ask Lady Rossiter to have the goodness to step this way," said his

lordship, and a few moments later the lady was ushered into the room.

She was a small, middle-aged woman, very like Lord Linchmere in

appearance, with the same quick, alert features and grey-black hair.

The expression of anxiety, however, which I had observed upon his face

was very much more marked upon hers. Some great grief seemed to have

cast its shadow over her features. As Lord Linchmere presented me she

turned her face full upon me, and I was shocked to observe a

half-healed scar extending for two inches over her right eyebrow. It

was partly concealed by plaster, but none the less I could see that it

had been a serious wound and not long inflicted.

"Dr. Hamilton is the very man for our purpose, Evelyn," said Lord

Linchmere. "He is actually a collector of beetles, and he has written

articles upon the subject."

"Really!" said Lady Rossiter. "Then you must have heard of my husband.

Everyone who knows anything about beetles must have heard of Sir Thomas

Rossiter."

For the first time a thin little ray of light began to break into the

obscure business. Here, at last, was a connection between these people

and beetles. Sir Thomas Rossiter--he was the greatest authority upon

the subject in the world. He had made it his lifelong study, and had

written a most exhaustive work upon it. I hastened to assure her that

I had read and appreciated it.

"Have you met my husband?" she asked.

"No, I have not."

"But you shall," said Lord Linchmere, with decision.

The lady was standing beside the desk, and she put her hand upon his

shoulder. It was obvious to me as I saw their faces together that they

were brother and sister.

"Are you really prepared for this, Charles? It is noble of you, but

you fill me with fears." Her voice quavered with apprehension, and he

appeared to me to be equally moved, though he was making strong efforts

to conceal his agitation.

"Yes, yes, dear; it is all settled, it is all decided; in fact, there

is no other possible way, that I can see."

"There is one obvious way."

"No, no, Evelyn, I shall never abandon you--never. It will come

right--depend upon it; it will come right, and surely it looks like the

interference of Providence that so perfect an instrument should be put

into our hands."

My position was embarrassing, for I felt that for the instant they had

forgotten my presence. But Lord Linchmere came back suddenly to me and

to my engagement.

"The business for which I want you, Dr. Hamilton, is that you should

put yourself absolutely at my disposal. I wish you to come for a short

journey with me, to remain always at my side, and to promise to do

without question whatever I may ask you, however unreasonable it may

appear to you to be."

"That is a good deal to ask," said I.

"Unfortunately I cannot put it more plainly, for I do not myself know

what turn matters may take. You may be sure, however, that you will

not be asked to do anything which your conscience does not approve; and

I promise you that, when all is over, you will be proud to have been

concerned in so good a work."

"If it ends happily," said the lady.

"Exactly; if it ends happily," his lordship repeated.

"And terms?" I asked.

"Twenty pounds a day."

I was amazed at the sum, and must have showed my surprise upon my

features.

"It is a rare combination of qualities, as must have struck you when

you first read the advertisement," said Lord Linchmere; "such varied

gifts may well command a high return, and I do not conceal from you

that your duties might be arduous or even dangerous. Besides, it is

possible that one or two days may bring the matter to an end."

"Please God!" sighed his sister.

"So now, Dr. Hamilton, may I rely upon your aid?"

"Most undoubtedly," said I. "You have only to tell me what my duties

are."

"Your first duty will be to return to your home. You will pack up

whatever you may need for a short visit to the country. We start

together from Paddington Station at 3:40 this afternoon."

"Do we go far?"

"As far as Pangbourne. Meet me at the bookstall at 3:30. I shall have

the tickets. Goodbye, Dr. Hamilton! And, by the way, there are two

things which I should be very glad if you would bring with you, in case

you have them. One is your case for collecting beetles, and the other

is a stick, and the thicker and heavier the better."

You may imagine that I had plenty to think of from the time that I left

Brook Street until I set out to meet Lord Linchmere at Paddington. The

whole fantastic business kept arranging and rearranging itself in

kaleidoscopic forms inside my brain, until I had thought out a dozen

explanations, each of them more grotesquely improbable than the last.

And yet I felt that the truth must be something grotesquely improbable

also. At last I gave up all attempts at finding a solution, and

contented myself with exactly carrying out the instructions which I had

received. With a hand valise, specimen-case, and a loaded cane, I was

waiting at the Paddington bookstall when Lord Linchmere arrived. He

was an even smaller man than I had thought--frail and peaky, with a

manner which was more nervous than it had been in the morning. He wore

a long, thick travelling ulster, and I observed that he carried a heavy

blackthorn cudgel in his hand.

"I have the tickets," said he, leading the way up the platform.

"This is our train. I have engaged a carriage, for I am particularly

anxious to impress one or two things upon you while we travel down."

And yet all that he had to impress upon me might have been said in a

sentence, for it was that I was to remember that I was there as a

protection to himself, and that I was not on any consideration to leave

him for an instant. This he repeated again and again as our journey

drew to a close, with an insistence which showed that his nerves were

thoroughly shaken.

"Yes," he said at last, in answer to my looks rather than to my words,

"I AM nervous, Dr. Hamilton. I have always been a timid man, and my

timidity depends upon my frail physical health. But my soul is firm,

and I can bring myself up to face a danger which a less-nervous man

might shrink from. What I am doing now is done from no compulsion, but

entirely from a sense of duty, and yet it is, beyond doubt, a desperate

risk. If things should go wrong, I will have some claims to the title

of martyr."

This eternal reading of riddles was too much for me. I felt that I

must put a term to it.

"I think it would very much better, sir, if you were to trust me

entirely," said I. "It is impossible for me to act effectively, when I

do not know what are the objects which we have in view, or even where

we are going."

"Oh, as to where we are going, there need be no mystery about that,"

said he; "we are going to Delamere Court, the residence of Sir Thomas

Rossiter, with whose work you are so conversant. As to the exact

object of our visit, I do not know that at this stage of the

proceedings anything would be gained, Dr. Hamilton, by taking you into

my complete confidence. I may tell you that we are acting--I say 'we,'

because my sister, Lady Rossiter, takes the same view as myself--with

the one object of preventing anything in the nature of a family

scandal. That being so, you can understand that I am loath to give any

explanations which are not absolutely necessary. It would be a

different matter, Dr. Hamilton, if I were asking your advice. As

matters stand, it is only your active help which I need, and I will

indicate to you from time to time how you can best give it."

There was nothing more to be said, and a poor man can put up with a

good deal for twenty pounds a day, but I felt none the less that Lord

Linchmere was acting rather scurvily towards me. He wished to convert

me into a passive tool, like the blackthorn in his hand. With his

sensitive disposition I could imagine, however, that scandal would be

abhorrent to him, and I realized that he would not take me into his

confidence until no other course was open to him. I must trust to my

own eyes and ears to solve the mystery, but I had every confidence that

I should not trust to them in vain.

Delamere Court lies a good five miles from Pangbourne Station, and we

drove for that distance in an open fly. Lord Linchmere sat in deep

thought during the time, and he never opened his mouth until we were

close to our destination. When he did speak it was to give me a piece

of information which surprised me.

"Perhaps you are not aware," said he, "that I am a medical man like

yourself?"

"No, sir, I did not know it."

"Yes, I qualified in my younger days, when there were several lives

between me and the peerage. I have not had occasion to practise, but I

have found it a useful education, all the same. I never regretted the

years which I devoted to medical study. These are the gates of

Delamere Court."

We had come to two high pillars crowned with heraldic monsters which

flanked the opening of a winding avenue. Over the laurel bushes and

rhododendrons, I could see a long, many-gabled mansion, girdled with

ivy, and toned to the warm, cheery, mellow glow of old brick-work. My

eyes were still fixed in admiration upon this delightful house when my

companion plucked nervously at my sleeve.

"Here's Sir Thomas," he whispered. "Please talk beetle all you can."

A tall, thin figure, curiously angular and bony, had emerged through a

gap in the hedge of laurels. In his hand he held a spud, and he wore

gauntleted gardener's gloves. A broad-brimmed, grey hat cast his face

into shadow, but it struck me as exceedingly austere, with an

ill-nourished beard and harsh, irregular features. The fly pulled up

and Lord Linchmere sprang out.

"My dear Thomas, how are you?" said he, heartily.

But the heartiness was by no means reciprocal. The owner of the

grounds glared at me over his brother-in-law's shoulder, and I caught

broken scraps of sentences--"well-known wishes ... hatred of

strangers ... unjustifiable intrusion ... perfectly inexcusable."

Then there was a muttered explanation, and the two of them came over

together to the side of the fly.

"Let me present you to Sir Thomas Rossiter, Dr. Hamilton," said Lord

Linchmere. "You will find that you have a strong community of tastes."

I bowed. Sir Thomas stood very stiffly, looking at me severely from

under the broad brim of his hat.

"Lord Linchmere tells me that you know something about beetles," said

he. "What do you know about beetles?"

"I know what I have learned from your work upon the coleoptera, Sir

Thomas," I answered.

"Give me the names of the better-known species of the British

scarabaei," said he.

I had not expected an examination, but fortunately I was ready for one.

My answers seemed to please him, for his stern features relaxed.

"You appear to have read my book with some profit, sir," said he. "It

is a rare thing for me to meet anyone who takes an intelligent interest

in such matters. People can find time for such trivialities as sport

or society, and yet the beetles are overlooked. I can assure you that

the greater part of the idiots in this part of the country are unaware

that I have ever written a book at all--I, the first man who ever

described the true function of the elytra. I am glad to see you, sir,

and I have no doubt that I can show you some specimens which will

interest you." He stepped into the fly and drove up with us to the

house, expounding to me as we went some recent researches which he had

made into the anatomy of the lady-bird.

I have said that Sir Thomas Rossiter wore a large hat drawn down over

his brows. As he entered the hall he uncovered himself, and I was at

once aware of a singular characteristic which the hat had concealed.

His forehead, which was naturally high, and higher still on account of

receding hair, was in a continual state of movement. Some nervous

weakness kept the muscles in a constant spasm, which sometimes produced

a mere twitching and sometimes a curious rotary movement unlike

anything which I had ever seen before. It was strikingly visible as he

turned towards us after entering the study, and seemed the more

singular from the contrast with the hard, steady, grey eyes which

looked out from underneath those palpitating brows.

"I am sorry," said he, "that Lady Rossiter is not here to help me to

welcome you. By the way, Charles, did Evelyn say anything about the

date of her return?"

"She wished to stay in town for a few more days," said Lord Linchmere.

"You know how ladies' social duties accumulate if they have been for

some time in the country. My sister has many old friends in London at

present."

"Well, she is her own mistress, and I should not wish to alter her

plans, but I shall be glad when I see her again. It is very lonely

here without her company."

"I was afraid that you might find it so, and that was partly why I ran

down. My young friend, Dr. Hamilton, is so much interested in the

subject which you have made your own, that I thought you would not mind

his accompanying me."

"I lead a retired life, Dr. Hamilton, and my aversion to strangers

grows upon me," said our host. "I have sometimes thought that my

nerves are not so good as they were. My travels in search of beetles

in my younger days took me into many malarious and unhealthy places.

But a brother coleopterist like yourself is always a welcome guest, and

I shall be delighted if you will look over my collection, which I think

that I may without exaggeration describe as the best in Europe."

And so no doubt it was. He had a huge, oaken cabinet arranged in

shallow drawers, and here, neatly ticketed and classified, were beetles

from every corner of the earth, black, brown, blue, green, and mottled.

Every now and then as he swept his hand over the lines and lines of

impaled insects he would catch up some rare specimen, and, handling it

with as much delicacy and reverence as if it were a precious relic, he

would hold forth upon its peculiarities and the circumstances under

which it came into his possession. It was evidently an unusual thing

for him to meet with a sympathetic listener, and he talked and talked

until the spring evening had deepened into night, and the gong

announced that it was time to dress for dinner. All the time Lord

Linchmere said nothing, but he stood at his brother-in-law's elbow, and

I caught him continually shooting curious little, questioning glances

into his face. And his own features expressed some strong emotion,

apprehension, sympathy, expectation: I seemed to read them all. I was

sure that Lord Linchmere was fearing something and awaiting something,

but what that something might be I could not imagine.

The evening passed quietly but pleasantly, and I should have been

entirely at my ease if it had not been for that continual sense of

tension upon the part of Lord Linchmere. As to our host, I found that

he improved upon acquaintance. He spoke constantly with affection of

his absent wife, and also of his little son, who had recently been sent

to school. The house, he said, was not the same without them. If it

were not for his scientific studies, he did not know how he could get

through the days. After dinner we smoked for some time in the

billiard-room, and finally went early to bed.

And then it was that, for the first time, the suspicion that Lord

Linchmere was a lunatic crossed my mind. He followed me into my

bedroom, when our host had retired.

"Doctor," said he, speaking in a low, hurried voice, "you must come

with me. You must spend the night in my bedroom."

"What do you mean?"

"I prefer not to explain. But this is part of your duties. My room is

close by, and you can return to your own before the servant calls you

in the morning."

"But why?" I asked.

"Because I am nervous of being alone," said he. "That's the reason,

since you must have a reason."

It seemed rank lunacy, but the argument of those twenty pounds would

overcome many objections. I followed him to his room.

"Well," said I, "there's only room for one in that bed."

"Only one shall occupy it," said he.

"And the other?"

"Must remain on watch."

"Why?" said I. "One would think you expected to be attacked."

"Perhaps I do."

"In that case, why not lock your door?"

"Perhaps I WANT to be attacked."

It looked more and more like lunacy. However, there was nothing for it

but to submit. I shrugged my shoulders and sat down in the arm-chair

beside the empty fireplace.

"I am to remain on watch, then?" said I, ruefully.

"We will divide the night. If you will watch until two, I will watch

the remainder."

"Very good."

"Call me at two o'clock, then."

"I will do so."

"Keep your ears open, and if you hear any sounds wake me

instantly--instantly, you hear?"

"You can rely upon it." I tried to look as solemn as he did.

"And for God's sake don't go to sleep," said he, and so, taking off

only his coat, he threw the coverlet over him and settled down for the

night.

It was a melancholy vigil, and made more so by my own sense of its

folly. Supposing that by any chance Lord Linchmere had cause to

suspect that he was subject to danger in the house of Sir Thomas

Rossiter, why on earth could he not lock his door and so protect

himself? His own answer that he might wish to be attacked was absurd.

Why should he possibly wish to be attacked? And who would wish to

attack him? Clearly, Lord Linchmere was suffering from some singular

delusion, and the result was that on an imbecile pretext I was to be

deprived of my night's rest. Still, however absurd, I was determined

to carry out his injunctions to the letter as long as I was in his

employment. I sat, therefore, beside the empty fireplace, and listened

to a sonorous chiming clock somewhere down the passage which gurgled

and struck every quarter of an hour. It was an endless vigil. Save for

that single clock, an absolute silence reigned throughout the great

house. A small lamp stood on the table at my elbow, throwing a circle

of light round my chair, but leaving the corners of the room draped in

shadow. On the bed Lord Linchmere was breathing peacefully. I envied

him his quiet sleep, and again and again my own eyelids drooped, but

every time my sense of duty came to my help, and I sat up, rubbing my

eyes and pinching myself with a determination to see my irrational

watch to an end.

And I did so. From down the passage came the chimes of two o'clock,

and I laid my hand upon the shoulder of the sleeper. Instantly he was

sitting up, with an expression of the keenest interest upon his face.

"You have heard something?"

"No, sir. It is two o'clock."

"Very good. I will watch. You can go to sleep."

I lay down under the coverlet as he had done and was soon unconscious.

My last recollection was of that circle of lamplight, and of the small,

hunched-up figure and strained, anxious face of Lord Linchmere in the

centre of it.

How long I slept I do not know; but I was suddenly aroused by a sharp

tug at my sleeve. The room was in darkness, but a hot smell of oil

told me that the lamp had only that instant been extinguished.

"Quick! Quick!" said Lord Linchmere's voice in my ear.

I sprang out of bed, he still dragging at my arm.

"Over here!" he whispered, and pulled me into a corner of the room.

"Hush! Listen!"

In the silence of the night I could distinctly hear that someone was

coming down the corridor. It was a stealthy step, faint and

intermittent, as of a man who paused cautiously after every stride.

Sometimes for half a minute there was no sound, and then came the

shuffle and creak which told of a fresh advance. My companion was

trembling with excitement. His hand, which still held my sleeve,

twitched like a branch in the wind.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"It's he!"

"Sir Thomas?"

"Yes."

"What does he want?"

"Hush! Do nothing until I tell you."

I was conscious now that someone was trying the door. There was the

faintest little rattle from the handle, and then I dimly saw a thin

slit of subdued light. There was a lamp burning somewhere far down the

passage, and it just sufficed to make the outside visible from the

darkness of our room. The greyish slit grew broader and broader, very

gradually, very gently, and then outlined against it I saw the dark

figure of a man. He was squat and crouching, with the silhouette of a

bulky and misshapen dwarf. Slowly the door swung open with this ominous

shape framed in the centre of it. And then, in an instant, the

crouching figure shot up, there was a tiger spring across the room and

thud, thud, thud, came three tremendous blows from some heavy object

upon the bed.

