The Man in the Street Whether anyone pursued I cannot say. I have some dim recollection, as I came out of the room, of women being huddled against the wall upon the landing, and of their screaming as I went past. But whether any effort was made to arrest my progress I cannot tell. My own impression is that not the slightest attempt to impede my headlong flight was made by anyone. In what direction I was going I did not know. I was like a man flying through the phantasmagoric happenings of a dream, knowing neither how nor whither. I tore along what I suppose was a broad passage, through a door at the end into what, I fancy, was a drawingroom. Across this room I dashed, helterskelter, bringing down, in the gloom, unseen articles of furniture, with myself sometimes on top, and sometimes under them. In a trice, each time I fell, I was on my feet againuntil I went crashing against a window which was concealed by curtains. It would not have been strange had I crashed through itbut I was spared that. Thrusting aside the curtains, I fumbled for the fastening of the window. It was a tall French casement, extending, so far as I could judge, from floor to ceiling. When I had it open I stepped through it on to the verandah withoutto find that I was on the top of the portico which I had vainly essayed to ascend from below. I tried the road down which I had tried upproceeding with a breakneck recklessness of which now I shudder to think. It was, probably, some thirty feet above the pavement, yet I rushed at the descent with as much disregard for the safety of life and limb as if it had been only three. Over the edge of the parapet I went, obtaining, with my naked feet, a precarious foothold on the latticeworkthen down I commenced to scramble. I never did get a proper hold, and when I had descended, perhaps, rather more than half the distancescraping, as it seemed to me, every scrap of skin off my body in the processI lost what little hold I had. Down to the bottom I went tumbling, rolling right across the pavement into the muddy road. It was a miracle I was not seriously injuredbut in that sense, certainly, that night the miracles were on my side. Hardly was I down, than I was up againmud and all. Just as I was getting on to my feet I felt a firm hand grip me by the shoulder. Turning I found myself confronted by a tall, slenderly built man, with a long, drooping moustache, and an overcoat buttoned up to the chin, who held me with a grasp of steel. He looked at meand I looked back at him. After the balleh? Even then I was struck by something pleasant in his voice, and some quality as of sunshine in his handsome face. Seeing that I said nothing he went onwith a curious, half mocking smile. Is that the way to come slithering down the Apostles pillar?Is it simple burglary, or simpler murder?Tell me the glad tidings that youve killed St. Paul, and Ill let you go. Whether he was mad or not I cannot saythere was some excuse for thinking so. He did not look mad, though his words and actions alike were strange. Although you have confined yourself to gentle felony, shall I not shower blessings on the head of him who has been robbing Paul?Away with you! He removed his grip, giving me a gentle push as he did soand I was away. I neither stayed nor paused. I knew little of records, but if anyone has made a better record than I did that night between Lowndes Square and Walham Green I should like to know just what it wasI should, too, like to have seen it done. In an incredibly short space of time I was once more in front of the house with the open windowthe packet of letterswhich were like to have cost me so dear!gripped tightly in my hand. IX. The Contents of the Packet I pulled up sharplyas if a brake had been suddenly, and even mercilessly, applied to bring me to a standstill. In front of the window I stood shivering. A shower had recently commencedthe falling rain was being blown before the breeze. I was in a terrible sweatyet tremulous as with cold; covered with mud; bruised, and cut, and bleedingas piteous an object as you would care to see. Every limb in my body ached; every muscle was exhausted; mentally and physically I was done; had I not been held up, willy nilly, by the spell which was upon me, I should have sunk down, then and there, in a hopeless, helpless, hapless heap. But my tormentor was not yet at an end with me. As I stood there, like some broken and beaten hack, waiting for the word of command, it came. It was as if some strong magnetic current had been switched on to me through the window to draw me into the room. Over the low wall I went, over the sillonce more I stood in that chamber of my humiliation and my shame. And once again I was conscious of that awful sense of the presence of an evil thing. How much of it was fact, and how much of it was the product of imagination I cannot say; but, looking back, it seems to me that it was as if I had been taken out of the corporeal body to be plunged into the inner chambers of all nameless sin. There was the sound of something flopping from off the bed on to the ground, and I knew that the thing was coming at me across the floor. My stomach quaked, my heart melted within methe very anguish of my terror gave me strength to screamand scream! Sometimes, even now, I seem to hear those screams of mine ringing through the night, and I bury my face in the pillow, and it is as though I was passing through the very Valley of the Shadow. The thing went backI could hear it slipping and sliding across the floor. There was silence. And, presently, the lamp was lit, and the room was all in brightness. There, on the bed, in the familiar attitude between the sheets, his head resting on his hand, his eyes blazing like living coals, was the dreadful cause of all my agonies. He looked at me with his unpitying, unblinking glance. So!Through the window again!like a thief!Is it always through that door that you come into a house? He pausedas if to give me time to digest his gibe. You saw Paul Lessinghamwell?the great Paul Lessingham!Was he, then, so great? His rasping voice, with its queer foreign twang, reminded me, in some uncomfortable way, of a rusty sawthe things he said, and the manner in which he said them, were alike intended to add to my discomfort. It was solely because the feat was barely possible that he only partially succeeded. Like a thief you went into his housedid I not tell you that you would? Like a thief he found youwere you not ashamed? Since, like a thief he found you, how comes it that you have escapedby what robbers artifice have you saved yourself from gaol? His manner changedso that, all at once, he seemed to snarl at me. Is he great?well!is he greatPaul Lessingham? You are small, but he is smalleryour great Paul Lessingham!Was there ever a man so less than nothing? With the recollection fresh upon me of Mr. Lessingham as I had so lately seen him I could not but feel that there might be a modicum of truth in what, with such an intensity of bitterness, the speaker suggested. The picture which, in my mental gallery, I had hung in the place of honour, seemed, to say the least, to have become a trifle smudged. As usual, the man in the bed seemed to experience not the slightest difficulty in deciphering what was passing through my mind. That is soyou and he, you are a pairthe great Paul Lessingham is as great a thief as youand greater!for, at least, than you he has more courage. For some moments he was still; then exclaimed, with sudden fierceness, Give me what you have stolen! I moved towards the bedmost unwillinglyand held out to him the packet of letters which I had abstracted from the little drawer. Perceiving my disinclination to his near neighbourhood, he set himself to play with it. Ignoring my outstretched hand, he stared me straight in the face. What ails you? Are you not well? Is it not sweet to stand close at my side? You, with your white skin, if I were a woman, would you not take me for a wife? There was something about the manner in which this was said which was so essentially feminine that once more I wondered if I could possibly be mistaken in the creatures sex. I would have given much to have been able to strike him across the faceor, better, to have taken him by the neck, and thrown him through the window, and rolled him in the mud. He condescended to notice what I was holding out to him. So!that is what you have stolen!That is what you have taken from the drawer in the bureauthe drawer which was lockedand which you used the arts in which a thief is skilled to enter. Give it to methief! He snatched the packet from me, scratching the back of my hand as he did so, as if his nails had been talons. He turned the packet over and over, glaring at it as he did soit was strange what a relief it was to have his glance removed from off my face. You kept it in your inner drawer, Paul Lessingham, where none but you could see itdid you? You hid it as one hides treasure. There should be something here worth having, worth seeing, worth knowingyes, worth knowing!since you found it worth your while to hide it up so closely. As I have said, the packet was bound about by a string of pink ribbona fact on which he presently began to comment. With what a pretty string you have encircled itand how neatly it is tied! Surely only a womans hand could tie a knot like thatwho would have guessed yours were such agile fingers?So! An endorsement on the cover! Whats this?lets see whats written!The letters of my dear love, Marjorie Lindon.  As he read these words, which, as he said, were endorsed upon the outer sheet of paper which served as a cover for the letters which were enclosed within, his face became transfigured. Never did I suppose that rage could have so possessed a human countenance. His jaw dropped open so that his yellow fangs gleamed though his parted lipshe held his breath so long that each moment I looked to see him fall down in a fit; the veins stood out all over his face and head like seams of blood. I know not how long he continued speechless. When his breath returned, it was with chokings and gaspings, in the midst of which he hissed out his words, as if their mere passage through his throat brought him near to strangulation. The letters of his dear love!of his dear love!his!Paul Lessinghams!So!It is as I guessedas I knewas I saw!Marjorie Lindon!Sweet Marjorie!His dear love!Paul Lessinghams dear love!She with the lily face, the cornhued hair!What is it his dear love has found in her fond heart to write Paul Lessingham? Sitting up in bed he tore the packet open. It contained, perhaps, eight or nine letterssome mere notes, some long epistles. But, short or long, he devoured them with equal appetite, each one over and over again, till I thought he never would have done rereading them. They were on thick white paper, of a peculiar shade of whiteness, with untrimmed edges, On each sheet a crest and an address were stamped in gold, and all the sheets were of the same shape and size. I told myself that if anywhere, at any time, I saw writing paper like that again, I should not fail to know it. The caligraphy was, like the paper, unusual, bold, decided, and, I should have guessed, produced by a J pen. All the time that he was reading he kept emitting sounds, more resembling yelps and snarls than anything more humanlike some savage beast nursing its pentup rage. When he had made an end of readingfor the seasonhe let his passion have full vent. So!That is what his dear love has found it in her heart to write Paul Lessingham!Paul Lessingham! Pen cannot describe the concentrated frenzy of hatred with which the speaker dwelt upon the nameit was demoniac. It is enough!it is the end!it is his doom! He shall be ground between the upper and the nether stones in the towers of anguish, and all that is left of him shall be cast on the accursed stream of the bitter waters, to stink under the bloodgrimed sun! And for herfor Marjorie Lindon!for his dear love!it shall come to pass that she shall wish that she was never bornnor he!and the gods of the shadows shall smell the sweet incense of her suffering!It shall be! it shall be! It is I that say iteven I! In the madness of his rhapsodical frenzy I believe that he had actually forgotten I was there. But, on a sudden, glancing aside, he saw me, and rememberedand was prompt to take advantage of an opportunity to wreak his rage upon a tangible object. It is you!you thief!you still live!to make a mock of one of the children of the gods! He leaped, shrieking, off the bed, and sprang at me, clasping my throat with his horrid hands, bearing me backwards on to the floor; I felt his breath mingle with mine    and then God, in His mercy, sent oblivion. Book II. The Haunted Man The story according to Sydney Atherton, Esquire. X. Rejected It was after our second waltz I did it. In the usual quiet cornerwhich, that time, was in the shadow of a palm in the hall. Before I had got into my stride she checked metouching my sleeve with her fan, turning towards me with startled eyes. Stop, please! But I was not to be stopped. Cliff Challoner passed, with Gerty Cazell. I fancy that, as he passed, he nodded. I did not care. I was wound up to go, and I went it. No man knows how he can talk till he does talkto the girl he wants to marry. It is my impression that I gave her recollections of the Restoration poets. She seemed surprisednot having previously detected in me the poetic strain, and insisted on cutting in. Mr. Atherton, I am so sorry. Then I did let fly. Sorry that I love you!why? Why should you be sorry that you have become the one thing needful in any mans eyeseven in mine? The one thing preciousthe one thing to be altogether esteemed! Is it so common for a woman to come across a man who would be willing to lay down his life for her that she should be sorry when she finds him? I did not know that you felt like this, though I confess that I have had mymy doubts. Doubts!I thank you. You are quite aware, Mr. Atherton, that I like you very much. Like me!Bah! I cannot help liking youthough it may be bah.  I dont want you to like meI want you to love me. Preciselythat is your mistake. My mistake!in wanting you to love me!when I love you Then you shouldntthough I cant help thinking that you are mistaken even there. Mistaken!in supposing that I love you!when I assert and reassert it with the whole force of my being! What do you want me to do to prove I love youtake you in my arms and crush you to my bosom, and make a spectacle of you before every creature in the place? Id rather you wouldnt, and perhaps you wouldnt mind not talking quite so loud. Mr. Challoner seems to be wondering what youre shouting about. You shouldnt torture me. She opened and shut her fanas she looked down at it I am disposed to suspect that she smiled. I am glad we have had this little explanation, because, of course, you are my friend. I am not your friend. Pardon me, you are. I say Im notif I cant be something else, Ill be no friend. She went oncalmly ignoring meplaying with her fan. As it happens, I am, just now, in rather a delicate position, in which a friend is welcome. Whats the matter? Whos been worrying youyour father? Wellhe has notas yet; but he may be soon. Whats in the wind? Mr. Lessingham. She dropped her voiceand her eyes. For the moment I did not catch her meaning. What? Your friend, Mr. Lessingham. Excuse me, Miss Lindon, but I am by no means sure that anyone is entitled to call Mr. Lessingham a friend of mine. What!Not when I am going to be his wife? That took me aback. I had had my suspicions that Paul Lessingham was more with Marjorie than he had any right to be, but I had never supposed that she could see anything desirable in a stick of a man like that. Not to speak of a hundred and one other considerationsLessingham on one side of the House, and her father on the other; and old Lindon girding at him anywhere and everywherewith his highdried Tory notions of his family importanceto say nothing of his fortune. I dont know if I looked what I feltif I did, I looked uncommonly blank. You have chosen an appropriate moment, Miss Lindon, to make to me such a communication. She chose to disregard my irony. I am glad you think so, because now you will understand what a difficult position I am in. I offer you my hearty congratulations. And I thank you for them, Mr. Atherton, in the spirit in which they are offered, because from you I know they mean so much. I bit my lipfor the life of me I could not tell how she wished me to read her words. Do I understand that this announcement has been made to me as one of the public? You do not. It is made to you, in confidence, as my friendas my greatest friend; because a husband is something more than friend. My pulses tingled. You will be on my side? She had pausedand I stayed silent. On your sideor Mr. Lessinghams? His side is my side, and my side is his side;you will be on our side? I am not sure that I altogether follow you. You are the first I have told. When papa hears it is possible that there will be troubleas you know. He thinks so much of you and of your opinion; when that trouble comes I want you to be on our sideon my side. Why should I?what does it matter? You are stronger than your fatherit is just possible that Lessingham is stronger than you; together, from your fathers point of view, you will be invincible. You are my friendare you not my friend? In effect, you offer me an Apple of Sodom. Thank you;I did not think you so unkind. And youare you kind? I make you an avowal of my love, and, straightway, you ask me to act as chorus to the love of another. How could I tell you loved meas you say! I had no notion. You have known me all your life, yet you have not breathed a word of it till now. If I had spoken before? I imagine that there was a slight movement of her shouldersalmost amounting to a shrug. I do not know that it would have made any difference.I do not pretend that it would. But I do know this, I believe that you yourself have only discovered the state of your own mind within the last halfhour. If she had slapped my face she could not have startled me more. I had no notion if her words were uttered at random, but they came so near the truth they held me breathless. It was a fact that only during the last few minutes had I really realised how things were with meonly since the end of that first waltz that the flame had burst out in my soul which was now consuming me. She had read me by what seemed so like a flash of inspiration that I hardly knew what to say to her. I tried to be stinging. You flatter me, Miss Lindon, you flatter me at every point. Had you only discovered to me the state of your mind a little sooner I should not have discovered to you the state of mine at all. We will consider it terra incognita. Since you wish it. Her provoking calmness stung meand the suspicion that she was laughing at me in her sleeve. I gave her a glimpse of the cloven hoof. But, at the same time, since you assert that you have so long been innocent, I beg that you will continue so no more. At least, your innocence shall be without excuse. For I wish you to understand that I love you, that I have loved you, that I shall love you. Any understanding you may have with Mr. Lessingham will not make the slightest difference. I warn you, Miss Lindon, that, until death, you will have to write me down your lover. She looked at me, with wide open eyesas if I almost frightened her. To be frank, that was what I wished to do. Mr. Atherton! Miss Lindon? That is not like you at all. We seem to be making each others acquaintance for the first time. She continued to gaze at me with her big eyeswhich, to be candid, I found it difficult to meet. On a sudden her face was lighted by a smilewhich I resented. Not after all these yearsnot after all these years! I know you, and though I daresay youre not flawless, I fancy youll be found to ring pretty true. Her manner was almost sisterlyeldersisterly. I could have shaken her. Hartridge coming to claim his dance gave me an opportunity to escape with such remnants of dignity as I could gather about me. He dawdled uphis thumbs, as usual, in his waistcoat pockets. I believe, Miss Lindon, this is our dance. She acknowledged it with a bow, and rose to take his arm. I got up, and left her, without a word. As I crossed the hall I chanced on Percy Woodville. He was in his familiar state of fluster, and was gaping about him as if he had mislaid the Kohinoor, and wondered where in thunder it had got to. When he saw it was I he caught me by the arm. I say, Atherton, have you seen Miss Lindon? I have. No!Have you?By Jove!Where? Ive been looking for her all over the place, except in the cellars and the atticsand I was just going to commence on them. This is our dance. In that case, shes shunted you. No!Impossible! His mouth went like an Oand his eyes ditto, his eyeglass clattering down on to his shirt front. I expect the mistakes mine. Fact is, Ive made a mess of my programme. Its either the last dance, or this dance, or the next, that Ive booked with her, but Im hanged if I know which. Just take a squint at it, theres a good chap, and tell me which one you think it is. I took a squintsince he held the thing within an inch of my nose I could hardly help it; one squint, and that was enoughand more. Some mens ball programmes are studies in impressionism, Percys seemed to me to be a study in madness. It was covered with hieroglyphics, but what they meant, or what they did there anyhow, it was absurd to suppose that I could tellI never put them there!Proverbially, the mans a champion hasher. I regret, my dear Percy, that I am not an expert in cuneiform writing. If you have any doubt as to which dance is yours, youd better ask the ladyshell feel flattered. Leaving him to do his own addling I went to find my coatI panted to get into the open air; as for dancing I felt that I loathed it. Just as I neared the cloakroom someone stopped me. It was Dora Grayling. Have you forgotten that this is our dance? I had forgottenclean. And I was not obliged by her remembering. Though as I looked at her sweet, grey eyes, and at the soft contours of her gentle face, I felt that I deserved well kicking. She is an angelone of the best!but I was in no mood for angels. Not for a very great deal would I have gone through that dance just then, nor, with Dora Grayling, of all women in the world, would I have sat it out.So I was a brute and blundered. You must forgive me, Miss Grayling, butI am not feeling very well, andI dont think Im up to any more dancing.Good night. XI. A Midnight Episode The weather out of doors was in tune with my frame of mindI was in a deuce of a temper, and it was a deuce of a night. A keen northeast wind, warranted to take the skin right off you, was playing catchwhocatchcan with intermittent gusts of blinding rain. Since it was not fit for a dog to walk, none of your cabs for menothing would serve but pedestrian exercise. So I had it. I went down Park Laneand the wind and rain went with mealso, thoughts of Dora Grayling. What a bounder I had beenand was! If there is anything in worse taste than to book a lady for a dance, and then to leave her in the lurch, I should like to know what that thing iswhen found it ought to be made a note of. If any man of my acquaintance allowed himself to be guilty of such a felony in the first degree, I should cut him. I wished someone would try to cut meI should like to see him at it. It was all Marjories faulteverything! past, present, and to come. I had known that girl when she was in long frocksI had, at that period of our acquaintance, pretty recently got out of them; when she was advanced to short ones; and when, once more, she returned to long. And all that timewell, I was nearly persuaded that the whole of the time I had loved her. If I had not mentioned it, it was because I had