I was so paralysed with amazement that I stood motionless and staring

until I was aroused by a yell for help from my companion. The open door

shed enough light for me to see the outline of things, and there was

little Lord Linchmere with his arms round the neck of his

brother-in-law, holding bravely on to him like a game bull-terrier with

its teeth into a gaunt deerhound. The tall, bony man dashed himself

about, writhing round and round to get a grip upon his assailant; but

the other, clutching on from behind, still kept his hold, though his

shrill, frightened cries showed how unequal he felt the contest to be.

I sprang to the rescue, and the two of us managed to throw Sir Thomas

to the ground, though he made his teeth meet in my shoulder. With all

my youth and weight and strength, it was a desperate struggle before we

could master his frenzied struggles; but at last we secured his arms

with the waist-cord of the dressing-gown which he was wearing. I was

holding his legs while Lord Linchmere was endeavouring to relight the

lamp, when there came the pattering of many feet in the passage, and

the butler and two footmen, who had been alarmed by the cries, rushed

into the room. With their aid we had no further difficulty in securing

our prisoner, who lay foaming and glaring upon the ground. One glance

at his face was enough to prove that he was a dangerous maniac, while

the short, heavy hammer which lay beside the bed showed how murderous

had been his intentions.

"Do not use any violence!" said Lord Linchmere, as we raised the

struggling man to his feet. "He will have a period of stupor after

this excitement. I believe that it is coming on already." As he spoke

the convulsions became less violent, and the madman's head fell forward

upon his breast, as if he were overcome by sleep. We led him down the

passage and stretched him upon his own bed, where he lay unconscious,

breathing heavily.

"Two of you will watch him," said Lord Linchmere. "And now, Dr.

Hamilton, if you will return with me to my room, I will give you the

explanation which my horror of scandal has perhaps caused me to delay

too long. Come what may, you will never have cause to regret your

share in this night's work.

"The case may be made clear in a very few words," he continued, when we

were alone. "My poor brother-in-law is one of the best fellows upon

earth, a loving husband and an estimable father, but he comes from a

stock which is deeply tainted with insanity. He has more than once had

homicidal outbreaks, which are the more painful because his inclination

is always to attack the very person to whom he is most attached. His

son was sent away to school to avoid this danger, and then came an

attempt upon my sister, his wife, from which she escaped with injuries

that you may have observed when you met her in London. You understand

that he knows nothing of the matter when he is in his sound senses, and

would ridicule the suggestion that he could under any circumstances

injure those whom he loves so dearly. It is often, as you know, a

characteristic of such maladies that it is absolutely impossible to

convince the man who suffers from them of their existence.

"Our great object was, of course, to get him under restraint before he

could stain his hands with blood, but the matter was full of

difficulty. He is a recluse in his habits, and would not see any

medical man. Besides, it was necessary for our purpose that the

medical man should convince himself of his insanity; and he is sane as

you or I, save on these very rare occasions. But, fortunately, before

he has these attacks he always shows certain premonitory symptoms,

which are providential danger-signals, warning us to be upon our guard.

The chief of these is that nervous contortion of the forehead which you

must have observed. This is a phenomenon which always appears from

three to four days before his attacks of frenzy. The moment it showed

itself his wife came into town on some pretext, and took refuge in my

house in Brook Street.

"It remained for me to convince a medical man of Sir Thomas's insanity,

without which it was impossible to put him where he could do no harm.

The first problem was how to get a medical man into his house. I

bethought me of his interest in beetles, and his love for anyone who

shared his tastes. I advertised, therefore, and was fortunate enough

to find in you the very man I wanted. A stout companion was necessary,

for I knew that the lunacy could only be proved by a murderous assault,

and I had every reason to believe that that assault would be made upon

myself, since he had the warmest regard for me in his moments of

sanity. I think your intelligence will supply all the rest. I did not

know that the attack would come by night, but I thought it very

probable, for the crises of such cases usually do occur in the early

hours of the morning. I am a very nervous man myself, but I saw no

other way in which I could remove this terrible danger from my sister's

life. I need not ask you whether you are willing to sign the lunacy

papers."

"Undoubtedly. But TWO signatures are necessary."

"You forget that I am myself a holder of a medical degree. I have the

papers on a side-table here, so if you will be good enough to sign them

now, we can have the patient removed in the morning."

So that was my visit to Sir Thomas Rossiter, the famous beetle-hunter,

and that was also my first step upon the ladder of success, for Lady

Rossiter and Lord Linchmere have proved to be staunch friends, and they

have never forgotten my association with them in the time of their

need. Sir Thomas is out and said to be cured, but I still think that

if I spent another night at Delamere Court, I should be inclined to

lock my door upon the inside.

The Man with the Watches

There are many who will still bear in mind the singular circumstances

which, under the heading of the Rugby Mystery, filled many columns of

the daily Press in the spring of the year 1892. Coming as it did at a

period of exceptional dullness, it attracted perhaps rather more

attention than it deserved, but it offered to the public that mixture

of the whimsical and the tragic which is most stimulating to the

popular imagination. Interest drooped, however, when, after weeks of

fruitless investigation, it was found that no final explanation of the

facts was forthcoming, and the tragedy seemed from that time to the

present to have finally taken its place in the dark catalogue of

inexplicable and unexpiated crimes. A recent communication (the

authenticity of which appears to be above question) has, however,

thrown some new and clear light upon the matter. Before laying it

before the public it would be as well, perhaps, that I should refresh

their memories as to the singular facts upon which this commentary is

founded. These facts were briefly as follows:

At five o'clock on the evening of the 18th of March in the year already

mentioned a train left Euston Station for Manchester. It was a rainy,

squally day, which grew wilder as it progressed, so it was by no means

the weather in which anyone would travel who was not driven to do so by

necessity. The train, however, is a favourite one among Manchester

business men who are returning from town, for it does the journey in

four hours and twenty minutes, with only three stoppages upon the way.

In spite of the inclement evening it was, therefore, fairly well filled

upon the occasion of which I speak. The guard of the train was a tried

servant of the company--a man who had worked for twenty-two years

without a blemish or complaint. His name was John Palmer.

The station clock was upon the stroke of five, and the guard was about

to give the customary signal to the engine-driver when he observed two

belated passengers hurrying down the platform. The one was an

exceptionally tall man, dressed in a long black overcoat with astrakhan

collar and cuffs. I have already said that the evening was an

inclement one, and the tall traveller had the high, warm collar turned

up to protect his throat against the bitter March wind. He appeared,

as far as the guard could judge by so hurried an inspection, to be a

man between fifty and sixty years of age, who had retained a good deal

of the vigour and activity of his youth. In one hand he carried a

brown leather Gladstone bag. His companion was a lady, tall and erect,

walking with a vigorous step which outpaced the gentleman beside her.

She wore a long, fawn-coloured dust-cloak, a black, close-fitting

toque, and a dark veil which concealed the greater part of her face.

The two might very well have passed as father and daughter. They

walked swiftly down the line of carriages, glancing in at the windows,

until the guard, John Palmer, overtook them.

"Now then, sir, look sharp, the train is going," said he.

"First-class," the man answered.

The guard turned the handle of the nearest door. In the carriage which

he had opened, there sat a small man with a cigar in his mouth. His

appearance seems to have impressed itself upon the guard's memory, for

he was prepared, afterwards, to describe or to identify him. He was a

man of thirty-four or thirty-five years of age, dressed in some grey

material, sharp-nosed, alert, with a ruddy, weather-beaten face, and a

small, closely cropped, black beard. He glanced up as the door was

opened. The tall man paused with his foot upon the step.

"This is a smoking compartment. The lady dislikes smoke," said he,

looking round at the guard.

"All right! Here you are, sir!" said John Palmer. He slammed the door

of the smoking carriage, opened that of the next one, which was empty,

and thrust the two travellers in. At the same moment he sounded his

whistle and the wheels of the train began to move. The man with the

cigar was at the window of his carriage, and said something to the

guard as he rolled past him, but the words were lost in the bustle of

the departure. Palmer stepped into the guard's van, as it came up to

him, and thought no more of the incident.

Twelve minutes after its departure the train reached Willesden

Junction, where it stopped for a very short interval. An examination

of the tickets has made it certain that no one either joined or left it

at this time, and no passenger was seen to alight upon the platform.

At 5:14 the journey to Manchester was resumed, and Rugby was reached at

6:50, the express being five minutes late.

At Rugby the attention of the station officials was drawn to the fact

that the door of one of the first-class carriages was open. An

examination of that compartment, and of its neighbour, disclosed a

remarkable state of affairs.

The smoking carriage in which the short, red-faced man with the black

beard had been seen was now empty. Save for a half-smoked cigar, there

was no trace whatever of its recent occupant. The door of this

carriage was fastened. In the next compartment, to which attention had

been originally drawn, there was no sign either of the gentleman with

the astrakhan collar or of the young lady who accompanied him. All

three passengers had disappeared. On the other hand, there was found

upon the floor of this carriage--the one in which the tall traveller

and the lady had been--a young man fashionably dressed and of elegant

appearance. He lay with his knees drawn up, and his head resting

against the farther door, an elbow upon either seat. A bullet had

penetrated his heart and his death must have been instantaneous. No

one had seen such a man enter the train, and no railway ticket was

found in his pocket, neither were there any markings upon his linen,

nor papers nor personal property which might help to identify him. Who

he was, whence he had come, and how he had met his end were each as

great a mystery as what had occurred to the three people who had

started an hour and a half before from Willesden in those two

compartments.

I have said that there was no personal property which might help to

identify him, but it is true that there was one peculiarity about this

unknown young man which was much commented upon at the time. In his

pockets were found no fewer than six valuable gold watches, three in

the various pockets of his waist-coat, one in his ticket-pocket, one in

his breast-pocket, and one small one set in a leather strap and

fastened round his left wrist. The obvious explanation that the man

was a pickpocket, and that this was his plunder, was discounted by the

fact that all six were of American make and of a type which is rare in

England. Three of them bore the mark of the Rochester Watchmaking

Company; one was by Mason, of Elmira; one was unmarked; and the small

one, which was highly jewelled and ornamented, was from Tiffany, of New

York. The other contents of his pocket consisted of an ivory knife

with a corkscrew by Rodgers, of Sheffield; a small, circular mirror,

one inch in diameter; a readmission slip to the Lyceum Theatre; a

silver box full of vesta matches, and a brown leather cigar-case

containing two cheroots--also two pounds fourteen shillings in money.

It was clear, then, that whatever motives may have led to his death,

robbery was not among them. As already mentioned, there were no

markings upon the man's linen, which appeared to be new, and no

tailor's name upon his coat. In appearance he was young, short,

smooth-cheeked, and delicately featured. One of his front teeth was

conspicuously stopped with gold.

On the discovery of the tragedy an examination was instantly made of

the tickets of all passengers, and the number of the passengers

themselves was counted. It was found that only three tickets were

unaccounted for, corresponding to the three travellers who were

missing. The express was then allowed to proceed, but a new guard was

sent with it, and John Palmer was detained as a witness at Rugby. The

carriage which included the two compartments in question was uncoupled

and side-tracked. Then, on the arrival of Inspector Vane, of Scotland

Yard, and of Mr. Henderson, a detective in the service of the railway

company, an exhaustive inquiry was made into all the circumstances.

That crime had been committed was certain. The bullet, which appeared

to have come from a small pistol or revolver, had been fired from some

little distance, as there was no scorching of the clothes. No weapon

was found in the compartment (which finally disposed of the theory of

suicide), nor was there any sign of the brown leather bag which the

guard had seen in the hand of the tall gentleman. A lady's parasol was

found upon the rack, but no other trace was to be seen of the

travellers in either of the sections. Apart from the crime, the

question of how or why three passengers (one of them a lady) could get

out of the train, and one other get in during the unbroken run between

Willesden and Rugby, was one which excited the utmost curiosity among

the general public, and gave rise to much speculation in the London

Press.

John Palmer, the guard was able at the inquest to give some evidence

which threw a little light upon the matter. There was a spot between

Tring and Cheddington, according to his statement, where, on account of

some repairs to the line, the train had for a few minutes slowed down

to a pace not exceeding eight or ten miles an hour. At that place it

might be possible for a man, or even for an exceptionally active woman,

to have left the train without serious injury. It was true that a gang

of platelayers was there, and that they had seen nothing, but it was

their custom to stand in the middle between the metals, and the open

carriage door was upon the far side, so that it was conceivable that

someone might have alighted unseen, as the darkness would by that time

be drawing in. A steep embankment would instantly screen anyone who

sprang out from the observation of the navvies.

The guard also deposed that there was a good deal of movement upon the

platform at Willesden Junction, and that though it was certain that no

one had either joined or left the train there, it was still quite

possible that some of the passengers might have changed unseen from one

compartment to another. It was by no means uncommon for a gentleman to

finish his cigar in a smoking carriage and then to change to a clearer

atmosphere. Supposing that the man with the black beard had done so at

Willesden (and the half-smoked cigar upon the floor seemed to favour

the supposition), he would naturally go into the nearest section, which

would bring him into the company of the two other actors in this drama.

Thus the first stage of the affair might be surmised without any great

breach of probability. But what the second stage had been, or how the

final one had been arrived at, neither the guard nor the experienced

detective officers could suggest.

A careful examination of the line between Willesden and Rugby resulted

in one discovery which might or might not have a bearing upon the

tragedy. Near Tring, at the very place where the train slowed down,

there was found at the bottom of the embankment a small pocket

Testament, very shabby and worn. It was printed by the Bible Society

of London, and bore an inscription: "From John to Alice. Jan. 13th,

1856," upon the fly-leaf. Underneath was written: "James. July 4th,

1859," and beneath that again: "Edward. Nov. 1st, 1869," all the

entries being in the same handwriting. This was the only clue, if it

could be called a clue, which the police obtained, and the coroner's

verdict of "Murder by a person or persons unknown" was the

unsatisfactory ending of a singular case. Advertisement, rewards, and

inquiries proved equally fruitless, and nothing could be found which

was solid enough to form the basis for a profitable investigation.

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that no theories were formed

to account for the facts. On the contrary, the Press, both in England

and in America, teemed with suggestions and suppositions, most of which

were obviously absurd. The fact that the watches were of American

make, and some peculiarities in connection with the gold stopping of

his front tooth, appeared to indicate that the deceased was a citizen

of the United States, though his linen, clothes and boots were

undoubtedly of British manufacture. It was surmised, by some, that he

was concealed under the seat, and that, being discovered, he was for

some reason, possibly because he had overheard their guilty secrets,

put to death by his fellow-passengers. When coupled with generalities

as to the ferocity and cunning of anarchical and other secret

societies, this theory sounded as plausible as any.

The fact that he should be without a ticket would be consistent with

the idea of concealment, and it was well known that women played a

prominent part in the Nihilistic propaganda. On the other hand, it was

clear, from the guard's statement, that the man must have been hidden

there BEFORE the others arrived, and how unlikely the coincidence that

conspirators should stray exactly into the very compartment in which a

spy was already concealed! Besides, this explanation ignored the man in

the smoking carriage, and gave no reason at all for his simultaneous

disappearance. The police had little difficulty in showing that such a

theory would not cover the facts, but they were unprepared in the

absence of evidence to advance any alternative explanation.

There was a letter in the Daily Gazette, over the signature of a

well-known criminal investigator, which gave rise to considerable

discussion at the time. He had formed a hypothesis which had at least

ingenuity to recommend it, and I cannot do better than append it in his

own words.

"Whatever may be the truth," said he, "it must depend upon some bizarre

and rare combination of events, so we need have no hesitation in

postulating such events in our explanation. In the absence of data we

must abandon the analytic or scientific method of investigation, and

must approach it in the synthetic fashion. In a word, instead of taking

known events and deducing from them what has occurred, we must build up

a fanciful explanation if it will only be consistent with known events.

We can then test this explanation by any fresh facts which may arise.

If they all fit into their places, the probability is that we are upon

the right track, and with each fresh fact this probability increases in

a geometrical progression until the evidence becomes final and

convincing.

"Now, there is one most remarkable and suggestive fact which has not

met with the attention which it deserves. There is a local train

running through Harrow and King's Langley, which is timed in such a way

that the express must have overtaken it at or about the period when it

eased down its speed to eight miles an hour on account of the repairs

of the line. The two trains would at that time be travelling in the

same direction at a similar rate of speed and upon parallel lines. It

is within every one's experience how, under such circumstances, the

occupant of each carriage can see very plainly the passengers in the

other carriages opposite to him. The lamps of the express had been lit

at Willesden, so that each compartment was brightly illuminated, and

most visible to an observer from outside.

"Now, the sequence of events as I reconstruct them would be after this

fashion. This young man with the abnormal number of watches was alone

in the carriage of the slow train. His ticket, with his papers and

gloves and other things, was, we will suppose, on the seat beside him.

He was probably an American, and also probably a man of weak intellect.

The excessive wearing of jewellery is an early symptom in some forms of

mania.