suffered my affection, like the worm, to lie hidden in the bud,or whatever it is the fellow says. At any rate, I was perfectly positive that if I had had the faintest notion that she would ever seriously consider such a man as Lessingham I should have loved her long ago. Lessingham! Why, he was old enough to be her fatherat least he was a good many years older than I was. And a wretched Radical! It is true that on certain points I, also, am what some people would call a Radicalbut not a Radical of the kind he is. Thank Heaven, no! No doubt I have admired traits in his character, until I learnt this thing of him. I am even prepared to admit that he is a man of abilityin his way! which is, emphatically, not mine. But to think of him in connection with such a girl as Marjorie Lindonpreposterous! Why, the mans as dry as a stickdrier! And cold as an iceberg. Nothing but a politician, absolutely. He a lover!how I could fancy such a stroke of humour setting all the benches in a roar. Both by education, and by nature, he was incapable of even playing such a part; as for being the thingabsurd! If you were to sink a shaft from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet, you would find inside him nothing but the dry bones of parties and of politics. What my Marjorieif everyone had his own, she is mine, and, in that sense, she always will be minewhat my Marjorie could see in such a dryasdust out of which even to construct the rudiments of a husband was beyond my fathoming. Suchlike agreeable reflections were fit company for the wind and the wet, so they bore me company all down the lane. I crossed at the corner, going round the hospital towards the square. This brought me to the abidingplace of Paul the Apostle. Like the idiot I was, I went out into the middle of the street, and stood awhile in the mud to curse him and his houseon the whole, when one considers that that is the kind of man I can be, it is, perhaps, not surprising that Marjorie disdained me. May your following, I criedit is an absolute fact that the words were shouted!both in the House and out of it, no longer regard you as a leader! May your party follow after other gods! May your political aspirations wither, and your speeches be listened to by empty benches! May the Speaker persistently and strenuously refuse to allow you to catch his eye, and, at the next election, may your constituency reject you!Jehoram!whats that? I might well ask. Until that moment I had appeared to be the only lunatic at large, either outside the house or in it, but, on a sudden, a second lunatic came on the scene, and that with a vengeance. A window was crashed open from withinthe one over the front door, and someone came plunging through it on to the top of the portico. That it was a case of intended suicide I made sureand I began to be in hopes that I was about to witness the suicide of Paul. But I was not so assured of the intention when the individual in question began to scramble down the pillar of the porch in the most extraordinary fashion I ever witnessedI was not even convinced of a suicidal purpose when he came tumbling down, and lay sprawling in the mud at my feet. I fancy, if I had performed that portion of the act I should have lain quiet for a second or two, to consider whereabouts I was, and which end of me was uppermost. But there was no nonsense of that sort about that singularly agile strangerif he was not made of indiarubber he ought to have been. So to speak, before he was down he was upit was all I could do to grab at him before he was off like a rocket. Such a figure as he presented is seldom seenat least, in the streets of London. What he had done with the rest of his apparel I am not in a position to sayall that was left of it was a long, dark cloak which he strove to wrap round him. Save for thatand mud!he was bare as the palm of my hand. Yet it was his face that held me. In my time I have seen strange expressions on mens faces, but never before one such as I saw on his. He looked like a man might look who, after living a life of undiluted crime, at last finds himself face to face with the devil. It was not the look of a madmanfar from it; it was something worse. It was the expression on the mans countenance, as much as anything else, which made me behave as I did. I said something to himsome nonsense, I know not what. He regarded me with a silence which was supernatural. I spoke to him again;not a word issued from those rigid lips; there was not a tremor of those awful eyeseyes which I was tolerably convinced saw something which I had never seen, or ever should. Then I took my hand from off his shoulder, and let him go. I know not whyI did. He had remained as motionless as a statue while I held himindeed, for any evidence of life he gave, he might have been a statue; but, when my grasp was loosed, how he ran! He had turned the corner and was out of sight before I could say, How do! It was only thenwhen he had gone, and I had realised the extradoubleexpressflashoflightning rate at which he had taken his departurethat it occurred to me of what an extremely sensible act I had been guilty in letting him go at all. Here was an individual who had been committing burglary, or something very like it, in the house of a budding cabinet minister, and who had tumbled plump into my arms, so that all I had to do was to call a policeman and get him quoddedand all that I had done was something of a totally different kind. Youre a nice type of an ideal citizen! I was addressing myself, A first chop specimen of a lowdown idiotto connive at the escape of the robber whos been robbing Paul. Since youve let the villain go, the least you can do is to leave a card on the Apostle, and inquire how hes feeling. I went to Lessinghams front door and knockedI knocked once, I knocked twice, I knocked thrice, and the third time, I give you my word, I made the echoes ringbut still there was not a soul that answered. If this is a case of a seven or seventyfold murder, and the gentleman in the cloak has made a fair clearance of every living creature the house contains, perhaps its just as well Ive chanced upon the scenestill I do think that one of the corpses might get up to answer the door. If it is possible to make noise enough to waken the dead, you bet Im on to it. And I wasI punished that knocker! until I warrant the pounding I gave it was audible on the other side of Green Park. And, at last, I woke the deador, rather, I roused Matthews to a consciousness that something was going on. Opening the door about six inches, through the interstice he protruded his ancient nose. Whos there? Nothing, my dear sir, nothing and no one. It must have been your vigorous imagination which induced you to suppose that there wasyou let it run away with you. Then he knew meand opened the door about two feet. Oh, its you, Mr. Atherton. I beg your pardon, sirI thought it might have been the police. What then? Do you stand in terror of the minions of the lawat last? A most discreet servant, Matthewsjust the fellow for a budding cabinet minister. He glanced over his shoulderI had suspected the presence of a colleague at his back, now I was assured. He put his hand up to his mouthand I thought how exceedingly discreet he looked, in his trousers and his stockinged feet, and with his hair all rumpled, and his braces dangling behind, and his nightshirt creased. Well, sir, I have received instructions not to admit the police. The deuce you have!From whom? Coughing behind his hand, leaning forward, he addressed me with an air which was flatteringly confidential. From Mr. Lessingham, sir. Possibly Mr. Lessingham is not aware that a robbery has been committed on his premises, that the burglar has just come out of his drawingroom window with a hop, skip, and a jump, bounded out of the window like a tennisball, flashed round the corner like a rocket, Again Matthews glanced over his shoulder, as if not clear which way discretion lay, whether fore or aft. Thank you, sir.


I believe that Mr. Lessingham is aware of something of the kind. He seemed to come to a sudden resolution, dropping his voice to a whisper. The fact is, sir, that I fancy Mr. Lessinghams a good deal upset. Upset? I stared at him. There was something in his manner I did not understand. What do you mean by upset? Has the scoundrel attempted violence? Whos there? The voice was Lessinghams, calling to Matthews from the staircase, though, for an instant, I hardly recognised it, it was so curiously petulant. Pushing past Matthews, I stepped into the hall. A young man, I suppose a footman, in the same undress as Matthews, was holding a candleit seemed the only light about the place. By its glimmer I perceived Lessingham standing halfway up the stairs. He was in full war paintas he is not the sort of man who dresses for the House, I took it that he had been mixing pleasure with business. Its I, LessinghamAtherton. Do you know that a fellow has jumped out of your drawingroom window? It was a second or two before he answered. When he did, his voice had lost its petulance. Has he escaped? Cleanhes a mile away by now. It seemed to me that in his tone, when he spoke again, there was a note of relief. I wondered if he had. Poor fellow! more sinned against than sinning! Take my advice, Atherton, and keep out of politics. They bring you into contact with all the lunatics at large. Good night! I am much obliged to you for knocking us up. Matthews, shut the door. Tolerably cool, on my honoura man who brings news big with the fate of Rome does not expect to receive such treatment. He expects to be listened to with deference, and to hear all that there is to hear, and not to be sent to the rightabout before he has had a chance of really opening his lips. Before I knew italmost!the door was shut, and I was on the doorstep. Confound the Apostles impudence! next time he might have his house burnt downand him in it!before I took the trouble to touch his dirty knocker. What did he mean by his allusion to lunatics in politicsdid he think to fool me? There was more in the business than met the eyeand a good deal more than he wished to meet minehence his insolence. The creature. What Marjorie Lindon could see in such an opusculum surpassed my comprehension; especially when there was a man of my sort walking about, who adored the very ground she trod upon. XII. A Morning Visitor All through the night, waking and sleeping, and in my dreams, I wondered what Marjorie could see in him! In those same dreams I satisfied myself that she could, and did, see nothing in him, but everything in meoh the comfort! The misfortune was that when I awoke I knew it was the other way roundso that it was a sad awakening. An awakening to thoughts of murder. So, swallowing a mouthful and a peg, I went into my laboratory to plan murderlegalised murderon the biggest scale it ever has been planned. I was on the track of a weapon which would make war not only an affair of a single campaign, but of a single halfhour. It would not want an army to work it either. Once let an individual, or two or three at most, in possession of my weaponthatwastobe, get within a mile or so of even the largest body of disciplined troops that ever yet a nation put into the field, andpouf!in about the time it takes you to say that they would be all dead men. If weapons of precision, which may be relied upon to slay, are preservers of the peaceand the man is a fool who says that they are not!then I was within reach of the finest preserver of the peace imagination ever yet conceived. What a sublime thought to think that in the hollow of your own hand lies the life and death of nationsand it was almost in mine. I had in front of me some of the finest destructive agents you could wish to light uponcarbonmonoxide, chlorinetrioxide, mercuricoxide, conine, potassamide, potassiumcarboxide, cyanogenwhen Edwards entered. I was wearing a mask of my own invention, a thing that covered ears and head and everything, something like a divers helmetI was dealing with gases a sniff of which meant death; only a few days before, unmasked, I had been doing some fools trick with a couple of acidssulphuric and cyanide of potassiumwhen, somehow, my hand slipped, and, before I knew it, minute portions of them combined. By the mercy of Providence I fell backwards instead of forwards;sequel, about an hour afterwards Edwards found me on the floor, and it took the remainder of that day, and most of the doctors in town, to bring me back to life again. Edwards announced his presence by touching me on the shoulderwhen I am wearing that mask it isnt always easy to make me hear. Someone wishes to see you, sir. Then tell someone that I dont wish to see him. Welltrained servant, Edwardshe walked off with the message as decorously as you please. And then I thought there was an endbut there wasnt. I was regulating the valve of a cylinder in which I was fusing some oxides when, once more, someone touched me on the shoulder. Without turning I took it for granted it was Edwards back again. I have only to give a tiny twist to this tap, my good fellow, and you will be in the land where the bogies bloom. Why will you come where youre not wanted? Then I looked round. Who the devil are you? For it was not Edwards at all, but quite a different class of character. I found myself confronting an individual who might almost have sat for one of the bogies I had just alluded to. His costume was reminiscent of the Algerians whom one finds all over France, and who are the most persistent, insolent and amusing of pedlars. I remember one who used to haunt the rptitions at the Alcazar at Toursbut there! This individual was like the originals, yet unlikehe was less gaudy, and a good deal dingier, than his Gallic prototypes are apt to be. Then he wore a burnoosethe yellow, grimylooking article of the Arab of the Sudan, not the spick and span Arab of the boulevard. Chief difference of all, his face was clean shavenand whoever saw an Algerian of Paris whose chiefest glory was not his welltrimmed moustache and beard? I expected that he would address me in the lingo which these gentlemen call Frenchbut he didnt. You are Mr. Atherton? And you are Mr.Who?how did you come here? Wheres my servant? The fellow held up his hand. As he did so, as if in accordance with a prearranged signal, Edwards came into the room looking excessively startled. I turned to him. Is this the person who wished to see me? Yes, sir. Didnt I tell you to say that I didnt wish to see him? Yes, sir. Then why didnt you do as I told you? I did, sir. Then how comes he here? Really, sir,Edwards put his hand up to his head as if he was half asleepI dont quite know. What do you mean by you dont know? Why didnt you stop him? I think, sir, that I must have had a touch of sudden faintness, because I tried to put out my hand to stop him, andI couldnt. Youre an idiot.Go! And he went. I turned to the stranger. Pray, sir, are you a magician? He replied to my question with another. You, Mr. Athertonare you also a magician? He was staring at my mask with an evident lack of comprehension. I wear this because, in this place, death lurks in so many subtle forms, that, without it, I dare not breathe, He inclined his headthough I doubt if he understood. Be so good as to tell me, briefly, what it is you wish with me. He slipped his hand into the folds of his burnoose, and, taking out a slip of paper, laid it on the shelf by which we were standing. I glanced at it, expecting to find on it a petition, or a testimonial, or a true statement of his sad case; instead it contained two words onlyMarjorie Lindon. The unlookedfor sight of that wellloved name brought the blood into my cheeks. You come from Miss Lindon? He narrowed his shoulders, brought his fingertips together, inclined his head, in a fashion which was peculiarly Oriental, but not particularly explanatoryso I repeated my question. Do you wish me to understand that you do come from Miss Lindon? Again he slipped his hand into his burnoose, again he produced a slip of paper, again he laid it on the shelf, again I glanced at it, again nothing was written on it but a namePaul Lessingham. Well?I seePaul Lessingham.What then? She is goodhe is badis it not so? He touched first one scrap of paper, then the other. I stared. Pray how do you happen to know? He shall never have hereh? What on earth do you mean? Ah!what do I mean! Precisely, what do you mean? And also, and at the same time, who the devil are you? It is as a friend I come to you. Then in that case you may go; I happen to be overstocked in that line just now. Not with the kind of friend I am! The saints forefend! You love heryou love Miss Lindon! Can you bear to think of him in her arms? I took off my maskfeeling that the occasion required it. As I did so he brushed aside the hanging folds of the hood of his burnoose, so that I saw more of his face. I was immediately conscious that in his eyes there was, in an especial degree, what, for want of a better term, one may call the mesmeric quality. That his was one of those morbid organisations which are oftener found, thank goodness, in the east than in the west, and which are apt to exercise an uncanny influence over the weak and the foolish folk with whom they come in contactthe kind of creature for whom it is always just as well to keep a seasoned rope close handy. I was, also, conscious that he was taking advantage of the removal of my mask to try his strength on methan which he could not have found a tougher job. The sensitive something which is found in the hypnotic subject happens, in me, to be wholly absent. I see you are a mesmerist. He started. I am nothinga shadow! And Im a scientist. I should like, with your permissionor without it!to try an experiment or two on you. He moved further back. There came a gleam into his eyes which suggested that he possessed his hideous power to an unusual degreethat, in the estimation of his own people, he was qualified to take his standing as a regular devildoctor. We will try experiments together, you and Ion Paul Lessingham. Why on him? You do not know? I do not. Why do you lie to me? I dont lie to youI havent the faintest notion what is the nature of your interest in Mr. Lessingham. My interest?that is another thing; it is your interest of which we are speaking. Pardon meit is yours. Listen! you love herand he! But at a word from you he shall not have hernever! It is I who say itI! And, once more, sir, who are you? I am of the children of Isis! Is that so?It occurs to me that you have made a slight mistakethis is London, not a doghole in the desert. Do I not know?what does it matter?you shall see! There will come a time when you will want meyou will find that you cannot bear to think of him in her armsher whom you love! You will call to me, and I shall come, and of Paul Lessingham there shall be an end. While I was wondering whether he was really as mad as he sounded, or whether he was some impudent charlatan who had an axe of his own to grind, and thought that he had found in me a grindstone, he had vanished from the room. I moved after him. Hang it all!stop! I cried. He must have made pretty good travelling, because, before I had a foot in the hall, I heard the front door slam, and, when I reached the street, intent on calling him back, neither to the right nor to the left was there a sign of him to be seen. XIII. The Picture I wonder what that nicelooking beggar really means, and who he happens to be? That was what I said to myself when I returned to the laboratory. If it is true that, now and again, Providence does write a mans character on his face, then there cant be the slightest shred of a doubt that a curious ones been written on his. I wonder what his connection has been with the Apostleor if its only part of his game of bluff. I strode up and downfor the moment my interest in the experiments I was conducting had waned. If it was all bluff I never saw a better piece of actingand yet what sort of finger can such a precisian as St. Paul have in such a pie? The fellow seemed to squirm at the mere mention of the risinghopeoftheRadicals name. Can the objection be political? Let me considerwhat has Lessingham done which could offend the religious or patriotic susceptibilities of the most fanatical of Orientals? Politically, I can recall nothing. Foreign affairs, as a rule, he has carefully eschewed. If he has offendedand if he hasnt the seeming was uncommonly good!the cause will have to be sought upon some other track. But, then, what track? The more I strove to puzzle it out, the greater the puzzlement grew. Absurd!The rascal has had no more connection with St. Paul than St. Peter. The probability is that hes a crackpot; and if he isnt, he has some little game on footin close association with the hunt of the oofbird!which he tried to work off on me, but couldnt. As forfor Marjoriemy Marjorie!only she isnt mine, confound it!if I had had my senses about me, I should have broken his head in several places for daring to allow her name to pass his lipsthe unbaptised Mohammedan!Now to return to the chase of splendid murder! I snatched up my maskone of the most ingenious inventions, by the way, of recent years; if the armies of the future wear my mask they will defy my weapon!and was about to readjust it in its place, when someone knocked at the door. Whos there?Come in! It was Edwards. He looked round him as if surprised. I beg your pardon, sirI thought you were engaged. I didnt know thatthat gentleman had gone. He went up the chimney, as all that kind of gentlemen do.Why the deuce did you let him in when I told you not to? Really, sir, I dont know. I gave him your message, andhe looked at me, andthat is all I remember till I found myself standing in this room. Had it not been Edwards I might have suspected him of having had his palm well greasedbut, in his case, I knew better. It was as I thoughtmy visitor was a mesmerist of the first class; he had actually played some of his tricks, in broad daylight, on my servant, at my own front doora man worth studying. Edwards continued. There is someone else, sir, who wishes to see youMr. Lessingham. Mr. Lessingham! At that moment the juxtaposition seemed odd, though I daresay it was so rather in appearance than in reality. Show him in. Presently in came Paul. I am free to confessI have owned it before!that, in a sense, I admire that manso long as he does not presume to thrust himself into a certain position. He possesses physical qualities which please my eyespeaking as a mere biologist like the suggestion conveyed by his every pose, his every movement, of a tenacious hold on lifeof reserve force, of a repository of bone and gristle on which he can fall back at pleasure. The fellows lithe and active; not hasty, yet agile; clean built, well hungthe sort of man who might be relied upon to make a good recovery. You might beat him in a sprintmental or physicalthough to do that you would have to be spry!but in a staying race he would see you out. I do not know that he is exactly the kind of man whom I would trustunless I knew that he was on the jobwhich knowledge, in his case, would be uncommonly hard to attain. He is too calm; too selfcontained; with the knack of looking all round him even in moments of extremest periland for whatever he does he has a good excuse. He has the reputation, both in the House and out of it, of being a man of iron nerveand with some reason; yet I am not so sure. Unless I read him wrongly his is one of those individualities which, confronted by certain eventualities, collapseto rise, the moment of trial having passed, like Phoenix from her ashes. However it might be with his adherents, he would show no trace of his disaster. And this was the man whom Marjorie loved. Well, she could show some cause. He was a man of positiondestined, probably, to rise much higher; a