"As he sat watching the carriages of the express which were (on account

of the state of the line) going at the same pace as himself, he

suddenly saw some people in it whom he knew. We will suppose for the

sake of our theory that these people were a woman whom he loved and a

man whom he hated--and who in return hated him. The young man was

excitable and impulsive. He opened the door of his carriage, stepped

from the footboard of the local train to the footboard of the express,

opened the other door, and made his way into the presence of these two

people. The feat (on the supposition that the trains were going at the

same pace) is by no means so perilous as it might appear.

"Having now got our young man, without his ticket, into the carriage in

which the elder man and the young woman are travelling, it is not

difficult to imagine that a violent scene ensued. It is possible that

the pair were also Americans, which is the more probable as the man

carried a weapon--an unusual thing in England. If our supposition of

incipient mania is correct, the young man is likely to have assaulted

the other. As the upshot of the quarrel the elder man shot the

intruder, and then made his escape from the carriage, taking the young

lady with him. We will suppose that all this happened very rapidly,

and that the train was still going at so slow a pace that it was not

difficult for them to leave it. A woman might leave a train going at

eight miles an hour. As a matter of fact, we know that this woman DID

do so.

"And now we have to fit in the man in the smoking carriage. Presuming

that we have, up to this point, reconstructed the tragedy correctly, we

shall find nothing in this other man to cause us to reconsider our

conclusions. According to my theory, this man saw the young fellow

cross from one train to the other, saw him open the door, heard the

pistol-shot, saw the two fugitives spring out on to the line, realized

that murder had been done, and sprang out himself in pursuit. Why he

has never been heard of since--whether he met his own death in the

pursuit, or whether, as is more likely, he was made to realize that it

was not a case for his interference--is a detail which we have at

present no means of explaining. I acknowledge that there are some

difficulties in the way. At first sight, it might seem improbable that

at such a moment a murderer would burden himself in his flight with a

brown leather bag. My answer is that he was well aware that if the bag

were found his identity would be established. It was absolutely

necessary for him to take it with him. My theory stands or falls upon

one point, and I call upon the railway company to make strict inquiry

as to whether a ticket was found unclaimed in the local train through

Harrow and King's Langley upon the 18th of March. If such a ticket

were found my case is proved. If not, my theory may still be the

correct one, for it is conceivable either that he travelled without a

ticket or that his ticket was lost."

To this elaborate and plausible hypothesis the answer of the police and

of the company was, first, that no such ticket was found; secondly,

that the slow train would never run parallel to the express; and,

thirdly, that the local train had been stationary in King's Langley

Station when the express, going at fifty miles an hour, had flashed

past it. So perished the only satisfying explanation, and five years

have elapsed without supplying a new one. Now, at last, there comes a

statement which covers all the facts, and which must be regarded as

authentic. It took the shape of a letter dated from New York, and

addressed to the same criminal investigator whose theory I have quoted.

It is given here in extenso, with the exception of the two opening

paragraphs, which are personal in their nature:

"You'll excuse me if I'm not very free with names. There's less reason

now than there was five years ago when mother was still living. But

for all that, I had rather cover up our tracks all I can. But I owe

you an explanation, for if your idea of it was wrong, it was a mighty

ingenious one all the same. I'll have to go back a little so as you

may understand all about it.

"My people came from Bucks, England, and emigrated to the States in the

early fifties. They settled in Rochester, in the State of New York,

where my father ran a large dry goods store. There were only two sons:

myself, James, and my brother, Edward. I was ten years older than my

brother, and after my father died I sort of took the place of a father

to him, as an elder brother would. He was a bright, spirited boy, and

just one of the most beautiful creatures that ever lived. But there

was always a soft spot in him, and it was like mould in cheese, for it

spread and spread, and nothing that you could do would stop it. Mother

saw it just as clearly as I did, but she went on spoiling him all the

same, for he had such a way with him that you could refuse him nothing.

I did all I could to hold him in, and he hated me for my pains.

"At last he fairly got his head, and nothing that we could do would

stop him. He got off into New York, and went rapidly from bad to

worse. At first he was only fast, and then he was criminal; and then,

at the end of a year or two, he was one of the most notorious young

crooks in the city. He had formed a friendship with Sparrow MacCoy,

who was at the head of his profession as a bunco-steerer, green

goodsman and general rascal. They took to card-sharping, and frequented

some of the best hotels in New York. My brother was an excellent actor

(he might have made an honest name for himself if he had chosen), and

he would take the parts of a young Englishman of title, of a simple lad

from the West, or of a college undergraduate, whichever suited Sparrow

MacCoy's purpose. And then one day he dressed himself as a girl, and

he carried it off so well, and made himself such a valuable decoy, that

it was their favourite game afterwards. They had made it right with

Tammany and with the police, so it seemed as if nothing could ever stop

them, for those were in the days before the Lexow Commission, and if

you only had a pull, you could do pretty nearly everything you wanted.

"And nothing would have stopped them if they had only stuck to cards

and New York, but they must needs come up Rochester way, and forge a

name upon a cheque. It was my brother that did it, though everyone

knew that it was under the influence of Sparrow MacCoy. I bought up

that cheque, and a pretty sum it cost me. Then I went to my brother,

laid it before him on the table, and swore to him that I would

prosecute if he did not clear out of the country. At first he simply

laughed. I could not prosecute, he said, without breaking our mother's

heart, and he knew that I would not do that. I made him understand,

however, that our mother's heart was being broken in any case, and that

I had set firm on the point that I would rather see him in Rochester

gaol than in a New York hotel. So at last he gave in, and he made me a

solemn promise that he would see Sparrow MacCoy no more, that he would

go to Europe, and that he would turn his hand to any honest trade that

I helped him to get. I took him down right away to an old family

friend, Joe Willson, who is an exporter of American watches and clocks,

and I got him to give Edward an agency in London, with a small salary

and a 15 per cent commission on all business. His manner and

appearance were so good that he won the old man over at once, and

within a week he was sent off to London with a case full of samples.

"It seemed to me that this business of the cheque had really given my

brother a fright, and that there was some chance of his settling down

into an honest line of life. My mother had spoken with him, and what

she said had touched him, for she had always been the best of mothers

to him and he had been the great sorrow of her life. But I knew that

this man Sparrow MacCoy had a great influence over Edward and my chance

of keeping the lad straight lay in breaking the connection between

them. I had a friend in the New York detective force, and through him

I kept a watch upon MacCoy. When, within a fortnight of my brother's

sailing, I heard that MacCoy had taken a berth in the Etruria, I was as

certain as if he had told me that he was going over to England for the

purpose of coaxing Edward back again into the ways that he had left.

In an instant I had resolved to go also, and to pit my influence

against MacCoy's. I knew it was a losing fight, but I thought, and my

mother thought, that it was my duty. We passed the last night together

in prayer for my success, and she gave me her own Testament that my

father had given her on the day of their marriage in the Old Country,

so that I might always wear it next my heart.

"I was a fellow-traveller, on the steamship, with Sparrow MacCoy, and

at least I had the satisfaction of spoiling his little game for the

voyage. The very first night I went into the smoking-room, and found

him at the head of a card-table, with a half a dozen young fellows who

were carrying their full purses and their empty skulls over to Europe.

He was settling down for his harvest, and a rich one it would have

been. But I soon changed all that.

"'Gentlemen,' said I, 'are you aware whom you are playing with?'

"'What's that to you? You mind your own business!' said he, with an

oath.

"'Who is it, anyway?' asked one of the dudes.

"'He's Sparrow MacCoy, the most notorious card-sharper in the States.'

"Up he jumped with a bottle in his hand, but he remembered that he was

under the flag of the effete Old Country, where law and order run, and

Tammany has no pull. Gaol and the gallows wait for violence and

murder, and there's no slipping out by the back door on board an ocean

liner.

"'Prove your words, you----!' said he.

"'I will!' said I. 'If you will turn up your right shirt-sleeve to the

shoulder, I will either prove my words or I will eat them.'

"He turned white and said not a word. You see, I knew something of his

ways, and I was aware of that part of the mechanism which he and all

such sharpers use consists of an elastic down the arm with a clip just

above the wrist. It is by means of this clip that they withdraw from

their hands the cards which they do not want, while they substitute

other cards from another hiding place. I reckoned on it being there,

and it was. He cursed me, slunk out of the saloon, and was hardly seen

again during the voyage. For once, at any rate, I got level with

Mister Sparrow MacCoy.

"But he soon had his revenge upon me, for when it came to influencing

my brother he outweighed me every time. Edward had kept himself

straight in London for the first few weeks, and had done some business

with his American watches, until this villain came across his path once

more. I did my best, but the best was little enough. The next thing I

heard there had been a scandal at one of the Northumberland Avenue

hotels: a traveller had been fleeced of a large sum by two confederate

card-sharpers, and the matter was in the hands of Scotland Yard. The

first I learned of it was in the evening paper, and I was at once

certain that my brother and MacCoy were back at their old games. I

hurried at once to Edward's lodgings. They told me that he and a tall

gentleman (whom I recognized as MacCoy) had gone off together, and that

he had left the lodgings and taken his things with him. The landlady

had heard them give several directions to the cabman, ending with

Euston Station, and she had accidentally overheard the tall gentleman

saying something about Manchester. She believed that that was their

destination.

"A glance at the time-table showed me that the most likely train was at

five, though there was another at 4:35 which they might have caught. I

had only time to get the later one, but found no sign of them either at

the depot or in the train. They must have gone on by the earlier one,

so I determined to follow them to Manchester and search for them in the

hotels there. One last appeal to my brother by all that he owed to my

mother might even now be the salvation of him. My nerves were

overstrung, and I lit a cigar to steady them. At that moment, just as

the train was moving off, the door of my compartment was flung open,

and there were MacCoy and my brother on the platform.

"They were both disguised, and with good reason, for they knew that the

London police were after them. MacCoy had a great astrakhan collar

drawn up, so that only his eyes and nose were showing. My brother was

dressed like a woman, with a black veil half down his face, but of

course it did not deceive me for an instant, nor would it have done so

even if I had not known that he had often used such a dress before. I

started up, and as I did so MacCoy recognized me. He said something,

the conductor slammed the door, and they were shown into the next

compartment. I tried to stop the train so as to follow them, but the

wheels were already moving, and it was too late.

"When we stopped at Willesden, I instantly changed my carriage. It

appears that I was not seen to do so, which is not surprising, as the

station was crowded with people. MacCoy, of course, was expecting me,

and he had spent the time between Euston and Willesden in saying all he

could to harden my brother's heart and set him against me. That is

what I fancy, for I had never found him so impossible to soften or to

move. I tried this way and I tried that; I pictured his future in an

English gaol; I described the sorrow of his mother when I came back

with the news; I said everything to touch his heart, but all to no

purpose. He sat there with a fixed sneer upon his handsome face, while

every now and then Sparrow MacCoy would throw in a taunt at me, or some

word of encouragement to hold my brother to his resolutions.

"'Why don't you run a Sunday-school?' he would say to me, and then, in

the same breath: 'He thinks you have no will of your own. He thinks

you are just the baby brother and that he can lead you where he likes.

He's only just finding out that you are a man as well as he.'

"It was those words of his which set me talking bitterly. We had left

Willesden, you understand, for all this took some time. My temper got

the better of me, and for the first time in my life I let my brother

see the rough side of me. Perhaps it would have been better had I done

so earlier and more often.

"'A man!' said I. 'Well, I'm glad to have your friend's assurance of

it, for no one would suspect it to see you like a boarding-school

missy. I don't suppose in all this country there is a more

contemptible-looking creature than you are as you sit there with that

Dolly pinafore upon you.' He coloured up at that, for he was a vain

man, and he winced from ridicule.

"'It's only a dust-cloak,' said he, and he slipped it off. 'One has to

throw the coppers off one's scent, and I had no other way to do it.'

He took his toque off with the veil attached, and he put both it and

the cloak into his brown bag. 'Anyway, I don't need to wear it until

the conductor comes round,' said he.

"'Nor then, either,' said I, and taking the bag I slung it with all my

force out of the window. 'Now,' said I, 'you'll never make a Mary Jane

of yourself while I can help it. If nothing but that disguise stands

between you and a gaol, then to gaol you shall go.'

"That was the way to manage him. I felt my advantage at once. His

supple nature was one which yielded to roughness far more readily than

to entreaty. He flushed with shame, and his eyes filled with tears.

But MacCoy saw my advantage also, and was determined that I should not

pursue it.

"'He's my pard, and you shall not bully him,' he cried.

"'He's my brother, and you shall not ruin him,' said I. 'I believe a

spell of prison is the very best way of keeping you apart, and you

shall have it, or it will be no fault of mine.'

"'Oh, you would squeal, would you?' he cried, and in an instant he

whipped out his revolver. I sprang for his hand, but saw that I was

too late, and jumped aside. At the same instant he fired, and the

bullet which would have struck me passed through the heart of my

unfortunate brother.

"He dropped without a groan upon the floor of the compartment, and

MacCoy and I, equally horrified, knelt at each side of him, trying to

bring back some signs of life. MacCoy still held the loaded revolver

in his hand, but his anger against me and my resentment towards him had

both for the moment been swallowed up in this sudden tragedy. It was

he who first realized the situation. The train was for some reason

going very slowly at the moment, and he saw his opportunity for escape.

In an instant he had the door open, but I was as quick as he, and

jumping upon him the two of us fell off the footboard and rolled in

each other's arms down a steep embankment. At the bottom I struck my

head against a stone, and I remembered nothing more. When I came to

myself I was lying among some low bushes, not far from the railroad

track, and somebody was bathing my head with a wet handkerchief. It

was Sparrow MacCoy.

"'I guess I couldn't leave you,' said he. 'I didn't want to have the

blood of two of you on my hands in one day. You loved your brother,

I've no doubt; but you didn't love him a cent more than I loved him,

though you'll say that I took a queer way to show it. Anyhow, it seems

a mighty empty world now that he is gone, and I don't care a

continental whether you give me over to the hangman or not.'

"He had turned his ankle in the fall, and there we sat, he with his

useless foot, and I with my throbbing head, and we talked and talked

until gradually my bitterness began to soften and to turn into

something like sympathy. What was the use of revenging his death upon

a man who was as much stricken by that death as I was? And then, as my

wits gradually returned, I began to realize also that I could do

nothing against MacCoy which would not recoil upon my mother and

myself. How could we convict him without a full account of my

brother's career being made public--the very thing which of all others

we wished to avoid? It was really as much our interest as his to cover

the matter up, and from being an avenger of crime I found myself

changed to a conspirator against Justice. The place in which we found

ourselves was one of those pheasant preserves which are so common in

the Old Country, and as we groped our way through it I found myself

consulting the slayer of my brother as to how far it would be possible

to hush it up.

"I soon realized from what he said that unless there were some papers

of which we knew nothing in my brother's pockets, there was really no

possible means by which the police could identify him or learn how he

had got there. His ticket was in MacCoy's pocket, and so was the

ticket for some baggage which they had left at the depot. Like most

Americans, he had found it cheaper and easier to buy an outfit in

London than to bring one from New York, so that all his linen and

clothes were new and unmarked. The bag, containing the dust-cloak,

which I had thrown out of the window, may have fallen among some

bramble patch where it is still concealed, or may have been carried off

by some tramp, or may have come into the possession of the police, who

kept the incident to themselves. Anyhow, I have seen nothing about it

in the London papers. As to the watches, they were a selection from

those which had been intrusted to him for business purposes. It may

have been for the same business purposes that he was taking them to

Manchester, but--well, it's too late to enter into that.

"I don't blame the police for being at fault. I don't see how it could

have been otherwise. There was just one little clue that they might

have followed up, but it was a small one. I mean that small, circular

mirror which was found in my brother's pocket. It isn't a very common

thing for a young man to carry about with him, is it? But a gambler

might have told you what such a mirror may mean to a card-sharper. If

you sit back a little from the table, and lay the mirror, face upwards,

upon your lap, you can see, as you deal, every card that you give to

your adversary. It is not hard to say whether you see a man or raise

him when you know his cards as well as your own. It was as much a part

of a sharper's outfit as the elastic clip upon Sparrow MacCoy's arm.

Taking that, in connection with the recent frauds at the hotels, the

police might have got hold of one end of the string.

"I don't think there is much more for me to explain. We got to a

village called Amersham that night in the character of two gentlemen

upon a walking tour, and afterwards we made our way quietly to London,

whence MacCoy went on to Cairo and I returned to New York. My mother

died six months afterwards, and I am glad to say that to the day of her

death she never knew what happened. She was always under the delusion

that Edward was earning an honest living in London, and I never had the

heart to tell her the truth. He never wrote; but, then, he never did

write at any time, so that made no difference. His name was the last

upon her lips.

"There's just one other thing that I have to ask you, sir, and I should

take it as a kind return for all this explanation, if you could do it

for me. You remember that Testament that was picked up. I always

carried it in my inside pocket, and it must have come out in my fall.

I value it very highly, for it was the family book with my birth and my

brother's marked by my father in the beginning of it. I wish you would

apply at the proper place and have it sent to me. It can be of no

possible value to anyone else. If you address it to X, Bassano's

Library, Broadway, New York, it is sure to come to hand."

The Japanned Box

It WAS a curious thing, said the private tutor; one of those grotesque

and whimsical incidents which occur to one as one goes through life. I

lost the best situation which I am ever likely to have through it. But

I am glad that I went to Thorpe Place, for I gained--well, as I tell

you the story you will learn what I gained.