man of partswith capacity to make the most of them; not illlooking; with agreeable mannerswhen he chose; and he came within the ladys definition of a gentleman, he always did the right thing, at the right time, in the right way. And yet! Well, I take it that we are all cads, and that we most of us are prigs; for mercys sake do not let us all give ourselves away. He was dressed as a gentleman should be dressedblack frock coat, black vest, dark grey trousers, standup collar, smartlytied bow, gloves of the proper shade, neatly brushed hair, and a smile, which if was not childlike, at any rate was bland. I am not disturbing you? Not at all. Sure?I never enter a place like this, where a man is matching himself with nature, to wrest from her her secrets, without feeling that I am crossing the threshold of the unknown. The last time I was in this room was just after you had taken out the final patents for your System of Telegraphy at Sea, which the Admiralty purchasedwiselyWhat is it, now? Death. No?really?what do you mean? If you are a member of the next government, you will possibly learn; I may offer them the refusal of a new wrinkle in the art of murder. I seea new projectile.How long is this race to continue between attack and defence? Until the sun grows cold. And then? Therell be no defencenothing to defend. He looked at me with his calm, grave eyes. The theory of the Age of Ice towards which we are advancing is not a cheerful one. He began to finger a glass retort which lay upon a table. By the way, it was very good of you to give me a look in last night. I am afraid you thought me peremptoryI have come to apologise. I dont know that I thought you peremptory; I thought youqueer. Yes. He glanced at me with that expressionless look upon his face which he could summon at will, and which is at the bottom of the superstition about his iron nerve. I was worried, and not well. Besides, one doesnt care to be burgled, even by a maniac. Was he a maniac? Did you see him? Very clearly. Where? In the street. How close were you to him? Closer than I am to you. Indeed. I didnt know you were so close to him as that. Did you try to stop him? Easier said than donehe was off at such a rate. Did you see how he was dressedor, rather, undressed? I did. In nothing but a cloak on such a night. Who but a fanatic would have attempted burglary in such a costume? Did he take anything? Absolutely nothing. It seems to have been a curious episode. He moved his eyebrowsaccording to members of the House the only gesture in which he has been known to indulge. We become accustomed to curious episodes. Oblige me by not mentioning it to anyoneto anyone. He repeated the last two words, as if to give them emphasis. I wondered if he was thinking of Marjorie. I am communicating with the police. Until they move I dont want it to get into the papersor to be talked about. Its a worryyou understand? I nodded. He changed the theme. This that youre engaged uponis it a projectile or a weapon? If you are a member of the next government you will possibly know; if you arent you possibly wont. I suppose you have to keep this sort of thing secret? I do. It seems that matters of much less moment you wish to keep secret. You mean that business of last night? If a trifle of that sort gets into the papers, or gets talked aboutwhich is the same thing!you have no notion how we are pestered. It becomes an almost unbearable nuisance. Jones the Unknown can commit murder with less inconvenience to himself than Jones the Notorious can have his pocket pickedthere is not so much exaggeration in that as there sounds.Goodbyethanks for your promise. I had given him no promise, but that was by the way. He turned as to gothen stopped. Theres another thingI believe youre a specialist on questions of ancient superstitions and extinct religions. I am interested in such subjects, but I am not a specialist. Can you tell me what were the exact tenets of the worshippers of Isis? Neither I nor any manwith scientific certainty. As you know, she had a brother; the cult of Osiris and Isis was one and the same. What, precisely, were its dogmas, or its practices, or anything about it, none, now, can tell. The papyri, hieroglyphics, and so on, which remain are very far from being exhaustive, and our knowledge of those which do remain, is still less so. I suppose that the marvels which are told of it are purely legendary? To what marvels do you particularly refer? Werent supernatural powers attributed to the priests of Isis? Broadly speaking, at that time, supernatural powers were attributed to all the priests of all the creeds. I see. Presently he continued. I presume that her cult is long since extinctthat none of the worshippers of Isis exist today. I hesitatedI was wondering why he had hit on such a subject; if he really had a reason, or if he was merely asking questions as a cover for something elseyou see, I knew my Paul. That is not so sure. He looked at me with that passionless, yet searching glance of his. You think that she still is worshipped? I think it possible, even probable, that, here and there, in AfricaAfrica is a large order!homage is paid to Isis, quite in the good old way. Do you know that as a fact? Excuse me, but do you know it as a fact?Are you aware that you are treating me as if I was on the witness stand?Have you any special purpose in making these inquiries? He smiled. In a kind of a way I have. I have recently come across rather a curious story; I am trying to get to the bottom of it. What is the story? I am afraid that at present I am not at liberty to tell it you; when I am I will. You will find it interestingas an instance of a singular survival.Didnt the followers of Isis believe in transmigration? Some of themno doubt. What did they understand by transmigration? Transmigration. Yesbut of the soul or of the body? How do you mean?transmigration is transmigration. Are you driving at something in particular? If youll tell me fairly and squarely what it is Ill do my best to give you the information you require; as it is, your questions are a bit perplexing. Oh, it doesnt matteras you say, transmigration is transmigration.  I was eyeing him keenly; I seemed to detect in his manner an odd reluctance to enlarge on the subject he himself had started. He continued to trifle with the retort upon the table. Hadnt the followers of Isis awhat shall I say?a sacred emblem? How? Hadnt they an especial regard for some sort of awasnt it some sort of abeetle? You mean Scarabaeus saceraccording to Latreille, Scarabaeus egyptiorum? Undoubtedlythe scarab was venerated throughout Egyptindeed, speaking generally, most things that had life, for instance, cats; as you know, Orisis continued among men in the figure of Apis, the bull. Werent the priests of Isisor some of themsupposed to assume, after death, the form of ascarabaeus? I never heard of it. Are you sure?think! I shouldnt like to answer such a question positively, offhand, but I dont, on the spur of the moment, recall any supposition of the kind. Dont laugh at meIm not a lunatic!but I understand that recent researches have shown that even in some of the most astounding of the ancient legends there was a substratum of fact. Is it absolutely certain that there could be no shred of truth in such a belief? In what belief? In the belief that a priest of Isisor anyoneassumed after death the form of a scarabaeus? It seems to me, Lessingham, that you have lately come across some uncommonly interesting data, of a kind, too, which it is your bounden duty to give to the worldor, at any rate, to that portion of the world which is represented by me. Cometell us all about it!what are you afraid of? I am afraid of nothingand some day you shall be toldbut not now. At present, answer my question. Then repeat your questionclearly. Is it absolutely certain that there could be no foundation of truth in the belief that a priest of Isisor anyoneassumed after death the form of a beetle? I know no more than the man in the moonhow the dickens should I? Such a belief may have been symbolical. Christians believe that after death the body takes the shape of wormsand so, in a sense, it doesand, sometimes, eels. That is not what I mean. Then what do you mean? Listen. If a person, of whose veracity there could not be a vestige of a doubt, assured you that he had seen such a transformation actually take place, could it conceivably be explained on natural grounds? Seen a priest of Isis assume the form of a beetle? Or a follower of Isis? Before, or after death? He hesitated. I had seldom seen him wear such an appearance of interestto be frank, I was keenly interested too!but, on a sudden there came into his eyes a glint of something that was almost terror. When he spoke, it was with the most unwonted awkwardness. Inin the very act of dying. In the very act of dying? Ifhe had seen a follower of Isis inthe very act of dying, assumethe form of aa beetle, on any conceivable grounds would such a transformation be susceptible of a natural explanation? I staredas who would not? Such an extraordinary question was rendered more extraordinary by coming from such a manyet I was almost beginning to suspect that there was something behind it more extraordinary still. Look here, Lessingham, I can see youve a capital tale to tellso tell it, man! Unless Im mistaken, its not the kind of tale in which ordinary scruples can have any part or parcelanyhow, its hardly fair of you to set my curiosity all agog, and then to leave it unappeased. He eyed me steadily, the appearance of interest fading more and more, until, presently, his face assumed its wonted expressionless masksomehow I was conscious that what he had seen in my face was not altogether to his liking. His voice was once more bland and selfcontained. I perceive you are of opinion that I have been told a taradiddle. I suppose I have. But what is the taradiddle?dont you see Im burning? Unfortunately, Atherton, I am on my honour. Until I have permission to unloose it, my tongue is tied. He picked up his hat and umbrella from where he had placed them on the table. Holding them in his left hand, he advanced to me with his right outstretched. It is very good of you to suffer my continued interruption; I know, to my sorrow, what such interruptions meanbelieve me, I am not ungrateful. What is this? On the shelf, within a foot or so of where I stood, was a sheet of paperthe size and shape of half a sheet of post note. At this he stooped to glance. As he did so, something surprising occurred. On the instant a look came on to his face which, literally, transfigured him. His hat and umbrella fell from his grasp on to the floor. He retreated, gibbering, his hands held out as if to ward something off from him, until he reached the wall on the other side of the room. A more amazing spectacle than he presented I never saw. Lessingham! I exclaimed. Whats wrong with you? My first impression was that he was struck by a fit of epilepsythough anyone less like an epileptic subject it would be hard to find. In my bewilderment I looked round to see what could be the immediate cause. My eye fell upon the sheet of paper, I stared at it with considerable surprise. I had not noticed it there previously, I had not put it therewhere had it come from? The curious thing was that, on it, produced apparently by some process of photogravure, was an illustration of a species of beetle with which I felt that I ought to be acquainted, and yet was not. It was of a dull golden green; the colour was so well brought outeven to the extent of seeming to scintillate, and the whole thing was so dexterously done that the creature seemed alive. The semblance of reality was, indeed, so vivid that it needed a second glance to be assured that it was a mere trick of the reproducer. Its presence there was oddafter what we had been talking about it might seem to need explanation; but it was absurd to suppose that that