I don't know whether you are familiar with that part of the Midlands

which is drained by the Avon. It is the most English part of England.

Shakespeare, the flower of the whole race, was born right in the middle

of it. It is a land of rolling pastures, rising in higher folds to the

westwards, until they swell into the Malvern Hills. There are no

towns, but numerous villages, each with its grey Norman church. You

have left the brick of the southern and eastern counties behind you,

and everything is stone--stone for the walls, and lichened slabs of

stone for the roofs. It is all grim and solid and massive, as befits

the heart of a great nation.

It was in the middle of this country, not very far from Evesham, that

Sir John Bollamore lived in the old ancestral home of Thorpe Place, and

thither it was that I came to teach his two little sons. Sir John was

a widower--his wife had died three years before--and he had been left

with these two lads aged eight and ten, and one dear little girl of

seven. Miss Witherton, who is now my wife, was governess to this

little girl. I was tutor to the two boys. Could there be a more

obvious prelude to an engagement? She governs me now, and I tutor two

little boys of our own. But, there--I have already revealed what it

was which I gained in Thorpe Place!

It was a very, very old house, incredibly old--pre-Norman, some of

it--and the Bollamores claimed to have lived in that situation since

long before the Conquest. It struck a chill to my heart when first I

came there, those enormously thick grey walls, the rude crumbling

stones, the smell as from a sick animal which exhaled from the rotting

plaster of the aged building. But the modern wing was bright and the

garden was well kept. No house could be dismal which had a pretty girl

inside it and such a show of roses in front.

Apart from a very complete staff of servants there were only four of us

in the household. These were Miss Witherton, who was at that time

four-and-twenty and as pretty--well, as pretty as Mrs. Colmore is

now--myself, Frank Colmore, aged thirty, Mrs. Stevens, the housekeeper,

a dry, silent woman, and Mr. Richards, a tall military-looking man, who

acted as steward to the Bollamore estates. We four always had our

meals together, but Sir John had his usually alone in the library.

Sometimes he joined us at dinner, but on the whole we were just as glad

when he did not.

For he was a very formidable person. Imagine a man six feet three

inches in height, majestically built, with a high-nosed, aristocratic

face, brindled hair, shaggy eyebrows, a small, pointed Mephistophelian

beard, and lines upon his brow and round his eyes as deep as if they

had been carved with a penknife. He had grey eyes, weary,

hopeless-looking eyes, proud and yet pathetic, eyes which claimed your

pity and yet dared you to show it. His back was rounded with study,

but otherwise he was as fine a looking man of his age--five-and-fifty

perhaps--as any woman would wish to look upon.

But his presence was not a cheerful one. He was always courteous,

always refined, but singularly silent and retiring. I have never lived

so long with any man and known so little of him. If he were indoors he

spent his time either in his own small study in the Eastern Tower, or

in the library in the modern wing. So regular was his routine that one

could always say at any hour exactly where he would be. Twice in the

day he would visit his study, once after breakfast, and once about ten

at night. You might set your watch by the slam of the heavy door. For

the rest of the day he would be in his library--save that for an hour

or two in the afternoon he would take a walk or a ride, which was

solitary like the rest of his existence. He loved his children, and

was keenly interested in the progress of their studies, but they were a

little awed by the silent, shaggy-browed figure, and they avoided him

as much as they could. Indeed, we all did that.

It was some time before I came to know anything about the circumstances

of Sir John Bollamore's life, for Mrs. Stevens, the housekeeper, and

Mr. Richards, the land-steward, were too loyal to talk easily of their

employer's affairs. As to the governess, she knew no more than I did,

and our common interest was one of the causes which drew us together.

At last, however, an incident occurred which led to a closer

acquaintance with Mr. Richards and a fuller knowledge of the life of

the man whom I served.

The immediate cause of this was no less than the falling of Master

Percy, the youngest of my pupils, into the mill-race, with imminent

danger both to his life and to mine, since I had to risk myself in

order to save him. Dripping and exhausted--for I was far more spent

than the child--I was making for my room when Sir John, who had heard

the hubbub, opened the door of his little study and asked me what was

the matter. I told him of the accident, but assured him that his child

was in no danger, while he listened with a rugged, immobile face, which

expressed in its intense eyes and tightened lips all the emotion which

he tried to conceal.

"One moment! Step in here! Let me have the details!" said he, turning

back through the open door.

And so I found myself within that little sanctum, inside which, as I

afterwards learned, no other foot had for three years been set save

that of the old servant who cleaned it out. It was a round room,

conforming to the shape of the tower in which it was situated, with a

low ceiling, a single narrow, ivy-wreathed window, and the simplest of

furniture. An old carpet, a single chair, a deal table, and a small

shelf of books made up the whole contents. On the table stood a

full-length photograph of a woman--I took no particular notice of the

features, but I remember, that a certain gracious gentleness was the

prevailing impression. Beside it were a large black japanned box and

one or two bundles of letters or papers fastened together with elastic

bands.

Our interview was a short one, for Sir John Bollamore perceived that I

was soaked, and that I should change without delay. The incident led,

however, to an instructive talk with Richards, the agent, who had never

penetrated into the chamber which chance had opened to me. That very

afternoon he came to me, all curiosity, and walked up and down the

garden path with me, while my two charges played tennis upon the lawn

beside us.

"You hardly realize the exception which has been made in your favour,"

said he. "That room has been kept such a mystery, and Sir John's

visits to it have been so regular and consistent, that an almost

superstitious feeling has arisen about it in the household. I assure

you that if I were to repeat to you the tales which are flying about,

tales of mysterious visitors there, and of voices overheard by the

servants, you might suspect that Sir John had relapsed into his old

ways."

"Why do you say relapsed?" I asked.

He looked at me in surprise.

"Is it possible," said he, "that Sir John Bollamore's previous history

is unknown to you?"

"Absolutely."

"You astound me. I thought that every man in England knew something of

his antecedents. I should not mention the matter if it were not that

you are now one of ourselves, and that the facts might come to your

ears in some harsher form if I were silent upon them. I always took it

for granted that you knew that you were in the service of 'Devil'

Bollamore."

"But why 'Devil'?" I asked.

"Ah, you are young and the world moves fast, but twenty years ago the

name of 'Devil' Bollamore was one of the best known in London. He was

the leader of the fastest set, bruiser, driver, gambler, drunkard--a

survival of the old type, and as bad as the worst of them."

I stared at him in amazement.

"What!" I cried, "that quiet, studious, sad-faced man?"

"The greatest rip and debauchee in England! All between ourselves,

Colmore. But you understand now what I mean when I say that a woman's

voice in his room might even now give rise to suspicions."

"But what can have changed him so?"

"Little Beryl Clare, when she took the risk of becoming his wife. That

was the turning point. He had got so far that his own fast set had

thrown him over. There is a world of difference, you know, between a

man who drinks and a drunkard. They all drink, but they taboo a

drunkard. He had become a slave to it--hopeless and helpless. Then

she stepped in, saw the possibilities of a fine man in the wreck, took

her chance in marrying him though she might have had the pick of a

dozen, and, by devoting her life to it, brought him back to manhood and

decency. You have observed that no liquor is ever kept in the house.

There never has been any since her foot crossed its threshold. A drop

of it would be like blood to a tiger even now."

"Then her influence still holds him?"

"That is the wonder of it. When she died three years ago, we all

expected and feared that he would fall back into his old ways. She

feared it herself, and the thought gave a terror to death, for she was

like a guardian angel to that man, and lived only for the one purpose.

By the way, did you see a black japanned box in his room?"

"Yes."

"I fancy it contains her letters. If ever he has occasion to be away,

if only for a single night, he invariably takes his black japanned box

with him. Well, well, Colmore, perhaps I have told you rather more

than I should, but I shall expect you to reciprocate if anything of

interest should come to your knowledge."

I could see that the worthy man was consumed with curiosity and just a

little piqued that I, the newcomer, should have been the first to

penetrate into the untrodden chamber. But the fact raised me in his

esteem, and from that time onwards I found myself upon more

confidential terms with him.

And now the silent and majestic figure of my employer became an object

of greater interest to me. I began to understand that strangely human

look in his eyes, those deep lines upon his care-worn face. He was a

man who was fighting a ceaseless battle, holding at arm's length, from

morning till night, a horrible adversary who was forever trying to

close with him--an adversary which would destroy him body and soul

could it but fix its claws once more upon him. As I watched the grim,

round-backed figure pacing the corridor or walking in the garden, this

imminent danger seemed to take bodily shape, and I could almost fancy

that I saw this most loathsome and dangerous of all the fiends

crouching closely in his very shadow, like a half-cowed beast which

slinks beside its keeper, ready at any unguarded moment to spring at

his throat. And the dead woman, the woman who had spent her life in

warding off this danger, took shape also to my imagination, and I saw

her as a shadowy but beautiful presence which intervened for ever with

arms uplifted to screen the man whom she loved.

In some subtle way he divined the sympathy which I had for him, and he

showed in his own silent fashion that he appreciated it. He even

invited me once to share his afternoon walk, and although no word

passed between us on this occasion, it was a mark of confidence which

he had never shown to anyone before. He asked me also to index his

library (it was one of the best private libraries in England), and I

spent many hours in the evening in his presence, if not in his society,

he reading at his desk and I sitting in a recess by the window reducing

to order the chaos which existed among his books. In spite of these

close relations I was never again asked to enter the chamber in the

turret.

And then came my revulsion of feeling. A single incident changed all

my sympathy to loathing, and made me realize that my employer still

remained all that he had ever been, with the additional vice of

hypocrisy. What happened was as follows.

One evening Miss Witherton had gone down to Broadway, the neighbouring

village, to sing at a concert for some charity, and I, according to my

promise, had walked over to escort her back. The drive sweeps round

under the eastern turret, and I observed as I passed that the light was

lit in the circular room. It was a summer evening, and the window,

which was a little higher than our heads, was open. We were, as it

happened, engrossed in our own conversation at the moment and we had

paused upon the lawn which skirts the old turret, when suddenly

something broke in upon our talk and turned our thoughts away from our

own affairs.

It was a voice--the voice undoubtedly of a woman. It was low--so low

that it was only in that still night air that we could have heard it,

but, hushed as it was, there was no mistaking its feminine timbre. It

spoke hurriedly, gaspingly for a few sentences, and then was silent--a

piteous, breathless, imploring sort of voice. Miss Witherton and I

stood for an instant staring at each other. Then we walked quickly in

the direction of the hall-door.

"It came through the window," I said.

"We must not play the part of eavesdroppers," she answered. "We must

forget that we have ever heard it."

There was an absence of surprise in her manner which suggested a new

idea to me.

"You have heard it before," I cried.

"I could not help it. My own room is higher up on the same turret. It

has happened frequently."

"Who can the woman be?"

"I have no idea. I had rather not discuss it."

Her voice was enough to show me what she thought. But granting that

our employer led a double and dubious life, who could she be, this

mysterious woman who kept him company in the old tower? I knew from my

own inspection how bleak and bare a room it was. She certainly did not

live there. But in that case where did she come from? It could not be

anyone of the household. They were all under the vigilant eyes of Mrs.

Stevens. The visitor must come from without. But how?

And then suddenly I remembered how ancient this building was, and how

probable that some mediaeval passage existed in it. There is hardly an

old castle without one. The mysterious room was the basement of the

turret, so that if there were anything of the sort it would open

through the floor. There were numerous cottages in the immediate

vicinity. The other end of the secret passage might lie among some

tangle of bramble in the neighbouring copse. I said nothing to anyone,

but I felt that the secret of my employer lay within my power.

And the more convinced I was of this the more I marvelled at the manner

in which he concealed his true nature. Often as I watched his austere

figure, I asked myself if it were indeed possible that such a man

should be living this double life, and I tried to persuade myself that

my suspicions might after all prove to be ill-founded. But there was

the female voice, there was the secret nightly rendezvous in the

turret-chamber--how could such facts admit of an innocent

interpretation. I conceived a horror of the man. I was filled with

loathing at his deep, consistent hypocrisy.

Only once during all those months did I ever see him without that sad

but impassive mask which he usually presented towards his fellow-man.

For an instant I caught a glimpse of those volcanic fires which he had

damped down so long. The occasion was an unworthy one, for the object

of his wrath was none other than the aged charwoman whom I have already

mentioned as being the one person who was allowed within his mysterious

chamber. I was passing the corridor which led to the turret--for my

own room lay in that direction--when I heard a sudden, startled scream,

and merged in it the husky, growling note of a man who is inarticulate

with passion. It was the snarl of a furious wild beast. Then I heard

his voice thrilling with anger. "You would dare!" he cried. "You would

dare to disobey my directions!" An instant later the charwoman passed

me, flying down the passage, white-faced and tremulous, while the

terrible voice thundered behind her. "Go to Mrs. Stevens for your

money! Never set foot in Thorpe Place again!" Consumed with

curiosity, I could not help following the woman, and found her round

the corner leaning against the wall and palpitating like a frightened

rabbit.

"What is the matter, Mrs. Brown?" I asked.

"It's master!" she gasped. "Oh, 'ow 'e frightened me! If you had seen

'is eyes, Mr. Colmore, sir. I thought 'e would 'ave been the death of

me."

"But what had you done?"

"Done, sir! Nothing. At least nothing to make so much of. Just laid

my 'and on that black box of 'is--'adn't even opened it, when in 'e

came and you 'eard the way 'e went on. I've lost my place, and glad I

am of it, for I would never trust myself within reach of 'im again."

So it was the japanned box which was the cause of this outburst--the

box from which he would never permit himself to be separated. What was

the connection, or was there any connection between this and the secret

visits of the lady whose voice I had overheard? Sir John Bollamore's

wrath was enduring as well as fiery, for from that day Mrs. Brown, the

charwoman, vanished from our ken, and Thorpe Place knew her no more.

And now I wish to tell you the singular chance which solved all these

strange questions and put my employer's secret in my possession. The

story may leave you with some lingering doubts as to whether my

curiosity did not get the better of my honour, and whether I did not

condescend to play the spy. If you choose to think so I cannot help

it, but can only assure you that, improbable as it may appear, the

matter came about exactly as I describe it.

The first stage in this denouement was that the small room in the

turret became uninhabitable. This occurred through the fall of the

worm-eaten oaken beam which supported the ceiling. Rotten with age, it

snapped in the middle one morning, and brought down a quantity of

plaster with it. Fortunately Sir John was not in the room at the time.

His precious box was rescued from amongst the debris and brought into

the library, where, henceforward, it was locked within his bureau. Sir

John took no steps to repair the damage, and I never had an opportunity

of searching for that secret passage, the existence of which I had

surmised. As to the lady, I had thought that this would have brought

her visits to an end, had I not one evening heard Mr. Richards asking

Mrs. Stevens who the woman was whom he had overheard talking to Sir

John in the library. I could not catch her reply, but I saw from her

manner that it was not the first time that she had had to answer or

avoid the same question.

"You've heard the voice, Colmore?" said the agent.

I confessed that I had.

"And what do YOU think of it?"

I shrugged my shoulders, and remarked that it was no business of mine.

"Come, come, you are just as curious as any of us. Is it a woman or

not?"

"It is certainly a woman."

"Which room did you hear it from?"

"From the turret-room, before the ceiling fell."

"But I heard it from the library only last night. I passed the doors

as I was going to bed, and I heard something wailing and praying just

as plainly as I hear you. It may be a woman----"

"Why, what else COULD it be?"

He looked at me hard.

"There are more things in heaven and earth," said he. "If it is a

woman, how does she get there?"

"I don't know."

"No, nor I. But if it is the other thing--but there, for a practical

business man at the end of the nineteenth century this is rather a

ridiculous line of conversation." He turned away, but I saw that he

felt even more than he had said. To all the old ghost stories of

Thorpe Place a new one was being added before our very eyes. It may by

this time have taken its permanent place, for though an explanation

came to me, it never reached the others.

And my explanation came in this way. I had suffered a sleepless night

from neuralgia, and about midday I had taken a heavy dose of chlorodyne

to alleviate the pain. At that time I was finishing the indexing of

Sir John Bollamore's library, and it was my custom to work there from

five till seven. On this particular day I struggled against the double

effect of my bad night and the narcotic. I have already mentioned that

there was a recess in the library, and in this it was my habit to work.

I settled down steadily to my task, but my weariness overcame me and,

falling back upon the settee, I dropped into a heavy sleep.

How long I slept I do not know, but it was quite dark when I awoke.

Confused by the chlorodyne which I had taken, I lay motionless in a

semi-conscious state. The great room with its high walls covered with

books loomed darkly all round me. A dim radiance from the moonlight

came through the farther window, and against this lighter background I

saw that Sir John Bollamore was sitting at his study table. His

well-set head and clearly cut profile were sharply outlined against the

glimmering square behind him. He bent as I watched him, and I heard

the sharp turning of a key and the rasping of metal upon metal. As if

in a dream I was vaguely conscious that this was the japanned box which

stood in front of him, and that he had drawn something out of it,

something squat and uncouth, which now lay before him upon the table.