alone could have had such an effect on a man like Lessingham. With the thing in my hand, I crossed to where he waspressing his back against the wall, he had shrunk lower inch by inch till he was actually crouching on his haunches. Lessingham!come, man, whats wrong with you? Taking him by the shoulder, I shook him with some vigour. My touch had on him the effect of seeming to wake him out of a dream, of restoring him to consciousness as against the nightmare horrors with which he was struggling. He gazed up at me with that look of cunning on his face which one associates with abject terror. Atherton?Is it you?Its all rightquite right.Im wellvery well. As he spoke, he slowly drew himself up, till he was standing erect. Then, in that case, all I can say is that you have a queer way of being very well. He put his hand up to his mouth, as if to hide the trembling of his lips. Its the pressure of overworkIve had one or two attacks like thisbut its nothing, onlya local lesion. I observed him keenly; to my thinking there was something about him which was very odd indeed. Only a local lesion!If you take my stronglyurged advice youll get a medical opinion without delayif you havent been wise enough to have done so already. Ill go today;at once; but I know its only mental overstrain. Youre sure its nothing to do with this? I held out in front of him the photogravure of the beetle. As I did so he backed away from me, shrieking, trembling as with palsy. Take it away! take it away! he screamed. I stared at him, for some seconds, astonished into speechlessness. Then I found my tongue. Lessingham!Its only a picture!Are you stark mad? He persisted in his ejaculations. Take it away! take it away!Tear it up!Burn it! His agitation was so unnaturalfrom whatever cause it arose!that, fearing the recurrence of the attack from which he had just recovered, I did as he bade me. I tore the sheet of paper into quarters, and, striking a match, set fire to each separate piece. He watched the process of incineration as if fascinated. When it was concluded, and nothing but ashes remained, he gave a gasp of relief. Lessingham, I said, youre either mad already, or youre going madwhich is it? I think its neither. I believe I am as sane as you. Itsits that story of which I was speaking; itit seems curious, but Ill tell you all about itsome day. As I observed, I think you will find it an interesting instance of a singular survival. He made an obvious effort to become more like his usual self. It is extremely unfortunate, Atherton, that I should have troubled you with such a display of weaknessespecially as I am able to offer you so scant an explanation. One thing I would ask of youto observe strict confidence. What has taken place has been between ourselves. I am in your hands, but you are my friend, I know I can rely on you not to speak of it to anyoneand, in particular, not to breathe a hint of it to Miss Lindon. Why, in particular, not to Miss Lindon? Can you not guess? I hunched my shoulder. If what I guess is what you mean is not that a cause the more why silence would be unfair to her? It is for me to speak, if for anyone. I shall not fail to do what should be done.Give me your promise that you will not hint a word to her of what you have so unfortunately seen? I gave him the promise he required.  There was no more work for me that day. The Apostle, his divagations, his example of the coleoptera, his Arabian friendthese things were as microbes which, acting on a system already predisposed for their reception, produced high fever; I was in a feverof unrest. Brain in a whirl!Marjorie, Paul, Isis, beetle, mesmerism, in delirious jumble. Loves upsetting!in itself a sufficiently severe disease; but when complications intervene, suggestive of mystery and novelties, so that you do not know if you are moving in an atmosphere of dreams or of frozen factsif, then, your temperature does not rise, like that rocket of M.


Verneswhich reached the moon, then you are a freak of an entirely genuine kind, and if the surgeons do not preserve you, and place you on view, in pickle, they ought to, for the sake of historical doubters, for no one will believe that there ever was a man like you, unless you yourself are somewhere around to prove them Thomases. MyselfI am not that kind of man. When I get warm I grow heated, and when I am heated there is likely to be a variety show of a gaudy kind. When Paul had gone I tried to think things out, and if I had kept on trying something would have happenedso I went on the river instead. XIV. The Duchess Ball That night was the Duchess of Datchets ballthe first person I saw as I entered the dancingroom was Dora Grayling. I went straight up to her. Miss Grayling, I behaved very badly to you last night, I have come to make to you my apologiesto sue for your forgiveness! My forgiveness? Her head went backshe has a pretty birdlike trick of cocking it a little on one side. You were not well. Are you better? Quite.You forgive me? Then grant me plenary absolution by giving me a dance for the one I lost last night. She rose. A man came upa stranger to me; shes one of the best hunted women in Englandtheres a million with her. This is my dance, Miss Grayling. She looked at him. You must excuse me. I am afraid I have made a mistake. I had forgotten that I was already engaged. I had not thought her capable of it. She took my arm, and away we went, and left him staring. Its he whos the sufferer now, I whispered, as we went roundshe can waltz! You think so? It was I last nightI did not mean, if I could help it, to suffer again. To me a dance with you means something. She went all redadding, as an afterthought, Nowadays so few men really dance. I expect its because you dance so well. Thank you. We danced the waltz right through, then we went to an impromptu shelter which had been rigged up on a balcony. And we talked. Theres something sympathetic about Miss Grayling which leads one to talk about ones selfbefore I was half aware of it I was telling her of all my plans and projectsactually telling her of my latest notion which, ultimately, was to result in the destruction of whole armies as by a flash of lightning. She took an amount of interest in it which was surprising. What really stands in the way of things of this sort is not theory but practiceone can prove ones facts on paper, or on a small scale in a room; what is wanted is proof on a large scale, by actual experiment. If, for instance, I could take my plant to one of the forests of South America, where there is plenty of animal life but no human, I could demonstrate the soundness of my position then and there. Why dont you? Think of the money it would cost. I thought I was a friend of yours. I had hoped you were. Then why dont you let me help you? Help me?How? By letting you have the money for your South American experiment;it would be an investment on which I should expect to receive good interest. I fidgeted. It is very good of you, Miss Grayling, to talk like that. She became quite frigid. Please dont be absurd!I perceive quite clearly that you are snubbing me, and that you are trying to do it as delicately as you know how. Miss Grayling! I understand that it was an impertinence on my part to volunteer assistance which was unasked; you have made that sufficiently plain. I assure you Pray dont. Of course, if it had been Miss Lindon it would have been different; she would at least have received a civil answer. But we are not all Miss Lindon. I was aghast. The outburst was so uncalled forI had not the faintest notion what I had said or done to cause it; she was in such a surprising passionand it suited her!I thought I had never seen her look prettierI could do nothing else but stare. So she went onwith just as little reason. Here is someone coming to claim this danceI cant throw all my partners over. Have I offended you so irremediably that it will be impossible for you to dance with me again? Miss Grayling!I shall be only too delighted. She handed me her card. Which may I have? For your own sake you had better place it as far off as you possibly can. They all seem taken. That doesnt matter; strike off any name you please, anywhere and put your own instead. It was giving me an almost embarrassingly free hand. I booked myself for the next waltz but twowho it was who would have to give way to me I did not trouble to inquire. Mr. Atherton!is that you? It wasit was also she. It was Marjorie! And so soon as I saw her I knew that there was only one woman in the world for methe mere sight of her sent the blood tingling through my veins. Turning to her attendant cavalier, she dismissed him with a bow. Is there an empty chair? She seated herself in the one Miss Grayling had just vacated. I sat down beside her. She glanced at me, laughter in her eyes. I was all in a stupid tremblement. You remember that last night I told you that I might require your friendly services in diplomatic intervention? I noddedI felt that the allusion was unfair. Well, the occasions comeor, at least, its very near. She was stilland I said nothing to help her. You know how unreasonable papa can be. I didnever a more pigheaded man in England than Geoffrey Lindonor, in a sense, a duller. But, just then, I was not prepared to admit it to his child. You know what an absurd objection he has toPaul. There was an appreciative hesitation before she uttered the fellows Christian namewhen it came it was with an accent of tenderness which stung me like a gadfly. To speak to meof all menof the fellow in such a tone waslike a woman. Has Mr. Lindon no notion of how things stand between you? Except what he suspects. That is just where you are to come in, papa thinks so much of youI want you to sound Pauls praises in his earto prepare him for what must come. Was ever rejected lover burdened with such a task? Its enormity kept me still. Sydney, you have always been my friendmy truest, dearest friend. When I was a little girl you used to come between papa and me, to shield me from his wrath. Now that I am a big girl I want you to be on my side once more, and to shield me still. Her voice softened. She laid her hand upon my arm. How, under her touch, I burned. But I dont understand what cause there has been for secrecywhy should there have been any secrecy from the first? It was Pauls wish that papa should not be told. Is Mr. Lessingham ashamed of you? Sydney! Or does he fear your father? You are unkind. You know perfectly well that papa has been prejudiced against him all along, you know that his political position is just now one of the greatest difficulty, that every nerve and muscle is kept on the continual strain, that it is in the highest degree essential that further complications of every and any sort should be avoided. He is quite aware that his suit will not be approved of by papa, and he simply wishes that nothing shall be said about it till the end of the sessionthat is all. I see! Mr. Lessingham is cautious even in lovemakingpolitician first, and lover afterwards. Well!why not?would you have him injure the cause he has at heart for want of a little patience? It depends what cause it is he has at heart. What is the matter with you?why do you speak to me like that?it is not like you at all. She looked at me shrewdly, with flashing eyes. Is it possible that you arejealous?that you were in earnest in what you said last night?I thought that was the sort of thing you said to every girl. I would have given a great deal to take her in my arms, and press her to my bosom then and thereto think that she should taunt me with having said to her the sort of thing I said to every girl. What do you know of Mr. Lessingham? What all the world knowsthat history will be made by him. There are kinds of history in the making of which one would not desire to be associated. What do you know of his private lifeit was to that that I was referring. Reallyyou go too far. I know that he is one of the best, just as he is one of the greatest, of men; for me, that is sufficient. If you do know that, it is sufficient. I do know itall the world knows it. Everyone with whom he comes in contact is awaremust be aware, that he is incapable of a dishonourable thought or action. Take my advice, dont appreciate any man too highly. In the book of every mans life there is a page which he would wish to keep turned down. There is no such page in Paulsthere may be in yours; I think that probable. Thank you. I fear it is more than probable. I fear that, in my case, the page may extend to several. There is nothing Apostolic about menot even the name. Sydney!you are unendurable!It is the more strange to hear you talk like this since Paul regards you as his friend. He flatters me. Are you not his friend? Is it not sufficient to be yours? Nowho is against Paul is against me. That is hard. How is it hard? Who is against the husband can hardly be for the wifewhen the husband and the wife are one. But as yet you are not one.Is my cause so hopeless? What do you call your cause?are you thinking of that nonsense you were talking about last night? She laughed! You call it nonsense.You ask for sympathy, and giveso much! I will give you all the sympathy you stand in need ofI promise it! My poor, dear Sydney!dont be so absurd! Do you think that I dont know you? Youre the best of friends, and the worst of loversas the one, so true; so fickle as the other. To my certain knowledge, with how many girls have you been in loveand out again. It is true that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, you have never been in love with me beforebut thats the merest accident. Believe me, my dear, dear Sydney, youll be in love with someone else tomorrowif youre not halfway there tonight. I confess, quite frankly, that, in that direction, all the experience I have had of you has in nowise strengthened my prophetic instinct. Cheer up!one never knows!Who is this thats coming? It was Dora Grayling who was comingI went off with her without a wordwe were halfway through the dance before she spoke to me. I am sorry that I was cross to you just now, anddisagreeable. Somehow I always seem destined to show to you my most unpleasant side. The blame was minewhat sort of side do I show you? You are far kinder to me than I deservenow, and always. That is what you say. Pardon me, its trueelse how comes it that, at this time of day, Im without a friend in all the world? You!without a friend!I never knew a man who had so many!I never knew a person of whom so many men and women join in speaking well! Miss Grayling! As for never having done anything worth doing, think of what you have done. Think of your discoveries, think of your inventions, think ofbut never mind! The world knows you have done great things, and it confidently looks to you to do still greater. You talk of being friendless, and yet when I ask, as a favouras a great favour!to be allowed to do something to show my friendship, youwell, you snub me. I snub you! You know you snubbed me. Do you really mean that you take an interest inin my work? You know I mean it. She turned to me, her face all glowingand I did know it. Will you come to my laboratory tomorrow morning? Will I!wont I! With your aunt? Yes, with my aunt. Ill show you round, and tell you all there is to be told, and then if you still think theres anything in it, Ill accept your offer about that South American experimentthat is, if it still holds good. Of course it still holds good. And well be partners. Partners?Yeswe will be partners. It will cost a terrific sum. There are some things which never can cost too much. Thats not my experience. I hope it will be mine. Its a bargain? On my side, I promise you that its a bargain. When I got outside the room I found that Percy Woodville was at my side. His round face was, in a manner of speaking as long as my arm. He took his glass out of his eye, and rubbed it with his handkerchiefand directly he put it back he took it out and rubbed it again, I believe that I never saw him in such a state of flusterand, when one speaks of Woodville, that means something. Atherton, I am in a devil of a stew. He looked it. All of a heap!Ive had a blow which I shall never get over! Then get under. Woodville is one of those fellows who will insist on telling me their most private matterseven to what they owe their washerwomen for the ruination of their shirts. Why, goodness alone can tellheaven knows I am not sympathetic. Dont be an idiot!you dont know what Im suffering!Im as nearly as possible stark mad. Thats all right, old chapIve seen you that way more than once before. Dont talk like thatyoure not a perfect brute! I bet you a shilling that I am. Dont torture meyoure not. Atherton! He seized me by the lapels of my coat, seeming half beside himselffortunately he had drawn me into a recess, so that we were noticed by few observers. What do you think has happened? My dear chap, how on earth am I to know? Shes refused me! Has she!Well I never!Buck uptry some other addressthere are quite as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it. Atherton, youre a blackguard. He had crumpled his handkerchief into a ball, and was actually bobbing at his eyes with itthe idea of Percy Woodville being dissolved in tears was excruciatingly funnybut, just then, I could hardly tell him so. Theres not a doubt of itits my way of being sympathetic. Dont be so down, mantry her again! Its not the slightest useI know it isntfrom the way she treated me. Dont be so surewomen often say what they mean least. Whos the lady? Who?Is there more women in the world than one for me, or has there ever been? You ask me who! What does the word mean to me but Marjorie Lindon! Marjorie Lindon? I fancy that my jaw dropped openthat, to use his own vernacular, I was all of a heap. I felt like it. I strode awayleaving him mazedand all but ran into Marjories arms. Im just leaving. Will you see me to the carriage, Mr. Atherton? I saw her to the carriage. Are you off?can I give you a lift? Thank youI am not thinking of being off. Im going to the House of Commonswont you come? What are you going there for? Directly she spoke of it I knew why she was goingand she knew that I knew, as her words showed. You are quite well aware of what the magnet is. You are not so ignorant as not to know that the Agricultural Amendment Act is on tonight, and that Paul is to speak. I always try to be there when Paul is to speak, and I mean to always keep on trying. He is a fortunate man. Indeedand again indeed. A man with such gifts as his is inadequately described as fortunate.But I must be off. He expected to be up before, but I heard from him a few minutes ago that there has been a delay, but that he will be up within halfanhour.Till our next meeting. As I returned into the house, in the hall I met Percy Woodville. He had his hat on. Where are you off to? Im off to the House. To hear Paul Lessingham? Damn Paul Lessingham! With all my heart! Theres a division expectedIve got to go. Someone else has gone to hear Paul LessinghamMarjorie Lindon. No!you dont say so!by Jove!I say, Atherton, I wish I could make a speechI never can. When Im electioneering I have to have my speeches written for me, and then I have to read em. But, by Jove, if I knew Miss Lindon was in the gallery, and if I knew anything about the thing, or could get someone to tell me something, hang me if I wouldnt speakId show her Im not the fool she thinks I am! Speak, Percy, speak!youd knock em silly, sir!I tell you what Ill doIll come with you! Ill to the House as well!Paul Lessingham shall have an audience of three. XV. Mr. Lessingham Speaks The House was full. Percy and I went upstairsto the gallery which is theoretically supposed to be reserved for what are called distinguished strangers,those curious animals. Trumperton was up, hammering out those sentences which smell, not so much of the lamp as of the dunderhead. Nobody was listeningexcept the men in the Press Gallery; where is the brain of the House, and ninety percent, of its wisdom. It was not till Trumperton had finished that I discovered Lessingham. The tedious ancient resumed his seat amidst a murmur of sounds which, I have no doubt, some of the pressmen interpreted next day as loud and continued applause. There was movement in the House, possibly expressive of relief; a hum of voices; men came flocking in. Then, from the Opposition benches, there rose a sound which was applauseand I perceived that, on a cross bench close to the gangway, Paul Lessingham was standing up bareheaded. I eyed him criticallyas a collector might eye a valuable specimen, or a pathologist a curious subject. During the last four and twenty hours my interest in him had grown apace. Just then, to me, he was the most interesting man the world contained. When I remembered how I had seen him that same morning, a nerveless, terrorstricken wretch, grovelling, like some craven cur, upon the floor, frightened, to the verge of imbecility, by a shadow, and less than a shadow, I was confronted by two hypotheses. Either I had exaggerated his condition then, or I exaggerated his condition now. So far as appearance went, it was incredible that this man could be that one. I confess that my feeling rapidly became one of admiration. I love the fighter. I quickly recognised that here we had him in perfection. There was no seeming about him thenthe man was to the manner born. To his fingertips a fighting man. I had never realised it so clearly before. He was coolness itself. He had all his faculties under complete command. While never, for a moment, really exposing himself, he would be swift in perceiving the slightest weakness in his opponents defence, and, so soon as he saw it, like lightning, he would slip in a telling blow. Though defeated, he would hardly be disgraced; and one might easily believe that their very victories would be so expensive to his assailants, that, in the end, they would actually conduce to his own triumph. Hang me! I told myself, if, after all, I am surprised if Marjorie does see something in him. For I perceived how a clever and imaginative young woman, seeing him at his best, holding his own, like a gallant knight, against overwhelming odds, in the lists in which he was so much at home, might come to think of him as if he were always and only there, ignoring altogether the kind of man he was when the joust was finished. It did me good to hear him, I do know thatand I could easily imagine the effect he had on one particular auditor who was in the Ladies Cage. It was very far from being an oration in the American sense; it had little or nothing of the fire and fury of the French Tribune; it was marked neither by the ponderosity nor the sentiment of the eloquent German; yet it was as satisfying as are the efforts of either of the three, producing, without doubt, precisely the effect which the speaker intended. His voice was clear and calm, not exactly musical, yet distinctly pleasant, and it was so managed that each word he uttered was as audible to every person present as if it had been addressed particularly to him. His sentences were short and crisp; the words which he used were not big ones, but they came from him with an agreeable ease; and he spoke just fast enough to keep ones interest alert without invoking a strain on the attention. He commenced by making, in the quietest and most courteous manner, sarcastic comments on the speeches and methods of Trumperton and his friends which tickled the House amazingly. But he did not make the mistake of pushing his personalities too far. To a speaker of a certain sort nothing is easier than to sting to madness. If he likes, his every word is barbed. Wounds so given fester; they are not easily forgiven;it is essential to a politician that he should have his firmest friends among the fools; or his climbing days will soon be over. Soon his sarcasms were