I never realized--it never occurred to my bemuddled and torpid brain

that I was intruding upon his privacy, that he imagined himself to be

alone in the room. And then, just as it rushed upon my horrified

perceptions, and I had half risen to announce my presence, I heard a

strange, crisp, metallic clicking, and then the voice.

Yes, it was a woman's voice; there could not be a doubt of it. But a

voice so charged with entreaty and with yearning love, that it will

ring for ever in my ears. It came with a curious faraway tinkle, but

every word was clear, though faint--very faint, for they were the last

words of a dying woman.

"I am not really gone, John," said the thin, gasping voice. "I am here

at your very elbow, and shall be until we meet once more. I die happy

to think that morning and night you will hear my voice. Oh, John, be

strong, be strong, until we meet again."

I say that I had risen in order to announce my presence, but I could

not do so while the voice was sounding. I could only remain half

lying, half sitting, paralysed, astounded, listening to those yearning

distant musical words. And he--he was so absorbed that even if I had

spoken he might not have heard me. But with the silence of the voice

came my half articulated apologies and explanations. He sprang across

the room, switched on the electric light, and in its white glare I saw

him, his eyes gleaming with anger, his face twisted with passion, as

the hapless charwoman may have seen him weeks before.

"Mr. Colmore!" he cried. "You here! What is the meaning of this, sir?"

With halting words I explained it all, my neuralgia, the narcotic, my

luckless sleep and singular awakening. As he listened the glow of

anger faded from his face, and the sad, impassive mask closed once more

over his features.

"My secret is yours, Mr. Colmore," said he. "I have only myself to

blame for relaxing my precautions. Half confidences are worse than no

confidences, and so you may know all since you know so much. The story

may go where you will when I have passed away, but until then I rely

upon your sense of honour that no human soul shall hear it from your

lips. I am proud still--God help me!--or, at least, I am proud enough

to resent that pity which this story would draw upon me. I have smiled

at envy, and disregarded hatred, but pity is more than I can tolerate.

"You have heard the source from which the voice comes--that voice which

has, as I understand, excited so much curiosity in my household. I am

aware of the rumours to which it has given rise. These speculations,

whether scandalous or superstitious, are such as I can disregard and

forgive. What I should never forgive would be a disloyal spying and

eavesdropping in order to satisfy an illicit curiosity. But of that,

Mr. Colmore, I acquit you.

"When I was a young man, sir, many years younger than you are now, I

was launched upon town without a friend or adviser, and with a purse

which brought only too many false friends and false advisers to my

side. I drank deeply of the wine of life--if there is a man living who

has drunk more deeply he is not a man whom I envy. My purse suffered,

my character suffered, my constitution suffered, stimulants became a

necessity to me, I was a creature from whom my memory recoils. And it

was at that time, the time of my blackest degradation, that God sent

into my life the gentlest, sweetest spirit that ever descended as a

ministering angel from above. She loved me, broken as I was, loved me,

and spent her life in making a man once more of that which had degraded

itself to the level of the beasts.

"But a fell disease struck her, and she withered away before my eyes.

In the hour of her agony it was never of herself, of her own sufferings

and her own death that she thought. It was all of me. The one pang

which her fate brought to her was the fear that when her influence was

removed I should revert to that which I had been. It was in vain that

I made oath to her that no drop of wine would ever cross my lips. She

knew only too well the hold that the devil had upon me--she who had

striven so to loosen it--and it haunted her night and day the thought

that my soul might again be within his grip.

"It was from some friend's gossip of the sick room that she heard of

this invention--this phonograph--and with the quick insight of a loving

woman she saw how she might use it for her ends. She sent me to London

to procure the best which money could buy. With her dying breath she

gasped into it the words which have held me straight ever since.

Lonely and broken, what else have I in all the world to uphold me? But

it is enough. Please God, I shall face her without shame when He is

pleased to reunite us! That is my secret, Mr. Colmore, and whilst I

live I leave it in your keeping."

The Black Doctor

Bishop's Crossing is a small village lying ten miles in a

south-westerly direction from Liverpool. Here in the early seventies

there settled a doctor named Aloysius Lana. Nothing was known locally

either of his antecedents or of the reasons which had prompted him to

come to this Lancashire hamlet. Two facts only were certain about him;

the one that he had gained his medical qualification with some

distinction at Glasgow; the other that he came undoubtedly of a

tropical race, and was so dark that he might almost have had a strain

of the Indian in his composition. His predominant features were,

however, European, and he possessed a stately courtesy and carriage

which suggested a Spanish extraction. A swarthy skin, raven-black

hair, and dark, sparkling eyes under a pair of heavily-tufted brows

made a strange contrast to the flaxen or chestnut rustics of England,

and the newcomer was soon known as "The Black Doctor of Bishop's

Crossing." At first it was a term of ridicule and reproach; as the

years went on it became a title of honour which was familiar to the

whole countryside, and extended far beyond the narrow confines of the

village.

For the newcomer proved himself to be a capable surgeon and an

accomplished physician. The practice of that district had been in the

hands of Edward Rowe, the son of Sir William Rowe, the Liverpool

consultant, but he had not inherited the talents of his father, and Dr.

Lana, with his advantages of presence and of manner, soon beat him out

of the field. Dr. Lana's social success was as rapid as his

professional. A remarkable surgical cure in the case of the Hon. James

Lowry, the second son of Lord Belton, was the means of introducing him

to county society, where he became a favourite through the charm of his

conversation and the elegance of his manners. An absence of

antecedents and of relatives is sometimes an aid rather than an

impediment to social advancement, and the distinguished individuality

of the handsome doctor was its own recommendation.

His patients had one fault--and one fault only--to find with him. He

appeared to be a confirmed bachelor. This was the more remarkable

since the house which he occupied was a large one, and it was known

that his success in practice had enabled him to save considerable sums.

At first the local matchmakers were continually coupling his name with

one or other of the eligible ladies, but as years passed and Dr. Lana

remained unmarried, it came to be generally understood that for some

reason he must remain a bachelor. Some even went so far as to assert

that he was already married, and that it was in order to escape the

consequence of an early misalliance that he had buried himself at

Bishop's Crossing. And, then, just as the matchmakers had finally given

him up in despair, his engagement was suddenly announced to Miss

Frances Morton, of Leigh Hall.

Miss Morton was a young lady who was well known upon the country-side,

her father, James Haldane Morton, having been the Squire of Bishop's

Crossing. Both her parents were, however, dead, and she lived with her

only brother, Arthur Morton, who had inherited the family estate. In

person Miss Morton was tall and stately, and she was famous for her

quick, impetuous nature and for her strength of character. She met Dr.

Lana at a garden-party, and a friendship, which quickly ripened into

love, sprang up between them. Nothing could exceed their devotion to

each other. There was some discrepancy in age, he being thirty-seven,

and she twenty-four; but, save in that one respect, there was no

possible objection to be found with the match. The engagement was in

February, and it was arranged that the marriage should take place in

August.

Upon the 3rd of June Dr. Lana received a letter from abroad. In a small

village the postmaster is also in a position to be the gossip-master,

and Mr. Bankley, of Bishop's Crossing, had many of the secrets of his

neighbours in his possession. Of this particular letter he remarked

only that it was in a curious envelope, that it was in a man's

handwriting, that the postscript was Buenos Ayres, and the stamp of the

Argentine Republic. It was the first letter which he had ever known

Dr. Lana to have from abroad and this was the reason why his attention

was particularly called to it before he handed it to the local postman.

It was delivered by the evening delivery of that date.

Next morning--that is, upon the 4th of June--Dr. Lana called upon Miss

Morton, and a long interview followed, from which he was observed to

return in a state of great agitation. Miss Morton remained in her room

all that day, and her maid found her several times in tears. In the

course of a week it was an open secret to the whole village that the

engagement was at an end, that Dr. Lana had behaved shamefully to the

young lady, and that Arthur Morton, her brother, was talking of

horse-whipping him. In what particular respect the doctor had behaved

badly was unknown--some surmised one thing and some another; but it was

observed, and taken as the obvious sign of a guilty conscience, that he

would go for miles round rather than pass the windows of Leigh Hall,

and that he gave up attending morning service upon Sundays where he

might have met the young lady. There was an advertisement also in the

Lancet as to the sale of a practice which mentioned no names, but which

was thought by some to refer to Bishop's Crossing, and to mean that Dr.

Lana was thinking of abandoning the scene of his success. Such was the

position of affairs when, upon the evening of Monday, June 21st, there

came a fresh development which changed what had been a mere village

scandal into a tragedy which arrested the attention of the whole

nation. Some detail is necessary to cause the facts of that evening to

present their full significance.

The sole occupants of the doctor's house were his housekeeper, an

elderly and most respectable woman, named Martha Woods, and a young

servant--Mary Pilling. The coachman and the surgery-boy slept out. It

was the custom of the doctor to sit at night in his study, which was

next the surgery in the wing of the house which was farthest from the

servants' quarters. This side of the house had a door of its own for

the convenience of patients, so that it was possible for the doctor to

admit and receive a visitor there without the knowledge of anyone. As

a matter of fact, when patients came late it was quite usual for him to

let them in and out by the surgery entrance, for the maid and the

housekeeper were in the habit of retiring early.

On this particular night Martha Woods went into the doctor's study at

half-past nine, and found him writing at his desk. She bade him good

night, sent the maid to bed, and then occupied herself until a quarter

to eleven in household matters. It was striking eleven upon the hall

clock when she went to her own room. She had been there about a quarter

of an hour or twenty minutes when she heard a cry or call, which

appeared to come from within the house. She waited some time, but it

was not repeated. Much alarmed, for the sound was loud and urgent, she

put on a dressing-gown, and ran at the top of her speed to the doctor's

study.

"Who's there?" cried a voice, as she tapped at the door.

"I am here, sir--Mrs. Woods."

"I beg that you will leave me in peace. Go back to your room this

instant!" cried the voice, which was, to the best of her belief, that

of her master. The tone was so harsh and so unlike her master's usual

manner, that she was surprised and hurt.

"I thought I heard you calling, sir," she explained, but no answer was

given to her. Mrs. Woods looked at the clock as she returned to her

room, and it was then half-past eleven.

At some period between eleven and twelve (she could not be positive as

to the exact hour) a patient called upon the doctor and was unable to

get any reply from him. This late visitor was Mrs. Madding, the wife

of the village grocer, who was dangerously ill of typhoid fever. Dr.

Lana had asked her to look in the last thing and let him know how her

husband was progressing. She observed that the light was burning in

the study, but having knocked several times at the surgery door without

response, she concluded that the doctor had been called out, and so

returned home.

There is a short, winding drive with a lamp at the end of it leading

down from the house to the road. As Mrs. Madding emerged from the gate

a man was coming along the footpath. Thinking that it might be Dr.

Lana returning from some professional visit, she waited for him, and

was surprised to see that it was Mr. Arthur Morton, the young squire.

In the light of the lamp she observed that his manner was excited, and

that he carried in his hand a heavy hunting-crop. He was turning in at

the gate when she addressed him.

"The doctor is not in, sir," said she.

"How do you know that?" he asked harshly.

"I have been to the surgery door, sir."

"I see a light," said the young squire, looking up the drive. "That is

in his study, is it not?"

"Yes, sir; but I am sure that he is out."

"Well, he must come in again," said young Morton, and passed through

the gate while Mrs. Madding went upon her homeward way.

At three o'clock that morning her husband suffered a sharp relapse, and

she was so alarmed by his symptoms that she determined to call the

doctor without delay. As she passed through the gate she was surprised

to see someone lurking among the laurel bushes. It was certainly a man,

and to the best of her belief Mr. Arthur Morton. Preoccupied with her

own troubles, she gave no particular attention to the incident, but

hurried on upon her errand.

When she reached the house she perceived to her surprise that the light

was still burning in the study. She therefore tapped at the surgery

door. There was no answer. She repeated the knocking several times

without effect. It appeared to her to be unlikely that the doctor

would either go to bed or go out leaving so brilliant a light behind

him, and it struck Mrs. Madding that it was possible that he might have

dropped asleep in his chair. She tapped at the study window,

therefore, but without result. Then, finding that there was an opening

between the curtain and the woodwork, she looked through.

The small room was brilliantly lighted from a large lamp on the central

table, which was littered with the doctor's books and instruments. No

one was visible, nor did she see anything unusual, except that in the

farther shadow thrown by the table a dingy white glove was lying upon

the carpet. And then suddenly, as her eyes became more accustomed to

the light, a boot emerged from the other end of the shadow, and she

realized, with a thrill of horror, that what she had taken to be a

glove was the hand of a man, who was prostrate upon the floor.

Understanding that something terrible had occurred, she rang at the

front door, roused Mrs. Woods, the housekeeper, and the two women made

their way into the study, having first dispatched the maidservant to

the police-station.

At the side of the table, away from the window, Dr. Lana was discovered

stretched upon his back and quite dead. It was evident that he had

been subjected to violence, for one of his eyes was blackened and there

were marks of bruises about his face and neck. A slight thickening and

swelling of his features appeared to suggest that the cause of his

death had been strangulation. He was dressed in his usual professional

clothes, but wore cloth slippers, the soles of which were perfectly

clean. The carpet was marked all over, especially on the side of the

door, with traces of dirty boots, which were presumably left by the

murderer. It was evident that someone had entered by the surgery door,

had killed the doctor, and had then made his escape unseen. That the

assailant was a man was certain, from the size of the footprints and

from the nature of the injuries. But beyond that point the police

found it very difficult to go.

There were no signs of robbery, and the doctor's gold watch was safe in

his pocket. He kept a heavy cash-box in the room, and this was

discovered to be locked but empty. Mrs. Woods had an impression that a

large sum was usually kept there, but the doctor had paid a heavy corn

bill in cash only that very day, and it was conjectured that it was to

this and not to a robber that the emptiness of the box was due. One

thing in the room was missing--but that one thing was suggestive. The

portrait of Miss Morton, which had always stood upon the side-table,

had been taken from its frame, and carried off. Mrs. Woods had

observed it there when she waited upon her employer that evening, and

now it was gone. On the other hand, there was picked up from the floor

a green eye-patch, which the housekeeper could not remember to have

seen before. Such a patch might, however, be in the possession of a

doctor, and there was nothing to indicate that it was in any way

connected with the crime.

Suspicion could only turn in one direction, and Arthur Morton, the

young squire, was immediately arrested. The evidence against him was

circumstantial, but damning. He was devoted to his sister, and it was

shown that since the rupture between her and Dr. Lana he had been heard

again and again to express himself in the most vindictive terms towards

her former lover. He had, as stated, been seen somewhere about eleven

o'clock entering the doctor's drive with a hunting-crop in his hand.

He had then, according to the theory of the police, broken in upon the

doctor, whose exclamation of fear or of anger had been loud enough to

attract the attention of Mrs. Woods. When Mrs. Woods descended, Dr.

Lana had made up his mind to talk it over with his visitor, and had,

therefore, sent his housekeeper back to her room. This conversation

had lasted a long time, had become more and more fiery, and had ended

by a personal struggle, in which the doctor lost his life. The fact,

revealed by a post-mortem, that his heart was much diseased--an ailment

quite unsuspected during his life--would make it possible that death

might in his case ensue from injuries which would not be fatal to a

healthy man. Arthur Morton had then removed his sister's photograph,

and had made his way homeward, stepping aside into the laurel bushes to

avoid Mrs. Madding at the gate. This was the theory of the

prosecution, and the case which they presented was a formidable one.

On the other hand, there were some strong points for the defence.

Morton was high-spirited and impetuous, like his sister, but he was

respected and liked by everyone, and his frank and honest nature seemed

to be incapable of such a crime. His own explanation was that he was

anxious to have a conversation with Dr. Lana about some urgent family

matters (from first to last he refused even to mention the name of his

sister). He did not attempt to deny that this conversation would

probably have been of an unpleasant nature. He had heard from a

patient that the doctor was out, and he therefore waited until about

three in the morning for his return, but as he had seen nothing of him

up to that hour, he had given it up and had returned home. As to his

death, he knew no more about it than the constable who arrested him.

He had formerly been an intimate friend of the deceased man; but

circumstances, which he would prefer not to mention, had brought about

a change in his sentiments.

There were several facts which supported his innocence. It was certain

that Dr. Lana was alive and in his study at half-past eleven o'clock.

Mrs. Woods was prepared to swear that it was at that hour that she had

heard his voice. The friends of the prisoner contended that it was

probable that at that time Dr. Lana was not alone. The sound which had

originally attracted the attention of the housekeeper, and her master's

unusual impatience that she should leave him in peace, seemed to point

to that. If this were so then it appeared to be probable that he had

met his end between the moment when the housekeeper heard his voice and

the time when Mrs. Madding made her first call and found it impossible

to attract his attention. But if this were the time of his death, then

it was certain that Mr. Arthur Morton could not be guilty, as it was

AFTER this that she had met the young squire at the gate.