at an end. He began to exchange them for sweetsounding phrases. He actually began to say pleasant things to his opponents; apparently to mean them. To put them in a good conceit with themselves. He pointed out how much truth there was in what they said; and then, as if by accident, with what ease and at how little cost, amendments might be made. He found their arguments, and took them for his own, and flattered them, whether they would or would not, by showing how firmly they were founded upon fact; and grafted other arguments upon them, which seemed their natural sequelae; and transformed them, and drove them hither and thither; and brought themtheir own arguments!to a round, irrefragable conclusion, which was diametrically the reverse of that to which they themselves had brought them. And he did it all with an aptness, a readiness, a grace, which was incontestable. So that, when he sat down, he had performed that most difficult of all feats, he had delivered what, in a House of Commons sense, was a practical, statesmanlike speech, and yet one which left his hearers in an excellent humour. It was a great successan immense success. A parliamentary triumph of almost the highest order. Paul Lessingham had been coming on by leaps and bounds. When he resumed his seat, amidst applause which, this time, really was applause, there were, probably, few who doubted that he was destined to go still farther. How much farther it is true that time alone could tell; but, so far as appearances went, all the prizes, which are as the crown and climax of a statesmans career, were well within his reach. For my part, I was delighted. I had enjoyed an intellectual exercisea species of enjoyment not so common as it might be. The Apostle had almost persuaded me that the political game was one worth playing, and that its triumphs were things to be desired. It is something, after all, to be able to appeal successfully to the passions and aspirations of your peers; to gain their plaudits; to prove your skill at the game you yourself have chosen; to be looked up to and admired. And when a womans eyes look down on you, and her ears drink in your every word, and her heart beats time with yourseach man to his own temperament, but when that woman is the woman whom you love, to know that your triumph means her glory, and her gladness, to me that would be the best part of it all. In that hourthe Apostles hour!I almost wished that I were a politician too! The division was over. The business of the night was practically done. I was back again in the lobby! The theme of conversation was the Apostles speechon every side they talked of it. Suddenly Marjorie was at my side. Her face was glowing. I never saw her look more beautifulor happier. She seemed to be alone. So you have come, after all!Wasnt it splendid?wasnt it magnificent? Isnt it grand to have such great gifts, and to use them to such good purpose?Speak, Sydney! Dont feign a coolness which is foreign to your nature! I saw that she was hungry for me to praise the man whom she delighted to honour. But, somehow, her enthusiasm cooled mine. It was not a bad speech, of a kind. Of a kind! How her eyes flashed fire! With what disdain she treated me! What do you mean by of a kind? My dear Sydney, are you not aware that it is an attribute of small minds to attempt to belittle those which are greater? Even if you are conscious of inferiority, its unwise to show it. Mr. Lessinghams was a great speech, of any kind; your incapacity to recognise the fact simply reveals your lack of the critical faculty. It is fortunate for Mr. Lessingham that there is at least one person in whom the critical faculty is so bountifully developed. Apparently, in your judgment, he who discriminates is lost. I thought she was going to burst into passion. But, instead, laughing, she placed her hand upon my shoulder. Poor Sydney!I understand!It is so sad!Do you know you are like a little boy who, when he is beaten, declares that the victor has cheated him. Never mind! as you grow older, you will learn better. She stung me almost beyond bearingI cared not what I said. You, unless I am mistaken, will learn better before you are older. What do you mean? Before I could have told herif I had meant to tell; which I did notLessingham came up. I hope I have not kept you waiting; I have been delayed longer than I expected. Not at allthough I am quite ready to get away; its a little tiresome waiting here. This with a mischievous glance towards mea glance which compelled Lessingham to notice me. You do not often favour us. I dont. I find better employment for my time. You are wrong. Its the cant of the day to underrate the House of Commons, and the work which it performs; dont you suffer yourself to join in the chorus of the simpletons. Your time cannot be better employed than in endeavouring to improve the body politic. I am obliged to you.I hope you are feeling better than when I saw you last. A gleam came into his eyes, fading as quickly as it came. He showed no other sign of comprehension, surprise, or resentment. Thank you.I am very well. Marjorie perceived that I meant more than met the eye, and that what I meant was meant unpleasantly. Comelet us be off. It is Mr. Atherton tonight who is not well. She had just slipped her arm through Lessinghams when her father approached. Old Lindon stared at her on the Apostles arm, as if he could hardly believe that it was she. I thought that you were at the Duchess? So I have been, papa; and now Im here. Here! Old Lindon began to stutter and stammer, and to grow red in the face, as is his wont when at all excited. Wwhat do you mean by here?whwheres the carriage? Where should it be, except waiting for me outsideunless the horses have run away. IIIll take you down to it. II dont approve of yyour wwwaiting in a place like this. Thank you, papa, but Mr. Lessingham is going to take me down.I shall see you afterwards.Goodbye. Anything cooler than the way in which she walked off I do not think I ever saw. This is the age of feminine advancement. Young women think nothing of twisting their mothers round their fingers, let alone their fathers; but the fashion in which that young woman walked off, on the Apostles arm, and left her father standing there, was, in its way, a study. Lindon seemed scarcely able to realise that the pair of them had gone. Even after they had disappeared in the crowd he stood staring after them, growing redder and redder, till the veins stood out upon his face, and I thought that an apoplectic seizure threatened. Then, with a gasp, he turned to me. Damned scoundrel! I took it for granted that he alluded to the gentlemaneven though his following words hardly suggested it. Only this morning I forbade her to have anything to do with him, and nnow hes wwalked off with her! Cconfounded adventurer! Thats what he is, an adventurer, and before many hours have passed Ill take the liberty to tell him so! Jamming his fists into his pockets, and puffing like a grampus in distress, he took himself awayand it was time he did, for his words were as audible as they were pointed, and already people were wondering what the matter was. Woodville came up as Lindon was goingjust as sorely distressed as ever. She went away with Lessinghamdid you see her? Of course I saw her. When a man makes a speech like Lessinghams any girl would go away with himand be proud to. When you are endowed with such great powers as he is, and use them for such lofty purposes, shell walk away with youbut, till then, never. He was at his old trick of polishing his eyeglass. Its bitter hard. When I knew that she was there, Id half a mind to make a speech myself, upon my word I had, only I didnt know what to speak about, and I cant speak anyhowhow can a fellow speak when hes shoved into the gallery? As you say, how can he?he cant stand on the railing and shouteven with a friend holding him behind. I know I shall speak one daybound to; and then she wont be there. Itll be better for you if she isnt. Think so?Perhaps youre right. Id be safe to make a mess of it, and then, if she were to see me at it, itd be the devil! Pon my word, Ive been wishing, lately, I was clever. He rubbed his nose with the rim of his eyeglass, looking the most comically disconsolate figure. Put black care behind you, Percy!buck up, my boy! The divisions overyou are freenow well go on the fly.  And we did go on the fly. XVI. Athertons Magic Vapour I bore him off to supper at the Helicon. All the way in the cab he was trying to tell me the story of how he proposed to Marjorieand he was very far from being through with it when we reached the club. There was the usual crowd of supperites, but we got a little table to ourselves, in a corner of the room, and before anything was brought for us to eat he was at it again. A good many of the people were pretty near to shouting, and as they seemed to be all speaking at once, and the band was playing, and as the Helicon supper band is not piano, Percy did not have it quite all to himself, but, considering the delicacy of his subject, he talked as loudly as was decentgetting more so as he went on. But Percy is peculiar. I dont know how many times Ive tried to tell herover and over again. Have you now? Yes, pretty near every time I met herbut I never seemed to get quite to it, dont you know. How was that? Why, just as I was going to say, Miss Lindon, may I offer you the gift of my affection  Was that how you invariably intended to begin? Well, not alwaysone time like that, another time another way. Fact is, I got off a little speech by heart, but I never got a chance to reel it off, so I made up my mind to just say anything. And what did you say? Well, nothingyou see, I never got there. Just as I was feeling my way, shed ask me if I preferred big sleeves to little ones, or top hats to billycocks, or some nonsense of the kind. Would she now? Yesof course I had to answer, and by the time Id answered the chance was lost. Percy was polishing his eyeglass. I tried to get there so many times, and she choked me off so often, that I cant help thinking that she suspected what it was that I was after. You think she did? She must have done. Once I followed her down Piccadilly, and chivied her into a glove shop in the Burlington Arcade. I meant to propose to her in thereI hadnt had a wink of sleep all night through dreaming of her, and I was just about desperate. And did you propose? The girl behind the counter made me buy a dozen pairs of gloves instead. They turned out to be three sizes too large for me when they came home. I believe she thought Id gone to spoon the glove girlshe went out and left me there. That girl loaded me with all sorts of things when she was goneI couldnt get away. She held me with her blessed eye. I believe it was a glass one. Miss Lindensor the glove girls? The glove girls. She sent me home a whole cartload of green ties, and declared Id ordered them. I shall never forget that day. Ive never been up the Arcade since, and never mean to. You gave Miss Lindon a wrong impression. I dont know. I was always giving her wrong impressions. Once she said that she knew I was not a marrying man, that I was the sort of chap who never would marry, because she saw it in my face. Under the circumstances, that was trying. Bitter hard. Percy sighed again. I shouldnt mind if I wasnt so gone. Im not a fellow who does get gone, but when I do get gone, I get so beastly gone. I tell you what, Percyhave a drink! Im a teetotaleryou know I am. You talk of your heart being broken, and of your being a teetotaler in the same breathif your heart were really broken youd throw teetotalism to the winds. Do you think sowhy? Because you wouldmen whose hearts are broken always doyoud swallow a magnum at the least. Percy groaned. When I drink Im always illbut Ill have a try. He had a trymaking a good beginning by emptying at a draught the glass which the waiter had just now filled.