If this hypothesis were correct, and someone was with Dr. Lana before

Mrs. Madding met Mr. Arthur Morton, then who was this someone, and what

motives had he for wishing evil to the doctor? It was universally

admitted that if the friends of the accused could throw light upon

this, they would have gone a long way towards establishing his

innocence. But in the meanwhile it was open to the public to say--as

they did say--that there was no proof that anyone had been there at all

except the young squire; while, on the other hand, there was ample

proof that his motives in going were of a sinister kind. When Mrs.

Madding called, the doctor might have retired to his room, or he might,

as she thought at the time, have gone out and returned afterwards to

find Mr. Arthur Morton waiting for him. Some of the supporters of the

accused laid stress upon the fact that the photograph of his sister

Frances, which had been removed from the doctor's room, had not been

found in her brother's possession. This argument, however, did not

count for much, as he had ample time before his arrest to burn it or to

destroy it. As to the only positive evidence in the case--the muddy

footmarks upon the floor--they were so blurred by the softness of the

carpet that it was impossible to make any trustworthy deduction from

them. The most that could be said was that their appearance was not

inconsistent with the theory that they were made by the accused, and it

was further shown that his boots were very muddy upon that night.

There had been a heavy shower in the afternoon, and all boots were

probably in the same condition.

Such is a bald statement of the singular and romantic series of events

which centred public attention upon this Lancashire tragedy. The

unknown origin of the doctor, his curious and distinguished

personality, the position of the man who was accused of the murder, and

the love affair which had preceded the crimes all combined to make the

affair one of those dramas which absorb the whole interest of a nation.

Throughout the three kingdoms men discussed the case of the Black

Doctor of Bishop's Crossing, and many were the theories put forward to

explain the facts; but it may safely be said that among them all there

was not one which prepared the minds of the public for the

extraordinary sequel, which caused so much excitement upon the first

day of the trial, and came to a climax upon the second. The long files

of the Lancaster Weekly with their report of the case lie before me as

I write, but I must content myself with a synopsis of the case up to

the point when, upon the evening of the first day, the evidence of Miss

Frances Morton threw a singular light upon the case.

Mr. Porlock Carr, the counsel for the prosecution, had marshalled his

facts with his usual skill, and as the day wore on, it became more and

more evident how difficult was the task which Mr. Humphrey, who had

been retained for the defence, had before him. Several witnesses were

put up to swear to the intemperate expressions which the young squire

had been heard to utter about the doctor, and the fiery manner in which

he resented the alleged ill-treatment of his sister. Mrs. Madding

repeated her evidence as to the visit which had been paid late at night

by the prisoner to the deceased, and it was shown by another witness

that the prisoner was aware that the doctor was in the habit of sitting

up alone in this isolated wing of the house, and that he had chosen

this very late hour to call because he knew that his victim would then

be at his mercy. A servant at the squire's house was compelled to

admit that he had heard his master return about three that morning,

which corroborated Mrs. Madding's statement that she had seen him among

the laurel bushes near the gate upon the occasion of her second visit.

The muddy boots and an alleged similarity in the footprints were duly

dwelt upon, and it was felt when the case for the prosecution had been

presented that, however circumstantial it might be, it was none the

less so complete and so convincing, that the fate of the prisoner was

sealed, unless something quite unexpected should be disclosed by the

defence. It was three o'clock when the prosecution closed. At

half-past four, when the court rose, a new and unlooked-for development

had occurred. I extract the incident, or part of it, from the journal

which I have already mentioned, omitting the preliminary observations

of the counsel.

Considerable sensation was caused in the crowded court when the first

witness called for the defence proved to be Miss Frances Morton, the

sister of the prisoner. Our readers will remember that the young lady

had been engaged to Dr. Lana, and that it was his anger over the sudden

termination of this engagement which was thought to have driven her

brother to the perpetration of this crime. Miss Morton had not,

however, been directly implicated in the case in any way, either at the

inquest or at the police-court proceedings, and her appearance as the

leading witness for the defence came as a surprise upon the public.

Miss Frances Morton, who was a tall and handsome brunette, gave her

evidence in a low but clear voice, though it was evident throughout

that she was suffering from extreme emotion. She alluded to her

engagement to the doctor, touched briefly upon its termination, which

was due, she said, to personal matters connected with his family, and

surprised the court by asserting that she had always considered her

brother's resentment to be unreasonable and intemperate. In answer to

a direct question from her counsel, she replied that she did not feel

that she had any grievance whatever against Dr. Lana, and that in her

opinion he had acted in a perfectly honourable manner. Her brother, on

an insufficient knowledge of the facts, had taken another view, and she

was compelled to acknowledge that, in spite of her entreaties, he had

uttered threats of personal violence against the doctor, and had, upon

the evening of the tragedy, announced his intention of "having it out

with him." She had done her best to bring him to a more reasonable

frame of mind, but he was very headstrong where his emotions or

prejudices were concerned.

Up to this point the young lady's evidence had appeared to make against

the prisoner rather than in his favour. The questions of her counsel,

however, soon put a very different light upon the matter, and disclosed

an unexpected line of defence.

Mr. Humphrey: Do you believe your brother to be guilty of this crime?

The Judge: I cannot permit that question, Mr. Humphrey. We are here

to decide upon questions of fact--not of belief.

Mr. Humphrey: Do you know that your brother is not guilty of the death

of Doctor Lana?

Miss Morton: Yes.

Mr. Humphrey: How do you know it?

Miss Morton: Because Dr. Lana is not dead.

There followed a prolonged sensation in court, which interrupted the

examination of the witness.

Mr. Humphrey: And how do you know, Miss Morton, that Dr. Lana is not

dead?

Miss Morton: Because I have received a letter from him since the date

of his supposed death.

Mr. Humphrey: Have you this letter?

Miss Morton: Yes, but I should prefer not to show it.

Mr. Humphrey: Have you the envelope?

Miss Morton: Yes, it is here.

Mr. Humphrey: What is the post-mark?

Miss Morton: Liverpool.

Mr. Humphrey: And the date?

Miss Morton: June the 22nd.

Mr. Humphrey: That being the day after his alleged death. Are you

prepared to swear to this handwriting, Miss Morton?

Miss Morton: Certainly.

Mr. Humphrey: I am prepared to call six other witnesses, my lord, to

testify that this letter is in the writing of Doctor Lana.

The Judge: Then you must call them tomorrow.

Mr. Porlock Carr (counsel for the prosecution): In the meantime, my

lord, we claim possession of this document, so that we may obtain

expert evidence as to how far it is an imitation of the handwriting of

the gentleman whom we still confidently assert to be deceased. I need

not point out that the theory so unexpectedly sprung upon us may prove

to be a very obvious device adopted by the friends of the prisoner in

order to divert this inquiry. I would draw attention to the fact that

the young lady must, according to her own account, have possessed this

letter during the proceedings at the inquest and at the police-court.

She desires us to believe that she permitted these to proceed, although

she held in her pocket evidence which would at any moment have brought

them to an end.

Mr. Humphrey. Can you explain this, Miss Morton?

Miss Morton: Dr. Lana desired his secret to be preserved.

Mr. Porlock Carr: Then why have you made this public?

Miss Morton: To save my brother.

A murmur of sympathy broke out in court, which was instantly suppressed

by the Judge.

The Judge: Admitting this line of defence, it lies with you, Mr.

Humphrey, to throw a light upon who this man is whose body has been

recognized by so many friends and patients of Dr. Lana as being that of

the doctor himself.

A Juryman: Has anyone up to now expressed any doubt about the matter?

Mr. Porlock Carr: Not to my knowledge.

Mr. Humphrey: We hope to make the matter clear.

The Judge: Then the court adjourns until tomorrow.

This new development of the case excited the utmost interest among the

general public. Press comment was prevented by the fact that the trial

was still undecided, but the question was everywhere argued as to how

far there could be truth in Miss Morton's declaration, and how far it

might be a daring ruse for the purpose of saving her brother. The

obvious dilemma in which the missing doctor stood was that if by any

extraordinary chance he was not dead, then he must be held responsible

for the death of this unknown man, who resembled him so exactly, and

who was found in his study. This letter which Miss Morton refused to

produce was possibly a confession of guilt, and she might find herself

in the terrible position of only being able to save her brother from

the gallows by the sacrifice of her former lover. The court next

morning was crammed to overflowing, and a murmur of excitement passed

over it when Mr. Humphrey was observed to enter in a state of emotion,

which even his trained nerves could not conceal, and to confer with the

opposing counsel. A few hurried words--words which left a look of

amazement upon Mr. Porlock Carr's face--passed between them, and then

the counsel for the defence, addressing the Judge, announced that, with

the consent of the prosecution, the young lady who had given evidence

upon the sitting before would not be recalled.

The Judge: But you appear, Mr. Humphrey, to have left matters in a very

unsatisfactory state.

Mr. Humphrey: Perhaps, my lord, my next witness may help to clear them

up.

The Judge: Then call your next witness.

Mr. Humphrey: I call Dr. Aloysius Lana.

The learned counsel has made many telling remarks in his day, but he

has certainly never produced such a sensation with so short a sentence.

The court was simply stunned with amazement as the very man whose fate

had been the subject of so much contention appeared bodily before them

in the witness-box. Those among the spectators who had known him at

Bishop's Crossing saw him now, gaunt and thin, with deep lines of care

upon his face. But in spite of his melancholy bearing and despondent

expression, there were few who could say that they had ever seen a man

of more distinguished presence. Bowing to the judge, he asked if he

might be allowed to make a statement, and having been duly informed

that whatever he said might be used against him, he bowed once more,

and proceeded:

"My wish," said he, "is to hold nothing back, but to tell with perfect

frankness all that occurred upon the night of the 21st of June. Had I

known that the innocent had suffered, and that so much trouble had been

brought upon those whom I love best in the world, I should have come

forward long ago; but there were reasons which prevented these things

from coming to my ears. It was my desire that an unhappy man should

vanish from the world which had known him, but I had not foreseen that

others would be affected by my actions. Let me to the best of my

ability repair the evil which I have done.

"To anyone who is acquainted with the history of the Argentine Republic

the name of Lana is well known. My father, who came of the best blood

of old Spain, filled all the highest offices of the State, and would

have been President but for his death in the riots of San Juan. A

brilliant career might have been open to my twin brother Ernest and

myself had it not been for financial losses which made it necessary

that we should earn our own living. I apologize, sir, if these details

appear to be irrelevant, but they are a necessary introduction to that

which is to follow.

"I had, as I have said, a twin brother named Ernest, whose resemblance

to me was so great that even when we were together people could see no

difference between us. Down to the smallest detail we were exactly the

same. As we grew older this likeness became less marked because our

expression was not the same, but with our features in repose the points

of difference were very slight.

"It does not become me to say too much of one who is dead, the more so

as he is my only brother, but I leave his character to those who knew

him best. I will only say--for I HAVE to say it--that in my early

manhood I conceived a horror of him, and that I had good reason for the

aversion which filled me. My own reputation suffered from his actions,

for our close resemblance caused me to be credited with many of them.

Eventually, in a peculiarly disgraceful business, he contrived to throw

the whole odium upon me in such a way that I was forced to leave the

Argentine for ever, and to seek a career in Europe. The freedom from

his hated presence more than compensated me for the loss of my native

land. I had enough money to defray my medical studies at Glasgow, and

I finally settled in practice at Bishop's Crossing, in the firm

conviction that in that remote Lancashire hamlet I should never hear of

him again.

"For years my hopes were fulfilled, and then at last he discovered me.

Some Liverpool man who visited Buenos Ayres put him upon my track. He

had lost all his money, and he thought that he would come over and

share mine. Knowing my horror of him, he rightly thought that I would

be willing to buy him off. I received a letter from him saying that he

was coming. It was at a crisis in my own affairs, and his arrival

might conceivably bring trouble, and even disgrace, upon some whom I

was especially bound to shield from anything of the kind. I took steps

to insure that any evil which might come should fall on me only, and

that"--here he turned and looked at the prisoner--"was the cause of

conduct upon my part which has been too harshly judged. My only motive

was to screen those who were dear to me from any possible connection

with scandal or disgrace. That scandal and disgrace would come with my

brother was only to say that what had been would be again.

"My brother arrived himself one night not very long after my receipt of

the letter. I was sitting in my study after the servants had gone to

bed, when I heard a footstep upon the gravel outside, and an instant

later I saw his face looking in at me through the window. He was a

clean-shaven man like myself, and the resemblance between us was still

so great that, for an instant, I thought it was my own reflection in

the glass. He had a dark patch over his eye, but our features were

absolutely the same. Then he smiled in a sardonic way which had been a

trick of his from his boyhood, and I knew that he was the same brother

who had driven me from my native land, and brought disgrace upon what

had been an honourable name. I went to the door and I admitted him.

That would be about ten o'clock that night.

"When he came into the glare of the lamp, I saw at once that he had

fallen upon very evil days. He had walked from Liverpool, and he was

tired and ill. I was quite shocked by the expression upon his face.

My medical knowledge told me that there was some serious internal

malady. He had been drinking also, and his face was bruised as the

result of a scuffle which he had had with some sailors. It was to

cover his injured eye that he wore this patch, which he removed when he

entered the room. He was himself dressed in a pea-jacket and flannel

shirt, and his feet were bursting through his boots. But his poverty

had only made him more savagely vindictive towards me. His hatred rose

to the height of a mania. I had been rolling in money in England,

according to his account, while he had been starving in South America.

I cannot describe to you the threats which he uttered or the insults

which he poured upon me. My impression is, that hardships and

debauchery had unhinged his reason. He paced about the room like a

wild beast, demanding drink, demanding money, and all in the foulest

language. I am a hot-tempered man, but I thank God that I am able to

say that I remained master of myself, and that I never raised a hand

against him. My coolness only irritated him the more. He raved, he

cursed, he shook his fists in my face, and then suddenly a horrible

spasm passed over his features, he clapped his hand to his side, and

with a loud cry he fell in a heap at my feet. I raised him up and

stretched him upon the sofa, but no answer came to my exclamations, and

the hand which I held in mine was cold and clammy. His diseased heart

had broken down. His own violence had killed him.

"For a long time I sat as if I were in some dreadful dream, staring at

the body of my brother. I was aroused by the knocking of Mrs. Woods,

who had been disturbed by that dying cry. I sent her away to bed.

Shortly afterwards a patient tapped at the surgery door, but as I took

no notice, he or she went off again. Slowly and gradually as I sat

there a plan was forming itself in my head in the curious automatic way

in which plans do form. When I rose from my chair my future movements

were finally decided upon without my having been conscious of any

process of thought. It was an instinct which irresistibly inclined me

towards one course.

"Ever since that change in my affairs to which I have alluded, Bishop's

Crossing had become hateful to me. My plans of life had been ruined,

and I had met with hasty judgments and unkind treatment where I had

expected sympathy. It is true that any danger of scandal from my

brother had passed away with his life; but still, I was sore about the

past, and felt that things could never be as they had been. It may be

that I was unduly sensitive, and that I had not made sufficient

allowance for others, but my feelings were as I describe. Any chance

of getting away from Bishop's Crossing and of everyone in it would be

most welcome to me. And here was such a chance as I could never have

dared to hope for, a chance which would enable me to make a clean break

with the past.

"There was this dead man lying upon the sofa, so like me that save for

some little thickness and coarseness of the features there was no

difference at all. No one had seen him come and no one would miss him.

We were both clean-shaven, and his hair was about the same length as my

own. If I changed clothes with him, then Dr. Aloysius Lana would be

found lying dead in his study, and there would be an end of an

unfortunate fellow, and of a blighted career. There was plenty of ready

money in the room, and this I could carry away with me to help me to

start once more in some other land. In my brother's clothes I could

walk by night unobserved as far as Liverpool, and in that great seaport

I would soon find some means of leaving the country. After my lost

hopes, the humblest existence where I was unknown was far preferable,

in my estimation, to a practice, however successful, in Bishop's

Crossing, where at any moment I might come face to face with those whom

I should wish, if it were possible, to forget. I determined to effect

the change.

"And I did so. I will not go into particulars, for the recollection is

as painful as the experience; but in an hour my brother lay, dressed

down to the smallest detail in my clothes, while I slunk out by the

surgery door, and taking the back path which led across some fields, I

started off to make the best of my way to Liverpool, where I arrived

the same night. My bag of money and a certain portrait were all I

carried out of the house, and I left behind me in my hurry the shade

which my brother had been wearing over his eye. Everything else of his

I took with me.

"I give you my word, sir, that never for one instant did the idea occur

to me that people might think that I had been murdered, nor did I

imagine that anyone might be caused serious danger through this

stratagem by which I endeavoured to gain a fresh start in the world.

On the contrary, it was the thought of relieving others from the burden

of my presence which was always uppermost in my mind. A sailing vessel

was leaving Liverpool that very day for Corunna, and in this I took my

passage, thinking that the voyage would give me time to recover my

balance, and to consider the future. But before I left my resolution

softened. I bethought me that there was one person in the world to

whom I would not cause an hour of sadness. She would mourn me in her

heart, however harsh and unsympathetic her relatives might be. She

understood and appreciated the motives upon which I had acted, and if

the rest of her family condemned me, she, at least, would not forget.

And so I sent her a note under the seal of secrecy to save her from a

baseless grief. If under the pressure of events she broke that seal,

she has my entire sympathy and forgiveness.

"It was only last night that I returned to England, and during all this

time I have heard nothing of the sensation which my supposed death had

caused, nor of the accusation that Mr. Arthur Morton had been concerned

in it. It was in a late evening paper that I read an account of the

proceedings of yesterday, and I have come this morning as fast as an

express train could bring me to testify to the truth."

Such was the remarkable statement of Dr. Aloysius Lana which brought

the trial to a sudden termination. A subsequent investigation

corroborated it to the extent of finding out the vessel in which his

brother Ernest Lana had come over from South America. The ship's

doctor was able to testify that he had complained of a weak heart

during the voyage, and that his symptoms were consistent with such a

death as was described.

As to Dr. Aloysius Lana, he returned to the village from which he had

made so dramatic a disappearance, and a complete reconciliation was

effected between him and the young squire, the latter having

acknowledged that he had entirely misunderstood the other's motives in

withdrawing from his engagement. That another reconciliation followed

may be judged from a notice extracted from a prominent column in the

Morning Post:

"A marriage was solemnized upon September 19th, by the Rev. Stephen

Johnson, at the parish church of Bishop's Crossing, between Aloysius

Xavier Lana, son of Don Alfredo Lana, formerly Foreign Minister of the

Argentine Republic, and Frances Morton, only daughter of the late James

Morton, J.P., of Leigh Hall, Bishop's Crossing, Lancashire."

The Jew's Breastplate

My particular friend, Ward Mortimer, was one of the best men of his day

at everything connected with Oriental archaeology. He had written

largely upon the subject, he had lived two years in a tomb at Thebes,

while he excavated in the Valley of the Kings, and finally he had

created a considerable sensation by his exhumation of the alleged mummy

of Cleopatra in the inner room of the Temple of Horus, at Philae. With

such a record at the age of thirty-one, it was felt that a considerable

career lay before him, and no one was surprised when he was elected to

the curatorship of the Belmore Street Museum, which carries with it the

lectureship at the Oriental College, and an income which has sunk with

the fall in land, but which still remains at that ideal sum which is

large enough to encourage an investigator, but not so large as to

enervate him.

There was only one reason which made Ward Mortimer's position a little

difficult at the Belmore Street Museum, and that was the extreme

eminence of the man whom he had to succeed. Professor Andreas was a

profound scholar and a man of European reputation. His lectures were

frequented by students from every part of the world, and his admirable

management of the collection intrusted to his care was a commonplace in

all learned societies. There was, therefore, considerable surprise

when, at the age of fifty-five, he suddenly resigned his position and

retired from those duties which had been both his livelihood and his

pleasure. He and his daughter left the comfortable suite of rooms

which had formed his official residence in connection with the museum,

and my friend, Mortimer, who was a bachelor, took up his quarters there.

On hearing of Mortimer's appointment Professor Andreas had written him

a very kindly and flattering congratulatory letter. I was actually

present at their first meeting, and I went with Mortimer round the

museum when the Professor showed us the admirable collection which he

had cherished so long. The Professor's beautiful daughter and a young

man, Captain Wilson, who was, as I understood, soon to be her husband,

accompanied us in our inspection. There were fifteen rooms, but the

Babylonian, the Syrian, and the central hall, which contained the

Jewish and Egyptian collection, were the finest of all. Professor

Andreas was a quiet, dry, elderly man, with a clean-shaven face and an

impassive manner, but his dark eyes sparkled and his features quickened

into enthusiastic life as he pointed out to us the rarity and the

beauty of some of his specimens. His hand lingered so fondly over

them, that one could read his pride in them and the grief in his heart

now that they were passing from his care into that of another.

He had shown us in turn his mummies, his papyri, his rare scarabs, his

inscriptions, his Jewish relics, and his duplication of the famous

seven-branched candlestick of the Temple, which was brought to Rome by

Titus, and which is supposed by some to be lying at this instant in the

bed of the Tiber. Then he approached a case which stood in the very

centre of the hall, and he looked down through the glass with reverence

in his attitude and manner.

"This is no novelty to an expert like yourself, Mr. Mortimer," said he;

"but I daresay that your friend, Mr. Jackson, will be interested to see

it."

Leaning over the case I saw an object, some five inches square, which

consisted of twelve precious stones in a framework of gold, with golden

hooks at two of the corners. The stones were all varying in sort and

colour, but they were of the same size. Their shapes, arrangement, and

gradation of tint made me think of a box of water-colour paints. Each

stone had some hieroglyphic scratched upon its surface.

"You have heard, Mr. Jackson, of the urim and thummim?"

I had heard the term, but my idea of its meaning was exceedingly vague.

"The urim and thummim was a name given to the jewelled plate which lay

upon the breast of the high priest of the Jews. They had a very

special feeling of reverence for it--something of the feeling which an

ancient Roman might have for the Sibylline books in the Capitol. There

are, as you see, twelve magnificent stones, inscribed with mystical

characters. Counting from the left-hand top corner, the stones are

carnelian, peridot, emerald, ruby, lapis lazuli, onyx, sapphire, agate,

amethyst, topaz, beryl, and jasper."

I was amazed at the variety and beauty of the stones.

"Has the breastplate any particular history?" I asked.

"It is of great age and of immense value," said Professor Andreas.

"Without being able to make an absolute assertion, we have many reasons

to think that it is possible that it may be the original urim and

thummim of Solomon's Temple. There is certainly nothing so fine in any

collection in Europe. My friend, Captain Wilson, here, is a practical

authority upon precious stones, and he would tell you how pure these

are."

Captain Wilson, a man with a dark, hard, incisive face, was standing

beside his fiancee at the other side of the case.

"Yes," said he, curtly, "I have never seen finer stones."

"And the gold-work is also worthy of attention. The ancients excelled

in----"--he was apparently about to indicate the setting of the stones,

when Captain Wilson interrupted him.

"You will see a finer example of their gold-work in this candlestick,"

said he, turning to another table, and we all joined him in his

admiration of its embossed stem and delicately ornamented branches.

Altogether it was an interesting and a novel experience to have objects

of such rarity explained by so great an expert; and when, finally,

Professor Andreas finished our inspection by formally handing over the

precious collection to the care of my friend, I could not help pitying

him and envying his successor whose life was to pass in so pleasant a

duty. Within a week, Ward Mortimer was duly installed in his new set

of rooms, and had become the autocrat of the Belmore Street Museum.

About a fortnight afterwards my friend gave a small dinner to half a

dozen bachelor friends to celebrate his promotion. When his guests

were departing he pulled my sleeve and signalled to me that he wished

me to remain.

"You have only a few hundred yards to go," said he--I was living in

chambers in the Albany. "You may as well stay and have a quiet cigar

with me. I very much want your advice."

I relapsed into an arm-chair and lit one of his excellent Matronas.

When he had returned from seeing the last of his guests out, he drew a

letter from his dress-jacket and sat down opposite to me.

"This is an anonymous letter which I received this morning," said he.

"I want to read it to you and to have your advice."

"You are very welcome to it for what it is worth."

"This is how the note runs: 'Sir,--I should strongly advise you to

keep a very careful watch over the many valuable things which are

committed to your charge. I do not think that the present system of a

single watchman is sufficient. Be upon your guard, or an irreparable

misfortune may occur.'"

"Is that all?"

"Yes, that is all."

"Well," said I, "it is at least obvious that it was written by one of

the limited number of people who are aware that you have only one

watchman at night."

Ward Mortimer handed me the note, with a curious smile. "Have you an

eye for handwriting?" said he. "Now, look at this!" He put another

letter in front of me. "Look at the c in 'congratulate' and the c in

'committed.' Look at the capital I. Look at the trick of putting in a

dash instead of a stop!"

"They are undoubtedly from the same hand--with some attempt at disguise

in the case of this first one."

"The second," said Ward Mortimer, "is the letter of congratulation

which was written to me by Professor Andreas upon my obtaining my

appointment."

I stared at him in amazement. Then I turned over the letter in my

hand, and there, sure enough, was "Martin Andreas" signed upon the

other side. There could be no doubt, in the mind of anyone who had the

slightest knowledge of the science of graphology, that the Professor

had written an anonymous letter, warning his successor against thieves.

It was inexplicable, but it was certain.

"Why should he do it?" I asked.

"Precisely what I should wish to ask you. If he had any such

misgivings, why could he not come and tell me direct?"

"Will you speak to him about it?"

"There again I am in doubt. He might choose to deny that he wrote it."

"At any rate," said I, "this warning is meant in a friendly spirit, and

I should certainly act upon it. Are the present precautions enough to

insure you against robbery?"

"I should have thought so. The public are only admitted from ten till

five, and there is a guardian to every two rooms. He stands at the

door between them, and so commands them both."

"But at night?"

"When the public are gone, we at once put up the great iron shutters,

which are absolutely burglar-proof. The watchman is a capable fellow.

He sits in the lodge, but he walks round every three hours. We keep

one electric light burning in each room all night."

"It is difficult to suggest anything more--short of keeping your day

watches all night."

"We could not afford that."

"At least, I should communicate with the police, and have a special

constable put on outside in Belmore Street," said I. "As to the

letter, if the writer wishes to be anonymous, I think he has a right to

remain so. We must trust to the future to show some reason for the

curious course which he has adopted."

So we dismissed the subject, but all that night after my return to my

chambers I was puzzling my brain as to what possible motive Professor

Andreas could have for writing an anonymous warning letter to his

successor--for that the writing was his was as certain to me as if I

had seen him actually doing it. He foresaw some danger to the

collection. Was it because he foresaw it that he abandoned his charge

of it? But if so, why should he hesitate to warn Mortimer in his own

name? I puzzled and puzzled until at last I fell into a troubled

sleep, which carried me beyond my usual hour of rising.

I was aroused in a singular and effective method, for about nine

o'clock my friend Mortimer rushed into my room with an expression of

consternation upon his face. He was usually one of the most tidy men

of my acquaintance, but now his collar was undone at one end, his tie

was flying, and his hat at the back of his head. I read his whole

story in his frantic eyes.

"The museum has been robbed!" I cried, springing up in bed.

"I fear so! Those jewels! The jewels of the urim and thummim!" he

gasped, for he was out of breath with running. "I'm going on to the

police-station. Come to the museum as soon as you can, Jackson!

Good-bye!" He rushed distractedly out of the room, and I heard him

clatter down the stairs.

I was not long in following his directions, but I found when I arrived

that he had already returned with a police inspector, and another

elderly gentleman, who proved to be Mr. Purvis, one of the partners of

Morson and Company, the well-known diamond merchants. As an expert in

stones he was always prepared to advise the police. They were grouped

round the case in which the breastplate of the Jewish priest had been

exposed. The plate had been taken out and laid upon the glass top of

the case, and the three heads were bent over it.

"It is obvious that it has been tampered with," said Mortimer. "It

caught my eye the moment that I passed through the room this morning.

I examined it yesterday evening, so that it is certain that this has

happened during the night."

It was, as he had said, obvious that someone had been at work upon it.

The settings of the uppermost row of four stones--the carnelian,

peridot, emerald, and ruby--were rough and jagged as if someone had

scraped all round them. The stones were in their places, but the

beautiful gold-work which we had admired only a few days before had

been very clumsily pulled about.

"It looks to me," said the police inspector, "as if someone had been

trying to take out the stones."

"My fear is," said Mortimer, "that he not only tried, but succeeded. I

believe these four stones to be skilful imitations which have been put

in the place of the originals."

The same suspicion had evidently been in the mind of the expert, for he

had been carefully examining the four stones with the aid of a lens.

He now submitted them to several tests, and finally turned cheerfully

to Mortimer.

"I congratulate you, sir," said he, heartily. "I will pledge my

reputation that all four of these stones are genuine, and of a most

unusual degree of purity."

The colour began to come back to my poor friend's frightened face, and

he drew a long breath of relief.

"Thank God!" he cried. "Then what in the world did the thief want?"

"Probably he meant to take the stones, but was interrupted."

"In that case one would expect him to take them out one at a time, but

the setting of each of these has been loosened, and yet the stones are

all here."

"It is certainly most extraordinary," said the inspector. "I never

remember a case like it. Let us see the watchman."

The commissionaire was called--a soldierly, honest-faced man, who

seemed as concerned as Ward Mortimer at the incident.

"No, sir, I never heard a sound," he answered, in reply to the

questions of the inspector. "I made my rounds four times, as usual,

but I saw nothing suspicious. I've been in my position ten years, but

nothing of the kind has ever occurred before."

"No thief could have come through the windows?"

"Impossible, sir."

"Or passed you at the door?"

"No, sir; I never left my post except when I walked my rounds."

"What other openings are there in the museum?"

"There is the door into Mr. Ward Mortimer's private rooms."

"That is locked at night," my friend explained, "and in order to reach

it anyone from the street would have to open the outside door as well."

"Your servants?"

"Their quarters are entirely separate."

"Well, well," said the inspector, "this is certainly very obscure.

However, there has been no harm done, according to Mr. Purvis."

"I will swear that those stones are genuine."

"So that the case appears to be merely one of malicious damage. But

none the less, I should be very glad to go carefully round the

premises, and to see if we can find any trace to show us who your

visitor may have been."

His investigation, which lasted all the morning, was careful and

intelligent, but it led in the end to nothing. He pointed out to us

that there were two possible entrances to the museum which we had not

considered. The one was from the cellars by a trap-door opening in the

passage. The other through a skylight from the lumber-room,

overlooking that very chamber to which the intruder had penetrated. As

neither the cellar nor the lumber-room could be entered unless the

thief was already within the locked doors, the matter was not of any

practical importance, and the dust of cellar and attic assured us that

no one had used either one or the other. Finally, we ended as we

began, without the slightest clue as to how, why, or by whom the

setting of these four jewels had been tampered with.

There remained one course for Mortimer to take, and he took it. Leaving

the police to continue their fruitless researches, he asked me to

accompany him that afternoon in a visit to Professor Andreas. He took

with him the two letters, and it was his intention to openly tax his

predecessor with having written the anonymous warning, and to ask him

to explain the fact that he should have anticipated so exactly that

which had actually occurred. The Professor was living in a small villa

in Upper Norwood, but we were informed by the servant that he was away

from home. Seeing our disappointment, she asked us if we should like

to see Miss Andreas, and showed us into the modest drawing-room.

I have mentioned incidentally that the Professor's daughter was a very

beautiful girl. She was a blonde, tall and graceful, with a skin of

that delicate tint which the French call "mat," the colour of old

ivory, or of the lighter petals of the sulphur rose. I was shocked,

however, as she entered the room to see how much she had changed in the

last fortnight. Her young face was haggard and her bright eyes heavy

with trouble.

"Father has gone to Scotland," she said. "He seems to be tired, and

has had a good deal to worry him. He only left us yesterday."

"You look a little tired yourself, Miss Andreas," said my friend.

"I have been so anxious about father."

"Can you give me his Scotch address?"

"Yes, he is with his brother, the Rev. David Andreas, 1, Arran Villas,

Ardrossan."

Ward Mortimer made a note of the address, and we left without saying

anything as to the object of our visit. We found ourselves in Belmore

Street in the evening in exactly the same position in which we had been

in the morning. Our only clue was the Professor's letter, and my

friend had made up his mind to start for Ardrossan next day, and to get

to the bottom of the anonymous letter, when a new development came to

alter our plans.

Very early on the following morning I was aroused from my sleep by a

tap upon my bedroom door. It was a messenger with a note from Mortimer.

"Do come round," it said; "the matter is becoming more and more

extraordinary."

When I obeyed his summons I found him pacing excitedly up and down the

central room, while the old soldier who guarded the premises stood with

military stiffness in a corner.

"My dear Jackson," he cried, "I am so delighted that you have come, for

this is a most inexplicable business."

"What has happened, then?"

He waved his hand towards the case which contained the breastplate.

"Look at it," said he.

I did so, and could not restrain a cry of surprise. The setting of the

middle row of precious stones had been profaned in the same manner as

the upper ones. Of the twelve jewels eight had been now tampered with

in this singular fashion. The setting of the lower four was neat and

smooth. The others jagged and irregular.

"Have the stones been altered?" I asked.

"No, I am certain that these upper four are the same which the expert

pronounced to be genuine, for I observed yesterday that little

discoloration on the edge of the emerald. Since they have not

extracted the upper stones, there is no reason to think the lower have

been transposed. You say that you heard nothing, Simpson?"

"No, sir," the commissionaire answered. "But when I made my round

after daylight I had a special look at these stones, and I saw at once

that someone had been meddling with them. Then I called you, sir, and

told you. I was backwards and forwards all night, and I never saw a

soul or heard a sound."

"Come up and have some breakfast with me," said Mortimer, and he took

me into his own chambers.--"Now, what DO you think of this, Jackson?"

he asked.

"It is the most objectless, futile, idiotic business that ever I heard

of. It can only be the work of a monomaniac."

"Can you put forward any theory?"

A curious idea came into my head. "This object is a Jewish relic of

great antiquity and sanctity," said I. "How about the anti-Semitic

movement? Could one conceive that a fanatic of that way of thinking

might desecrate----"

"No, no, no!" cried Mortimer. "That will never do! Such a man might

push his lunacy to the length of destroying a Jewish relic, but why on

earth should he nibble round every stone so carefully that he can only

do four stones in a night? We must have a better solution than that,

and we must find it for ourselves, for I do not think that our

inspector is likely to help us. First of all, what do you think of

Simpson, the porter?"

"Have you any reason to suspect him?"

"Only that he is the one person on the premises."

"But why should he indulge in such wanton destruction? Nothing has

been taken away. He has no motive."

"Mania?"

"No, I will swear to his sanity."

"Have you any other theory?"

"Well, yourself, for example. You are not a somnambulist, by any

chance?"

"Nothing of the sort, I assure you."

"Then I give it up."

"But I don't--and I have a plan by which we will make it all clear."

"To visit Professor Andreas?"

"No, we shall find our solution nearer than Scotland. I will tell you

what we shall do. You know that skylight which overlooks the central

hall? We will leave the electric lights in the hall, and we will keep

watch in the lumber-room, you and I, and solve the mystery for

ourselves. If our mysterious visitor is doing four stones at a time,

he has four still to do, and there is every reason to think that he

will return tonight and complete the job."

"Excellent!" I cried.

"We will keep our own secret, and say nothing either to the police or

to Simpson. Will you join me?"

"With the utmost pleasure," said I; and so it was agreed.

It was ten o'clock that night when I returned to the Belmore Street

Museum. Mortimer was, as I could see, in a state of suppressed nervous

excitement, but it was still too early to begin our vigil, so we

remained for an hour or so in his chambers, discussing all the

possibilities of the singular business which we had met to solve. At

last the roaring stream of hansom cabs and the rush of hurrying feet

became lower and more intermittent as the pleasure-seekers passed on

their way to their stations or their homes. It was nearly twelve when

Mortimer led the way to the lumber-room which overlooked the central

hall of the museum.

He had visited it during the day, and had spread some sacking so that

we could lie at our ease, and look straight down into the museum. The

skylight was of unfrosted glass, but was so covered with dust that it

would be impossible for anyone looking up from below to detect that he

was overlooked. We cleared a small piece at each corner, which gave us

a complete view of the room beneath us. In the cold white light of the

electric lamps everything stood out hard and clear, and I could see the

smallest detail of the contents of the various cases.

Such a vigil is an excellent lesson, since one has no choice but to

look hard at those objects which we usually pass with such half-hearted

interest. Through my little peep hole I employed the hours in studying

every specimen, from the huge mummy-case which leaned against the wall

to those very jewels which had brought us there, gleaming and sparkling

in their glass case immediately beneath us. There was much precious

gold-work and many valuable stones scattered through the numerous

cases, but those wonderful twelve which made up the urim and thummim

glowed and burned with a radiance which far eclipsed the others. I

studied in turn the tomb-pictures of Sicara, the friezes from Karnak,

the statues of Memphis, and the inscriptions of Thebes, but my eyes

would always come back to that wonderful Jewish relic, and my mind to

the singular mystery which surrounded it. I was lost in the thought of

it when my companion suddenly drew his breath sharply in, and seized my

arm in a convulsive grip. At the same instant I saw what it was which

had excited him.

I have said that against the wall--on the right-hand side of the

doorway (the right-hand side as we looked at it, but the left as one

entered)--there stood a large mummy-case. To our unutterable amazement

it was slowly opening. Gradually, gradually the lid was swinging back,

and the black slit which marked the opening was becoming wider and

wider. So gently and carefully was it done that the movement was

almost imperceptible. Then, as we breathlessly watched it, a white

thin hand appeared at the opening, pushing back the painted lid, then

another hand, and finally a face--a face which was familiar to us both,

that of Professor Andreas. Stealthily he slunk out of the mummy-case,

like a fox stealing from its burrow, his head turning incessantly to

left and to right, stepping, then pausing, then stepping again, the

very image of craft and of caution. Once some sound in the street

struck him motionless, and he stood listening, with his ear turned,

ready to dart back to the shelter behind him. Then he crept onwards

again upon tiptoe, very, very softly and slowly, until he had reached

the case in the centre of the room. There he took a bunch of keys from

his pocket, unlocked the case, took out the Jewish breastplate, and,

laying it upon the glass in front of him, began to work upon it with

some sort of small, glistening tool. He was so directly underneath us

that his bent head covered his work, but we could guess from the

movement of his hand that he was engaged in finishing the strange

disfigurement which he had begun.

I could realize from the heavy breathing of my companion, and the

twitchings of the hand which still clutched my wrist, the furious

indignation which filled his heart as he saw this vandalism in the

quarter of all others where he could least have expected it. He, the

very man who a fortnight before had reverently bent over this unique

relic, and who had impressed its antiquity and its sanctity upon us,

was now engaged in this outrageous profanation. It was impossible,

unthinkable--and yet there, in the white glare of the electric light

beneath us, was that dark figure with the bent grey head, and the

twitching elbow. What inhuman hypocrisy, what hateful depth of malice

against his successor must underlie these sinister nocturnal labours.

It was painful to think of and dreadful to watch. Even I, who had none

of the acute feelings of a virtuoso, could not bear to look on and see

this deliberate mutilation of so ancient a relic. It was a relief to

me when my companion tugged at my sleeve as a signal that I was to

follow him as he softly crept out of the room. It was not until we

were within his own quarters that he opened his lips, and then I saw by

his agitated face how deep was his consternation.

"The abominable Goth!" he cried. "Could you have believed it?"

"It is amazing."

"He is a villain or a lunatic--one or the other. We shall very soon

see which. Come with me, Jackson, and we shall get to the bottom of

this black business."

A door opened out of the passage which was the private entrance from

his rooms into the museum. This he opened softly with his key, having

first kicked off his shoes, an example which I followed. We crept

together through room after room, until the large hall lay before us,

with that dark figure still stooping and working at the central case.

With an advance as cautious as his own we closed in upon him, but

softly as we went we could not take him entirely unawares. We were

still a dozen yards from him when he looked round with a start, and

uttering a husky cry of terror, ran frantically down the museum.

"Simpson! Simpson!" roared Mortimer, and far away down the vista of

electric lighted doors we saw the stiff figure of the old soldier

suddenly appear. Professor Andreas saw him also, and stopped running,

with a gesture of despair. At the same instant we each laid a hand

upon his shoulder.

"Yes, yes, gentlemen," he panted, "I will come with you. To your room,

Mr. Ward Mortimer, if you please! I feel that I owe you an

explanation."

My companion's indignation was so great that I could see that he dared

not trust himself to reply. We walked on each side of the old

Professor, the astonished commissionaire bringing up the rear. When we

reached the violated case, Mortimer stopped and examined the

breastplate. Already one of the stones of the lower row had had its

setting turned back in the same manner as the others. My friend held

it up and glanced furiously at his prisoner.

"How could you!" he cried. "How could you!"

"It is horrible--horrible!" said the Professor. "I don't wonder at

your feelings. Take me to your room."

"But this shall not be left exposed!" cried Mortimer. He picked the

breastplate up and carried it tenderly in his hand, while I walked

beside the Professor, like a policeman with a malefactor. We passed

into Mortimer's chambers, leaving the amazed old soldier to understand

matters as best he could. The Professor sat down in Mortimer's

arm-chair, and turned so ghastly a colour that for the instant all our

resentment was changed to concern. A stiff glass of brandy brought the

life back to him once more.

"There, I am better now!" said he. "These last few days have been too

much for me. I am convinced that I could not stand it any longer. It

is a nightmare--a horrible nightmare--that I should be arrested as a

burglar in what has been for so long my own museum. And yet I cannot

blame you. You could not have done otherwise. My hope always was that

I should get it all over before I was detected. This would have been

my last night's work."

"How did you get in?" asked Mortimer.

"By taking a very great liberty with your private door. But the object

justified it. The object justified everything. You will not be angry

when you know everything--at least, you will not be angry with me. I

had a key to your side door and also to the museum door. I did not

give them up when I left. And so you see it was not difficult for me

to let myself into the museum. I used to come in early before the

crowd had cleared from the street. Then I hid myself in the mummy-case,

and took refuge there whenever Simpson came round. I could always hear

him coming. I used to leave in the same way as I came."

"You ran a risk."

"I had to."

"But why? What on earth was your object--YOU to do a thing like that!"

Mortimer pointed reproachfully at the plate which lay before him on the

table.

"I could devise no other means. I thought and thought, but there was

no alternate except a hideous public scandal, and a private sorrow

which would have clouded our lives. I acted for the best, incredible

as it may seem to you, and I only ask your attention to enable me to

prove it."

"I will hear what you have to say before I take any further steps,"

said Mortimer, grimly.

"I am determined to hold back nothing, and to take you both completely

into my confidence. I will leave it to your own generosity how far you

will use the facts with which I supply you."

"We have the essential facts already."

"And yet you understand nothing. Let me go back to what passed a few

weeks ago, and I will make it all clear to you. Believe me that what I

say is the absolute and exact truth.

"You have met the person who calls himself Captain Wilson. I say

'calls himself' because I have reason now to believe that it is not his

correct name. It would take me too long if I were to describe all the

means by which he obtained an introduction to me and ingratiated

himself into my friendship and the affection of my daughter. He

brought letters from foreign colleagues which compelled me to show him

some attention. And then, by his own attainments, which are

considerable, he succeeded in making himself a very welcome visitor at

my rooms. When I learned that my daughter's affections had been gained

by him, I may have thought it premature, but I certainly was not

surprised, for he had a charm of manner and of conversation which would

have made him conspicuous in any society.

"He was much interested in Oriental antiquities, and his knowledge of

the subject justified his interest. Often when he spent the evening

with us he would ask permission to go down into the museum and have an

opportunity of privately inspecting the various specimens. You can

imagine that I, as an enthusiast, was in sympathy with such a request,

and that I felt no surprise at the constancy of his visits. After his

actual engagement to Elise, there was hardly an evening which he did

not pass with us, and an hour or two were generally devoted to the

museum. He had the free run of the place, and when I have been away

for the evening I had no objection to his doing whatever he wished

here. This state of things was only terminated by the fact of my

resignation of my official duties and my retirement to Norwood, where I

hoped to have the leisure to write a considerable work which I had

planned.

"It was immediately after this--within a week or so--that I first

realized the true nature and character of the man whom I had so

imprudently introduced into my family. The discovery came to me

through letters from my friends abroad, which showed me that his

introductions to me had been forgeries. Aghast at the revelation, I

asked myself what motive this man could originally have had in

practising this elaborate deception upon me. I was too poor a man for

any fortune-hunter to have marked me down. Why, then, had he come? I

remembered that some of the most precious gems in Europe had been under

my charge, and I remembered also the ingenious excuses by which this

man had made himself familiar with the cases in which they were kept.

He was a rascal who was planning some gigantic robbery. How could I,

without striking my own daughter, who was infatuated about him, prevent

him from carrying out any plan which he might have formed? My device

was a clumsy one, and yet I could think of nothing more effective. If

I had written a letter under my own name, you would naturally have

turned to me for details which I did not wish to give. I resorted to

an anonymous letter, begging you to be upon your guard.

"I may tell you that my change from Belmore Street to Norwood had not

affected the visits of this man, who had, I believe, a real and

overpowering affection for my daughter. As to her, I could not have

believed that any woman could be so completely under the influence of a

man as she was. His stronger nature seemed to entirely dominate her.

I had not realized how far this was the case, or the extent of the

confidence which existed between them, until that very evening when his

true character for the first time was made clear to me. I had given

orders that when he called he should be shown into my study instead of

to the drawing-room. There I told him bluntly that I knew all about

him, that I had taken steps to defeat his designs, and that neither I

nor my daughter desired ever to see him again. I added that I thanked

God that I had found him out before he had time to harm those precious

objects which it had been the work of my life-time to protect.

"He was certainly a man of iron nerve. He took my remarks without a

sign either of surprise or of defiance, but listened gravely and

attentively until I had finished. Then he walked across the room

without a word and struck the bell.

"'Ask Miss Andreas to be so kind as to step this way,' said he to the

servant.

"My daughter entered, and the man closed the door behind her. Then he

took her hand in his.

"'Elise,' said he, 'your father has just discovered that I am a

villain. He knows now what you knew before.'

"She stood in silence, listening.

"'He says that we are to part for ever,' said he.

"She did not withdraw her hand.

"'Will you be true to me, or will you remove the last good influence

which is ever likely to come into my life?'

"'John,' she cried, passionately. 'I will never abandon you! Never,

never, not if the whole world were against you.'

"In vain I argued and pleaded with her. It was absolutely useless.

Her whole life was bound up in this man before me. My daughter,

gentlemen, is all that I have left to love, and it filled me with agony

when I saw how powerless I was to save her from her ruin. My

helplessness seemed to touch this man who was the cause of my trouble.

"'It may not be as bad as you think, sir,' said he, in his quiet,

inflexible way. 'I love Elise with a love which is strong enough to

rescue even one who has such a record as I have. It was but yesterday

that I promised her that never again in my whole life would I do a

thing of which she should be ashamed. I have made up my mind to it,

and never yet did I make up my mind to a thing which I did not do.'

"He spoke with an air which carried conviction with it. As he

concluded he put his hand into his pocket and he drew out a small

cardboard box.

"'I am about to give you a proof of my determination,' said he. 'This,

Elise, shall be the first-fruits of your redeeming influence over me.

You are right, sir, in thinking that I had designs upon the jewels in

your possession. Such ventures have had a charm for me, which depended

as much upon the risk run as upon the value of the prize. Those famous

and antique stones of the Jewish priest were a challenge to my daring

and my ingenuity. I determined to get them.'

"'I guessed as much.'

"'There was only one thing that you did not guess.'

"'And what is that?'

"'That I got them. They are in this box.'

"He opened the box, and tilted out the contents upon the corner of my

desk. My hair rose and my flesh grew cold as I looked. There were

twelve magnificent square stones engraved with mystical characters.

There could be no doubt that they were the jewels of the urim and

thummim.

"'Good God!' I cried. 'How have you escaped discovery?'

"'By the substitution of twelve others, made especially to my order, in

which the originals are so carefully imitated that I defy the eye to

detect the difference.'

"'Then the present stones are false?' I cried.

"'They have been for some weeks.'

"We all stood in silence, my daughter white with emotion, but still

holding this man by the hand.

"'You see what I am capable of, Elise,' said he.

"'I see that you are capable of repentance and restitution,' she

answered.

"'Yes, thanks to your influence! I leave the stones in your hands,

sir. Do what you like about it. But remember that whatever you do

against me, is done against the future husband of your only daughter.

You will hear from me soon again, Elise. It is the last time that I

will ever cause pain to your tender heart,' and with these words he

left both the room and the house.

"My position was a dreadful one. Here I was with these precious relics

in my possession, and how could I return them without a scandal and an

exposure? I knew the depth of my daughter's nature too well to suppose

that I would ever be able to detach her from this man now that she had

entirely given him her heart. I was not even sure how far it was right

to detach her if she had such an ameliorating influence over him. How

could I expose him without injuring her--and how far was I justified in

exposing him when he had voluntarily put himself into my power? I

thought and thought until at last I formed a resolution which may seem

to you to be a foolish one, and yet, if I had to do it again, I believe

it would be the best course open to me.

"My idea was to return the stones without anyone being the wiser. With

my keys I could get into the museum at any time, and I was confident

that I could avoid Simpson, whose hours and methods were familiar to

me. I determined to take no one into my confidence--not even my

daughter--whom I told that I was about to visit my brother in Scotland.

I wanted a free hand for a few nights, without inquiry as to my comings

and goings. To this end I took a room in Harding Street that very

night, with an intimation that I was a Pressman, and that I should keep

very late hours.

"That night I made my way into the museum, and I replaced four of the

stones. It was hard work, and took me all night. When Simpson came

round I always heard his footsteps, and concealed myself in the

mummy-case. I had some knowledge of gold-work, but was far less

skilful than the thief had been. He had replaced the setting so

exactly that I defy anyone to see the difference. My work was rude and

clumsy. However, I hoped that the plate might not be carefully

examined, or the roughness of the setting observed, until my task was

done. Next night I replaced four more stones. And tonight I should

have finished my task had it not been for the unfortunate circumstance

which has caused me to reveal so much which I should have wished to

keep concealed. I appeal to you, gentlemen, to your sense of honour

and of compassion, whether what I have told you should go any farther

or not. My own happiness, my daughter's future, the hopes of this

man's regeneration, all depend upon your decision.

"Which is," said my friend, "that all is well that ends well and that

the whole matter ends here and at once. Tomorrow the loose settings

shall be tightened by an expert goldsmith, and so passes the greatest

danger to which, since the destruction of the Temple, the urim and

thummim has been exposed. Here is my hand, Professor Andreas, and I

can only hope that under such difficult circumstances I should have

carried myself as unselfishly and as well."

Just one footnote to this narrative. Within a month Elise Andreas was

married to a man whose name, had I the indiscretion to mention it,

would appeal to my readers as one who is now widely and deservedly

honoured. But if the truth were known that honour is due not to him,

but to the gentle girl who plucked him back when he had gone so far

down that dark road along which few return.

End of Project Gutenberg's Tales of Terror and Mystery, by Arthur Conan Doyle